Daniel knew something was different when they handed back the two blades.
They were the same ones.
The same A.R.E. he had trained with over the past few days lay on a metal table.
Side by side.
But this time no one had drawn lines on the floor.
There were no dummies.
No stopwatches.
Nor a voice waiting behind glass to tell him everything he had done wrong.
The technician slid the first towards him.
“Rodríguez.”
Daniel took it.
Then the second.
“Are they still restricted?”
“Yes.”
Daniel checked both grips.
“Then not much has changed.”
The technician looked up.
“Today you're leaving the complex with them.”
Daniel stopped moving his hands.
“Oh.”
The technician pointed at the blades.
“They're still training equipment. Outside the complex, you only use them if the person in charge of the outing authorises it or there's an immediate danger.”
“Understood.”
“And they come back to me in the same condition.”
Daniel looked at the edges.
“That doesn't just depend on me any more, does it?”
The technician held his gaze.
Daniel placed both blades in their holders.
“It was a question.”
“Didn't sound like one.”
Daniel left.
Melisa was waiting beside the vehicle.
U.A.O. uniform.
First-aid kit.
Radio.
Tools.
The A.R.E. module covered her left forearm.
Daniel approached.
“How long?”
Melisa looked at him.
“Twelve minutes.”
Daniel checked the time.
“I got here before you.”
“Seventeen.”
Daniel looked at his watch again.
“Don't tell anyone.”
“It's already on record.”
“Of course.”
A voice came from behind them.
“What's on record?”
Xenya.
Voltris uniform.
Two A.R.E. daggers at her waist.
Iskander appeared behind her.
Compact shield.
Sword.
Alyra brought up the rear with her long A.R.E. secured to her back.
Daniel pointed at Xenya.
“Nothing you need to know.”
“Then I want to know.”
“Daniel got here seventeen minutes early,” said Melisa.
Daniel looked at her.
“Traitor.”
Xenya smiled.
“Nervous?”
“Responsible.”
Iskander walked between them.
“Nervous.”
Daniel looked at his shield.
“You've already got that on.”
Iskander looked down.
“Prepared.”
Alyra opened the vehicle door.
“Call it whatever you like. We're still five people trying to hide the same thing.”
Xenya looked at her.
“Are you nervous?”
“Yes.”
Alyra climbed in.
Xenya stood looking at her for a moment.
Then followed her inside.
There were two more people inside.
The first was a woman in her thirties.
Operational uniform.
Not a training one.
On her chest:
AE-01 — AERIS
The second was a slightly older man.
Broader shoulders.
Ignis uniform.
IG-04 — IGNIS
Neither wore the word CANDIDATE.
The woman waited for everyone to sit down.
“Vega.”
She pointed to herself.
Then indicated the man.
“Serrano.”
Serrano raised two fingers.
“We're in charge of this outing.”
Xenya looked at their identification.
“Instructors?”
“Today,” Vega replied.
Serrano switched on a screen.
A map appeared.
Forest.
A minor road.
A facility.
“Monitoring station E-47.”
Vega zoomed in on the point.
“The A.E.E. maintains sensors in various areas to record environmental variations in Ether and anomalous activity.”
Another window.
“E-47 began transmitting intermittently in the early hours of this morning.”
Melisa leaned forward slightly.
“Last complete record?”
“05:42.”
“Ether variation?”
“Nothing outside the sector's normal margins.”
Iskander:
“Altered?”
Vega changed screens.
“No confirmed incidents in the past seventy-two hours.”
Xenya leaned back.
“So we're going to fix an aerial.”
Serrano:
“No.”
Xenya waited.
“You're going to accompany someone who knows how to fix it.”
The technician sitting at the front raised a hand without turning round.
Serrano continued.
“Your job is to learn the procedure for a real outing. Perimeter. Communications. Protecting technical personnel. Assessing the surroundings. Withdrawal.”
He looked at each of them in turn.
“This isn't a combat mission.”
His eyes lingered on Xenya for a moment.
“If everything goes as it should, you'll come back without using a single A.R.E.”
Xenya looked at her daggers.
“Then why are we carrying them?”
Serrano pointed at Melisa's first-aid kit.
“For the same reason she's carrying that.”
Xenya looked at the kit.
“We hope we won't need it.”
Xenya's expression changed slightly.
Vega closed the map.
“We deal with any threat beyond your training. If we give an order, you follow it.”
“Yes,” Iskander replied.
Alyra nodded.
So did Melisa.
Daniel:
“Understood.”
Xenya was last.
“Understood.”
The city gradually disappeared.
Buildings.
Industrial estates.
Roads.
Then trees.
The previous day's rain lingered among the leaves.
Daniel looked out of the window.
Xenya had been bouncing one leg for several minutes.
Iskander watched her.
“Stop.”
“What?”
“Your leg.”
Xenya stopped moving it.
A few seconds passed.
She started again.
Iskander decided to ignore her.
Daniel looked at Alyra.
She was watching the landscape.
“First outing?”
“Outside the complex, yes.”
“Doesn't look like it.”
Alyra turned towards him.
“I'm nervous.”
Daniel waited.
“That's it?”
“Yes.”
She turned back to the window.
“Being nervous doesn't change what I have to do.”
Daniel did not reply.
Serrano watched them from the front.
“Enjoy it.”
Daniel looked up.
“What?”
“The boredom.”
Serrano looked out of the window.
“The best outings are the ones you don't remember.”
The vehicle stopped beside a dirt track.
The station was about a kilometre away.
Vega got out first.
Serrano waited for the others to get out.
“Positions.”
He pointed.
“Vega at the front. I'll bring up the rear. Technician in the middle. Keep one another in sight.”
Iskander partly unfolded his shield.
Serrano looked at him.
“Not yet.”
Iskander folded it again.
“Understood.”
They entered the path.
Daniel breathed deeply.
Damp earth.
Wood.
Vegetation.
Xenya did the same.
“Smells good.”
Iskander:
“It's a forest.”
Xenya turned.
“Thank you.”
Alyra kept walking.
“Two minutes.”
Xenya looked at her.
“What?”
“It took you two minutes to start.”
Daniel smiled.
Vega raised a fist.
Everyone stopped.
The change was immediate.
Daniel listened.
Water somewhere in the distance.
Wind.
Birds.
Vega surveyed both sides of the path.
Then lowered her hand.
“Keep moving.”
Xenya waited a few metres.
“What did you hear?”
Vega answered without turning.
“Nothing that shouldn't be there.”
Xenya looked around.
This time she asked no further questions.
Station E-47 was small.
A metal structure.
Two sealed boxes.
An aerial.
Panels.
A low fence.
The technician set his rucksack beside the main panel.
Vega assigned positions.
Alyra and Iskander checked the perimeter.
Xenya remained on the northern side.
Daniel helped the technician.
Melisa watched the readings.
Twelve minutes passed.
Then eighteen.
Then twenty-three.
Nothing happened.
Daniel was holding a metal casing above his head.
“Like this?”
“Higher.”
Daniel raised his arms.
“Like this?”
“A little more.”
Daniel looked at him.
“I'm one metre seventy-six.”
The technician kept working.
“The station didn't design your genes.”
Daniel shook his head.
Melisa was watching a sequence of data.
“The secondary power supply drops here.”
The technician came over.
“Yes.”
“And comes back.”
“Yes.”
“But the main system stays active.”
The technician enlarged the record.
Melisa pointed at another interval.
“Here again.”
The man frowned.
“That's odd.”
Daniel lowered the casing slightly.
“Bad odd?”
Melisa:
“Don't-know-yet odd.”
The technician followed the line.
“Probably moisture in the secondary system.”
Melisa kept watching.
“Could it cause such regular intervals?”
The technician looked at her.
Then back at the screen.
“We'll check.”
Daniel raised the casing again.
Thirty-seven minutes later, a light turned green.
TRANSMISSION STABLE
The technician closed the box.
“Done.”
Xenya came over.
“Already?”
“Yes.”
Vega checked the time.
“Pack up.”
Daniel put down the casing.
Rolled his shoulders.
“First mission completed.”
Serrano looked at him.
Daniel raised a hand.
“We're not back in the vehicle yet.”
Serrano nodded.
“You're learning.”
The technician put away his tools.
Melisa secured the equipment.
Iskander checked his shield.
Alyra scanned the perimeter before moving.
Xenya stretched her arms.
“That was too easy.”
Serrano:
“Never say that.”
Xenya looked at him.
“Superstitious?”
“Experienced.”
Vega started back.
Alyra was the first to stop.
Daniel almost walked into her.
She raised a hand.
She was not looking at the trees.
She was looking at the ground.
Feathers.
Lots of them.
Scattered remains beside the path.
Blood on some leaves.
Serrano moved ahead.
Crouched.
Touched nothing.
Alyra studied the vegetation.
“They're not spread very far.”
Serrano looked up at her.
“No.”
Alyra pointed at two spots.
“If something had fought here, the ground would be more disturbed.”
Vega came over.
“Dragged?”
Serrano studied some marks.
“Probably.”
Xenya looked towards the forest.
“An Altered animal?”
“It could be an ordinary animal,” Vega replied.
Alyra kept looking.
“But we don't know.”
Vega nodded.
“Exactly.”
She activated the radio.
“Control, E-47 operational. Signs of recent predation on return route. No visual contact. Heading back.”
Static.
“Received.”
Serrano stood up.
“Close formation.”
Daniel looked at the feathers.
“Aren't we investigating?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because our mission was E-47.”
Xenya:
“But if there could be an Altered animal...”
Vega finished the sentence.
“We report it and a unit equipped for that comes back.”
She looked at the group.
“A mission doesn't change because you're curious.”
No one asked again.
It took Daniel a few minutes to notice.
He did not know exactly when it had happened.
He only knew something was missing.
He looked up.
Branches.
Leaves.
Grey sky.
Then to either side.
Alyra.
Iskander.
Melisa.
Xenya.
The technician.
Vega.
Serrano.
Everything seemed the same.
Daniel turned his head.
“What's wrong?” Melisa asked.
He listened.
Nothing.
“The birds.”
Serrano stopped.
Daniel pointed upwards.
“We could hear them before.”
No one spoke.
Xenya looked at the treetops.
Alyra closed her eyes for a moment.
Vega slowly raised her fist.
Silence.
This time there was no water.
No birds.
Only wind.
Serrano released his A.R.E.'s safety.
Daniel saw him.
“Keep moving,” Vega ordered.
Her voice no longer sounded the same.
They did not make it a hundred metres.
A footprint crossed part of the path.
Then another.
Serrano crouched.
Daniel stayed behind him.
It was large.
Xenya leaned forward slightly.
“That's not normal.”
Serrano:
“Back.”
Xenya stepped back immediately.
Vega activated the radio.
“Control. Possible signs of an Altered animal. Position...”
A noise.
Right.
Everyone turned.
Nothing.
Serrano drew his weapon.
An A.R.E. blade longer than Daniel's.
“Technician in the centre.”
Iskander opened his shield.
Alyra took her A.R.E.
Xenya put her hands on her daggers.
Daniel did the same.
Melisa checked the radio.
Vega held out a hand.
The air around her fingers stirred the leaves on the ground.
“Don't draw until ordered.”
Daniel swallowed.
The two blades still weighed exactly the same.
But they no longer felt the same.
They saw it between the trees.
A canid.
Daniel could not identify what it had been before.
Its body retained a recognisable outline.
Four legs.
Fur.
Jaws.
But it was too large.
Its torso too thickset.
Some of the fur seemed hardened along its back.
The animal stood still.
Watching them.
Xenya breathed.
“Fuck...”
Serrano:
“Stay still.”
The canid did not attack.
It moved sideways.
Slowly.
Daniel followed its movement.
Vega kept her eyes on it.
“Control, visual contact. Altered canid. One confirmed.”
Melisa checked her module.
“Communications stable.”
The animal bared its teeth.
Serrano took a step.
Fire briefly ran along the edge of his A.R.E.
Daniel felt the heat from behind him.
The canid backed away.
Serrano took another step.
“Out.”
The animal stood motionless for a few seconds.
Then disappeared between the trees.
Xenya exhaled.
“Okay.”
Serrano did not put away his weapon.
“No.”
Xenya looked at him.
“No what?”
Serrano was watching the spot where it had disappeared.
“It wasn't fleeing.”
The impact came from behind.
Iskander turned.
“Back!”
He opened his shield.
The canid collided with it.
The blow pushed him almost a metre.
Iskander grunted.
Alyra was already moving.
Water came out of one of her tanks.
Her A.R.E. traced a short curve.
The flow struck the animal's forelegs as it regained its footing.
She did not try to knock it down.
She took away its balance.
“Now!”
Iskander pushed with the shield.
The canid fell sideways.
Xenya drew her weapons.
Electricity ran along both daggers.
“Position!” Vega ordered.
Xenya stopped.
The animal got up.
Serrano appeared in front of it.
One movement.
Fire.
The canid leapt to one side.
Serrano adjusted without stopping.
Second movement.
The blade struck its shoulder.
The animal rolled.
Got up.
Fled.
Daniel looked at Serrano.
Two attacks.
Steady breathing.
Absolute control.
Iskander was breathing much faster.
Serrano looked at him.
“Injured?”
“No.”
“Then hold your position.”
A growl came from the left.
Another from ahead.
Vega:
“Two more.”
Daniel felt his heart against his chest.
One.
The first.
Two.
The one that had struck Iskander.
Three.
Four.
“We fall back towards E-47,” Vega ordered.
Xenya looked at her.
“The vehicle's closer.”
“The station has a perimeter, equipment and a fixed link.”
Serrano pointed at the technician.
“Centre.”
They began to move.
They did not run.
Daniel wanted to.
Every part of his body was begging him to.
But Vega was walking.
Serrano was walking.
So they walked too.
A canid emerged between two trees.
Serrano moved.
The animal leapt.
Fire.
The blow deflected it before it reached the group.
Another came in from the right.
Vega turned her wrist.
The air struck the animal in mid-leap.
Its trajectory changed.
It hit a tree trunk.
Vega:
“Keep going.”
Daniel understood the difference then.
In the complex, the instructors seemed like people who knew more than they did.
Out there it was something else.
They knew what to do when something was trying to kill them.
They reached a slightly more open area.
Serrano raised a hand.
“Halt.”
Vega looked at him.
“What do you see?”
Serrano scanned the trees.
“Nothing.”
Silence.
“That's the problem.”
Melisa activated the radio.
“Control, requesting precautionary support. Four Altered canids confirmed.”
Static.
“Received. Unit available in approximately seventeen minutes.”
Serrano:
“Too long.”
Vega watched the forest.
“We can contain them until then.”
Serrano nodded.
“Yes.”
Daniel heard that.
We can contain them.
For the first time since the first animal had appeared, he managed to breathe.
The next attack came from two sides.
Serrano took one.
Vega the other.
Daniel could clearly see the difference between them and the five candidates.
Serrano did not pursue.
He did not attack twice when once was enough.
The fire appeared when he needed it.
Disappeared when he did not.
Vega used the air to break the animals' trajectories before they reached the group.
The canids attacked.
The instructors responded.
And they fell back towards the station.
One got past the angle Vega was covering.
“Right!”
Daniel drew his weapons.
Both blades came out.
The canid was coming towards Melisa.
Daniel stepped in front.
The first blade met a claw.
The impact travelled through his whole arm.
Pain.
Daniel lost half a step.
None of it was like training.
The second blade came up from below.
Caught its flank.
Not deeply.
Enough.
The animal backed away.
So did Daniel.
Xenya appeared from the side.
A dagger struck the canid.
A discharge.
The animal shuddered.
Xenya advanced.
“Don't chase it!” Daniel shouted.
One step.
Xenya stopped.
The canid disappeared between the trees.
She was breathing hard.
She looked towards where it had fled.
Then at Daniel.
“I had it.”
Daniel kept both blades in front of him.
“Maybe.”
Xenya frowned.
“But you're not alone.”
She looked at him.
The words were familiar.
Xenya fell back to her position.
“We'll argue later.”
Daniel nodded.
“Later.”
Alyra looked at the ground.
“Iskander.”
He turned.
“Water.”
Some of the flow Alyra had used was still spread across the damp ground.
“What?”
Alyra pointed.
“Don't step there.”
Iskander looked at the mud.
Then at her.
“Why?”
“Because I want them to.”
Another canid emerged.
Iskander stepped back.
The animal advanced across the wet patch.
Alyra closed her hand around her A.R.E.
“Now.”
Iskander held out his own.
The water hardened.
Uneven ice covered part of the ground.
The canid lost its footing.
Iskander went in with his shield.
A blow.
The animal was hurled away.
Xenya raised a dagger.
Alyra:
“No.”
Xenya looked at her.
“It's on the ground.”
“And we're withdrawing.”
Xenya held her gaze for a few seconds.
Then covered her position again.
The canid managed to get up.
It did not attack.
It slowly moved into the trees.
Alyra kept watching it.
“It won't step there again.”
Daniel looked at her.
“How do you know?”
Alyra took a moment to answer.
“I don't know.”
She looked towards where it had disappeared.
“But I want to know if I'm right.”
Perhaps thirty seconds passed.
They felt like five minutes.
One of the canids appeared between the trees.
It was walking badly.
One paw barely touched the ground.
The same one Serrano had struck earlier.
Xenya saw it.
“That one's hurt.”
Serrano did not reply.
The animal backed away.
A few metres.
Stopped.
Serrano stayed in formation.
The canid backed away again.
Vega:
“Leave it.”
“I am leaving it.”
Another animal appeared to the right.
Vega turned towards it.
The first backed away again.
Daniel watched.
Something was strange.
The injured animal never took its eyes off Serrano.
Serrano stepped sideways to keep the technician behind him.
The canid moved too.
Same distance.
Same angle.
Alyra frowned.
“Serrano.”
He heard her.
“I know.”
Melisa looked at her module.
Then around them.
“There were four.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“I've got three in sight.”
Daniel counted.
The injured one.
One in front of Vega.
Another further away.
Three.
Iskander turned slowly.
“Where's the fourth?”
No one answered.
The injured canid took another step backwards.
Serrano did not follow it.
Then the animal in front of Vega advanced.
She raised her arm.
The one on the left did the same.
Vega changed her angle.
Serrano moved to cover the space that had just opened.
Alyra looked at one.
Then the other.
Her eyes dropped to the ground.
“No...”
Daniel heard her.
“What?”
“They don't want to come in.”
Serrano turned slightly towards her.
Alyra looked up.
“They want us to...”
Movement.
Below.
“SERRANO!”
The fourth canid appeared from a hollow in the ground covered with vegetation.
It had stayed below their line of sight.
Serrano turned.
Fast.
His blade came down.
The animal changed its trajectory at the last instant.
It did not go for his torso.
It did not go for the weapon.
It went for his weight-bearing leg.
Jaws.
Impact.
Serrano fell.
The sound made Daniel's stomach feel hollow.
The canid let go immediately.
It did not try to finish the attack.
It backed away.
Vega held out both hands.
The air struck the animal.
Its body was hurled several metres.
“SERRANO!”
Blood.
Lots of it.
Serrano put a hand on the ground.
Tried to get up.
Planted his foot.
His leg gave way beneath him.
He fell again.
The limping canid stopped limping.
Daniel saw it.
It planted all four paws.
Perfectly.
Alyra saw it too.
Her eyes widened.
“It wasn't injured.”
The animal watched them for a few seconds.
Then disappeared.
Daniel looked towards where the fourth had emerged.
Then at the one that had pretended to limp.
Then at the others.
It had not been chance.
“They planned it.”
No one answered.
There was no need.
Melisa was already beside Serrano.
“Iskander, cover me!”
Iskander moved in front.
Shield open.
“Alyra, flank.”
Alyra took the right.
Xenya was still staring towards the trees.
Daniel caught her shoulder.
“Xenya.”
She turned.
Daniel had never seen that expression on her.
It was not panic.
Yet.
But the excitement was gone.
So was the defiance.
“Position.”
Xenya swallowed.
Looked at her daggers.
Her hands were trembling slightly.
She closed her fingers.
Electricity.
“Yes.”
Daniel took the other flank.
Both blades in front.
Vega remained a few metres further out.
Alone.
The wind was beginning to turn around her.
Melisa cut away part of Serrano's trousers.
The wound was exposed.
Daniel saw it.
Looked away.
Looked again.
“Artery?” Vega asked.
Melisa pressed down.
Serrano clenched his teeth.
“I need to check.”
“How long?”
“Ten seconds.”
Serrano struggled to breathe.
“You've got five.”
Melisa looked at him.
“Keep talking and you won't get any.”
Serrano opened his eyes.
For a moment he looked surprised.
Then closed his mouth.
Melisa kept working.
Blood on her gloves.
On her uniform.
On the ground.
Daniel had watched her apply bandages in the complex.
It was the same procedure.
The same hands.
The same movements.
But now there was a breathing person beneath them.
“It's not arterial,” Melisa said.
Vega exhaled.
“Can he walk?”
Melisa looked at the wound.
“No.”
Serrano planted a hand again to get up.
Melisa stopped him.
“You've already tried.”
“We need to move.”
“And if you open this up again, we'll have to drag you.”
Serrano breathed.
Looked towards the forest.
“Then make it quick.”
A growl.
Far away.
Another.
Closer.
Daniel counted.
He could not see any of them.
That was the problem.
Iskander was in front of Melisa and Serrano.
The shield covered much of his body.
Daniel saw his hand.
He was gripping the handle too tightly.
“Iskander.”
“I'm fine.”
Daniel had not asked.
Alyra breathed slowly.
Once.
Again.
Daniel remembered what she had said in the vehicle.
Being nervous doesn't change what I have to do.
Now she was frightened.
Daniel could see it.
But her A.R.E. stayed steady.
Xenya was breathing too fast.
“Xenya.”
“I'm fine.”
Daniel had not asked her either.
Melisa looked up.
She had blood up to her wrists.
“I need to move him.”
Daniel looked at Serrano.
“Iskander and me.”
“No,” Serrano said.
Daniel looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because as soon as two of you leave your positions, they'll test that side.”
Silence.
Daniel turned back towards the forest.
Serrano continued:
“First we find out where they are.”
Xenya:
“What if they don't want us to know?”
Serrano did not answer.
That was worse.
The first appeared ahead.
It did not attack.
The second, on the left.
Neither did it.
Alyra adjusted her position.
“Two.”
Vega:
“I see them.”
A third appeared further away.
Iskander:
“Three.”
Daniel searched for the fourth.
Nothing.
Melisa checked the radio.
“Support in fourteen minutes.”
Xenya exhaled.
“Fourteen.”
It did not sound like a lot.
Or a little.
Only something they had to survive.
Vega took a step forwards.
The air turned around her arm.
“Don't break formation.”
A canid advanced.
Vega prepared her strike.
The animal stopped.
Another advanced from the side.
Vega shifted position slightly.
It stopped too.
Daniel looked from one to the other.
“What are they doing?”
Serrano answered from the ground.
“Testing us.”
Xenya:
“What for?”
“To find out what we do.”
Alyra looked at the first.
Then the second.
“No.”
Serrano looked at her.
Alyra pointed with her A.R.E.
“That one already knows what Vega does.”
Silence.
The canid advanced again.
Vega raised her arm.
It stopped before coming within range.
Backed away.
Alyra followed its movement.
“They're not testing whether she can attack them.”
Daniel felt a knot in his stomach.
Alyra finished:
“They're testing where from.”
The animals stopped advancing.
All of them.
At the same time.
Daniel raised his blades slightly.
“Why have they stopped?”
No one answered.
One of the canids turned its head.
Not towards them.
Towards the forest.
The second did the same.
Then the third.
Xenya frowned.
“What are they looking at?”
Movement between the trees.
Far away.
Daniel tried to make it out.
Nothing.
Only branches.
Vega did not look away.
“Serrano.”
The instructor remained silent.
“Serrano.”
Daniel looked at him.
Until then, the man had endured his wound without losing control.
Pain.
Breathing.
Orders.
Now his expression had changed.
Not much.
Enough.
“Back,” he said.
Vega turned slightly.
“What did you see?”
“Nothing.”
A pause.
“That's the problem.”
One of the canids moved aside.
It did not flee.
It simply cleared the space it had occupied.
The second did the same.
Then the third.
Daniel looked at the gap.
None of them crossed it.
Xenya tightened her grip on the daggers.
“Why are they doing that?”
Serrano tried to get up.
Melisa held him.
“Stay still.”
“We have to move.”
“You can't.”
Serrano looked at her.
Daniel heard something.
A branch.
CRACK.
Everyone turned.
Nothing.
Another.
Closer.
CRACK.
The technician stepped back.
Iskander raised his shield fully.
Alyra gathered water around her A.R.E.
Xenya activated both daggers.
Electricity.
Daniel felt his heart in his throat.
The canids were no longer looking at them.
They were looking towards the trees.
Another branch moved.
A silhouette passed behind it.
Too obscured.
Too far away.
Daniel could not make it out.
Xenya spoke very quietly.
“What is that?”
No one answered.
The electricity on one of her daggers faltered.
Disappeared.
Xenya looked at her own hand.
Activated it again.
This time it took her a moment.
Daniel saw her take a step back.
Not because anyone had ordered her to.
Serrano saw it too.
“Everyone back.”
Vega did not argue.
She stepped back.
Iskander did the same.
Alyra.
Daniel.
Xenya.
The canids remained still.
Waiting.
Daniel looked at Serrano.
The instructor who had controlled those creatures with two movements.
The man who had kept giving orders with his leg torn open.
The man who had told them they could contain them.
He was no longer looking at his wound.
Or the canids.
He was looking only towards the trees.
Daniel recognised that expression.
Because he was beginning to feel exactly the same thing.
Fear.
A branch slowly bent.
Something advanced behind it.
The canids lowered their heads slightly.
Serrano whispered:
“Don't move.”
Daniel tightened both grips.
No one moved.
Another branch bent.
This time, closer.
CUT TO BLACK.
END OF EPISODE 17 — STALKING