We finally reached an open clearing where hundreds upon hundreds of woodland animals were huddled around a screaming person. Deer, bunnies, birds, bears, you name it. 

As I looked closer, I realized that there weren't hundreds upon hundreds of these animals. There were but a few, and they looked as if they had just come out of a horror movie. Their eyes had a fierce green glow, and their bodies had nearly tripled in size. Their bodies oozed a weird, transparent, blue slime that covered the ground around them.

We stealthily approached the wild animals. I held my hand out, signaling Drake. He understood, and stayed back while I crept closer. I peered above the heads of the animals, and saw Ebony, gasping for air. He was on all fours, like an animal.

Green gas, which I could only assume was toxic, surrounded Ebony, and he seemed to be choking on it. I turned around with a worried expression, and Drake charged head first into the mutant crowd. I cursed under my breath, and unsheathed my dagger.

As Drake distracted the mutants, I ran to Ebony. I flipped him over onto his back, and he wheezed, "Harley."

I nodded, staring at him intently. "Harley. This is the sequel to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Bunnies. You get a bunny, and you, and..." he trailed off.

I covered my mouth as the fumes became thicker. "C'mon. You're hallucinating. We need to get out of here!" I tugged on his arm, and finally managed to get him to stand. He leaned against my shoulder, while I stumbled through the fight scene. Drake was doing surprisingly well against beings triple his size. Not a scratch could be seen on his body.

At last, we made it into the tall blades of grass. I lay him down, and sat down beside him. I looked to him as he coughed up blood.

"You don't have much time," I stated.

Ebony nodded. "You know, I'm surprised that I lasted this long. A fatal wound usually gives the person minutes, maybe even hours, to survive. It's been, what? One whole day. Maybe it's because I'm a shade that I have more immunity." He winced in pain. "We really should help Drake."

I nodded, and proceeded to stand up. Ebony stood up beside me.

"Ebony, you're weak. You can't possibly survive for long if you charge head first into a battle, can you?" I pleaded.

His answer made my stomach boil. He turned to me with the sweetest smile, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "YOLO!"
Then, he ran off into the combat. He charged a bear, narrowly avoiding its deadly razor claws.

I shook my head, and smiled. "YOLO!" I yelled, running to join the boys.

We were on fire. Not literally, of course. But we sliced and slashed and stabbed and gutted every animal that even looked at us wrong. Finally, standing amid the entrails of different animals, our foes were all laying in a bloody pile next to Ebony.

Ebony chuckled, and kicked a bloody eyeball into the woods.

This peculiar scene reminded me of a poem I had made in the fifth grade:

"Blood spills down ever so freely,
White tiles oozing red,
For he who laughs last,
Is but the ever so guilty murderer."

I smiled to myself, and chuckled a little. It was true, after all. The last person standing is the murderer, and here we are, surrounded by hundreds of dead corpses, laughing away. Laughing at the misery our foes had endured. Laughing at the pain we had caused them. Laughing at the sight of hunters now becoming the hunted. Oh, how we turn in a second. One minute, a kind and friendly person. The next, a cold and ruthless killer.

"Harley? Harley!!" someone shouted, snapping me out of my trance. I looked down and saw in my hands was a beautiful deer head, severed from its magnificent body. I was stroking the deer, whispering words of comfort to it.

I dropped the ratty thing and sighed. "Do you ever feel like animals aren't the wild ones? That we are?"

Ebony shoved his hands in his pockets. "It all depends on how you look at it. Yes, we act like wild animals, but many people don't act like this. And don't forget, we aren't exactly the normal bunch, if you know what I mean. And you have to factor in that the animals were trying to attack us. We just defended ourselves."

I nodded, and bit my lip. "I just feel like we're turning into the monsters that we fight. No mercy. No second chances. Just death."

Ebony and Drake were gaping at me as if I had lost my mind.

"What?" I asked them, annoyed.

"Nothing. Just don't turn around or move," they replied.

"There's something behind me, isn't there?" I asked, sighing.

"Yep," Drake squeaked.

Suddenly, thundering footsteps shook the ground as the creature moved closer to me. His shadow overcame me, throwing me into darkness.

I slowly turned around, and standing behind me was a massive dragon. The dragon glared down at me with one huge, blue eyeball. He let out a gigantic shriek, covering the tops of trees in flame.

I sighed. Why can't things ever be easy?