Our plan was to lure the Level 13 Raccoonbear Monstrosity to the den of Spiderstaurs. Patrick and Harry actually did most of the planning. They suggested we leave a food trail and keep out of sight. That sounded like a great idea to me. So first we need to find some bait. We back tracked towards the Puget Sound, hoping to find easy seafood. We were moving back through the thick woods. The sky was cloudy and faintly tinted green as was our new usual.

"Hey Pat, why do you think the sky turned green? Do you think it happened everywhere?" I stopped to catch my breath. He stopped too. He was still pushing his wheelchair cart and it was demanding. Harry was out of sight ahead on the trail.

"I think the aliens altered our atmosphere. Or maybe it's space dust that came along?" He rustled through the crate in the seat and pulled out two hard granola bars. We ate them greedily, enjoying a moment of calm in the still woods.

Then I heard a squeaky grunt from behind me. I saw the horror in Patrick's eyes and just knew a monster was back there. Not just any monster, the giant raccoon homunculus we had been searching for. It was shockingly close considering how massive it was. And it was heading straight towards us. All the raccoon eyes, dozens of beady black eyes staring hungrily. We threw the granola wrappers down and Patrick abandoned his chair as we ran in the opposite direction.

"Harry!" I screamed as we ran. I tried to look for him but couldn't keep track while running and keeping an eye on the monster. It seemed to be investigating the cart and fighting itself for the contents. The many hands smacking itself and the various mouths growling and hissing.

We ran through the forest and my thighs burned. My lungs burned. I was not in shape for this much running. Patrick was out of sight but I heard him ahead of me. I slowed slightly to catch my breath.

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And then the arms reached me. The bear made of raccoons had moved exceptionally fast and grabbed me with it's many deformed hands and biting mouths. Before I could really react, it fell upon me. I was crushed by the massive weight of the monster. Up close it was even scarier with deformed heads and torsos making up the body. It pushed the air from my lungs and all I could breath in was hot animal hair. The putrid wet-dog smell was nauseating and I was choking on it. My left hand was in a mouth being gnawed on, my right hand was pinned under my body, my legs were being scratched and ripped apart. I tried to kick, to wiggle, to fight back but there was no use, it was much too strong. I could not move or breathe and knew I was going to die. There was a vibration in the ground, although I didn't notice it, and the monster mostly paused in its mauling of me.

Suddenly the monster pushed down harder on me, my chest popped and I think ribs broke under its massive bulk. All the heads started to growl and a metallic smell began to permeate the animal musk. I felt tremors run through the beast's body, it jerked and flipped on top of me. I gasped for breath as it allowed my chest the tiniest bit of room.

Then it was off me, slumped over and badly damaged. It tried to slash at me but it was dying and slow. I was gasping in the cold air as deep as my feeble lungs would allow. The monster had dozens of sticks poking out of it, reminding me of a pin cushion for sewing. I pushed myself away, unable to stand. My legs were crushed ruins, I was missing my pinkie and ring fingers on my left hand.

“Ha..rry?” I coughed out blood splattering as I looked around wildly. The sight that my eyes focused on was confusing and scary.

Harry was sitting on the shoulder of one of the Spiderstaurs. There were dozens of them in the trees and crawling closer to me. My brain decided that was just too much, or blood loss, and I passed out.