As he marched off into the night, he turned his head to look back at Seo. Not even sure that she would still be able to see him, Mereel gave her a quick wink and flashed her a small smile before turning back to face the night.
With each and every step he took away from the camp, he reverted more and more into his hunter's mind sight. What had been erratically paced heartbeat slowed to rhythmic calm, and quicker breaths became long and drawn out, but the light that she put in his eyes never further faded, nor would it. Knowing that someone, or rather knowing that Seo was waiting for him, the act of hunting itself had become something entirely different from the activity that he had frequently enjoyed as a pass time.
Not sensing anyone or anything immediately nearby in the force, Mereel erroneously considered himself 'safe'. As he followed the scattered and partially sand concealed paw-prints of what he presumed was an anooba pack, he felt two sharp stings on his left side, one in his upper left arm, the other sting landing square on the side of his neck. Although he didn't know it, he had been spared being stung a third time as the last of Aodhan's darts harmlessly bounced off of his metal arm. He brushed the stinger in his left arm out with his right hand, and his left hand clumsily pulled the stinger on his neck out. Both fell to the sand before he could inspect them.
The effects of the narcotic darts were near instantaneous. His vision became blurry and his legs wobbly. His mind processed his own actions through a daze, and he felt like he could throw up at any second. If his thoughts were in order, he would've suspected foul play immediately due to his past as a bounty hunter - and one that frequently chose kill contracts over 'wanted alive' notices. Undoubtedly, it was a suspicion that would come to a clearer version of his mind. Even in his drug-induced stupor, sparks kindled in his eyes, willing him to press onward until he was on top of the sandhill.
Through his daze, he heard the howling of anoobas in a divot between the mound he was on and another dune noe directly in front of him. He had the fixings in his bag needed to assemble some wire traps. Mereel began taking his backpack off to do just that, but as soon as he moved the bag in front of himself and leaned forward to inspect its contents, he threw up. The wrap that Seo had made him for dinner came back up in liquid form and plastered itself over everything in his backpack.
Mereel wiped the vomit from his mouth and dropped the bag in disgust. He could have still used the traps, but his delirious mind made it so that his sense of pride kept him from digging around in his own spewed up dinner just to make killing a pack of dogs easier.
He stumbled over to the edge of his sand dune and fell prone. He saw the anoobas, and seeing that six of them were now rushing up the sand dune, the anoobas had clearly seen him.
His head was spinning as he took aim at the closest anooba. He eased back the trigger once, but the bolt flew past it's head and harmlessly impacted sand. Undettered, he rapidly pulled the trigger back three more times. Two bolts missed, one landed between the eyes, and the first of six anoobas was down. Thankfully, the side of the hill that the anoobas were ascending was steep, and he was able to sloppily down two more of the creatures before the fourth reached the top.
Mereel sprang to his feet, but the quick movement provoked a heavy dizzy spell and he ended up falling on his back as the ravenous anooba rushed him with teeth bared. His thumb switched his rifle to its full auto setting and he unceremoniously gunned down the creature as it got into clawing range of him.
The dead animal landed on top of him, giving the surviving two anoobas the opportunity to close the gap unimpeded. When he finally pushed the fourth anooba's carcass off of himself, the other two anoobas were standing right over him, one to his left and one on his right. The one in his right clamped its massive teeth down on his right arm, while simultaneously the anooba on the left began clawing at his chest, knocking his rifle out of his hand in the process.
Narcotics in his system slightly numbed the pain, but it wasn't enough to keep him from shouting out in agony as teeth and claw burrowed through cloth and carved into flesh. Despite the fact he was very much alive, the anooba on his right began gnawing into his arm. The other anooba continued clawing diagonal stripes of blood out of his chest.
Pain brought sobering clarity, serving as a reminder of his mortality, but more importantly of the promise he had made to Seo. The fire in his eyes raged out of control, and an invisible force clutched at the necks of the animals slowly killing him.
##
Plumes of red clouds inhabited the sky. His clothes were in tatters, his chest was bloodied, and his arm was missing some skin, but he never felt more alive than when his eyes finally saw the camp.
Mereel descended the last dune separating him from Seo without issue. But before he started walking for the camp proper, he went still and promptly fell down back-first into the sand.
[member="Seo Linn"]
