Nothing but feral instinct ruled Hunter as he finished dealing with the remains of those who attacked him. They had long since reverted back to their human forms since they were dead, but there was some part of him that wasn't satisfied.

He had no interest in eating them. Yet for some reason, he couldn't resist the urge to tear them apart and crush every bone in their bodies, as though it helped him work off an angry, bitter edge that he couldn't remember or understand while in this form.

Once he was finished with his task, leaving nothing behind except for a fleshy, bloodied pile of mulch, he seemed to remember that there had been something else he'd been after. Some other intention that even his primal mind could subconsciously latch onto.

The golden eyes lingered on the barely visible hatch in the ground for a long moment. He briefly considered trying to rip it open, but then he got distracted by something else. A loud noise, something unnatural that couldn't have been caused by the outdoor elements or any animal.

That was when he noticed the car. It pulled up close, a bit close for comfort, then made a horrible screeching noise as it went off in a different direction.

He threw back his head to let out a thunderous howl, then he began to give chase.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Tasha slammed the gas pedal as hard as she could, picking up speed after giving the feral werewolf an incentive to chase the car. Apparently it hadn't taken much at all to get him to do that.

She gritted her teeth, trying very hard to maintain a cool exterior for the sake of her son if nothing else. He was strapped in right beside her, quiet for the most part, perhaps half-asleep; this should normally be his bedtime, after all. She just hoped that the vehicle was fast enough to stay ahead of a werewolf and that it would be solid enough to withstand punishment when she would ultimately have to stop.

Tasha had originally considered something extreme like placing her son in the trunk, possibly, but had quickly nixed that idea. It wouldn't do to have a small child back there where he could possibly get hurt in any number of ways, plus there was a chance that the werewolf would simply rip open the trunk to get to him.

No, she needed him up front, right next to her. That way, if worst came to worst, she could throw herself at the creature if it meant keeping him safe.

For now, all she could do was keep increasing speed and hope to God that the desert landscape remained flat and manageable for high speeds. She had to get to that diner.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It wasn't until the sixth burger was fully consumed that Sarah's regeneration ability finally began to kick in, gradually at first but definitely there. David could already see the improvement when the color returned to her cheeks and neck, her eyes became more focused and alert, and she seemed less uncomfortable.

"How are you feeling?" David asked her.

"Better," was all she said. She sat up a little straighter and began to shed the blanket, narrowing her eyes briefly at him before folding her hands together on the tabletop and focusing on them instead. It appeared she didn't like being monitored for her condition, even if it was for her own good. It was most likely a hangup she had from when she was treated like nothing more than a lab rat by Esben and his cronies.

"Do you still feel any pain?"

"A little."

"It may take a little more time for it to heal fully. Are you still hungry?" David felt he could possibly afford one more meal or two if it came to that. He was also trying to use her hunger pangs as a gauge to figure how her body was doing on recovering from the silver poisoning. He didn't have anything else to go on, after all.

"A little," she echoed.

"Would you like another burger?"

"Yes."

David placed the order and then peered at her over his own steepled fingers. It really didn't seem like anything needed to be said, especially since they had to take care not to discuss anything too sensitive in a public establishment.

Whether it was something about her body language, expression and tone or just his concern for her health, he leaned toward her a little and asked softly, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes." Her tone was somewhat sharp now. She stood suddenly, the grimace making it clear her hip still bothered her a bit, but at least she was standing.

David immediately followed suite, standing and ready to move in case she started to fall. "Where are you going?" he wanted to know as she began to push away from the booth, limping just a little.

"I just need to use the bathroom, OK?"

"Be careful," David took her hand and placed his other hand around her arm, securing his grip even as she looked like she might protest or try to pull away. "Sarah, you might be feeling better but you shouldn't overdo it yet. Come on, the restroom is this way."

They passed the waitress on the way over. David instructed her to put the food on their table and they would be right back soon. When they reached the restroom, Sarah stopped and gave him a withering look, as though wondering if he was going to accompany her in there.

"I'll wait out here," David told her, letting go of her arm. He continued to hold her hand, though, until she was ready to disappear through the door. From what he could tell, she did seem a lot better overall, although he wished he could examine her hip with an X-ray to get a better idea of how much healing it had done. The best he might be able to do would be to look at her injury externally, though this wasn't the best place to do that and judging from her present temperment, he didn't think she would let him right now.

He sighed, feeling a little frustrated about everything, and kept a distant eye on their table while waiting for her to come back out. He wouldn't do anything to rush her, he just hoped she wouldn't take too long and that her injury wouldn't cause her to fall down or anything.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Esben Hansen deliberately lingered behind within the safe confines of the lab, giving Tasha a very good head start to lead the beast away from him. It was very possible that people were going to die tonight, but the only thing he cared about was recapturing Seven and getting her to his benefactors. Nothing else mattered beyond that.

Esben even hoped that Hunter would die tonight, perhaps at the hands of Banner's own alter ego, or perhaps Esben himself would put a silver bullet through both their brains while they were engaged in combat, if all went according to plan. Perhaps he would even get lucky and Hunter would slaughter Tasha before anything else happened.

Still, it was too much to hope that everything could go that smoothly. He could only hope that Seven was still in a weakened state and that she would come along quietly, though it might have been a mistake to assume that considering she was still with Banner… one of the best doctors out there.

Esben took a few more minutes to make certain everything had been attended to within his lab, and that what little remained of his lingering, skeleton staff were doing the things he had assigned them to do. All of the remaining werewolf experiments were dead now, their bodies incinerated; none matter now except Lucky Subject Seven, the only one who turned out just right.

Perhaps he should have designated her Goldilocks…

He grabbed a couple of briefcases that contained anything he deemed worth grabbing, double-checked to make certain everything else had either been incinerated or at least shredded into confetti, then he proceeded forth.

It was time to do the last deed he had to do here, an ugly business but it would take care of any loose ends that he needed to take care of here.

One thing that no one knew when they started working here was that a powerful explosive had been rigged by Esben himself, and he knew exactly where the detonator was. Esben double-checked everything, making certain his staff members were still deep within the building performing their final, assigned tasks.

Those people thought they would be leaving with fat paychecks after this was over, having been promised a generous portion of whatever Esben got from his overseas benefactor when they signed up. Esben, however, had no intention of sharing or cutting loose anyone who knew too much.

Esben activated the detonator, giving it a ten minute delay to give himself time to get out. No alarms went off, nothing to indicate that anything was about to happen within the facility.

He carried the suitcases at a brisk pace, double-checking the powerful rifle and the silver bullets he had placed in his pocket as he went, satisfied.

Three minutes after he exited the building, he heard the chain of explosions that went off, one right after another. He slowly turned to see the ground caving in where he knew the facility to be, followed by the secret hatch tumbling in after it.

They were far too remote for anyone to hear the explosion or witness it in any way. He felt that, the way he had rigged the structure to collapse, anyone within would have been crushed to a pulp… particularly since he had intentionally assigned them to areas where they would either get caught in one of the numerous detonations directly, or be right in the way when key areas of structural collapse came down on top of them.

If anyone had survived, they were probably too injured to last long now.

Esben permitted himself a long, final glance, then turned his back on the sight of it with his head held high. He knew where he had parked a spare vehicle, hidden nearby, and it was time to pursue his quarry.