(3rd PoV)

Woolf motioned for everyone to follow him as they left the church. The night had gone by slowly, and no one got a proper sleep. Especially sleeping on the hard wooden pews of Laff's church (Muffin confirmed that the floor wasn't much different, so they didn't try that either).

The half-blinded furry led the group through some woods and across a wooden bridge over the river. On the other side was a large stone and iron military base. The Quonset-style hangars shone in the sunlight above, and chain link fence surrounded the entire thing. Woolfster hit a button to the side of the main door, and it opened, revealing the rest of the base. For the most part, the ground was concrete, besides the grassy edges and a courtyard-type area towards the back. Barracks lined the right side, and the concrete led to the left as well. It could be assumed that there was a runaway and helipad that direction.

"Dino!" Woolf called out, "Where are you?"

At the sound of his name, the humanoid reptile peeked out from the main hangar. He looked up at the sun, and quickly darted back inside, retrieving a black cloak with a hood in one of his chests. After pulling the hood over his head, he raced back outside to the others.

"Hey," Dino said, "What happened last night, I saw smoke on the horizon!"

"The village was bombed or something during Meme and Wicktoria's wedding," Woolf said. "And- wait, why are you wearing that?"

"One, the cloak is none of your concern," Dino explained, "And two, since when was there a wedding last night?"

"Did you not get an invitation?" Meme said, confused. Dino just shrugged, and Meme sighed. "I thought we told everybody. Shoot, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Doesn't look like I missed too many happy moments anyway," Dino said.

Dino scanned his eyes over the group, looking to make sure no one had any injuries. He saw that Woolfster had a blind eye, but he didn't smell any blood or see any injured people, so he was relieved of that.

Until he realized that someone was missing.

"Guys, where's Blaza?" Dino questioned.

Silence. No one uttered a word.

Dino cleared his throat. "Where. Is. Blaza? Do I need to ask again?"

Tbh scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. Socks looked down, and Dino could see tears welling at the corners of his eyes.

Dread came over Dino as he remembered. His gun had shot off target when the vampire had bitten him.

No. No, he couldn't be. There's no way.

"Oh god, don't tell me he's..."

Laff sighed. "Someone shot him."

"W-what?"

"A bullet came out of nowhere and hit him square in the chest. Don't know if it was intentional or not, but either way... I'm sorry."

No.

No.

Dino's breathing became heavier. No, he couldn't have shot him. There was no way the bullet hit so perfectly as to kill him. He was hardly aiming anywhere near him!

"Dino? You good?" Tbh said. He walked up to him and tried to put his crab claw hand on Dino's shoulder, but Dino pulled away quickly. Tears welled up in his eyes.

Suddenly, he turned and darted in the other direction, towards a barrack near the courtyard area.

"Dino!" Tbh called, but Woolf put a hand on the crab man's shoulder.

"He wants to be left alone," Woolf said. Tbh sighed, and nodded.

But Dino's reaction got Socks thinking. Sure, he and Blaza were close friends, but Dino's never really been shaken by this kind of stuff. Even with close friends.

And he wasn't at the wedding either.

Could he have shot Blaza?

"I'm gonna go talk to him," Socks said. Joocie tried to hold him back, but Socks pulled away and ran to the barrack Dino was hiding in.

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When Socks got there, he quickly knocked on the door to make sure Dino was in there.

"Dino? Can I... talk to you."

"Get the frick out of here, Socks."

Dino's harsh growl surprised Socks, but at the same time didn't. Dino may be a friend, but he's not really the friendly type.

"I'm coming in anyways."

Socks got no reply as he opened the oak wood door. Dino was sitting on a bunk in the corner, his head on his knees, his tail wrapped around his legs. The cloak he had been wearing was now covering the window next to him, blocking the sunlight from outside.

"Dino, I know you two were close, but you never get like this about death. I'm not accusing you of anything, I'm just saying," Socks said.

Dino turned to look at Socks with a cold glare, his green eyes sparked with aggression.

"I said. Get. Out," Dino growled.

"I'm not leaving until you give me answers," Socks said.

"Answers about what?!" Dino said, "I wasn't even at the wedding!"

"That's what I'm questioning," Socks replied.

Dino's eyes seem to flash with fear for a split second.

"So you do know something?"

"Socks, listen to me-"

"Was it you?"

Dino looked away uncomfortably.

"I think."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means yes, I shot him, but-"

"So you did."

"If you would listen to the words coming out of my mouth-"

"YOU KILLED HIM, DIDN'T YOU?!"

"SOCKS, JUST LISTEN TO ME!"

"NO! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE AGAIN!"

Socks stormed out of the room, slamming the door so hard behind him that the knob came off with it. He simply tossed the knob aside as he ran from the barrack, tears in his eyes as he bolted across the base grounds. The others noticed, and Meme volunteered to go after him.

Meme caught up with him in the main hangar, where Socks was sitting with his back against the wall and his head in his knees.

"Socks, are you okay?" Meme asked, sitting next to the upset astronaut.

Socks sniffled. "I-I don't wanna talk about it."

"It's okay, you can tell me," Meme said.

Socks remained silent for a minute before saying,

"It was Dino."

"What was Dino?" Meme asked.

Socks looked up at Meme. "Dino shot Blaza."

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[Small Time Skip]

Dino looked up from where he sat on the bunk when he heard someone knock on the door.

"Shoot, the knob's off," Someone said from outside the door. It sounded like Laff.

"It's over here!" Someone else said. It was Oof.

Dino bolted upright, grabbing his cloak from the window. Socks most likely told them what he had heard. Which was only half the truth.

How was he gonna get out? The furry looked at the sunlit window, and noted that as a last resort. Dino didn't think that the cloak would stay on him if he attempted to fly through the window as a bat.

Dino looked around the room for any kind of weapon until he picked up his sword from the corner. The clear, light blue blade shone purple with enchantment. Courtesy of Woolfster, Dino recalled.

Finally, someone busted down the door. It was Laff with his gravity gun, the Ascender. Oof and Tbh stood behind him.

Dino didn't have time to react when Laff suddenly pointed the beam at him. The reptile found himself being lifted into the air, unable to move.

"Sorry mate," Laff said, "But you'se are going to jail for a long time."

"Wait, Laff, listen to me!" Dino said.

"And why should I? You'se are nothing but a sick murderer," Laff said.

"No, please, hear me out!" Dino said. But Laff was already taking him out the door.

Suddenly, Dino realized that his cloak was still in the room. He had dropped it when Laff had picked him up. In this realization, he struggled to break free from the Ascender's beam, but was stuck in its power.

And as the sunlight of outside touched his skin, Dino blacked out as pain enveloped him.

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As Laff brought Dino into the sun, the dinosaur suddenly began screeching at the top of his lungs. Out of surprise, Laff let off the trigger, letting Dino fall to the ground. He continued to screech, and it l looked like there was... smoke? Coming off of his scales. It was like they were melting.

Dino looked up at Laff, Oof, and Tbh. His eyes had changed from their usual bright green to a deep blood red, sparked with bloodthirst.

Before any of them had any time to react, Dino lunged at the three. He ended up landing on Oof, who yelped in surprise as the furry bit deep into his neck. Laff attempted to pull Dino off with the Ascender.

But he accidentally dropped the device on the ground, and it broke into two pieces.

Tbh tried to pull the reptile off of Oof, but he was too strong.

Finally, Dino pulled away as he regained control of what he was doing. His tail tip entered the sunlight, and jumped back to the shade as he hissed in pain.

He looked down at Oof, scarily pale and hardly breathing.

He looked at Laff and the others.

He bolted back into the barrack, snatched his cloak, threw it on, and raced out the door in the direction of the prison.

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[2 Player Kilkstreak!]

1554 words