And kill, of course, which was the mistake it had made to draw Charles after it. Then again the wild ones weren't known to worry about anything, let alone the exceptionally rare hunter.

Diana hefted the shopping bag onto her hip and rolled her eyes. Thunder rumbled from somewhere far off and the damp breeze on the air helped spur her home faster. A passing car honked as she scurried across the street, causing her to send an expletive and finger after it.

The uniform gray of the towering and deserted buildings was a breeding ground for wandering dust storms that were turned into a sickly paste whenever the rain managed to make it through.

The sheer emptiness of the place spoke of wasteland, but Charles knew that like any desert this psuedo-concrete conflageration was brimming with hidden life.

If it could be called that.

There was a scrape of claw against stone somewhere ahead and he moved forward, trying to see in the unstable light of his dimmed lantern.

"I hate the city," he dared mutter under his breath, moving quietly and turning his lantern down all the way. He'd move by the light of that damned gray sky from here on.

She flicked a glance over her shoulder.

"Stop it Di," she sighed, speaking conversationally with no one in particular as a man who she was sure had just come from that porno place next to the grocery hurried by, "This damn city is giving you a nuerosis."

There was another peal of thunder and abruptly a light sprinkle began. She cursed and hurried, trying to put the child-like feeling that there was something right behind her out of mind.

There.

It was Watching someone, he could tell, grinning in it's nasty way.

Wild ones were a disturbing sight that still gave him shivers despite the worse he'd seen; thin as bone, all those gangly limbs drawn in as they squated along, with ripsaw claws held in close and eyes like little bolt holes.

This one tapped it's claws on the ground between it's feet as it giggled softly, apparently at the heels of one of the Quick. The dry air hissed dust against Charles' cheeks and protective goggles as he pulled the old revolver from it's holster and the wide brim of his hat down.

It's ear twitched, warning him, and so he was able to hide behind a low stoop before it turned to look behind.

Her keys jumbled as she paced quickly along the curb, a car roaring past and throwing up mist that go in her eyes. The grocery closest to her closed too early and so every few nights she was forced to trek eight blocks in order to get what she needed after work.

The working streetlights held the usual little clouds of moths and bugs, even in this weather, and she kept to those; a self defense class taken years ago had so far proved worth it and she admired herself on all the little tricks.

She knew how to take care of herself, and there was only one block to go. Time to cut one over...

Charles hurried quietly along, using the tapping of the claws and a flurry of activity hundreds of feet up as cover. It sounded like the flappers were fighting over a corpse again in the hollowed and eeire caves at the upper levels of the stone buildings.

Progress was counted in steps till he was in sufficient range. Ten. Seven. Five.

His free hand went to the blade under his heavy coat, as it'd be required to finish the job. Then suddenly the wild turned down a small alley, causing him to fight every urge to curse or strike out in desperation. He hadn't been actually watching the Quick this thing was following and so he could only assume the wild had turned to stay with it's sudden change in direction.

Damn ignorant prey.

Diana smirked a little, seeing the stoop to her building and it's warm pool of light across the street from the end of the alley. After all she'd been through in this town and in that building how she could ever find comfort in it was beyond her.

Trying to avoid the thick streams of water coming down from the buildings, she juggled for her keys and sighed as she dropped them. Crouching, she thought she heard something...odd.

Her heart was racing as she scooped up the keys and tried to hurry to stand.

The wild giggled again and wacked the side of the building. There was a large square metal thing that could only be this place's mockery of a dumpster not far from it, and Charles winced as it reached out it's abnormally long arm to run it's claws along the surface.

Then, almost too swift for him to see, it reared back that hideously thin hand and struck at the air before it. There was suddenly what to an unknowing observer would appear to be a free standing shadow that flickered in place around the wild's hand.

A woman. He raised the gun and aimed, stepping firmly now. The wild turned in surprise.

"Damn!"

She twisted a little, trying to hold onto the bag in her arms. Diana's heart pounded in fear and it felt like something was clawing at the inside of her chest, causing her to gasp for breath in surprise.

She jerked forward, tears of terror welling in her eyes for reasons she couldn't imagine; it felt like something was on her, behind her...

There was a crash of thunder and suddenly it was gone. She was just a woman on the way home again, wondering what the hell had just happened.

Diana ran for the stoop of her build like a frightened child.

Charles shook his head as he approached the thing on the ground before him, the flickering Quick having faded most likely to run home. He hoped whoever she was she managed to get to sleep tonight...he knew he hadn't that first time.

The wild one hissed at his approach and then yelped when he kicked it in the stomach.

"Ooohh...a thhhhick one, you arrrrrrrrrrre," it smiled grimly at him, blood welling between the pointed teeth, "I'llllllll healllll...."

"I know," Charles said matter of factly, shifting as he holstered the gun and pulled out the knife. The wild's eye-popping look of horror was almost worth all the trouble of the tracking.

"No! You ccccccan't, it'sssss not allllowed!" it screeched and squirmed, trying to pathetically bat at him with it's claws but lacking the strength at the moment. The cold iron almost glowed with need as Charles leaned down, bringing it closer to the wild.

"I can, and will. Your teeth will fetch me a new blanket at least the way I figure it. Skull too, if you've killed anyone important; something I doubt," he whispered to it's sobs of frustration, taking a breath before getting to work.

Somewhere else it kept raining.