5 Harsh Nature

Hours later, with Teddy leaving a trail back to the beach, the team of six continued their march through the depressing and damp forest, dodging any strange or unsightly plants for fear of being poisoned

'This place is suffocating' Lemon thought solemnly.

The trees were too large and clustered, the natural canopy blocking any light. Even in the shade provided, the forest was unreasonably hot and humid. Exacerbating the exhaustion they all felt, constantly staying in proximity to one another, constantly on edge, none of it helped lift their moods. How much more of this do we have to take? What else can I do?' Lemon pondered, aggrieved by the circumstances the Spell dumped him in.

Drenched in sweat the rag tag team dragged themselves through brambles, thick roots that extricated themselves from the damp earth and deep dirty ponds of mud. No food, no water, everyone was tired of being on such high alert. Unfortunately for them, they found what they were looking for.

"Do you guys hear that!" Art exclaimed while looking around the forest expectantly. As everyone's gaze fell on him suspiciously before going quiet and listening to the surroundings, their frowns spoke of their findings.

"No, what are you hearing" Lemon asked, sneaking a glance at Jason, 'He's happy?'

"I hear running water" Art answered excitedly, before breaking off from the group and took off, running towards an area with a little more light without elaborating further. Sharing a tense look with the group Lemon sighed, "We're going after him."

With more and more light piercing the canopy a group of five men were dashing through the eerie woodland expanse chasing after their colleague, Lemon was sure with so much movement and noise they would attract something but their luck turned out pretty good. Since the body he occupied was comparable to his own, Lemon possessed the best physique in the group barring Jason.

Unfortunately, Teddy appeared to be falling behind, due to his age and day long trek, the man in his late forties didn't have it in him.

Lemon didn't trust the others to lead the way and not leave both him and the poor man behind to ensure their own protection, safety in numbers some used to say. He especially didn't trust Jason, the man appeared friendly and was perhaps the only reason the group was alive, but based off the the feedback he was receiving from his Empath Attribute he knew that too many things about him didn't make sense, especially his ability to stand against what Lemon could only perceive as an Awakened Devil. Without knowing his ulterior motives, taking charge of the situation was his best chance for survival.

Between being swept away by group mentality or the machinations of an Awakened hiding his cards the choice was obvious. But the situation didn't really allow his morals to dictate his actions, only survival mattered. Krystal's advice in the event he or Lucian were swept away by the Spell resounded in his mind. 'If he dies then it's sad, but nothing else.' Lemon steeled himself and continued chasing after Art, maintaining his lead at the head of the group instead of slowing down. Thankfully the destination wasn't much further, he could see Art crouching down towards a beautiful lake, he heard the water falling before he saw it but there was a waterfall cascading into the lake forming a breathetaking scenery impossible in the world he hailed from.

"Thank the Gods, water!" Art exclaimed as he brought his face to the river. "Stop you idiot!" Lemon warned urgently finally leaving the confines of the depressing forest, descending a small hill and pressing forward even faster, he sensed a, a frenzied hunger moving quickly under the water, this speed was all his tired body could accomplish.

Splash!

Out of the river a huge reptile jumped out and bit at Art's head, hundreds of sharp teeth, glistening with a red and black tar like liquid. However, Lemon made it in time, yanking the collar of Art's shirt, the two fell out of the beast's path.

"Holy Shit!" Art shouted clutching his face and neck in a panic to ensure his head was still in place.

Pushing the middle aged man off himself Lemon leaped forward thrusting his cutlass towards the beast's eyes attempting to blind the bastard, but it's eyes closed and the blade was repelled, only leaving a scratch.

"Graaa!" The creature roared as it opened its maw and aimed to take a chunk out of Lemon, only for an Arrow to hit its other eye lid and force its mouth closed.

"Thanks man!" Lemon shouted to David without looking back, repositioning himself by sliding on the wet grass. While the beast turned upwards towards the other humans, and not wishing to let go of any opportunity to score a kill, Lemon used the momentum of his slide and slit the creature's throat where it's hide was thinest. As it squirmed on the ground Lemon made sure to stab it a few more times from a safe distance until the Spell confirmed it's death.

[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Infected Alligator]

'This one was infected as well, is everything on this island infected?' Lemon looked at the water skeptically. "We shouldn't dri- Art…"

Lemon deadpanned as he saw Art gulping down the river water.

"Shit that's good man you should get some." Art brought his head up and wiped the water from his face.

As the others of the group approached with parched lips and gleaming eyes none paid the dead reptile much attention. "Don't mind if I do." Yone rubbed his hands together as he got ready to drink the river water only to be pulled back by Lemon. "C'mon man let go I'm dehydrated beyond reason right now." Yone complained but didn't resist all that much.

Lemon shook his head at Yone who seemed to catch on as he followed his gaze to the reptile and its unsightly saliva.

"Oh." Yone slowly backed up from the river.

"Hey? Why're you guys acting like that? Get some water!" Art laughed and played with the water splashing some on his face and hair. However Lemon noticed he had already began sweating profusely. "H-hey are you guys hot or is it just me?" Art started scratching all over his body, at first it was an even pace but it quickly got to the point where his skin was starting to peel and his nails were marred in blood.

"G-guys shit!" Art fell forward on his head as he continued scratching, his hair falling off, eventually he began tearing his clothes off making the group's faces scrunch up in horror as they turned away, except Jason and Lemon. The former who's heart wasn't swayed in any way, while the latter was calm from his attribute replicating that same eery calmness.

Under Art's skin his veins began wriggling around, whatever was in the water causing them to bulge and pulsate rythmically.

'What is it exactly that is making this happen? It seems like some type of disease or parasite, rapidly changing his body, it must be feeding on blood to hasten the process. But since I can't see anything in the water how am I supposed to tell where they are? If, they're that small how many are around us?' Lemon analyzed the situation calmly, so calmly in fact that he surprised himself.

"Why're you just staring!? Can't you hear him screaming!?" David scolded in outrage, pulling Lemon from his thoughts.

'Oh, he is screaming, I hadn't noticed.' Lemon wondered in surprise when he realized that Art had been yelling, begging for help, for someone to kill him. 'I haven't killed a human before.' Lemon hesitated, not because of his own emotions but because it was the values society had instilled in him. As he was grappling with this moral conundrum.

Squelch…

Before Lemon could put Art out of his misery, Jason was already cleaning his blade, Art's head rolling a few feet away from his partially transformed body, thankfully it ceased its writhing and slumped down into the ground with a small thump a few seconds later.

After a few seconds Lemon got up from his crouched position and turned to the group.

"We need to keep going, there's already barely any visibility with the sun up, I doubt we'll see anything once night falls." Lemon's thoughts about everyone here at the moment were very callous, this calm and calculating state allowed him to only see these 'people' as fodder to allow him to live longer, he realized this when Art was in agony, ignoring his suffering was so simple, he wanted to know what was causing the condition to better navigate around it so that's what he focused on. 'Scary' Lemon hesitantly glanced at Jason only to see him peering down at the two bodies with his arms crossed

Shaking his head he regained his focus. "We can't stay out in the open" he reasoned aloud garnering everyone's attention. "Our best course of action is to seek shelter, visibility in the jungle is shotty at best currently and I don't imagine it will improve at night, we're also exposed in this clearing and with nowhere to hide we're at risk of getting swarmed. We need to find someplace safe, boil any water we can carry and pray to the gods that we won't share Art's fate. If fate isn't too sadistic, maybe we'll stumble upon some food." He advised, feeling everyone calm down slightly, he knew he had their cooperation before they even agreed. The group followed him to explore the rest of the clearing but they had their reservations, seeing more of them dying left and right the fear they held was starting to overtake their minds, it would not take much for them to do something irrational, well.. maybe they were past that point already. Lemon knew that best,

'If that isn't fixed they'll be more of a liability than an asset, at least Jason is fine, he might be a sociopath but he's reliable.' As Lemon contemplated he and the group, kept wondering, he didn't know what they were looking for but so what, they didn't either.

Finally after another hour of walking around they made progress, the rocky cliff, ajoined to the waterfall possessed a narrow hole a few feet off the ground, peering inside they discovered a cave.

Still no meal came free as under the entrance to the cave was a sleeping bear, colossal in size, its skin cracked and stretched, patches of fur and skin missing. It was far larger than any bear Lemon had read about although that might not mean anything since he technically hadn't seen one face to face.

"Damnit." Lemon remembered the words in the textbooks that told him about how back when Bears were around it was either between acting scary or playing dead that would allow you to survive, if that didn't work you were as good as dead. With an infected super bear gifted by the Spell it definitely won't let them go once they're spotted trying to climb inside. It'll be far scarier than the history books could have ever portrayed. "We need to be strategic with this one, Yone you're bait, keep that monstrosity moving, Jason, you're the frontline fighter. Grab it's attention, and try to immobilize it somehow" He communicated in a hushed tone.

"Wha-? Hey why should I have to fight that giant thing?" Jason grumbled, but was ignored easily.

"David just shoot the thing in any vital spot you can, if you can't hit a vital just distract it as best you can." Lemon ordered before turning to Ted. "Teddy you'll be our lookout, make sure we don't get pinned by anything else exiting the forest."

"And what will you be doing dear leader?" Jason questioned sarcastically.

"I'll be helping you, but I'm not gonna fight that thing head to head." Lemon confessed with the same cold eyes Jason possessed

Thirty seconds later everyone was in they're positions, hiding behind trees, except for Jason and Yone.

Grabbing a stone, Yone threw it at the bear straight on the head with precision, waking the beast up immediately as it let out an enraged roar whilst looking for the thing that had hit it.

Spotting the two men in the open it immediately knew who's blood to spill, rising slowly on all fours the abomination charged forward, only to be thrown off and stumble after an arrow hit its snout. As an experienced hunter Jason didn't allow such an opening to pass, his sword illuminated with dim moonlight, slashed forward, the blade easily biting into the skin, cutting right through the Bear's arm. Leaving it a dangling mess held by only a few tissues and flap of muscle from the creatures torso. With a roar of anguish the bear stood up and threw its uninjured claw at Jason only for it to stop midway.

"I apologize." Lemon, hidden behind the creature from the very beginning, closed his eyes in repentance for his next series of actions, his cutlass piercing the rectum of the bear up to the hilt. Lemon couldn't help but shake his head in pity at hearing the gut wrenching pain the bear expressed through its voice. Putting the sword in a reverse grip Lemon cut through the bear's behind, then already sensing the retaliation, jumped back and dodged the bear's hind legs. Using the panic of the bear and it's want to destroy anything behind it, Lemon ran to its torso, piercing its heart with his blade.

[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Infected Bear]

'May your soul find peace.' Lemon closed his eyes.

[You have received a Memory]

'It gave a Memory? Nice.'

A Memory, an item that the Spell grants to others, it's like an item from a game that has a certain drop rate, Memories are all of the experiences of the soul that was killed condensed and to make an item that personifies them and gives certain benefits. It could be a weapon, an earring, an armor, a shovel etc.

Lemon pulled his cutlass out of the bear and looked at everyone else who was staring at him bewildered. "What?"

Yone was the first to speak, stuttering his words.

"Th-that, w-what you did… never mind." Yone relented with a sigh, he couldn't articulate the words to describe his feelings, which was a sentiment everyone else shared. Except Jason, he gave him a thumbs up.

"Suit yourself." Lemon shrugged, he knew what complicated emotions they were feeling, but, he would do it all again if he needed to, maybe even to a Human.

Lemon was the first one to climb the rocks and enter the cave. Followed by Jason, Yone and Teddy while David was the last since he was trying to take his arrow out of the Bear. Inside the cave it wasn't that large about 20 square feet and there were crystal clear puddles dotting the inside which made them shiver, but the water and the size wasn't something they were thinking about, no it was the frigid temperature it was as if they had walked into a freezer. The change was so unnatural that Lemon could see a frown cross Jason's face.

"I'll be right back."

Lemon announced as he left the cave, then, fifteen minutes later he returned with sticks, stripped plant fibers and what little fur he could scavenge from the bear. "Yone make a fire with these please." Lemon requested, and Yone obliged, as he began using strewn about rocks to make a small pit. He had been the defacto leader ever since Diana's gruesome death while Jason was the muscle of the team.

Crackle.

The fire shinned and the rest of the cave was illuminated to show normal fungi and other deeper ponds of clear water.

"I know those fungi, they're edible, and frequently show up in caves." David said happily, well at least as happy as he could sound. "And that water… maybe boiling it will make it drinkable?" David's voice lowered considerably when he looked at the little ponds dotting the cave in uncertainty. "On second thought, we better roast the mushrooms as well, ya never know." He supposed before using their empty canteens to collect water as carefully as possible.

The group was quiet for a moment, they were all thirsty and starving, but after seeing what happened to Art, no one was in a rush, they had waited almost an entire day while escaping that dreadful devil, what were a few more minutes.

"I'll get to collecting our food I guess." Teddy stood up and walked around the cave, collecting larger pieces of fungi, in a small cloth bag. 'He's still terrified and depressed, but I can also feel that he doesn't care about himself right now, he must not want to live because of what happened to everyone else with us…' Lemon sighed, adjusted his sitting position and watched the entrance of the cave, he had no thoughts of consoling Ted, what was the point of cheering someone up whom you'd never see again. Lemon will either die, or become a Sleeper in the next few days. Focusing on staying alive, he began using his cutlass to pierce small holes in the pelt he'd scavenge in the hopes of making some rudimentary fur blankets.

Ten or so minutes later, slowly and with shaking hands, Ted cupped in his hands warm water before bringing the water to his mouth and drinking.

For three minutes they all just waited anxiously, the desire to drink something was strong, and once it seemed that nothing was gonna happen to Ted they all broke out in a frenzy and drank from the canteens with zero reservation.

•••

"Haaah~." Lemon let out a content sigh while he laid down on the cave floor after stuffing himself with mushrooms and water.

"I can't even explain in words the relief I felt after nothing happened to me." Ted laughed with Yone as they conversed lightly with David just there still in his sad mood, Diana was never gonna leave his mind anytime soon.

"I'm pretty sure I had the same relief." Yone laughed as well.

'Seems they're starting to recover from their fear, that's good.' Lemon smiled slightly. 'Let's see what this Memory is about.' Summoning the Runes of the Memory that the Bear had given him.

Memory: [Vengeful Paw]

Memory Rank: [Dormant]

Memory Type: [Tool]

Memory Description : "Natures purity, tainted by despicable magic, all for the sake of power."

Lemon grew alarmed by the description

'The Spell is also aware of this disease' he thought solemnly 'But a tool? I feel a little too lucky recently.' Lemon thought sarcastically.

"Hey mate." Jason sent a subtle wave to Lemon before finding a seat next to him.

"What's up?" Lemon asked.

"Sigh, look I don't know how much you know but from how you've been behavin I figure the jig is up." Jason responded, closing his eyes and leaning back on the cave wall.

"How much have you figured out?" He questioned with a piercing side eye that sent chills up Lemon's spine.

Instead of acting like the cornered mouse that he was, Lemon tapped into his attribute again, grasping that cold eery calmness he replicated from Jason earlier. Without showing any hesitation, any fear, he simply looked him in the eye and said: "Not much, but enough to know I shouldn't trust you."

Raising an intrigued eyebrow, Jason glanced at the other three men chatting happily by the fire before turning back to the young man who's attitude felt all too familiar. "And why is that?" He queried in a detached tone, a cold glint in his eyes.

"Because your sloppy." Lemon said with little reservation.

Chuckling to himself, Jason picked up a rather large stone and crushed it into dust. "You want to say that a little louder kid? I didn't quite catch that."

Not letting the display of strength deter him Lemon continued "At first I was only suspicious, after waking up on the beach, everyone else possessed some injury or another but you were completely fine, then there was when we entered the jungle, you seemed too relaxed for a shipwreck survivor wondering aimlessly on an island we didn't have on any of our maps. After that, the way you held your own and even delivered such damage to that... Thing.. That ambushed us. No normal person could do all that and not wind up hurt in some capacity or at the very edge of exhaustion, but you kept pace with us." Drawing in a deep breathe he carried on. "You never complained once about the lack of water or food, but worst of all, your heart never swayed with each person we lost, you pretty much knew that the, Thing would attack Diane by how close you were and how fast you responded." He spat with disdain.

"What are your abilities?" Lemon asked seriously.

"Hm, a man should have his secrets no?" Jason responded with a smirk. But Lemon's stern gaze made all his humor melt away.

"No. Answer the question seriously. The more I know the more I can plan, the more I plan... The higher the liklihood we'll make it out of here alive" Lemon, refused to dance around a subject if that very subject was his life. There was a tense silence as Lemon continued to stare daggers at Jason, while the man simply met his gaze.

"Sigh... Fine, quite simple really. I can produce parasites from my blood, if I get them in someones body their general location in relation to me will be obvious and their body will be under my control after some time." Hearing his words Lemon got up to run away but was held in place by a hand on his shoulder.

Jason gave him a smile that wasn't really a smile. "Don't jump to conclusions mate, my parasites can't cause whatever is going on around us, in fact I'd really like to know what can. Because it's the first time my power has been so easily overridden." He muttered looking around them wearily before kissing teeth.

"Back to what I was saying, at most my little buggers can survive outside my body for half an hour, it takes almost an entire day to enthrall a target enough to fully control them, and just partially is already 5 minutes, so you can see how impractical that is, and I can only control one at any given time. Theres also a limit on how far my connection with them can spread before, well, I can't connect anymore." He said exasperated.

"What about that moonlight?" Lemon questioned.

"Hoho you noticed, I kept my blade in line with the sunlight to avoid any suspicion but you've got eagle eyes twerp. But yeah, I generate that moonlight, and with every attack that I land on a target, the more vulnerable they become to subsequent attacks, I've never tested the limit since I'm just that effiecent" He said puffing up his chest. "But I'd imagine any fight that lasted long enough could reach the point where just a scratch could kill." Jason boasted.

"Mm. Is that it?" Lemon hummed, closing his eyes to contemplate.

"Well... yeah."Jason rubbed his head awkwardly 'Did he expect me to be all powerful or something!?'

"I can also tell which plants or substances I come across are edible, I'd say I have the same senses as a wolf as well as physique." He quickly added.

Seeing no reaction from Lemon, he sighed. "Not much good any of it will do me, this island is a death trap."

"I'd need time to digest these tools you've so graciously presented." Lemon uttered, finally opening his eyes, giving Jason an appraising look.

"What made you open up all of a sudden?" He wondered aloud.

Putting his back against the wall and staring at the ceiling of the cave, Jason chuckled. "Would you believe me if I said I don't have any more options?"

"If you had asked me that two minutes ago, no, I imagined you as much more powerful and far more capable of your own survival. Now? Yeah... your fucked." Lemon replied with a shit eating grin.

"I think I liked you better when you didn't speak as much." Jason chided.

"That thing that attacked us. It didn't get weaker with any of the blows you managed to land. It even completely regenerated a limb before fleeing, with that type of advantage in constitution there's no reason it should've let us go, unless it found easier prey…" Lemon said despondently while gazing at the campfire.

With a sour expression on his face, Jason could only nod. "I can't confirm if they are all wiped out, but I did manage to implant a parasite on the bastard after the first assault, he was heading in their direction." He clenched his hands until his knuckles turned white. "I wasn't surprised when he attacked us a second time, but, but that's when I realized it was playing with us, its speed drastically increased to kill Diana, our leader at that time."

Lemon's lip twitched at that, but indeed, on observation, the creature was incredibly methodical.

"If it can indeed absorb memories, then everyone at the beach is likely gone. We have no camp to return to, any repairs we could do on the ship won't go unnoticed, and it's not like that abomination in the water will let us leave peacefully. With what we know of the island, being out in the open with no natural protection is a sure way to invite disaster." Jason illuminated how dreadful a position they were in.

"I know" Lemon spat, the Spell had really thrown him into a crappy position. At first, he suspected the creature of the deep was his target, which would have been near impossible to overcome. But then the beach and encounter in the jungle made his perspective shift, if the crew was supposed to land here, then his objective was most likely on this island. But if so, then the most likely Nightmare Creature he needed to overcome to wake up was the Devil proweling the jungle.

'Killing an Awakened Devil as a Dormant Human?' Lemon thought whimsically. Those are feats that legends in his world are capable of, not some homeschooler with insomnia.

'My only chance at winning is to utilize the tools I have at hand, we can't stay here forever, but we have nowhere to go, the mushrooms won't last forever either. Rubbing his eyes in frustration, he kept going over everything he knew.5 "But this situation still doesn't make sense, the infected suggest the presence of a Tyrant but with the whole island tainted it's also somehow a Terror. The presence of either in a First Nightmare is impossible as far as I know, but, maybe it isn't? Possibly everyone who's faced a trial involving a Nightmare Creature of either Class has simply died and thus never had the chance to report it… No. There has to be a way.' It was along these lines of thinking that Lemon understood what he had to do.

Standing up, he made his way over to the camp fire, using his Attribute he receded into the calm state he had begun to grow fond off to escape his fear. Grabbing everyone's attention, Lemon explained the conjecture he and Jason had come to regarding the beach and remaining crew members. The chances of them repairing the ship and the situation with the food. To say everyone took it well was delusional. Ted got even more depressed and, Yone took things calmly, already believing the other crew members were dead after they were attacked. David, was angry at first but became resigned quickly. There was nothing avoidable about their situation, it was either die at sea or succumb slowly to the horrors of the island.

"Realistically our only chance of surviving is to kill whatever is infecting the island, whether it's that monster that attacked us at the start or something else on the island. If we don't eliminate the source, we won't be safe enough to fix the ship, and we'll never come across food that won't kill us. I'm willing to bet it is not just the water on the island that's deadly, any fish in the surrounding waters might be contaminated as well." Jason spoke gravely.

Seeing everyone deflate a little, he shook his head and said. "We'll come up with a plan tomorrow, for now, rest."

After that, Lemon and Jason boiled more water to clean the bear pelts and fashioned a few small blankets for everyone, without salt and more precise tools to remove the remaining flesh, they were a little uncomfortable but not as cold. Ted made his way around the cave, giving everyone a few of the empty worn cloth sacks they brought for carrying food, he fashioned makeshift pillows for the group then went to sleep near the entrance of the cave closest to the fire.

Everyone was in their state of reflection, Lemon wanted someone to keep watch, but everyone was too tired, even Jason was already asleep. In the end, Ted said he'd keep watch, so the others turned in for the night.

•

•

•

•

Crunch! Crunch!

'What?' Lemon forced his heavy eyes open after hearing crunching noises. 'What is it?'

The fire was merely a few embers, so Lemon couldn't make out what was happening immediately. However the fire abruptly flared and illuminated the entire cave, and all was revealed. When he saw what had produced the noise, he froze. There was an abnormal red wolf engrossed in its meal, one of its ears was missing and the skin of its jaw's lower half had fallen off, revealing the bone and its terribly sharp teeth sunken into the throat of his comrade. On the floor in a pool of his blood was a still Ted, two other wolves were snacking on his various limbs, paying no attention to their human observer.

'What the hell?!' Lemon looked around quickly and saw that everyone was still asleep. 'Damnit.' Crawling over to Jason as lightly as he could while keeping his eyes on the fiends, he kicked the man a few times to wake him up, but only received a loud snore for his effort.

Seeing one of the wolves disengage from its meal and look in his direction, Lemon knew defending the group was up to him. Quickly standing up, he moved with a swiftness towards his sword and summoned the memory he'd received earlier. As the hilt of his cutlass entered his palm, the flood of white sparks finished materializing into a pair of thick gloves. Black and gray in color with fur on the cuffs, the gloves ended with razor sharp claws at the end of each fingertip that gleamed in the fire's light, the only light in the entire forest. With the summoning of his memory, the attention of the two remaining wolves immediately converged on him, while the first was already in a mad sprint to devour fresh human flesh. In the seconds before the first one lunged at him, Lemon used his attribute to quell all the tumultuous emotions brewing in his heart.

With the added strength from his gloves, Lemon's sword cleaved straight through the wolf.

[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Corrupted Wolf]

'Corrupted? That must be the next step of infection, perhaps we're closer to the source than I thought.' Lemon pondered quickly, but still, staying focused on the wolves, he ran forward to clash head on instead of being backed against the cave's wall.

Slashing his sword again, Lemon cut straight through the arm of the next wolf as it tried to dodge to protect itself. With the other one seeing an opportunity it tried to bite his thigh, but without pause, Lemon twisted his sword and cut the wolf's head in half.

[You have slain…]

Seeing all of this, the injured wolf leapt at Lemon but was instead met with the dead body of its brother. Using the strength granted by his gloves, Lemon grabbed the dead wolf by the scruff of its remaining neck before ruthlessly tossing the corpse at the remaining scoundrel.

The force of the throw and weight of the body made the wolf smash into the wall behind it before it was gutted by Lemon, his blade having pierced through the body of its fallen brother.

[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Corrupted Wolf]

'No memory.' He thought bitterly.

The confrontation lasting no more than a few seconds, the others were obviously awoken.

"What happened?" David asked, as he began knocking an arrow.

"Are we still under attack?" Yone questioned while retrieving his blade.

"Ted's dead." Lemon answered simply. Looking at the aftermath of his fight. 'They must've been attracted by the light at some point at night, I'm an idiot, I should've known light in a pitch-black cave would draw attention.' Lemon chided himself. 'But it was for warmth, ultimately, this environment is what will doom us.' Looking at the bodies, he snapped out of his thoughts.

"David, Yone, help me get rid of the bodies. Strip them off any fur that remains first, though."

Trying and failing for a few minutes to wake up Jason, Lemon could only frustratingly slap his face for sleeping when they needed him. Yet, that also failed to wake the bastard up.

Giving up temporarily, he walked over to Ted, Lemon stared at his body with a pang of guilt in his chest. 'If I had just stayed up instead, maybe you'd…' closing his eyes for a moment, he opened them, burning the image of his failure into his mind.

"Sigh…" Picking the body up, Lemon brought him outside, checking for any more infected before going near the lake, striping him of a few articles of clothing that weren't drenched in blood, he pushed the body into the river.

Yone and David, who hadn't much luck with the wolves, saw him dump the body, wearing frustrated expressions. They dumped the wolves in the water as well.

"Why'd you take his clothes?" Yone questioned, his irritation clear.

"We need warmth, this cave is cold, and we can't use the fire for the rest of the night." Lemon answered as they made their way back. Entering the cave, the frigid cold battered their bodies, in pitch darkness they huddled together wrapping all the bear pelts, cloth sacks and clothing around themselves. It took some time, but Yone and David fell back to sleep, Lemon remained awake, staring hatefully at the cave's entrance, or at least what he felt to be the entrance, with the fire now gone he had nothing to help him see in the abnormal pitch darkness. 'One way or another, I'm getting through this.' He promised himself.

=========

Feedback?