The Skin,We Shed

Chapter Six: The Whispering Stream

​The creek bed felt like a trench cut out of the earth's dark heart. Towering walls of damp stone and tangled roots rose up on either side, blocking out what little moonlight managed to pierce the forest canopy.

​As Leo picked his way carefully over slippery stones and wet gravel, a strange sound began to mingle with the wind. It wasn't the natural babble of running water or the rustle of leaves. It sounded like voices—dozens of them, murmuring all at once in a low, overlapping cadence.

​He paused, holding his breath.

​“...lost the trail... left the bus behind... where is the road...”

​The voices sounded scattered, echoing off the wet stone walls of the ravine. They sounded entirely human, yet they carried a strange, hollow flatness, as if the words were being repeated by someone who didn't actually understand what they meant.

​Leo pressed himself flat against the cold stone wall of the ravine, his eyes straining into the darkness ahead.

​Around a sharp bend in the creek, a faint, amber glow flickered against the fog. Moving slowly, keeping his footsteps as light as possible, Leo crept toward the corner and peeked around the mossy rock.

​A rusted, vintage oil drum sat in the middle of the dry creek bed, a small fire burning inside it with a sickly green-tinged flame. Gathered around the barrel were half a dozen figures.

​At a glance, they looked like normal hikers or travelers caught in the wilderness. But as Leo watched, a cold dread pooled in his stomach. One of the figures—a woman in a yellow raincoat—slowly reached up, grabbed her earlobe, and pulled. Her skin stretched like warm elastic before snapping back into place with a wet sound. Another figure sat completely rigid, staring straight ahead while its head twitched mechanically every few seconds.

​They weren't just hunting. They were gathering.

​And right in the center of the group, resting on a flat stone next to the fire, was a small, glowing digital device—his phone, which he must have dropped when he scrambled out the back of the bus.