Chapter VII

Date - Monday, 7th of October 2018.

Time - 10:31:37.

Location - Somewhere in between Tulamull and Armull, County Meath of the West, Ireland.

Both Jillian and Kyle began their journey through the dense forest.

"Hmmm..." Kyle hums with a slight sense of oddness.

"Yes?" Jillian replies.

"In such a thick forest, you'd think you'll hear birds tweeting and see at least one or two fly overhead or something..." Kyle speaks.

"Mhmm..." Jillian hums. "Birds are migratory animals. They would usually flee when they feel like something is off..." Jillian adds. "Judging from that and looking at the current situation, there is definitely some danger here, which would explain all this eerie silence and lack of birdlife...".

Kyle responds with a nod.

Silence descends upon them both as they continue to navigate their way through the forest.

The atmosphere gets increasingly more and more intense the deeper they delve into the woods. It's because of the ominous height of the trees and the limited brightness of light that arouses such a feeling.

But both Jillian and Kyle try their best to brush off the dreadful impression that the woods have caused to seep into them.

They are on a mission to try to find their victims. They must stay strong and brave.

But despite their best efforts, they cannot get rid of the fear churning inside them both.

Then, Jillian gets a spine-chilling sensation. She feels like something is burning right through her. As if a pair of eyes were on her. She felt as if she was being watched by someone.

Kyle notices the slight distress on her face when he turned back to look at Jillian. "Are you okay, Jillian?".

She looks up at him, she can't help but let a tiny bit of fear break into her, and Kyle notices this. "I... I don't feel too good about this Kyle..." she begins before stopping just as the staring she felt upon her got a bit too much. She turns around and looks behind her. She looks around both Kyle and herself, looking for someone.

"Jillian?" Kyle calls out and it's his voice that brings her attention back to him. "Don't worry. If you want, I can escort you back to the car if you don't feel safe. We can-" suddenly, Jillian interrupts him.

"I-its fine, Kyle. Sorry, it's just me...". She lets out a sigh. "I just feel like I'm being watched. Not the best thing to feel when in the woods... But then again, it could all just be in my head...".

"Being watched?" Kyle asks. "Well, the only one watching you is me," he adds, dancing his left brow at her.

Jillian let out a gentle chuckle but things quickly changed. Jillian quietened down as another, more intense, wave of fear washes over her. She widens her eyes as her breathing becomes shallow. Within milliseconds, she points her gun up and turns around her.

At first, when Kyle heard her chuckle, he joined too, but he widened his eyes when he sees Jillian looking around her once again, with a gun in her hands.

Jillian's heart is racing. She swallows whatever is in her mouth. "I felt it again... ".

It took seconds for things to settle down a bit. The sensation faded away ever so slightly. She furrows her eyes in slight confusion, but needless to say, she felt immense relief.

"Jillian?..." Kyle calls out once more.

At first, Jillian places her gun back into her holster before looking up at Kyle. She hitches a breath or two before taking a deep inhale. "I... I'm okay..." she says.

"Are you sure?" Kyle asks back.

Jillian nods back. "Let's continue...".

"Wait, Jillian. If you don't feel safe, we can call for back up.".

"I think we are fine. Besides, the sooner we find them, the better. The sooner we find them, the sooner the justice will prevail for Radley, Sulivan and the Reynolds..." Jillian replies. "Now hurry...".

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Both Jillian and Kyle continue walking through the woods, and once more, fear creeps into them both.

They continue walking until...

Both Kyle and Jillian widen their eyes.

"Tents..." Jillian mutters under her breath.

They walk a few steps closer and that is when they see a body on its stomach...

The body is in a police suit saturated with blood. Both Jillian and Kyle widen their eyes at the new discovery.

"H-he seems dead..." Kyle's voice quakes.

"Well, let's hope he isn't," Jillian replies.

They both walk closer to the body. But chances that the is alive become very slim when they both notice how the body is laying in a puddle of its own blood.

"He has lost so much blood..." Kyle says. "There is no way a person can survive with that much blood lost...". Then Kyle goes on to continue, "The stink would tell me he has been dead for a while now...".

Kyle diverts his eyes to Jillian when he hears no reply from her.

"Meaning that... he must have been killed on the day he went missing. Looks like whoever killed him had so mercy..." she speaks.

Then a pause follows.

"What confuses me is... how did he land the way he did? Considering that the most likely murder weapon was a pistol, you'd think he'd be on his back. And looking from where the blood is dispersed, it all mostly came from the top half of his body..." Jillian says.

"Hmmm, what if he didn't get shot? What if it was an assault by a knife?" Kyle questions.

"Could be, but someone would have to have balls of steel to be able to do something as brutal as that..." Jillian says. "If I was to put myself into the killer's shoes, I'd use a gun rather than a knife. More penetration. Either way, we have to turn over the body and examine it..." she adds. Pulling out a pair of gloves from the pocket of her top, she puts them on her hands. Next, takes a gentle hold of the body by its clothes. Although she has gloves on, she can feel the chilly feeling of the cold blood through them.

"Stand back..." Jillian says to Kyle before she proceeds on turning the body around. When she does, a gruesome sight is uncovered.

The victim's eyes are wide open as there is a big hole, exposing his empty chest cavity. His lungs, heart, liver... all of his internal organs are missing...

Immediately, Jillian takes a few steps back from the body as an even stronger plumb of stench crashes into her nose.

"I normally don't take the lords name in vain, but Jesus..." Jillian sighs, covering her nose. She feels her stomach turn.

"Shit..." Kyle mutters under his breath before diverting his eyes elsewhere. Consequently... "HOLY!! H-holy shit!" Kyle exclaims in fright.

Looking up at Kyle, it doesn't take long for Jillian to see what Kyle saw. A boy. He was pierced through and hung by a tree trunk...

A brief moment of pure silence takes over.

"Reynolds..." Jillian mutters under her breath. "What the fuck has happened here????" she adds in a whisper.

Nothing seems to be adding up.

"At first I thought we were dealing with a homicide... but it looks like we are dealing with something FAR worse..." she says to Kyle.

"Judging by the way his insides are missing, I'd assume that they have been eaten. Could this be a cannibal attack? An animal attack?" Kyle asks.

"Cannibal attack? I am not too sure. An animal attack sounds more realistic..." she replies. "But... for this to be an animal attack... It's rather bizarre...".

"What do you mean?".

"Oh, I don't mean anything. It was just a random thought. But, looking at how his insides are eaten... I feel like its rather odd for me to assume that this was all the work of an animal..." Jillian replies.

Kyle gulps.

"I think we have seen what we had to see, its time to call back up, what do you-" suddenly, the rustling of the bushes interrupt Jillian. Her heart begins to pound against her chest once again.

She turns around and looks at Kyle and Kyle looks back at her. "You heard that too, didn't you?" she asks.

Kyle replies with a nod.

Once more, the leaves of the bushes around them rustle. It sounds like someone is inside them.

Both Jillian and Kyle pull their weapons out. They both look around themselves.

Again, rustling is heard before it stops moments later.

Just then, a figure comes out of the woods, crawling. It takes seconds for both Jillian and Kyle to notice it. Immediately, Jillian points her gun at the crawling figure. Seconds pass before her eyes widen. The bottom half of his body is missing, his intestines are all tangled up, dragging behind him the body as it continues to crawl.

Something else that both Jillian and Kyle notice is that the body has a police uniform. It's an officer.

Jillian begins to maker her way towards the body. Kyle follows behind her. "H-hello? Are you okay there?".

No response.

"Are you okay?" Jillian repeats her question.

Suddenly, the body stops moving. From there, it proceeds on turning very slowly and within seconds, it looks up and into Jillian's eyes.

It was then that Jillian widened her eyes in pure horror...