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There were more. So. Many. More. Women and children of all ages and deformation were tumbling out of the forest and appearing out of nowhere, dressed in all sorts of outfits. Where the hell were they coming from?! Lette was beginning to realize that maybe these individuals were not human at all, just as Xiu said, but potentially apparitions. Or maybe hallucinations? But what the hell was effecting the whole group that was causing all 4 of them to trip out? There had to be some explanation for all these people, they couldn't have walked out here on their own unnoticed...could they?

"Uhhh, I think Xiu is right, we need to get the hell out of here. Right. Now." marching her way towards We`rika, Lette pushed and tugged the women and children that had slipped between her and the man. "Stop shouting at them, that doesn't solve anything, obviously they are displeased at something. Maybe they were faking it the whole time, you big lug."

Man, it seemed for every woman or child she pushed out of the way, two more appeared in their place. And something was wrong with them. They didn't seem to react to her at all, as if she wasn't even there. They didn't even feel that warm, or alive, to her either. As the area got more and more crowded with people, she felt her earlier reservations about the child slip away. At this rate it was going to take forever to reach We`rika and they needed to go. "Kick him or something! Don't just push and tug at him like that if its not working."

'

Despite the direness of the situation, Xiu couldn’t help but wince when We’rika began shouting words that rhymed with “duck” and “luck” for all to hear. While Xiu was aware that such words have been mentioned in abundance in television shows, it still felt harsh to the ears. But this was not the time to fuss over such things! Shoving another not-human out of the way, Xiu was just in time to watch Sevilin applied what appeared to be some kind of corrosive fluid over the first child. Instantly black smoke began pouring out of its open wound.

Just what are these creatures?

As if in answer, the deformed being let out a yell so loud and so shrill that Xiu could feel his ears ringing long after the actual sound has ended and this seemed to trigger a reaction within the others in the group. Like porcelain, the women’s faces shattered and broke with alarming uniformity to reveal a ghastly entity within. Raising high above the group, these “women” seemed to moult right out of their human skins and claw-like talons flexed with anticipation in the dimming light.

They are scary! Very scary!

Panic seemed to grip Xiu’s very being as he watched these creatures metamorphosed from something that was merely disturbing to the outright horrifying. Those eyes! That gaping maw! The screeches!

Keep them safe

A directive. A command. Something that could not be ignored. Instinctively, Xiu reached out for the grappling demon-child and yanked it off Sevilin with a hard tug. Then, unceremoniously, the child was thrown at a screeching adult. The force of the impact knocked the duo right out of the air and into a bramble bush where the adult seemed to have gotten its lower papery half entangled. Despite their spectral appearances, they were undoubtedly and reassuringly solid.

Using his wings to slam another leaping child out of the way, Xiu floated closer to where Sevilin and the humans were. “Head for areas with many branches!” said Xiu as he drew his sword. “we’d less likely be ambushed from the air there!”

“And umm...I think the adult’s billowy bottoms may be their weak point...,”

They were in the middle of a nightmare. Entities that she first thought were humans were becoming demonic creatures to rival the greatest horror films. All around her the women and children were transforming with screeches and cries, seemingly spurred on by Sevilin when he did something freaky that caused the original childs arm to go up in smoke. How the hell he did that was beyond her, but right now it didn't matter. Their group needed to move and they needed to move now.

Ducking, Lette made a run for the Raevans and We`rika, attempting to get under and around the monsters in a crouched dash. Jumping left, and twisting right, she did her best to avoid the creatures, but there were too many of them. The mob was too condensed and she didn't have anything to defend herself against such monstrosities.

Taking a deep breath, she looked for the quickest escape she could find and ran through a gap in the crowd to the trees. The clearing hadn't been that big. She'd be able to find them easily enough if she made a circuit around the trees fast enough. That is, if something did find her first.

As the tip of his sword pierced through the flesh of the first creature unfortunate enough to be in its way, Xiu was surprised to discover that piercing these creatures did not take all that much effort at all. All that was felt was a slight but very brief resistance before his sword slid all the way through. While that discovery itself had its own kind of macabre horror, what was more horrifying than realizing how simple it was to kill someone was the dying scream that came after it. Pained moans, anguished cries; the whole works.

Xiu felt his own heart go cold at the sound of those cries. Those human-like cries. The cries of those whose hopes had been wrenched out of their grasps just as they were about to see the end of the tunnel. The cry of the damned...

The hand holding the sword threatened to go limp as Xiu struggled with his inner thoughts. Despite what he knew, despite all that he had seen, logic was fast losing ground to emotion as Xiu started to make only half hearted swipes at the ghastly beings.
Then just as before, something a lot more primal than rationale and reason spoke up.

Only the living may truly feel remorse

That was true wasn’t it? If the White Sigel had any actions to regret over, he had best be doing it while he was still alive and able to do something about it.

Yes said the voice dryly, unimpressed by how slow the other could be sometimes.

“Damnit...,” muttered Xiu as he performed one of the more famous and often executed military tactics in history. The white Sigel retreated.

Floating as fast as he could in the direction of We’rika’s and Sevilin’s voices, Xiu made certain to cut down any of the straggling monsters that were within striking distance. In the confusion of it all, Xiu had assumed that Lette was with the group.

Dashing through the trees and doing her best to avoid their branches, roots, and potholes, Lette found herself quickly lost. The encroaching darkness had made the forest much harder to navigate than she originally expected, making her attempt to circle the clearing in the shield of the trees a failure.

As she began to give up hope of making it back around to where her team was last seen, she saw what seemed to a perceptible change in the light through the trees. A clearing, perhaps?! Maybe she had made it back around to the group after all. Putting a last bit of energy into her stride, Lette burst through the tree line and found herself...in a field of brambles. Not only was she not back with her group, but she seemed to be in a dead end with no visible path through the field. Her only options were to go back through the forest to see if she could make it bac--

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Holy hell.

Turning back to the forest, Lette could feel her eyes opening wider as they probed the depths of the trees. Had one of those things followed her through the forest? She could have sworn none of them had paid any attention to her fleeing. Now, as she looked between a field of thorns and the forest of darkness, with no idea where or how far her stalker was, she realized just what sort of situation she was in: hopelessly trapped. She had no map, so there was no way to know where she was or what direction to run in, and she definitely didn't have a weapon. Reaching into her pack and pulling out her cell phone, she lit up the screen, validating her fears. No signal either. She was shafted, pure and simple.

With one last look across the field, hoping to spy a path in the dim light, her eyes caught a motion across the field. Pushing her glasses up her face, she squinted into the gloom to see...We`rika and Sevilin dashing across the field on the other side. Screaming out their names for help, she heard an echoing cry come from behind her. The creature was closer. Whipping around she cried out one more time for help before remembering she had the flare gun in her backpack. Dropping it to the ground and digging amongst its contents, she drew out the gun and double checked to make sure it was loaded.

As she stood back up she pointed it back at the forest line. She had three options in her mind right now. She could shoot the creature with the flare and hope that it would scare it away or injure it, but could also piss it off. She could shoot it into the air to call for help, as this seemed what one would call a dire situation, but it could take awhile for help to arrive. Or she could hitch the bag up on her shoulders, tuck her pants into her shoes, push her shirt tails deep into her pants, and run through the field. As it was, the brambles were about lower thigh to waist level, if she navigated calmly enough, she could make it to the other side. But could the creature make it through just as fast, if not faster than her? Would it even slow it down? Her heart rising in her throat, fear building, Lette found herself unable to make a decision, frozen in place.

The Sigel’s speed had slowed drastically after the initial blind dash. Now that the Sigel had had time to get his bearing, it was depressingly clear that he had no clear idea where his teammates are. While he was sure that they had at least escaped in this direction, the noise, the confusion and the general chaos that was around him had spread out while the darkness around him intensified. At this rate, there was no certainty that he would not miss them even if they were mere meters apart.

Should he push on? If so, in which direction?

Should he light a fire then and hope that the light would call his team mates back to him? What if that only attracted the wrong sort of company?

Pausing almost reflectively, Xiu plucked several large leaves off an overhanging branch and cleaned his gunk covered blade with it. It was probably just as well that he did as the leaves withered and curled when they came into contact with the goo. Grimacing, Xiu tossed the leaves aside. The noise surrounding him was still disconcertingly loud and disarmingly disturbing. There were screeches and yells, cries and growls; the whole cacophony of sounds one would usually associate with a plundered and dying city. At least, plundered and dying cities in movies.

Xiu knew that he should be move on, to continue his search for his teammates. But something in him told him to wait. These creatures were predators and they hunted in packs. Surely...an alarm will sound if his team mates were found...

There! A cry!

Without thinking, Xiu charged towards the sound of the telltale scream.

Lette had never before experienced a true fight or flight reaction before, but she could say she had now. Time seemed to slow down as adrenaline pumped through her veins, wiping out her fear and steeling her muscles. Dropping to a crouch, thighs tensing, Lette turned and dove into the bramble field.

Feeling as if she was an Olympic hurdler, Lette both ran and hopped as best as she could through the field and dense patches of thorns. With the sound of her blood rushing through her ears, her heartbeat the drum to her footsteps, she drove deeper and deeper into the thorns, ignoring the tugs at her clothes and the ache in her legs. She could barely see the other side of the field, where Sevilin and We`rika were no longer in sight, but she was determined to make it over there as best she could. Unsure of how close the monster was to her now, and refusing to look back to see, Lette wished with all of her heart that it was caught in the brambles or left behind.

Then, with a scream, Lette felt her foot get ensnared in a bramble patch and she went down, arms outstretched to catch her fall. With another outcry, she felt the palm of her left hand become pierced by a thorn, her right somehow finding a clear patch to land in. As her mind became awash in pain, the tears in her legs from passing vines and bushes also began to throb in unison.

As unwanted tears began falling down her face, Lette did her best to pull herself together. Grimacing, she put her weight on her right arm and pulled her hand off the thorns, wincing as the thorn extracted itself from her palm, blood swelling to fill the void. Next, she brought her right leg up, followed by her left, to a crouching position on the ground. Giving a small prayer to whoever was listening, Lette thanked the gods that her ankle wasn't twisted. Though her fall had given her a whole smorgasbord of cuts up and down her arms and face. Doing her best to ignore them for now, Lette whipped around and looked for her stalker in the field.

Nothing. There was nothing.

She heard no sounds and saw no movement anywhere in the field. Freezing, she did a slow look around her. Still nothing. The only thing she noted was the flare gun had fallen out of her hand during the fall and was about a foot or so ahead of where she was now, nestled in its own batch of thorns.

Where had the creature gone? Was this a trap? Or had it disappeared as quickly as they had appeared in the clearing?

Everything seemed like it was fine, until she heard a loud snap, sputter, and crack echo through the night behind her.