"Hi, guys. Going somewhere?" Flora sighted the trio of Alex, Cathy, and Hareton, leaving Thomas to his own devices to return to the ruins of their camp. The water had left Flora a little tired for some reason, but she got over it really quick, deciding that she could sleep later.
Maybe they decided to split the whole group up. We all might find food easier that way, but that wolf, if it came back...
Flora hid her uncertainties. They didn't need someone to drag them down.

(OOC- I'm back early from vacation!)

Lena stared down at the whatever-it-was that they were supposed to eat. It didn't look very appetizing, but her stomach continued to remind her that she was starving. She drummed her fingers on her chin.

"So... anybody know how you're supposed to cook this kinda stuff?" She knew it would have to be skinned (although she had no idea how to do that), but other than that, she had absolutely no idea how to turn the dead animal into something edible. As it was, her culinary skills were limited to "Remove cover and microwave on HIGH for five minutes."

This was going to be... interesting.

"Yes. You make a big fire, wrap it in aluminu... okay, maybe the scales will work for that. Anyway, you make a fire, put it in for a few minutes, and take it out before it's burnt."

Andrew looked around.

"Anyone want to help start a fire?"

Trevor frowned. "Well, normally I would offer, but..." He raised his arms a little to indicate the water still dripping from them. Sighing, he sat down and leaned against a tree. "Maybe once the fire's going I'll be able to dry myself off."

Alex heads after John, reasoning since he'd been the last person to leave he'd been the easiest to catch up to. After a few minutes, Alex is beginning to feel that he might have lost track of John. Catching a glimpse of dull red ahead and hoping its John's sweater that he's seen, Alex calls out, "John, are you there?"

A voice calls out, "Stay back!" It's definately John. Alex steps forwards, "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?!" John emerges part way from a bush, "Look at yourselves! You're all diseased or infected or something. You could all turn into frothing beasts and there's nothing you can do about it." A note of hysteria (?) creeps into his voice, "I'm not going to catch it from you!"

Alex is painfully aware of his own bare feet and their changes. He almost wishes he'd kept his shoes on, despite the fact they now throw off his balance. Hoping to make John calm down he replies again, "We have no idea what could be causing this. It could be something in the air, the water or even inside us. If we want to get out of this, we will need to stay together."

John yells, "Keep away from me!" and runs off. Alex slumps and turns to Cathy and Hareton, "Do you think we should follow him?" Less than half a minute later, they hear a scream.

OOC: Anyone who is not at this position will be too far away to intervene. You might hear some of it though. It's the wolf again if you haven't guessed yet.

Without thinking, Harry starts to run--away from the scream. He only goes three strides before he stops. Harry puts his hands up to his face and looks at the grass, a look of anguish and indecision on his face. Finally, he yells, "Screw it! Let's go help him!" This all happens in a matter of seconds, but it seems like ten minutes to Hareton.

Hareton runs toward where they heard John scream, almost pushing Cathy down as he passes Alex and her again. Jumping through the bushes, he screeches to a halt at the sight of a giant wolf-like monster. Hareton lets out a short yelp and ducks into the grass, knowing that the beast has already seen or heard him. He doesn't see what happened to John, but it couldn't have been good.

Thomas's head jerked around when he heard the scream. Somewhere deep inside him, he enjoyed it. The sound of terror. Of weakness. He shook his head. Those weren't normal thoughts.

He looked down at his claws.

Regardless, there would be fighting. And hopefully, meat.

Thomas got up from where he was wrapping his wounds, and began to sprint through the woods.

(OOC: Don't know how far away the waterhole is. It's up to Ahrha if I even show up to find remains of the guy.)

Cathy's first reaction to the scream was to run. She was halfway up a tree before she realised what she was doing, and quickly shimmied down. However, the low growl of the beast that had attacked them earlier caused her to freeze in fright. Uttering a mewling scream, she shot off in the opposite direction.

Underneath her instincts, Cathy was admonishing herself for her reactions, but so far, it's doing well enough to keep her alive and uninjured. All she could think about, though, was "Oh shit oh shit oh shit I'm going to dieeeeee"

Flora deciding not to stop them from running. She couldn't because she was hurrying to keep up. As she got closer to whatever would be waiting for them, she felt...them.
Something inside me. Not pregnant, but something is inside me...
No time to think about it. She moved, picking up a durable enough-looking tree branch.

Lena automatically shifted into a crouch as the scream tore through the air. Every hair on the back of her neck stood on end, but the rest of her body forced itself to be alert and ready to spring into action. Now why the hell did I just do that? she wondered. But she had no time to ponder her unusual action. She knew what was coming.

She could smell the wolf-creature that had attacked their camp. How she could detect its scent, she had no idea. Her lips pulled back into a toothy sneer as her eyes, once blue but now a tawny gold, scanned the trees.

"It's far away," she said to no-one in particular, "but it still means business."