Border zone with Canada.
Safe city, main base of operations in the north.
Daryl went out with a group to hunt and discovered some peculiar details.
"There's nothing around, but there's a dead moose, and there are traces of a burnt-out campfire. It seems this might be a transit point for some people who aren't from the city."
"What about the people who were here?"
Given the situation here, Daryl has no interest at all and only cares about where the people are now.
"They all must have moved to go hunting."
The man turned his head to look deeply into the camp, pointed in a direction, and said, "There's a line of footprints there, and we should be able to find them by following these tracks."
As he said this, Rick looked at Daryl and asked, "Should we stay here and wait for them to come back, or follow them immediately?"
"We should wait for them to return."
"We should follow them!"
But at that moment, Daryl and Glenn in the group gave opposing answers one after the other.
"Glenn, what are you talking about?"
Glenn looked at Daryl and said, "We left our marks in this place. If they find out before we find them and they run, what will we do?"
"I just think taking the risk is foolish."
"Fine, then let's split into two groups."
"I'll go with ten people, and you stay here with fifteen; remember not to risk doing something stupid for people we don't know."
"Of course!"
After receiving the order, Glenn stayed with fifteen people, and ten followed Daryl.
After waiting for the figures to disappear, Glenn told the remaining thirteen people around him, "Clean this place up and try to keep it as it was when we arrived."
After finishing speaking, he turned around and walked toward one of the cabins, preparing to wait for the people from this site to arrive.
But in the distance, Stuart, with a sniper rifle, was watching the surroundings and noticed that from his position, Glenn's location was exposed, so he made a reminder.
...
On the way.
After following the tracks of the people who had left the camp, Daryl led the way without any problems.
At the same time, he also noticed that several other figures were following the team, knowing that Glenn was worried about going with too few people, so he pursed his lips and didn't pay much attention.
The team moved forward all the way and soon came out to a distance of a few hundred meters, but there was no trace of other human beings beyond the footprints.
However, they saw scratch marks made by sharp daggers on the trees along their path, seemingly done to prevent them from finding their way back. Although they felt a bit strange, it also made them more certain that people were moving along this path.
At the same time, a fishy smell gradually filled the air, and as they moved forward, the smell grew stronger and stronger.
"Look, what's that?"
Just when Daryl was puzzled by the fishy smell and realized something was wrong and planned to stop the group, the person walking at the front suddenly called out, interrupting his line of thought.
Walking slowly to the front of the team, Daryl saw three moose carcasses lying under a large tree not far away.
A large amount of blood continued to flow, soaking the ground.
One of the moose carcasses still showed clear signs of having been dragged; it seemed that someone had tried to move them not long ago but, for some unknown reason, suddenly stopped.
Seeing the scene in front of him, Daryl finally understood where the fishy smell in the air came from.
There was silence around, and everyone looked at each other, dismayed, not knowing what to do at this moment, so they directed their attention to Daryl.
"Move and stay alert!"
Seeing the same scratch marks on the trees in front of him, Daryl thought for a moment. Though he thought there might be a problem, he didn't panic at all due to the large number of people there and their experience.
But he didn't walk at the front of the team; instead, he waited for the people at the front to walk a certain distance and then slowly followed them. Although he was guiding the way, he wasn't stupid and wouldn't take risks if he saw the bigger picture.
The people around noticed that Daryl was much more alert and started to move in an egg-shaped formation. Everyone slowed down and surrounded Daryl; only some people who hadn't yet reacted walked in a straight line.
At the moment they left the place where the moose were, the bushes moved slightly.
Within a few minutes, the few people at the front of the team approached the moose carcasses, turned their heads, and called to the people behind them.
When Daryl lowered his head, he was surprised to discover that the bodies of these moose had been gutted from head to toe, and their internal organs were scattered on the ground.
This discovery made him cover his mouth and nose, take another step back, and murmur, "Damn it, what kind of maniac did this?"
As he spoke, the team behind him slowly gathered.
Seeing that he was indeed overthinking, Daryl also slowly dropped his guard, walked forward, looked at the moose carcass on the ground, frowned slightly, and said, "Are there any traces of people?"
Crack! Crack! Crack!
But at that moment, the slightly trembling ground and the sound of dry branches being trampled made him stop his words in an instant.
Feeling the approaching movement and the trembling ground, everyone turned their eyes in the direction of the sound.
It was just that when they fixed their gazes, it was blocked by a tall bush, and they couldn't see what was approaching at all.
As was known, the unknown was terrifying, and all humans who have faced unknown creatures are much more alert to dangerous movements.
Looking at the bush where the sound of branches being stepped on was heard, the fear of the unknown arose in everyone's eyes. Some people straightened up, unconsciously retreated slowly, and even turned to flee if the situation wasn't good.
"Don't retreat; we're many; we can kill anything!"
Feeling the changing emotions of the people around him, Daryl didn't retreat; instead, he raised the rifle in his hand.
Seeing this, the rest of the people raised their weapons one after another.
At this moment, a huge figure jumped out from behind the bush, let out a roar that shook the surroundings, and echoed throughout the forest, its red eyes full of bloodlust in the pupils of all the hunters, showing its fierce appearance!
"Oh, shit!"