Finding comfort in at least simulating blind ignorance, you steadied your nerves. Pivoting on your heel, you calmly walked back to rejoin the group. Well, as calmly as you could muster.
Maybe it saw that stiffness in your gait. It sensed the fear you thought you’d hidden in your heart. That ploy to fool whatever it was into thinking you hadn’t spotted it was as flimsy as your confidence this plan would work.
But your facade started to slip after you caught sight of a swinging lantern up ahead. You could get someone with a weapon- it wouldn't attack if it was outnumbered. That hope was your doom.
Before you could get enough air in your lungs to scream, something leapt onto you, tackling you to the grass. You got a mouthful of dirt. Tearing around, you shoved it away, but the hissing creature slashed a set of razors across your eyes!
Clutching your face instinctively, yellowing claws carved burning gashes down the soft skin of your forearms. Oh, and you bled… Wrist to elbow, you hemorrhaged- sticky and warm in all the flailing. With a gasp, you let out one pathetic wail as a last ditch flare to whoever might hear in the cold night.
But you were too weak, too quiet. By the time the Hounds remembered you and circled back, your body was cold. The ground was soft muddy with what used to be you, the stench of rot and iron heavy. The creature that’d claimed your life had gotten off with a chunk of your face in its jaws. It’s not a surprise you went out like this. After all, you had it coming.