Thread: Lost Wishes [Cheshire Smirk and Shaelinn]

Cassy usually guarded her personal space with ferocity of a famished bloodhound, but this night forced her to reconsider her radical stance perhaps for the first time ever, she appreciated sleeping in a tiny tent with six other people. While the acrid stench of unwashed bodies confined in one small space still nudged her sense of smell in the worst ways imaginable, the act of sharing warmth probably saved her from freezing to death. Cold's icy fingers crept under the ragged blankets to caress her sensitive skin and made her shiver it was the shift of climate that had pulled her out of her dreamless slumber. She knew the desert's weather could be just as treacherous as quicksand, changing rapidly from hellish blaze to arctic temperatures, but no theory prepared her for the reality. Mother nature's flexibility was actually fascinating from a certain standpoint too bad that discomfort stood in the way of Cassy's admiration. I can't believe I already miss the sun. Fucking cold. Why can there be no middle ground? Cassy found herself clinging to her nearest neighbor to steal a little of the precious heat from him despite barely knowing his name. Good thing he was sound asleep this could easily turn into an unwanted grope-fest. Closing her eyes, she attempted to doze off again, but the string of her dreams had already been severed. Torn between desire to snatch a few more hours of sleep and inability to do so, the girl just lay motionlessly and waited for fatigue to overpower her... To no avail. Oh, great. Adding insomnia to my growing list of health problems is just what I need. The velvet silence of the night intensified all the sounds and she listened to the symphony. Snoring of her mates, quiet chatter of the guards outside, occasional careful footsteps it almost seemed as if they were alone in the wasteland, the sole guests enjoying the desert's hospitality. A perfect isolation... Or not so perfect, as it turned out. A muffled cry pierced through the night the universal expression of horror. A chain of sinister howls erased all the doubts she had about the source of the dread. The emptiness of the desert had given them a false sense of security and now the wolves would punish their ignorance. Suddenly wide awake, Cassy climbed out of her sleeping bag even before the dark figure barged into their tent. Wake up! he screamed... They... They're here... The message was quite clear even to those whose judgement had been clouded by the sleep for nobody really expected a pizza delivery. It took but a few seconds for all the accumulated stress and fright to erupt in a full-fledged frenzy. Some broke down in sobs immediately, unwilling to accept the death sentence hovering above them, while others quickly threw away the remnants of their compassion and trampled on their former friends just to get outside. The panic - horrible, all-engulfing panic - left little place for remorse. And in that very moment, whether they knew it or not, they ceased to be a group in true sense of the word. Cassy didn't throw a tearful fit nor did she allow the fear to control her. In fact, the girl felt strangely detached from the recent events, as if she was a mere spectator to the ensuing chaos. The eternal pessimist inhabiting her mind had always presumed such end would be inevitable after all, statistics didn't exactly speak in humanity's favor and she had never considered herself to be a super special snowflake. Nothing fed her with false hopes, so perhaps that's why she was able to stay calm during crisis. Cassy shoved a confused guy out of her way roughly to get to her backpack there was a knife buried under the layer of clothes. Her fingers clutched its hilt lovingly and for a second, boost of self-confidence ran through her body. Going after a bunch of werewolves armed with an old piece of iron pretty much equaled to nominating herself for Darwin's price, but the placebo effect was priceless the weapon in her hand meant a chance to fight back. A tiny, miniature chance comparable to winning a lottery, yet it was still better than crouching on the ground and awaiting your demise tamely. If these beasts wanted her flesh, they'd have to deserve every fucking bite. A single goal emerged in her hazy mind, as clear as a day. Gotta find Finn and gotta do it fast. Cassy was actually the older sister and protecting her little brother in time of need felt like a breathing to her no stupid gender limitations would stop her now. She just couldn't let him die alone. An ear-splitting shriek welcomed her once she stepped into the war-zone three giant, humanoid wolves were tearing meat off some poor guy's bones, obviously reveling in his agony. Disgusting sounds of gobbling suggested that they had never bothered to learn the rules of etiquette. The fight was already over the corpses of the defenders lay on one great pile, mauled beyond recognition. Most of them would rise again to aid to the pack, but some were so thoroughly broken to pieces that not even ancient curse could bring them back to life. She saw a woman desperately trying to wriggle out of the wolf's tight embrace only to have her entails ripped out and devoured while she was still conscious... And Cassy's composure melted. Of course she had heard rumors about them before, but witnessing the pure bestiality with her eyes was a whole different story. What made these monsters so scary wasn't their power, speed or the fact they could deform your personality and drag you down to their beastly level their most terrifying aspect was the ability to reason in cold blood. They weren't just predators hunting their prey for the sake of survival the abominations enjoyed inflicting pain on their victims. She had hoped for a quick death - perhaps a ripped throat - not this torment. Finn, where the hell are you?! Without any plan and terrified out of her wits, Cassy simply ran she dodged few enemies out of blind luck, but the sand slippery from blood betrayed her soon. The girl yelped as her foot slipped and the knife fell out of her hand. She liked to think of herself as tough, yet when one of the beasts pinned her down and sank its fangs into her flesh, she could do nothing but scream.