7:03 am
Having finished covering the Blackbird with sufficient brush in a well secluded place a ways away from the town, the X-men stepped back to admire their handiwork for a second. Or, at least Bobby and Kurt did. Logan sniffed the air tentatively.
"Smoke. We'll have to hurry. And remember to blend in. I don't feel like saving your asses and we sure as hell don't have enough power to take on a whole town of these idiots." He said, as he started to walk down to the community.
3:00 am
"Shit, shit, and shit!" the girl repeated her 'mantra' quietly as she slid, getting scratches and brush burns on her way down the steep hillside. She had wandered too close to the edge of the path and when an owl suddenly burst out of the foliage, she jumped, causing said tumble. Luckily, the hillside ways are bare of large vegetation or boulders. Unluckily, the slope was in full view of Jenson, and had numerous pebbles, some of which launched themselves toward the lower ground. The small avalanche created quite a noise as it gathered speed and mass, possibly waking people; she had stopped her descent half way down by grabbing a small bundle sage brush and holding on.
'I think that I should stop for the night,' Ria said to herself. She planned on checking on a few of the others she had hidden, but now it was out of the question. She has to get off the hill and into some cover before someone left their house to search for the cause of the disturbance.
4:30 am
A group made its way along a reasonably covered part of the mountain, hunting quail. The dogs moved ahead, sniffing around to catch a scent. But what they did catch, after rousting out a pheasant or two, was a large animal moving away under the cover of the brush. But it didn't move like any large game currently inhabiting the forest, nor did its prints support that it was of a game variety. They were human footprints, in shoes.
Who would be out at such a time, other than they? Each hunt was organized so that only one party was out at a time, reducing the number of hunting accidents. If there was someone outside, they could be mistaken and shot; it had happened enough times in the past. The even bigger question was why. Could the rumors of the abominations taking refuge in caves and dens far away from civilization be true?
7:32
Wolverine slipped into the crowd, blending well with all of the other hunters there. From what he could hear, an 'abomination' was running around in the forest and had 'attacked a party of deer hunters'. "Fat chance." He thought. "They probably scared the hell outta 'em."
He got a few looks from some of the teens who had decided that hunting a mutant would be fun and would get them some respect. He was about to teach them that is was not polite to stare when they quickly turned their attention up to an improvised platform where the hunt was being organized. The elders where calling for order, to explain the plan.
With Bobby and Kurt (on the side of a mountain)
They had to keep well out of site of the town, due to being in their uniforms and Kurt not wearing his image inducer (it broke –again). Not to mention the fact that they passed within hearing distance of several dogs. If they made it out of here in one day without being killed, attacked, or spotted, it would be a miracle. So would finding this mutant. It was pretty open here, but there were ravines, cliffs, caves, and steep wooded hills all over. If you had absolutely no idea where you were going and didn't keep a big landmark in sight, you were about as lost as they were.
Luckily, they had started to see a small deer path through the ground on the side more heavily occupied by vegetation. Following it, they soon saw more detailed footprints, human, leading both ways on the trail. And then they saw buildings on the horizon.
"Time to go the other vay." Kurt said quickly as they run back to a hill in panic. The citizens had gathered near the outskirts, and who knows what they could see from there. Retracing their steps, Bobby noticed a rift in the border of small pines and sage brush to one side of the path, as if someone had run off into the wilderness.
"Over here, Kurt!" He shouted as he dived through the opening. Although he almost wiped out on the path, Kurt did a 180 and sped down through the hole in the bushes.
In Zevi's 'home'
Ria stumbled into the cave, leaning against its walls for support. Her breathing was pained and she was sweating. Her coat was wet and torn in several places (she ran through a creek, so now her feet and pants were soaked) and spotted with blood where the bullet had grazed her abdomen and where a broken branch had almost impaled her arm when she fell. That wound felt as if it were hot and stiff. It was probably infected because of the dirt and debris inside it.
As she slowly made her way through, stopping because of waves of pain and the threat of falling, it became apparent that Zev was not home. Ria had promised that she would come back before the end of the night, which she never had because she needed to shake off the hunting party. That was easier than expected. The dogs got frightened by something overhead sometime after dawn and gave up on the chase.
Ria had no idea what time it was, not that she could care. Her body, though the mind-numbing adrenaline had worn off long ago, was still in shock. That coupled with blood loss and the threat of hypothermia set all of her attention to staying safe and warm in a singular location.
Using the last of her energy and control, she lit a pile of fire wood next to her as she collapsed to the ground unconscious as the logs crackled next to her.
In Town
'Oh damn.' thought Logan, as he crept in the shadow of a grove of pines. This rescue was on its way to being a SNAFU. Not only was the huge hunting party going out to search, but they were splitting up into groups eight. Which made about 15 separate parties that are currently preparing to search the mountain simultaneously. Bobby and Kurt better find that kid before they were surrounded.
