"What is going on in there?" Joe was yelling at Lauren.
"Look, we'll tell you later, right now Joey really needs water, so go!" Lauren continued to shove them away.
Laura could tell that Joe was getting angry. She grabbed his arm. "Come on, let's just go."
"Fine. But I want a full explanation when we get back." Joe said. Lauren nodded in agreement. With that, he stormed off in the opposite direction, Laura following closely behind him.
There was more silence as the two of them walked back to the pond. They both knew that Joey was very hurt, and they also knew that their friends were trying to isolate them from it.
Laura was first to break the silence. "Look, I'm sure they have a good reason why they're-"
"Why they're what? Completely cutting us off from Joey? There's no good reason for that. He's my best friend, I have a RIGHT to know." He fumed.
"We'll find out soon enough, for right now all we need to worry about is getting water."
Joe stayed silent the rest of the way. When they arrived at the camp, after the same 15 minute walk, they saw the same scene. People getting treated, people gathering supplies, people making shelter. Laura and Joe carefully weaved through the crowd of people, trying hard not to stare at people as they passed by. Some injuries were hard not to take your eyes away from.
They reached the pond and crouched down next to the water to fill the bottles up.
"Back so soon?" Laura looked up to see Seth standing above them.
"Yeah. Our friend needs water." Joe said, in an annoyed voice.
"I see. So, what did you say your names were again?" He asked.
"Laura."
"Joe."
"Cool. Say, Joe…" Seth said, eyeing Joe's huge arms. "You look strong. After you sort out your water business, do you think you could help us with some stuff back here? We have heavy stuff that needs lifted."
"Um…" He thought about it for a second before replying. "I'll have to get back to you." Laura could tell that Joe wasn't sure how he was going to feel after he saw Joey again.
"Alright, just asking. We can always use the help." Seth said.
By then, Joe and Laura had filled all eight water bottles.
"Okay, let's go back and find out what's up with Joey." Laura said, and Joe nodded in agreement.
They stood up to leave, but they were interrupted by a noise. There was very loud rustling amongst the trees and bushes along the outsides of the camp. Everyone stopped what they were doing, and watched very carefully. The rustling was bigger than any rustling a human could make. The people who were helping build a shelter started backing up towards the pond, because the rustling was relatively near them.
Then, a blood curdling scream was let out by someone on the other side of the rustling trees. It was accompanied by a loud growl, but after a couple moments, the screaming was silenced. No one dared to move an inch.
Three giant cat looking animals jumped out from behind the bushes, blood staining each of their paws and mouths.