Her arm throbbed as she walked, echoing her footsteps, her heartbeat. With determination and a steadying breath, Demarco walked on despite it. The night was cool, clear and surprisingly bright. She wondered again how long she had slept. Had she missed work? Had she been gone long enough for her friends to start wondering what had happened to her? 
... and really, had it been a good idea to leave Lily's house? It occurred to her now that she didn't really know where she was. Moonwood Mill wasn't that big, but nothing around her was familiar. The abandoned and graffitied building and piles of old trash reminded her a more of the Harbor than the parts of Moonwood Mill she'd seen so far.
The pounding beat of music and the sound of voices drew her attention to a gathering around a bonfire. So far, asking for directions had gotten her attacked once and cared for once. Figuring that gave her about 50/50 odds, she headed for the fire.
"Hey guys," Demarco said, trying to sound more confident than she felt as she approached the fire. "Nice night..."
The group turned, fixing her with intense stares.
"You lost," the fair-haired woman's words sounded more like a threat than a question.
"Actually, I... hey, I know you," Demarco said, addressing the blue-haired woman in the center. "Rory, right? We met at the Caboose. You're a friend of Celene's."
Rory said nothing. Fixing her with an uncanny stare, Demarco got the strange impression the other woman was actually sniffing the air. 
"I actually did kinda get turned around," she continued. "Any chance you guys could point me toward my car?"
Without warning, Rory surged forward, literally snarling.
"What the hell?!" Demarco gasped, finding herself instinctively cowering before the other woman. "I'm going. I'm going!"
"No you're not, whelp," Rory growled, circling menacingly. "Get into that corner."
"Wait, wait!" Demarco panted, realizing she was being driven into the fenced off compound around the fire, the snarling woman and her gang moving between her and escape. "I don't want any trouble!"
"Then go where I tell you, whelp," Rory growled again.
"I'm going, I'm going," Demarco said.
"You sure about this, Rory?" asked the brown-haired man in a stocking cap.
"Can't you smell it?" Rory answered. "She's newly bitten... and the moon's rising. We can't let her wander off."
"I won't make any trouble," Demarco said.
"Yes, you will," Rory countered. "If we let you run off, you're going to hurt someone. You're bitten."
"Yeah, OK, yeah," Demarco said, desperately trying to get a handle on things. "I got bit... some big, hairy thing in the woods. What's the problem? Oh God, am I sick? Am I..."
The pain was so sudden, it took her breath away. Heat rushed through her body. Her skin felt too tight, as if it was no longer the right shape for her body.
"What's... happening... to... me!" Demarco groaned.
A scream tore at her throat... but what she heard was a wild howl.
-------------------
"OK... what the hell?!"
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