OOC: Sorry for the big delay again, but I've had trouble finding the time to write a post of appropriate size. I've been having a bit of writer's block lately - I know what I want to do but putting it into words that sound right is a bit tricky.

Alex does something that, in a more rational moment, he would probably call the stupid thing to do. He runs towards the scream. Branches and vines whip at his face and snap on his clothes as he rushes forwards. The screams seem to bounce around his skull as he runs through thick undergrowth, arms raised to shield his eyes. If he was in the mind to think about it, he would have been amazed by his own agility

He bursts into the clearing, skidding to a halt and tumbling to the ground as his upper body overtakes his legs when he sees the wolf in front of him. In the split second before his flal, the scene had burned itself on his eyes. John's attacker is a gigantic lupine beast, perhaps even the same one that attacked them before. The creature hunkers over John's prostrate body, crunching down on him with it's jaws. Blood is everywhere, the wolf's teeth and claws smeared with it and a red stain is pooling around John.

Alex's senses feel overwhelmed - the vivid crimson hue and metallic reek of the blood, the screaming going on and on. He can practically taste coppery blood. That had almost been him this morning. Without his conscious thought one hand clutches around on the ground before closing on a heavy rock. A lunatic urge overtakes him as he surges back to his feet, leaping at the wolf. Frenetic, mad, exulting emotion takes him over, sweeping thought aside in it's headlong charge. He gives a screech that he can't tell if it contains fear or rage, a crazed counterpoint to John's weakening screams.

The wolf almost seems surprised at this sudden attack, looking up with a warning growl just as Alex slams into it. Alex feels his breath thud out of him as he rams into the wolfs side. That only makes it stumble a little but then Alex swings his rock down on the beast's back with his full momentum behind it. He barely registers the rock's sharp edges cutting into his palm as the wolf gives a suprisingly dog-like yelp and spins to face him, jaws snapping at him.

Alex grabs onto it's back rather than face it front on, swinging his legs over and smashing at it's head with his rock while his other hand tries to steady him by wrapping around it's neck. Feeling the human on it's back, the wolf rolls over, crushing Alex against the ground. Alex's grip weakens and it rolls off him, getting ready to strike again. Desperate not to be caught helpless, Alex gasps a breath of air and manages to scramble to a semi-crouching position before the wolf is on him again. Alex rolls with the attack, landing flat on his butt again as jaws click shut barely an inch from his face, reddened saliva dripping from them.

It's bulk is crushing him again and Alex feels desperate. He grabs hold of its neck again, pulling him in too close for it's claws to easily strike him and too far down for it too easily bite him. Suffocating on the rank smell of its fur and it's weight on him, Alex lashes out like wounded animal, flailing wildly at anything vulnerable within reach with his rock and biting down on the rolls of skin that protect it's throat.

The weight is suddenly removed and the wolf bounds off, limping slightly. It seems he must have hit something important. He stands unsteadily, looking at where it is going before wobbling and falling to his knees. His rock falls out of his grip as he suddenly feels overcome with exhaustion and pain as well as a strange mental numbness. That hadn't just happened, had it? Alex puts an arm out just in time to stop full-out collapsing. Then his mind seems to just shut down and he slowly folds up, sprawling on the ground next to John.

OOC: John is dead and Alex is out of it for a while. After all, he had something with an uncanny resemblence to a psychotic episode.

Hareton lifted himself out of the grass. That thing, it ate John. I think it's gone now... Harry walked over to Alex and what remained of John. He put two fingers to John's neck, even though he didn't know how to find a pulse. It just seemed like the right thing to do. John was dead dead dead dead. There was no denying that. He turned his attention to Alex, and saw the slow, weak rising of his back. Alex was still alive, but Hareton had no idea whether or not he'd stay that way. Lifting Alex into a fireman's carry, Harry started back towards the clearing. And I thought eating bugs would be a turning point half-an-hour ago...

As Andrew finished preparing the strange scaled creature, he saw Hareton come back towards the clearing carrying Alex. He put the carcass on a spit over a fire that he had managed to start and then went to look at Alex. Before he got a chance, however, he heard more squealing from the direction of the traps he had set. He glanced from Alex to the direction of the traps several times, and then ran off to get the other burrowing creatures.

"Oh my God," gasped Lena as Hareton returned, Alex slung over his shoulder. Alex was unconscious, or so she hoped, and was spattered with blood. It was fresh. Lena felt the color leave her face. That wolf thing... it... it must have...

"Oh my God," she repeated. Something clicked in the back of her mind, something that said she needed to help. Somehow that voice managed to kick the scared-numb part of her mind into action. Quickly she cleared pinecones and rocks out of an Alex-sized patch of grass. She threw her jacket down for good measure, even though it was way too small to be of any use.

"Put him down over here," she said. She got a glimpse of his face, hanging over Harry's shoulder. He looked very pale. This was bad. Well, at least they were all here and alive. Right?

She paused, her eyes widening. They WEREN'T all here. That first scream... it wasn't Alex's...

John.

"Wh- where's John?" she asked in a small voice, a terrible feeling growing within her.

Thomas entered the clearing, his hands soaking in blood.

"I dumped the corpse quite a ways away. Scavengers will get to it eventually. That'll get rid of it for good."

He could see a contemptous look from some of the others.

"Hey, what do you want from me! If we had brought him back here, then we'd have every fuckin' carnivorous animal within a half mile poking their noses, or whatever the hell they have on their faces, in our camping area. At least they'll gather in a place that we won't be in."

Thomas stopped and gently scratched at his chin.

"Then again, if they're all gathered there, it would mean some good hunting..."

"Good idea, but that doesn't mean that we're safe." Flora said, one of the several that wasn't offended by what Thomas said. "The scent of blood is in the air. It's going to draw more of those things and I don't want to be here when predators come hunting for a meal. We should gather anything useful that we gained, wash whatever blood we might have on us off, and get out of here. There has to be someplace where food is in abundance."

Trevor nodded after hearing Flora's plan. "That's probably our best course of action, but it'll be hard. Most of us haven't eaten anything since we arrived here." He thought of his own empty stomach, and groaned.
As Trevor pulled off his shirt intending to wring it out, it got caught on his arm. "What the - ? What now?!" With a hard tug, the shirt tore slightly and came free. Trevor stared at his arm incredulously; sharp spines ran down its length. With a sigh, he squeezed the water out of his shirt and put it back on.
Kneeling down next to Alex's unconscious form, he asked, "So who's gonna carry Alex here?"

"I'm not coming down from here," a small voice whimpered from up in the trees. Cathy was clinging onto the branches again, her limbs hugging the trunk tightly. Strangely, she looked more feline in that position, and those that looked up couldn't shake the feeling that she appeared to be like a cute cheetah of some sort, save for the terrified expression on her face.
"It's safer up here," she said.

Flora nodded along with Trevor. "We should probably take Alex to the stream and get some water in him. In fact, I think we all need some water. We can probably find food and the time to think about all of this on the way."
Flora turned away from the others and kneeled next to Alex, hiding her face.
"It's not like we have to go miles and miles. We can just stop at the stream. Stop at the stream, get Alex up and going, and sort things out."

Thomas walked over to the tree, and pushed. It wasn't a thick tree, and whether he cared to notice or not, he was getting stronger. The tree bent until Thomas only had to look up a small bit to stare into Cathy's eyes.

"So you're going to sit here in this tree for the rest of your life? You'll starve to death, if you're lucky. Maybe the wolves will show up again, find you up there, and simply wait until you fall from exhaustion."

His claws scraped small grooves in the wood, and his new fangs made his jaw set in an awkward position.

"I'm the scariest thing you'll see in this forest, and for the time being, I'm on your side. If you stick by me, you'll be fine. Or, you can sit in this tree and watch us leave you. It's your choice, really."

Thomas let go of the tree, and it shot back in place violently.