^{Designed in Canva}

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Greetings everyone! I hope you are all healthy and enjoying your life. Today, I will write a fictional story for this community contest organized by Sir @damithudaya. I participated last week and received a good response, which motivated me to participate again this time.

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The 5 words I have chosen for this contest are: Elephant, River, Hunting, Skeleton, Village.

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^{Image by wirestock on Freepik}

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As the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the African savannah in a warm golden light, a group of men huddled together. Rifles at the ready, they scanned the clearing ahead, confident about their elephant hunt.

But then, something unexpected happened. A rustling in the grass caught their attention and they tensed up, anticipating their prey. Instead, a man stumbled out of the underbrush, hands raised in surrender.

The hunters were taken aback. This wasn’t what they had in mind. But before they could react, the man spoke up.

“Please, you have to help me,” he gasped. “There’s something terrible in the river.”

The hunters exchanged curious glances and motioned for the man to come closer. As he stumbled towards them, his eyes darting nervously around.

The man was trembling with fear and couldn’t speak properly. His voice was shaking. Then a hunter gave him a bottle of water and told him to drink. After he drank the water, they asked him to tell them in detail what had happened. Speaking softly, he began.

A human skeleton floating downstream. “That’s what I saw in the river,” he said softly.

A chill ran down the hunters’ spines. They were not expecting it. They thought to run away before any trouble could come their way. Just then, the man grabbed one of the hunter’s arm.

“Wait,” he begged. “There’s something else in the river. Something that’s hunting me.”

The hunters looked at each other grimly. They had a decision to make: continue with their elephant hunt or investigate this strange occurrence in the river.

In the end, their curiosity got the better of them and they set off towards the river, rifles at the ready. As they approached the water’s edge, they saw something moving in the shadows.

It was an elephant. They had never laid eyes on an elephant quite like this one before. Its skin was speckled with curious black markings and its eyes shone with an almost supernatural glow. Fear washed over them as they realized what they were up against.

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Wow, one of them whispered. “What is that thing?”

Another said, “I don’t know but staying here to learn is not a good idea.”

They were unsure of what to do next. But then the elephant let out a loud trumpeting sound and charged towards them.

One of them screamed “Run!” and they all ran back to their camp.

As they ran, they could hear the elephant crashing through the underbrush behind them. They didn’t stop until they reached their camp and collapsed in a heap, panting and sweating.

“That was close,” one of them said, still trying to catch his breath.

“Where did Jacob go?” a hunter asked. They became worried and started searching for Jacob.

Jacob, who had gotten separated from his companions and lost his way, finally reached a village. He had barely set foot in the village when he realized his mistake.

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^{Image by tawatchai07 on Freepik}

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The villagers had armed themselves. When they found out that the ferocious elephant was following him, they became even angrier. They started scolding Jacob, saying that now the elephant would follow him to the village and would kill them.

Suddenly, the sound of an elephant trumpeting echoed through the air, sending shivers down everyone’s spine. Jacob’s eyes widened in shock as he realized that the elephant had followed him all the way to the village. He could see his death looming before him.

Despite the villagers’ rifles, he knew that bullets would be useless against this beast. The elephant charged towards them when suddenly, a gunshot rang out and the elephant collapsed to the ground. Jacob’s gaze shifted to a woman holding a strange rifle in her hand. The shot was fired by her.

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^{Image by Freepik}

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Shakily, Jacob got to his feet and then she approached him. “Are you okay?” she asked. Relief flooded through him as he nodded his head and said, “Thank you for saving my life.” The villagers were just as stunned by what had happened. How could an elephant die from just one bullet?

The woman introduced herself as Elena, a scientist studying a rare virus spreading through the elephant population. Her voice trembled as she revealed something horrifying. She said, “Something in the virus is affecting the elephants. They are becoming more violent due to the mutation.”

The hunter stared at her in disbelief. This was insane. But Elena was dead serious. With determination in her eyes, she declared, “We must put an end to this. We need to find a way to prevent the virus from spreading any further before it becomes too late.”

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^{I would like to invite @senehasa, @patjewell, @radleking, @paholags, @irawandedy, @dove11 and @simonnwigwe to join this contest, if they have not already taken part in it.}

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^{Author: @waqarahmadshah | Achievement 1}