Morning felt fake.
Fog hugged the ground like guilt.
Rohan went to check the perimeter.
He froze.
"Guys…"
In the mud were footprints.
But wrong.
Too many joints.
Like fingers pretending to be legs.
The prints were deep.
Wet.
Still moving slightly.
Aditi whispered,
"Why are they… breathing?"
The soil inside the footprint rose and fell.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Sameer's face drained of color.
"It follows heat," he said.
Maya frowned.
"What kind of animal follows heat?"
Sameer didn't answer.
They heard chewing sounds from the trees.
Slow.
Wet.
Personal.
Rohan lifted his camera and zoomed.
Something tall unfolded from behind a trunk.
No fur.
No face.
Only stretched black skin and too many elbows.
Its head bent sideways like a broken antenna.
When it noticed them—
It smiled without lips.
Rohan whispered,
"…That thing skipped evolution."
The creature twitched.
And vanished between trees too narrow for its body.
The forest exhaled.
Blackwater had noticed them.