Three Lefts

[Yuki]

Yuki held back the urge to shoot a questioning glance at Aiden when he dubbed her new name as Kisa. Had he been listening to the television when Fruits Basket was on? Shaking the notion, she focused her attention on the woman as she let them in. She was a suspect as far as Yuki was concerned, and it was important to proceed carefully, as well as to watch the woman's words and actions for any hints she could possibly give.

After a brief, semi-confrontation between the doctor and Aiden, Yuki took not a moment of hesitation to approach the bed of Yukito Kirishima. Thankfully, the children had nametags placed near them, so she had no problem identifying the boy. She sat down on a chair next to the bed. The boy seemed young, no more than perhaps nine years-old. His breathing was thin and silent, and even though Yuki knew he wasn't in a completely stable condition, he seemed calm, at peace almost. Outstretching her hand, she placed it on the boy's head and gently ruffled his hair. He didn't deserve what had happened--no child in there did. It was like she had said before, the sooner they killed the lowly creature, the better.

Quickly, she scanned the boy's surroundings for any marks left behind by the shtriga, but saw none. She had to make sure that the other children had no marks to confirm her suspicions, but if there turned out to be none as well, that would mean that the shtriga was not coming back to feed on the children in that cabin. It was going after new victims, and if so, they would need to discover its method of choosing its next target, if it did indeed have one.

There was also the matter of finding Teagan. Even knowing the odds, Yuki felt that Teagan remained alive. Beaten and immobile, quite possibly, but not dead. The shtriga had only attacked children so far. It was unfitting in its feeding pattern to attack an adult, or even a teenager. It might've seen Teagan as a threat and then proceeded to kill her, but if that had been the case, her body would've been found. There was no reason for it to hide her corpse. But then, why would it be hiding her now? Yuki bit her lip in thought. Perhaps it was feeding off of her slowly, or keeping her as a sort of emergency ration, a source of food in case it did not succeed in one of its attempts?

...There were simply too many possiblities, and not enough certainties. She could only hope that they would find Teagan or kill the shtriga before it was too late.

[Aiden]

He remained silent as he was allowed inside, looking around the room. It was now that his hunter instincts kicked in, and for one brief moment, he took as many details as possible in. Years of training allowed him to do this; possible entrances were two, door and window, more than likely the window because that's where the marks were near. Number of children: eight, all named with their own clipboard noted with observations and theories. One medical personnel, no other camp staff in the room. There was one car out front. Other factors started to come to mind as well. She stopped Aiden at the door, that meant it was possible that Lorena was the shtriga, and she knew Aiden was a hunter. He gazed over all of the kids, everything seemed like it was moving in slow motion and then suddenly it was real time, as Lorena began speaking.

At her mention of a clipboard, Aiden assumed it was the one that was near him, but was deterred at first, seeing as the top page was blank. However, beneath it he could see several other pages with writing, so he picked it up, shuffling back and forth through the pages. Comatose with no given reason, no medical problems, the only allergies were bee stings, the food had been checked, as had the water. As if they just fell into a coma overnight. was scrawled on the side of one of the pages. Other measurements such as pulse were listed for all the kids. He also noticed that all were under the age of eleven, the oldest being ten. Still, he needed a more thorough search of the room, and he knew that would not be possible with Lorena in the room. It was time for more hunter's skills. Moving towards Yuki, Aiden began speaking. "Keith, nice guy," Aiden said, masking his distaste for the man, "said that the rangers have given up, and if they're done, that means they're leaving her. I just...I wish they would give it a few more days. Is there any place in the woods she could be, a house or cabin or cave or something?" he asked, now next to Yuki.

Gazing down at Yukito, he moved to the far side of Yuki, so that he couldn't be seen speaking. "Ask for some time alone with your brother, and check the room out. Every possible thing counts," he breathed, and then moved away, looking back at Lorena with a look of longing and hurt in his eyes.

[Teagan]

Lorena had closed her eyes, trying to see if she could fit in a moment's rest. Technically, she should have been observing the others in the room, but from her point of view, they could watch the kids for a moment while she made up on some much needed rest. Yet as she tried to mentally drift away, her mind refused to budge, waiting for the inevitable question to pop up.

"Keith, nice guy..." Ding ding. Aiden was the winner. Lorena cracked an eye open, about to give the kid a sarcastic response when she realized that might be too harsh. If she had been related to the missing counselor, she would've been distressed about th news as well.

"There ain't nothing out there, son, save a few ranger bases and a whole lot of trees." Too many for Lorena's taste. Yes, she liked nature enough to live in it a couple weeks during the summer, but she never liked how easy it was to get lost. All the trees started to look the same after awhile. "Keith is a trooper when it came to that search though. He pulled every string to keep it going, but the Rangers told him to back off. Rather rudely too, if I might say. He's proud to say nothing bad has ever happened as long as he's directed the camp, but this whole week just blew his record. Poor guy."

[Yuki]

As she sat on the chair next to Yukito's bed, Yuki sensed that Aiden wanted to tell her something as he neared her. Ready to catch some form of signal from him, whether subtle or spoken, she observed him from the corner of her eye, careful not to make it known to the woman that he was trying to communicate a hidden message to her.

"Ask for some time alone with your brother, and check the room out. Every possible thing counts."

Yuki gave a small nod in understanding. While she waited for the doctor to finish talking, she gazed silently at the boy, hoping that the woman would be more sympathetic with her if she thought her intentions were purely sincere. She even managed to force a bit of small tears. A well-played act was absolutely key for the question she would pose.

After stating that Keith, the director of the camp, had done everything in his power for Teagan's search, Yuki stood up from her chair, pretending to wipe a tear from her eye. "Excuse me, miss," she said, in as much of a saddened tone she could possibly use, "...May I please have a moment alone with my brother? I know it may be too much to ask, you probably can't leave the children alone...but I promise I will watch them just as well as I would watch my own brother," she pleaded. "It's just...this is so hard for me..." Yuki's voice broke off as she buried her face with her hands. This was ridiculous. Necessary, but absolutely ridiculous.

[Teagan]

Oh god. Not tears. That was the last thing Lorena needed at the moment. Even though as the camp Doctor she fully expected to see them at least twice daily, that day, that moment, from a sibling fretting over a younger child? Definitely not.

"Leave? No problem, as long as you don't mind keeping an eye on all of the kids as well. They shouldn't be too much trouble." She could go outside and nap on the hammock behind the infirmary. Finally close her eyes, drift off, and rest. Oh-how great that sounded, only the Lord knew. "Just let Petes, the Head Counselor, know when you're done. Tell him it's time for his shift."

The woman grabbed a blanket and spare pillow before reaching for the door handle. As she opened it, a cooling breeze beckoned her out. Lorena turned to Aiden. "Aren't you coming boy? Get out of here and let the girl alone." She waited until he had exited, and then scurried through the tall grass to the back. Within moments of crashing, Lorena was fast asleep.

[Aiden]

Yuki had taken the lesson on coming up with emotions and other bits of acting on the spot very well, apparently, because if he hadn't been the one to tell her to ask Lorena to leave, he just might have thought something was legitimately wrong at first. Still, he could see that Lorena was torn between staying and watching the kids as she was supposed to, or leaving and finally getting some decent rest--her appearance didn't give her much credit, for her hair was a little disheveled, there were dark bags under her eyes, and he was sure that any usual lively color she had was drained down to its bare minimum. Finally they might actually get somewhere, since Lorena seemed to be leaning more to the leaving side, and when she told Yuki what to do, Aiden knew they were in, at least for now. What they'd find exactly, he coudn't be too sure.

He stood in the room while Lorena was about to leave, but when she called out to him, he cursed silently. "Oh, yeah, sorry. Just...thinking about Teagan, y'know?" He moved out of the room, shooting a glance towards Yuki. Once outside, he stepped out of view around the cabin, being careful to wait for Lorena to not come and see what he was doing. When he was sure that she was out of the picture, he walked over to the window, and stooped next to it, examining the black mark. It matched the description in the books, and he ran his hand over it. Standing, he looked in all directions to see where this thing could have come from; there was the forest, about two miles back, the camp, and them more forest. He frowned, and then after another few minutes, he crept back into the cabin. "Find anything important?"

[Yuki]

Finally alone, Yuki looked outside the window as Aiden and the doctor got further from the cabin. The woman seemed to want to get away as quickly as possible. Aiden lingered, Yuki imagined probably because he was going to examine the exterior of the cabin, or join her in her search of the interior. She turned around. Other than the dozen comatose children, there was nothing out of the ordinary. The room was silent, except the small click of her boots and the faint breathing coming from the children.

Yuki scoured the room, searching for perhaps a trapdoor of some sort on the floor, but found nothing. There were posters along the walls which she removed a bit to see if there was anything behind them. Nothing. What was she looking for, anyway? Evidence that the shtriga was here, correct? So she would need to look for a tell-tale belonging. She made her way over the desk in the room and looked quickly through the drawers, but found little other than office utilities and several stacks of paper. Looking up, she saw there was no way the shtriga could've gotten in through the roof. The cabin didn't have a chimney, so that route was impossible.

...How was she to find a hint of a shtriga? It was a monster disguised a human. Logically, some forensic sciences would be in their favor, but there was no time to examine fingerprints, and it would be impossible to narrow down the suspects when so many camp attendees had been around the children. Yuki bit her lip in thought as she made her way over to one of the children, a little boy named Fabian. She hovered over him and ruffled his hair. The poor thing. He hardly seemed to be breathing, it was as if it was difficult to him. The rise and fall of his chest was so small, it was hardly noticeable. But...what was that? Yuki narrowed her eyes and bent over, picking up the small piece of evidence from the boy's shirt. She held it to her eyes. Yes, the clue was unmistakable.

Just then, Yuki heard footsteps advancing towards the door. Careful not to drop what she had found, she held it gently, cupping it underneath with her right hand. She made her way back over to Yukito, just to be safe. But, as the door creaked open slowly and steadily, Yuki knew immediately it was Aiden.

"Find anything important?" he asked her.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did," she said, apporaching him and then proceeding to lift up the strand of blonde hair that was now pinched between two fingers. "I discovered this."

[Aiden]

Aiden was having very much the same thought process as Yuki: Where could this thing be coming from? Inside, the entrances were as simple as the door and the window, but from outside, the search was harder. Most of the area surrounding this cabin was empty, seeing as it was on the edge of the camp. As his eyes swept over the trees of the woods, his stomach sank as he got the feeling that they would somehow end up in there, whether it was by means of investigations or fighting off the shtriga. Speaking of which, that still posed a problem. How were they going to kill it? Aiden was still very much against using the kids as bait and further endangering them, but still, what else could they do? He closed his eyes and let out a long breath before deciding that Lorena would be either gone or busy enough not to notice him slip back into the cabin.

There was a part of his mind that wanted to miraculously see the answers before him as he went back into the cabin, but in all of his years of hunting, that part of his mind had never got his wish. Yuki was still by herself, the kids were still comatose, and they were still little to nowhere. Teagan was still gone, Keith was still a jerk, and Aiden was still trying where to go next. Just as he was about to instruct Yuki to leave the cabin, she spoke up, holding a hair out. The moment was awkward, with a silence that was so uncomfortable that it would be nothing like being so thick you could cut it like butter, but more like sawing a piece of wood in half. After a moment, and blinking a few times, he reached out, and held the thread of hair between his fingers; blonde, not too long, so probably male, maybe female.

Frowning, he nodded, and let the hair fall to the ground. It wasn't Lorena's, that was for sure. "Come on, we're going to go check out Teagan's cabin, it was number four," he said, walking back outside. Around him he could hear the chatter of the happy children, which made him wince--luckily his back was to Yuki so she didn't see. The thought of not having a childhood troubled Aiden from time to time, as did being an orphan. Most of the time these thoughts were far from his mind, but being surrounded...it hurt slightly. Keeping a serious composure, he headed for the cabin marked cabin 4, and pushed the door open. It was empty, the kids were out doing their activities. He instantly recognized Teagan's things, and knelt down next to them, shuffling through them. "Check the windows, will you?" he asked briskly, unzipping one of her bags. Ruffling through it, he frowned as he found her phone, battery now dying, with no signal. "Naturally," he breathed, falling back and sitting now.

[Yuki]

Heading to cabin number four, the cabin Teagan had stayed at, Yuki folded her arms as she reviewed the information they had gathered. First, they were up against a shtriga, that was certain. Second, the shtriga was feeding upon the children of the camp. Third, for some reason, it had kidnapped Teagan. Fourth, the shtriga was in disguise now as a human being, most likely not as one of the children. Fifth, the creature had left behind a single clue: a blonde hair strand. She wasn't sure if the hair strand definitely belonged to the shtriga, but odds were that it did. If this was the case, then they were looking for a blonde human being, most like a male judging by the short length of the strand, though the possibility of it being disguised as a female could not be ruled out.

Arriving at their destination, the two hunters entered the cabin without obstacle this time. The cabin was completely desolate. She looked around, but once again, everything seemed ordinary enough. Aiden knelt down to search through someone's belongings, and as Yuki peered over him, she recognized them as Teagan's. He told Yuki to inspect the windows, and with a nod, she began to do so. She made her way to the first window. Nothing. Moving forward, she proceeded to the next window. At first, she didn't see anything, but then she caught a black mark along the windowsill. She opened the window and examined the mark. Sure enough, it was almost identical to the one they had found earlier. "Aiden, come take a look at this," Yuki said, not removing her eyes from the mark. This meant the shtriga had been here as well.

[Aiden]

He was relieved when after opening the door, they weren't met by another person telling them to get out. The cabin did have the feel to it as if it had been searched already, and sloppily put back together--which it had, of course, due to the rangers, and probably the camp staff. But there was nothing unusual, nothing that caught his eye. He hoped that her backpack might hold a clue, but nothing inside did. The phone buzzed in his hand as it told him it was shutting down, the battery having run out as if it was waiting for someone to find it before it did so. He sighed, knowing that there was no way to find Teagan with technology now, he couldn't use the GPS in the phone to track her. He let it fall back into the bag, and then stood as Yuki called him over.

He glanced at the window she had stationed herself at, and looked at the marks. They were the tell-tale sign of the shtriga, which meant that it had been in her cabin...was it going after a child, or after Teagan when these were left? Through the glass, Aiden looked straight ahead...into the woods. That feeling that he would have to eventually be stumbling his way through there returned, and he simply nodded at Yuki. The feeling that this was all his fault was also returning, but not in the angry way it had been before. He took a few steps into the center of the room, and disregarding Yuki, closed his eyes momentarily. "Come on, Aiden, what are you missing here? Think," he said to himself, opening his eyes and glancing at everything. Every bed, every comforter, every bed frame, the floor boards, the map on the wall, the window...his eyes snapped back to the map, his eyes narrowing in on it, looking confused for a moment before it hit him.

There was another cabin! The maps that had been in Keith's office, and the cabin the comatose kids were in were missing this cabin, and as Aiden got closer, he found that this map was faded, and more worn than the others. So the camp stopped using this cabin, took it off their map? "Yuki..." Aiden said slowly, still processing the development. "I think I know where we're going to end up," he said after a few seconds of silence. "We should probably find these Lucas and Scott guys first though, and then, I want to head there," he said, pointing to the cabin on the map. He exited the room after studying the map for a few more moments, and once outside, looked at Yuki. "Archery range, or pool?" he asked her.

[Yuki]

Yuki stared at the mark as Aiden made his way to the center of the room. This meant one of two things. It was either getting into the cabin when it created this mark, or it was getting out. Yuki bit her lip in thought. Even if it did mean one of those things, it didn't seem like the discovery gave much progress to their investigation. Was Teagan the only camp counselor assigned to this cabin?

As she thought this, she felt Aiden make a sudden movement behind her. Turning around, she saw him approaching a map that was pinned to the wall. She got closer to examine it as well, and he told her that he thought he knew where to go. Yuki saw him point to a cabin on the map. He said that first they would have to find Lucas or Scott, Teagan's companions. Making their way outside, Yuki had been pondering how Aiden had jumped to that conclusion, when he asked where they should go first.

"Pool," she said somewhat absent-mindedly, not really seeing the difference in going to either one. A thought that had been nagging at her mind all day was now even more prominent. As they made their way over to the pool area, she lowered her voice to ask him the question that was gnawing at her. "Aiden, when we find this thing, how are we going to kill it? You do realize we will most likely have to use a child as bait," she said, her tone becoming regretful towards the end of her statement. She did not want to have to resort to such means, but could see no other way.

[Aiden]

The air outside was a little humid, the setting sun still warming the town located in the desert state. A slight breeze washed over the camp though, a gleam running through the grass, which was a bit of a relief. Taking in a deep breath, Aiden's mind was calculative now, rather than being hot and trigger-happy as it had been when he arrived. He knew what he had to do now: find Teagan before finding the shtriga. He glanced at Yuki as they exited the cabin, and caught her confused look. It was only natural, it was now that Aiden realized that she couldn't exactly follow his thought process when he didn't speak it aloud, after all, he was still used to working serious jobs like this alone. "Sorry, you're probably lost. The map back in Teagan's cabin, it showed another cabin in the woods. The other maps I've seen, like the one in Keith's office, and the one in the cabin of the comatose kids, that cabin wasn't there. Which means that Teagan's map is older, and means there is a cabin in the woods that the rangers must have missed. And we know exactly where it is," he explained.

She suggested the pool, in which direction Aiden began heading. They needed to pay a visit to Scott, get some information and do some more interrogation before traipsing off into the woods. The walk was a pensive one, at least until Yuki brought up the subject Aiden had been dodging in his head. With a sigh, he stopped slowly, turning to face her as the breeze washed over them. "Yuki...it's probably time that you learn a little value of mine. It's due mostly to past experiences of my own, but," he paused, looking at the ground. They were so going to tease him about this. "Well, I make it a point not to use kids, I go out of my way to save them. They have so much ahead of them, and they don't deserve to suffer, they don't deserve hells like these," he said quietly.

He abruptly began walking again, and finally, a few minutes later, came to the pool, where the kids had just filed away. There was an older teenager there, tall, with...blonde hair. A brow twitched up as he looked at Yuki before moving closer. "Hey, are you Scott? I have a few questions for you," he called out.

[Yuki]

Yuki was caught off guard when Aiden started explaining what she had questioned in her mind. She assumed if he had arrived to that conclusion, it was not without reason. The fact that he read her easily told her he was either keen in picking up emotions, or she was letting her guard down too much, because she was quite conscious of trying to keep an unreadable expression. She nodded after his explanation. It made sense. Perhaps they would find Teagan there, or even the shtriga.

As Yuki voiced her concern when they were on the way over to the pool, Aiden stopped to answer her question. She listened intently to his words. "It's mostly do to past experiences of my own..." Come to think of it, she didn't know much about Aiden's past. Or Teagan's, for that matter. She had given it little thought, assuming that Aiden had been raised in the hunting atmosphere, and that Teagan was simply a typical teenager. But she didn't even know about their parents, or who they lived with, or even if they had parents. Well, for Teagan, she knew that she had to live with someone, it wasn't like she had gone to summer camp willingly. But Aiden? He never talked about his parents, or any other adult figure for that matter, other than Deacon and Jefferson. What was his childhood like, exactly? How had he been dragged into the life of hunting? Was he born into it? But, Yuki knew now was not the time for such questions.

When he finished, she nodded. She felt that Aiden had gained a bit of respect on her part. "Iie, wakarimashitta," she said silently, not realizing she had responded in Japanese. "I have the same views. I do not wish to use these children, but I cannot think of another way to destroy it without doing so, but if we don't, it won't matter," she said, her voice trailing off. There was simply no other way.

Finally, they arrived at the pool and spotted the adolescent, Scott. Aiden looked at her with a raised brow, knowing that he had noticed the same thing she had--the blonde hair. Her muscles tensed as the teen approached. For all they knew, this could be the shtriga that had consumed the spirits of those children, the monster that had kidnapped Teagan.

[Casey]

Scott slumped against the life guard station. The kids were running around, giggling and oblivious to the terrors occurring. Though he’d fed the hunger still gnawed inside him, behind his eyes. Truthfully this place had seemed like paradise and a buffet. Lots of kids all in one place, little adult supervision. Now he figured he’d over done it. Parents were freaking out about the kids and threatening to pull their children back home, never good for lunch time.

Then of course there was Teagan. Why would some hunter brat be at the camp anyway? It wasn’t like it was his usual hunting ground. Worst part was she’d managed to get a call out to one of her buddy’s. He really didn’t need another hunter in his territory, he wasn’t done dealing with Teagan properly yet.

“Yeah,” he looked lazily at the boy how asked for him, “What sort of questions? And who are you?”

The kid couldn’t be much older than Scott appeared to be. He figured it was one of the kids brothers and his girlfriend.

[Aiden]

He was relieved that she didn't question his past. It was a sore subject for him--how many ten year old kids saw their parents butchered right before their eyes by something supernatural, and then took on the life of a hunter with someone they didn't know? He missed his childhood completely, he didn't have the splendor of going to school anf getting picked up by mommy everyday in the generic van, going home to fruit snacks and soda before doing homework. Aiden's childhood had been reading up on ghosts, vampires, many things supernatural, then learning how to hunt, how to fight, and eventually hunting and fighting. He didn't have friends, he didn't have family, he'd never been in a relationship with someone. He was socially awkward in a way, and he wouldn't let that happen to any of the kids here, he couldn't let their lives be ruined too. They deserved innocence, at least for a few more years.

There was one thing that Aiden got the Yuki seemed to miss. Still walking on his way, he glanced over at her. "We don't have to use the kids, not necessarily. If Teagan is still alive," he said (for he knew there was always that chance that she was dead), "then we use her. It's keeping her alive for a reason, and it's bound to come check back on her. We just hide in the cabin, and then when it tries something on Teagan, we kill it." In his mind, it would work out much better if they knew for sure where Teagan was, but that old cabin in the woods was their best bet. First off, though, they needed to talk to the guys that hung around with her, especially the blonde one that came into view.

"I'm Teagan's cousin," he said, not giving his name. "It's my understanding that you were friends, or at least you hung out with Teagan here at this camp. I'm just...I know you were probably drilled by the rangers, but I need to know it all for myself," he said, putting on the fake, more dramatic concern again. "Can you tell me the last time you saw her, and what you did with her twenty-fours hours before she disappeared?" Maybe this guy could give them answers, and maybe this guy was the Shtriga.