The waiting was the worst, but it was about to be over. It was killing him, killing him to stay so perfectly still when every ounce of him, his taut muscles and the white-hot pangs of adrenaline rocketing through him and the hunger turning his gut, were screaming that it was time to act. Hidden out of sight, he writhed silently. Sharp upper teeth bit into his lower lip until the bitter taste of diseased blood hit his tongue, and a filthy set of claws gripped the edge of the high place where he was perched. But he knew. It wasn't time yet. Still more waiting.

The smell coming from below was stomach-churning, a blended reek of rain and infected blood and so much charred flesh. Fire was everywhere. And there in the middle of it was the hulking corpse of one of the Big Ones, twisted into the ruins of the metal beast that the prey had come in, so freshly dead that it was still oozing blood and sizzling. Scattered around too were the fallen bodies of the weak ones that had flocked to the noise and the chaos. Not any of them were moving. His instinct kept him alert, told him that this was still dangerous. But underneath it all was another scent that was even sharper, warm and delicious and cutting clear through everything else; prey scent, and that wouldn't let him leave.

There had been a group of them before. He'd seen them come roaring in killing everything in their path, but it had been too dangerous for him to strike. His mind might have been diseased, but at least he knew that much. But that had been before the Big One had found them. Now, most of them had been reduced to pulp that the other ones like him would soon descend on, desperate and hungry. He knew; he was too.

It wasn't all death though, his senses told him. Keen ears alert he leaned out over the edge of the roof, tilting his head and baring a single tooth. Something was still down there and it… it was going to be his. He wanted this. Needed it.

Below, something moved. The Hunter flattened himself out of view.

She was going to bake alive if she couldn't get the hell out of here quickly. Trapped right between the wreckage of the Humvee and the smoldering Tank Cooked Medium Rare and only saved from being flattened by what remained of the cab was a really… really shitty place to be stuck at the moment. The soldier coughed and gagged, slipping the front of her shirt up over her nose in an attempt to keep from inhaling lungfuls of smoke and the sickly sweet odor of burning flesh and gasoline. Really it had seemed like a great idea at the time to douse the thing in one of her "homebrews" and watch it go up like a bonfire, and she supposed that it had done its job. Really the problem was probably that she'd assumed climbing back into the vehicle for security while she fired would be a good idea. But she didn't think she wanted to experience what being cooked felt like, either.

"Come on!" she grunted, shoving the entire weight of her shoulder into the massive limb and shoulder keeping her pinned into the upturned vehicle. It just barely budged. FUCK. She let out a short yell of frustration, pretty sure that the corpse would muffle it anyways. For all of her training, she was still about… five feet and one hundred and ten pounds against a whole lot of literally dead weight. She shook her head furiously and let out another grunt, putting all of her might into moving this damned thing. This time there was at least enough leverage that a gap was created and she took this to her advantage, wedging herself between the thing's limp arm and the metal to squeeze herself out. Burnt, flaking chunks of skin rubbed off against her uniform, disgustingly, until finally she managed to free herself. She gasped in the comparatively fresh air and blinked her stinging eyes hard.

Immediately she whipped around in a short semicircle with her assault rifle drawn to scope out the area, despite the fact that she knew that she'd emptied the clip out and hadn't had time to reload. At least everything still looked pretty… dead. Unfortunately, this also included the five men and women who'd made up the rest of her extraction team. This really wasn't good. It had been drilled into her and just about everyone else left alive on the planet's head that sticking together was the key to staying alive and not getting snared by a Smoker or some shit. That whole "lone survivor" thing you saw in movies didn't work for long. She'd seen it.

"Jesus fuck," she couldn't help but mutter as she sidestepped what was left of their medic, Carlin. It wasn't as though she hadn't seen people dying plenty of times before, but, hell. She'd trained with these people for the past months and that was enough to give someone at least some kind of attachment. Grimacing somberly, she yanked the radio transmitter off of the back of her belt and held down the transmit button.

"This is Private Theodora Skyler, calling Midway. Come in Midway. Can anyone hear-"

She was cut off by an odd, distorted burst of white noise, a very clear sound of the device being fucked. With more than a little displeasure, she realized that after her hard landing when the jeep had been flipped it was a good deal flatter and more broken than before. A sharp curse left her mouth and she threw it to the pavement in frustration. Great. So she really was on her own out here.

Alright, so. Shelter had to be her first order of business. After all of the commotion, she was sure that the fight hadn't gone unnoticed, and the infected that her and the rest of the team had gunned down had to be only the first wave that would come looking. A safe room up to CEDA code and stocked with some ammunition would be the greatest thing in the world right then, but a sealed spot with a sturdy door would do. Provided, that was, she didn't manage to piss off any more Tanks or Witches. After taking a quick inventory of her remaining supplies and reloading another clip into the assault rifle, and one brief and silent acknowledgement that her teammates would be missed, Skyler got on the move.

It was then that she was drawn to attention by the sound of a growl.

No! The Hunter jerked back as hard as he could, holding back a snarl and clenching the rooftop even harder. A little bit of blood dribbled down from his wounded lip. He quieted his breath as much as he could, despite being able to hear his own heartbeat in his ears. That… that had been bad. His thoughts were blurry and near-dizzy with excitement and hunger, and he'd nearly been spotted for it. Finally though, the prey seemed to ease up and started moving again.

Follow. Still on all fours and keeping as low as possible he shifted after them, taking in what he could. This prey was a woman. Small, smaller than him, but battle-scarred. From the scent being carried up to him she smelled like sweat and burn and blood not her own, which was somehow strangely entrancing, especially when layered over the irresistible scent of one of the Clean Ones. She moved with more confidence and certainty than he was used to seeing from them. Something seemed… not quite the same about her, from what he remembered. Prey was usually hurried, scared, desperate. No, something in the back of his brain told him that he was going to have to work for this kill. Maybe it was a little bit dangerous, but he shook with anticipation; that fight, that challenge, was what he lived for.

While her back was turned, silent as ever, he made a running leap. At the very last second he tensed his limbs, crouched, and launched himself into the air. During that moment of weightlessness, a wild sort of glee filled him. The bunching and unbunching of his muscles, the wind in his face, the feeling of control were amazing. Soothing, familiar. It helped him think about something other than the throbbing headache and the dull pain that seemed to be settled into every part of his body, anyways. He rolled when he hit the next roof, hardly having to break his stride.

As he crept along after his prey, he gradually started to bare one tooth. She looked alert, but more focused on wherever she was going than on looking out. She really must not have spotted him after all. Good. Good good good. Unsuspecting prey. The urges swelled up loud and overwhelming.

Jump. Tear. Kill. Eat.

He got back into a low stance, his pulse racing. It was finally time. Every muscle in his body was tensed and ready to spring. Slightly, just barely, he sidled up to the edge, practically feeling the momentum carrying him down onto his kill already-

It happened so quickly that it took him a moment to realize exactly what had happened. A few explosive bangs! shattered the silence and, unable to help a shocked snarl of surprise, he yanked himself back and flattened himself against the surface. Those couple of seconds were all that he needed though to see that she'd been looking right at him.

A slight smirk lifted Skyler's face. Well, that might not have solved the problem entirely, but it had at least sent the message to her stalker that she knew they were there.

"Fucker."

It was a damn Hunter. Didn't that figure? Just about the worst thing to run into while she was on her own. She'd seen what they'd do if there was no one to get them the hell off; it would shred her and throw her innards around like some kind of gory confetti. Well. She guessed that just meant she was going to have to not get jumped on. At least there was only one of them.

For about a minute she stood her ground, staring hard at the corner of the rooftop where she'd seen the top of its head disappear to. There was no further sign of it, though she was sure she hadn't actually managed to hit it. Shit. So apparently they were at least clever enough to lay low. She couldn't just sit around all day waiting for it to come back out so she could finish the job, though. Eventually she grimaced but had to move on. Hopefully that would at least put it off of pursuing her for a little bit.

She kept moving at a steady clip down the street, sticking to the center of the road to avoid both the rooftops and any parked cars along the sides that something could be hiding under. Nothing jumped out but, noticeably, she did see a few dead commons that looked like they'd met their end being thrown off to the side. This must have been the way that the Tank had come. So it had more or less cleared the way for her. At least something had worked out in her favor. Just in case she kept an eye out for any promising red arrows pointed towards safety, but saw nothing yet. This was a decently sized city though. If she could make it far enough, there had to be something somewhere.

The entire time, she was sure that the Hunter was watching her. And as she continued on her way, she became increasingly sure that it was from somewhere entirely too close for comfort, if the instincts she'd gained during her weeks surviving out in the open had given her served her well. Of course though, every time that she looked up, she saw nothing. Sneaky bastard. It was just waiting, wasn't it?

She scowled to herself. That was… okay. Hell, if this was the game that it wanted to play, she could play it. Rifle constantly at the ready, she even began humming a few bars out loud, just to be cheeky and show it exactly how much she couldn't care, as if it would know the difference anyways. Whatever. She'd taken on far worse than a single Hunter and come out unscathed, anyways.

It continued on like that for maybe a quarter mile. Every once in a while she would hear something like the patter of gravel off of a rooftop or what might have been another growl, and each time she'd make sure to aim her sights in exactly that direction. The thing still didn't duck its head out, but she'd be good anyways if she could just ward it off until she could secure herself.

Speaking of which… there. A beautiful splotch of red paint on the pavement caught her attention in the middle of the road. The simple "house" drawing with a red arrow underneath pointed her in the direction of a narrow alleyway. Skyler let out a short bark of laughter in relief. Christ, finally. She was home free, for now at least. Time to lock herself in and be able to spend a night not worrying about Tanks, or hordes, or goddamn stalker Hunters. She ducked into the alleyway and, triumphantly, turned her face up at the rooftops while flipping up her middle finger on her free hand.

"Yyyeah!" she crowed with a grin spread across her face, "How's that, you sneaky little shit? In your creepy goddamn hood face! Good luck getting your dinner tonight!"

All she had to do was get over this stupid car blocking the way, and then the way looked more or less clear. Like a pro vaulter she put her hands onto the back of the car and swung herself up, weight of her gear and all-

And as soon as her feet hit the back of the beat-up old station wagon, she was half-deafened by a series of loud, keening beeps piercing the night air, echoing through the streets for probably a mile around and surely alerting every infected in that radius to her presence. The blood drained out of her face and for a moment she couldn't do much more than stand dumbly atop the hood. She hardly had time to be amazed that after months of sitting derelict the car alarm was still working before in the near distance, the sound of furious screaming rose up to meet her, nearly drowning out the sound of the alarm. Even over that though, and from very directly overhead, she could clearly hear the enraged shriek of a Hunter that was about to pounce.

Shit! She knew that it had still been after her!

Skyler immediately jumped off the car and backed herself close against a wall in the alley for cover, rifle at the ready, and shook her head. As she saw the first wave of the commons rushing down at her she just let out a low groan of,

"Iii fucked up."

Kill it! Kill it! Killitkillitkillit-

For a moment after the horrible noise shattered the silence, all the Hunter could do was stagger backwards, bringing his hands up over his ears and cringing. It felt like it was ripping through his ears and, unable to hold it back, he let loose the shriek that had been building in his throat. He had to stop the sound. Had to eliminate any trace of what had caused it. It was anger and it was pain and it had to be destroyed.

From every direction around his brothers raised their own voices to scream their anger at the disturbance, which only made it so much worse. At that time, he was entirely certain that something sharp was being driven directly into his brain, the ache assaulting it was so painful. The pain and the adrenaline boiled over into even more rage, enough that he thought it would burst out of him. Fast and confused and agonized as his thoughts were racing though, he still somehow managed to realize what was going on down below.

She… she was fighting off entire waves of his lesser brothers with her firestick. It was busy killing them, and she was looking every way except for where he was waiting. As he watched, one of them even actually got a hold of her and she had to stop to shove them off.

It was time.

A savage snarl tore free from his throat. No more waiting. With that he threw his head back into an extended shriek, his pain and his fury and his need to kill this woman blending together into a sound that was terrifying, even to him. He didn't stop screaming when he finally released the unbearable tension that had built up in him and pounced, his legs pushing him off of the roof and then down towards the stunned prey below.

There was a brief instant before the screaming blue blur soaring down through the air hit her, and in that moment all Skyler could do was stare upwards, the last of the horde that she'd very nearly dispatched of suddenly forgotten. Maybe it was just shock, but the single thought that ran through her head was strangely calm, and almost unimpressed:

I'm about to die.

And then the Hunter was on her. From that height its weight was like a ton of bricks slamming into her admittedly small frame, and was more than enough to send her crashing violently to the ground with it. It knocked every bit of the wind out of her and, from the explosion of pain in her ribcage, probably cracked or at least bruised a few of her ribs in the process. She could actually feel her chest cave slightly and black swam in her vision. The impact stunned her, and for a second she wasn't conscious enough to do anything.

No. NO.

Then the Hunter raised its arms and splayed its claws to tear into her, and both Skyler's body and her mind were sent into autopilot.

There was no way to describe the savage glee that he was feeling when he was about to make a kill. It washed over him, filled his mind, took away every other meaningless thing except for his prey under him; her heartbeat so frantic it nearly kept time with his, the way that she thrashed and bucked and screamed underneath him, the delicious scent of her fear and adrenaline.

KILLKILLKILLKILL!

His claws raked over her chest over and over, first shredding through unusually tough fabric and then sending shallow arcs of blood flying into the air. The sight and smell of blood only fueled him, the bloodlust sending him father into a manic frenzy. Her screaming became almost as loud as his own, but it was more desperate and angry rather than the complete fear he was used to in the strange sounds that the Clean Ones made.

It was so good but something… something was strange. Something was taking away from the glee that would normally come with the kill, and he didn't like it. He growled in frustration directly in her face as his destroyed mind struggled to understand what it could be.

Her… her eyes? She was staring right up at him, and her eyes were… they were furious. Her gaze felt hot and piercing through him, almost like the bite from a firestick. The errant thought flitted through the back of his scattered thoughts that it felt almost like they were trying to say that he did something-

Irrationally, a spike of panic shot through his gut, muddling and confusing with all of the other excitement he was wrapped in. No, he- he hated this. Hated it. Whatever it was, all he knew was that he had to stop it. So she would just stop- looking at him!

His head throbbed and he was panicked and enraged that she had done this to him while he was in the middle of making her his kill. Whatever she'd done to cause it, this prey was going to pay for it.

Skyler's whole body burned with desperation and her blood pounded through her at a million miles an hour. A good deal of it, worryingly, was soaking into her now-shredded bulletproof vest. The only reason she hadn't even been disemboweled yet was probably because of the tough military-grade vest, but if the Hunter kept getting in swipes the way that it was, she could definitely count on more than some nasty scratches over her chest. For all she was worth she bucked and kicked and fought, trying to kick the creature off or writhe her way out from under it, but her struggling seemed to be doing next to nothing, except for maybe exciting the creature more.

"FUCK YOU!" she shrieked, doing her best to work her knee up under the creature, but it simply had her pinned too tightly to the ground. She uselessly scratched at the pavement with her nails as she tried to free her arms. Hell no. She didn't want to die helpless and trapped like this! "Get the hell OFF OF ME!"

To her great surprise and almost as if in response, the Hunter suddenly broke off its clawing attack. It did, however, growl in her face, and it got in close enough that she could smell and feel its breath, fevered and reeking of disease and stale blood, hot down her neck. She could see the blood-tainted saliva dripping down from the sharpened teeth that it had bared in a snarl and noted with some disgust that at least some of the blood splattered over its face was her own. She caught the barest glimpse under the hood of its sweatshirt and saw feral, gleaming yellow eyes burning back out and… strangely, locked directly onto her own brown ones. Oh Christ. What was it even doing?

It turned out that she really, really didn't want the answer. A second later agony, unbearable and quite literally blinding, raked down the side of her face. Skyler shrieked in pain like none she'd ever known before and the blood poured down her face in a hot torrent. Her vision, and not just in her right eye, blacked out. She was about to vomit. She was thrashing, she was kicking, she wasn't actually aware of what she was doing but…

And then amazingly, she was met with a sharp yelp of surprise as she managed to kick the Hunter right off of her. Obviously it hadn't counted on its meal having the kind of strength that she did or being able to pull that off, because it looked exactly as shocked as she did. Skyler rolled away, barely able to see, but with what vision she had she searched frantically for her assault rifle only to find that it had skidded down the alley. Too far away. Still panting in agony, she unsheathed her combat knife.

There wasn't a single thought left in the Hunter's head. Whatever thoughts had been there blended together into a deafening, incomprehensible scream that demanded blood as he was knocked backwards and away. The rage he was screeching made his throat raw and he was already righting himself to attack again. The anger was unbearable. It was greater even than the hunger rioting in his gut.

He was barely aware that the prey was also poised to strike again, but even if he did he was beyond caring at that point. Not giving her the chance to do anything he lunged for her again, snapping his teeth at her in an attempt to latch onto something. At the last second she brought up her arms to defend herself as he slammed into her, but it wasn't enough to stop the force from knocking her back down. She yelled angrily and shoved with an amount of strength he wasn't expecting from her. But no. He couldn't let his prey escape like that. He let out another guttural snarl and snapped at her again to stop her from shaking him. This time, he managed to connect with her hand.

The taste of her blood, pure and clean, flooded his senses, and then the hunger took over. The anger was more than certainly still there, burning strong through him, but right now, it hardly mattered. This was a matter of simple need. Feeding. A shriek of excitement welled in his throat, but he let it stay muffled so he wouldn't be forced to release his hold. He sank his claws into her shoulders and his teeth deeper into her flesh even as he heard her gasp in pain and the crunch of some bone as it gave way. Her eye that he hadn't gotten rid of yet was glazed with the familiar look of intense pain and by now the scent of fear was rolling off of her, in waves. That… something was still there though, and it was making his head throb. He was going to have to take care of that next-

It was then that he felt something cold and sharp press against his gut. His instincts fired up danger signals and usually this is when they'd be screaming that he should get away, but he couldn't have released her even if he wanted to. He was too fixated on satisfying the hunger. Through her mangled hand he gave a truly threatening growl. What the prey responded with though was somehow the most menacing sound that he'd even heard from a Clean One while they were underneath him. She drew her free arm back and…

Pain exploded through his gut before he could even process what had happened, so sharp that it chased a good deal of the aggression right out of him. He gave a delayed yelp of fright, unintentionally releasing his hold on the prey as he did so. Before he knew it she'd slipped out of his grasp, prompting another strangely dull snarl from him. He… he didn't understand. How had she…? Slowly he realized that she was still gripping the sharp object in her blood-slick hands, and that he could feel hot, sticky dampness spreading over the front of his coverings. He stared down at it, giving a soft, almost confused gasp.

Blood. Blood. My blood-

While he was stunned she managed to plunge the thing a second time into his side. This time though he realized what was going on and screeched, swatting the object out of his side and away.

Hurt. Hurt badly. He had to get out of here. Had to RUN.

Half-blinded by terror and pain the Hunter drew his legs up under him and leaped off of the prey as far as he could go. To his shock he hit the ground unevenly not nearly as far as he'd wanted to go and had to roll himself back upright, his claws scrabbling frantically over the ground for purchase. His own sick blood soaked through his coverings and dripped down underneath him. It… it hurt so much. But he couldn't stop there. Not safe; not yet.

He wasn't sure how long he managed to go for, but soon, there was simply too much pain for him to go any farther. Wheezing, clutching the newly slick fabric of his covering, the Hunter finally rolled himself under the cover of one of the big metal things where none of the other ones like him could see him. With a series of pitiful whines, he collapsed there into a shuddering, bleeding heap. His stomach lurched and convulsed, but empty as it was nothing came up and it was so sore all it made him do was let out another yowl.

This was…. This was the worst. He was still horribly angry, and somehow he felt both nauseated and hungrier than even before at the same time. Only now, he hurt too much to do anything about it. Nothing except lie there, whimpering to himself and wondering what was going to happen. Slowly, the pounding fury began to fade into something even worse; more fear. With another low whine, the Hunter curled in around himself and sagged limply.

This was bad. This was very, very bad.