Jack was the first to smell it.
It was subtle, barely there, but he smelled it regardless. The unmistakeable iron stink of blood and bone marrow. It clung to the water. No waves, no birds, no horizon—just deep black lake that seemed to endlessly stretch downward, right in the middle of the forest. If he were a human, he wouldn’t have smelled it at all…but he wasn’t human.
“Tell me again,” Brian muttered behind his black hood that obscured his face, his voice flat but uneasy. “Why are we out here?” He turned his red stitched eyes toward the others.
Jack was crouched at the edge of the dock, his hand tightening on his knife. “Orders,” he said. “Something’s been killing out here. Operator wants eyes on it. If we can recruit it, even better.”
Tim gave a dry laugh, leaning against a railing. “Great. So we’re basically bait?”
“Relax,” Tobias said, sitting on a half-rotting log. His hood was pulled low, his teeth showing through a healed hole in his cheek. “We can handle anything.”
“Oddly optimistic of you, Toby darling.” Helen chimed in, his tone as nonchalant as it always was. He grinned when Tobias gave him a glare over his shoulder.
Jack scanned the lake again. The smell lingered and he knew, deep down, under that still water there would be bodies.
“I don’t like this.” He muttered.
Netwrck
