If it had not become clear already from the brutal nature of the echo's attacks, there could be no doubt anymore that it, at least, either did not understand or just did not care about the hoarse man's admonition not to kill the Hunters. As Marcus tried to cut past the Mad One by putting a row of cots between himself and it, the creature simply changed its trajectory to always move in the direction he was in, knocking over cots and trampling comatose Hunters-to-be as it went.

In a stroke of what could be viewed as luck in a very pragmatic way, something distracted the monster from its pursuit before it could reach him. The squirming body of one of the sleepers happened to get thrown onto its head and left shoulder as it knocked over his bed, resulting in the frenzied echo seeming to forget about Marcus for the time being, gripping the defenseless person with both hands instead, flinging him into the ground with a loud crash before plunging its hands into the man's abdomen, ripping out his entrails and scattering them around like the world's most gruesome garlands.