I returned to my body the instant the fox-frog-monster relented control. Like before at the textile factory I was still in the beast's hulking form, and needed to change back.

The beast had collapsed sideways on the forest floor, and it was there I opened my eyes to see Xandra. She was standing outside of my arm's reach, panting, one eye pinched shut, and a line of blood leaking from the corner of her mouth.

"B?" she said, "You in there?"

I let out a bestial grumble that was supposed to be, "Yes."

"Can you change back?" said Xandra.

She looked around the forest as if Pied Piper Task Force officers might come charging into view at any moment.

"We need to go," said Xandra.

It took a great deal of effort to climb onto my hind legs. In doing so, Xandra seemed to shrink in front of me. To not scare her, I chose to remain crouched, using my long arms to support the rest of my weight.

Change me back, I thought, willing the power to undo all of the changes.

The instant I did this however my body writhed and more of the nasty white lumps sprouted along my hulking right forearm.

Xandra flinched, raising her arms to protect herself.

I grumbled, trying to say, "It's still me."

There was a touch of intelligence to the grumbling noises I made, but none of what I said seemed to form coherent words.

Xandra dropped her arms, and sagged, tiredly. I wondered how much longer she could have fought the beast in the state she was in. Her stomach in particular looked burned, and raw.

I can't change back yet, I thought, the eldritch-change will happen even more if I keep pushing it.

"Can you change back right now?" said Xandra.

I shook my head from side-to-side in a 'no' gesture.

"Okay," said Xandra, "Can you follow me, at least?"

I nodded 'yes'.

"Then we better go," she said, "Come on."

Xandra turned about and started running through the forest back towards the lake. Although I had witnessed the beast moving around with its hulking body from behind its eyes for a good while already, I hadn't been in control of the body myself.

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I moved forward, and found I had to bound ahead as if I were a gorilla. Very quickly I found my hulking, bone-armoured form slamming shoulder first into trees which were difficult to avoid.

We cleared the forest and returned to the lake. There, at the bank, was Azad. He must have seen the less guarded way Xandra was running ahead because he yelled out, "Xandra! Behind you!"

I came to a hard stop at the forest treeline, instinctively raising a hand to use one of the trees to help stop my momentum. My powerful fingers pinched into the hard bark, splintering it.

Xandra came to a stop a few paces away from Azad.

"It's okay," said Xandra, "Burgess is in control of the beast."

I could see, though he and Xandra were a good distance away, that Azad was looking over to me warily.

"Why doesn't he change back?" said Azad.

"I don't think he can right now," said Xandra, "I think the beast that took over stopped fighting because it didn't want to push its own form into something even worse than it already was. I think I saw Burgess trying to change back but then the beast started changing even more."

"So what?" said Azad, astonished, "He's just stuck like this?"

"I think so," said Xandra, "Maybe he'll be able to undo it soon. But we can't risk staying around here any longer, someone might have seen us."

"Okay," said Azad, "Then we should head back to the den, pick up the supplies, and go on our way? I know a good place we can go."

"Okay," said Xandra, looking somewhat relieved to not have to take on the burden of what to do on her shoulders alone.

Xandra turned back to me and, with her better left arm, waved for me to follow them. Out of the three of us it was Azad that was lagging behind the most. I was able to cover a good distance with my hulking form, and Xandra, though injured, was able to spring ahead after she had regained some of her stamina and healed herself more. Azad, still worn out from his severe injuries, jogged in a limping motion, doing his best to keep up. I slowed my pace a little to make sure he was only a few meters behind me. I understood that if the Pied Piper Task Force were to suddenly appear, it would likely be up to me out of the three of us to take them on. For that reason, and perhaps because Azad and Xandra seemed so much smaller in comparison to me, I felt very responsible for their safety. Which, in itself, was laughable, since my own loss of control to the beast within me had put their lives in mortal danger twice over.

We made it back to the den. I remained outside whilst Xandra and Azad rushed in and took the bulk of the supplies.

Azad gave me a wide berth on the way in, but on the way out he held the blue basket full of grocery items out to me.

"Take this," he said.

I hesitated. As much as I wanted to be of help I kind of needed to use all four limbs to move efficiently; holding the blue basket in one hand would get in the way of that.

"C'mon, take it," said Azad, in an unsettled tone.

I raised my right arm and raised a long, slightly eldritch looking finger for him to hold on. I examined the den and found what I was looking for.

THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THWAP!

I had moved towards the den and then pulled away the blanket which covered the entrance. My long fingers and huge arms were surprisingly dextrous, allowing me to take the blue basket from Azad and to bundle it up in the blanket, which I then held with my teeth.

"Good thinking," said Azad.

Xandra came running out of the den.

"There are people coming," she said, "We have to go!"

"Okay," said Azad, "Follow me!"

Azad broke into a limping jog as if to prove he wasn't going to let his injuries get the better of him.

Xandra and I followed after Azad, leaving the den behind.

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