The Thing in the Trees

The forest was silent. Too silent.

Leon Graves adjusted the strap of his pack, his pistol gripped tight as he listened. The others stood behind him, barely breathing. Even the wind had died down, as if the whole world was waiting for whatever was coming next.

Then it moved again.

A shape in the darkness, just beyond the tree line.

Lumbering.

Heavy.

Not like the others.

Riley clutched her rifle, her breathing ragged. "What the hell is that?"

Leon didn't answer. He watched. Studied it. The way it moved, slow and deliberate, unlike the erratic, twitching speed of the infected they'd seen before.

Travis cursed under his breath. "I don't like this. We need to go."

Leon agreed, but moving too fast might get them noticed. He glanced back at Eve. She was already thinking the same thing, her rifle raised, eyes locked on the shadow beyond the trees.

Then the smell hit.

Rotting flesh, thick in the air, suffocating. It clung to the wind, making Riley gag and step back.

The shape let out a low, guttural sound.

It was sniffing the air.

Leon didn't hesitate. "We move. Now."

They turned and hurried toward the back of the ranger station, keeping low, weapons ready.

The trees pressed in around them as they moved deeper into the forest. The thing behind them didn't follow immediately.

But it was watching.

Leon could feel it.

They pushed forward through the undergrowth, stepping over fallen branches and damp earth, the weight of exhaustion settling on them.

After what felt like an hour, Leon finally slowed. They had put enough distance between themselves and whatever was out there.

Travis leaned against a tree, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Someone want to explain what the hell that was?"

Eve exhaled, scanning the darkness. "Not like any infected I've seen."

Leon thought for a moment. The infected they had fought before were dangerous, but they had been human once. Twisted, mindless, but still operating on base instincts.

This one… was different.

"Doesn't matter," Leon said. "It wasn't chasing us. Either we got lucky, or it's waiting for something."

Riley let out a nervous laugh. "Waiting for what?"

Leon didn't answer.

Because he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

By the time they found shelter, the sky had darkened completely. A half-collapsed barn stood at the edge of a clearing, its wooden beams rotted but still holding together.

Leon stepped inside first, scanning the interior. Dust. Old hay. An overturned tractor rusted into the dirt. No bodies. No blood.

Clear.

"This'll do for the night," he said.

Travis and Riley collapsed against the nearest wall, exhausted. Eve sat down nearby, pulling a rag from her pack to clean her rifle.

Leon remained standing. Watching.

"You're not gonna sleep, are you?" Eve asked.

Leon shook his head. "Not yet."

She sighed. "Didn't think so."

The night passed slowly.

Leon sat near the entrance, listening to the wind shift through the trees, his pistol resting on his knee. Every now and then, a distant howl echoed through the forest, but nothing came close.

Travis snored. Riley shivered in her sleep. Eve stayed awake longer than she needed to, watching Leon like she was trying to figure him out.

Eventually, she dozed off.

Leon didn't.

His mind replayed everything that had happened. The fall of Bozeman. The fight at the ranger station. That thing in the trees.

He had been in bad situations before. Wars. Investigations gone wrong. People turning on each other when the rules stopped mattering.

But this was different.

This was the beginning of something worse.

Morning couldn't come fast enough.

The sun rose in a haze of orange and gray, breaking through the mist that had settled over the trees. Leon stretched, rolling his shoulders, the ache of exhaustion settling deep in his bones.

Eve was already awake, tying her hair back. "We moving?"

Leon nodded. "Soon."

Travis groaned as he sat up, rubbing his neck. "Tell me I'm dreaming and yesterday didn't happen."

"Nope," Eve said. "You're living in hell like the rest of us."

Riley pulled her jacket tighter around herself, looking around. "Where to next?"

Leon checked the map he had taken from the ranger station. There was a small town further west, Madison Valley, near a river. Maybe supplies. Maybe shelter. Maybe nothing.

But they had to move.

"West," Leon said. "We'll see if there's anything left."

They packed up, weapons loaded, and stepped back into the unknown.

The world was getting worse.

And it wasn't stopping