She shaded her eyes and peered back along the wandering tree-line, caught site of Michael some distance away, and grinned. They had gone in opposite directions only because she had suggested it. If it weren't for that, he'd be sticking to her side like ass smell on a peddler. She didn't understand why he'd come along at all. He was, essentially, a coward, and in her mind it didn't matter how good a shot he was, or how stealthy he could be... if he couldn't face up to something, what was the point ?

Hey, squirt, how's it going down there? she asked, preferring psi over radio-speech. No use in clogging up the band if they were just going to chatter.

I think something's watching us... a timid voice replied, slightly quavery.

What, like latrine-ghosts? Adara stifled a laugh. Somehow the damned kid had been suckered into believing that 'ghosts' haunted one of the latrines back on the Rome base, and no amount of sense-talking would convince him otherwise. When only stony silence answered her, she let up a bit and apologized. Okay, that was wrong of me, I take it back. Have you caught sight of anything?

...No, but it's creeping me out. Michael's voice trailed off for a minute, and then he continued, I'm going to start heading back your way, now. We're pretty far out.

Adara nodded as she replied, sounds good. It'll be time for lunch, pretty soon. When we meet up we'll just go back to Abernathy. We can always come back afterwards. Whatever it is will probably be gone by then.

Lunch passed uneventfully. The cadets sat on smooth driftwood logs, eating and chatting or staying silent as their ways permitted, though nothing of importance was talked about. Abernathy and Briggs sat aside, eating what smelled like better food, and keeping out of the groups business.

After the meal, Adara and Michael again headed towards the tree-line. They traced their footsteps easily, and once they got into the shade, Michael rubbed his arm uneasily, looking off in the direction he'd patrolled earlier.

"Want to switch patrols?" Adara asked, sensing his discomfort. The cadet nodded, a look of shamed gratitude in his eyes. Adara smiled and punched him gently in the shoulder. "All right. I'm sure whatever it was that you felt is gone by now," she repeated from earlier.

They headed off in opposite directions, Adara tracing Michael's somewhat visible footsteps, keeping in the shade as much as she could. The forest to the left of her consisted mostly of big, leafy, beech-like trees, underneath which not much seemed to grow. To her right, a few saplings tried to escape towards the sea, but in that direction the sedge had a strong hold. The rustling of the breeze through the grass and the leaves caused her to once in a while pause, though she didn't get any 'creepy' feeling. It was just a hot, sea-side day, lacking tourist noises, but otherwise normal.

And then, about fifteen minutes out on her walk, Adara felt a push. It wasn't a physical one, but... it was as if she were being repelled. By the time she noticed it, she'd already started to turn around. What the hell? The cadet frowned, standing in place, scanning under the trees and between the clumps of grass. It was then that she noticed, having looked backwards across the semi-packed tope sand, that hers was the only pair of footprints to come this way. Michael hadn't been this far?

Her curiosity piqued, Adara turned around again and continued forward. She felt another push, stronger this time, but she was somewhat prepared for it. This time she only gritted her teeth and kept walking.

After several more minutes, and several more repelling sensations (each a little stronger then the last), Adara noticed that the trees were beginning to grow larger--much larger. They also began to grow gnarled, bent into strange shapes that looked unnatural. At one point, the cadet paused to look up at them. It was like... some of the branches stretched in to one another, creating pathways. Adara felt the hairs on the back of her neck began to raise... things were beginning to feel creepy. At just that moment, she felt another push. This one was strong enough to make her feel sick to the stomach, to cause her to turn around and stumble a few steps.

She forced herself to stop, and, growling beneath her breath, "I'm not turnin' around, damnit." She turned around again, dark eyes trying to focus on what was causing the sensation. She couldn't find a thing--maybe it was the trees? Adara stood up straight, glaring into the unusual forest. ::Whatever the fuck you are,:: she sent in that direction, ::cut the bullshit! You're not gettin' me to turn around, so you might as well save your fucking efforts!::

The repelling sensation stopped.

Adara breathed a sigh of relief, and headed forward again.

It wasn't long at all before she stopped again, dead in her tracks this time. The forest suddenly cut back, the sedge that claimed most of the upper beach also relenting to the sands. The water-line here dipped inwards, creating a kind of cove--but that wasn't what held her attention.

In a an orderly semi-circle around the edge of the tree-line, about twenty skulls--huge, sun bleached, spiny, canine-but-not skulls--rested, maybe twenty of them in all. "Those are some big fuckin' heads..." she breathed, not moving from her spot. They suddenly reminded her of the shark jaws that she had seen on one mariners ship. These, of course, couldn't be sharks' heads... she'd never seen anything like them before. The teeth on them--all razor sharp, like blades--averaged about the size of her hand from palm to finger-tip.

Suddenly, with a cold rush of horror, Adara wondered what the hell had brought down such fearsome creatures. Maybe she should have obeyed the pushes she'd felt before. Maybe she should just turn away now... she still could. She could report what she was seeing... all it would take was the flick of a switch, and her radio would be on--and now she realized that she hadn't turned on her radio after lunch! And... she didn't now. And she didn't turn around.

With her stomach an apprehensive feeling churning her stomach, Adara stepped towards the nearest skull. She had to get a closer look at it. She stared warily at the set of jaws on it, as if at any second they might come to life and leap at her, but she continued forward, a step at a time.

It was not a moment after she noticed a strange, etched scrawling pattern circling the skull just before her feet that she was shoved over, sideways. She hit the half-packed sand with an "oof!" She'd been taken completely by surprise.

In a second she'd recovered, was reaching for her pistol, twisting her head around to try to find what--or who--had pushed her over. And she caught movement, a shimmer of air-on-air, as if a piece of cellophane had taken shape and was alive before her. It was in the direction she'd been pushed--and then suddenly it resolved in a wolfen shape.

"Shit!" Adara whipped the safety off on her gun and aimed, all in the beat of a heart--BAM! the spent shell flew backwards and hit her in the forehead before landing silently in the sand, but she hardly noticed.

The wolf was gone. There wasn't even a body.

Adara stood up shakily the skull out of her mind completely for a moment. What had that been? Was it a baby of whatever these skulls were? She hesitantly approached the spot she'd seen it in last, toed at the ground thinking that maybe it was invisible again, but there was nothing.

And then, just as suddenly as before, she was pushed over. The gun flew out of her hand and landed in the sand, and she landed with another "oof!" on the harder ground. This time a weight pinned her down. She struggled strongly, but a deep, menacing growl stopped her short. Her heart froze as she realized that whatever was pinning her down, probably wanted her dead. She stayed completely still, and the growling let up. The weight did not.

The pistol was so close... it was only a couple of feet out of arms reach... Adara stared at it as if she could pull it to her by simply looking. The growl started up again, and she realized with another start--whatever it was that had pinned her, it knew what she was thinking. She turned her gaze down to the ground, praying for some kind of escape.

And then the weight lifted off of her. She stayed still for a minute, afraid that the creature would attack her. But nothing did. She again looked up at the gun, but instead saw four beige paws, perhaps a little larger then those of a wolf.

Very, very slowly, she turned her gaze up. The paws ran into a short-furred body, from which sprouted a densely muscled neck. Adara met the gaze of the lupine head, but dropped it as the creature gave a warning growl. Whatever it was, it appeared to be some kind of wolf--and it looked like one, save for the ridge of webbed spines out the back of its head, and, now that she was forced to look at its body, the extra pair of fin-like limbs.

The creature wasn't moving, and when she experimentally moved a little to sit up, it didn't try to stop her. So she moved into a kneeling position, and looked over the creature again. Demon! her mind screamed at her. But... it was too small. She frowned, afraid and confused and trying to sort things out. Finally, the silence was broken as the creature before her spoke. It didn't bark or make any kind of canine noise she'd ever heard. No, it spoke as if she were hearing words, but in a dialect too thick to comprehend. She furrowed her brow, and chanced to meet the creatures gaze again. It spoke again, at the same time shifting a fin-limb to point at itself.

"Hanaylfuh." It said, or she thought it said. It repeated the action and the world. Was that it's name? Wait. It was trying to communicate with her!? Adara shook her head. Wolf-things didn't talk, weren't smart enough to--but then again, there were no such things as dragons!

Very slowly, very hesitantly, she put a finger to her chest. "Adara." She dropped her hand. Angrily, she continued, "What are you, some kind of demon?"

It perked its ears, lowered its head a tad, then chuffed. "Hanaylfuh. Haymanuh."

Adara didn't understand. She shook her head again, not following along. The creature's head shot up for a second, turning towards the forest. There was no sound that Adara could hear, but jus as quickly the wolf-creature lowered its head and backed away, every motion conveying submission. Then she saw what it was looking at. It was another creature, this one standing on two legs, with a somewhat flattened face, but no less lupine eyes. It paused a few feet away from her, and stared at her, its expression unreadable.

She felt forced to meet its eyes, but as she did, she began to feel that repelling feeling again. Shaking her head slowly, as if in a haze, she realized that this was where the feeling had come from. But then she couldn't remember what the feeling was... what was she doing here...?

"Adara!" Michael shook her arm, his voice compelling her to wake up. "Adara, what the hell are you sleeping for?"

Adara grumbled and sat up a little, rubbing one hand over her eyes. She felt dizzy... as if she were lighter then before. "Wh't're'you talk'n'bout?" She slurred, opening her eyes and trying to focus on his pale face.

Michael looked as worried as he sounded. "We're supposed to head back any minute... what will we do if they find out you were sleeping?" He helped her to her feet when she put out her hand.

"I... was sleeping?"

"That's what it looks like."

Adara frowned, her wits beginning to return around her. "I had... the weirdest dream." She suddenly felt for her gun, but it was in its place on her belt.

Michael shook his head, his dark brows knitted together. "It's all this place... I told you it was creepy. Come on... we can't be late."

"Yeah... I know." she brushed the sand off of her pants, and looked down the path she swore she'd walked. No footprints...

Everyone sat about the fire, dusk having set in, the sun having just dipped past the horizon. Again, the cadets sat and chatted idly, eating their evening meal, or cleaning their weapons, or both.

Adara checked over her pistol, nodding once in a while when Keren talked. It was an evening sort of routine. When she'd pulled it out of its holster, she'd been surprised to see that the safety was off. "Jesus, could'a shot my foot off," she'd said, to which she got a couple of laughs.

She wasn't amused. She continued her inspection, but aside from that, things appeared to be normal. And then she let the clip slide out.

There were only six rounds, not seven.

The cadet felt a chill run over her that didn't originate from the settling night.

"What's the matter?" Keren asked, noticing the sudden change in her friends features.

Adara shook her head. "Nothing... I..." It couldn't be what she thought it was. "That bastard back at the ammo-shed must have gyped me a bullet or something." She shrugged, slid the clip back home, and glanced away from the red-head. Michael caught her gaze. He frowned.

::You see what I mean?:: he sent to her. She looked away.

She didn't want to think about it right now.