Argus: Urgh!
Argus: Sure, the file said there'd be blood and fur, but ...
Argus: This is something else altogether ...
Argus: Am I seeing things?
The reality is more horrendous than any she could imagine. She closes her eyes and opens them again, yet the scene remains unchanged.
The blood is already dry, yet the odor is strong enough that it stings the air as she approaches.
Argus: retches Damn it, that's real blood.
Argus: Everywhere ...
Argus: These old stains ... they're oxidized human blood, but this fresh stuff ... it's not from a human.
Argus: Ugh, a skinned hare.
She tries her best to recognize the bodies from their shape.
Argus: Ugh! vomits
Argus: Who skinned these animals? They've done nothing to preserve them. Smells like hell warmed over—
Argus: Urgh!
Argus: But ...
Argus: This is a lot of fur. Could be more than what that hunter brought yesterday.
Argus: All I know it was a huge bundle. Looked like they were from large game too.
Argus swallows another candy so she can examine the fur more carefully and compare them to her memory.
Argus: Hares, deer hide, bearskins, racoon, dogs ... or wolves.
Argus: And fish too, though only the scales are left. Could be to reflect some light?
Argus: A veritable buffet of wildlife, but who told them skinwalkers like fur?
Argus: They've got their own.
Argus: But there ain't no blood or hair from Kayla. Good.
Argus: Couldn't ask for better news than that, really.
Argus: ...
Argus: Wait, this stain is fresher than the others.
Argus: Is that sheep's blood?
She doesn't approach the blood stain.
She already knows how sticky it is. She has felt it before.
A tanned-skin woman opens her arms, showing her sticky palms.
Blood and amniotic fluid stick to her skin and refuse to drop.
Argus: I don't think it's gonna work, Kayla.
Kayla: Why? You were doing so well.
Kayla: This'll be the last lamb. You gonna do it or leave it to me?
The girl smiles, with anticipation in her eyes.
Argus: Look at my hands.
Argus: I think that's gonna be a no.
She shrugs her shoulders, shaking some of the blood off her hand.
Argus: But I still don't get it.
Kayla: You said that's life, I understand that.
Kayla: But if we don't help it get out and stand like its siblings ...
Kayla: It ain't gonna make it. Its mama will stay here to protect it, and then they'll both get gobbled up by the skinwalker.
Kayla: Weakened ewes are their favorites. They make for the best disguises.
Argus: A "skinwalker"?
Kayla: What? You don't know?!
Kayla: Say it ain't so ...
Despite her words, she's laughing.
Kayla: You really ain't never heard it? Well, then it's up to me to tell you.
Kayla: So, a skinwalker is ... hmm ...
Kayla: Let me put it this way. You ever got the feeling that someone you know was all the sudden replaced? Like they look the same, but they ain't, you know?
Argus: No.
Argus: My eyes see through things, you know. People, too.
She stands up, wiping her hands down on her worn, patchy jeans.
Kayla: chuckles
Kayla: But still, they might not be sharp enough to see through the camouflage of a skinwalker.
Kayla: They look the same as humans, but they can take the skin from living animals and use them like camouflage. That way they can get real close so they can eat them alive or turn them into their kind.
Kayla: They are the most feared hunter in the wilderness.
Argus: It's just a story. Even if it's real, ain't no monster can hide from my eyes.
Argus: And I've got your back.
Kayla: That's true. The one-hundred-eyed giant's got my back.
Kayla: Now let's help this little lamb, shall we?
Argus: That's right.
Argus: Ain't no monster can hide from my eyes.
The Picrasma candy begins to wear off again, and her sight fades.
She recalls the words again, as if she were savoring the candy's aftertaste.
Argus: "People will leave fur and flesh near the scene of the crime on the hottest days, hoping the skinwalkers will take their offerings and leave them be. But it don't help none."
Argus: "These monsters don't never stop hunting. It's in their nature. That bloody-red ox will be standing on its rear legs as it shows up that night, holding those furs dangling from its mouth like a banner."
Argus: "And it'll be a bloodbath all the same. Humans' and animals' bodies piled together."
Argus: "All living things treated equally, no exception."
Argus: A massacre that lasted a long time ... "Humans' and animals' bodies piled together," just like this.
Argus: But it didn't work. People are still disappearing.
Argus: ...
Argus: I'll track it down myself.
Argus: Whether the bastard's a merc or a skinwalker, I'll find it.
Argus: Believe me, I will.
