Elena crouched low behind a tree, her breath soft and slow. The men with flashlights were getting closer.
> "There's no one here," one of them said, shining his light toward the stream.
"Maybe it was just an animal."
"No. I swear I saw a girl here. Pale skin, strange eyes… just standing by the water."
Elena stayed completely still. Her skin still tingled from the earlier sunlight. Her hunger was quiet for now, but she knew how fast that could change.
After a while, the men gave up.
> "Let's head back. It's probably just some lost hiker or a prank."
Their voices faded. Their lights disappeared.
Elena waited. Then she stood up and looked around. She was alone again.
She walked deeper into the forest. She couldn't go back home. Not yet. But she didn't want to stay here either.
She sat under a tall pine tree, watching the moon rise.
> "I just want things to go back to how they were," she whispered.
But she knew nothing would ever be the same.
---
Meanwhile in France...
Hospitals were filling up. People were being rushed in with strange symptoms. Fevers. Shaking. And then… biting.
Doctors couldn't explain it.
The media stayed quiet, but someone leaked a video online.
> "This virus… it doesn't kill. It changes people. They lose their minds. Their bodies rot while they're still moving…"
In the background, a man screamed, clawing at the walls of a hospital room.
It had started.
The virus from Antarctica was now spreading in France.
---
Back in Germany...
The next morning, Elena woke up early. She was cold, like always, but not in pain.
She stood and looked in the direction of her village.
She missed her mother. Her brother. Her home.
> "Maybe I can just… watch from a distance."
She waited until the sun was low in the sky. Then she carefully walked near the edge of the village, hiding behind bushes and trees.
But something caught her eye.
A group of people were near the outer fence of the village. Two men and a woman — not villagers — were asking questions.
> "Locals reported a strange girl in the woods last night," one of them said.
"Middle of the night. Pale skin. No shoes. Could be a runaway, or… something else."
Elena's heart skipped. They didn't know it was her. Not yet.
But they were looking.
She turned and ran back into the forest before anyone could see her.
> "I have to be more careful…"
Now she knew something for sure.
She wasn't just hiding from her own hunger.
Someone else might be hunting her.
---