The Hunter Infected

I've had a running thing with my Growing Pandemic, where I wanted a Vampire-Type, Ghost-Type, Undead-Type(Zombie), and a Werebeast-Type infected. This was mostly to satisfy a set of guidelines I set out for myself when I first created my world, and started building it.

Hunter Infected fulfills the werebeast-type of infected.

When I first developed the Hunter, the idea was Hunter Infected start out normal and over-time gradually become more beastial as their lust goes unsatiated. I wanted them to be violent, primitive, and unforgiving creatures that didn't care about anything other then feeding that need to hunt uninfected, and then turn them.

In my first iteration of them, I had planned for the Hunter Infected to squat like beasts, be over muscled, their eyes a deep red, and show various scars related to their violent turning into one of the Hunters... but I was never certain about much of the other details surrounding them.

I have since developed my ideas further, and I have more to share on the topic:

Cycles

Werebeasts of legends are cyclic creatures. Their transformation relying heavily on the rise and fall of the heavenly bodies. In the case of the Hunter Infected, their transformation is based on an internal infected clock. After first satiating their need to spread the pandemic (through any means necessary),  their clock resets to zero and they go through a grace period (undefined at this time) where they appear as uninfected do, albeit scarred and ragged. Some may even be completely oblivious or in denial of being one of the infected.

As time progresses forward, they will find their lust and needs increasing gradually, with certain events possibly increasing that need faster. Situations like where they masturbate, or entangled in intimate or arousing predicaments, but with no actual fulfillment of the "deed" of spreading their ailment.

When their needs reach a certain point, they start to display their werebeast form. Sometimes it's gradual (a change here or there), othertimes it's explosive (all at once). At the point of full transformation, they go into a primal rage, and go on the hunt for a victim.

Nature of the Hunt

Hunter Infected, when they pick a victim, hyper focus on their target. Their eyes will turn red when they spot a victim, and visually mark them. From that point onward, that individual will be the sole target of that Hunter Infected. Even should that individual turn into an infected between, the Hunter Infected will still target them, and satiate their lust with them.

That is the fixation that the Hunter Infected have with their Prey, and nothing will stop them from getting that sweet release.

Which Werebeast will I become?

As a Hunter Infected, there are 2-types of strains, Alpha and Beta. Alpha strains are not necessarily a reference to some form of domination, it's more a reference to the individual who is the "source" of a particular Werebeast.

Typically alpha Hunters form when they are the first of their kind created by the Hunter Strain of the Pandemic. Alternatively more alpha's are created when a Hunter Infected infects the same species as them. So a wolf on wolf would still result in a wolf.

The beta Hunters are a result of when they are not the first of their kind, and it's a different species they are infected by. So for this example, lets say a Shark is the Hunter Infected, and they infect a Coyote with the Hunter strain. The coyote will then become a Were-Shark, transforming into the shark species of the alpha. This marks them as a beta Hunter. Should the coyote then infect another uninfected, they too would be a Were-Shark, because they are passing on the beta strain, which is tagged to a Shark alpha.

In less words, Shark alpha bites coyote, coyote becomes Shark. Coyote will proceed to make more sharks, because he's not the alpha.

Do Hunter's Hunt in Packs?

Not exclusively, sometimes they will if work together if they target the same target, and share the spoils of that hunt.

What does "By Any Means Necessary" mean?

That Hunter Infected are not above using violent means to make their hunt easier, and with that said the longer a pursuit goes on, the more enraged and violent a Hunter Infected becomes from being denied. 

The more scarred and ragged a Hunter Infected is, usually is an indication of how difficult a pursuit they gave their maker. Each mark a sort of... reminder to the insult in denying the gift of infection.

How violent can a Hunter Infected be?

I'll let this be a "Choose your Fantasy" sort of scenario. It's whatever you can imagine.

What ways can a Hunter Infected transmit their Strain?

Similar to most infected the common way is sex. Their saliva is pretty potent, so they will often times bite their victims. Their nails are also coated in a fine film that also transmits their strain readily.

How do "prey" species like Deer or Rabbits work in this scheme?

Have you never watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail? If there is a will there is a way.