Miinhart Forest, Desmond, 10416 P.C.

Blinding pain. Ragged breathing. Stars danced before Stephanie's eyes, and she dragged in every breath with a crippling pain in her chest. Whatever they were facing, it had smacked her aside as if she were some rag doll. Her arrows had been useless against it and it had been upon her before she had time to draw her sword. Now she lay in the dew-dampened leaves, her mind screaming, her body aching. Lurker!

But what kind was it? A very strong kind! Her ribs hurt like nothing else, the whiplash of being slammed aside creating an ache in her neck no armour could have prevented. She forced herself to move, her trembling hands searching the ground for her bow. Where was it? Her eyes finally found it just a foot away from her head, and she snatched it as she staggered to her feet. It fell apart in her hands, two broken pieces of wood held together by the string. She cursed, throwing it down and turning around.

Just feet away, the creature had Annabella by the neck. It held her up, finding pleasure in the way she choked and tried to squirm out of its grip. Stephanie drew her sword and charged. With a yell, she leapt onto its hairless back, bringing her sword down and thrusting it at the creature's neck. The blade scraped the creature's skin like a dull knife on stone. Thrown off-balance, she tumbled to the side, falling to the ground. Shock consumed her. This creature's skin was rock hard! Her sword had done nothing!

"And here's another one." Stephanie attempted to scramble away, but her armour weighed her down; a huge, clawed hand wrapped around her neck, lifting her right off the ground. She struggled, trying to hit the creature with her sword. The blade merely glanced off the creature's impenetrable skin. She could barely think through the panic. Before her was a creature she had never seen before, one with skin the colour of dried blood and eyes so dark yet so big it looked like a bug. Cheekbones jutting up like blades. No name came to her frantic mind on what kind of creature this was.

"Let them go!" Something hit the side of the creature's head and bounced off, nothing more to it than a pesky fly. Stephanie struggled to free herself, to tell Todd to get away — he was no match for this thing! But Todd was throwing rocks, drawing the creature's attention.

Another rock hit the creature over the head, and it let out an annoyed roar and flung Annabella aside. She hit a tree and then the ground, rolling over and lying still. Stephanie had no time to think before she too was hurdled through the air as the creature went after Todd. Stephanie's legs hit a tree, and she went tumbling into the underbrush, pain clouding her mind and senses. Bethany was screaming. Todd yelled again, maybe still throwing rocks. Stephanie managed to sit up in time to see Todd dodge the swiping arm of the giant. The creature ended up smashing its fist into the thick branch of a tree and ripping it down. It used it to swing at Todd. Todd took the blow full in the chest, flipping head over heels into the underbrush.

"No!" Stephanie struggled to get to her feet, her ragged cry drawing the attention of the beast. Panicked adrenaline coursed through her. She forced herself to run when the creature thundered after her, swinging its branch. She scurried through the trees, trying to circle back around to where she had left her sword. The creature blocked her path, and she was forced to run in the other direction. Her legs ached. Her lungs burned. Up ahead was a thick, sturdy oak tree, and she threw herself at it, leaping for its lowest branch and pulling herself up. If she could get higher than it could reach then maybe... she had no plan, she was just running on pure, panicked adrenaline. She clamoured for the highest branch, barely managing to stay out of the reach of the creature's claws. However, it lifted the branch it was wielding and smacked her legs with it, knocking them out from under her. She slipped, crying out, only just managing to grab the branch with her arms. She clung to it, gasping in pain, trying to get her scraped and bruised legs to obey her commands to get up on the branch. She didn't know what she was doing, she just knew she was doing a horrible job at it.

"Stephanie!" Todd was yelling for her, his voice high with fear and drawing the creature's attention. He appeared down below, behind the creature, holding her sword. She immediately knew what to do.

"Throw it!" she screamed at him, and then dropped down from her branch onto the creature's shoulders. Todd obeyed, lofting the sword high into the air, and she was so glad he had managed to do it properly. The sword flew up to meet her, glistening in the star-lit night. She reached for it. The creature did too. Time slowed. Stephanie fell forward, her gloved hand a flash of crimson as it closed around the sword's handle. She twisted, thrusting the blade at the creature's mouth with all her might as she fell past. It pierced the mouth and slid right through its skull into its brain. She was falling, but it was falling too. Stephanie managed to pull herself into a ball and roll away before the giant body crashed into the ground.

She didn't have time to think before Todd was grabbing her, dragging her back, his words tumbling over themselves as the shock addled him. "Are you- is it dead? Oh my goodn- I didn't think- oh my gosh, are you okay? I can't believe that worked!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she mumbled, but her mind was swirling as she staggered to her feet with his help. "Where's Annabella?"

She was still lying where the creature had flung her. By the time they reached her, Stephanie could walk on her own and Todd was breathing hoarsely. Dropping to her knees beside the older girl, Stephanie searched for a pulse. To her relief, Annabella was already stirring.

"It's dead," Stephanie told the dazed and wounded girl before she could form the words to ask. "We're all okay." Her breath hitched as pain blazed through her. "I use the term 'okay' loosely."

Annabella looked like she wanted to say something, but she didn't. She squeezed her eyes shut, grimacing as she shifted on the ground. Stephanie, breathing heavily, put her hand on Annabella's shoulder, pushing her back to the ground as she tried getting up.

"Just... just take it easy..." she said, sagging. She wanted to collapse.

"Everyone is not okay." Todd's broken voice sent flares of panic through her, and she whipped her head around to see him standing over the fallen form of their horse, Bethany standing beside him and holding his hand tightly. Stephanie was relieved that the child was alright, but she knew the ugly truth even before Todd said it: "Harley's dead."

Todd sank to his knees beside the horse, and Bethany crouched beside him. Stephanie sat back, running a trembling hand through her choppy hair. Annabella fought to sit up again, and this time Stephanie offered her hand to help. Together, the two girls caught their breath, watching Todd and Bethany mourn the loss of the horse. Stephanie had seen many animals die, but she had to admit, Harley had felt like an old friend.

Annabella's voice was soft. "You killed it?" It took Stephanie a second to realize that she was talking about the Lurker.

"Yeah," Stephanie whispered. "Yeah, I did. We did." Then she let herself collapse on her back, letting the pain she was in burn through her like a roaring fire.