One week has passed since Nikolais’ funeral, and while the somber reality is beginning to settle the team has not yet recovered. The current source of distress is distant, but ever growing: the noises have been getting louder . . . closer. The sounds used to originate in the distance, beyond the river. But now they seemed to have jumped the water, and could be as close to camp as a hundred feet out.
They only occur in the hours of sunset, and the first few hours of night. The sound is loud, shrill, and piercing. The closest thing it could be equated to is the sound of human screaming: high pitched and distressed. But it is a chorus, with definitively more than one origin. Fortunately, the sound is only coming from the field, and the mountain which the camp backs up to is silent.
Just last night, Julian was out ‘stargazing’ after the designated night hours. He believes he saw something in the field: movement. He couldn’t be sure what it was in the dark, but it was not the wind, for that night it was calm and breezeless. He describes it as a quick flickering of movement that disturbed the grass suddenly. Perhaps, something small running through the grass. Anna suggests that one of the mice may have escaped, but has no explanation for the sounds. Because of their proximity encroaching on camp, Anna has mandated that no one stay out after sunset.