Several miles from the city, Michael and the others came to a stop on the side of the road, somewhere along the highway.
From inside the truck, Michael looked at the forest at the side of the road and asked. "Is it far from here?"
"Not far, just a couple minute walk. Though we should hurry since it's getting dark." Natasha responded to his question carefully.
Michael nodded and looked at Glenn and Nolan behind them. "You two stay here and watch the truck. Me and Daryl will go check it out with her."
"Okay." Glenn didn't have an objection with that arrangement since he understood why.
Michael and the other two slowly alighted from the truck. Michael looked at Natasha who was already shivering from the cold and felt a little concerned. "Are you gonna be okay?"
"I'm okay. It's just a little colder tonight I guess." A forced faint smile touched Natasha's lips as she pulled her jacket closer.
Michael sighed and took off his coat and handed it over to her. "Take it."
"But what about you?" Though surprised by his actions, Natasha hesitated to take the coat since she can feel how cold tonight is.
Daryl, on the other hand, just sighed and immediately grabbed the coat from Michael's hand and gave it to her, saying. "Use it. Don't worry about him, he's got thick skin."
Then he turned around and looked at Michael. "Come on, I'll take point."
Inside the forest.
The woods were a wall of shifting shadows. Daryl led the way with a small flashlight in his hand while his other hand held onto his crossbow strap that's slung over his shoulder. Michael followed close behind, his own flashlight angled toward the ground to help Natasha navigate the way. She walked between them, her breathing shallow and rhythmic, her hands clenched so tightly in her pockets that her knuckles stood out against the fabric. Every small sound around them made her shoulder tense, but she didn't slow down.
Michael just slightly shook his head while watching her from behind.
As the night once again envelopes the skies, it took them a while to reach the location since Natasha had a hard time recognizing the terrain due to the darkness, they even got lost once.
"We're almost there. Just over that small hill." Natasha softly said while pointing towards the small hill ahead of them.
They continued moving in silence, the only sound around them was their shuffling footsteps and the natural noise of the forest echoing around them. As they slowly got closer to the location, the smell of something they can't explain slowly hit them, a stench that made their faces frown like they just got punched on their faces.
"Ugggh.." Daryl only grumbled and immediately covered his nose, compared to Natasha who immediately started retching when the smell hit her.
Michael also frowned when he smelled it, and when they finally climbed up the small hill and laid eyes on the scene before them. It made him immensely uncomfortable and the three of them had a shiver down their spine.
In the center of the site, a tripod of charred wood supported a heavy buck skull, its antlers draped in tangled hair and chaotically painted in the color red. Below it, a shallow pit of a burned area with charred remains of unknown origins.
The trio slowly moved closer to the site while illuminating their surroundings and finally saw symbols that were smeared onto the surrounding trunks in a dark, crusty red. Scattered around the fire pit, they finally saw the remnants of what would have been "offerings".
Daryl crouched down and started rummaging through the firepit with a stick in his hand. While Natasha who's standing a couple of meters from them looked lost with a blank stare on her face. Michael noticed her expression when the beam of his flash light briefly hit her.
"Are you okay? If it makes you uncomfortable being here, you can wait for us at the edge." The temperature outside is cold, but seeing her sweating in this kind of weather caused Michael to feel sorry for her.
Natasha turned to look at him and forced herself to smile. "Sorry, I just didn't expect that they'd leave all of these things behind, and seeing all of this reminded me of the scenes from that day. Those kids..they killed them here. They gutted them..like they were just any other animal and then burned them under that buck skull. They're not humans, they're worse than beasts."
After saying those words, she took the flashlight from Michael and slowly left the site and stood not far from them, facing away.
Michael sighed while watching her. He walked over and stood beside Daryl and watched him as he rummaged through the piles of ash and charcoal.
"How is it?" he asked.
"It's bad." Daryl turned up to look up at him briefly and responded. He slightly moved his body and showed Michael what he found so far.
"Here.." Daryl poked something at the ground. "It's several fingernails, or what remains of them. We can't determine if these are from children though, but it's certain that people died here."
Michael crouched down and picked one of the pieces of nails. There was an obvious shade of black on the surface, obviously from a fire and along the edges, there were also signs of melting.
He sniffed at it a few times before throwing it back to the ground. He stood up while still looking at the ground before turning to look at Daryl. "What do you think, does her story check out with just this?"
Daryl did not answer him and instead turned the light towards the buck head stuck on the metal tripod. "It wasn't the first time I've seen people and places that did or had stupid shit like this. Though, a human sacrifice would be a first for me. Besides, who'd waste their time setting up elaborate shit like this? I'd rather spend my time looking for food and a safe place to crash into."
"Hmm..since if this was a trap to lure us here, then I don't think they're doing a good job at it!" Michael yelled the latter part of his words, but the only response he got was the sound of the wind and the rustling of the leaves.
Daryl realized what Michael was trying to do and also similarly looked around them.
"..."
"Well, at least we know it's not a trap, right?" Daryl said after a short moment of silence.
Michael chuckled, a little embarrassed. "Come on, let's head back. I think this is enough to know she wasn't lying."
Daryl and Michael turned around and had just started walking back to Natasha when the former suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"Wait, can you feel that?" Daryl asked with a confused expression while looking at his feet..
"What?" Michael was confused at first, and in the natural noise of the forest, the sound of something pounding the ground got mixed in and reached his ears. He quickly turned towards where the noise was coming from, and it was getting closer by the second.
Now, it wasn't just him who heard it, Daryl also realized what the source of the slight vibration he felt earlier. Natasha also came running towards them with a panicked look on her face.
"Do you hear that? I think-"
"Something's coming, spread out and get ready to fight."
Natasha didn't get to finish her words when Michael cut him off.
"Ohh f*ck!"
As moments passed and the sound coming closer, they finally saw it emerging from the darkness, and Daryl immediately let out a cuss when his eyes laid on it.
A sword was descending on Michael's head.