Disclaimer: I don't own Don't starve or any of the characters. Try saying that three times fast.

Wilson hadn't realized he'd dozed off until his eyes shot open. One look up at the sky told him that he'd been asleep for at least a couple of hours, something that was dangerous to do so close to night time. If he'd remained asleep without a fire to keep the darkness at bay...

Wait a minute.

What had woken him up? His mind, only half awake, struggled to come up with a good explanation. There were no rocks poking into his sides. No breeze that he could see. The only thing it could have been-

Then he heard it. Far of in the distance was the sound of barking. Not some friendly bark between dogs, nor was it the kind that they use to scare off competition, this was a hunting call.

Wilson's eyes widened as he jumped to his feet. He had been out hunting once before with a wealthy client interested in some of his inventions. The hounds that the man had used had a very distinct tone when baying, and it was disturbingly similar to the one he was hearing now.

What's more, the noise from these hounds was deeper and louder than the domesticated ones. That implied that they would be far larger. Perhaps even large enough to hunt a human.

Don't panic! He thought to himself. You're not the only thing out here. T-They're probably just out looking for rabbits or something.

He did his best to ignore the fact that hounds that large would need a lot more than rabbits to sustain themselves.

Regardless of their target, he knew it would be dangerous to remain out in the open like this. Wilson quickly packed up what little belongings he had, stowing his knife and notepad into the folds of his vest. His only other possessions were a bundle of twigs and some tufts of grass. Both of those could be replaced easily enough, and right now time was of the essence.

The barking was getting louder now. Whatever the hounds were after was near where he was right now. Wilson risked a glance in the direction their baying was coming from.

It was a decision he immediately regretted.

The hounds were coming from somewhere deep in the grasslands. Thanks to the flat, unobscured, view of the plains, he was able to get a distant glimpse of the beasts.

To call them monstrous would have been an incredible understatement. Even from such a massive distance, it was obvious that they were enormous creatures. One of the front-runners would have been able to stand shoulder to shoulder with a good sized horse.

The scientist felt his blood turn to ice. There was no way those things were naturally occurring. He suddenly got the distinct feeling that remaining here would be a very bad idea.

That only left him with one other option. The forest.

Struggling to remain calm, he took off as quickly as he could into the densely packed trees. Branches lashed out at him while roots attempted to tangle his legs, but the sound of the hounds' crazed symphony kept him running for dear life.

It didn't take long for Wilson's stamina to start failing. He was a man of science. And, like many in his field, had neglected training his body in favor of sharpening his mind. To make matters worse, the barking was getting louder by the second. By now a couple of them sounded like they were almost on top of him.

Come on! Think! He mentally shouted at himself. You can't keep running forever. How can you escape? The answer suddenly smacked him in the face. Both figuratively and literally.

He had been so focused on the sounds of pursuit behind him that he'd failed to look where he was going. As was inevitable in such enclosed areas, Wilson ran face first into a massive tree.

The pain served to scatter the panicked thoughts that had been taking hold, giving him the respite he needed to see his escape route.

The trees!

Most dogs that he knew of where not very skilled climbers. Logic dictated that dogs being two, or even three, times the size of an average household pet would be heavily encumbered by their weight. All he had to do was climb up out of their reach, and wait until some other form of prey distracted them!

Wasting no time worrying about the state of his bark-ravaged face, Wilson immediately began climbing as quickly as he could. Which, as it turns out, wasn't very fast at all. Climbing was hard when you had hardly eaten in the past few days.

A howl of triumph behind him signaled the arrival of the fastest members of the pack. The speeding hound raced forward and got a running jump in an attempt to pick him from the tree like a low hanging apple. Luckily, the rush of adrenaline that shot through his body gave the Wilson the strength he needed. With a massive heave, he launched up to a higher branch, escaping the jaws of the hound with only a couple of inches to spare.

He didn't stop there. Fearing that the demon dogs might have a better way of reaching him, he scrambled up higher and higher until the branches became too thin to support his weight. It was only when he could go no higher that he risked a look down at the hunters.

Half a dozen vicious beasts were glaring up at him. Some clawed at the tree in a clumsy attempt to climb up, while others stalked around in circles with rage burning in their eyes. They didn't like being cheated out of an easy dinner.

A huge sigh of relief shook Wilson's frame as he realized that he was safe for the moment. As the hounds glared up at him, he glared right back.

"You think this can stop me Maxwell?" He spoke, wondering if the man could actually hear him. "You're going to have to send something a lot smarter if you want to finish me off!"

As it turns out, insulting their intelligence was not the best of moves.

Whether by the will of their master, or the whim of lady luck (who didn't like being pushed), the beasts backed off slightly. Without warning, one of them shot forward; sinking its teeth into the trunk of the tree. The dog whipped its head from side to side and soon came away with a large chunk of wood stuck in its mouth.

Wilson stared in disbelief as the others followed its example, brutally ripping pieces out of the tree that was giving him sanctuary.

"Uh, guys? Y-You know I was just kidding about the not being smart right?" He ventured, his mind racing at the sudden peril he was in. "Listen, I know of a place with a great assortment of rabbits. LOTS of rabbits! What's say I point you in that direction and we forget this whole mishap ever happened?"

Predictably enough, they ignored him entirely. The dogs were cutting down his hiding place and he couldn't see any way out of it.

The massive tree suddenly gave a lurch.

"Oh no…"

The forest behemoth started to sway as sickening cracking sounds filled the air.

"No, no, no, nononononono!"

The hounds darted out of the way as the weight of the wooden monolith sealed its fate. It was all Wilson could do to hold on and pray for a miracle.

The young man let out a terrified scream as the earth rapidly approached. The impact with the ground was so violent that he was hurled away along with shattered branches and pieces of bark. Skidding across the ground, he eventually came to a painful halt.

Wilson groaned as he struggled to rise again. The moment he regained his bearings however, it became clear that he was in deep trouble. The hounds had formed a semi-circle around him, and now they seemed to grin maliciously at his predicament.

Taking an unsteady step backwards, the ground suddenly shuddered under his feet. He ventured a look over his shoulder to find that his flight had landed him right on the edge of a miniature cliff with a good sized lake down at the bottom. And, of course, the dirt on the edge was fairly unstable.

"Oh come oooOOOOAAAAAAAHHHH!" His protests were cut off as the dirt beneath his feet crumbled away, sending him falling into the empty air with the water getting closer at an alarming rate.

His free-fall came to an end as he impacted the pristine surface of the lake, sending up a massive spray of water and plunging him into darkness.

All in all, nature was incredibly boring. Wendy had been walking in the direction she assumed was north for the better part of a day, and had yet to find anything more interesting than some oddly colored mushrooms. Stomping it into mush had only provided a small amount of amusement.

She swatted at branches and insects with her ax as she walked.

"It's so much less fun when you aren't around Abigail." She said. "There's nobody to play with."

All of the small forest creatures she had run across up to this point had been smart enough to realize that her version of 'playing' didn't usually end well for them.

Suddenly, a very high pitched scream echoed through the forest only to be silenced moments later by a loud splash.

Wendy froze. So far, she had yet to meet another living person in this world. She had assumed that she was the only one. Could there be another unfortunate soul trapped here as well? Not for long, if the tone of their cry was anything to go by.

Still, she could investigate. If nothing else it would provide a decent distraction from her boredom. Maybe even a few useful supplies.

Keeping a tight grip on her ax, she started headed towards the direction of the disturbance. It only took a few minutes of walking for her to find the location.

At the base of a small cliff was a large body of water. The tranquil waters looked so peaceful compared to the ragged body lying on the shore.

The man, who must have been the source of the screaming, was face-down in the dirt. He was entirely soaked, and didn't so much as stir as she approached. Wendy frowned; she had been looking forward to meeting someone who wasn't dead. Oh well. Might as well have a bit of fun.

Following in the tradition set down by the very first children to run across a dead thing, she promptly found the nearest stick and began poking him in the face.

Much to her surprise, the 'corpse' started groaning. The girl jumped backwards with a small shout as he started moving.

The not-so-dead-man struggled into a sitting position, doubling over to spit out water and clods of dirt. Swaying from dizziness, his eyes slowly fixated on her. For a moment, the two of them stared in mutual silence.

That didn't last long.

Perhaps it was her pale complexion, or her unnerving demeanor, or maybe even the ax she was carrying. Whatever the reason, the moment he got his senses back the man immediately recoiled in terror.

"Gah! Don't kill me!" He screamed, frantically crawling as far away as possible. Please, I didn't mean to land in your lake! It was an accident! Don't haunt me!"

Wendy cocked her head to the side curiously.

"Sir?" She asked. "Is something the matter with your head?"

Seeming to notice that he wasn't being hacked limb from limb by a vengeful ghost, he stopped trying to flee.

"M-My head?" He ventured. "Wait, you're not a phantom?"

"Not to my knowledge." She saw him blink in surprise at her odd speech. "My name is Wendy. I've been living here for some time now. Are you trapped as well?"

His mouth hung open in shock.

"You're an actual child? He trapped a child here?" His tone held both disbelief and outrage. "Maxwell took a child here? That miserable! Sadistic! Son of a-" He managed to catch himself before cursing in front of someone so young.

Wendy watched quietly as he put his head in his hands.

"I knew he was bad, but this…" The man was muttering to himself now. "That's going too far."

Eventually, he composed himself enough to face her again.

"Sorry about that." He said. "My name is Wilson. And yes, I've been stuck here for a while also. Listen, it isn't safe here. There were some hounds chasing me earlier, and I doubt that they'll be giving up this easily. There'll be time to talk later, but right now I think it's best if we get as far away from here as possible. What do you say?"

With that, he got to his feet and held out his hand. Wendy examined the offered appendage with disinterest.

"I believe I know somewhere safe." She said, turning back the way she had come. "Come on. If we are quick we can make it back there before dark."

Not bothering to see if he would follow, she set off back towards her original base-camp.

This was turning into a very disturbing day for Willow. To put it simply, she had never seen any one person eat so much without passing out. Or throwing up. Or both.

Wolfgang shoveled down his fifth helping of carrot stew in record time. The man was a bottomless pit from which no food could hope to escape. When he emptied the wooden bowl of its contents, the massive man leaned back and let out an explosive belch.

"Is good!" He declared, much louder than was strictly necessary.

"Right…" Willow said, still working on her first bowl. The runny mush of a stew wasn't great, but it sure beat eating berries for every meal.

She had found Wolfgang earlier that day, after he had caused a miniature landslide of rocks and rubble. Apparently he had believed that rolling a boulder down a large hill would somehow clear a path through the forest for him. As it was, she had narrowly avoided being flattened by it.

Setting aside the remains of her meal, Willow began flicking her lighter on. It was a nervous habit she had picked up years ago.

"So, Wolfgang." She began. "I don't suppose you know a way out of the woods?"

If she was entirely honest with herself, the tree thickened area was a pain to live in. Strange sounds echoed from every corner, and she got the distinct feeling that she was being watched. Even worse, now that she knew other people like him were here as well, simply lighting everything on fire wasn't an option. Well it was, but she didn't feel like cleaning up the mess. Or informing families.

The large man didn't seem to notice her tension.

"Bah. Trees try to trap me, but I am too mighty for them." He stated. "I will find way out by breaking through silly wood. Wolfgang is stronger than forest!"

His words were about as useful as she had expected them to be.

"I suppose that could work." She said, doing her best not to roll her eyes at his 'strategy'. "But did you see any good direction from the top of that hill? Somewhere that didn't look like it would be filled with nasty things?"

He struck an almost comical thinking pose at her question. The way his mustache twitched during his, no doubt intense, consideration made it very difficult for her to keep a straight face.

"Hmmm. There was less trees in some places…"

She immediately perked up at the news.

"Which one?" She questioned.

He stood up and began slowly turning in circles. "Was left… no, right of… uh… little left from… there was large rock at some place…"

Her hopes plummeted back down to the ground as she saw he had no clue where the key to freedom was.

Closing her eyes, Willow gripped the lighter tightly in her fist. Right now she wanted nothing more than to let fire free her from this place. Burning the forest would be so easy. Not to mention it would be a spectacular sight. So many flames, reaching up into the heavens. A brilliant tapestry of red, orange, yellow, and white all swirling on the canvas of the night sky…

With inhuman willpower, she forced her thoughts away from those of an uncontrolled burn. Wolfgang wasn't fireproof. As annoyed as she was that he had almost turned her to paste with a runaway rock, she didn't want to be responsible for killing him. Not to mention anyone else who might be lost in these piney prisons.

Sudden movement in the distance snapped her out of her thoughts. Several miles away, a small cliff broke apart. She could see the tiny cascade of dirt falling down the length of it.

Seeing her expression, Wolfgang stopped his attempts at locating directions.

"Willow see something?"

She had. Pointing in the direction of the cliff, she told him what had happened.

"A piece of that cliff just broke off!" She said. "Do you know what that means?"

He stared blankly at her for a moment before turning fearful.

"Is monsters!?" He asked, suddenly trembling and looking in all directions. "Attacking cliffs!?"

"No, don't be stupid." She said. "Monsters don't exist. There's people over there! Maybe even people who know how to get out of here and back home!"

He didn't look entirely convinced.

"Let's get over there and find them!" She grabbed his arm and started pulling him along, a feat that was made rather impressive by the fact that he had almost double her body mass.

"B-But what if IS monsters!?"

Willow grit her teeth in frustration.

"Then I'll light them on fire." She declared. "That will solve both our problems. Now get moving or I'm not letting you have any of my carrot stew tonight."

With a small whimper, Wolfgang fell in line behind her.

The borderline-pyromaniac could hardly contain her excitement. If she could find more people, then surely one of them would know how to get home.

Now all she had to do was reach them.