[color=forestgreen][i]Damn… just… damn.  Why does he have to be right!?[/i][/color]  Gruffydd was, in a word, furious.  He was furious at the Professor.  He was furious at this hellhole he was in.  He was furious at Haruto for apparently thinking this was some sort of game.  He was furious at Kazuo for being right when he called for them to stop.  But most of all, he was furious at himself for letting his anger get the better of him, [i]again[/i].  But Kazuo’s plan for sticking together had a side effect—it killed the momentum of Gruffydd’s anger, causing it to sputter and die.  Without the anger to smother his fear, it came roaring back.  Gruffydd’s heart leapt into his throat as place out of sight became a potential hiding spot for another creature like the one who took Ms. Sasaki.  He nearly jumped out of his skin when, when his foot shuffled into—of all things—a discarded shovel.  He wasted no time picking it up—while it might not be particularly affective against whatever abominations infested this hellhole, it would do a hell of a lot more than his fists.

He nodded a brief acknowledgement of Kazuo when he addressed them, having regained some of his composure with his newly acquired shovel-cum-safety-blanket, and wandered in the same general vicinity as his startlingly calm classmate, taking some comfort in the fact that he was able to keep a level head in this mess.  [color=forestgreen][i]I guess we have our[/i] de facto [i]leader until we get out of here.[/i][/color]

That’s when he heard the sound of television static.  He walked over to where Kazuo was to see what was going on, only to see the white ‘snow’ scattered across the screens.  [color=forestgreen]”How the hell are they even working in this dump?”[/color]  No sooner than he had said that, some of the others began reacting to the screens.  But he could see only static.  He was about to say something, when he heard a voice.

[b]”You like stories, don’t you?  Everyone loves a good story.”[/b]

[color=forestgreen][i]The hell is this nonsense?[/i][/color]

[b]”Our story today is that of an invader.  Of a monster.  Of the vilest kind of monster that exists..”[/b]

[color=forestgreen][i]No… that doesn’t make any–[/i][/color]

[b]”The kind that masquerades as a human, pretending it’s some sort of person.”[/b]  Gruffydd’s breath caught in his throat.  [b]It had no place, you see.  Its own homeland had moved on from where it remained, so it saw to defile another.[/b]  The static on the screen shifted and coalesced.  Human-shaped blobs of light grey moved between great trees of a much darker grey.  A much larger, pure white figure entered the scene.  [b]”But this land’s inhabitants were not the kind to stand idly by.”[/b]  The grey figures slowly filtered out, and slowly adopted more human skin-tones, eventually becoming recognizable people.  Gruffydd’s entire body was trembling.  The screen zoomed closer, and while once-grey figures were clearly human, the white-human looked more indistinct, and even more bestial.

[b]When the monster entered their midst, they confronted it.[/b]  The people circled the bestial figure, and while none of their voices could be heard, their lips were seen to move, and their intent was clear.  [b]”The monster tried to force its way past.”[/b]  The beast tried to shove its way through, but the people amassed in its way and shoved it to the ground.  [b]”They were not having it, and retaliated.”[/b]  The humans descended on the beast, fists and feet flailing.  [b]“But then the monster chose this moment to show its true colors.”[/b]  An ear-splitting roar erupted from the television, and the white figure emerged from the human pile, launching one of said humans into the air.  He fell upon the ground, and the screen was stained with [color=red]red.  The beast was in a berserk rage, and soon two more humans fell upon the ground, the sites of their impact staining the screen further.  The other humans fled as the red spread across the screen, overcoming the beast last of all.  Another ear-splitting roar, even louder this time, issued forth.[/color]  Gruffydd didn’t even think.  He swung the shovel at the television.  It blinked off right before theshovel connected, wrecking the appliance.

Gruffydd was hunched over, drenched in sweat, and his entire body was trembling.