Go After Steve

Halfway to the city, you stop yourself. What the hell were you thinking?!? Steve's saved your life, he's helped you when you felt helpless, and now he's about to go and do something undeniably selfless, and you're running in the OTHER direction? The stuff you've been exposed to has made you unsure of a lot of things, but there's one thing that's still clearly certain: you can't let someone like that just sacrifice himself. If ever there was a time for you to be brave, now is it, and with that in mind, you turn around and run back towards the forest, plunging into its depths and hoping that you find Steve before anything else does.

The moon is full, but the trees block out its light, leaving only sparse silver beams to pass between their branches as you walk on. In the dim light that provides you can hardly even make out the path ahead of you, and the darkness makes way for fear and paranoia. You jump at every rustle of the leaves and shake from every hoot of an owl, your doubt soon growing to match the depths of the forest you've walked into. You can scarcely make out the silhouettes of the bushes and trees ahead, making it doubtful that you could spot a person, particularly one trying to keep out of sight. Then you become aware of something extremely unsettling: the forest has grown silent. The breeze has halted, the trees standing deathly still, and the gentle din of night sounds has grown silent. Not a single animal scurries, not a single cricket chirps. In absence of all these things, you are left only to dread the obvious: something has silenced this forest.

Your eyes start to nervously sweep the woods, tracing across the flora surrounding you for the slightest hint of movement, but you can see nothing. You stand perfectly still, but don't hear even the vaguest hint of motion. Then, before you can understand what's happening, several things do. A deafening screech is let out from something behind you.

The wind whooshes underwings. A pair of sharp teeth puncture your shoulder, leaving a twinge of pain before a massive creature swoops past and out of sight, glints of light shimmering on reflective skin that's otherwise black as the night that surrounds it. Your initial fear is that this creature is Steve, but then your mind moves on to the far more terrifying reality: the bite means that this creature could soon be you!