Page 31 of North

But I did trust her.

“Jess.” I jogged after her.

“There you two are.” Jameson appeared, Kai beside him. Our squad leader’s brows drew together. “Did you take a swim?”

“A river wraith decided we looked tasty,” I said.

Jess’ back was stiff, her face set in unreadable lines.

“You both all right?” Jameson asked.

I lifted my chin. “Yeah.”

Jess nodded.

“We saw footprints,” I said.

“Show me,” Kai said. “Because we found nothing.”

We all headed back toward the creek. I kept one eye out for any more wraiths. They were usually solitary, but who knew what the monsters were up to lately?

Kai studied the print, then scouted around. “I found the trail!”

“Let’s move,” Jameson said.

The four of us took off at a jog into the trees. I ran behind Jess.

She didn’t once glance my way. Shit, I needed to apologize. I hadn’t meant to go Neanderthal on her. She really did mess with my head.

The trees thinned out, and we stepped over a fallen wire fence.

“Looks like an old farm,” Jameson said.

The field ahead of us was filled with long, overgrown grass. I lifted my carbine. Anything could be hiding in here. In the distance, I spotted a small, abandoned house and some old, rusted metal sheds.

“Sasha, any heat signatures?” Jameson asked, touching his ear.

“Negative, Jameson,” the comms officer replied.

We walked in a line through the grass.

“Kai, can you see anything in here?” Jameson asked.

“There are some flattened patches of grass.” Kai stopped, then pressed his palm to the ground and closed his eyes. A second later, he said, “They came this way.”

We kept walking. There was a hill ahead, topped with rocky outcrops.

“Where the fuck did it go?” Jameson muttered.

I took a step, and my boot sank down into the dirt, almost twisting my ankle. “Hell.”

Jameson spun around. “North?”

“The ground isn’t solid. Nearly twisted my ankle. Be careful.”

“The ground’s all churned up,” Jess said.

Ahead of us, the earth was all upended and fresh, the grass ripped up.

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