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"Turn off your flashlights." The Death Hunter lead's tone was slightly stronger than his normal quiet mutter. "Turn off your flashlights until I give the signal. There is nothing here we can do for these ....apparitions. They were put here for a reason, to make them stronger, but we have seen worse." He tried to put emphasis into his words, but the 'forest' spooked himself as well. There was no other direction to go but forward now, though thankfully, they road ahead seemed clear.

Slowly, but surely, each Hunter complied, the flashlights blinking off in unison. Only the glow of Liam and Circe remained, like a beacon.

When the order came, Andy managed to pull herself together a little more. Liam was with them now, and even though she cast a vaguely worried look at Caelius, she was glad to have her division leader back; just his presence gave her a sense of security. She didn't question the split-ups, though fear was gnawing at her heart still, and the fact that neither the sun nor moon division head had returned only served to make her more sure that she wasn't going to make it back, either.

Forcing a smile on her face, she waved goodbye to Gear and Profe before Caelius gave her a look, and then she followed behind him into the subway. For once she was content to walk behind- or beside, with a few hasty steps. Normally Andy would have tried to out-walk or out-run him, but she needed someone she knew by her side, even if it was someone she didn't really like. The darkness in the subway station was unsettling, but mostly because of the uncertainty. Various routes were explored, that didn't lead to anything, and even if she half-expected things to jump out at her in the darkness it felt worse that there wasn't anything around. Andy liked the enemy where she could actually see them.

Eventually Liam asked for Caelius to stay behind, to set up an exit portal. She knew it was a precaution, as opposed to preparing for the end of the mission, when they'd all go back to the island. Part of her was unwilling to leave him; the other part tried its best to convince her that Caelius was just going to miss out on the fun. She left him to his work, lingering a moment as she pondered saying goodbye, then decided she didn't want to.

Following Liam, Andy moved to hide herself within the group of hunters. There was a moment of panic when she realised Caelius had been left all alone, but then a splash under her feet dragged her back to reality. The water was dirty, with a decidedly unpleasant oily feeling, and then the smell hit her and she coughed, bringing her hand up to cover her nose.

The smell, though, was nowhere near as bad as what she saw next: hunters. Dead hunters were by no means a rare sight; Andy had seen her share of failed missions and tragedies, but even as she heard Liam tell them to move on she found she couldn't move. There were dead people, and then there was this- a mockery of their deaths, somehow, the way they were arranged like in some kind of twisted 'art' gallery.

She couldn't look front, or back, or to either side, or up, so Andy wrenched her gaze away from the haunting faces and stared down at the water. One by one the flashlights blinked off, at Liam's command again, until only Circe's blue glow illuminated the tunnel.

Andy took a deep breath. With nowhere to go but forwards, she just hoped she wouldn't accidentally crash into one of the pillars.

Jess, keeping back to back with Dave as they went along past the... trees of death. Still tensed up despite his warning. What the hell was this? She rolled her eyes back and closed them. It was just a trick. That's what.

She kept them closed despite what she might feel in case they accidentally brushed past one. Closed tight. She was normally stronger than this... but it was everything. From how tense Dave felt to the fact it was actual past hunters. It was a warning. A warning of what was to come.

This feeling was only compounded as the light she could see through her eyelids faded into darkness. Nothingness and even contact turned to static. Her grip on Dave's stump tightened drastically.

"S-s-sir? I would like to sing now, please." She said it with earnest. If nothing else was going to ease her nerves, it was going to be Dave's horrible off-key rendition of auld lang syne. She needed it. But she wasn't going to tell him that just this moment.

"Alright" He said to Jamisson, before listening to Gabby's commands. If she wanted him to be at the front, he was only to happy to do so. The shadows were encroaching on them, and being one of the few FEAR hunters, it was his job to protect everyone else.

Then, a few more people showed up, including that boy he had met in the dorms, Aaron. He hadn't seen him since then, and it was good to see someone from his own division. But he had asked a question that he did not feel comfortable answering just yet. Though he needn't had worried; Stephen had answered it for him, although very bluntly.

He was hoping, secretly, that Jamisson was right. Ferdinand may have spent his time shouting at him to get his sorry a** moving, barking commands and appearing like he didn't give a s**t, he still respected his leader greatly. He couldn't imagine the guy ever going down, not to the likes of those vermin.

Suddenly, his found himself stepping through knee high water. Damien looked around, his gun raised and ready to start taking down anything that wasn't human, but had to pause as the smell hit his nostrils, and he gagged momentarily. Up ahead were some strange pillars, and once he was close enough he was able to see what they were. Hunters. Dead hunters at that. It was a gruesome sight, but he had seen many a dead hunter in his life, so he moved on.

That was until he came to another set of columns. He stopped, forgetting that he was part of well constructed team and that he should have been moving. He couldn't move, couldn't just ignore who was there. He knew they were dead, that it was sick trick, but he still stopped and stared at the friend he had lost so long ago.

~~

"Somehow, we're gonna make it through this"

"How? How can we?! We're surrounded! everyones dead, except us! Tell me Jack, how in ******** name are we gonna survive?!"

He placed a hand on his clearly panicking friends shoulder, shaking him lightly. "Snap out of it! You'll be fine Damien, You'll be just fine."

The younger sun hunter tried to remain calm. Tried to hide the tears that were streaming down his face. "But what about..."

"Listen. Just follow my lead. I'll make a path for you, and you can escape."

"No, NO! I can't do that, I can't leave you behind!!" Damien shouted"

"Don't worry, I'll follow you out once I've taken care of things. Then once we're out of here, we'll get ourselves a drink. It'll be my shout.



"You still owe me that drink" He quietly said to the statue.

Stephen's words were met by a sharp glare, but before he could respond, Jamisson suddenly cut in. Gritting his teeth, Aaron allowed the man to speak for him before he promptly tore his gaze away, letting it fall to the ground. While he was not going to delude himself and pretend that the possibility Ferdinand had died wasn't there, he didn't want to dwell on the matter either. "Just need to focus on the present, right?" He grumbled, maybe more so to himself than any of the others.

For a while, he followed the group, though he unconsciously began to distance himself from them as they walked. Every few steps, he'd find that he had moved farther away from them. While Rina was complaining in his mind--she thought it would be a better idea for him to stick to people for a change--Aaron was personally starting to feel a little stifled.

And then, of course, all of these worries were promptly shoved out of the window when the Hunters suddenly found themselves standing amongst a forest of corpses.

Despite his boasts about how calm and collected he usually was, even Aaron could not hide the absolute horror that filled him. Some of those bodies, their faces...he knew them. Not personally, or on a level deeper than an acquaintance, but it was still extremely unsettling. He could recall having exchanged words with them on numerous occasions. He remembered their laughing faces...

He clearly wasn't the only one who recognized any of these people either. He looked over towards Damien as he caught the man's quiet words.

"...I'm going on ahead." The proclamation was sudden as Aaron tried to push through whoever was standing in front of him. He wanted to get out of here.

He stumbled for a moment, Gabby was on his arm and he was almost startled by the sudden touch before his gut twisted in knots watching the poor girl get sick. She was looking at him, she could see the tears and gently squeezed her hand. "C'mon Gabby it will be alright we just have to keep moving."

Slowly he tugged her forward helping her before reaching out to tap Damien on the shoulder with the butt of his gun. "Get it together.... you can argue drinks with him when your dead, right now we have to keep going or we'll be left behind."

Next was Arron, he might have cut in sharply but he didn't want to think, to think that one of the leaders were dead. Still he had the right idea when he muttered to himself and they continued to move. That was till Arron moved ahead, "Find another group! If you go alone your going to get yourself picked off!"

She quietly listened at first. Not really knowing the lyrics herself enough to join in properly singing, but still. She tried to softly hum to the beat of his talk-singing part way in. At the very least, the song was serving its purpose. Her heart was high and her stomach unknotted. It put her at ease and after he seemed finished, she tried repeating the final line herself.

"you'll never walk alone." It was true to their situation at least. Terribly.

She slid her eyes open again. Numbed to anything that may be faintly revealed in the darkness by Circe. It didn't matter right now. She wasn't alone. She wasn't the only one freezing her a** off in this disgusting muck. Not the only one in this darkness facing these horrors. She was not alone.

"Thank you sir. I'd ask for another... but I'm sure you'd tuct tape my mouth shut to keep me quiet..." A good sign she was at ease again. She was back to bantering again despite the odds.