Day 9 - 3:27 am

Kicking the remaining embers of the campfire out, Beyond sighed in mild irritation. "Anax, have you finished mapping possible evacuation routes?" The drone beeped and chimed in response as Beyond rolled up the small sleeping bag and pulled a large, high powered flashlight out of the bag.

Chiming several more times before interjecting. "Master Beyond, would it not aid our search efforts more if we waited until sun up?"

"Anax, trails only have so long until they grow cold, you're a computer, you should know this. It's evident that he was grabbed here. There's signs of struggle, and… this…" The large beam of light landed on deep slash marks into the ground and a fairly decent sized pool of blood mixed into the mud. "He might not have time for me to wait." Clicking the flashlight on the opposite side of the power switch, the flashlight changed to a bright purple color, the immediate area lit up in a bright lime color. "We have to keep moving, we've spent enough time searching for this spot." The purple light lifted and scanned over the nearby surroundings, before slowly lifting to the trees where more lime color illuminated. "Scan local wildlife tree hunting capabilities, there should be more debris, if it was a bear or a puma, eliminate them from the scan."

"No matches."

Sighing out again, Beyond lifted his pack of cigarettes. "Wonderful." Popping a cigarette into his mouth and lighting the end of the cylinder, the raven started in the direction of the ultraviolet trail.

Careful to step around any seen downed branches, the flashlight landed on a mangled body pressed into the tall grass. "Ah, fuck, please don't be him…" Giving the corpse a wide berthing, Beyond clicked the flashlight to its normal setting and breathed a small sigh of relief.

Anax beeped while hovering over the remains, recording the evidence. "It is a mountain lion, sir, large adult male, no signs of life."

Slipping a pair of gloves on, Beyond stepped closer to the downed animal. "Whatever it was, it chewed him up pretty good." Rotating the body to be belly up, Beyond covered his mouth and nose with the crook of his arm. "It gutted him."

"I believe humans would respond to this scene as 'ew'." Beyond dropped the limp body back into its original resting place.

Beyond chuckled and while walking away from the body and pulling his gloves off. "Yes, Anax, that is ew."

-x-

Light watched the staticky camera feed with a crinkled nose of distaste. L clicked a couple of keys while monitoring the other surveillance camera feeds. Near sighed as he watched the screen filled with motion and sound feeds, before speaking out. "Where are the rest of them, I'm not picking up any motion?"

L clicked through the feeds before dully responding. "Caspian is fixated on the mountains again, Matt is smoking on the dock at the lake and Mello seems to be very intimate with a tree…Hmm… Why? Mello is near Camera 37, what are the motion detectors in that region reading?"

Near sighed and folded his arms, tucking his chin slightly while continuing to stare at the screen. "I just said I wasn't detecting any anomalous motions."

Light rested his hand on his chin while furrowing his brows at his screen. "Beta 7 is with him, it wouldn't be, if there wasn't something attracting it."

Aiden leaned over and craned his neck to see the computer screens on Light's desk, while remaining careful not to agitate his stitches. He nervously watched Light's computer screen that contained the feed with Beyond. "L said whatever it was, it was fast, what if it's too fast for the motion sensors? But, but, because it makes sound, it attracts the drones?" Aiden looked down to his hands and fidgeted with his fingers before glancing up to Light who seemed to be analyzing the teen. "Like… a hum that we can't hear? But, your drones can?"

The brunette guard raised his eyebrows as a thought came to him. "That is entirely possible. I don't know about it being too fast for motion sensors, but they do have a delay." Tapping his finger on the desk a couple of times in thought. "I'll have to outfit the drones with… wait…" Light tapped on his keyboard with lightning speed. "Holy shit… Beta 7 is picking up a sound frequency of 22Hz." Knitting his brows together before typing again. "Near, L, I need you to monitor the region around Camera 37, very closely. Ignore anything coming from a different spot."

Aiden watched as Light typed commands into another drone's screen. Near jolted up and ripped his headphones off his head before clasping his hands over his ears. "What the hell was that!?"

Light flicked his eyes towards the screen containing the location tracking of all of the drones. "A call back. I had Beta 3 mimic the sound as close as I could."

Near watched the screen as several frequency spikes were detected in a line from Mello's location towards Beta 3. L set the camera to record as a figure flashed by one of them. "Whatever it is, it's on the move, and it's faster than I thought." As he slowed some of the footage down to as slow as it would go, L hummed cryptically. "It's humanoid, but I can't make out what it is, its proportions aren't correct to be human, nonetheless the super human speed."

Light watched Beta 3's position on the map completely disappear. "Can anyone tell me what's going on near Camera 41?"

Near sat back down and watched the monitors. "High frequencies detected ranging between 27,000 and 30,000Hz."

"It's frying my drone's sensors."

Aiden sat back on the bed and fussed with the rubik's cube L had let him play with. "Wouldn't we hear something like that?"

Near swiveled in his chair to face Aiden. "No. Humans can only hear between 20Hz and 20,000Hz. Even then, most people can only hear around 25Hz, they only go lower if they have incredible hearing, I'm guessing Mello is one of them. But, anything higher than 20,000 is considered ultrasonic, like a dog whistle, the odds of hearing that as a human is microscopic."

L lifted his eyes and grabbed his rifle while starting for the staircase. "Mello is on the move, I'm going to rendezvous with him to make sure he gets here safely. Keep an eye on Beyond and the other two."

-x-

Following a heavy blood trail, Beyond knelt down to touch the dirt. "Not looking good, Anax." His eyes flicked up to see a dismembered moose. "We're getting closer." Shining his flashlight into the surrounding forest, the beam landed on a large burrowed hole. "Ah… shit…" Readying the firearm and securing the flashlight to the barrel, the raven sighed quietly before approaching the cave-like entrance. "Anax, stay outside and alert me if anything comes." The drone beeped in compliance.

Stepping into the entranceway, a foul scent reached Beyond. "Oh god." Delving deeper into the cave-like hole, Beyond squatted next to a small, chubby black squirrel that was panting heavily. Tenderly lifting the squirrel in his hands, Beyond glanced towards the entrance before stepping out of it. "Anax, remember when you'd mentioned you couldn't find your squirrel friend? This ain't him, is it?" He held the limp body of the rodent out for the drone to analyze.

Anax released a few lower pitched tones before the speakers on the drone resounded a sad tone. "Oh, my poor friend." Anax touched the head of the squirrel with its pincher. "I'm afraid he has too much damage, even if we could stabilize him, his bones seem to be crushed." Hovering close to the ground, Anax lowly chimed a couple more times. "Mr. Beyond, please do me the service of putting my friend out of his misery. He doesn't have long left, but him suffering this way, well, it would bring pain to any creature, though, I may not have emotions in a traditional sense, I care deeply for this small creature and would like to make haste in easing his suffering. I have researched it is the humane thing to do. Please do it painlessly, he has suffered enough."

Beyond nodded solemnly before quickly breaking the squirrel's neck with his thumb. "Sorry, about your friend, Anax."

"He has been missing from his nest for two days. I am sad, I believe is the appropriate emotion, that he is gone. But I am glad, which I believe to be the fitting response, to have closure; he is no longer missing and no longer suffering. I will keep a steadfast watch for you. And, I will, with glee, tase anything that tries to enter."

Beyond nodded to the small drone that landed next to the squirrel's body as he reentered the cave. Stepping over the discarded parts of animals, Beyond entered a larger chamber, the smell of the beginning stages of decay overwhelmed his nose. Wrinkling his nose while taking shallow breaths, the flashlight landed on a scene of gore. Mud mixed with blood with bones and animal parts sticking out of the ground.

A shuddered breath was heard causing Beyond to shift his position and point the barrel and flashlight to the left of the cave. As the light landed on the counselor, Nootau shielded his eyes. Slowly easing the firearm down Beyond took a step towards the young man. "Status."

"Wh- what?" The young man answered in a timid hush.

The raven narrowed his eyes before darting them quickly towards the cave entrance at the sound of a shot from a firearm. "What is your status? Are you hurt?"

Nootau waved his hand in a downward fashion while whispering. "I don't know where it is. It got me good. My leg is broken. I'm pretty sure my foot is too. It grabbed me from low and carried me through the trees. Did you see it? Tell me you saw it, Kitchi." His whispered words seemed to teeter on pleading.

Beyond shook his head and used the stock of the gun to lean down while whispering. "We'll talk about this later, we need to get out of here. Your arms work?" Nootau gave a shaky head nod. "Okay. You're going to need to climb on my back, I can't dress any wounds you have here, it's disgusting, you'll get infected for sure here." Nootau shot Beyond with a horrified look. "If you thought I was carrying you out of her bridal style, you're out of your damned mind." Beyond took the bag off of his back and turned around for Nootau to grab ahold. While the counselor was climbing himself towards Beyond, he pulled out a small bag of earplugs. He handed two over his shoulder and put two more in his own ears. "I get the feeling I won't be able to leave as silently as I came. I think we're being watched." He then pulled out a climbing harness and used the straps to tie Nootau to himself around both of their backs and under Nootau's thighs. "Don't get lazy, you may be strapped on, but I'm not guaranteeing those will hold, so keep a strong grip under my arms, lace your fingers together. I don't know if I'll need to use my arms or not. If it is what you think it is, I will. If you fall, I won't be able to turn back for you fast enough and you die, that's it, game over, got it?"

Nootau nodded stiffly as he clung to Beyond's back, wrapping his arms underneath he guard's. The raven set the backpack over Nootau's shoulders. "Kitchi, you can't outrun it."

Beyond cocked the shotgun to load the live rounds into the chamber and sighed. "Probably not, but if I can just slow it down enough, we might make it. It's only about a mile and a half."

Nootau winced in pain as Beyond stood and readied himself, whistling to Anax. "Get ready little guy, we're taking off at high speeds."

The drone outside readied his propellers and beeped. "Affirmative. There is movement 3 kilometers to the west and closing in fast."

Beyond boosted Nootau to be higher on his back. "Now or never, hang on as if your life depends on it, because it does." Beyond reached into his pocket and pulled out a flare. "Keep a grip on me, but if it gets too close to us, shove a flare down its throat." The raven placed one of the flares in between Nootau's clasped hands. "Deep breath… and…" Beyond peeked around the exterior of the cave. "Three… two… one." As he said the last word, Beyond darted directly for the main camp, Anax flying within close proximity.

Expertly dodging branches and fallen trees, Beyond managed to make a great deal of headway ahead of any possible pursuit. Anax chimed several times. "Motion sensors are beginning to go off behind you." The radio attached to Beyond began making loud static noises before a high pitched whine.

"So, that's what's fucking with our equipment." As he finished his statement a large dark figure fell from the trees above them on all fours, as the figure rose to stand on two feet a large moose skull silhouette became illuminated by the moonlight.

Beyond slid to a stop on some loose dirt underfoot as Nootau squeezed the guard tightly while shaking while whispering in a shaking hush. "It's found us."

Beyond smirked and pulled a small object out of the pocket of his cargo pants along with a pair of dark colored goggles. "Close your eyes." Nootau obliged and nodded as Beyond strapped the goggles on. Pulling the pin of the small object Beyond smirked. "Catch, stupid." He threw the object directly at the beast as he took off into another sprint towards the right of the beast, Clutching at Nootau's arms tightly with one hand and a firm grip on the shotgun with the other.

A brilliant light illuminated the immediate area accompanied by a deafening sound from behind them as they continued running. A loud howl resounded through the trees as Beyond dodged more branches and large rocks, kicking off of them with ease.

Loud galloping could be heard on the ground coming back around the left side of Beyond. The raven smiled manically as he racked the gun once and glanced at the figure running on all fours near him. "This is the most fun I've had in a long fucking time!" He slid to a stop, kicking up a small cloud of dirt, and let two shells fly directly into the chest and head of the beast. Causing Beyond to cackle as he took off into another sprint. The beast howled once again as the skull crumbled from the head of the beast, causing it to yowl ferociously.

Sliding down a small hill the main lodge came into view. "Almost there! How are you doing, bud!?"

"You're a maniac!" The raven cackled at Nootau's response as the counselor clawed at the raven in desperate attempts to stay attached.

Dodging a heavy landing from the beast, Beyond ducked beneath a strong swipe, careful to duck low enough for Nootau. "Oh! I think he's pissed!" Anax flew up and over the beast capturing footage of the monster before sweeping in and grabbing hold of the creature's face and electrifying the right eye. Causing another pained scream to echo through the woods.

As the beast's arm came to knock Anax away, he lifted up and away from the long reach of its arms. "That is for my friend!"

As they reached closer to the field nearing the lodge, the guard reached into his sidearm holster and shot a flare into the sky. Immediately illuminating the field, the beast again began to close the gap between them. A high pitched sound whizzed by the duo as a red laser light became apparent in the fading flare light. A couple more high pitched whizzing sounds flew past them as a couple louder gunshots were heard coming from the direction they were headed.

Caspian stood ready in an expert stance with his 9mm pistol. As Beyond ran past the blonde, he took several well placed shots on the head of the target, before also turning and running. Another cluster of three bullets whizzed past all three of them before the beast lost its footing and dropped to the ground, huffing loudly.

"Target is down. Caspian, light it up." A voice shouted from the window of the upper story of the lodge.

The blonde broke off from running next to the others, loaded incendiary rounds into his chamber and began firing until his clip ran dry. The beast wailed and stood on two legs swatting at itself before roaring at the group and retreating into the forest.

Beyond bursted through the door, almost unable to stop. He dropped to his knees and slapped the floor several times while cackling. "Holy shit! Holy shit! We fucking made it! I didn't think I'd ever see fucking morning again!" Caspian stepped into the lodge behind Beyond and approached Nootau who seemed to be in a state of shock, but still clinging to Beyond.

"Let's, uh, maybe gently drop off the cargo." Beyond blinked a couple of times and chuckled as he released the bindings that held Nootau onto his back. Caspian eased the counselor to the floor. "You didn't do first aid?"

The raven shifted his weight onto his right hip. "Kind of busy running for my life, I'm good, by the way, thanks for asking." Caspian shot an annoyed glare towards Beyond who only shrugged. "He's here isn't he, and in kind of one piece?"

Nootau's eyes left the sight of Caspian and landed on Matt coming around the other side of him. They both lifted him and began carrying him up the stairs as the counselor shouted at Beyond in a hurried tone while winding in pain. "Kitchi! You know it to be true! You know! The son of a warrior and a witch! It has to be you! You have to save everyone! Kill the beasts! Free their souls!"

Caspian sighed and shook his head at Matt. "He's fevering, we need to get him upstairs so I can start taking care of him."

Beyond took a long deep breath in before placing both of his hands on his hips. Mello stepped up next to him and folded his arms. "Wendigos… no shit. Alright, yeah. Fuck all that. Shit is scary."

The raven slapped Mello's back and nodded while inspecting some new cuts along the blonde's face and arms. "So, how was your night?"

Mello rolled his eyes and pulled a cigarette out as he walked towards the front door. "Fucking awful. I think the bastard that just chased you through Hell, was the same one that had me pinned down, until Light did some fancy shit and pissed it off." Mello messed his blonde hair up recalling the earlier events and shuddering at the memory. "The sounds that thing makes…"

Beyond chuckled and pulled a cigarette out of his pack and followed Mello outside. "Think we can take it?"

Mello laughed through his nose and exhaled a plume of smoke. "Nah, no chance, but let's go down swinging."

The two guards smirked at each other and high fived. "Hell yeah."

41 Days Remaining

10 Counselors Surviving - 1 Recovering

75 Campers On Site - 1 Recovering