Rhys left the cabin with a frown, forcing his breathing to stay steady. Agitated voices, quick footsteps, and overlapping arguments drifted from the path leading to the chicken coop.
As he approached, the scene hit him with raw force. The coop was a wreck: the fence split in several sections, boards shattered and scattered across the ground, and dark stains on the earth that no one dared look at closely.
A few feed sacks had been ripped open violently, leaving corn mixed with feathers and entrails. Rhys didn't need to see more to understand why people were so unsettled.
Several stood around, talking tensely. As soon as they noticed him, a couple approached at once, searching for an answer or at least a steady voice to guide them.
"Rhys, who do you think did this?" asked a middle-aged man, his hands trembling.
"Could it be some animal that slipped in during the night?" added a woman, visibly shaken. "Though… we've never seen anything like this before."
