[center]Chapter Four[/center]

Kent stood there, staring at the shredded camp tent, trying to rap his head around what had happened here and were the three campers were.

He then glanced round at the police officer discussing, equally trying to rap their head around what was obviously the second crime scene in a week.

He glanced at an officer taking photos of tipped over cooler, the torn tents and the truck that the campers left behind.

He saw another officer in gloves who picked up what used to be some kind of music player and drop it into a transparent bag.

He raised his hands and rubbed his eyes. He had not gotten a good night sleep in days. The sun was high up and everywhere was really hot.

Kent rubbed the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hands as he moved away from the front of the tents, and headed towards the other end of the the site.

He raised the yellow police tape tied between two trees as he walked past and headed for Larry.


"The boys seen anything?", He called to the young deputy.


Larry quickly spun to face his boss. "N-No sir", He uttered.


"Didn't think so", Kent said as he strolled over to Larry's side.


The view from where they both stood was breathtaking. A complete sea of greenery spread for miles below them, with small patches of bare land that pin pointed the location of the Rangers stations and a few cabins for campers.


"It's weird, ain't it?", Kent uttered.


Larry spun to face his boss. "What is?", He muttered.

Kent's eyes were reduced to mere black slits under the brightness of the hot summer sun.

"That something so horrible could actually happen in a place like this", The chief sighed.


Larry said nothing. He just turned his gaze back to the view before him.


Kent raised his eyes to the clear blue skies that disappeared into the vast plain of greenery before him.

Except for a few scattered settlements, houses and farms, Kent could see the buildings of the busy town not too far away. He then shifted his gaze further off and saw farmer Wilson's farm. It was the closest human settlement to the Woods, well, as far as Kent could see.

Kent cringed at the thought of how Close this crime scene was to the town. He cringed at how vulnerable the people were down there, oblivious to the danger, what ever it was, as they went about their normal lives.

"What do you think happened to those kids Chief?", Larry asked, turning to his boss, squinting to the brightness of the sun overhead.

Kent looked at the young deputy, wishing he had an answer for him. Then he turned back and looked at the town in the distance. He wished he had an answer for them too when they started asking.


"God".


Kent lifted his hands to rub his neck again. It was as if the entire weight of the situation was on him. On that neck. He had sworn of smoking and had be clean for over three years now, but at this point, he felt his strength and principles beginning to shake.


Kent raised his head when he heard the cooing sounds of crows and ravens in the distance. The large black birds were high up in the air, flying in circles.


He couldn't count them, but he could tell they were at least twenty of them. Swirling around, forming a sort of funnel that ran from the air and disappeared in the green below.


Kent smiled and dug his hands in the pocket of his jacket. The sight made him remember his father. A real soldier of a man he was. He remember going hunting with him once as a teenager, and they had seen the same flock of large black birds, swirling overhead, forming a funnel that reached from the sky, down to the earth.

He called them the vultures of the woods. He said that when ever one saw the birds gathering in that manner, it only meant that there was probably a dead animal down there, or a dead-


Kent suddenly stiffened and pulled his hands out of his pocket, with his eyes widening at the funnel of Crows.


"Oh my god", the words slipped out of Kent's mouth.


Larry shot back and looked at the chief. "What is it?", the young man uttered.


"Get Donovan and Brent", the man ordered as he started to move, without even giving Larry a look, and his gaze fixed on the funnel of Crows in the distance. "Now!"


"Ye-Yes sir", Larry muttered.




Chief Ben Kent stood there in shock, a few yards from what he had found. His eyes wide open.

He had not realised it, but he hadn't blinked once for the entire six minutes he had been standing there.

He heard the multiple footsteps behind him as his deputies ran up to catch up with him.

Brent heard the loud gasp of a female officer behind him. His eyes still trained to the front.

"Oh-Oh my God", He heard the muffled cry of another officer. He didn't need to look back to know it was Donovan.


He heard somebody gagging, choking and coughing, along with the sound of liquid splashing to the floor, but even that wasn't enough to make Kent tear his eyes away from the horror in front of him.


"Ch-Chief?", Brent stuttered as he made his way to the side of his boss, never taking his eyes of the Carnage before him. "What do we do?"


Chief Kent opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Brent licked his lips and then spun to face the crew behind.

"Hey!", The officer called. "We need body-bags over here!"