She could not, for the life of her, understand why this school was so reasonable to get into. It was almost like being on vacation every day… sure there was class, which was, let’s face it, boring. But that was everywhere… how many schools were on islands that could have passed for resorts?

Shannon continued to ponder to herself as she slipped out of the dorm building. It was nearly eleven o’ clock and was well past curfew, though it wasn’t as though she hadn’t broken any rules in her life. There was certainly no reason to stop now! The moonlit night wasn’t nearly as hot as the sweltering afternoon had been, but it was still warm enough to justify her little excursion, which, at the moment, seemed to be steering her towards the woods near the campus. Ever since she had arrived, she had wondered about the large expanse of woodland surrounding the school, and felt drawn to it; perhaps some vestiges of the child in her yearning to explore.

Her attire suited the night: A form hugging white blouse was buttoned just slightly above her accentuated bust, a small view of her cleavage visible even still. There were no lines visible that would usually hint at the presence of a bra, but the front of the shirt was enough to cover her modesty, and she didn’t plan on meeting anyone in the woods at night anyways. She had likewise slipped out of the longer skirt provided with the school uniform in favor of some more chic black jeans, which fit quite tightly with her own curved legs. An mp3 player hung from one hip, pushing up the short sleeved blouse just enough to hint at her fair skin, while the line of the headphones traced up behind her to one ear, the other small earbud dangling uselessly behind her. She wasn’t sure what kind of animals lived on the island yet so if something was stalking her… she wanted to have a chance to hear it. The irish punk blasting into her other ear, however, seemed to make that unlikely.

It wasn’t long before she had found some sort of foot-trail, obviously unused for a while but a trail none the less. Dead leaves and overgrown foliage had begun to reclaim the dirt trail as her sneakers padded down atop it, but she continued in deeper, until the lights and sound of the campus could no longer be seen or heard.

It had taken hours, but Scourge had finally found himself a place of rest, a home base of sorts, a nest… He had broken into the dormitories; in hindsight it was rather easy, almost as if someone had wanted it to be simple to infiltrate. He kidded himself, of course, he knew that they had been designed with that purpose specifically in mind. After a bit of searching, he made his way down into the basement, wandering the corridors for hours, listening to the music that was the screams of the victims trapped within the individual rooms, far enough away that they couldn’t hear each other, but close enough to maximize the potential of the labyrinthine structure.

Finally he made his way to the depths of the basement, down more flights of stairs than he could really remember and practically entombed in the twisting hallways and identical rooms. That was where he found exactly what he was looking for: a chamber that allowed access to the various shafts and vents that formed the ventilation system throughout the building. After that, it was a simple task of checking a few of the various rooms for an old steel-framed bed with a moth-eaten mattress and ragged blankets. That would do for now, at least, he could certainly improve the largely bare chamber later.

He climbed easily up one of the shafts, his stomach pressed against the cold steel of the duct, tentacles tucked behind him as he scaled, eventually emerging into the night. The darkness, out once again, he hadn’t really expected it to darken so soon, he didn’t think he was down there in the basement searching for that long.

Ah, well, he would just have to make up for lost time…

Scourge took to the trees like a fish to water, pulling himself through the tangled mass of limbs and branches with a natural ease, his six tentacles spread wide to the sides and behind him, eyes scanning the undergrowth for any bit of movement.

Deciding that a path alongside some of the trails would probably be the wisest course of action, he followed along a well-worn and little-used path, spotting something bright white bobbing slightly far off in the distance.

The oblivious teen bobbed her head from side to side as she strode deeper into the forest, beginning to question her little excursion, or at least the timing, as the light began to quickly disappear. Her persistence paid off, however, as she finally came to a clearing, the moonlight flooding across it and illuminating a small body of water, enshrouded by flora.

“Sweet acoustics…” She thought aloud, likely much louder than she realized, thanks to the music player blasting in her ear still. She was already imagining a return trip with one of her instruments… at least when she could sneak away from classes.

The redhead padded down towards the shoreline, careful not to bury her foot in mud, though trying to get a better look at the pool. It was eerie almost… unnatural. It was too clear. As she realized this, she began to notice other oddities. She hadn’t seen any animal or insects on her way out, though she could hear ambient noise coming from the forest… only enough to mask what might have been heard from campus, or what might be heard ON campus from the woods.

Dismissing the train of thought as crazy ramblings, she spun and began to circle the water, not ready to return to her dorm just yet.

Scourge kept pace, reducing his movements to only what was necessary. He held his gaze on the shape slowly growing smaller before him, leaping from tree to tree in an elegant dash whenever the wind picked up enough to shake the boughs. Tentacles wrapped firmly around the trunk and limbs when he landed holding him snug to the wood, allowing him to rest there without having to loudly gouge his claws into the tree. His breathing slowed, glowing eyes flashing with interest as he began to close the distance between himself and the girl, seeing her admiring that large, natural pond whose water projected an unearthly clarity.

He heard her voice echo throughout the grotto, but hadn’t quite caught what it was she said. No matter, he closed the gap, tentacles snapping out and pulling him to a tree that bordered on the clearing, his body hidden by the foliage up in the canopy, glowing green eyes peering out from the sheltered darkness.

After a few moments of watching her circle, he dropped from the treetops to the forest floor, standing rather imposingly, silhouetted by the moon high in the sky. He turned to face the girl, her shape still a little distant, partway across the pond, but the important thing was his own position. Here he stood, back to the path that lead her to this grove, the only sensible exit back toward the campus, every other option was either choked with foliage and brush, or simply lead deeper into the forest.

After a few minutes or so of taking in the clearing, Shannon began to grow bored and began to ponder returning to campus… perhaps not to her room yet but at least staying close.

Almost as if in response to her thought, something large dropped from a tree nearby… something alive. The redhead whirled to face the sound, finding a slowly rising creature… a man perhaps? If so it was a very large man, someone she probably would have noticed before in the rather small community of the school. She could swear that she could occasionally see something moving around the thing, as if the foliage itself were alive about it. Unsure of what to do, she stood stock still as the thing rose up to its full height. So surprised was she, that she realized only after a moment that it was blocking the path back to campus.

The teen made no move either for or away from the thing… perhaps waiting to see what it was going to do… perhaps thinking this was a dream. After a moment she whispered across the distance of the clearing, her voice still none the less clear enough to hear in the otherwise silent night air.

“Hello?”

A shudder coursed through Scourge as the girl turned, standing stock still in the cool night air, looking back across the small pond as she faced him. He slowly began to walk towards her, ignoring her whispering voice carrying easily across the silent grotto, lilting in tone. The voice itself caused his scaled flesh to prickle with anticipation, clenching his monstrous left arm into a fist at his side as he approached.

His eyes never lost that cold, neon green glare as he approached, his bare, clawed feet crunching the underbrush, his chest rising and falling softly with carefully measured breaths. Still, no response from him, he moved like a machine, completely focused on her as his goal. Tentacles began to arch up behind him, as if they had awoken from some ancient slumber, twisting to face her. They pointed at her threateningly but his pace never quickened, never changed, he continued the measured, stalking steps towards the girl.

Finally he came to a halt, still far enough away that his distinguishing features blurred together slightly in the low light. He dropped into a crouch, head up and eyes still darkly focused, his muscles tightening like coiled springs as his toes dug into the undergrowth, sitting and waiting for her move like a predator preparing to pounce.

The young girl’s eyes grew exponentially bigger as the thing approached her… each step revealing more and more to sway her assessment that it was a human. Glowing eyes locked on her own… tentacles, not foliage, rose and twisted behind it…

… it was stalking her. The thought hit her hard just as it crouched down. She had seen something like this before, in animals. Unfortunately, this was usually the part where it pounced on whatever it was about to kill. “Jesus…” she whispered, unsure if it could even understand her previous statement. It was, at this point, irrelevant. She wanted to be away from that thing, right now.

Slowly the girl began to back away, trying not to make any sudden moves but also to find some way around it back towards the campus.

He watched closely as she began to those few stumbling steps backwards, his eyes tracking her every move from behind the thick visor of his mask. Each step she took, his muscles tightened, finally waiting long enough for her. With a snap like a spring, he bound after her, in an odd, shuffling gait. Sprinting on two legs and occasionally dragging his heavily muscled left arm downwards to propel him further, he closed the distance quickly.

With a kick, he leapt into the air, hitting Shannon in a heavy impact, knocking her to the ground, keeping his tendrils splayed outward, catching his momentum to keep him from slamming on top of the girl and crushing her. As such the air was knocked from her lungs, and he hung before her splayed form, resting on the tendrils, his eyes gleaming that same, unfeeling green glow.

Shannon would never admit it, but she wasn’t as tough-as-nails as she like to brag she was. The sight of an almost alien creature, one almost her height as it crouched and brimming with twisting tentacles, was more than enough to scare the color right out of the fiery haired teenager.

Small wonder then, that as it finally pounced, she found herself frozen, paralyzed with fear. It easily barreled into her, knocking her to the ground, forcing the wind from her, slamming her head into the hard earth. The impact dazed the girl for a moment, and as she looked up, she saw a swirled, silhouetted nightmare, one she couldn’t even begin to fathom as far as its origins were concerned.

Shannon raised her hands defensively, again speaking in a quivering voice, though she wasn’t sure if it could understand her. “Jeezus… don’t h…hurt me…” she pleaded, her voice soft and stricken.