“It’s hair.” Mari tried to hide his disgust.
“It’s a trail.” Maylene’s tone was heavy with disapproval. It had only been a week since Mari was indoctrinated to the cause, a loose set of individuals and groups dedicated to get revenge on the halimaw that roam the earthworld.
The stories may not always be the same, but they rhymed.
Mari’s family was decimated by a lone pugot. Maylene sympathized, her fiancé being drowned by a litao.
They were approached by a babaylan from the cause and grouped together, probably because they were both from the north.
She preffered to work alone, having a bodycount consisting of many ibingan, magindara, even a Mameleu, but that wasn’t enough.
It was perplexing why they were brought to Panay to find what was called a Gumon.
She was adept at fighting beasts from the sea, while he was a neophyte. But she deferred to the babaylan’s wishes.
The babaylan had her reasons, and she had never steered her wrong. It all came down to trust, which was in very short supply in their line of work.
They were briefed about the creature they were hunting.
The Gumon.
“She’s not anywhere close, the trail ends here.”
“Stop.”
“Why? What do you mean?”
“Stop calling ‘it’ a ‘she’.”
“But isn’t there a woman underneath all that hair?”
Maylene balled her fist, ready to knock Mari out.
He saw her countenance change and flinched.
“These are not people, some were but not anymore! Don’t you dare try to humanize them! They’re monsters, plain and simple. Forget that and you risk hesitating when the time comes.”
“What time?”
“When you have to kill.”
“You don’t know me at all. You don’t know what I’ve been through. When I found the pugot that killed my family, trust me I didn’t hesitate.”
There was a glint in his eyes. She had seen it before. The new ones always had their delusions of grandeur. It was their mission in life to be the great hero, saving innocents from the gaping jaws of the halimaw.
She was like that once, steeling herself before every hunt, actually caring about the collateral damage. Now she did not have that luxury. More and more halimaw were coming in from the shadows. It was death after death that jaded Maylene. In her mind, one life didn’t outweigh the future victims of those monsters.
“Speaking of which,” Mari said. “What are we hunting? All I was told was that it was a mass of hair going around and killing people.”
“And in the middle of that mass?”
“A beautiful woman.”
“That is how it entices its prey.”
“Like this poor soul.”
They both looked at the desiccated remains of a man, not older than thirty. He had a twisted smile on his face, and Mari was filled with pity.
He snapped out of his malaise and into the mission.
“What did the babaylan tell you, Maylene?”
“She told me about its form just as she told you.”
“But what about this? How does it kill its prey?
Maylene smirked. It was the first time he called ‘it’ an ‘it’.
He continued, “It looks like he was also exsanguinated.”
“I was told by the babaylan that it uses its hair to strangle and suffocate its victims. It sucks out their blood and life energy, leaving only what you see here.”
“The babaylan said to bring a lighter.”
“The only thing that can kill it for good is fire.”
“So… where do we start?”
“We have to be prepared to use weapons that can hurt it.”
“But only fire is effective.”
“And we’ll keep that close.”
“I’ve seen on the internet how you can make a makeshift flamethrower out of an aerosol can.”
This is why the babaylan wanted them together. He wasn’t as useless as she first thought.
“How do we find it, though? The trail is dead.” Mari crouched over the remnants of hair leading into the woods.
“It won’t be hard. I can sense that it is hungry.”
“How do you know that?”
“If you’ve been at this as long as I have, your intuition is sharpened.”
“So, how do we lure it?”
“It lives in the darkest depths of the woods, and we’ll meet it there. Get your lighters ready for battle.”
=————————————=
The aftermath was filled with tears.
They managed to find the gumon under a mango tree, and they engaged the halimaw in battle.
The aerosol flamethrower proved effective and burned the first layer of hair, exposing the thing underneath.
It only took a moment of hesitation, and the gumon’s hair sharpened to a point, skewering Mari through his chest.
Maylene had no time to react, her reflexes taking over.
There were still embers that could be fanned into flames, and she grabbed the aerosol can and watched as it burned, its screams disturbing a night in the woods.
During the fight, the gumon had tasted her blood and managed to wound her.
She was dizzy from the blood loss.
The last thing she did before succumbing to unconsciousness was to send a message.
MISSION COMPLETE.
=————————————-=
The babaylan smiled.
IT was worth the loss of two agents to fell the gumon.
A price she had no trouble paying.
=————————————–=
Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Inspired by the Gumon legends from Panay
Gumon Illustration by Klyde Sosa
Reposted with permission from Rob Martin of Pine Box Entertainment and Secret Garden Games
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