Title: Staying Put

Author: elektralyte

Rating: K+

Characters/Pairings: Sprinklings of Hank/Sheila goodness.

Spoilers: None

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Summary: Friends go missing and Hank's behavior arouses suspicion...

Chapter 4

"Why can't we go with the others Sheila? It's boring here," Bobby whined. He began aimlessly pounding the ground with his club.

Sheila regretted staying behind. They should be helping, after all, what if something had happen to Hank? She watched Bobby swing his club like a baseball bat. He really could handle danger as well as anyone of them. If only he weren't so impulsive, always charging head on into a situation.

"Sheila?"

"Yeah honey?"

"Have you seen Uni?" He asked in a voiced tinged with worry.

Where is the little unicorn? She wondered.

Sheila scanned the rapidly darkening area. There was only one sun left and it would set fairly quickly.

"I don't see her anywhere Bobby. Bobby? BOBBY!" She looked up in time to see him scurrying into the woods.

Sheila muttered something about silly little brothers, then ran off after him.

Diana, Eric and Presto were all holding their breaths in anticipation. Something was definitely moving around out there. Was it coming to get them?

What ever it was, it was about to emerge from the brush. The three friends readied their weapons.

"Hi guys," Hank called out cheerfully while stepping onto the path. He had three dead rabbits triumphantly gripped in his hands.

The others breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Hey Presto, buddy. What happened to you? I turned around and suddenly you weren't there."

"Oh, I kind of got lost."

"Hey, I'm sorry. Are you okay?" He sent Presto a concerned look.

"Yeah I am. Are you?" he replied.

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"

Diana spoke up. "Hank, didn't you see the creature?"

"What creature?" He looked genuinely confused.

"What creature? You mean the big, furry, gold angry dog that went running your way? How could you not see it? You came out of the same spot it went into..."

Eric made a funny face as a notion of doubt tickled his brain. He shot a look at the others to see if were picking up on it. Diana and Presto had similarly confused expressions.

Hank missed it though. "I didn't see anything, Eric. Honest!"

Why is everyone looking at me that way? He wondered. Then he pointed to Eric and Diana and asked, "Anyway, what are you guys doing here?"

"We were looking for you Hank," she explained.

"Yeah," Presto jumped in. "I thought I heard some noises and it turned out to be a wolf or something. I got so scared that I got lost for a minute and when I couldn't find you I went to the others for help."

"You thought I was in danger? From a wolf?"

"Well yeah, it was pretty darn big. Are you sure you didn't see it? It's kinda hard to miss..." Presto asked.

"Honest guys, I didn't see or hear anything!" he insisted.

Presto and the others were becoming skeptical of the explanations, especially Eric.

"What happened to your hand Hank?" he questioned deliberately.

"Huh?" Hank looked down at his hand. It had been hastily wrapped in a cloth. A little bit of blood had seeped through.

"I dunno. I cut it on something when I was hunting I guess..." he muttered, as if he had something to hide.

"You're not sure?" asked Presto.

"Yes I'm sure," he answered a bit too forcefully. "What's with the questions guys?"

"Nothing Hank. Just ignore them." Diana suggested while trying not to sound too suspicious. "Let's get going before we lose the light completely."

They all began walking back to camp. The joy that Hank had felt at catching dinner had quickly dissipated.

Somewhere, deep in the woods, a little unicorn was being stalked and she knew it. She should have stayed with her boy but the smell of tasty mushrooms was too overwhelming. Now she was in big trouble.

"Bahhh-bee," she wailed plaintively.

"GRROWWWLLL," answered something that wasn't Bobby.

Uni trembled uncontrollably when she saw a pair of glowing blue eyes peering at her from beneath the brush.