The forest had gone still again.
Not the calm kind of stillness, but the heavy, unnatural silence that presses down on your lungs — as if the air itself didn't want to make a sound.
Their small campfire hissed faintly, struggling to stay alive against the damp wind.
Kael crouched beside it, feeding a dry twig into the flame while his eyes scanned the darkness beyond. He wasn't looking at anything in particular — he just couldn't stop looking.
Around him, the others worked in silence.
Lira sat with her back to a tree, pale light from her tablet reflecting in her eyes as data scrolled rapidly. Taro was patching the cut across his arm — shallow, but still bleeding more than it should've. Rin stood near the edge of the clearing, blade resting against his shoulder, watching the fog roll through the trees.
"Any signal from Alpha or base yet?" Kael asked finally, breaking the silence.
Lira didn't look up.
"No voice comms. But I'm still picking up faint motion signatures. Three… maybe four. Stationary."
"Alive?" Taro asked.
She hesitated. "Could be. Could also be Wendigos feeding."
That killed the brief spark of hope in the group.
Rin scoffed, turning away.
"If they're still out there, we can't just sit here waiting for orders. They need us."
"We don't even know what's left to save," Lira countered sharply. "We were told to recon, not to play heroes."
Taro nodded.
"Lira's right. Look around — our equipment's running low, and the comm's still jammed. If something wiped out Alpha, it'll do the same to us."
Rin's grip on his sword tightened.
"So what? We just walk away? Pretend we didn't see what we saw?"
Kael said nothing. He watched their faces — the tension building between duty and survival, pride and fear. He understood both sides. He felt both sides.
But there was something else gnawing at him — the thought that the flickering life signals might not be a trick of the scanners.
He stood up slowly, dusting his coat. The firelight caught the edge of his blade.
"We split up," he said quietly.
The others turned toward him.
"We cover more ground that way," Kael continued. "If those signals are survivors, we'll find them faster. If not… we'll know what we're dealing with."
"Splitting up?" Lira repeated, disbelief in her tone. "That's suicide."
"It's strategy," Kael replied evenly. "We're wasting time arguing. I'll take the east trail — toward the deeper pings. Rin, you handle perimeter clearance. Keep them off our backs. Lira, stay here and maintain contact — relay our vitals. Taro, you sweep the last known Alpha camp and check for wounded."
Rin smirked faintly.
"Always giving orders, huh? Fine. Just don't die first."
"Not planning to," Kael said with a small, grim smile.
Taro looked uneasy but nodded, adjusting his pack.
"Guess we're really doing this."
"We are," Kael said. "And remember — recon only. If it moves, report it before you fight it."
"That'll be a first for Rin," Lira muttered under her breath.
Rin shot her a glare, but didn't answer.
---
The forest loomed around them, vast and unending.
Each hunter checked their gear one last time — blades, comms, flares. Their breath fogged faintly in the cold. The fire between them sputtered, shrinking into glowing embers.
Kael took a long look at each of them. They were scared — he could see it even behind the masks of sarcasm and bravado. But there was pride too, and trust. The kind you only built through blood and exhaustion.
"If there's even one of them left," Kael said quietly, "we bring them home. That's what the Ash Unit stands for."
The group fell silent. Then Rin gave a small nod, tapping his blade against his shoulder.
"Then let's move before I change my mind."
They split wordlessly, disappearing one by one into the fog.
---
Kael took the east trail — a narrow, twisting path where the trees grew close and the light barely reached the ground.
His footsteps were soundless, his breathing steady. Every sense strained.
Somewhere ahead, he could hear faint dripping — like rain on stone, but there was no rain.
He checked his scanner. The faint signal blipped again, stronger now.
"Still active," he muttered. "Come on…"
Behind him, a whisper of wind brushed through the branches — soft, like a sigh.
Kael froze. Slowly, his hand drifted toward the hilt of his sword.
Nothing.
But the silence had changed.
It was no longer still — it was watching.
---
Elsewhere in the forest, Rin walked the ridge line, scanning the treeline for movement. His pace was slow, deliberate.
He found a trail of blood, dark against the snow, leading toward the western clearing.
He crouched, touched it with his glove, and frowned. Still warm.
"Fresh," he murmured. "Guess we're not alone after all."
He rose, drawing his blade. The reflection of his own breath fogged across the steel.
---
Back at camp, Lira adjusted her comm array, eyes flicking between the blinking dots on her screen. The static on Kael's line was faint, rhythmic — too even to be natural interference.
She leaned closer. The pattern almost sounded like… breathing.
---
Taro moved through the ruins of Alpha's last camp — tents torn apart, gear scattered across the mud.
He knelt beside a cracked helmet, brushing away frost to reveal the insignia: Alpha Unit.
Something moved under one of the collapsed tents — slow, wet, dragging.
Taro froze, reaching for his sword.
Then a faint, human whisper:
"H-help… me…"
He exhaled shakily and lifted the fabric.
What lay beneath was not human anymore.
---
Kael stepped deeper into the woods, every nerve alive.
The path ahead opened into a hollow surrounded by gnarled trees — the signal strongest here.
He raised his blade, eyes narrowing.
The ground was disturbed — footprints, claw marks, and something else: drag trails.
Then he saw it — a piece of fabric caught on a branch. Alpha insignia.
"So they were here…"
He turned slowly, scanning the tree line.
Dozens of faint silhouettes stood between the trunks — too still, too quiet.
Kael's breath misted.
"Rin…" he whispered into his comm, "we've got movement. Multiple hostiles."
Static answered.
"Rin? Lira? Taro?"
Nothing.
The forest seemed to exhale all at once — and the silhouettes began to move.