*The picture above is of the monster they're fighting (no I didn't draw that).  It's called a Piasa*

*I apologize in advance:  Some characters got significantly more screen time than others this chapter, for plot reasons.  Sorry*

Shit, thought Candon.

The creature roared as it charged, Candon's legs felt like jelly. It's too fast, he thought, desperately trying to scramble to his feet as the creature came closer and closer, towards him.

Agi slammed into his side out of nowhere, knocking them both to the ground. The creature snarled and snapped its jaws at them, but was moving too fast to slow down, and there were plently of other people about. It snapped towards Lei, and for a moment it looked like it had swallowed her whole, but Lei reappeared on the other side, scrambling quickly out of the way.

As Agi fell he rolled over his head and landed on his feet, it seemed the quickest way, and he managed with perfect balance. It must be the adrenaline, he thought, reaching to help Candon to his feet, but Candon was already standing.

Everything had happened quickly, everyone had acted instantly and independently. When Lei ducked under the monster, Ari began yelling and trying to yank her out of the way, Scar was taking a similar approach. Luna grabbed a branch off the ground, and tried hitting the monster with it, while Santi threw rocks. Off to the side, Ricon and Nic were jumping up and down and throwing rocks, yelling, but the monster was ignoring them. Travis watched intently, careful to stay out of the way, thinking quickly.

"We have to get everyone out of here, fast," panted Candon.

Pierre ran up to Candon and Agi. "Yeah," he nodded. "But we have to do it in a way that doesn't leave one person in the back."

"We need people distracting it and ready to run," said Agi, forcing his brain to think instead of sending him continuous messages saying hey bud, this looks dangerous! "You guys tell everyone the plan and get them out," said Agi. "Me and... and... some others will keep it distracted."

"Right," nodded Candon, running off.

Agi ran in circles around the monster, yelling. The distraction by him and the others was working, Lei was able to dodge through a whirl of claws and talons, and finally get out of the monster's range.

"What is this thing, the ghost of build-a-bears past?" gestued Ari, sounding pissed.

"No clue," said Luna, holding a pair of branches, and trying ot hit it on the nose. It caught one of the branches in its mouth, and snapped it in two. "Crap, that was my fourth one." I should get insurance.

Agi ducked under the monster's tail as it swung around. "Guys, keep it distracted!" he yelled. "We're getting everyone away!"

But the monster seemed to notice what they were doing. As Candon and Pierre tried to crowd up people to run, the monster leaped into the air, flew several yards, and landed on the other side of them, blocking their exit.

"This isn't working!" yelled Scar, as she and Santiago bolted towards the monster, as it swiped its lion paws over Pierre's head. "We gotta do something else!"

Santi nodded, and looked around. "We're in the middle of a clearing," he said. "But if we can get it to the trees, we could try to jump onto—"

"—onto its back," finished Scar.

"Stupid and dangerous, but potentially fun," grinned Santiago.

"Maybe not the time for jokes," said Scar, but she smiled. It faded as she glaced back towards the monster. Luna had fallen to the ground in front of it, her shirt torn at the shoulder, but she staggared to her feet as Lei and Ari yelled to distract it. "The others will take care of each other until we can get to it. Let's go." They ran for the trees.

Anya pulled Luna to her feet. "You alright?" she asked.

Luna winced and leaned on Anya, her shoulder was bleeding heavily. "I'm fine." She looked back up, the monster swung its tail around, knocking Ricon to the ground. "I have to get back to fighting."

Anya frowned. "There's got to be a better way of doing this."

"You keep trying to get everyone together," said Luna, flashing a smile she didn't feel. She tried to pick up her two branches again, but gasped as pain shot up her shoulder, forcing her to drop the branch.

"That's really starting to bleed, like, in a bad way," grimaced Pierre. "Although I guess there's not really a good way for shoulders to bleed. Anya, can you get her away and get pressure on that?"

"Guys I'm fine—SHIT OW!" gasped Luna, clutching her shoulder.

"We'll keep it distracted," nodded Candon.

"Let's go," said Anya, supporting Luna as they limped away from the monster.

Lei scooped up a bunch of rocks and threw them at the monster. One hit it on the nose, and it roared, swinging its massive head towards her.

"You guys are ruining everything!" yelled a voice, and they turned around to see Nic storming over to them.

"I don't see you doing something useful," shot Ari, jumping back from the swing of the tail.

"Actually, we are," said Ricon. "All this running in circles... it's just stalling. I overheard Scar and Santi talking, they're trying to get it to the woods, and we are too. It's got too much of an advantage in the open."

"All your jumping and shrieking is distracting it from us," glared Nic, and then sighed. "Look, I know we hate each other's guts and all, but I'm actually right this time."

"You're obnoxious is what you are," snapped Ari, but paused. "Although if Ricon thinks this makes sense, maybe there's something to it. GUYS!" they yelled. "Let's lure it towards the woods!"

Scar and Santi reached the edge of the woods, and slowed down. "The others are luring it over here," Scar pointed. "Let's climb."

"Wait, is that... Virginia, what are you doing?" asked Santiago, running over.

Virginia had bent down a pair of saplings, almost to the ground, and was using her necklas to tie them to the ground. "Catapult," she grunted, balancing a rock on the saplings. "Beech saplings, highly flexible at this age," she said, and pointed towards the monster. "The others are bringing it closer, and once it's within about twenty feet I can shoot this rock pretty accurately. That'll distract it long enough for you two to jump on."

"Jesus," said Santiago, slightly intimidated by how good a catapult she'd build in roughly two minutes.

"Climb!" snapped Virginia.

"Guess we've got a shot now," grinned Santiago.

"Fuck you!"

They climbed.

Santiago turned to Scar, and smiled. "Get it, shot?"

Scar smiled. "Alright, that one was kind of okay."

Meanwhile, the others were slowly luring the monster back towards the woods. "Told you it would work," smirked Nic, as they got within range of the treeline.

Candon ran up to them. "Everyone, get away from it!" he yelled. "Virginia's going to fire the catapult!"

"The what?" blinked Pierre.

"Where the hell did she get a—" started Travis.

"MOVE!"

Everyone scrambled back from the monster. For a moment it looked suspicious, then a rock shot out of the woods, and slammed it in the face. It reared back, dazed.

"NOW!" yelled Scar. They leaped out of the tree. Santiago landed perfectly accurate on its back, balancing, and caught Scar's hand, who'd begun to stumble off. "Thanks," she gasped, gripping one of its antlers. The creature roared, shaking its head wildly, beating its wings.

"Giddy up horsey!" grinned Santiago. Scar snorted.

I'm on a bandersnatch, thought Scar. Wait, this isn't actually a bandersnatch, it's just one hell of a mash-up.

"Guys, get into the woods!" she yelled. "We'll distract it!"

It was hard to tell if anyone heard. The creature reared up on its hind legs, shrieking, and slammed back down, Scar and Santiago slammed forwards, gripping the anlters. Santi's arm rammed into one of the antlers. That's going to bruise, he thought. Damn.

Virginia rigged her catapult up with another rock as Anya supported Luna into the woods. "Get her into that copse of pine trees," she pointed. "The trees are too close together for it to get at you." Young white pines. Edible cones and needles. Strong and firm. They'll keep them safe.

"YOU WANNA GO?" screamed Ari, hurling rocks at the creature, but nothing was distracting it from Santiago and Scar clinging onto its antlers. Ricon yelled, waving sticks and throwing rocks, but it wasn't being lured somewhere again.

Pierre ran up to the group distracting the monster. "Everyone, there's this group of trees that'll keep us safe. Everyone run into the woods!"

"No way, we're not leaving Scar and Santi!" yelled Lei, ducking insanely fast under a paw swipe.

"They're doing this for a reason," called Candon, pointing into the woods. "Once we all get to safety, Virginia's firing the catapult again so they can get off safely. Then we'll regroup in the trees and figure out how to shake it off."

Lei opened her mouth to argue, but had to tuck and roll under the creature as its jaws snapped at her. There was no way Scar and Santiago were going to be able to get off in all the chaos, not with everyone else agitating the monster. "Alright, fine," she nodded, making for the trees. Candon and Pierre were, with some difficulty, persuading the others to do the same.

Virginia counted as Nic and Ricon were the last to run into the trees. Alright... aim... now! She yanked off the necklass with a stick, and the heavy rock soared through the air, stunning the monster as it slammed into its face. "GET OFF!"

"Come on!" gasped Scar, jumping off its back, and running towards the woods.

"Scar look out!" yelled Santiago's panicked voice.

She turned, and saw the monster roaring behind him as he ran, its jaws opening wide, reaching on either side of him, closing on him, she reached for his hand—

—the tail slammed into her from behind, she was flying through the air, she couldn't breathe, she crashed into the ground and she couldn't move.

"They're in trouble!" yelled Ari, running back out of the copse, and everyone else was too. The plan had remotely self destructed. They might never be able to get everyone back into the safety of the trees, but it didn't matter, Scar and Santiago needed help. Scar was collapsed on the ground as the monster moved towards her, and Santiago was nowhere in sight.

It was reaching for Scar, it had gripper her in one of its talons, it was beating its wings, it was taking off. They were not going to reach it in time.

"Ari, give me a boost!" yelled Agi.

"What—"

"No time!" he yelled, pointing at the creature, already a few feet in the air.

"Jump on three," they said, reaching down, getting ready to give him a boost as he jumped. The creature flapped its wings, already ten, fifteen, feet into the air. He wasn't going to make it. But they would try.

Agi jumped.

Ari threw him up as hard as they could, but even Ari knew they weren't that strong. Agi practically flew up into the air, fifteen, maybe twenty yards, taking the wind with him, reaching for the creature's legs. But it still wasn't enough.

It just wasn't going to be enough.

Just as he reached as high as he could go, just as he was beginning to fall back to the ground, Scar reached out, and she grasped his hand.

The creature shrieked as the sudden extra weight threw it off balance, it flew first to the side, and then crashed to the ground. It roared, and then turned towards Scar and Agi, who both lay stunned on the ground.

Agi waved a hand in front of his face, and frowned. The monster recovered much more quickly, shaking itself, and turning snarling towards the rest of the group running towards it. It swiped at Ricon, who gasped in pain as scratches appeared on his arms.

Nothing is working, thought Nic furiously, throwing rock after rock. Luring it away hadn't worked. What the hell are we supposed to do? "Come on, keep it distracted!" he yelled, running to the side and waving his arms, giving Pierre and Anya a chance to pull Agi out of range.

"I get it," said Travis suddenly, so suddenly that Nic turned to look at him. "Hit under the wings," he said, turning to Nic.

Nic glared. "Why the hell should I—"

"Just fucking do it!"

Glowering, Nic swipped a stick of the ground, and rolled underneath the monster. He ducked underneath a swipe of its paws, and flipped up to his feet, then thrust the stick into the skin under the wing. Unlike his previous hits, which had done very little, this one made the creature shriek in pain, and turn its attention directly onto him. It roared.

It worked. Great.

He raised up his stick to defend himself, but Travis had already jabbed the creature on the other side, distracting it again. "Hit under the wings!" yelled Travis. "The bone structure is weak where the bird and mammal meet!"

"Nerd!" yelled Nic, but he thrust his stick in the weak spot again. Nerd.

The creature seemed to know they'd figured out its weakness, but it did not retreat. Instead, its attacks became more vicious, more erratic, more desperate, more frenzied, and more deadly. Everywhere, people were gasping, injured, too wiped out to put up half as much of a fight as before. Ari looked around. Everyone except them seemed to be barely awake, limping towards the creature as fast as they could. Come on, they thought desperately. Lei, who had been dodging almost unreal-ly the whole time was now panting and exhausted, unable to keep up the speed she'd had before. We need to end this now. We need to drive it off.

It must be scared of something.

What's it scared of?

What's everything scared of?

...

Fire.

It came easily and unexpectedly. Suddenly, there was fire. Suddenly, Ari was spreading fire across her arms and body, and the creature saw her, and reared back. She shot fire towards it, and it roared as it moved away, but everywhere people were still stabbing its vulnerable sides with sticks and rocks, and now there was fire, and the creature stared at the weary yet determiend faces around it, and decided that it just wasn't going to be worth the effort.

With a final roar, it spread its wings and took to the sky.

*

There was no celebration or relief of any kind. They merely watched as the creature flapped its massive wings and disappeared over the trees. It's funny, but it almost looks beautiful from here, Anya thought.

Even when they could no longer see it, they still stood, unwilling to drop their sticks and rocks and makeshift weapons, only breathing. Finally, Ricon was the first to relax. "It's definately gone," he said, and looked around. "How many people are injured?" Ricon himself had his sweatshirt wrapped around his bleeding arm.

"Luna's injured pretty badly, we left her in the copse," said Virginia.

"Ari was on fire but I think that was intentional," said Lei.

"Agi and Scar are unconscious," said Travis.

"I—I'm awake," coughed Scar, trying to roll up.

Anya dashed over. "Stay down," she insisted, as Scar tried to get up.

"Sa—" she gasped. "Sa—".

"Can you breathe?" asked Ricon. "I think she got the wind knocked out of her."

Scar nodded, breathing in and out. "San—" she started, but broke off coughing again.

"Do you want some water?" offered Lei.

Scar shook her head, and finally managed to speak. "Sa—San—Santiago's dead."

Chapterly author's note time:

1) Decision details:  There aren't set options.  I need to know your character's general feelings about what's going on, and they think they should do next.  Stay put?  Get out of there?  Tend to the injured people?  Something else?

The thoughts and goals section is especially important.  I'm going to need your character's opinions on the following things:

     A) Holy crap we just got attacked by a giant monster-thing.  How are you dealing with this?

     B) So, Agi kinda flew, Ari was on fire, and a lot of people were unusually physically competent.  What does that mean?  What does your character think?

     C) Santiago just 'died'.  RIP.  I would assume this is causing some kind reaction, even if it's just numbess.

COMMENT YOUR RESPONSE FORM HERE

2) Check in time:  Can I get some quick feedback on a few things?  You don't need to answer unless you have a problem.

     A) Writing style.  Anything I should change?

     B) How am I portraying your character?  Any problems?  Anything I should change?

     C) There's a lot of swearing in this book.  Should I cut back on the swearing?

     D) With the exception of the characters who got necessary focus for plot reasons in this chapter, how has the balance been in general?  Do you think your character's getting enough screen time?

3) Spoiler alert:  Santiago's not dead.  Did I get anyone with that?  Candy_Souls, I'll be PMing you his situation (but the rest of you will probably be able to figure it out anyways).

And now, our incorrect quote of the day.  In honor of this lovely month of October, here's an October-themed incorrect quote that I made up myself:

Virginia: Hey, what's that you're drawing?

Anya: Art challenge, its for inktober.

Virginia: Oh, cool. *Notices a padlock on 's room* Why does Travis have a padlock?

Anya: Oh, he said that was for locktober.

Virginia: Um, interesting I guess...

Santiago: *Jumps out* BOO

Anya: *Shrieks*

Virginia: What was that for?!?

Santiago: It's for Spooktober! I gotta scare 5 more people today! *Runs off*

Virginia: Okay this is getting kind of dumb.

Virginia: *Receives a textmessage* What the hell, Ricon? Why did you delete my contact?

Ricon: Hey don't get on my case, I'm just trying to participate in blocktober.

Virginia: Screw all of you, I'm going to watch star trek.

Lei: *Walks in with pointy ears taped on* You mean you'll be participating in Spocktober?!?

Virginia:

Lei:

Virginia:

Lei:

Virginia: no.

-

Scar: Tell me something I don't know.

Pierre: The past tense of William Shakespeare would be Wouldiwas Shookspeared

Scar: I did not know that.

-

Candon: Okay, maybe playing 'whose childhood was the most tragic' wasn't the best idea we've had. Gavin's been crying in the bathroom for an hour. We can't get him out.

-

Agi: Hello people who do not live here.

Santiago: Hi.

Ari: Hello.

Lei: Hey!

Agi: I gave you that key for emergencies!

Ari: We were out of doritos.

-

Luna: Can we go to a haunted house this year?

Nic: What's wrong with the one we live in?

Luna: Wait...what?!

Nic: Goodnight.

CHAPTER FIVE STATUS: Waiting for response forms

(I'm introducing this so you guys can tell if I've started writing yet or if I'm still waiting for forms)