The Beast of Exmoor II

The wind was blowing, the rain was poring, soaking the wilderness of Exmoor, most animals were hidding to avoid the heavy storm, but one 12 year old boy was walking trough the rain, lost, cold and drenched, desperately trying to find his friend. Eventually he realized that he had to stop and find shelter, so he laboriously broke of as many branches as he could to make a crude, tipi-like construction, it didn't help him to get warm, but at least he could finally let himself dry of. For several hours he just sat there, watching the rain drops pour down, giving him time to reflect back on everything that went wrong and led him to his current predicament. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, the storm passed and Ryan continued searching, but he was still lost and had no idea where Cameron was, he tried sniffing for her sent only to realize that he couldn't do that anymore and if he didn't find her by nightfall he would have to wait out the entire night before resuming his search, since he no longer had his heightened night vision either, Ryan sighted "Guess being a wereleopard had it's perks." he begrudgingly noted. He had no sense of direction now, all he could do was follow the river upstream, hoping that he would run into Cameron.

He realized that if he wanted to find his friend he would need some assistance, luckily he was quite good at befriending animals, but he also knew that few animals willingly helped others unless you earned their trust and did them a favor first. Just then a small herd of deer bolted out of the forest, Ryan backed away just in time to avoid getting trampled, as he was retreating he caught something in his peripheral vision and jumped back as a cornered adder hissed and tried to bite his leg, before slithering of into the bushes, after calming down Ryan cursed " Where did these animals come from? I used to notice their presence before I even saw them! Ugh stupid human senses, it feels like I'm freaking blind and deaf now!"

Suddenly the quietness of the forest was interrupted by a roar, Ryan froze with fear, it was that cougar, he ran and tried to hide in a patch of bushes, but as he crawled trough them Ryan stepped on something that let out a high-pitched squeal before running of, it was a piglet. " No,no,no!" Ryan panicked knowing what this meant, he rose up and heard loud grunting all around him, as multiple wild boars with piglets appeared and a big, black, razorbacked male glared at him while kicking the ground. " I`m very sorry, I didn't me.." Ryan couldn't even finish his sentence before the boar charged him, he jumped out of the way and made a dash towards the trees, he tried climbing the nearest one, but he could hardly push himself up, let alone get a grip on the trunk. The 400 pound hog ran at him, Ryan once again ducked causing the boar to ram the tree and knock most of it's leafs of. Looking around Ryan climbed up a log leaning against another one, but the boar rammed into the rotting tree trunk, causing it to break apart. Ryan hit the ground while the boar got pinned down by the trunk, using the distraction Ryan tried to escape as the enraged boar soon pushed the log of him. Ryan tried climbing up another tree, pushing himself up as hard as he could, but he only got a few feet up as the boar rammed the tree causing it to shake violently. Ryan fell and landed on top of the pig.

The tusked beast rose up with Ryan on his back and let out an angry squeal before he started trashing and bucking violently, trying to throw the boy of. Ryan held on to him, causing the boar to run, he bolted trough the forest with his unwanted rider, who didn't dare let go, before going up a hil where Ryan saw a tree with a low hanging branch up ahead, " I only got one shot!" he extended his arms and managed to to grab it and lift himself up as the the raging boar ran under it. The boar soon made a sharp turn and ran back down underneath Ryan, who let out a sigh of relief " I`m safe now.", " You sure about dat? " a voice spoke mockingly. Ryan looked up to see Kurt laying on the branch above him, chuckling, before he took a swipe at the boy, clawing him in the shoulder, making him fall down with a thund.

Kurt soon jumped down and pinned him underneath his paws, digging his claws into Ryan`s shoulders while cackling " You hurt me and humiliated me, but you aint getting away dis time, now Ill tear you apart!" , Ryan hissed from the pain as the cougar`s claws dug deeper into his flesh but he managed to speak " You attacked me first ,what do you think you'll acomplish by killing me?", Kurt laughed " To send a message to you hairless apes, me and my pack have been chased and hurt by your kind our entire lifes..." he spoke with unhinged glee, not noticing Ryan reaching into his handbag "...but Blake now wants us to fight back, and he allowed me to have the fun of ripping you to...AAAAHHHH!!!" Kurt screamed in agony as he got pepper sprayed right in the face, the cougar let Ryan go as he started trashing his head and jumping around from the burning pain in his eyes and nose. Ryan took the oportunity to ram the blinded cat of guard, causing him to tumble down the hill until he hit the bottom. Picking himself up Kurt pried his watering, bloodshot eyes open and screamed at Ryan " You`ll pay for dis!!!", " Oh you shouldn't worry about me right now!" Ryan shouted down mockingly , Kurt heard grunting and turned around to see that the wild boar had returned, and brought the rest of his heard with him. Seeing the big cat made them forget about the human threat instantly, the razorback rammed the cougar throwing him against a tree, Kurt quickly got up and started fighting of his attackers. "Well looks like the psycho puma is preoccupied." thought Ryan as he ran up the hill and into the forest, as fast as his human self could go.

Elsewhere Cameron was roaming the forest, she was out of danger, however right now she would have preferred it if the ground just swallowed her up and she died, she abandoned Ryan, she ran like a coward to save her own skin and left him at the mercy of those killers, she cried unable to accept the reality of what had happened, Ryan was dead and she just left him to die out of blind fear, she collapsed to the ground sobbing "I`m sorry Ryan, I failed as your guardian. I`m so,so sorry..." but then she heard movement behind her and familiar voices talking, causing her to scurry up a tree where she saw the 3 panthers passing bellow her, " You worthless idiot!" Blake growled at Kurt who looked down scared and ashamed " You had a simple task , yet it seems that killing a hapless human child is too hard for an incompetent buffoon like you." the cougar tried to defend himself saying how he was tricked by Ryan, however his excuse only made Blake strike him in the face "Of course he tricked you, because you were dumb enough to gloat like a fool instead of killing him right then and there. Looks like I have to supervise everything..."

As the 3 disappeared Cameron almost cried tears of joy after overhearing the good news, of course Ryan wouldn't go down without a fight, that just made her proud, but she quickly realized that he wouldn't stay alive for long if these 3 lunatics were still on his trail. She had to find him.

.............

Meanwhile in Africa the shaman was meditating in his tree, in order to to focus on keeping the portal open, but he started to get the feeling that something was wrong, it's been almost 2 days and Ryan and Cameron still hadn't returned, he would soon have to contact his young friend telepathically...

......................

In Exmoor, the sun was going down as Ryan was going upriver, soon, very soon we would no longer be able to navigate trough the forest, he had to find a place to hide for the night, safely hidden from those panthers, that's when he came across a dirt trail, with fresh tier tracks. Right then he heard a noise that sounded very familiar, yet somehow alien as well to him, Ryan saw a car in the distance going towards him, "Humans!" Ryan hid in the bushes as the car passed by him, but it soon stopped in a nearby clearing , a family came out, a man and his wife and two children, seemingly close in age to Ryan, he observed them for a while,as they set up a camp site, Ryan felt envy towards them, essentially how they seemed so happy together while getting along and having fun, that was certainly not how he remembered his family, with his absentee folks and annoying siblings. He soon left, trying to make contact with any of them did not cross his mind, maybe he spent too much time in the wild to the point that humans felt alien and unnerving to him, or maybe he was scared of how they would react to him, his dirty, feral child look didn't give the impression of a normal or sane person after all. Ryan followed the trail up and soon found himself facing a small town, only about two dozen buildings and one street, with farmland surrounding it. Ryan started thinking, this wasn't an overcrowded area, if he could just avoid it's inhabitants, then this would be an ideal place to hide from Blake and his 2 stooges, suerly they wouldn't enter a town. Ryan waited till night fall.

There was no sign of him, not that her new form was well suited for covering much ground quickly, smaller, slower, weaker, she hated every moment she had to spend in it. It was essentially impossible to track Ryan, as the recent rain washed away any sent within the area, not only that but hunger was also starting to affect her, her mind started drifting of to the thought of merely finding food. She tried to supress it, but with the zero progress she was making in finding Ryan, she thought that she might as well try to please her need for sustenance. Her first instinct was to go after her usual choice of prey, those weird looking antelopes, but it soon dawned on her that she was no longer able to bring one down. She cursed and tried looking for something smaller, and she eventually found a familiar target, rabbits, a small group of them was grazing in a medow, Cameron tried to sneak up on them for an ambush, but one of the look outs spotted her, and soon the rabbit were fleeing the wild cat who gave chase to them.

She saw them going underground and she stopped at the mouth of their warren, "Come out you long eared rats, or I'll come in." she said with amusement, enjoying herself for the first time in a while, she walked down the tunnel smilling, until she found her prey huddling up in a defensive position, "Oh this will be fun." she thought, she was wrong. Within seconds the tables were turned and the predator received a brutal gang beating, getting clawed, bitten and literary kicked around repeatedly until she instinctively made a mad dash out of the warren. "Rabbits? You're running away from rabbits!" she bashed herself internally, " Get lost kitty, before things get to tough for you!" she heard the chief rabbit shout making her stop and glare back at them " You buck toothed vermin are lucky that I wasn't too hungry tonight!" she shouted back trying to scrape up what was left of her dignity before running of.

As the moon rose, Ryan entered the town, it was the first time in a while that he was in a human populated area, yet it felt rather foreign and unatural to him, it didn't feel as comforting as he expected it to be, or maybe it was merely the knowledge that he would be sleeping on the cold,cold streets rather than in a comfy house, then his stomach growled, making him realize just how hungry he was, with no alternatives he had to make a rather desperate decision as he found a dumpster "Eating from a garage bin, just how low can I go?", as he came nearer he found a pair of feral looking dogs scavenging around it, they saw him and started barking at him aggressively , but Ryan pulled out his machete and made an animalistic growl, causing them to flee, "Pff whimps." Ryan sneered before going over his less than dignified buffet, but found it to be full of rats who cowered at the sight of a human, noticing their fear Ryan assured them that he meant no harm, suprising the trapped rodents, one of them spoke up saying that he never saw a human who didn't react with instant fear and agression at the sight of them.

" Belive me I would never intentionally harm an animal, I find all animals to be cool.." Ryan further assured "...unless they are lions." he bitterly added in his head, but then he remembered something, he knew rats carried many disease so if they were all over this dumpster, nothing in it was safe to eat, groaning Ryan dropped, his butt hitting the cold pavement " This is just swell, I can't even eat garbage." he sulked, the rats surrounded him and started curiously asking him various questions, how he could talk to animals, if he was a homeless orphan, why was he cladded in animal hides,ect. , one rat sympathetically offered him a half eaten chicken leg, but Ryan had to refuse. Nothless he started answering their questions, having some friendly chatt with some affable animals helped lift his spirit a little bit. However their conversation was watched by a pair of yellow eyes from the bushes, and when their owner revealed himself the rats scattered. Ryan saw a red fox approaching him, a look of devious curiousity on his face.

" My my, this isn't something I never expected to see, a human who`s not only nice but can also talk to animals....." the fox spoke with sly fascination "... especially a street orphan." Ryan was already annoyed by him, "I`m not an orphan, I just far away from my family." the fox took a sniff and looked at him intrigued " Intresting, tell me why do you look and smell, like you lived your whole life in the wilderness , where you raised there? Is that how you learned our language?" Ryan sighted " No it's just a gift of mine, trust me if I answered your questions, you would think I'm crazy. What do you want anyway?" he asked in annoyance causing the fox to laugh nervously " Oh where are my manners. My name`s Cecil and I couldn't help but notice that you seemed lost and looking for something. If you`re hungry I could help you out, if you`re willing to lend me a little assistance." he asked eagerly, Ryan rolled his eyes, he only meet him a moment ago and already he could tell that this fox was some conniving sneak, Ryan tried to leave " Forget it, I might be hungry, but I have more important concerns, like finding shelter for the nigh and finding a friend." This got Cecil excited, he caught up to Ryan and started walking alongside him " Why didn't you say so in the first place. I know this area like the back of my paw, I know just the place where you can safely spend the night, and we foxes are excellent trackers. Just do me a little favor and you'll have my services." Ryan stopped to consider, this fox didn't seem very trustworthy, but Ryan was pretty deeperate for help, so he agreed, but warned Cecil that he would regret if he pulled any tricks on him. The fox gave his "promise" and told Ryan to follow him. Cecil asked him once again where he came from and how he could talk to animals which got the latter annoyed " Just zip it and lead on." Cecil shrugged " Alright, if you want to be cryptic, who am I to question you. But can you at least reveal your name ?..."

Cecil led Ryan to a farm, it was dark but the moon gave just enough lighting for Ryan to make out his surroundings, he groaned at what he saw "The fox wants to steal chickens, how predictable." Cecil told him that he needed assistance to get in, one thought quickly crossed Ryan`s mind, he asked Cecil if there were guard dogs at the farm, the fox claimed that there was only one, but assured him that he was on a leash and sleeping at this hour. Ryan soon saw that the reason the fox couldn't enter was because the entire property was fenced of, the wooden fence was too tall to climb over, but Ryan soon found the gate which had lock on it, Ryan didn't have any toothpick or hairpin, so he used a a less stealthy method, he broke it open with a rock. Cecil made a bee line for the chicken pen, only to find it locked as well. The fox cursed, but Ryan just walked up and loosened the old fashion lock on the door, opening it. Cecil felt dumbfounded " Well I could have figured that out." he bragged, Ryan just rolled his eyes and whispered " Yeah sure, just grab a chicken and meet me back at the gate, I`m leaving." as the fox went in Ryan tried to leave but was met with a menacing growl. He was confronted by German Shepard bearing his teeth, Ryan tried to calm him down but the dog started barking loudly before lunging at Ryan, who fell backwards, but managed to get his feet underneath the attacking dog and threw him over.

Ryan got up and tried to run, but he was too slow as the dog was already ontop of him again. Ryan grabed his jaws, prying them of open as he struggled to hold the canine back, sharp teeth cut into his hands as his strength was failing him, Ryan knew he couldn't hold the dog back for much longer, so he kicked him in the stomach. Tthe dog jumped back and Ryan got up and quickly pulled his machete, any anger or courage he felt in a fight as a wereleopard was gone, Ryan felt as terrified as any child would experiencing an animal attack, as the dog lunged again a scared Ryan slashed him with his machete, the canine yelped in pain and backed of for a second before attacking again, Ryan swung his machete again and slashed the dog right across his throat. He fell down and started yelping and whimpering as he was recoiling in pain. Ryan looked in horror at what he had done, before he heard a voice and had a flashlight pointed at him by the farmer. Ryan hissed like a cat and covered his eyes, heart pounding fear and panic engulfed him, he`d been discovered, he had to escape.

The farmer was shocked at what he saw, stunned he failed to react as Ryan charged at him and knocked him of his feet, Ryan quickly grabbed the cane the man was holding an started hitting him with it in a moment of blind panic. The man scremed in fear and shielded himself with his arms, Ryan stopped and saw the windows in the house and in the surrounding homes lighting up, as people started waking up from the ruckus, terrified Ryan ran towards the farm gate and continued so until he reached a road. That's when he heard the screeching of tiars, Ryan jumped back as a car suddenly stopped in front of him, he slipped and crashed into a bunch of trash cans. Other cars stopped at the sight as well and multiple people came out, as he was blinded by the car lights and heard the gasps and voices of people Ryan felt like a cornered animal, he crawled backwards, shaking violently, panting heavily from the overwhelming anxiety he felt, as the people started coming closer he screamed " No! Stop starring at me!" , Ryan grabbed one of the trash cans and threw it at the small crowd, as they split up Ryan ceased the opening and bolted into the woods, not daring to look back, all he knew was that he had to escape.

Cecil was humming happily as he was heading for his den with a dead chicken, tonight turned out rather well for him, "Oh I`m such a cunning rascal!" he complemented himself before being grabbed by his tail and lifted up. He dropped his catch as he was met with Ryan`s enraged face, he was gritting his teeth and breathing heavily. " Oh kid, thank goodness you're..." Ryan clamped Cecil`s snout shut before speaking with baerly contained fury " You used me, you just wanted a distraction to ensure your escape!" feeling nervous Cecil muffled something but Ryan yelled at him to be quite " I told you that you better not cross me twerp!" with that Ryan pinned the fox down and pulled a rope out of his bag, Cecil panicked as the boy tied the rope around his neck, the fox started to cry and beg for mercy, but instead of what he feared would happen Ryan started walking while pulling the fox along with the rope, after being dragged on the ground for a bit Cecil gained his footing , he tried keeping pace with Ryan in order not to choke and asked him what he planned to do with him, still fearing the worst. Ryan, having calmed down, looked at him and spoke " You said you would help me find my friend, and you're going to keep your promise, whether you like it or not, and this way I can be sure you don't try to ditch me." the fox gulped before nodding his head nervously, he knew he couldn't get out of this now, pleasing the human was the only way to ensure his survival. "Oh and I almost forgot..." Ryan turned back to pick up the chicken "...Thanks for catching my dinner." he said smugly making Cecil grumble as he was once again yanked by the neck.

It was nightime and Cameron was still hungry and she was no closer to finding Ryan, worry and frustration were killing her, but a sudden hooting screech signaled that something else was trying to kill her, she barely managed to turn her head to see a large winged creature descending at her before she was pinned to the ground, massive talons piercing her body, she screeched in pain as a large tawny owl was flapping it's massive wings above her. Cameron had never felt such fear of a bird, but inspite of her new found cowardness, she felt the instinct to fight for her life, bitting and clawing the bird leg until it let go of her. As she rose up the owl flew up, but it emidiatelly started swooping down at her. Part of Camerons mind urged her to beat the crap out of this featherbag that dared to attack her, but her new found instincts urged her to run, the latter prevailed. She ran trough the dark forest with the owl in hot pursuit, it swooped down and nearly grabbed the cat with it's talons, Cameron suddenly spotted a burrow and ran into it.

She waited for the bird to go away, hating the feeling weak and humiliated at having to turn tail and run from a bird, "Now I get why Zan is so terrified of birds. Wait what did I just think!" she scolded herself before hearing some chattering screeches coming deeper from within the borrow, she found herself confronted by a gray animal, somewhat resembling a stokier honey badger with vertical stripes running down his face, he yelled in a gravelly voice, aggressively ordering her to leave his lair. Cameron felt like backing out of there, but she refused, she would not be a coward this time, " Oh spare me your bluffs tubby." she sneered at the badger "I`ll stay here if I feel like it and you can either deal with it or I'll kick your fat ass out of here!", but to her shock her response didn't trigger the badger, let alone strike him with fear, he instead let out a gruff, hardy laugh, "Whats so funny!" she hissed in annoyance, " You. A wee pussycat thinks you can kick me out of me home. I`ve never meet someone so foolish in me hole life." he continued laughing, this made Cameron boil, she extend her claws and lunged at the badger, but he took a swipe and slammed her against the wall. The badger pinned her down and bit her back, she tried to free herself, but her opponent was too powerful, lifting her in his jaws the beadger slammed her against the wall again. Cameron picked herself up and tried attacking him again but fell back as the badger slashed her with his claws. He bit into her hindquarter and started dragging her, until he threw her out.

" And you better stay out lassie, I won't go easy on you second time." yelled the badger mockingly before retreating into his burrow. Cameron rose, her body hurting almost as much as her pride, this entire day was nothing but one humiliation after another, against her common sense she felt compelled to barge back in and pick a rematch, the only thing that stopped her was her need to find Ryan. With her body aicking, she continued her search. On her way her mind drifted back towards her unwanted associate " That masked maniac better know how to turn me back.......so I can kill him."

.................

It was close to midnight and Cecil was sniffing the ground, desperately trying to pick up a sent, feeling Ryan`s glare pearcing trough him. Cecil timidly told him that there were countless wildcards in these woods and that it would impossible to find Cameron if he didn't knew her personal sent, Ryan knew that the little pest had a point, but stubbornly told him that they would keep searching until they found her. However Ryan then started yawning and felt exausted, after his initial fit of anger and adrenaline wore of he realized how tired he was. He told Cecil that they would continue searching in the morning and asked him to lead him to the shelter he was talking about, the fox started shifting nervously and was soon grabbed and lifted by the sruff of his neck " What's the matter, were you lying about that as well?" the boy asked threateningly, the scared fox flinched and tried to think of something "Eh...well I...ah yes...a cave!.....I know of a secluded cave not far from here! Except...(he chuckled sheepishly)... it's inhabitants aren't very fond of me." Ryan looked at him condescendingly " I can see why. Well don't worry I`ll talk things out with them."

Cecil led him towards a larger stone wall, imbedded in a clif, where a large crac was visible, Ryan took the first step in and squeezed himself trough and was soon meet with hundreds of tiny voices "Visitors!" "A Human!" "He looks funny!" , a whole colony of pipistrelle bats was clinging from the wall, observing the boy with wide eyed curiosity. They didn`t seem distributed by his presence, which was good, mustering up the best act of diplomacy and politeness he could gather Ryan asked if he could take shelter in their cave for the night, their response was quick and suprising "Sure, be our guests!" "The more the merrier!" "We love company!". Well that was easy Ryan thought, before dragging in his reluctant companion, the bats recognized him and started hollering with laughter " Look Cecil`s on a leash!" "Serve that con right!" , "Call this a wild hunch, but I sense that your not very popular in this neck of the woods."an amused Ryan told the fox who pouted.

The bats didn't stay for long, as it was time for them to go hunting for insects, Ryan tied Cecil to a stalagmite before leaning against the wall, the fox started complaining about the smell of guano, but Ryan was unfazed "I`d rather deal with that smell then get killed and eaten out there." Cecil became annoyed " What are you talking about? Why do you even need to hide anyway, there's basically nothing out in this forest that could harm a human !", Ryan decided to fill in him about the panthers, but this only made the fox laugh " Oh please. Don`t tell me you bealive in that myth.", this got Ryan curious and Cecil elaborated "There are these tales floating around. We foxes heard these stories from man`s pets and livestock, they tell how some humans weren't satisfied with having regular dogs or cats for pets, so they brought in exotic beasts from far away lands, including giant cats, but when these beasts proved too much handle, they threw them out in the woods to fend for themselves..." Ryan felt like a fool "Of course, that's how these panthers got here. Why didn't I think of this before?" he thought, now Ryan started getting a pretty good idea why they were so hateful towards humans, no doubt they weren't brought here on their own free will, Cecil meanwhile continued his tale, "..... stories of giant felines are the most prevailing, the humans called them the Phantom Cats, the Black Beasts of the moors, that stalk the night and devour any unfortunate soul that crosses their path. A fancyful horror story, but I know that it's complete rubbish." he dismissed it, but Ryan told him that the "phanom cats" were all too real and showed him some scratch marks on his arms too prove it, but Cecil was unconvinced " Pff you scratched yourself against some thorns or branches. Nice try Ryan but you can't outfox a fox." Ryan gave up, it was better to get some shut eye than argue with the fox, once he was asleep Cecil tried to free himself only to get severe roap burn on his tounge after hours of trying to bite trough it.

Morning soon came, the sun baerly peaked over the horizon, but the two were soon woken up by the loud chirping of the returning bats, seeing that morning had come Ryan thanked the bats and went on his search, dragging a still groggy and tired Cecil with him, the fox begged him for a few more hours of sleep, but Ryan ignored him citing that they had no time to waste, "This is deplorable!" Cecil whined. They continued searching the forest for hours, with little success, desperate to get out of his predicament, Cecil asked the boy why he was so attached to a cat, and why he wasn't trying to find his family instead, Ryan ignored him again, only mentioning that she was his friend who helped him out a lot, Cecil growled and resumed sniffing for clues " Rotten little brat, he enslaves me and uses me like some low grade hound dog, and doesn't even have the decency to dignify anything I ask with a response... " his internal rant stopped when he finally caught the sent of a wildcat, Ryan urged him to follow it, and the trail led them to a badger den.

Cecil became nervous " That's old Barts lair, we better leave, he`s a very unpleasant..." his words fell on deaf ears as Ryan dragged him towards the burrow, soon chattering screeches echoed from it as badger emerged , Cecil nearly wet himself as the badger gave him a vicious glare. Backing away cautiously Ryan tried to talk to him, but Bart continued screeching, angrily yelling for Ryan to leave and that if they wanted his burrow they would have to take it from his "cold, dead paws", Ryan raised his hand in a peaceful gesture " Oh I wouldn't think of such a thing. Everyone knows about the strength and prowess of badgers, only a fool would dare challenge them. I only came seeking an answer." his sweet talk seemed to have worked as Barts mood improved as he laughed "You are a wise lad, unlike that fool hearted cat that invaded my den last night." Ryan`s eyes went wide, feeling hopeful he asked the badger to tell them about that cat, after hearing his story Ryan was sure this had to have been Cameron, the badger let them investigate his home " Anyone who will teach that no good fox a lesson has earned my favor." said the old badger much to Cecil`s annoyance, Ryan giggled " Sheesh what did you do to him?", Cecil only vaguely described a few instances were he tricked the old coot out of his food and one time tried to trick him out of his burrow. Inside they found a patch of fur snagged between some roots, Ryan took it and told Cecil to memorize it's sent, they soon parted with Bart, as Ryan lectured the fox " See how easy things are, if you don't lie and cheat people to get what you want." " Must you rub it in." whined Cecil.

It was dawn and Cameron was resting in a tree, she finally caught something to ease her hunger, a sparrow, for a proud huntress this was a demeaning choice of prey, but right now she wasn't in a position to choose.After eating the bird she resumed her search, when at last she caught a familiar sent giving her a glimmer of hope and followed it and soon found tracks in the mud, one set looked like the paw prints of some kind of jackal, but the others were smallish human tracks, it was Ryan. Wasting no time she followed the direction of the tracks....

Cameron`s trail soon went cold, Ryan caught a hare and made a small fire were they rested for a while and cooked the hare, he stabbed his machete into a tree, and used it to hang his hanbag. Tied to a tree Cecil eyed the hare while looking more desperate and hungry than ever, seeing him like this Ryan started taking pitty on the fox and threw him half of the hare, after gobbling it up Cecil begged for some water, seeing as the stream was very close by Ryan lead him to it, as the fox slurped up the water, Ryan looked around worrying about his friend, he knew she would be searching for him and constantly be on the move, making it harder to find her. As they turned back towards their campsite Ryan suddenly heard the snapping of branches, he looked around seeing nothing, but then he heard a shocked Cecil say "This can't be!", Ryan looked ahead and saw a pair of green eyes belonging to Blake, Ryan went wide eyed, dropping the rope holding Cecil in the process, the panther chucked as he closed in on them " Thought you'd escape me didn't ya? I knew if I followed you long enough I`d catch you without your weapon or bag of tricks." he said as he circled them, "I can't bealive it. You can't be real, the black cats are a myth." Cecil stuttered while trying to hide behind Ryan "Oh I`m very real fox, could a myth tear you apart." said Blake gleefully while extending his claws. Ryan felt petrified, he stood nearly parlyzed as the panther circled them, enjoying the fear he felt from his prey, Ryan composed himself and tried to reason " We don't have to fight, look I can understand why you are mad at humans, but maybe I can help you..." , "Help me?" Blake laughed, now sounding even more unhinged " Like how you humans helped me before, when you filled my parents with bullets right in front of me and took me and my siblings from our home." Ryan tried to voice his empathy but Blake jumped right in front of him, getting an almost crazed smile " Oh but you must hear the best part of the story. My siblings were sold of to who knows where, but the hunters little brats wanted me as a cuddle toy, so I was forced to live in their big,fancy house and play pet to those who murdered my family. I tried to bide my time till I was big and strong enough to enact my vengence, but the hunter tried to act first, one night he took me to the woods and tried to shoot me, but I escaped, I`ve been roaming this human infested land for nearly 20 years, dodging you trigger happy maniacs..." Ryan felt even more terrified now, but tried to reason still, not noticing Cecil slinking away " Blake I`m very sorry, I really am, but trust me I`m not like them, I can help you get out of here, I swear!" the panther was unmoved " Your pathetic lies won't save your worthless life, but you did show guts and wit kid, so to show you that I'm a fair sport, I`ll give you the chance to run, it will be more fun." the panther spoke in mock politeness as he watched the boy run, grinning diabolically as he prepared to give chase.

Ryan ran until he reached the river again, and in front of him was what looked like a stone bridge, he soon head a terrified Cecil running back to him and screaming "There's more of them!" , Ryan saw the cougar and jaguar following him and urged the fox to follow him. They tried running across the bridge but found out that it had collapsed, leaving a massive gap between one side of the rubble and the other. Their attackers had them trapped, Cecil closed his eyes and cowered, but suddenly felt himself being lifted " Get out of here you twerp!" Ryan shouted with faux bravado, baerly hidding his trembling tone, as he swung the fox and threw him to the other side. Cecil landed softly into the bushes, while Ryan glared at the panthers and to their suprise jumped into the river. They saw him trying to swim away, Blake growled " Kruger! Get him!" he ordered the jaguar who obeyed and plunged after the boy. As Ryan saw the jaguar zeroing in on him, he tried to dive down, but Kruger manage to snag him by the leg and pull him up until he grabbed him with his jaws and dragged him back to shore.

As Ryan was tossed back against the hard, rocky ground of the rivers bank he saw the 3 panthers look down on him, growling and laughing maniacally. The boy soon experienced a painful mauling, Blake started clawing him like a scratching toy before tossing him to Kurt and Kruger for their turn, their claws cutting trough his soft flesh, until Kruger lifted him up with his jaws and slammed him against the tree. The trio approached the bleeding kid who started shivering in a fetal position, "Whats the matter kid, aren't you gonna fight back?" asked Kurt mockingly, Ryan just told them to finish him of already, he struggled not to cry, if he was going die he wouldn't do it as weakling, but Blake had other plans "Oh killing you now would be to easy, you haven't suffered nearly enough and there's so much fun me and my boys can have with you. Let's pley catch!" he said darkly before tossing Ryan him to Kurt who struck him with his paw making him tumble towards Kruger who tossed him back to Blake. Blake then saw something in front of them, a steep hill going down. The panther lifted Ryan by the neck and throw towards the edge of the hill. No longer feeling the pain of being mauled, Ryan struggled to get up, before he was met with Blake. Feeling the anger boil inside of him, Ryan tried to swing his fist at Blake, but was easily swatted away. "Have a nice fall!" said the panther as he struck the boy, sending him tumbling down the hill. He rolled like a barrel, with the cats running after him, until he reached the bottom.

Feeling weak and dizzy Ryan started losing conscious, he felt the sting of all of his cuts and the pain from his bruises, he saw the panthers descending to him, growls and roars, then some kind of bang, before the world went black......