In the cold, closed room, a foul atmosphere reigned; no one uttered a word, or at least no one saw the point in doing so at the moment. The situation was very serious because there was a strong chance that an as-yet-unknown creature was roaming the area around the camp, and that made everyone uneasy.
Carine, as the leader, will have to make many decisions, and in the meantime, who knows when this thing will happen?
But the most important thing at the moment was to gather information of any kind; that's why she brought in the only scout who had survived.
Everyone was seated while KODJI was still in the corner examining the photos; suddenly, two people entered, very stressed and anxious.
"Franck! And Alen! I'm so glad you're still alive... I know you witnessed a lot of horror during your last outing... But you must explain everything to us in detail."
The two men who were standing trembling must have been between 30 and 35 years old respectively; they were wearing only simple clothes and had a frail build. As if he couldn't eat, their complexions had also become pale and their eyes filled with fatigue and dark circles; in short, he was in bad shape, both physically and especially psychologically.
"I don't know if... if I remember anything concrete... It all happened so fast, didn't it, Alen!!"
Her friend, who was nearby, shook her head, trembling.
"Yes, the creature was fast and..."
Carin stopped them and sighed with deep regret; he was sure he had seen something, but he was still too frightened to dwell on that painful memory.
"Very well, you can go! We're not going to force you and..."
Yannick, furious, completely lost it. He stood up abruptly with a burning expression and eyes.
"CARIN!!... You're kidding me, right?! The camp is in danger and they must have crucial information to give us!! And just because they're too traumatized, they mustn't reveal it!!..."
In the atmosphere of anger that was only intensifying with each passing second, Denise intervened to separate Yannick and Carin.
"This isn't the time to get angry like this; we have more urgent things to worry about, you know."
"I know that!! But guess who wants to protect the mental health of two random people! Miss Chief Carin!"
Carin's gaze was becoming increasingly wounded and angry; he was sure that Yannick's words had struck a nerve, and if no one intervened, the situation would only worsen.
"Tell me !!..."
Then KODJI began to speak in turn, and when he joined the discussion the atmosphere became tense, in the sense that it was the others who should be listening to what he had to say.
With a blank, neutral expression, he approached the two men, stared at them for a moment, and then stepped back to sit on the table.
"I'd like to know... If you're aware that if this thing enters the camp, you'll be the first one thrown to the slaughter; with any luck, it will be satiated.And others will be able to flee, just as you did."
At his words, Franck and Alen stopped breathing for a second and stared at Kodji with indescribable fear.
"Don't worry, it's quite logical; she was already on another prey, so she didn't have time to chase you. Your flight is understandable."
He approached them slowly; with each step, you could feel the heaviness and fear emanating from Kodji. How was that possible?
"That's understandable, but if she ever comes back because you refused to tell us everything you knew, you'll be the first to be devoured by her, and I'll make sure of it. Personally !"
Upon hearing his words, they instinctively backed away until they were leaning against the wall behind them; their expression was even more serious than when they had entered the room.
Kodji was about to continue but was stopped by his sister
"Kodji!! That's enough! I'll take care of the rest... Please!"
He looked at the floor and ceiling before placing his hand on the back of his neck and sighing, then took the last free chair and pulled it back to the corner where he had started. He then took some photos to examine them in detail and sat down with his legs crossed.
Carin, for her part, watched him with a sad and disappointed expression, then turned back to the two men with a cold stare.
"Listen! You know what this is about, what's at stake... So please speak up."
Alen, the smaller of the two, mustered his courage before stepping forward and glanced briefly around the corner of the room before quickly looking back at his initial field of vision.
"I... I'm going to talk, but I don't guarantee that what I'm going to tell you will be of great use to you."
Carin smiled slightly while the others were already ready to listen to her.
"When we went outside to see how the biters were moving around, something greatly caught the chief's attention."
Each of his words was heavy and his voice was hoarse, but he continued
"Chief Daniel had noticed that many of the biters seemed to be devoured by something unknown, as you saw in the photos, many of the biters were still alive."
"And could you tell us the reason why they weren't killed?"
He simply shook his head in refusal.
"The flesh!!"
Everyone turned towards Kodji
"What do you mean by that?"
He stepped forward with some photos to support his claims, and brought his chair with him.
"If you look closely, the flesh of these biters is either completely rotten or putrefied, which by definition makes them inedible."
Michael took a photo and stated that the flesh was in poor condition.
Denise then replied
"That's all well and good, but where does the connection lie?"
"Look! Between this photo and this one, you can't see any difference.?"
It was time to get closer to the photos and give his opinion.
"This one is completely butchered while the other just has its stomach cut open."
"Yes! It seems he didn't enjoy the meal."
However, Michael noticed an important detail and formulated a hypothesis
"This thing only attacks flesh that's still quite good; you can see in the second photo that the organs of the butchered one are still very red."
"Does that mean we risk being attacked at any moment?!"
However, Kodji wasn't finished yet. He took a picture of the moment the creature stared at them and showed it to Alen and Franck.
"Tell us what happened before he spotted you!"
He thought for a few seconds without reaching a conclusion and turned towards Franck, who was approaching the photo.
"To be honest, I don't remember anymore..."
Carin began to think aloud in her corner.
"There's a good chance they'll be attracted by sound rather than heat, since the biters aren't producing any more of it; it would be important to ask camp members to make as little noise as possible."
She called over one of the guards who was outside to give him the information.
"Go tell everyone to make as little noise as possible, we're in a crisis situation."
The guard, if you could call him that, nodded and hurried out to pass the information on to the different blocks.
Although the meeting seemed to be drawing to a close, Kodji asked one last question.
"You will be able to describe it?!"
They nodded with a pained expression
"Yes, more or less,"
"Very well, I'm listening."
He had his arms crossed and his ears listening to what he might say.
Initially, it was Alen who spoke.
"I know she was very tall and quite thin too, you could see her spine protruding slightly from her back, her arms were also quite long..."
"I remember that when he attacked us he was so fast that in the blink of an eye he had disappeared and was already attacking us again."
Alen and Franck took turns explaining things in a rather complicated but understandable way.
"I remember that when he attacked us a second time, it was Chief Daniel who saved us. He pushed us aside to allow us to dodge, But he injured his leg when he fell back down.
"What happened next was terrible. The thing... it spoke!!"
Hearing this information sent a chill through everyone; it was unthinkable, how could she possibly be talking?
"You're joking, I hope!!"
They looked at each other before asking for the camera.
"This isn't just an image sensor, it's also a camera; that's what the owner told us before we parted ways... He's the one who took the photos."
"You mean he took a video of the events?!"
"Let's hope it's just."