Chapter 3.

The group continued walking. They all headed east from where they found the body, back toward the campsite. 

Reaching the clearance, Una stopped in her tracks before looking around her. "Do we head North?".

"We could see what's there. We'd easily return to the clearance," Tim voiced, stepping closer to Una.

Within a second's worth of thought, Una had decided. She began her way forward. North-ward. "Follow me," she voiced.

With Valerie at the back of the group, she gazed back at what lay behind her. She felt like someone was watching her, observing every move she made. 

Seconds later, they returned in the layers and layers of leaves and branches. Some more meters forward, they've reached farther than whoever before them investigated. And they continued walking ahead.

Not long passed before they reached another pathway.

"Are we going a bit too far?" Luke asked, his eyes looking Una's way.

"We'll stop in a little bit," she responded. "I have a feeling in my stomach that there's something here, nearby.".

For the first time since they arrived at the crime scene, they heard the cry of a bird from up above. They all looked toward the tall branches of the trees that towered over them all, but they couldn't pinpoint where the cry came from.

The feeling Valerie felt that someone was there, behind her. It did not desist.

They continued walking as branches and twigs crackled beneath their feet. Often, Valerie felt a buzz creeping down her spine from all the sounds made.

She frequently turned around before looking ahead of her to ensure she kept up with her group.

It wasn't until she heard a crackle behind her that her heart dropped to her feet. "Who's there??" she let her voice out as she swung back, pointing her gun up. She caught the attention of the rest of the group.

"Simmons?" Una began. "What happened??".

Valerie couldn't form a sentence, her heart was beating against her chest as she looked left and right. There was nothing there. 'I could have sworn I heard something behind me...'.

"Valerie??" Una called out once more, taking hold of Valerie's left shoulder. "Valerie, is everything okay?".

Valerie cleared her throat before speaking up. "I-... I thought I heard something.".

"Should we make our way back now?" Tim asked.

With them all standing in place, another crackle of a twig sounded in the air. It made them all turn around.

Then, another cry of the birds was heard. 

Looking up above them, they all saw birds spinning in a circle. 

Slowly, more and more birds joined, making the circle bigger and thicker. Their cries never seemed to stop, they only grew louder before a few birds flew to the middle and plummeted their way downward. The rest followed their lead.

"What the fuck??" Tim muttered under his breath.

It wasn't until a few seconds later that they realised the birds had a plan to attack them. However, it was too late. With them flying through the trees, their aim was spot on as they got a hit on Una and Tim.

Shouts of help echoed through the woods as Luke and Valerie got out of the cloud of the fowl. They were still an aim, but with each shooting the attackers, slowly, the birds dropped down dead, one by one.

It took each teammate a few bullets to down all the birds. And once they did, once they looked at each other, they found Una and Tim with scratches on their faces.

"Are you okay?..." Valerie gulped, moving closer to both Tim and Una.

"We need to get the fuck out of here..." Una spoke out as she tended to her wounds with her fingers, hissing at the burning. She picked up her radio device, but as she tried to call into the station, all that was heard was static. "Shit..." she muttered out. "My radio..." she started, looking at Tim. "It stopped working.".

Tim had his. However, it has been broken for a while now. Repairs were due by the end of the week. "Shit. Mine is gone too... looks like we've gone blind...". Keeping his eyes on Una, he then added, "We have to back.".

The group didn't have time to make a step ahead when a growl stopped them. It came from within the shrubs that lay behind them.

Luke looked to his left and there, his gaze was met by the eyes of a dog. Its mouth was salivating as its nose flared with anger. It wasn't until the dog took a step closer that he realised it was no ordinary creature. Scars patterned its face and its eyes were cloudy, almost white. It looked... dead. 

"What... what is that??". Luke pointed at the mammal ahead.

Behind it came into view two more pairs of eyes, on each side of the dog that was already in front of them. That was when they realised they had to run.

---

Back at the campsite, the backup force had arrived but they found that the Alpha Team was nowhere to be seen.

"We don't see anyone at the crime scene," one of the officers reported back.

Back at the station in Artull, Jefferson was again in charge of the communication. She looked toward her Chief. "They aren't at the crime scene...".

His eyes widened ever so slightly. "Where are they then??? They haven't contacted us since our last transmission...".

"I don't know, sir," Jefferson responded. She swallowed hard before contacting the officer again. "Beta Team, do you copy?".

"Keller, copy," the officer's voice boomed seconds later.

"Keep in close contact with us. We've lost the Alpha Team completely. It seems like they are going blind," she responded.

"Alright, copy.".

Back at the crime scene, the Beta Team consisted of 5 people. 4 officers and 1 lieutenant. "Where do we go from here?" Officer Keller asked.

"How about we split up?" Officer Jones suggested. However, before her suggestion received further input, a loud yell ripped through the air. "Help!". It was a familiar voice, Jones thought. Seconds passed before gunshots were heard. Alpha Team.

No words had to be said, the team immediately ran toward the shouting.

The screams and the shots from guns were constantly heard, they disrupted what was left of the mere wildlife around them, causing the birds to fly into the sky. 

However, a little after they initiated their run, they were stopped by a humanoid figure, standing. It didn't move. Its head was tilted to one side.

"Hello? Who are you?... Why are you here?..." Jones shouted, pointing her gun up. However, there was no response.

Seconds later, the shots stopped as the screams became mute. Jones looked around herself before looking toward her team.

Their Lietuenant cleared her throat before speaking up. "Charlson and Jones, you come with me, we're going to find the Alpha Team. Keller and Harford, you two go and see what's the person doing here.".

"Yes, Lieutenant," Keller responded.

With that, they let the plan go into motion. With Kacey, the Lieutenant, Charlson and Jones on their way through the woods, Keller and Harford approached the standing figure.

A few more shots echoed through the air the further that Kacey, Charlson and Jones walked from Keller and Harford. An indication that they were going in the right direction.

Screams again ensued, and another voice boomed through the tense air. "Help!... Help! Una! Tim!!".

The three widened their eyes at the familiarity of the voice. Luke.

"Luke!!" Charlson yelled. "Luke! Where are you?? Una? Tim??".

"We're here!!" The familiar voice of Valerie sounded through the frenzy of shots. Soon enough, growls were heard too. 

Out of nowhere, a dog jumped from the bushes, attacking Jones. She fell to the ground before wrestling the dog away from her face. "Fucking hell!! Get this thing off of me!".

Immediately, Charlson pulled a gun before pulling the trigger. A single shot to the head was all it took for the dog to fall limp beside Jones.

"Fucking hell..." she let out again under her breath as Kacey helped her up. 

"Are you alright???".

She nodded.

"Gemma??" Valerie called out Jones's name as she stumbled out of the bushes with her gun still in her hands.

"Val???".

The two hugged each other. 

"We need your help, the dogs are everywhere... We found Radley not too far away...". Following Valerie, there came Tim, Una and Luke, with Luke around Una's all the while Tim tried to protect them with his gun pointed up.

"Where have you guys been????" Kacey interrogated, seeing that the Alpha Team was alive and well. However, she noted the scratches on Una's and Tim's faces.

Just as they were about to formulate a response, another scream was heard. "H-holy fuck!!". Keller, both Keller and Harford were in trouble.

And only then did it occur to Kacey. They both were alone with the person they found. 

The now combined two teams, Alpha and Beta, began running in the direction from where Kacey, Jones and Charlson came from.

"James!! James, where are you??" Kacey called out for Harford.

Seconds later, they found him. He stood still and had his gaze down on the ground. Following where his look led, they saw two dead bodies there. One was Keller's and the other was an unidentified individual. "I- I tried to save him..." Harford began.

It was obvious what caused Keller's death. A bite wound to the neck.

But despite that, Kacey still asked, "What happened, James?".

"It looked like an animalistic attack... We stayed close to the person and... all of a sudden, it began to walk our way. We tried to warn it, we did. We wanted to shoot it, but before Keller could pull the trigger... It killed him.". Melancholy was all too present in James's voice. After all, it was his comrade that he saw die right before his eyes.

Before anyone could react, a yelp was heard behind them with another officer on the ground. Una. 

Valerie turned around and saw more and more people approach them. They walked a slow, menacing stride. 

"Where the fuck are they all coming from???" Jones let out, pointing her gun up and shooting away.

It wasn't long before the dogs returned. 

And with that, all hell broke loose.