The oars dipped. Nathan pulled, and the boat slid smoothly through the water. He was getting close. There. The boulder. He steered to the edge and dragged the boat up onto the bank.

A narrow game trail led toward the rough camp. Nathan crept through the trees, his steps silent on the damp pine needles underfoot. At the edge of the clearing, he stopped and peered around a tree. A tent had been fashioned into an A by stringing a tarp over a rope and staking down the four corners. Food hung from a high branch on the other side of the clearing. Smoke curled from embers inside a circle of rocks.

But the camp’s occupant was nowhere to be found.

Disappointment and panic whirled in Nathan’s belly. What if he couldn’t find enough sacrifices in time?

He would wait. Eventually, whoever lived here would return. Nathan pulled the Taser from his pocket. Best be ready.

Boom. A shotgun blasted through the quiet woods

Nathan dropped to the ground facedown. He hugged the back of his head as leaves and bits of bark rained down on him.

“Who goes there?”

Nathan rolled. A grizzled old man stood on the trail behind him. His hair and beard were gray and long and nearly as dirty as his threadbare military fatigues. Nathan raised the Taser and fired. The old man was more agile than he appeared. He jumped behind a tree. The Taser barbs fell to the forest floor.

The shotgun boomed again. Bark exploded above Nathan’s head.

“I’ll kill you. Motherfucking aliens. I’ll kill you all.”

Boom.

Nathan heard the sound of shells being shoved into a shotgun. He scrambled to his feet and ran. Pines needles and branches whipped at his face as he darted through the trees. The next boom was farther away. He didn’t slow until he reached the lake’s shore, then he wasted no time pushing the boat out onto the water.

This time he opted to use the small outboard motor.

Stealth was no longer an issue.

Steering the boat to the south, he took stock. No injuries, but the fact remained that his mission was a failure.

Time was running out.

Tomorrow he’d have to venture south, to the more frequented areas of the Lake Walker, where he was sure to find people. There was a chance he’d be seen and possibly recognized, but if he didn’t succeed it wouldn’t matter.

Risk be damned.

No matter what happened, tomorrow he was filling his cages.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN