Chapter 35

“I’m going to move on and forget about Eric. I’m going to date someone new and…oh, you mean the crystals.” She giggled. “I will get a friend to make it into a bracelet for me.”

“Cool.”

She eventually got bored and bid him farewell while he stubbornly insisted on walking her to the streets. On his way back, he used another path and slowed down when the silence became deafening. It didn’t take long for him to find two squirrels mauled to death, the blood stains drying on the ground and eyes bulging out of their sockets. Humans? Instinct dictated otherwise, but the organs were still intact, puzzling him.

He circled whatever area he could within and outside their territory but found no other dead animals or presence. He returned to the forest area sweaty and irritated, so Luke decided to wander off to the nearest river. He found a pond in less than an hour, assessed the place once more, and was already discarding his clothes when he stepped in the water. The trees shaded it from the sun,