Field Notes: Week 6 – Deep Recon

Rumors are going around. Something’s going on in the 5th arrondissement. What exactly, we aren’t sure.

We captured a raconteur—barely more than a scavenger with a knife and a bad sense of timing. Under some “encouragement,” he told us the cultists are moving. Entire groups heading toward the 5th, chanting their prayers to the forest.

Whatever’s going on, we need to know.

And I drew the short straw, along with Anton and Louis. The task is simple, get there and report back anything that seems significant. 

The first few days were uneventful, but as we press deeper, things are getting…stranger.

By the fourth day, we started noticing changes. The trees seem different, taller and more twisted.

And then there’s the shadows.

I thought I was psyching myself out. But Anton saw them too. Flickers of movement at the edge of our vision. Yet when we stopped to investigate, there was nothing.  No tracks, no nothing. 

We found them on the fifth day. It was Louis who spotted the bodies first. Five cultists, sprawled in a loose circle near the remains of an old fountain. Their garments were torn and filthy, their faces frozen in terror. Whatever did this, I hope we don’t run into it.

We made camp in an apartment block nearby. 

That’s when the dreams started. Dreams that seem to pull me toward something.