Janu ran. His breath came in ragged gasps, his legs burning as he forced himself forward through the dense jungle. Branches whipped against his skin, leaves slashed at his arms, but he didn't stop. He couldn't stop. Not with that thing behind him.
The Tall Pocong wasn't chasing in the way a normal creature would. It didn't bound forward in bursts of speed. It glided, effortlessly, unnaturally, like the very air carried it. And yet, no matter how fast Janu ran, it never seemed to fall too far behind.
But that wasn't the worst part.
The other pocong had started moving too.
At first, they had remained kneeling, bowing in eerie submission. But the moment the Tall Pocong twitched, they reacted—as if an unseen command had been given.
The air filled with a low rustling, burial shrouds brushing against one another as dozens of pocong began hopping after Janu, their movements stiff and jerky. Some lagged behind, but others—faster than they should have been—closed in quickly, their hollow, sunken faces locked onto him.
"Jantaka!" Janu panted, ducking under a fallen log. "It's not slowing down, and now the fan club is after me too!"
"And so it begins, Keep running." Jantaka's voice was calm, but there was an edge of urgency. "It has your scent now. It won't stop until it gets you!"
"GREAT! THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED TO HEAR!"
He stumbled slightly, his foot catching on an exposed root. He barely managed to stay upright. The jungle around him blurred as he sprinted, his body moving purely on instinct.
Then—
A sickening, wet crunch.
Janu risked a glance back.
One of the regular pocong had wandered too close to the Tall Pocong.
For a moment, the smaller ghost stood there, unmoving—then the red-stained linen of the Tall Pocong brushed against it.
A muffled, grotesque screech tore through the air as the smaller pocong burst into flames—silent, suffocating flames that didn't flicker, didn't move like normal fire. The cloth of its burial shroud disintegrated, the flesh underneath boiling, peeling away in layers, until nothing remained but a blackened husk that crumbled into ash.
Janu's stomach twisted violently. That could've been me.
Some of the other pocong hesitated, as if witnessing what happened to their kin triggered some buried instinct of fear—but the Tall Pocong didn't stop moving. And the ones that still remained continued the hunt.
"We need to lose it—NOW!"
"You can't outrun it," Jantaka snapped. "The only option is to break the hunt."
Janu grit his teeth. "How the hell do we do that?!"
"There's a river ahead," Jantaka said. "If you reach it, jump. It might lose your scent."
Janu didn't like the word might, but at this point, he had no other choice. His lungs screamed as he forced himself to go faster. His vision tunneled, his entire focus narrowing to one thing: reaching that river.
The air behind him thickened. He could feel it—the heat, the decay, the silent pull of death creeping closer.
Then, through the gaps in the trees—moonlight reflecting off rushing water.
"There!"
Janu didn't slow down. He threw himself forward, legs burning, every part of his body screaming in protest. The ground beneath him sloped downward—too steep, too sudden.
He tripped.
The moment his foot hit loose dirt, gravity took over.
Janu tumbled down the embankment, his body slamming against the rocky slope. Pain exploded across his ribs, his elbows, his legs, but he couldn't stop his momentum.
He hit the water hard.
The world plunged into icy silence.
For a moment, everything was still. Just cold, endless cold.
Janu fought against the weight of his clothes, the current tugging at his limbs. His lungs burned as he kicked desperately, breaking the surface with a gasping breath.
The first thing he saw was the riverbank above.
The Tall Pocong stood at the edge of the cliff, staring down at him.
It didn't move. It didn't try to follow.
It just watched.
The fire at its feet dimmed slightly, the red glow pulsing slower, more methodical.
Janu shivered, more from unease than the cold. Why isn't it moving?
Jantaka's voice was quieter now, almost thoughtful. "It let you live."
Janu coughed, struggling to tread water. "Let me live?! It was just chasing me a second ago!"
"It knows something," Jantaka said in Janu's mind. He then continued to speak.
"Usually the first phase of their hunt is just watching & chasing their prey. And you have already passed the first phase. They see you as a worthy prey for the hunt itself. And now, get yourself ready, because the hunt has begun. Those sick bastards savor the best for the last."
Janu's fists clenched. He gritted his teeth. He barely survived that. And yet, this thing—this monster—was treating him like some kind of game.
The Tall Pocong's head twitched. Then, without a sound, it turned away and vanished into the trees.
Janu's breath came fast, ragged. The cold of the river seeped into his bones, but his mind burned.
"…I can't keep running from this thing."
Jantaka was silent for a long moment. Then—
"No. You can't."
Janu exhaled sharply. Then I need to figure out how to fight it.
The river carried him forward, deeper into the unknown.
The hunt wasn't over.
It had just begun.