4. Curiosity Killed The Cat

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(TW: Character Death)

Summary: Death meets Serenity at every corner, and it's not her fault... It's the strangers' fault.

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The woman and the man were suspicious and Serenity did not, in fact, like them. At all. She growled when Kenji tried to coax her out of the bushes, so instead, he left her there and went to the two strangers with his friends, smiling happily. Serenity sped up a tree and watched from that spot, eyes narrowed. She did not trust these people. They were dangerous, she could tell. And yet she could not say this to the others. Perhaps if Ben had been with them...

But Ben was at camp and he had decided to stay with Bumpy in case of an emergency, laying low as a secret weapon. Serenity liked his plan, and she had wanted to stay with her sisters, but curiosity had pulled her from the nest to go with the Campers.

There was one more person with the two strangers, and he seemed different from them. He didn't give sweet, fake smiles to the kids and he didn't try to appeal to them in any way, shape, or form. He was just... stoic. Serenity didn't mind him, but she wasn't going to reveal herself to him.

She watched from her tree the whole day as the people tried to appeal to the kids and the kids bought it, except for Brooklynn. She didn't trust these people either. Serenity liked her spirit.

When evening fell, Serenity crept into the camp, the strangers distracted by the kids and the fire. She snuck into the hut that was forbidden for the kids and snooped around, sniffing something awfully delicious. She pulled a cloth from a stand and was greeted by the severed head of a Sinoceratops. She scrunched her nose and leaned closer to sniff it.

Dead two days... Perhaps three.

These people had been here for a little while, she could tell. They were not to be trusted, and she could tell as well. Who would take the head of an animal and not something one could eat? Hunting for sport was stupid and wasteful. Serenity growled.

A hand snatched her arm and she immediately roared, spinning around to claw at the stranger with her long nails. She caught him over the eye and he cried out in pain, but kept a firm grip on her arm, dragging her out of the tent. The commotion had caused the woman and the man to look at them and the kids had come to see as well.

The man threw her to the ground and pointed a crackling stick at her, face set on thunder. He looked at the kids with an accusatory glare and they all nervously looked back.

"Who the Hell is this filthy mongrel?" the woman snarled, disgusted by Serenity's appearance.

"That's a kid, Tiff," the man replied.

"She was in my tent," the other man responded.

"Don't harm her," Darius spoke up. "She didn't mean to. She's..."

The man pointing the stick at her looked at Darius with a dangerous glance and he shut up, wisely so. Serenity hissed at the man and grabbed hold of the stick, away from the crackly end. The man furrowed his brow as he had to use strength to keep it there. Serenity was pretty strong for a girl her size. She snarled at him and crouched, ready to attack him.

"Serenity, no," Brooklynn said, taking a step toward her.

"What are you doing?" the woman growled. "Just tase the damn thing already, Hap!" she called.

The man looked apprehensive. The other man looked eager. Serenity snarled at the eager looking one and he took a hesitant step back. Darius placed himself in between her and him and spread out his arms.

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