Somewhere deep in the brightening woods, a doe was having her breakfast.
Of course, being a deer, she did not really understand the concept of 'breakfast'. However, it most certainly was the first meal she was having since the mist lifted and the sun rose in the early morning.
The doe was feeling particularly skittish this morning, for some reason her instincts were blaring like a klaxon in her head. There was a feeling of impending doom that she couldn't help but feel.
The woods contained few natural predators, and she saw not even one sign of them being there, or even of her being hunted.
However, she should have been paying more attention to the food that she was eating, the food that she was sure tasted better than usual for some reason. And she hadn't even needed a saltlick this time.
If she had been paying attention, she would have noticed the light dusting of what seemed to be appeared to be butterfly eggs covering the leaves of the bush.
A human eye would have noticed that those eggs were not butterfly spawn.
Still, as she stood in the slight clearing, chewing her cud, she felt panic rattle around in her head.
Her food felt different today, more flavoursome.
She imagined that she had most likely come across a patch of particularly sweet grass, nurtured by the stream that ran through and under most of the forest.
The eggs noticed her though, they revelled in the idea of being eaten, in fact, if one had eyes sensitive enough, they'd have seen the almost microscopic spawn twitch in anticipation.
They had been hoping to be eaten, and thankfully, the doe had been hungry.
But now, as they slowly got stuck in her throat, sticking into clumps, she began to panic.
Bucking around and slamming her neck repeatedly along the many trees on the path did nothing, the clumps just kept building up, making it harder to breathe.
And now they burned, just a little at first, but eventually, a light tingle turned into a tremendous burning as the eggs - now a solid mass resembling some kind of wriggling larvae - secreted some kind of very corrosive enzyme that dissolved and cauterised flesh in front and behind it, in that order precisely.
The doe slumped on the forest floor now, it was hard to breathe and panicking was not helping her any further. As she mewled pathetically on the floor, rivulets of crimson ran down the sides of her mouth.
Inside her body though, the larvae pulsed and burrowed further and further into her flesh.
It tunnelled and tunnelled through her oesophagus, heading towards the bright pulsing muscle that it sensed deep within her ribcage.
When it eventually reached it, it coiled its long body around the whole organ, it wrapped itself fully from head to tail around the heart.
And then it burrowed.
This time the doe cried out, instead of a few quiet yelps it was a full-blown cry that scared even the small scurrying insects away.
Inside her heart, the larvae extended several tendrils into its flesh, the tendrils themselves seemed to split and divide and then burrow further into the organ. The tendrils reached and merged with any nerves it found.
A longer, more specialised tendril travelled up the major nerves in the heart and then branched out.
These branches travelled along nerves deeper and deeper into the body, climbing across the spinal column and into many many major nerve clusters, before finally, they reached the brainstem.
The doe stood bolt upright, a vacant expression in its eyes.
Grey mists pooled around the doe's hooves as it stood on shaky feet, it took several steps forward, as if it was a calf learning to walk.
The doe looked worse for wear though, its shakiness added to the slightly sick pallor that had taken it over - along with a vacant expression, the eyes also held several widening pools of blood that bled into its iris that made it look bloodshot.
Externally, one could clearly see the pulsating and slightly luminescent web of orange veins that ran from the doe's ribcage and up along its slender neck, before vanishing abruptly into the underside of the deer's skull.
The longer it stood and stumbled along, the more it seemed to be at ease. Eventually, it slowed to a canter and scanned the horizon.
A few dozen yards away lay a lonely wide road, it cut a wide swathe through the forest. The doe was currently standing at the errant treeline that bordered the road.
A passing car grabs her attention and as the car passes by in a blur, she makes brief and fleeting but meaningful eye contact with one of the inhabitants.
Satisfied for now, the doe walks backwards slowly into the dark greenery of the early morning.
The unfortunate inhabitant of the car hasn't forgotten about the brief encounter though, she sits in peculiar silence before nudging her companion.
Alex hissed in irritation, he had been drifting off into his favourite kind of sleep before he had been rudely awoken with an elbow to the rib. "What?" He hissed under his breath, "What could be so important that you needed to violently assault me for it?".
Erica narrowed her eyes at him, "I saw something, in the woods, I think it was a deer.".
He looked at her silently and then shrugged. "So? What of it? It's a deer.".
"It looked ill, like it was sick or something, I couldn't be sure, only saw it for a second.".
"I didn't think you were so invested in wildlife sis, maybe you should be a vet instead of an Olympian?" He queried.
A reply from the front two seats interrupted Erica before she could respond, "An Olympian, huh? Back in my day, I was quite the athlete myself, glad to see that those genes didn't skip your generation.".
Erica turned to smile at the rear-view mirror, "Thank you, Grandpa. If only someone would appreciate sports more," She turned to indicate who she was talking to. "I've been trying to get this one to even engage in sports.".
Alex scowled, "I do like sports too, you know. They just tend to be very obscure sports that many people don't care about much.".
"Oh?" Erica teased, "Such as?".
"Competitive axe throwing, for one.".
"That's weird, you're weird." She retorted.
"Now now," Their Grandma had joined the conversation, as she wasn't the one driving, she turned in her seat to look at the twins. "I'm sure that Alex isn't alone in his tastes in sport, don't tease him so much.".
Allowing a smirk to grace his face, he blew a silent raspberry at his sister.
She groaned, a silent "Whatever..." on her breath.
Up in the front, their grandparents shared a chuckle.
Alex smiled and looked out of the car window, the wind whipped past the trees, making it look like the forest was throwing a tiny rave.
And just like it would at a typical rave, he found his head throbbing. He silently grimaced under his breath, these headaches and migraines were becoming a quick and common part of his day. Every time they hit, they seemed to attack with new fervour.
The pain was often blinding, he knew that later on, this dull throbbing would turn into full-blown cranial agony if he didn't either take a nap or take some painkillers of some kind.
As of right now though, only his temple and his eyes suffered from a dull thudding pain.
Sensing his sister looking at him, he offered her a reassuring smile. She didn't look convinced, and the look of concern that she had levelled him before merely increased.
"Migraines again?" She asked.
"Yeah, pretty much. Don't worry though, it isn't as bad as it was last time." He was lying, of course.
She eyed him suspiciously and then sighed, "I have extra ibuprofen in my knapsack, I'll give you some when we get to the house. That alright?".
He nodded in solemn thanks. "Thank you, Erica. I appreciate it.".
She huffed, "You don't need to thank me, just take care of yourself. And maybe tell Mum and Dad? I'm worried.".
He brushed her off, "I'm fine, just hurts sometimes, it's probable just allergies or something." He smiled, "Stop being a worrywart.".
"Sure." She scowled.
Alex nudged her with his shoulder, his way of showing affection.
Any response that Erica was going to make was drowned out by the car suddenly pulling into the gravel driveway of their grandparents.
Their Grandma looked at them whilst unclipping herself from the seat, "Alright kids, let yourselves out. Your Grandpa will park the car in the garage, and I'll make us a nice little snack.".
Erica slung herself out of the car, so fast she was basically a blur. Alex came next, once again carrying all their luggage, he slammed the car door dramatically and grinned before turning to his Grandpa to give a thumbs-up.
Their Grandpa grinned back, before waving them off towards the house.
Meanwhile, Erica stared at the imposing stately home, it mildly resembled a mix between a log cabin and a large townhouse.
Alex joined her in staring, and then a moment later, they turned as one and walked down the path towards the front door.