Like Watching a Movie.

Dylan walked next to the kid. "You shouldn't beat yourself up over something like that kid. There are few people who learn to have a constant awareness of the value of life. You're still young, you can still learn from your mistakes. And you're friend's right, there's no use dwelling on things in a situation like this."

----

Alder glared at the man, still not happy with any of this. "I'm here to serve master Haden. That's all you need to know."

Haden chuckled. Alder never was one to talk of personal desires.

D'Michael paused at the man's words.

"Mister, I'm not that young." he finally said with a quirk of his lips. "I'm 367 years old."

He looked towards the humans sadly.

"I just suck at learning from my mistakes."

---

"Wow." Daemon's tone was monotonous and bored. "You're such an interesting person. Really, they should do a 60 minutes special on you."

He rolled his eyes, concentrating on the screen once more.

He mumbled "So far, I think Mr. Haden here only keeps you around for your dashing good looks."

His eyes cut to the man's body, a hint of a smirk pulling at his lips.

"And I say that lightly."

"You're still a kid by my standards." Dylan looked up at the bits of sky he could see though the dense jungle, "It took me nearly half my lifetime to fully appreciate life, and I've lived over 2,000 years by now. Even if you suck at learning from your mistakes, so long as you're learning at all you'll do alright."

----

Alder's frown deepened once more, "As if your opinion matters." This guy was really starting to piss him off.

Haden smiled at Daemon's interest in his underling. The man annoyed him, but he was still an interesting subject to study. Haden was more than pleased to stand by and watch this pointless little game play out. The more he learned about this man, the easier it would be to deal with him if he ever became a hindrance.

D'Michael's mouth gaped. "Woah! It took you 1000 years?! I've loved my life since I was, like, zero!"

He looked absolutely astonished.

"That's.... amazing..."

"Dylan! Something's out there again!" Jaden suddenly interrupted, his voice loud enough to be heard by those who needed to. "We need to hurry to that building."

---


"Please, it, like, totally matters."

Daemon flippantly flicked his wrist repeatedly in Alder's direction.

He pretty much knew why Haden had come in the first place. Curiosity and study. Duh. It's the only thing other villains ever did anymore. So utterly and confoundedly boring that Daemon wondered why they were still around.

"Ugh, come on, right into the building... I was kinda hoping they wouldn't, forgot to clean up." He mumbled to himself, bringing his hand up to idly gnaw on his thumb nail.

"Murphy, you sonova bitch and your undeniably true laws..."

Dylan chuckled, "My life hardly mattered to me until I had something to live for."
He nodded, "Alright everyone let's pick up the pace!"

---

Haden chuckled, "Afraid they'll be offended by the mess?"

Jaden sighed in obvious relief, placing his hand in the small of D'Michael's back to hurry him along.

"Do as the knights and make haste!" he hissed, looking back at the people to make sure they were heeding the order.

"Hey! Nathan, right?"

---

"Nah, I just don't want Jaden throwing up."

He made a face.

"Kid's always had a weak stomach for gore, ya know?"

Nathan perked up at his name, little girl now clinging to his back to help her keep up with the faster pace. "Yeah?"

---

"Aaah, I see. That would be annoying to clean up afterwards I suppose."

"Do you see anything..." he lowered his voice. "Like, de(a)monic goin on here? Cause I want to have more options than the one I have now. It's kinda depressing and I'd rather think on something else."

---

"My sentiments have been returned." he drawled, swaying in the spinning chair.

"How enticing."

He squinted his eyes at the screen.

"... I swear to God, I'll knock over a tree just to kill someone right now."

Nathan blinked, slightly surprised by the question, "Well, not that I've noticed...but there is this weird kinda...scent. Not really sure how to describe it...it's nothing I'm familiar with though. Sorry."

---

Haden chuckled. "I'd say patience is a virtue, but you hardly care about that, so why not just do it? Less annoying humans to deal with later on and more panic among the cattle always makes for a more entertaining show anyway."

"Damn." Jaden cursed, turning back ahead. Then, remembering his manners, turned back around and gave a forced smile.

"But thanks anyways. Tell me if anything else comes up, would ya?"

---

".... True."

He leaned forward, taking a small microphone from his jean pocket, and speaking into it,

"Hey, knock over a tree onto the, for me."

Then pocketed the microphone once more and looked to the screen.

---

"The building isn't that far awa-"

Jaden cut himself off as a crack sounded behind them, like something splintering and giving way. He turned around just into to see the large tree trunk fall, almost in slow motion.

The branches snapped, creating more noise, and the trunk fell to the ground...

The little boy crushed underneath.

Nathan spun around, starting to run for the falling tree, but slid to a stop as the gut wrenching snapping of branches and bones echoed through the trees. "Damn it all..."
"Brother!" The little girl on his back screeched in horror.
The demon filched at the deafening noise that so conveniently had to be right in his ear.
The girl squirmed and fell from his back and ran the rest of the way to the tree. "Brother!" She screamed again, not accepting what had just happened.

Standing on the other side of the tree Ivero collapsed onto the ground, his legs no longer functioning properly. He placed a shaking hand on the tree. He could feel the remnants of life in it, the warm blood being absorbed a little by the bark. A shudder ravaged his body.
He knew there was no reason for the tree to have fallen so suddenly. Something, someone, had caused this to happen.

Nathan walked over to the tree, the girl sobbing, clenching a small hand that stuck out from under the mass of the tree. He looked away, turning to his friend instead. "Ive? You alright man?"

Ivero shook his head. "Someone did this. That tree couldn't have fallen on it's own." He took in a shuddering breath. He should have been watching the boy more closely. If he'd been watching more closely he could have saved him, he was fast enough, if only-

"Don't beat yourself up over this man. You know it wasn't your fault. You said it yourself someone did this. Now let's go find them and beat the shit out of them already."

The elf looked up at the demon. It had been a while since Nathan had been this angry.
"Yeah." Ivero stood and brushed the dirt off of his pants.

---

Haden smiled, "Cocky little rats aren't they? This should be fun."

Jaden crouched on the other side of the tree, placing a hand on the wood, but for other reasons. He blinked and his eyes went white, allowing him to survey the forest. And he didn't like what he saw.

"Shit." he hissed, lurching to his feet, eyes back to their original hues and wide with fear. "They're everywhere..."

He turned to the other two on the otherside of the trunk. "We have to go. I'm so sorry, but we have to go, now." He jumped over the tree, careful not to disturb the crushed body, moving to pull Ivero's arm. "I know, revenge and shit, but this revenge is gonna be harder than you think, so dwell on it and let it fester for now, cause we have to go!"

His voice was reaching a frantic pitch, not caring if the humans freaked out or not. The fear would let them run faster anyways.

"D'Michael!"

The boy's head snapped up, somewhat shocked by the feeling of the boy's death.

"Dee, they're toying with us, we have to keep moving!"

It took him a moment, but D'Michael finally nodded firmly, turning to Dylan. "We need to go." he said, waiting for the man's call.

---

"Aw, they got bored, I guess." Daemon pouted, though it was hiding the hints of a grin.

Dylan nodded and quickly ordered the rest of the group to get moving again, pulling up a couple people who had fallen to the ground from the shock of the boys sudden death.

Nathan crouched next to the little girl who was still crying at the tree. "We have to keep going." He gently placed a hand on her back. He could feel it rise and fall erratically as she sobbed. The girl didn't say a word, she didn't protest or struggle as the demon scooped her up and hurried to follow the group.

Ivero stayed a moment longer by the tree, looking out into the dense jungle. He wasn't generally one to hold grudges, but the death of the little boy weighed heavy in his mind. A deep breath of the humid air brought renewed focus and he turned to silently follow the others.

---

A smile grew on Haden's face as he watched the demon boy and the elf now. They had looked familiar, but he couldn't place where from. Until now.
He remembered one of Elton's reports on a world he had found with an interesting race of soothsayers who called themselves Oracles. The failure of the mission had been at the hands of a small group of children. The demon and elf had been there. Of course Haden had never laid eyes on the boys himself, but Elton's reports were thorough enough to make their faces recognizable.
The man wondered how to two would fair against such forces as Daemon employed.

Jaden placed a hand on the small of D'Michael's back, pushing him along urgently.

D'Michael turned to him, eyes wide. "Boogeymen?"

"Yeah." Jaden affirmed, but keot his voice low.

"So we really gotta move."

---

Daemon sighed and reached below the panel, bringing up a glass-bottled Coke.

"Damn. Kinda hopping they'd stew a bit longer."

Dylan moved to walk next to Jaden. "Can you tell me what exactly is hunting us out there? It would be nice to know what to expect before we walk into it."

---

Haden sighed. "This is getting a bit boring."

Alder scoffed, "No kidding. You'd think an island notorious for dinosaurs would have a significantly larger population than the whole three we've seen so far."

Jaden set his mouth in a firm line and looked straight ahead.

"It's not very pretty. They're called Aud, but more commonly known as the Boogeymen. They're freaky as shit and nearly impossible to kill. Faster than anything you'd ever see, faster than a Wendigo or vampire or even you and me. They're just skin and bones, literally and they..."

He swallowed thickly, fear and something else creeping up on the back of his neck.

"They're just really scary, okay?"

---

"Ugh, I know, right? Though, a migratory heard is meant to stampede them in a couple of minutes."

He checked his watch, pursing his lips.

"Yep, same time every day."

Dylan nodded slowly, processing the information. "I believe the Watcher may have mentioned them to me before. Do you know the best way to fight them, or is this another one of those "run like hell" monsters?"

---

Haden chuckled, "Always an effective way to pick off the slower ones."

"There's a way, but it's nearly impossible for us, especially with all these people." Jadens' eyes glanced around frantically, trying to make out any of them in the trees.

"Really, I'd prefer running."

---

Daemon continued to watch his watch.

"A few more moments..."

Dylan nodded, "Run it is then."

Ivero turned suddenly, ears twitching, "Something's coming..."

---

Haden chuckled, "That elf boy has sharp ears. I'm amazed he didn't hear it sooner."

Alder smirked, "Might have saved 'em some trouble if he had."

"Run?" Jaden glanced to him, saw the nod, then nodded himself. "Okay. Run."

He turned to D'Michael, the little boy looking up at him with wide, expectant eyes. "Run," was all Jaden said, jerking his head in the direction that would take them away from the monsters.

D'Michael nodded, too. "Run!" he practically screamed, an inappropriate grin coming to his face as he turned to bolt into the trees. Jaden knew what he was doing, he was trying to get some mass panic into the people so the adrenaline would take them further than they could on just their own strengths. It was smart, but D'Michael seemed to enjoy it a bit too much.

Jaden nodded, again, to Dylan, before skipping once, and then falling into a sprint of his own, screaming "run!" just as desperately as D'Micheal had.

And that seemed to do it, as every human present jumped to their feet, fear apparent on their stricken faces, turning to run as quickly as they could after Jaden and D'Michael.

~=~

Daemon shook his head.

"Honestly, it disappoints me how easy it is to get humans to freak out in unison. Like buffalo." He pouted. "I need a cliff."

Jumping up in an instant Nathan and Ivero pulled up anyone who stumbled in the initial confused panic then followed after the others, Nathan scooping up the little girl.

Dylan paused a moment before running, making sure everyone else got well underway. Glancing back into the overgrowth behind them he turned and took off running, staying at the back to fend off anything that might be following.

---

Haden grinned at Dylan's noble attempts. "That's why I enjoy more well equip prey. It's harder to find their breaking point, but oh so much more enjoyable when you do."

D'Michael and Jaden took it upon themselves to lead the herd and keep them from running into anything prehistorically sinister, darting in and out of trees with practiced ease, leaping over roots and brush, keeping a vigilant eyes straight ahead.

Jaden blinked, eyes flashing white, and saw the little metal outpost he'd seen before, only a third of a mile ahead.

"Almost there!" he shouted to D'Michael over the wind rushing past their ears. The younger boy shouted back some sort of affirmation, before lunging up to grasp an overhead branch, and hung there, waiting for Dylan to catch up to inform the man.

~=~

"Yeah, but once you've found that breaking point, it's generally the same for everything else of that species..." Daemon grumbled, eyes on the screen, chewing at his thumb nail absentmindedly.

"Humans are oddly diverse..." He smirked. "Jack Bauer could handle much more than Paris Hilton, if you know what I mean."