Hunter went momentarily bug-eyed when he saw the green creature for the very first time, but quickly recovered and jumped into action. He cocked his rifle and prepared for another shot.

Tasha had already jumped out of the car and gotten down on the ground, just hoping not to get shot but not daring the run. When Hunter raised his rifle at the Hulk, the green creature showed some sense of self-preservation by moving around to the other side of the car. Hunter hesitated, trying to maintain a safe distance while attempting to get a better shot in his scope before firing.

The Hulk then half-lifted, half-pushed the car so that the front end more or less faced the direction of Hunter and gave it a hearty shove. Hunter went bug-eyed and leaped out of the way as the hunk of metal missed him by several feet and skidded past him, leaving trenches behind in the dirt.

Hunter rolled over and began to get to his feet, but the Hulk didn't give him a chance to grab his rifle; the green creature picked it up and twisted it like a pretzel, then threw it sky-high. It was at that moment that Hunter realized he had become ill-prepared, not quite ready to take on the Hulk-a being he had no prior experience dealing with-even if he had taken down the She-Wolf with a silver bullet.

He shot Subject Seven a brief glance, remembering his orders to keep her alive if possible, but the bullet had not penetrated a lethal area. It was possible she would survive… or perhaps he could claim her corpse later and take it back to Esben.

Hunter did the only thing he could; he made a retreat.

Tasha took that as her cue and ran as well, apparently deciding for the moment that it was better to take her chances alone while everyone else around her was dangerous, unpredictable and unstable.

The Hulk, noting that everyone else had gone, matter-of-factly scooped the semi-conscious wolf figure into his arms, putting the white furry creature over his shoulder as she was too cumbersome to carry any other way. Then, he picked a direction and began to run.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

David experienced the same sensation he always felt whenever he morphed back into his normal, human self. The feeling of disorientation had become familiar over the years, but still left him with a somewhat out-of-body experience. A different creature had run the show for a period of time, and now it was his job to figure out what happened and proceed from there.

He shivered and wrapped his arms around his chest. It always seemed to be one consistent side-effect of changing back, no matter what the surrounding temperature was. He had theorized long ago that it had something to do with a shock to the system, and perhaps the slowing of his metabolism after having it increased tenfold.

In a way, he was just grateful that it wasn't quite the same as the early days when he felt horrendously dehydrated after his first few changes. Perhaps his body had adapted and learned to compensate… somewhat.

A noise caught his attention, causing him to turn and look sharply to his right, and then down. He started a little when he realized it was Sarah in wolf form, laying somewhat haphazardly on the ground. His eyes were quickly drawn to a spot in her thigh that was bleeding profusely.

He rose from the fallen tree that the Hulk had apparently decided to sit down on and approached the werewolf, squatting next to her. He realized that this was the first time he'd actually had a chance to examine her closely while in this form.

In some ways she looked largely like a wolf, including the capacity to run on all fours due to long arms. Unlike her human form, she was hardly petite; large muscles enlarged her chest, arms, legs and thighs a fair bit, though her entire body was covered in fur that was about four inches long, closer to five in some zones, which gave her relative modesty.

Even so, there was something about her that still had a distinctive… feminine appearance, in spite of everything. Perhaps it was the way certain curves shaped her body, the somewhat longer fur that formed a mane around her neck, head and ears, and there was just something about her face.

The fur on her face was much shorter, softer, more delicate, and lightened into a pretty pale silvery white, which made the gold in her eyes more profound. In some ways… if one could look past the wolf and the fact that she was technically a monster, she really did have kind of a natural, feral beauty.

David examined her injury more closely, noting that it was definitely caused by a gunshot wound that went through the thigh and, from what he could tell, was lodged inside her hip bone somewhere. The young woman was just very lucky that the bullet hadn't ricocheted off the bone and ended up somewhere else inside her or damaged any internal organs…

However, he knew that she was in danger upon further examination of the area. It was bleeding profusely, her tissues weren't regenerating, and the area had kind of a reddish-black look. He realized quickly that Hunter must have used a silver bullet.

According to the research papers and other documents that Tasha had taken from Esben's lab and permitted David to read, silver was the one thing that affected any werewolf on a molecular and biochemical level as a poison and an erosive substance. It suppressed the natural healing ability in the area of penetration and tissue contact, and prolonged exposure would gradually spread and contaminate the rest of the body.

Despite Sarah being Esben's most successful "prototype", he had either not bothered to try and modify her DNA and molecular structure to be unaffected by silver just in case he needed to put her down, or perhaps it simply wasn't possible to make a werewolf immune to silver…

Either way, David knew he had to get that bullet out of her, fast. It had already weakened her, and it would eventually kill her.

But what could he do? He wasn't even sure where they were, and he didn't have anything he could use as a surgical tool. He also knew he couldn't just leave her like this.

There was only one thing he could do. It held a high risk, but their paths would have lead them there eventually anyway…

He looked up at the sky. The sun had already set and thankfully it was a clear night. The stars had already started to fill the sky, allowing him to locate one in particular; the North Star. Without the aid of a compass, he used that to try and form an approximate bearing.

He made the best guess he possibly could about which direction the lab was, knowing full well that they would have the equipment to perform surgery… but he was no fool, he knew they wouldn't just let him walk in. He would need Tasha's help, or he would have to find a way to slip in.

But he also couldn't carry Sarah that entire distance… he would need a car. Yes, it would seem that the first order of business was to try and retrace the Hulk's steps and get back to the car… and hope that it was still in good condition, and hope it had a replacement tire…

What about her, though? He didn't want to just leave her here like this. But he wasn't sure if it would be a good idea for her to move in this condition, either. He also knew there was no way he could carry her while she was a wolf, she was too large and too heavy, plus he wasn't sure if he trusted her with those teeth and claws…

What was he going to do? They were stuck out in the middle of nowhere, with no signs of civilization in sight…

"Sarah?" He chanced placing a hand on the softer fur of her cheek, even knowing full well she could easily snap his hand off. He waited until her eyelids parted a bit more than barely open slits, and he looked directly into those golden orbs. "Can you change back into human form? I need to carry you, and I can't lift you like this."

Medically, he wouldn't advise it normally… the strain of willful metamorphosis might be a bit much. But dying would hurt her worse, and if she was just a bit smaller and more petite, he could carry her as carefully as he could...

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Hunter ended up heading back in the direction of the abandoned house after a while. He was trying to formulate a new plan to take down the Hulk based on what he had seen, particularly now that he had a better idea of what that creature was capable of. Werewolves were strong and quick, but they always seemed far more animalistic in the sense that they either tore you to pieces or ran away to the nearest hidey-hole. Sometimes they would throw objects or destroy things that were in their way, but...

The green creature seemed more like a huge, violent toddler who didn't mind throwing heavy objects around and apparently had its own motivations while in that state, including the protection of whatever it happened to feel protective of at the moment. Hunter would have to bear that in mind when dealing with it in the future.

He passed the car, which was now lying on its side in a ditch next to the road, and disregarded it. He didn't need it and it wasn't important.

He did spot Tasha, however, coming toward the car… as though something inside it interested her. She stopped when she spotted him and they stared at each other for a long moment, each uncertain of the other's intentions.

However, something else had Hunter's partial attention. The sun had already set, and it wouldn't be long before the moon was visible… and tonight was the night of the full moon.

He knew full well that Esben's serum couldn't suppress everything. It kept him from growing too feral in human form, plus it helped suppress a few other tendencies, but the scientist couldn't control what happened to a natural, unaltered werewolf during the night of a full moon once a month.

Hunter grunted and made a beeline for Tasha, grabbing her arm.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?!"

"Shut up and come with me, woman."

Unable to put up much of a fight against such a large and muscular man, Tasha was pulled along toward the front door of the abandoned house. Hunter kicked down the door almost effortlessly and yanked her inside with him.

He escorted her around the house somewhat roughly, as though he were looking for something. Somehow, Tasha got the vibe that he was more frightened in a way than angry with her or anything else.

"What are you doing?" Tasha finally demanded. "Why won't you let me go?"

Hunter looked her straight in the eye. She gasped when she saw traces of gold mixing with his natural brown, almost glowing in the darkness of the dusty old house. "The basement seems… sound enough." He opened the door and practically half-carried her down the steps to another door, kicking it open.

Once they were inside, he took the liberty of closing the door and pushing a large piece of furniture up against it. He then examined the room quickly with eyes that could see better than a human in the darkness, and he pointed to a large wardrobe. "Get in there, and stay in there. I'll put something heavy against it. I will return to let you out in the morning."

"Why are you doing this?" Tasha demanded. "Why are you locking me up like a prisoner?"

"I'm doing this to protect you from me, " Hunter growled, then pushed her into the wardrobe, shut the door, and pushed a small, musty couch up against it.

Then he quickly launched himself out through the nearest window, ignoring the sting of mild abrasions caused by the broken glass as he rolled to absorb the impact. Then he stood and began to run away from the house, hoping to put enough space between it and himself before the curse took over, and hoping that his feral wolf side wouldn't think to return to the house for any reason.

Unlike Subject Seven… he didn't retain any humanity or any portion of intelligent thought when he changed. It wouldn't be long before he became feral and mindless, a beast.