Trish gave Seras a slight, if strangely amused, frown.  Her memories weren't too bad, but she'd apparently forgotten how simple-minded Seras was.  Unless, of course, it was an act, and Trish was the one with the bad memory... besides, she reflected, a poor grasp of speech was far from a reflection of a human's intelligence.  Some of the best hunters barely ever spoke, but they had an innate cunning when it came to the hunt... come to think of it, wasn't Seras like that, but in terms of being a Retriever?<br/><br/>"Well, okay, then, that's good," Trish said as Lori, Bobbie, and Seras joined her.  A handful of other humans, all of them women, were gathering around, carrying other, very dead humans.  None of these corpses had been the result of animals or plants... they bore signs of violence, and neither animals nor plants would<span style="font-style: italic">leave</span>bodies anyway.  These people had probably been beaten to death over food, or strangled during sex perhaps.  That reminded Trish of the body up in one of the manor's rooms, anmd with a few words she sent a few girls to fetch it.<br/><br/>They numbered almost two dozen as they headed toward the field full of plants, and they were carrying five bodies.  By the time they had reached the walled-in "garden," everyone had either been given, or had picked up, weapons that had been lying all around the clansite.  Wooden spears, bone knives, bows and arrows, and even animal bones were ready for use in rescuing survivors from very unpleasant fates.<br/><br/>They entered the plant field.  All about them carnivorous plants waited silently, either digesting their meals or waiting to catch more.  Masses of Bloodvines still held dried-up bodies, their hollow, blood-draining feeder vines shoved deeply into various orifices.  A row of ClapTraps stood along one wall, with only one or two leaf-traps on them, but almost all crushing a human form within.  Passive Pitcher Plants hung motionlessly nearby, closed up to contain a meal, with shapely bulges inside their stems.  The closed pitchers were making hollow thumping sounds or muffled screams.<br/><br/>"Man, it's gotta suck," Trish declared as the group stopped and took in the sight.  "Eaten by your garden.  Heap your plants with love, and they chow down on ya."  She grinned.  "Well, let's see who we can save, 'kay?  Those Pitchers... we'll probably have to cut them.  Tough as all hell to pry 'em open... and the girls inside are perfectly healthy, ya know, so we can't really leave 'em there, huh?"  She looked back at the others.  The look on her face suggested that she wouldn't necessarily mind doing that... the humans<span style="font-style: italic">had</span>gotten caught, after all, so didn't they deserve what they got?<br/><br/>"Keep clear of them plants, right guys?  We're here to rescue, not join.  Let's check these here..." She continued walking and neared a trio of Penus WomanTraps.  They were all closed up, so they each had a meal within.  At the base of the leaves, the tendrils didn't fully lock together, so it was possible to look inside; just within one could see the pool of tasty paste, and standing thigh-deep in it, a woman could be seen, clearly impaled on the plant's stamen.  Trish reached in and scooped up some of the paste, and took a few swallows of it before thimping the side of the plant.  "Anyone alive in there?"<br/><br/>There came no response, so she shrugged and moved on to the next.  She repeated the process, feeding from the occuppied plant, again receiving no reply.  The girl inside was either dead or unconscious, so beyond saving regardless.<br/><br/>When Trish came to the third Penus WomanTrap, however, she didn't have time to scoop up any paste or thump on the sides of it; she was stopped short by a muffled, but quite loud, moan from inside.  She blinked looking around at those with her, wondering if she'd heard the sound correctly... it hadn't seemed entirely panicked.  She shrugged, however... it was far from rare for a girl to enjoy her last moments when being digested alive.<br/><br/>She thumped on the sides.  Inside, Jenn heard a voice ask, "you alive in there?  Want help, or should we leave you two together for a while, huh?"