The count ended, and everyone seemed ready to go. Viktor agreed. Enough time had been spent out in the perilous forest, and the sooner they got to a place that was more civilized than the no-man's land of Redwood, the better. Some commotion within the hunting party, mostly an exchange of ammo and adjusting some gear, was the last thing they needed to do before they started moving. Viktor gave a quick direction to them with a wordless point in the direction of the enormous mutant. He hadn't quite had a proper introduction with the man (he was pretty sure he was a man, anyway; it was hard to tell with mutants who underwent massive physical change sometimes), but he'd been a great help, and Liliana was already chatting him up again. If he had to guess, she was asking him to carry around the nearly-dead man. While it wasn't an impossibility for anyone else to carry him if he refused, the journey would be a hell of a lot harder.<br/><br/>Turning back to Inga, Viktor was about to say something else when he noticed the scowl she was giving him. He paused, and just sort of frowned a little bit until she turned and started talking to someone else.<span style="font-style: italic">"Kids these days,"</span>he thought to himself, giving a slightly amused half-smile. "Right, well, let's get outta here. I've had enough monsters for one morning." Sounds of crunching snow under the hunter's boots signaled his movement, and with the rest of the crew he'd brought along, he strolled toward the road.<br/><br/>"How's he doing?" Viktor asked, stopping by Rock Hammer and Liliana. The inquiry was meant for the broken man in the giant's grip, of course. The hunting crew didn't have much in the way of medical aid, but if there was anything Viktor could do to help in some way, he was ready and willing.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Stefan's head tilted towards Mikhail as he spoke. He pondered how the stranger had guessed such a thing, though not much thought was put into it when the beast actually started to attack. Just as said, the beast came for him on his left side. Stefan remained stock still, locking gazes with the demon, and then disappeared in a cloud of what looked like black smoke. The dog-like beast would miss him completely, only disrupting the left-behind smoke.<br/><br/>Above the beast, Stefan materialized in the air. With the blade in his hand, he dropped onto the hound's neck and drove the knife into the side of it. Tightly gripping the handle, he dragged the blade through the beast's flesh, and as it inevitably began to struggle, he once again disappeared in a puff of smoke and reformed about ten feet away. When he came back, his hand was shaking, and a few active waves of his arm were given to try and ease the twitching.<br/><br/>"I think that'll be a good enough distraction," He said to the others. "We should leave." A few of the men in the group wasted no time in turning tail, though at least one had the idea of tossing a primed grenade at the monstrous creature while it violently thrashed around, bleeding from the gash left in its neck. Stefan flicked his knife off to the side, sending a few drops of oily blood off of it, and turned to run with the others.