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Aiden looked at Sarah from the depth of the forest. He smiled softly, she looked ferocious and feral, her bright red hair pulled back and ash rubbed into it and onto her face and arms. Her bright green eyes were watchful. She was still and had pulled herself into the large bush and had become nearly invisible. He was so proud of her. She was smart and brave and she had really stepped up to the plate. He felt so lucky to have her and grateful that she was safe with him. He’d make sure she never had to fear anything from Connor and the others.
He slipped slowly farther into the woods, and lost sight of Sarah, he moved his way toward Connor’s camp. He moved so slow as not to disturb a leaf. He remembered back to his training and the ghillie suit, moving even slower than a sloth. Each movement slow and exaggerated, breathing slowed. His senses were acute now, listening for anything, a breath, a sigh, anything. It took him over an hour to move one hundred feet, and he kept going, and in two hours, he could detect the sound of the camp ahead. The light was fading and the forest around him began to settle. His eyes moved around, he saw nothing moving in the woods.
He scanned and then moved to the next tree or bush. Around him the forest was quieting, he could tell by the dull shadows that dusk was coming. He paused and his eyes caught movement and he froze and felt the leap of his heart. He waited, seeing nothing. He would not move again until he’d located the cause of the movement that he’d detected.
It was nearly ten minutes when he detected the movement once more, and his eyes widened in shock, it was Grayson, and the man looked even more wild than he’d seen before. He was nearly naked, and his body filthy. Yet Aiden could tell the man was eating, he still held weight on him. His black eyes bored into Aiden, and Aiden hoped that the man wouldn’t give him away.
Grayson didn’t move for a long time and the shadows deepened. Aiden blinked and Grayson had disappeared, vanishing into the depths of the forest. The hair rose on Aiden’s arm, Grayson had gone mad, he was sure. He’d become some wild thing, living in the woods alone, on the periphery of humanity.
His ears detected movement and he turned his head slowly and saw the shadowed form of Leo. Leo was moving slowly through the forest, and then he saw Gabe and then Sarah, bringing up the rear. They were slowly moving into position. He turned and began to move toward the camp, he could now see the glow of a large fire, it was roughly three hundred feet ahead. He could also smell the stench of putrefaction, it would seem that Connor had dumped the refuse of his murders in the nearby woods.
As he drew closer, the smell became more prevalent as was the low buzzing of flies. He felt the heavy body of several flies’ bump into his face, it was all he could do, not to swat at them. He knew they carried grizzly things on their many legs. He hoped to god he didn’t run into a viper while moving blindly through the woods. He hoped that Sarah was careful as well.
He waited as the others began to catch up, staying roughly thirty feet behind him. He could now see the men standing around, he couldn’t hear them, but could clearly see them in the fire. His eyes looked around the area, but he could not yet see Diana. Joey and Matt were standing together talking, their heads close. Luke was off to one side, looking at the ground, his arms crossed over his chest.
Aiden drew up behind a stand of pines, watching, he was about twenty feet away and could see them clearly now. He saw bones, human bones laying near the fire. There was something over coals, it looked like part of a leg, perhaps part of a thigh. He tried to keep his rage in check, he hoped that it wasn’t Diana, but he didn’t see her.
Once more his eyes scanned around, the fire was a good size and he couldn’t see behind it. Connor was on the other side, he was looking down, but Aiden didn’t know what he was looking at. He then let out a slow breath when Connor started speaking, and Aiden knew he was talking to someone, and he was sure it was Diana. He couldn’t see her, but he could see all the men.
Then his eyes caught movement near the edge of the trees. It was Grayson, his eyes wild and his mouth open and his teeth bared in an insane silent scream, he moved with surprising speed and silence, a long sharp stick in his hand. He came up behind Luke, who hadn’t heard his approach and Aiden watched as Grayson’s left hand came around the young man’s head and clamped down on his mouth as his right hand drove the sharp stick up into the base of Luke’s skull. Aiden watched Luke’s body dance in its death throws and then sagged against Grayson.
No one had noticed, not a sound had come from
