The monster clambered on all fours on top of some rubble. He could see the sky and that it could only be early hours... a bright clear start. But it and the sound of the rushing waves on the shore soothed his nerves. The cool breeze was a natural, fruity scent, unlike the sterile confinement of the mysterious building. In the trees birds had gathered from roost and they were chirping and squabbling. The change of scene had taken away the stress of recent events.

He wondered where the other monsters had gone. There wasn't much for them to have disappeared to. He wondered about those strange powers they were using. He had only caught a glimpse of them, being too afraid to stick around he'd spent most of his time behind a machine.

'Aren't you gonna look for them?'

Closed eyes, the monster shook his huge mug. He didn't even know who he was shaking his head too, but was too confused to care at the moment. But then he stopped his calm swaying sharp, wide eyed. He looked around. Trees, some shattered rocks... blood. The scent hit him as the wind began to pick up. But he could smell something else amongst the bitterness of the dead bodies.

'They're around, you know...'

"I know." It didn't quite come out as he'd expected... more like some primal gurgling and grunts. He wasn't even too sure how humans spoke any more, or whether he was ever able to use humanspeak in the first place.

'They're right there.'

He turned around to see a singed landscape. The smoke from the ground obscured his view, some tropical plants had been flattened out from the blast and the monster wondered if it had been the same explosion that shattered some of the building. He didn't move from the spot, but watched carefully from a distance.

Smoke softly billowed, but in the gaps he made out one single creature. All he could see at first was fur... the smoke kept getting in the way. But behind the next cloud a pair of eyes met his. His heart began to quicken again. He saw something glisten above those eyes... some kind of gem? It really was one of the creatures.