More commotion with the panicked and now accusatory little drider followed the other creatures’ attempts to tranquilize her.  Though unfamiliar with her new facial muscles –or lack thereof- Otsune managed a crude and rather leering approximation of a smirk, for she had been right, after all; some children made trouble not to get better but to get attention, and the show wouldn’t be over until she tired herself out.  Until then, all anyone else would be doing would be to add fuel to the fire.  Leaving seemed like a very attractive option to the snapjaw, and upon spying the snake Hing making his escape, she wasted no time plodding along after him.

On the threshold to the larger cavern, she froze.  The sight of carnage strewn about the floor of the cave filled her with horror and repulsion.  Her fellow reptile voiced what ran through her mind: staying in here was not an option.  While he navigated through the mess, she opted to lope around the edge of the cavern, discerning the walls via the light streaming in through a promising hole on the other side of the slaughterhouse.  In doing so she evaded almost all of the viscera, as well as a good heap of nausea.  The dry wit of Neix did not reach her, but Otsune did reach the exit before her, and emerged into the dappled sunlight of a green forest.  The whole scene marked such a drastic departure from the sickly spectacle seen only moments before that the snapjaw couldn’t help but feel at the complete mercy of the world.  Of course, had she been human, she wouldn’t have been much better off, anyway.

Two more bestial faces in the cave exit made four new visitors to the forest total.  Otsune cast an eye at Hing, Neix, and Simba, and found herself wishing they weren’t there.  The whole situation came of as so confusing and insane that the presence of others only made it more unmanageable.  Besides, what sort of help could she expect from them?  Perhaps they would react to their new circumstances badly, or one of them would snap.  The risks outweighed the possible benefits but a substantial margin, and Otsune decided that she would rather go off on her own.  If one of them wanted to follow, well…she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

Slowly at first, she began to run.  In truth she did not pick up much speed, since she wanted to be at least somewhat aware of where she was going.  She judged that if she were human, the pace she set would amount to a jog, and to the best of her knowledge nobody ever jogged off a cliff.  Regardless, she did not run for long.  After pushing her way through a thicket of long grass, she discovered that she stood at the edge of a gulch.  It fell for about five feet before turning into a mass of reeds sitting in molasses-brown water, buzzing with flies and stinking in a way her new senses couldn’t stand.  Disgusted again, she backpedaled out of the long grass and began to follow the gulch to the right—the direction from which the barely-moving water trundled.  As she moved through the underbrush, she realized just how adept her new body was at running: she didn’t feel tired at all.  A jaunt like this would have at least left her haggard had she been her old self.  When the ground began to slope upward beneath her, she felt as if she were in to something, and in short order emerged from a tangle of wildflowers onto the shore of a small lake.  A look to the left determined that a beaver dam, or at least something similar in function, blocked the water from flowing down the gulch.  The sun sparkled off the surface of the open water pleasantly, but all the same Otsune remained alert.  She harbored no clue what might be waiting for her in this world, or from what direction some unforeseen threat might spring.