Then he found the carcass. It wasn’t the remains of an animal taken by a predator—Jacob had seen enough in the wild to recognize that. The wounds were too precise, unnatural. The body had been abandoned, not consumed. A chill crept up his spine. Something sinister was happening in the forest.
The final confirmation came when he heard the sound. A sharp, agonized wail cut through the trees during one of his morning runs. It didn’t seem natural at all. It was desperate, pained. His heart pounded as he followed the sound, but by the time he arrived, silence had taken over.