Infection - Part I

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.