Had she changed directions a moment sooner the chase would have ended right then. The Beast rushed inches past her, splintering a tree as opposed to her spine. Desperately, Aislin aimed once more for the ocean's edge, easily spying it just beyond a clearing in the jungle. Leading the chase through the break in the trees, however, couldn't have been a more grievous mistake. The Beast was upon her before she even made it halfway.

The hair on the back of her neck pricked, and in her peripherals she saw a great, clawed hand unleash in an arc. Blades gripped her side as the Beast hurled her into the air. She met the gritty ground in a rolling, haphazard heap among the brush in the clearing, loose stones scraping her skin as the impact knocked the air from her lungs. She swore she heard a rib crack. 

Stunned, Aislin could barely feel her own body coming to a stop on her back. Her eyes blearily took in the sunlight, hardly registering anything but the fire tearing up her chest. The Beast roared, the ground quaking in her ear as his footsteps closed in. He hovered over her like a great shadow of hell, blocking out the sun from her sky.

[I]I'm dead.[/I] She realized. [I]This is it. [/I]

But for some reason he stopped, snapping his monstrous head around to glare down the jungle forest. Aislin slowly rolled her head to look, fighting back the urge to cry out. In fuzzy double-vision she saw a tall figure standing beyond the Beast's enormous leg, closer to the clearing's edge. A scarf fluttered to the dirt. [I]Who... wait, Theresa![/I] 

The arrow that spurred some hope in Aislin was only shrugged off by the Beast, the wound sealing in moments. Theresa yelled to run, and Aislin slowly picked herself up from the ground. She clutched her bloody side, only getting a few steps before collapsing. [I]God, I can't move.[/I]

Their battle was loud enough that it finally got the staff's attention. In the back of Aislin's mind it dimly registered that Henry was in the jungle with his excursion team. He came to their aid in the nick of time, engaging the Beast with wicked ferocity. 

Theresa appeared over her. [I]"This might seem weird... but... it'll help..."[/I] She said, rubbing her skin. At first Aislin just furrowed her eyebrows, confused and in a great deal of pain. Then it made sense. A warm, glowy feeling crept up on her, nullifying the pain in degrees. Her vision took on a haze as Theresa's drug hit her harder than morphine.

Feeling like liquid melting into the ground, Aislin sluggishly raised her head. With the pain receding, she remembered what she desperately needed to tell her. [B]"Don't... Don't kill him, it's Jaska. That monster is Jaska!"[/b]

Aislin watched in horror as Henry's skull collided with the trees, splintering the wood as many snapped in two. After the dust settled he didn't move, his body limp against the broken trunks.[I] No, no, no![/I] To make matters worse, the trunks strangely sprouted teeth, their gaping mouths eager for reptilian flesh.

[B]"The trees are biting him..."[/b] She whimpered, mildly hallucinating. 

As the Beast turned his golden, hateful eyes to them, a cloaked figure appeared between them, cape flailing in the wind of its own speed. Theresa confirmed Aislin's original suspicion. [I] I saw that cloak earlier today... It has to be-- [/I] [b]"Dana!"[/b]

[I]"Run!"[/I] Dana cried in a warped voice. With unnatural speed she moved behind the Beast, slitting his neck. Aislin was in range of the spray of blood, recoiling as the spots of copper burned her skin. Theresa's powerful drug lessened the pain, but her wounds were still in the process of healing. She wasn't sure if she could crawl, nevermind run. Dana dodged the Beast's charge, almost teleporting from one place to another.

[I]This has to stop. [/I] Aislin panicked. [I]He's too powerful. We're all gonna die if this keeps up. [/I] She struggled to her feet once more, holding her side that only dully ached. She gave Theresa a reassuring glance before turning her gaze to the blue ocean just out of reach. Her sense of balance was nullified from the drug's influence, and she tumbled on wobbly legs into the trees. Rolling down a small dirt mound, she came to a stop on the beach. The salt of the ocean stung her nose, and Aislin crawled on all fours to the foaming waves lapping against the shore. 

The moment her hand touched the cold water it became attracted to her, building up from the water line. It rose up in a tidal wave, sweeping Aislin along in its wake. Easily scaling the height of the jungle's middle branches, the tsunami rushed toward the Beast as it drenched the clearing with water. It aimed to engulf the monster whole, moving with their combined momentum in a spherical shape along the clearing. Aislin washed up to the side, dispelling the water after several moments, an exhausted grimace flashing across her face.