So much activity seemed to burst from the concrete fortress. Shouting came from farther up the road, presumably the entrance into the small settlement, and the rifleman from the guard tower shot twice more into the brush and called for help. The man clung to the shadows of the forest. His wounds tore at his attention and he wasn't sure how much longer he could stave off unconsciousness… Or… Perhaps something worse.<br/><br/>It was light, but its presence was unmistakable. The prescient awareness that he had come to know as "The Hunger" lay like the predator it was all around his psyche. It wanted him to give in, to let it take over. It waited until he was weak before it attempted its ferocious assault of his mind. The man fell forward as he ran deeper into the foliage. His bloodied arm caught itself in a thorn bush and he felt flesh and blood tear away from him. The thorns drank greedily of his essence. The hunger pressed into his mind, lashing him with psychic violence. The man struggled fervently to remember his name.<br/><br/>"I!" He shouted in the face of the malevolent beast that called his mind home. "I am Halak!" His voice filled the forest around him. The natural camouflage his body produced began to breakdown under his mental strain. Patches of broken skin and torn clothing became visible from the thin air that was already there.