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(continued)

A muscle in Chert's jaw jumped at the question, as if straining to hold back his initial response. "I'm looking for 'em, but not as Nick's bloodhound," he said after a moment, sneering faintly. The expression suggested that whatever his reasons for joining the man hunt, they had little to do with Moreau's ominous promise of punishment (now, whether it at all wise to discount the threat so readily was another story altogether).

"What about yourself? Did he stick you out here to help, or does he just dislike you?" One hand gestured briefly at James' torn attire. Out of all the places the helicopter pilot might appear, the jungle seemed one of the least likely. And judging from his appearance, he'd been having a hard time of it, too.

James hit the stick against the ground and then dropped it. "I'm not exactly on his good list..." he shrugged. Making it fairly obvious he wasn't a person who went into details.

The jacket sitting next to him, when you get closer to it you notice that it appears to have blood on it, reflecting in the light even on the black fabric. It also appears to be a bit torn.

Chert rolled the statement around in his head for a moment before cautiously emerging the rest of the way from the vegetation. While he wasn't quite ready to banish his anger, the fact that James seemed to have lost favor in Moreau's eyes made him just a tad more trustworthy in Chert's. "Welcome to the club," he said. His eyes regarded the fluid-stained jacket with interest. "Ran into a bit of trouble along the way?" he persisted, trying not to let his impatience get the best of him. Chert had never been very good at murder mysteries. Maybe it was Colonel Custard in the study with a candle stick, maybe it was Miss Violet- why not stop wandering around the mansion aimlessly and apply a little force in the form of a fist until someone started answering questions? Somehow though, regarding the chisled bulk of the other man, Chert got the feeling that wasn't such a hot idea.

"Yeah, just a bit of trouble out here... nothing I didn't handle." James shrugged. From the wounds evident on James it was clear about one thing. Most of that blood wasn't James'.

"Not disliking me so much now that you know that I'm not the boss-man's pet dog eh?" James laughed, it was a deep and hearty laugh.

The sudden laughter was startling, and if they had been able, Chert's ears would have folded against his head in uncertainty. Despite the circumstances, he was surprised to find that if he didn't exactly like the man, he didn't hate him entirely. "Forgive me my preconceptions-" Chert said sarcastically, "-but what else would I think you were, carting innocent people to this place?"

"Well, sometimes people have reasons for the things they do." he shrugged.

"You don't have to like someone to work for them. Or like something you do to end up in a position where you do it." James left it there. It was good to talk to someone, but he really didn't want to admit that to anyone. James had gotten used to being a loner.

Chert snorted, understanding the explanation but unwilling to accept it. "Whether you enjoyed it or not, you played your part." An eyebrow twitched. "Was I the first islander to happen across you?" It wouldn't have surprised him if the answer had been 'no' - some people might have been able and glad to demonstrate their unhappiness with their former pilot through physical means, although they'd apparently hadn't come out of the encounter on top.

"I'm not sure about that answer." James shrugged his shoulders. "But what about you? Suprised to see your still human. I figured from what I knew of the situation that you'd be like a snail or something by now."

"Hell if I know," Chert said tersely. It was obvious that he wasn't eager to elaborate upon the matter, although it was a worry he'd been privately obsessing over for some weeks. Moreau could simply be toying with him. Or something might actually be wrong... His thoughts strayed briefly to memories full of the sickly sweet scent of decay and tortured forms squatting at the bottoms of their cages, but Chert wrenched them back to the present almost immediately.

James felt a moment of... regret. "Sorry you got brought into all this." he said. Fairly content to leave it at that. James almost never said he was sorry for the things he did, not outloud anyway. It wasn't in his training.

An apology? Chert regarded the other man steadily for a long moment, deliberate thoughts swimming slowly behind his turquoise eyes, before giving a shrug of acknowledgement. "Maybe back up your words with some action if you ever get another opportunity, and we'll call it even."

James chuckled "Don't see that happening, Moreau has me by the balls. I don't see that changing anytime soon."

James gave Chert a dirty look "Don't ever tell anyone I said that." James couldn't afford to loose his tough guy image, it was too much of who he was.

"And just who would I tell?" Chert inquired, gesturing to the jungle at large with a tilt of his head. "The mad scientists? The science experiments?" His tone was darkly amused.

"Doesn't matter. I just can't believe he pulled this crap." James stood up. "Well, I'm off... I'd rather not get into this right now." He offered a burly hand to Chert. It was his idea of a friendly gesture atleast.

Chert gripped the hand firmly after a barely perceptible moment's hesitation. It wouldn't exactly be truthful to say it had been a pleasure- the day had started off unpleasant and had never quite recovered- so he said, "Steer clear of any red lizards or hulking hairy things. Guilt or not, they're off their rockers," by way of farewell.

"I know all about that" he grinned and gathering up his stuff, headed deeper into the jungle. James smiled a bit as he walked off, it was nice to have talked to someone. Even if only a bit.

Cassidy stretched a little. She was coiled over a branch, staring upwards through the canopy. Her stomach was still distended with her recent mystery meal, though perhaps a bit smaller as it digested.

She rolled over slightly, something down below catching her attention. Someone was down there.

After the announcement, she was a bit on edge. She began the slow, downward trip towards the ground, her scaly fingers grasping as she went.

Her tongue flickered the taste in her mouth making her more hungry, she honestly couldn't remember much of how she'd gotten there, only lil things. She wiped her fingers on the side of her wet shirt and slowly moved to stand, and quickly changed her mind, what she wouldn't do for a painkiller just then "Ouch" she murmurs to hereslf

Chubbs smelled around slowly and worked his way to the two smells. There is where he saw Joliette, and he gave a smile. but that soon turned into a snarl, when he noticed the tail in the tree. A god damn snake again, he remembered now why the smell was familiar and he felt so hungry.

Chubbs ran at the tree, snarling. Running around the other side he grabbed at the snakes "neck", right where it would ******** it up.

" God damn snakes!"

He growled at it and he blinked, a flash of memory hit him and he blinked again. He looked up at the face attached to the neck in his grasp. It was big, and humanish. And the snake had... what? wings? Chubbs let go quickly and started panting for breath, trying to calm himself.

" Oh Jesus, I'm sorry!... I... oh man"

Cassidy made a small gurgling sound in her throat, trying to gasp for breath, her mouth wide and her many needle-like teeth showing. She clung tightly to her tree with her tail and one hand, while the other was pressed against her throat. Her feathers were fluffed out every which way.

"What the hell," she managed to gasp out at last. "What the hell." She considered, briefly, fleeing up the tree again. Maybe spending the night there. Or a few nights.

Joliette reached over and used the trunk of a tree and pulled herself to her feet, the damp clothing clung to her figure "I'm fine... I think" she said quietly and put one hand to her temple a moment and looked at the pair blinking "Is it... another lockout?"

Chubbs looked up in the tree and decided that sitting down beside Joliette might make the situation better. After the incident with Billy, Chubbs was all fired up.

" Somones hurt a lab tech... I dunno who the victim was, stupid of them for being out here. It's not a lock down, just that Moreau's uh.. I think locking up the labs till the colprit comes forward."

Cass's tongue flickered. "I dunno. It's all sort of... confused. Stupid to hold us all responsible for one person's actions."

She had an eye fixed firmly on Chubbs the entire time; after something like that, she was not inclined to relax. "I'm Cassidy," she said. "By the way.