Lillie's group did not make their presence known immediately. Experts in the arts of stealth and qinggong [1], not even a single crunch of the moist soil under their soles created a sound.
Each pair silently maneuvered behind separate tree trunks while the fifth wheel—Death—was on solo. Cautiously, they peered their eyes towards the cause of the faint cry.
Ahead, was a girl lying vulnerably supine on a tree's roots. Her face was sickly pale as if blood was sucked out of her.
She was sweating profusely, yet her body was quivering from chills.
Her eyes and teeth were clenched shut, letting out pained moans ever so often, thinking that it would help palliate the antagonizing pain she was suffering from.
Lillie, no longer worried she'd be seen, poked her head out completely to take a closer look.
On the girl's right foot were two punctured holes seeping out blood and a strange, yellow substance.