Chapter 33: The Monsters Arrive
Location: Eastern Shore – Pre-dawn, Day 7
The sea was silent.
Then… a low rumble broke the horizon.
A military boat sliced through the water, cutting the waves like a blade.
Onboard: twenty ruthless soldiers.
And four more—heavily armed, heavily scarred. Reinforcements.
These weren't just men.
They were predators.
The same ones who brought death to Rana and his team.
They laughed as they approached—confident, cocky, with blood still fresh in their minds from last time.
They thought the island was still sleeping.
Still broken.
Still theirs.
But this time…
the island was waiting.
---
Inside the Bunker – Monitoring Room
Sid stared at the grainy surveillance feed.
Dots on the screen. Approaching fast. Armed to the teeth.
Shiva tracked their trajectory, typing rapidly.
"They'll hit the shore in under 30 minutes. Same path as last time."
Akash swallowed hard, watching through army binoculars.
"They're laughing, man… like they're walking into a playground. Monsters, I tell you. Monsters in human skin."
But none of them said what they were all thinking.
This wasn't a battle.
It was war.
Old Man Krishnan stood silently, fully geared up.
Camouflage wrapped around him.
A rugged rifle in hand—old, but cleaned like a sacred relic.
Around his waist: modified grenades and wire traps.
He took a deep breath.
Time to go.
Sid stepped in his way.
"We still have time. Let Shiva go—he knows the forest paths now too. Or I can—"
But the old man held up a hand.
"I started this path long before you ever set foot here," he said gently.
"I lost someone once… I won't let that happen again."
Then Akash did the one thing none of them expected.
He hugged him—tight.
"You better come back, old man," he whispered, voice cracking.
"Or I swear… I'll eat your food portions too."
A chuckle escaped Krishnan's lips.
"You touch my pickles, and I'll haunt you," he said, smiling through the weight of it all.
Then, without a word, he turned.
He walked out of the bunker like a soldier returning to his post.
Not to survive.
But to defend.
And as he stepped into the jungle's darkness, there was something majestic—
something terrifying—
in the way he moved.
The old man walked like a lion…
…marching into the wild to face the hyenas.
---
Narrator Voice:
They came with guns. With numbers. With confidence.
But they didn't come with caution.
They thought this was the same island they crushed before.
They didn't know the trees now hid eyes.
The ground whispered warnings.
And the ghosts of fallen heroes had passed their fire to a new breed of defenders.
The old man walks alone—into the jaws of monsters.
But this time…
the monsters are walking into the lion's mouth.