Run rabbit!

When: Early morning, day 2

Rolling her head to crick her neck and ease the ache in her shoulders from the miserably uncomfortable night’s sleep she had just endured, Cass took another drag on her cig and, exhaling smoke, gazed out across the lake, watching the bird sized insects darting through the thin morning mists hanging above the lake’s placid waters
After the disturbed night and the calamitous shock of yesterday's crash landing, what she really needed right now was her bed and a good lie in, and then maybe a cup of coffee and a pastry from one of the patisserie’s on the Promenade; but since none of those things were even remotely realistic possibilities, she had settled instead for a little solitude and a few moments to herself away from everyone else’s almost constant, bickering and complaining, and so, was sat by herself, some distance from the main encampment, on a rock by the water’s edge
Taking another languid drag on her cig, she watched a pair of winged lizard-like creatures drop from their roosts in one of the fern-trees, to begin skimming back and forth across the water, their long jaws snapping left and right, as they fed on the insects

It was nice enough here, she mused, what with the lake’s situation and the mostly agreeable climate, but she was concerned about how long they were going to be stuck here – There were little in the way of medical supplies, and the possibility of a deterioration in Jay’s condition worried her; although that said, it was entirely possible that the nano-virus may have ceased functioning along with everything else that was remotely electronic, and so, she supposed, it was possible that Jay could even go into remission while he was down here
Whatever the case, there was little to be achieved in fretting about it, so she resolved to ask him how he was feeling, once she could get a spare moment or two together with him away from Katrina's watchful eyes

A loud splash and a sudden commotion out in the middle of the lake startled her from her thoughts, as a tentacle monster broke the surface to snatch one of the lizard-bird from the air and drag it, screeching and struggling, down into the depths, the remaining lizard wheeling away into the sky, protesting loudly
It was a pity about those lake creatures, Cass reflected as she watched the waters slowly calm; the lake had looked cool and inviting in the uncomfortable stickiness of yesterday’s afternoon heat, and after having spent the best part of almost two days in the same clothes, she was already feeling grubby and in need of a good wash – Her hair in particular was a cause for concern; normally taking hours to maintain even with all the right products and equipment, down here, without modern conveniences like conditioner and straighteners, it was going to look a mess in almost no time – And that was before the dye had even had chance to grow out and the grey started showing!
Despondently taking a last drag on her cig, Cass ground it out and began raking her fingers back through her hair, trying for a moment to persuade it into some semblance of its normal style, before she eventually just gave up and drew it all back to tie into a ponytail, glumly accepting how much of a dishevelled mess she must appear – something she and, for that matter, everyone else, was going to have to get used to looking like, if they were going to be spending any amount of time on this rock

The sound of Alex’s approach distracted her from her ruminations as he approached with a couple of improvised waterskins, his bare feet scuffing on the rocks behind her
“Hey” she acknowledged
“Alright” he nodded
<snip>
As he crouched to fill the skins he gave her a sideways glance.
“'Look Alex' what?”
“Hmm?”
“You said Look... Alex...” before the beast, last night.
“Oh, that.”
He waited.
“That was... nothing” she dismissed.
He lifted an eyebrow and stared at her for a moment.
“Right you are.”
Despite the many, often literally painful, lessons he'd learned about women, they would still always be something of a mystery, he was sure.
He finished up and went back to camp.
</snip>
Looking back over her shoulder at him as he departed, Cass watched as he trudged back up towards the camp, carrying the dripping water skins; she hadn’t wanted to appear rude, but she really didn’t want to talk about the dream she had last night or to admit to the frequency of nightmares she kept having about Jaxx, feeling that were she to do so, it would in some way acknowledge a weakness, or grant the MACO power over her in some way
Still, she mused, turning to gaze back out over the lake, her nightmare’s aside, at least Jaxx seemed to have mutated and had thankfully lost the worst of his shark-like instincts, which, in her opinion, left everyone else that much safer, and meant that there was one less thing to worry about; although she was under no illusion about where she stood with him after he had somehow overheard her entreaties to kill him - Demon woman, indeed!
If or when she ever did become one of the directors of the STCP, she resolved, she was going to travel back in time and have some serious words with whichever cretins had thought that mixing human and shark DNA, was in any way, ever a good idea

Pausing to pull her pack of fags out from one of her jacket pockets, Cass glumly inspected the last three cigs she had left, before reluctantly slipping them back into the pocket again – She had quite fancied another, but given their scarcity, she felt she should try to ration them, since they, along with all other modern pleasures and conveniences, were things she was going have to get used to living without – and besides, she morosely realised, she was going to be unbearable for a couple of days while she went cold turkey on nicotine

Jaxx splashing into the water further down the lakeside made her start, and wonder whether or not she ought to mention the tentacle beasts to him, but after some consideration, she just dismissed the idea – She didn’t particularly want to engage him in conversation, and besides: If she were lucky, he might get killed and eaten by whatever was living in the lake, thereby eliminating the worry that he might attempt something in the way of revenge for her pragmatism
Unsure of whether or not he had seen her, Cass decided against remaining where she was, and so swung her legs around and slipped from the rock to make her way back towards the encampment

Finding it deserted, her arrival startled a couple more of the lizard-birds which had been scavenging amongst the butchered and discarded remains of the beast that had encroached in on their encampment late last night; the winged creatures taking angrily to the air, protesting loudly at having been disturbed from their feeding
Frowning, Cass walked across the camp to examine the bloody mess that had been left on the floor where the creature had apparently been hacked apart; she had no idea where the rest of the animal had disappeared to, but the chewed pieces that the lizards had left were sure to attract more scavengers unless they did something about them; although Cass realised, it was entirely possible that the pieces left here were to be used as bait for a trap or something, so she probably shouldn’t dispose of them without asking first
Hating feeling so out of her depth with the whole survival thing, she stalked off between the trees, looking for one of the others to ask about the remains, and it wasn’t long before she heard voices

<snip>
"Speaking of which, you and Molly. You two...?"
"Hm? Oh, no. I mean, we get along, but..."
"Oh come on, you fancy her."
"...Maybe."
"What about you and Candy?"
"She's a robot, and I'm a hamster."
"No worse than Alex and Cass."
Loud belly laughter from the pair was silenced when they looked up and saw Cass behind them.
"Aw, smeg."
</snip>
Cass pursed her lips, mentally kicking herself for her earlier stupid slip of the tongue and intimating that Alex’s basic human decency towards her when she had needed it most, had been anything other than just that
Let the cretins gossip she scowled
No – Smeg it!
“There’s nothing whatsoever going on between me and him” Cass snarled “But by all means, gossip and poke fun if you feel it helps distract you from your own insecurities and pathetic little inadequacies”
Angry now, she stalked towards them
“And while I’m on” she hissed “Don’t think... WaaArgh!”
The ground beneath the three of them suddenly collapsed as it had only moments earlier with White Wolf, this time dropping them some ten or more metres, scrabbling and sliding down a steeply inclined shaft, before they were finally pitched out into mid-air to land uncomfortably on the floor of a pitch black cavern
“Aw crap” Cass coughed, wincing in pain, and rolling over onto her hands and knees to spit dirt and mud out of her mouth
“Wh... Where are we?” Jacky asked, adjusting his goggles on his forehead and standing to gaze up at the daylit hole they had just fallen through, their only source of illumination, some three metres above them
“Well, underground, obviously” White Wolf shrugged “Although there’s something...” he stopped and sniffed the air “not right...”
“Like what?” Cass groaned, hauling herself up onto her feet “And how do we get out of here?”
White Wolf’s nose twitched
“I smell... dead things...?” he said quizzically
He was about to say something else, when an animalistic roar suddenly echoed around the darkened cavern
“That sounded real close” Jacky gulped
“Shit - These aren’t caves!” Cass hissed in panicked realisation “They’re warrens!”

<tag>
Jacky / White Wolf – What’s down here? Any suggestions about how we can get out?
And if anyone else is around nearby – feel free to join in :)
</tag>