Last Female Sypher and Her Brother's Friends novel Chapter 172

Last Female Sypher and Her Brother’s Friends

Chapter 172

“Do you get the feeling they are running from something?”

“Looks that way,” I crouch beside a patch of disturbed soil and run my fingers through a hoofprint.

Fresh.

“Southbound,” Marcus says from behind me. “They’re moving towards the forest line.”

“It makes no sense. They’re going to head straight into the road, and after that there are only towns with small national parks in between,” The older hunter, Edwin, points toward a narrow game trail.

“That’s the third set we’ve found heading south,” Juno says. “It’s becoming a pattern.”

My stomach tightens. Two days ago, another hunting team reported the same thing. Animals don’t simply abandon established feeding grounds without reason. It’s also odd that instead of going deeper into the forest, then moving further out.

What do the animals see that we don’t?

“Maybe a predator moved into the area,” Ethan suggests.

Marcus shakes his head. “There is no predator big enough to push everything out.”

My wolf growls softly, agitated at this new discovery.

If the game is moving further, it means it will take hunting parties longer to hunt and bring back game. It reduces the amount I can get before the frost comes and makes animals scarce.

I rise to my feet. “We need to figure out what’s happening. I say we follow them until we have an answer.”

“Better to know than to guess,” Edwin says.

No one argues. It would be hard to know how many lives depend on our system to work.

The further we move through the forest, the stranger things become. Birds are scarce. Squirrels dart through the branches less frequently than they should. Even the usual sounds of the forest seem muted.

An uneasy silence settles over the group. All of us scan and check for signs of life and reasons for the lessening of it.

After another hour, we reach the river, and the smell stops me in my tracks. Instead of the light metal smell I’m used to, there is a pungent sulfuric acid with undertones of rancid gamy meat.

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10-16 Mon, Sep

Chapter 172

The mold to rwhelming Rot Decay Chemicals

My weit slams against Um inande of my mised, growing at the foularder and urging me to hack away from

Away From death.

What the hell? Edwin mutture.

The river is stained with a sickly gray–green tint. Hundreds of dead fish and frogs float near the banks.

Marcus kneels near the edge. “It’s been poisoned.”

“Careful. Don’t touch the water,” I warn.

I crouch beside the shoreline and study one of the fish. Its scales are discolored, the eyes are cloudy, and a thin film coats its body.

This explains it. Without the water source, the herd must have moved on, looking for another and going downstream, further into the forest, where the poison would likely flow wouldn’t be an option.

My wolf snarls. This was intentional.

I slowly stand.

“The river feeds half our territory. For the toxins to get this far, it must have been in the water for some time, which means the fish aren’t the only problem. Every animal that drinks from this water is at risk. Every predator that feeds on those animals,” Sebastian says.

He doesn’t have to say the rest as the grim look reflects on each of the warriors faces.

Our stores are at risk.

We could have contaminated meat in our mountain, feeding our packs, our families.

“It’s the assembly, who else would stop it from trying to weaken our numbers before a true fight begins?” says Marcus.

Shit. He’s right

Kade curses. “We have to get back to the mountains to warn them.”

“We should collect samples to bring back first,” says Juno. “We can’t fight what we haven’t identified. My sister Yara is a scientist; she

could help.”

“Good idea,” I say.

“Everyone empty a water bottle and take some of the water, the solid, and any mineral you can find near the plants or animals by the

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