Two chapters in one day? Whaaattt? Who am I?! It's…it's a miracle! But really though I just love this episode and was having fun getting it down. I won't keep you long here other than to say to anyone who's made it this far, thank you! I hope you enjoy it! Xoxo-NickyLynn
"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me." Ariella groaned as she leaned between Sam and Dean from the backseat of the Impala. They had gathered what weapons and equipment they could before heading out to trek into the wilderness, knowing they had to try tracking down the creature the old-fashioned way, but as they rolled up to the trail head, they came across a problem. They were not the only people getting ready to head into the dangerous terrain. There was a woman with wavy brunette hair standing beside an older, stern looking man, pulling hiking supplies from their trunk.
"Sure are picking a ripe time to go for a walk in the woods, aren't they?" Dean commented as he pulled the car onto the side of the dirt road.
"That's Hailey." Ariella said with a sigh, having recognized her, but not the man.
"You know her?" Sam asked, eyes flicking from the woman back to her.
"Her brother's the one who went missing a few a days ago." She explained, having talked with her two days prior. "Apparently the authorities are moving a little slow for her liking." She said, frustrated with the unexpected development. Though, she supposed she could hardly blame the girl. If that was Sam or Dean out there in those woods…she would be doing the same.
"We can't let them go out into those woods alone." Sam said, mouth pulling down into a frown as a young boy, Hailey's younger brother, step into view as well, eyes sweeping over the Impala curiously.
"What are we gonna do?" Dean asked with a huff. "Tell her there's a big scary monster out there?"
"Her brother's missing, Sam." Ariella said with a shake of her head. "I don't think we're going to be talking her out of this one."
"We go with and protect them." Dean supplied, knowing they had no choice now. "And we keep our eyes peeled for our furry predator friend."
"So, finding Dad's not enough?" Sam practically scoffed, clearly not liking the idea. "Now we have to babysit too?"
Ariella studied the side of Sam's face and the anger set into his features. Sam had always been more concerned with protecting people over hunting the monsters. So, the bitterness brewing under his skin was enough to worry her immensely. Apparently Sam could feel her eyes boring into him, because he turned in his seat to lock eyes with her then. "What?" he snipped.
Ariella's eyes swept over him for another moment before she pulled away to grab the strap of her backpack. "We're not letting them go into those woods alone." She said in finality before pushing her door open and stepping out. She slung her bag over her shoulders as she slammed the door before heading towards where Hailey and the others were loading up their own gear. "Don't suppose there's any sense in trying to talk you out of this, is there?" Ariella called out as she approached, pulling the three's attention onto her.
"I told you I'm not waiting for the police." Hailey answered as Ariella came to a stop near them. "Who's your friends?" she asked then, nodding to where Sam and Dean were getting out of the car behind her.
"Rangers." Ariella told her as they approached as well. "This is Joseph and Richard." She said in introduction as Sam then Dean came to a stop on either side of her. "You can call him Dick." She then said, jabbing a thumb in Dean's direction. She flashed him an innocent smile as his face morphed into annoyance before he slid his eyes back onto Hailey.
"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am." He said with a tip of his head. "Sorry to hear about your brother."
Hailey's eyes bounced around the three of them for a moment before scooping up her own bag and securing it onto her back. "Yeah, well, don't be too sorry. We're going to find him." She declared determinedly.
"Look, we were already planning on going out there too. So, seeing as we've all got a common goal here, why don't we all just stick together?" Ariella offered. "Safer in numbers and all that."
"I'm only getting paid to keep you and your brother safe." The man standing next to Hailey said then, eyeing up the three intruders unhappily. "I ain't gonna be responsible for a bunch of inexperienced tagalongs."
Ariella's gaze landed on him then, watching as his fingers unconsciously tightened around the rifle in his hand. She gave him a smile in response, having to fight off the urge to put his ego in check. "I think you'll find that we're more than capable of keeping ourselves safe."
"It's dangerous out there and her brother could be hurt." The man said, frown only deepening at their insistence to come.
"Oh, believe me." Dean said, taking a step closer. "We know just how dangerous it can be out there."
"You seriously want to come with us?" Hailey asked, eyes moving over the trio skeptically.
"The more the merrier, right?" Dean said, tossing his hands out to the side as he brushed past Ariella, heading towards the trial head.
"It's alright, Roy." Hailey said then, trying to placate the irritated man next to her, frowning heavily at Dean as he passed.
"We just want to help." Ariella said before moving to follow after Dean. "We'll all be safer together."
It didn't take long for the terrain to morph into a dense woodland. Not even an hour into their hike, the trail they had been following turned into nothing but a faded dirt path with overgrown foliage that could be easily missed. The only sounds filling the air had been the sound of their footsteps falling against the dense Earth, alongside the occasional call of a bird or a distant snap of a branch. The woods had always made Ariella feel uneasy. There had been many days of her childhood spent in places like this. It was where they had been taught how to fight. How to shoot. How to hunt.
Ariella had been walking along side Hailey and her brother, following behind Roy and Dean, while Sam took up the rear. Dean had been flaunting his ego around since they had started their journey, clearly finding amusement in riling up Hailey's hired guide, and it was slowly driving Ariella mad. "You said you did a little hunting." He was saying as Roy lead their way.
"Yeah, more than a little." Was Roy's annoyed response, clearing growing irritated by Dean's constant monologue as well.
"Uh-huh." Dean said, sounding unimpressed. "What kind of furry critters you hunt?"
"Buck…sometimes bear." Roy told him, coming to a stop as he looked around to study their surroundings.
"Tell me, Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?" Dean snarked with a grin as he walked past Roy, moving to take the lead.
Ariella rolled her eyes at his poking, having to summon the willpower not to pick up the nearest rock and chuck it at the back of his head. Roy seemed to be at his wits end with the younger man as well, for in the next moment, he latched onto the back of Dean's jacket, roughly pulling to a stop.
Dean's wide eyes took in Roy as he pulled him backwards, before they narrowed down in challenge. "What are you doing, Roy?" he asked lowly.
Roy let go of Dean before bending over and grabbing hold of a small stick from the ground. He jabbed it into the dirt just in front of Dean then, a loud snap filling the air. Their eyes all fell to the metallic trap he had triggered. One more step and Dean's foot would have been sitting in the stick's place. Roy flashed Dean a satisfied smile as he dropped his hold on the stick. "You should watch where you're walking…Ranger." He threw at him before taking the lead again and continuing deeper into the woods.
Dean turned to look back at Ariella and the others, letting out an embarrassed chuckle. "It's a bear trap."
"Way to go, Dick." Ariella said as she went to step past him, reaching over to pat him on the chest as she did.
"Oh, shut up, Ariella." Dean bit out in response, smacking her hand away.
"I thought you said your name was Kelly." Hailey said then, stepping up between the two of them as she eyed them suspiciously.
Ariella nearly let out a groan as she leveled Dean with a glare. "Nice one, asshat." She whispered under her breath before swiveling around to face Hailey.
"Look, I'm not stupid, you know. You guys hardly have any provisions. You're trekking around in the woods in jeans and biker boots…" she pointed out, motioning towards Dean's outfit. "You're not Rangers, so who the hell are you?"
Ariella and Dean shared a brief look before Ariella let out a sigh and nodded for him and Sam to go ahead. After ensuring Roy and Hailey's brother were out of hearing distance, Ariella stepped closer to Hailey, pulling her arms up across her chest. "Look, I wasn't lying to you before." She began. "I really am looking for somebody who went missing out here. Or at least, we think he might be out here." She told the other woman honestly. "Their dad." She then said, nodding her head in the direction of Sam and Dean.
"Why didn't you just tell me that from the start?" Hailey asked, eyes shifting from the rest of the group moving ahead, back to Ariella.
"Because we don't think a bear's responsible for all these missing people." Ariella admitted with a shrug. "Whatever's going on is dangerous…really dangerous."
"What? Like…like people?" Hailey asked, eyebrows dipping together in confusion. "You guys like bounty hunters or something?" she asked.
"Something like that." Ariella answered before letting out a sharp exhale. "Look, we don't know what we're up against, but I swear we're just trying to help. We're trying to protect you." She said, eyes boring into Hailey's, hoping she would believe her. "You can trust us."
Hailey was silent for a moment as she processed Ariella's words before letting out her own sigh. "Okay." She said, giving a small nod, though she still looked apprehensive.
"Good." Ariella said before walking again, Hailey quickly falling into step beside her as they followed after the others.
"You ladies okay back there?" Dean called back to them as they worked on catching up.
"All good, Dick!" Ariella yelled back, a smile lifting up the corners of her mouth as she watched the look of annoyance flash across his face again.
"Is his name really Dick?" Hailey asked then, pulling Ariella's amused eyes back over to her.
"No." she admitted, smile pulling even wider. "But he is one, so…" she added with a shrug. Hailey's mouth pulled up into a grin as well then, a small chuckle escaping from her.
They followed after the others for about another hour before Roy had brought them all to a halt. "This is it." He said as everyone formed a circle in the small clearing they had stopped in. "Black Water Ridge."
"What coordinates are we at?" Sam asked as he looked around.
Roy dug into one of his front pockets before pulling out his GSP. "Thirty-five and minus one eleven." He said after glancing at the screen.
Ariella stepped up beside Dean as everyone took a moment to catch their breath, feeling a sudden uneasiness in the air. "We're close." She said just loud enough for him to hear, knowing they weren't far off from John's coordinates. Her eyes scanned the tree line then, suddenly feeling as if something was watching them.
"You hear that?" Dean said, pulling her worried eyes back onto him.
"Yeah….it's too quiet." She told him in response, eyebrows pulling together nervously before she scanned the tree line once more. The soft noises of the forest had faded away into nothing…leaving the air feeling suddenly heavy and uncomfortable.
Dean stepped closer to Sam as she continued studying the forest, unable to see anything out of the ordinary. "I'm gonna go take a look around." Roy said then, adjusting the rifle in his grip as he began walking again.
Ariella's worried eyes snapped over to him as he stepped past her, frown pulling down the corner of her mouth. "You really shouldn't go off on your own." She told him seriously, the voice in the back of her head telling her that something was out there.
"Awe." Roy said, pausing to give her a faux look of concern. "That's cute, sweetheart." He said before moving again, not bothering to take heed to her warning.
Ariella let out a frustrated sigh as she watched him walk away. She caught eyes with Sam and Dean then, all of them sharing the same thought. "Everybody stays together." Dean called out loud enough for everyone to hear. Ariella quickly followed after Roy then, knowing he couldn't protect himself despite how much he thought he could. Everyone else followed suit, walking deeper into the lion's den.
Ariella managed to catch up with Roy easily enough, but they both came to a halt when they walked into yet another clearing a few meters in. The sight before them, however, only caused Ariella's worry to grow exponentially. "Guys!" she called out loud enough for Sam and Dean to hear. "We've got something over here!"
Before them was a campsite…or, what was left of one. There were two tents set up together, but the sheer amount of tears and blood covering them did not bode well for the campers who had once occupied them. The others came rushing into the clearing then, coming to a stop beside Ariella and Roy as they, too, took in the horrid sight.
"Oh my God." Whispered Hailey as she stumbled to a stop, hand shooting up to her mouth in shock.
Ariella's eyes swept around the area, taking in the various items strewn about the place, trying to gather what information she could from it all. The tears in the tent were definitely from a set of claws, but the amount of blood was not enough to indicate any serious injury or death. Her eyes darted across the dirt then, trying to make sense of the tracks she could see. She caught sight of a thicker mark that led from the tent, out of the area, and followed it as the others began searching the tents, Hailey shouting for her brother as they did.
Ariella followed the trail until it suddenly stopped just a few feet outside of the campsite. Her eyebrows dipped together in confusion as she squatted down to examine the disturbance in the dirt. "Guys!" she called back to the others as she slipped her bag down from her shoulders, eyes, once again, searching the trees around them.
Dean and Sam joined her after a moment and, once she was sure no one else was listening, she motioned to the ground. "Drag marks." She said, trying to add it to her growing list of evidence. "But they just vanish right here."
"That's weird." Dean commented as he studied the anomaly was a quirked brow.
"You remember what Benjamin said?" Ariella asked then as she stood back up. "He said his parents were dragged off into the night. What kind of creature drags its victims away to devour them somewhere else?" she questioned, not understanding what they were up against.
"I don't know." Sam said with a shake of his head.
"Well, one thing's for sure." Dean said as his eyes darted around the forest. "It no Skinwalker or Black Dog."
A scream from somewhere in the forest filled the otherwise silent air then, sending Ariella's pulse skyrocketing. "HELP!" a man screamed from somewhere in the distance. "Please! Somebody help me!"
The sound of someone running through the wood hit Ariella's ears then and she let out a curse upon realizing it was Roy and the others running towards the scream. "Wait!" she yelled at them, knowing they could be running right into danger.
"Come on!" Dean shouted before taking off in a sprint after them.
They ran through the woods then, following the shouts for help, Ariella pulling the gun from her waistband as she did. They caught up to the others, everyone coming out in another clearing where the screams had sounded from. Ariella, heart pounding in her ears, had her gun raised, sweeping around in circles as she searched for any threats. When no attacks came, she spun around to lock eyes with Dean, gun raised same as her.
"See anything?" he asked, eyes darting back to the surrounding trees.
"I got nothing." She answered, though the hair on the back of her neck was standing on end. Something was out there….and she didn't think it was some injured hiker calling for help.
"It sounded like it was coming from here, right?" Hailey asked in confusion, sure the screams had been coming from the area.
Ariella took a step backwards towards Sam, suddenly feeling as if they had severely misjudged what they were up against. Her eyes slid over to his as she sidled up next to him, and she could tell he had been thinking the same thing. "Everyone back to camp!" he called out loudly, knowing they had to regroup.
Everyone rushed back to the ruined campsite then, but what they came back to…or didn't come back to…left Ariella cursing. "It's got our gear." She groaned; all of their backpacks having disappeared.
"So much for my GPS and my satellite phone." Roy muttered angrily.
"What the hell is going on here?" Hailey questioned, fear nearly palpable.
"It's smart." Sam explained. "It wants to cut us off from calling for help."
"You mean to tell me it's some nut job out there who stole our stuff?" Roy questioned in disbelief, turning in a circle as he looked for whoever was responsible.
"We need to talk." Ariella said quietly as she swept between Sam and Dean before heading away from camp so they could speak without the others overhearing.
Once she was sure they were far enough away from the others she spun around, holding her hands out to the side. "What the fuck are we up against guys?" she asked, motioning in the direction the screams had come from with her gun. "Because that was not a Black Dog!"
"Let me see Dad's journal." Sam said to Dean, gesturing for him to hand it over.
Dean obliged, pulling the leather-bound book from the inside of his jacket. He handed it over to Sam, who then flipped it open to the page he was looking for. Once he found it, he turned it around, handing it over to Ariella to see. Ariella took it from him, eyebrows dipping together when she caught sight of the illustration and words written within. "A Wendigo?" she asked, wide eyes quickly snapping back up towards Sam. "You're kidding, right?"
"Come on, Man." Dean said with a shake of his head. "In Minnesota or northern Michigan, sure, but I've never heard of one this far west."
"Think about it." Sam told him. "The claws…the way it can mimic a human voice…"
"The twenty-three-year cycle." Ariella added as she mentally kicked herself for not putting the pieces together earlier. "Fuck." She had never before gone up against one of them, hell not very many hunters had, but what she did know, was that they were hard to find…they were hard to fight…and they were even harder to kill.
"Guess these are useless." Dean said as he waved his gun in the air before sliding it into his waistband again.
Ariella let out another curse as she did the same, suddenly feeling vastly underprepared. "Guys, we've got to get Hailey the others out of here before it's too late." She said with a shake of her head, knowing things had just gone from bad to worst case scenario.
Sam blew out a long, frustrated breath before turning and storming back towards the campsite. Ariella and Dean shared a look before she followed after Sam, pushing John's journal back into Dean's hands as she passed.
"Alright guys, time to go!" Sam shouted to the others as they made it back to the edge of the site. "Things have just gotten….more complicated."
"What?" Hailey asked, looking between him and Ariella.
"Kid, don't worry." Roy said, not swayed by their sudden sense in urgency. "I can handle whatever, or whoever the hell is out there." He declared confidently, wrapping his fingers tightly around his rifle and pulling it closer for emphasis.
"You shoot that thing, and all you're going to do is piss it off." Ariella told him in warning. "Sam's right. We need to leave." She said, eye narrowing on him. "Now."
"One: you're not even making sense." Roy said, clearly thinking they were insane. "And two: you're in no position to give anybody orders! Just because you want to go running with your tail between your legs like a scared little bitch!"
"Hey! Relax!" Dean said, moving to step between him and Ariella, who was now giving him a death glare.
"We're trying to protect you, douchebag!" she threw back at him, knowing every second he spent arguing with them on things he didn't understand was another second they lost in getting them to safety.
"You protect me?" Roy yelled back, taking a step closer to her as his anger flared. "I was hunting these woods while you were still playing dollies, little girl!"
"You have no idea what that thing is capable of!" Ariella yelled back, moving to step around Dean. Dean, however, reached out and grabbed hold of her by the waist as she went to pass, stopping her from stepping up to Roy. "You think you're hot shit because you've taken down a few bears in your life?" she spit out disdainfully. "You've no idea what things like that could do! How quickly they could tear you apart limb from limb! And unless you let us get your sorry ass out of here, it's going to eat you alive!"
Roy let out a laugh at that, taking a step closer as he raised a finger into her face. "You're crazy, you know that?!" he spat at her.
Ariella felt a surge in her anger then and would have lunged at the man had it not been for Dean's strong grip on her. "Okay, hey! That's enough!" he shouted as he hauled her backwards.
"Get off me!" Ariella seethed at him as he pulled her away, prying herself free of his hold.
"Okay, everybody just stop!" Hailey shouted then, putting herself in the middle of them. "Look, Tommy might still be alive." She said, watching as Ariella moved herself away from Dean. "Now, I don't know what's out there, but I'm not leaving until I find him!"
"Hailey…" Ariella said, taking a step closer to her. "This is dangerous. You're not safe out here." She tried to reason.
"I'm not leaving without him." she said resolutely.
Ariella's jaw fused together then, not sure what else she could say to persuade them to leave. "It's getting late." Dean said instead, knowing there would be no talking them out of it. "This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an even better hunter in the night. There's no way we're going to beat it, not in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves."
"How?" Hailey asked, eyes trailing after him as he moved back through the campsite.
Ariella swallowed down the burning remnants of anger and fear still swirling deep in her gut and began mentally fortifying herself for the long, brutal night ahead of them. "You believe in God?" she asked, arching a brow as she stepped up to Hailey.
"Yes." she responded.
Ariella studied her for a moment longer, watching as she tried desperately not to let the amount of fear coursing through her show. Letting out a sigh, Ariella turned to follow after Dean, knowing they had no more than an hour before the sun would dip below the horizon. "You might want to send a prayer to him."
Dean, Ariella, and Sam spent the remaining hours of daylight drawing Anasazi symbols into the dirt around the campsite while the others gathered enough wood for a fire and got it burning. Once the sun began slipping under the horizon, the night crept in swiftly, leaving them bathed in darkness far quicker than Ariella had liked. The silence that had been surrounding them was almost unbearable, the cracking of the fire being the only thing filling the air. Dean was doing his best to keep the others calm as they sat around the fire, but of course, Roy had nothing but cynical comments to make in response to every little thing they did or said.
Ariella was just about to her wit's end with the man, but knew getting into another squabble with him would only make things worse. So, she did her best to steer clear of him and just focus on keeping her senses on alert for anything lurking in the shadows. Sam had been sitting off by himself on the edge of camp, so after she was done with the last of the symbols, she dropped herself down on the log next to him, letting out a heavy sigh as she did.
"I swear he makes one more snarky remark and I'm gonna shoot him." She grumbled unhappily, pulling her eyes away from Roy to study the side of Sam's face. Instead of a small smile, like she had been expecting to see in response, his frown only deepened as he remained silent. "Hey, Tall-Dark-and-Broody." She said, turning to fully face him and get his attention. His eyes finally slid onto her then, though he didn't seem particularly amused by her pestering. "Talk to me." She said seriously, knowing there was something festering in the depths of his mind.
"There's nothing to talk about." He said briskly, trying to brush her off as his eyes dropped back down to the ground.
A frown formed on Ariella's face as she watched the muscle on the side of his jaw twitch. She had tried to give him space since Jess's death, knowing he needed to process things, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't staring to worry about him. He never blocked off his feelings like this….not from her. "Sammy…" she said softly, reaching forward to slip her hand around his shoulder, pulling him back around to face her. "It's just you and me here." She told him as she searched his face. "You need to talk to me, because bottling all this shit up isn't good for you. You think you're putting on a good front, but I can see all that chaos brewing under the surface. You need to let it vent or else it'll end up consuming you."
Sam stared at her for a moment before letting out a huff of anger. "What are we even doing here?" he asked pointedly, eyes sweeping over to where the others were sitting around the fire. "Dad's not even here."
"Probably not." Ariella agreed with a shrug.
"So, what the hell are we even doing out here?" he asked again as he brought his eyes back over to her. "We should out there looking for him….looking for the thing that murdered Jess!"
"And we will." Ariella answered with a nod. "But Sam, we've got no clues…no leads…nowhere to even start." She tried to reason.
Sam didn't seem to like that answer, for he dropped his gaze to the ground again, jaw clenched tightly. "Why doesn't he just call us?" he asked after a moment, scrubbing his hand down his face in anger. "Tell us what he wants….where he is?"
"Because if John Winchester has been consistent in anything in his life it's been keeping things from us." She said with a frustrated breath, not being able to give him any other answer. "Look, Sam, I don't know why John won't call. I don't know why he left us coordinates to this God-awful place. I don't know where that thing that killed Jess is. What I do know is that these people need help." She stressed, nodding towards where Hailey was wrapping her arm around her little brother to help keep him warm. "And if we don't help them, then people are going to keep dying. We've got to find that Wendigo and kill it….because if we don't….then no one else will."
"You know, for hating the guy, you sure sound an awful lot like him sometimes." Sam said with an unamused laugh.
"Ugh." Ariella groaned with a roll of her eyes. "I think I'm going to vomit." She watched as a small smile pulled up Sam's lips with that remark before it fell again all too quickly. "Your dad has done a lot of stupid shit in his life when it came to raising you, and some of those things I don't think I could ever forgive him for." She said with a lift of her shoulder, eyes moving from him over to Dean. "But I don't think I could ever hate him for being a hunter." She admitted honestly. "For making me a hunter. I never faulted him for why he did it….just how he did it. Hunting down monsters….saving people…" she said, eyes landing on Hailey again. "Sam, it's the only thing that keeps me from feeling like it's all pointless….knowing that even if our lives are shit, at least we can keep their lives from becoming the same."
She let out a breath then as she reached forward to cradle the side of his face. "Sam, I swear to you we will find John and Jess's killer…but you need to be patient." she implored. "It's not going to be a quick and easy job." she added before dropping her hand away, instead sliding into his. "But I'm with you until we get it done…and until then…" she said, pulling away as a smirk began lighting up her face. "We kill whatever nasty son of a bitch gets in way."
She watched as Sam processed what she said, nodding along in agreement with her. "Okay." He relented with a sigh. Ariella could see the shift in him… the new layer of determination he laid down within himself. She dropped her mouth open to say more but before the words could come out a scream for help came from somewhere deep in the woods around them, sending a flood of adrenaline flowing through her veins instead. She shot up in alarm, drawing her gun as she and Sam rushed back towards the others.
Everyone was on their feet, eyes bouncing around the trees for any signs of movement as the screams for help continued all around them. "It's trying to draw us out." Dean called out as he, too, had his sights glued to the dark foliage. "Everybody just stay calm! Stay put!"
"What? In your magic circle?" Roy called out incredulously as the screams began morphing into deep growls.
"Just trust us, Roy!" Ariella called over to him, hoping he wouldn't be stupid enough to go after the thing.
The growling grew closer the longer they remained in the circle, before that growling morphed into a sound no animal could make as the creature grew frustrated. "T-that's no grizzly." Roy said as it got louder. So loud, in fact, it had to be mere feet away.
"Ya think!" Ariella yelled as she pulled the hammer back on her gun, eyes straining to catch any signs of movement. Roy's rifle went off behind her then, but Ariella knew it would do no good. Again and again he sent off shots. After the third shot, the creature let out a yelp, as if it had been hit, and Roy did the one thing Ariella had been hoping he wouldn't. He took off after it.
"I hit it!" he yelled out in triumph before sprinting into the forest alone.
"ROY! NO!" Ariella screamed before going after him. He was an idiot and infuriating…but that didn't mean she was going to let him get himself killed.
"ARI!" Dean yelled as she took off into the trees after him.
"Stay with the others!" she yelled back, but didn't bother turning to see if he was following or not. She ran as fast as she could, but after having to duck and slip past so many trees, she ended up losing sight of Roy and had to come to a stop. Her heart was hammering so hard against her chest she could hardly hear anything else, but she stained her ears against the silence nonetheless, desperately searching for any sign of him.
The sound of something rushing up from behind her caught her attention then, and she spun in a panic, knowing that there was only one thing out there that could move that fast. She brought up her gun and started firing blindly, but before she could even process what happened, something slammed into her. There was a growl and a sharp pain in the back of her head…and then…darkness.