[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/h5xf31C.png[/img][/center][hr][i][b]//Night 0 | Location:[/b] Nameless Forest - Clearing[/i]

[sub][@OwO][@AThousandCurses][/sub]
The rock flew far, further than what Shun would’ve thought, but the irregular shape made it near-impossible to aim with properly. It struck the ground, lost in the darkness, while her own phone’s light was only enough to cut a swathe of illumination five meters ahead of her.

Her eyes alone could see much further than that.

Rin joined her, spear in hand as the two dashed off, trying to bait any sort of pursuit or response. Playing distraction was a reasonable idea indeed. Predators went after those separate from the herd. It was a rationale that hunters of all sorts utilized in order to safely get a kill before the herd itself amassed and crushed them with numbers alone. But this group had already revealed itself to [i]not[/i] be a herd of schoolchildren. There were those who were capable, and there were those who were not. There were those who were a threat, and those who were not.

And those who were had willingly ran away from their flock.

Rin could feel it, needling her mind as the monsters remained where they were. These were far more intelligent, far more malicious that the mere beasts that had attacked them during the day.

Light gathered upon compound eyes once more, another set of beams slicing through the night.

But for what?

[sub][@baraquiel][@Yankee][@Vertigo][@Cu Chulainn][@Nakushita][/sub]
If Shun's voice had not roused them, the pained shout of another would. Voice made indecipherable through agony, they let out a howl of raw pain, no adrenaline to dampen sensations, and immediately, the other students stumbled away, trying to figure out what happened.

What happened was made clear when another two bolts of light pierced through the charred exterior of the bus, one slamming into Ayana's side as she tried to reach for her newfound friends. It felt like being struck by a baseball bat, a dull throb that launched her against the opposing window frame, her breath driven out of her lungs.

Duncan's voice sounded through the crisis. [b]"Out of the bus! We can get cover beneath the ditch!"[/b]

It was enough to mobilize them. They had only evacuated once before this, but that one time had given them enough experience, and they all filed out once more, corralled away by the bombardment of those distant monsters. And yet, in the chaos, one student strayed from the others, heading for the shelters outside where the two most grievously injured students laid. Yukiko, heading closer to danger rather than further away from it.

No.

No matter where they went, they were heading to danger.

As the first of the students dropped down from the bus, heading towards the treeline once more, three hulking forms burst out, six-eyed monsters that were no longer comparable to mere wolves, mere bears, mere deer. They were massive, built the size of Asian elephants but possessed with the sleek musculature of a tiger or lion. With one swipe, Sasuke was sent flying, his form crumpling against the weakened frame of the bus. Another of the hulk-phants lunged for Mayumi and Masami, intent on crushing them flat before the paralysis of surprise wore off, while the final one stayed back, slinking in a way that prevented the prey from escaping by simply [i]sacrificing[/i] some of their own.

The monsters could smell it after all.

The flesh and blood of their packmates, clinging upon the skin of these frail little apes.