I was faced with a dilemma. I was fairly sure that Sam was somewhere in the woods in front of me. Problem is, I had no idea where he might be, or even how big an area the woods might cover.

It wasn't like I could organise a search party.

I was also acutely aware of the fact that Taylor was waiting anxious and alone back at the dorm rooms.

I decided to give myself half an hour to try and find Sam, and if I hadn't found him by then I would go back to check on Taylor and regroup.

On the car park side of the field there was a track going into the forest. I decided that, considering that there were other people around, it was a good bet that that was where they had entered the woods. So that's where I chose to start.

The path was surprisingly well worn, making it hard to distinguish any one set of shoe prints. As I moved down the path I forced myself to move slowly and carefully, eyes scanning the path and surrounding trees for any signs of Sam, Emily, or the monster.

I knew I couldn't afford to miss anything, but it was still hard to keep myself from running through the woods shouting Sammy's name.

The self-control paid off. I'd never have seen it if I'd been moving any quicker.

It was just a small scrap of fabric caught on the top of a rock that was jutting up out of the dirt near the side of the track. It could have been from anything, but it caught my eye because it was too clean to have been there for long.

I knelt down to examine it and felt a fresh wave of fear for Sammy's safety. It was torn off the edge of the shirt Sammy had been wearing this morning.

What really worried me, though, was the blood. It stained the piece of shirt and the ground beside it. Sam had clearly fallen hard onto the ground here, doing more harm than just a torn shirt.

Frustratingly though, there was almost no other signs to tell me what had happened. I could at least tell from the fact that the blood was already dry that it had probably happened before Sam had called me, possibly in whatever struggle had occurred when he and Emily had been separated.

There was a trail of blood drips that continued up the path, and I followed them until they stopped again. The worry continued to churn in my gut. Everything about this was wrong. Sam and Emily were supposed to have been looking at the scene of the attack. Why had they entered the woods in the first place? And why had a seen no other signs of them passing through? Even now I had evidence that Sam had been here, I still couldn't see his boot prints in the dirt.

I was growing increasingly concerned that he had not come this way by choice, or under his own power. And if that was the case, what had happened to Emily? Was there maybe more than one monster? Werewolves did run in packs sometimes. We may have seriously underestimated the danger we were all in.

Still, something in that theory just didn't feel right…

And now, despite carefully studying the area around the end of the blood trail, I couldn't find any sign that Sam, and possibly a monster, had continued down the path.

I let out a huff of frustration and moved a little way into the trees, seeing if they'd left the path.

At first I could only see the faint signs of someone maybe moving through this way, a couple of snapped twigs and crushed grass. I knew there was a chance it was just an animal track, but I kept going. I had a feeling I was heading in the right direction.

I was right, and now sure that Sam had not walked in here on his own.

Out of sight of the path the monster had dropped the careful caution of not leaving a trail. Sam had been dragged through the trees, leaving an easy to follow, but painful to see, path.

There was more blood, torn clothing and a few places where his hair had caught on something and been ripped out.

I checked my gun as I sped down the path, when I found this thing I was going to shoot first and forget the questions. There was no excuse for treating my Sammy like that.

Hi everybody! Sorry, I was planning on getting more written this week, I actually had this chapter written in a notebook since Tuesday, but it took till today to get it typed up! Still, here it is! Better late than never ;)

Thankyou to sensualxstacy and Sallyannerenee for your great reviews!

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