---

---

The situation in the woods was really going to hell in handbasket. Olivia was not only exhausted from the fatigue and the multitude of bruises on her body, but now life had seen fit to bring yet another set of ridiculous challenges their way. A huge mass of large thorny vines had came out from nowhere, making the weird night even weirder, and even more frightening. Needless to say, these weren't your ordinary vines, it was actually as thick as Alice's leg and SPIKED! Fancy that! The vines had surrounded them, preventing any escape of any sort. They had to break out of here, well she had to. Olivia totally wasn't planning on dying here today, nor was any of the others she was pretty sure, but unless someone did something, they very well just might. As the talk of powers came about, she remembered about her own powers. Wind. Air. Maybe something could pry these vines back and drive them away. C'mon, think Olivia. Your life depends on it. She didn't know how to activate her powers though. It had all came on suddenly before. Closing her eyes, she gritted her teeth and prayed for the powers to come.

When that failed, Olivia shouted in both exasperation and frustration. "OH MY GOD! JUST LEAVE US ALONE ALREADY YOU STUPID F-ING PLANTS!" Out came all the expletives that she herself didn't know she was capable of using. Olivia had never used swear words as vulgar as these before, and now seemed like a time as good as any. All of them were already kinda screwed, after all. Nothing happened, except the usual sounds of struggle among the group with the monstrous vines. Several minutes later, it came. Salvation. Well, sorta. The air around them started by feeling heavy, then the harsh sound of a mass of leaves falling to the ground and branches being broken in the distance became nearer and nearer, until they could all see the cause of the sudden disturbance. A mini tornado about three foot wide, and at least twenty feet tall. The raging winds howling as they the shook the trees in the wood, sending soil, mud and leaves and broken branches flying about into the air. Olivia had only seen a mini tornado once. It was no where near as powerful or as big as a real one. The mini-tornado was heading to them and fast. She had no idea if the mini-twister would be any help or not, but that was definitely her fault. Hopefully this will hurt the vines some and help out in one way or another.

"Errr guuuysss...I think that's minnee.. I suggest we hide behind the vines as it approaches!"

---

---

Scout wasn’t exactly sure when she lost her sense of hearing. She had just been kneeling there, breathing hoarsely as chaos continued to ensue around her small form, and as the others sprang into action she felt something inside her head pop. Silence followed after that, a silence she wasn’t even aware of until she saw Jade’s mouth moving but heard nothing. Scout blinked, droplets of blood and rain and sweat flinging from her lashes as she did so, but she was much too concentrated on the heat of her hands to really care about her sudden deafness. The shield was still cracking, shit, but as panic began to set in again Katalina finally acted, spreading water all across the burning magma. The heat seemed to fade in an instant, and Scout stared beyond her wall to see Jade noiselessly panic in the distance. Jade was whooping, screaming something Scout couldn't understand, and then a flash of light jolted the earth around the frantic girl and her body dropped down to the dirt, probably unconscious.

Scout wanted to cry, or perhaps jump up in joy, but as soon as the sense of danger faded she started to feel the effects of overuse. Her vision became fuzzy, dark, and her body screamed with anguish as she felt her other leg give out. In front of her the wall remained, cracked and gleaming and frozen, and though Scout wanted nothing more than to lower her hands and cease its existence she found she was stuck. Her body refused to curl in, to faint, even as her burned hands curled painfully and tears shed from her nearly-blind eyes.

this will kill me

Her mind whispered softly, and Scout barely heard it beyond the white noise that filled her head. She felt drained, exhausted, hurt, and she couldn't even fall to the earth and sleep thanks to this damned power. Scout shut her eyes slowly, shaking as she felt the cold hands of death close around her wrists, and then suddenly she was thrust into someone’s arms and pulled through the noiseless wind. Her eyes hung open slightly, and she stared up at the face of Jay with a small, tired, relieved face. Anything he said to her was blocked by the roar in her ears, and as her body's adrenaline began to settle and the reality of her injuries set in she turned her face into his jacket and screamed.

Scout’s hands were contorted painfully, shaped into jagged claws and beat red from the heat. Some parts of her skin were a pale pink and puffier than the rest of her flesh, and it seemed that even the rain was causing her pain as it sharply fell onto the burn marks. The rest of her body was stiff and soaked, and her ankle was turning dark purple from her stubborn activities and reckless moves.

“Fuck-- Fuck…” She hissed into Jay’s chest, eyes shut tightly as the pain just endlessly filled her mind and chest, and then finally her stiffness faded and her head fell back. Whatever ounce of strength she had clung on to faded into nothing, and Scout’s breathing grew shallow as darkness filled her mind and the sweet sense of unconsciousness finally came.

"Katalina!" Alicia yelled when she watched her girlfriend fall onto the ground in an unconscious state, she watched as Jay came over and grabbed her girlfriend and teleported right in front of her eyes which she didn't see him do yet which was amazing. She was in an okay enough state and got up, her ankle was still in so much pain but Alicia managed to get free enough to where Jay had dropped Katalina off. Alicia plopped down on the ground letting out a low groan in pain as she sat down next to her girlfriend, then Jay went off to get Scout the hell out of there watching him jumping over the cooled molten rock, and the fires that were caused by Jade's magma.

The moment Jay came back Alicia moved over to look at Scout if it wasn't for her both Katalina and herself would have been killed by Jade. Alicia leaned down and gave Scout a gentle kiss on her forehead before she went unconscious as well. "Thank you so much for saving us Silvia.." Alicia said using Scout's real name instead softly running a hand through Scout's hair noticing her hands were blistering from protecting them from the heat. Alicia quickly turned her attention to her girlfriend, and held her closely, Alicia was scared about losing her best friend and first love she started to think that going to the party was her fault and blamed herself for getting Katalina hurt.

“NO THIS CAN’T HAPPEN!” Alicia heard Jade yell again, she slowly got back up to her good leg again and limped forward slowly just in time to see Ashton giving Jade a quick shock her best friend falling down onto the ground. Still worried for her best friend, even if she did try and kill all of them Alicia knew that this wasn't Jade at all and someone must have been controlling her somehow. When Alicia was close enough Alicia could see Jade still breathing and sighed heavily in relief, she didn't want to see any of her friends die today.

There was a very eerie silence around the group the only thing she could hear was the constant down pour of rain and the occasional strike of lightening and thunder she didn't even realize that she had become completely drenched in rain again. Every part of her body was now aching horribly Alicia slowly pulled up her pant leg again and stared at her foot was still bent in a painful and awkward way and the surrounding skin had turned slightly purple and red, her ankle was swollen badly as well. "It still hurts like a mother fucker.." Alicia hissed in pain looking up at Ashton and Nina nodding towards them.

---

---

When he heard Liv yelling. Everett couldn't help but roll his eyes. “Yeah that'll tell them! You go girl” Everett thought to himself. Yelling wasn't gonna help anything at all.

Then the sound came, the sound of leaves being moving, the horrific sound of a freight train in the woods. If wasn't scared before, he damn sure was now.

Man nor beast scared Everett, he's best friend was a wolf for Pete’s sake. Mother nature however, terrified Everett. She was as cruel as she was lovely. Just as giving as she was vengeful. When you spend as much time as Everett did in nature, you grow a healthy respect for her. And as respectful as he was to nature, he was okay with being rude and trying to run the fuck away right now.

As his eyes widened at the realization of what's about to happen. Everett got up and ran to the vines that encircled them. There were thorns everywhere and he didn't think there was enough time to get three other people over them without someone ending up more hurt than he was eight now.

Normal that wouldn't stop him trying but time was growing shorter and shorter. He had read, or heard somewhere that at a ditch was one of the safest places in a tornado. The hope was that the air would pass over you but Everett never really bought into that. But that didn't mean he wasn't willing to try it right now. He'd try just about anything right now.

Everett's hand grew brighter and brighter until an orb formed in his hand. The core of the shined brightly, cutting through the dark in nearly blinding fashion. Everett ran to a side of the vine covered holding cell and shoved into the ground. He put all he had into the ground attack. He watched as a small crater formed into the mud. As the earth ripped, Everett was not spared from it. Earth, mud and rocks hit him just as violently as the orb ripped through the ground. He was going to be a bloody mess after this.

The crater formed may have been deep enough for one person but there four total and he was too worn down to even try this again. He hacked a few times blood coming out each time. He fell to his knees and rolled his back to the vines, shouted for the others to get in the crater. Dani was the first to act. He could only hope the other two would do the same.

Everett shut his eyes and held in tight as the wind started to rip through the area. His back was pulled in close to the vines and thorns. Moans of pain and anguish were quiet, but present. Maybe they weren't, maybe it was just the wind drowning them out.

The plan seemed to be set in motion. They were going to attack the thorny vines. Alice was going to use her powers over plants to hold them steady. While she did that, Grant was going to attempt to repel the vines to the point of breakage. When there was a clearing, Tess was going to slip through them to hold it open. Grant knew that would work, but she would get hurt, so Malcolm would heal her. That was the plan and it was going to happen, but then like all brilliant plan A’s, a Plan B came along and, quite literally, blew that right into the wind.

When the wind picked up, Grant couldn’t help but stare. His hazel eyes fell upon the natural occurrence as it started to get more intense. The winds formed a funnel and it was high — like, really high. It almost was higher than most of the trees that Grant saw when he looked around him. Though that wasn’t much, the light emitting from the group where his sister and Olivia were at made it easier. Then, when the wind funnel started to approach not only the set of vines across from him, but it also seemed to envelope them as well,

Before he knew it, Grant hadn’t been able to take any precautions. The tornado had came at both groups as quickly as it had been off in the distance. It ripped through the thorny vines as if it were a butter knife to a slab of butter. Spikes and green vines flew all around them. Some flew into the trees, some flew on the ground that their feet were on, and some flew at their bodies. Through this all, Grant had his arms covering his face. He didn’t care what was going to hit his arms or his body. He was more concerned in preserving his sight.

About a minute in, Grant felt light surges of pain from his arms and stomach. It would seem that some of the thorns got into his stomach, but probably just a flesh wound. But vines weren’t the only thing that Grant felt fly to his direction: dirt, twigs, small clumps of mud — pretty much everything that one would assume would be flying at them did. Midway into it, Grant peeked his eyes through his arms, and saw the vine cage was no more. He also saw that Malcolm had slipped through it. Grant didn’t want to take any chances. He looked around. First to Tess, then his eyes went to Alice. “Come on! We don’t want to get trapped again!” Grant’s voice barely breaking through the noise the wind made and the sounds of flying dirt hitting the trees behind them.

By the time Grant had told them, he was beside Malcolm. Well, probably not literally, but a good foot or two to the left of him. By this point, the brown-haired male had one thing on his mind and that was reuniting with his girlfriend and sister. He would attempt to walk forward, but that’s when he heard Malcolm say something about running. Grant looked to him, an eyebrow raised. Then, as Malcolm repeated it, but this time with emphasis on “run”, Grant looked up. He saw some kind of figure. His form dead clear in the light of the moon, but Grant couldn’t spot a face.

Grant wanted to follow what Malcolm suggested. He wanted to run for his life, but he couldn’t. With the sudden fear of that figure up in the sight of the moon and the thought of protecting Olivia made Grant frozen in place. It was only that, with the thought of getting his loved ones out of harms way that knew running was the smartest thing to do. When he would try to force his legs to move, Grant felt himself stumble. He fell one knee onto the ground, but he got up again. Grant then would force his legs to go, but this time faster. Though he stumbled again, Grant kept the pattern going.

Out of the corner of his eye, Grant caught DanI starting to run. Behind her he saw Olivia. He was relieved. Grant was relieved enough that he was able to find peace in mind that he could get the hell out of dodge before he is sliced up finer than a ribeye for a Philly’s Cheesesteak sandwich.

Location: The woods
Interacting with: Group Two: Mal @McHaggis, Grant @Altered Tundra, Olivia @Symphoni, Alice @Undine, Petyr @Saltwater Thief, Everett @AcerRo

---

---

Tessa's plan was blown away, literally. You wouldn't hear her complain about that though. She had enough cuts on her arms already. Mal's voice cut through to her, "Run". First she needed to make sure everyone got out. She slipped behind a tree, as if she were running. A quick look to make sure no one was looking and she begged the universe to not let her be seen. The flair up of her headache let her know it must be working.

She stepped back out from the tree and saw that most everyone was running away. Alice was bent over someone on the ground though. If all else Tessa could make sure Alice wasn't snuk up on. If the guy got close to her she'd let Alice know, then help her carry whoever it was... OH it was King, Alice was calling out his name. That was bound to draw some attention.

Tessa ran over to Alice. "Alice you need to carry him out of here. The guy, if he hears you yelling..." She trailed off. No need to go into what could happen. She knew that Alice should be able to see her now, but no one else who had hadn't heard her should, at least if her headache was telling. "I'll help if Malcolm doesn't come soon." She doubted the two of them would actually be able to carry an unconscious King out of the woods.

Location: The Woods

Interacting with: Ash @Undine, Jay @McHaggis, Alicia @Nallore, Austin @Wade Wilson and the unconscious Jade @Altered Tundra, Scout @Liriia and Katalina

---

---

Nina stood next to Austin as she watched both Scout and Katalina use their 'skills' to deal with Jade and her lava. As much as the heat seemed to effect everyone else, Nina was not phased by the heat the lava was putting out. Something in it was still speaking to her, almost yelling, but in the back of her mind. She shoved the voices down as she realized that there were now three people who had lost consciousness, and at least one injured person.

She looked at the one unconscious girl in front of her and mental thought it out. Katalina was taller and heavier than she was, so there was no way Nina could help the poor girl out. Jay was already carrying Scout, and she knew the two were close. There was no way Jay was gonna be able to carry the swimmer anyways.

She walked over to Ash, Jade and Alicia. "I can take Jade if you want... someone needs to carry Katalina, and I can't do it Ash. Also, if you want to use me to keep yourself stable Ali, I'll be more than happy to help where I can. But we need to get out of here and down to the main road. I know which way it is... I think. Damn it..." Nina rubbed her temples, leaving smears of blood from various scratches on her hand all over her face.

"We're all going to be in some serious trouble when we have to take all these kids to the hospital... fuck... today just fucking sucks." Nina shook her head as she turned to offer her back to Ash, for him to put Jade there safely. Sure, it seemed weird, to help the girl that had just yelled at Nina, but she wasn't heartless. It would be wrong to leave anyone behind.

---

---

_{its dark}

King was alone, yes, he knew that. He was alone in a dark, cold place, surrounded by the roar of far off storms and screams. He couldn’t move, couldn’t see, and he was terrified. Around him, the earth seemed to move, ripping against his stomach and arms and face as if he were being pulled by something. Something strong, something scary, it had him and then all of a sudden it didn’t. He was stuck again, unmoving, alone. Not alone. There was something in the darkness with him, he knew it, there had to be something that just couldn’t be human, and it was done hunting him. It was afterthem now. King felt his eyebrows furrow, and a pounding in his heart urged him to try and stand, to try and protect them.

them who?

King tried to shift his head, to blink, but each movement sent a spiraling pain through his limbs and stunned him back into paralysis. Something was wrong with his head, he knew, he could feel the source of the pain grow from the back of his skull, and he felt the familiar warmth of blood pool through his hair. As his mind focused on the injury, a sudden shiver ran across his skin, as if he had suddenly regained his sense of touch by realizing his pain. Dampness, damp, wet. Cold. Hard. Falling like bullets from above, coating, covering his back in streams of water. Rain. King shook suddenly as a loud crash echoed through the darkness around him, a sound he knew too well, a sound he feared. Thunder. King tried to move again, but again his head screamed in defiance and he fell back limply into the darkness.

When he tried to breathe his mouth and nostrils were only filled with a thick substance, earthy in texture and taste. He couldn’t cough, no, it caused his head to burn with anguish and the pressure on his chest was keeping him stunned silent. No… There was no pressure on his chest, rather, it felt like he was laying face down, crushing himself with a corpse-like posture. King tried to blink again, but still only darkness filled his sights, a vacant, cold darkness that held the distant sounds of cries, of humans. Of people he knew.

_{im scared}

King attempted to make a sound, a groan, a cry, just something to pull him back to a more sensible mindset, but his voice sounded so far off and quiet that he could barely register it. Pain rippled through his brain again as another thunderous boom filled his mind, and when he tried to brace himself against the tremors another burst of torture locked his joints. The cries he heard before seemed to be closer, but still nothing was near enough to awaken him from his frozen state. King felt his face twist, or perhaps he didn’t, and his clenched his hands into fists… Did they? Was he even moving now? He couldn’t tell, he felt much too disconnected from the world to decipher what his body was truly doing.

am i...?

Something hit his side, something hard and fast. The impact seemed to suck him back into his body, but still he couldn’t move in reaction. Blind to who or what just touched him, King waited, expecting harsh hands to close around his throat, or perhaps a knife to bury into his back, but instead the air around him flourished and the pressure on his chest was suddenly freed.

_{"King! King, wake up!"}

who are you

King still couldn’t move, the injury he felt swelling kept him in an unconscious daze, but he could now hear and feel with the precision of a hound dog. Gentle, trembling hands patted his cheek, pressed harshly against his pain, and the rain that had pelted his back and face suddenly vanished into a gentle trickle. A familiar voice was pleading now, urging his mind to bloom with life again, and King suddenly let out a groan of pain as colors curled and stained his eyelids. Emotions. Feelings. King could taste them, feel them, the worry and fear and anxiety of the person above him, and though the sudden pressure of regaining his senses was mind-numbingly painful, he couldn’t help but mentally smile with relief.

He let himself lay in silence again, resting quietly against the warmth of the lap below him as his once-shallow breathing began to fill with heavy sighs, but his relaxed nature faded away as another voice filled his mind. It was a familiar noise, but not as welcoming as the one he heard first. King felt his eyebrows furrow again, and, very slowly, he cracked his eyes open and stared blankly up at two blurry faces. Familiar, so familiar.

”A-Alicshh- Gray…?” He mumbled, words slurring horribly. At the next burst of thunder and lightning his eye squeezed back shut, and a frightened, tormented gasp escaped his parted lips. Shakily, with limbs that definitely did not want to move, King reached up to stroke Alice’s face, and where his fingers met her skin splotches of blood and dirt were left behind. His hand flopped back down limply after the attempt of trying to reassure his friend, and his head lolled to the side lifelessly. King wheezed out a hard breath and then, with small movements, he managed to whisper to the two girls:

”Can’t move… Go-- Hurt… Go-”

---

---

Thorns scrapped against his back as the vines were ripped away from the ground. He could feel the blood running down but he was more thankful that the the moonlight was coming. The pain and fatigue was still present but just basking in the moonlight did make him feel much better. That was until he rolled over and saw a figure out in the distance. Everett had a horrible feeling, something about this guy was incredibly wrong. "Dani, run... Get up and run right now. Go on get, and don't look back." Everett said pushing her away.

He rose slowly to his feet, leaving another glowing orb behind. As he ran away an incredibly bright explosion could be seen. It wasn't to harm anything or one. It was meant for nothing more than to cover their escape. As Everett ran through the woods he heard a yell. He quickly made his way towards the sound, only find Alice. Alice was clearly in state of panic.

"Alice, I ain't one to... Aw shit." It was King, the dumb ass was laying down on the ground moaning something. Everett quickly moved to sling him over his shoulder. Everett thought this was the right thing to do, for better or worse. "Come on with me now King, walk or your ass if you can. Alice, if you'd be so kind to help us find away outta here, I'd be grateful." Everett didn't wait for their reactions, he just started walking the best he could with King in toe.

Alicia looked up at Ashton as he went to pick up the unconscious Jade up, she shrugged slightly. "Ah you know a broken ankle other then that i'm pretty fine. What about you?" Alicia asked jokingly trying to lighten up the mood. Alicia looked over at Nina as she offered to take Jade off of Ashton for him and offer her a shoulder to lean on for support. She wanted to help in some way but she was hurt herself and with only one good leg she couldn't support carrying anyone of her friends right now. Alicia spotted a tree branch nearby and reached over towards it, it looked like it would be sturdy enough to support her own weight and could use it as a crutch possibly.

"I'll be fine, thank you both of you for the offer." Alicia said softly as she groaned slightly as she stood up and leaned on the branch, Alicia slowly limped towards Jay, Scout and Katalina she didn't want to burden the rest of her friends who had their arms full carrying Scout, Jade, and Katalina. "How far is it to the main road?" Alicia asked hunching over slightly turning to look over at Nina since she apparently knew the way to the main road back to town.

Alicia started to think about Tessa, Mal, Grant, Olivia, Alice, Petyr and Everett and all of the other party goers she hadn't seen either one of them since Jade's full and complete meltdown. "I hope everyone else is doing alright." Alicia said looking down at her girlfriend who was still laying down on the ground unconscious still she was worried for her the most and hoped that she and Scout would wake up soon.

How many feet had he gained since running? How many drops of rain fell upon his head and clothes as the left and right feet went in front of each other in rapid succession? How many head turns had Grant do when he was unsure who was behind him? How many thoughts of worrying about his cousin, his sister, his girlfriend, his friends, and everyone in-between on whether or not they were safe from harm’s way? Grant didn’t know the answer to any of those questions.

He felt like he was going in circles. He had no idea which route to take. For a good half of a minute, he saw Malcolm, but soon lost sight of him. The damned darkness hid his view from even a half of a foot in front of him. Grant barely had enough sight to see his hands in front of him. The rain wasn’t helping either. There were moments where he tripped over his own clumsiness. Yeah, of all times to be the weakest, stamina-wise, Grant had to be it, huh? That’s what he got for not excelling at Gym Class. Whatever crossed Grant’s mind was always filled with that worry for those he cared about. He remember hearing something of a command from Everett to DanI to run, but among the screams, the rain, and the sudden thunder, Grant couldn’t be sure what he heard.

“Just run, Grant. Just run, Grant,” he repeated that in both his mind and out loud as each big step he took was taken. He tumbled, tripped, slipped, and pretty much everything one could think someone in his position would do. Like, think about it! Grant wasn’t very agile, and he was feeling exhausting from all of that initial running. So, he wasn’t exactly feeling the best. It would especially become obvious as he would tumble, trip, and slip over a piece of large wood. His body fell forwards, his head half-pointed down. Grant still couldn’t see what was in front of him, but the next thing he knew was that was rolling. He must have fell down a hill. The sights of the ground and the moon partially hidden by the trees was coming in such a rapid-fire slideshow that Grant began to find himself being dizzy.

However long Grant was rolling, he soon came to a stop as his body lay face-first on some kind of pavement. He was able to move, but not that much. Each time he would try to move a leg, he felt a surge of painful agony go through that one leg. He had cuts all over his body. His clothes were torn all over, and he seemed to be bleeding from the left leg. It didn’t seem like a lot. He wasn’t bathing in a pool of his own blood, so that was good. Still, it seemed every muscle in his body was quite sore, so much so that Grant didn’t bother moving. He just hoped that someone would find him, or else he was going to have a shitty Wednesday.

Location The Woods — With Group II
Interacting With: Dani, Grant Wells @Altered Tundra, Tessa Gray @Kirah, Malcolm Okada @McHaggis, Alice Malone @Undine, Everett Wilcox @AcerRo, Peter Jelen @Saltwater Thief

---

They were free. Free from the vines. Despite the miniature tornado that had just ripped through them, Olivia was glad that she had at least done something, which in turn had given her other friends an opportunity to do something else of their own. At least, there was that. As the group of teenagers escaped from their viney prison, a mysterious stranger began to make itself known in the distance. This had spooked everyone so much so that all of them took off in a run, amidst yells and screams to run. She had no idea who this stranger was, or why he was so dangerous, but everyone here seemed to be terrified of him, she was sure that she had enough of a reason to be as well, and not to mention that the fear was infectious. When everyone started running, she did too.

Olivia had heard the sound of Grant's voice amongst the din earlier when the mini twister was still amongst them. As she started to run, following Dani ahead, she spared a glance back, satisfied to know that Grant was coming up along behind her. If Grant was coming, that was all that mattered at the moment. The girl felt like she've been running for ages, but in actual fact, it had only been minutes since the group had left their thorny prison.

She guessed the saying was true, when your mind is preoccupied, things usually seem longer or shorter than they usually were. Olivia had no idea where everyone else was anymore, all she could see was Dany up ahead, and Grant, behind her, from the sounds that were coming behind her. Her thoughts began to wonder on where Everett, Mal, Alice and whoever else was close by earlier were now, but even those began to fade as her strength waned with every step she took. She was beginning to get more and more exhausted with every foot step forward, and just as she was about to stop, Olivia heard the sounds and oises of a scuffle and fall coming from behind her. As she turned around, her gaze landed on the spot on which Grant was supposed to be, except he wasn't there.

Her panic-stricken gaze was then abruptly turned to the sight of Grant falling down a steep looking slope filled with the undergrowth of the woods and who knows what else."Grant!" She shouted, as Olivia scampered towards him, any notions of feeling exhausted gone with the wind. She peered down the slope, and when she saw him lying at the bottom of the slope, clearly in severe pain, the foolhardy girl abandoned all thought, and started to make her way down the slope, carefully and slowly. The last thing she wanted now was to join Grant at the bottom of the slope as another casualty. "Grant! Hold on.. I'm coming!"

Location: "I want out of these damn woods."
Interacting with: Ash @Undine, Jay @McHaggis, Alicia @Nallore and the still passed out Jade @Altered Tundra, Scout @Liriia and Katalina

---

---

Nina looked over at Alicia as the other girl found a tree branch to use as a crutch of sorts. Good on her for that. If Nina was being honest with herself, she doubted that she could carry Jade and help Alicia at the same time. "Broken ankle aside... the main road is... fuck. This was easier on horses yesterday. And with Everett guiding us. Fuck... its that way." She nodded her head in the direction she remembered the main road being.

When Ash put Jade on her back, Nina hooked her arms under the other girl's legs, and made sure Jade's arms were around her neck. She did not want to be the one that dropped Jade by accident. She was a bit surprised at how light Jade felt. Nina was use to hauling bags of coffee around, so thankfully she had some strength in her. "I'll let you know Ash, but I think I'll be fine for now. However, if she wakes up and starts panicking, mind knocking her out again? Last thing I need is a burn scar. Otec is already going to freak out when he sees Petyr and I injured when he returns." Nina had to chuckle a bit and then frowned. How on earth were they going to explain any of this? Sure, someone would have reported the earthquake, and given where they were Earthquakes were not uncommon, but an earth splitting one?

She shook her head and tugged Jade a little closer, and looked at Ash and Alicia. "Yeah, lets go regroup and head to the road. Hopefully everyone else is headed that way. Maybe we'll get some damn service out there. Call the police or something. There is no way we can hike back to town with so many injured people... I just hope everyone's cars are alright." Nina sighed and walked over to where everyone else was, and then to head to the road.

---

---

Thunder boomed again, and King continued to wince against the noise, shaking visibly as Alice stroked his head in a motherly fashion. Her caring words distracted him somewhat, and if he could move he would pushed his head further into her touch in an effort to simply fade away from the world and cease to be. But no, he was there, soaking wet and sullied, struck over the head by an unknown object and probably mortally concussed. King tried to open his eyes again, but intense pressure kept them shut, and pain swelled endlessly from the bump on his head.

im going to die here

HIs mind whispered horrid nothings to him, pulling him deeper and deeper into a sea of dread. Alice and Tessa wouldn’t be able to move him, hell, they might even die with him if they stuck around any longer. King couldn’t see the emotions around exactly, but he could definitely feel a presence unlike the others. A joyous, light, devious feeling. It wasn’t far, and it filled King’s unmoving body with a wish to laugh giddily or commit heinous acts.

King attempted to keep himself thinking and alive with odd phrases and sensations, but everything turned white with confusion and agony as he was suddenly hauled through the air. Electricity burst from his wound, shocking his body into a state of conscious terror, and he fought off a wave of nausea in an attempt to cry out in pain.

”Shhhtop-- Pleashhhe, oh God…” Panic set in after the initial pain settled ever so slightly. Who was holding him, a man? That man? Someone strong enough to lift him, to hold him over a shoulder, to strangle him, to beat his head in, to--

Terror turned into stunned realization, and then a bit of relief. Alice had cried out his grappler's name, Everett. Another wave of nausea came and went, and King groaned out in protest as he felt all the blood rush to his head and his injury spiked again with a mind-numbing pain. King’s breath grew shallow, labored, only turning into heavy gasps at another strike of thunder but after it would return to it’s dangerously slow, soft huffs. His mind felt like goo, stupid and thick, and with each step Everett attempted to take the wish to throw up or pass completely out churned thoughtfully in his mind.

Whatever words he tried to form came out slow and thick and were easily swept away by the rain and wind. His complaints turned into pleads, or at least, that’s what he thought, and darkness began to creep further into the center of his mind, threatening to suffocate him, swallow him whole, but he just couldn’t give in. Not yet. Not until he was certain the others were away, or certain he was supposed to die.