As Claire made her way through the woods that cold and chilly morning, She could hear her heart pounding fast.

Hell, her heart had started pounding ever since Brent had given her the news over the phone.


She lowered herself and went through the Yellow tapes and made her way to the camp site.

Even as the sight of the grasses and rocks stained with blood and littered with body tissues made her cringe, she knew this would be nothing compared to what were in the black body bags she saw no to far away from her.


"Oh God".


Claire slowed her pace as she got closer and closer to the bags and then stopped a few metres away and Swallowed when she saw one body without a head.


"Jesus".


She got herself together again and kept moving closer.


Her eyes scanning the bags before her looking for the one person that had made her drive all the way down here. The one person that made he nervous even through out last night, laying on her bed and staring out at the window, at the pouring rain outside.


Claire wasn't too good with prayers, but she was praying for him.


When she got close enough, She stopped.


She observed the Carnage infront of her and tried not to cringe again. She started from the first body which was headless body and then turned to the next when she noticed the first had a tattoo on its arm.


"Charlie didn't have a tattoo".



She stared and the next body with it neck torn off and it's head crushed in. Even though it was hard to recognise whoever it was, she knew it wasn't Charlie.

She moved to the next. It was headless too, but it's head had been kept by its side, the two arms, left and right had been torn off, so she knew for a fact it wasn't him.


"One of them escaped", Patrick sighed. beside her.


She tilted to his face, just realising he was beside her.


"They found trails of Boot prints in the mud and blood on the trees leading miles away from the Camp", He said, with his eyes fixed on the Bodies.


As Claire heard those words, sh suddenly spun to the remaining bodies sh had not checked. She recognised them, but none of them were Charlie.


At the moment, Claire felt a wave of relief wash over her.


"Thank god", She thought. "He made it".


Considering the situation, Patrick was surprised to see a little smile on Claire's face when she turned to face him.


Then she began scanning round before facing him again.


"Where's Brent?", She asked.


Patrick jotted him thumb in a direction behind him and Claire followed.


Brent was with Chief Kent, a few yards away from the scene. They were talking about something that looked important. Something so important, the didn't want anyone to hear, not even th other deputies.


Claire then turned back to the Bodies. She dug her hand in her pocket and licked her lips.




"He made it".



"I've been a zoologist for Twenty years", Patrick began and then his gaze met that of Claire beside him. "I've never seen anything like this in my life before".


Claire shifted her eyes to th bodies again.


"It didn't want to eat them", Patrick said. "It just killed them. Killed them for Sport".


Claire looked at him again as he did the same.


"...for fun", Patrick whispered.


The look on the man's eyes sent chills down Claire's spine. She had never seen Patrick like this before.


He looked lost and confused. Those were two things Patrick Parker never was.



"Patrick", Brent called out as he made his way towards Patrick and Claire. "The Chief wants to have a word with you".



The Dark haired man spun and walked off towards the Chief in the distance and Brent turned to face Claire as he left.


"Hey", Brent uttered.



Claire smiled at him and went back to observing the Bodies.


"You know he's not here, right?", She heard Brent say.


"I know", Claire answered.


Brent was about to say something, when he was cut off by the voice of someone screaming in the distance.


"We found him!".


Claire and Brent suddenly spun and saw Larry beckon to from the woods.


"We found him!", The young deputy called.


Before Brent could utter a word, Claire was already darting away.


"Claire..wait", The Officer uttered.

Claire didn't even look back at him as she just kept moving.

The two of them ran through the forest as fast as they could.

Claire never lost sight of Larry's back as she ran through the woods knocking into rocks and having long leaves whipping at her face. All the while, the thought of whether Charlie was alive or dead lingered in her mind.


"Is-Is he alive?", She shouted at Larry, but the deputy didn't hear her.



Brent, on the Other hand, was shocked at the fact that he could not catch up with the woman infront of him. Hell, she was like lightening, bolting through the forest infront of her.


They kept running and running and for some reason, Claire never felt tired.


As she was about to ask Larry how far it was, she looked up and saw the young deputy slowing down.


He slowed down and was walking now. He walked until Claire saw him stop in the midst of some officers and what looked like Paramedics.


Claire didn't slow down, She kept moving until she cut her way through the crowd and stopped a few inches from Charlie laying on the floor with his head resting on a tree log.


"He gave up ten seconds ago", A female Paramedic said.


Claire turned to see the black woman on her knees beside him.


"He had lost a lot of blood and the infection was so bad, He went into septic shock", The woman said, then she shook her head and sighed. "There was nothing we could do Dr. Hayes".


Claire slowly turned her stinging eyes towards Charlie's lifeless body.


The entire place was in a deafening silence as everyone stood there, watching in disbelief.


Brent finally made his was through the crowd, Panting heavily, trying to catch his breath. He looked up at the body before Claire and the he looked at Larry who was standing not too far away.


Larry raised his gaze to Brent and shook his head.


Brent Clenched his Jaw and his fists immediately he got Larry's signal.


He was Mad now.


His blood boiling, made his way out of the crowd and when straight for a tree and punched it hard.


"Bleep!", He Screamed in rage.



Claire walked towards Charlie's body slowly and then fell down to her knees beside him.


His eyes were closed and his lips slightly apart. His skin was pale and as white as snow. Claire stole a look at were his left arm used to be, the ladies was right.


"He had lost a lot of blood".


She looked back at his face and tried to hold down her tears when she realised how much he looked like his daughter.


"Ruby".


Claire broke down immediately she remembered her. She broke down immediately she remembered that the poor girl was now an orphan at Thirteen.


Claire tightened her eyes shut and opened them again.


She stared at the lifeless man before her once more and then reached out and touched his blood stained face.


She then shifted her gaze down and noticed his right fist was Clenched. She reached down and grabbed his arm, forced his fingers apart and pulled out what he was holding.



Claire broke down again when she began to straighten what appeared to be a picture of the dead man's daughter.



Claire shut her eyes again and vision of Charlie's smiling face flashed before her.


"She wants to be a doctor like you".


Claire opened her eyes and stared at him again.

She leaned forward and kissed his forehead.


"And she will", Claire whispered.


She then got up and made her way through the crowd.


She walked past Brent who wanted to call her, but he had seen the look on her eyes and decided to let her be.


As Brent watched her disappear, Larry walked up to his side, his eyes looking out at her too.


"They've gone for a body bag", Larry nodded.


Brent nodded.


There was Silence between the two men for a while, and then Larry spoke.


"He ran Half a mile in that Condition", Larry uttered. "In the cold rain".


Brent spun and looked at him.


Larry looked up at him too. "The Paramedics called that 'extraordinary'".



Brent smiled as he turned and looked back at Charlie's body that was now covered with a white sheet, a sight that had become too familiar to him these past few days.



"Yeah", Brent said. "He was".

Nice story but pls keep the updates coming sharpaly!

horlardipupo:
Nice story but pls keep the updates coming sharpaly!

If you want, I can add you to the "Ferocious" Whatsapp group. Posting here is really not easy for me...... but i'll try.