Mine, Bitten

Chapter Eleven

         Lily

          They parked the jeeps in a relatively dense and shrouded area that strayed from the road.

            As Lily stepped from the vehicle, a sudden wind swept through her clothing, straight to the bone. She shivered and pulled her fleece closer together as her eyes drew instinctively to the mass of forest looming beneath the moonlit sky.

            She knew very little of the Carpathians aside from that neighboring towns and villages called it their 'Green Pearl'. She could see how the mountains had earned its sobriquet. Thick, lush greenery flourished in all angles, covering the forest floor like a blanket weaved of grass, leaves, and tangled roots. Meadows and valleys nestled between jagged rocks and towering mountains, gently flowing streams, and swift rivers divided terrains.

            A brilliant, silver moon hung from above with an occasional obscured cloud drifting lazily by. It was all so very beautiful, and so unlike her world back home.

            Lily...

            She stiffened as if the word had been whispered at the nape of her neck. She turned and found nothing but Ward's men moving anxiously around the jeep.

            When she turned back around, Ward watched her gravely.

            "Reed!" He called sharply, jarring her from her reverie.

            A man, whom she suspected to be Reed, appeared at her side, "Professor?"

            "Have you assembled your team?"

            Reed nodded, "Yes."

            Ward gave a curt nod, "Good, good. Stick to the trails and move up the mountain. Call on the transmitter if you have anything, understood?"

            He gave another nod and Lily watched as Reed joined his group and the five of them vanished into the night.

            "We're separating?"

            "To cover more ground." Ward replied flatly as he attached a transmitter to his belt.

            "These men-" she glanced at the five crowding the jeep, hoisting shoulder bags and handling tranquilizers, "-have they done this before?"
            "Yes."  He said as he attached items to his belt; she noticed one in particular, a small black bag, dangled loosely from a loop.

            "If this is illegal or an animal on the brink of extinction, I want no part of it."

            He inhaled deeply through his nose and pegged her with a sharp glare. "I assure you, it's nothing like that."

            "Than-"

            "Soon!" he exclaimed his face flushing red and startling her.

            Her stomach knotted with tension as she stepped away from Ward and watched the men finish unloading the jeep.

            The moonlight glinted off something strapped to a man's waist, and when her eyes settled on the object, her stomach turned with unease. A large and jagged knife hung from the man's belt and as she studied the others, she noticed, they too, all carried a similar looking knife.

            She grew more leery of their assignment when they revealed the cage. It was the object she had spied earlier and now that she caught sight of it, noticing its size, her fear turned to dread.