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A scraggly patch of woods in front of the Test Subject HQ leads to a massive expanse of evergreen trees. Underneath the thick canopy, sunlight is few and far behind; what manner of beast could inhabit the darkness?

Avery reached the forest before the others. That's the good thing about not feeling pain she thought. No sore muscles. As she stopped to catch her breath, she looked around. It was darker and cooler in the forest without the sun beating down on her. She brushed her hair out of her face and discovered her forehead was bleeding. Dammit. Must've cut it on a branch or something.

She heard Alex arrive and call out to her and Matt. She was about to call back, but something held her back. Be smart for once. No need to alert the monsters. Luckily, she spotted Alex floating off in the distance and made her way to him. "Hey there, I'm right here," she said, keeping her voice low.

"So. Three of four ain't bad, but knowing Matt he forgot we were even coming and left for the City. He'll be fine- there's not a zombie in existence who can keep up with the b*****d." Alex chuckled, shaking his head as Avery and Morgan approached. "I'm sure we're all perfectly capable of handling ourselves and all that, but we should really stick together. Because in all honesty, there was some pretty sick s**t here when I left. And that was like... Three years ago, or something. I'm sure it's gotten worse. So I'm not questioning your capabilities. I'm questioning what we're up against. Keep an eye open. Don't want anyone dying. There's these freaks in here. They jump at you, got these big freakin' claws. I've got pretty decent reflexes myself, so I might be able to keep us all safe from the initial jump. Maybe. But we'll see."

"Ditto... including the maiming, decapitating, and a few other things," Morgan added to Avery's comment as she stretched a bit. Unfortunately, since she was in a group, Morgan could not be as reckless as before... or so it would appear. "Let's see... stick together, don't get killed, be aware of our surroundings, don't get killed, and tear the freaks to shreds before they take us out first." Not to mention having fun while doing the latter. A short grin broke out on Morgan's face at the thought. She planned on clearing the weapons store out once they reached Central City. "By the way... Alex... just how huge are those little buggers?"

"Finally," Avery whispered, unable to contain the wide grin that was spreading across her face. This is what she lived for. It's what I was made for. They were surrounded. She turned slowly, trying to follow the sound of the Hunters' growling. Finally, one made a dash for Morgan, and Avery launched herself in that direction. She was just barely able to land on its back. "You sure are a quick bugger, you know that?" she said to the creature. She dug her left hand into its shoulder as it tried to shake her off. She grabbed its head with her right hand and twisted.

It took more than her usual amount of effort to hear that wonderful snapping sound, but Avery managed. As the Hunter fell, she jumped of its back and quickly checked for any injuries. Just a few bruises from being tossed around like a rag doll. Nothing seems to be broken.... You're actually doing pretty good at this 'restraint' thing, Avery. She brushed the hair out of her face and cracked her knuckles again. Her ego was starting to get ahold of her. "Anyone else want some?" she boasted to the remaining Hunters.

The Hunters weren't exactly a new threat; Alex had dealt with them enough to know about how they ticked. True, it had been a while since an actual fight... But it wasn't as if he'd spent the last three years lying around. After another one made a lunge for his own face, Alex kicked it. Hard. And not just with his foot; a ripple in the air almost looked like a shockwave as it was propelled back with enough force to split the Hunter behind it down the middle. Not literally, they were both just knocked backwards and all manner of bones were broken that day. Immediately afterward, he stepped on the top one's chest and ripped its arms off; the arms proceeded to dance around the arena, slashing at pretty much anything hairy enough to look like one of those things. It was a pretty fail ambush, in all honesty. Nobody but Hunters had died yet, and the only one bleeding was Morgan- and that was her own doing. There had been a moment where Alex was wondering if she was a telekinetic like him... Then he'd seen the blood-whip, and realized there was something much more sinister going on behind the Hunter's friendly fire incident. He decided to try his own hand at the puppetmaster fiasco; his newest thrall, the Hunter that lay beneath the armless one, rose on his command. Broken and dying, it cried out with a whimper as he made it dance to his tune as well; the movements were jerky and awkward, at first, but after he dropped the disembodied arms and got the hang of it... It became almost natural. The thing joined it's blood-controlled brother in the slaughter of its own kind, and the Hunters' numbers were dropping by the second. It had started at about seventeen; now, not including the two puppets, there were about fourteen.

Once again, Morgan jumped back into the fray, cracking her whip furiously at the first Hunter she spotted to get its attention. Moving fluidly through the air like a ribbon, the weapons in the teenager's hands already snaked around the neck of its next furred and clawed victim, with Morgan herself intent on subduing the creature to take control. What was on her mind was a contest between her and Alex to see which of their puppets could kill more Hunters. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to occur, for by the time Morgan gained control of the Hunter's blood, her connection was immediately severed as a sudden blur sped past. Not only that, but the Hunter at the other end of her whip was nowhere in sight. The teenager blinked for a second- the Hunter couldn't have gotten out of the hold, her weapon had a tight grip on its neck! And just what was the blur that kidnapped her puppet? Was she the only one who imagined it, or did Alex and Avery watch what had happened as well? Morgan hoped the latter was true, for following the sudden disappearance of the Hunter was a full-fledged howl echoing through the area. As the whip in her hands shifted to a machete, Morgan glanced around for any sign of another pack of Hunters. Yet something was off. Unless someone was able to control the Hunters like Morgan and Alex could, that blur couldn't have been one of the Hunters... could it?

"Heard it, and saw it snatch a Hunter out of my clutches," Morgan muttered as she gripped the handle of the machete. She was as uneasy as Avery was, but allowing it to get the better of her was less than beneficial, especially with the remaining Hunters that were still alive. "As for what that thing was... you're asking the wrong person." At least Morgan knew she wasn't crazy this time, but it still didn't explain what had taken out her Hunter. Speaking of the creatures, one of them was preparing to strike at Morgan and Avery. "You want the head or the legs?" she asked, not waiting for an answer before she darted at the creature, aiming to impale her machete in its skull.