Her bright eyes lowered to the ground, finding that a prevailing fog had rolled in off the waters of the lake while she slept. It was dense and obscured the ground below in a sheer, white mist. At first, she wasn’t concerned. She knew that as it warmed up, the fog would inevitably disperse and clear away. It was only when little noises began to tease her ears that she began to get uneasy. For several hours it had been silent, and the sound of twigs snapping and the brush rustling below and off in the distance was almost easily dismissed as a trick of the mind. Was it really shuffling she heard, or was it a figment of her imagination after such a long stretch of silence? She might have believed that latter if it hadn’t been for the reactions of the others around her as they readied their weapons. Ava did the same. Through the scope of her rifle she couldn’t see very much, and was forced to rely on her senses—like Josh taught her when he wrapped a blindfold around her eyes and had her aim the barrel of her gun in the direction of the sounds he made. It was a drill she hadn’t anticipated having to reference so soon.<br/><br/>The sporadic symphony of sounds were coming from the lake where wild, guttural noises filled the air. They were equally animalistic in nature as they were human, making her uncertain as to whether they would eventually come across a parasite or the infected. A soldier’s voice came through on the com, quietly announcing his contact with a target. Not moments later, a gunshot rang out. Though the target had been eliminated, the sounds continued. Again and again, contact was announced and shots were fired. In the zone to the left of her, she heard crunching. As she narrowed her scope in the direction of the disturbance, she could only see the dark silhouette of what she could only assume was a man. He straddled the two zones, hers and the soldier perched in the tree a ways down from her.<br/><br/>Ava’s finger hovered over the trigged as her nanites calmed her, making her hands steady and her breathing even. The only thing they couldn’t regulate was the chatter in her mind, overanalyzing the infinite possibilities of the target she was about to bring down. The sounds it was making tugged at her heartstrings. It was as though it was being tormented, and it groaned in anguish as it dragged its feet. She wanted to put it out of its misery, but the fact that there was a mind in that shadowy body, struggling to be free of the endless hallucinations did make her hesitate. A few long seconds after the figure staggered further into her zone, she took a breath and moved her lips to indicate to her position and target. “L4, contact . . .” With that, she squeezed the trigger. The target went down and she lowered the rifle, able to see the vague, but still, black blur ahead of her in the fog. “Single target, down.”<br/><br/>She had little time to reflect on her first kill. There was quite a bit going on around her, and her undivided attention was devoted to the close observation of her respective zone. When things finally began to die down, they were informed that the presence of hosts was merely a test of their defenses. It wasn’t a surprise to her. Of all the parasites, Toxaplasma were of the most organized.<br/><br/>After hearing that the targets were retreating, and that they were on high alert, she awaited further instruction. She hadn’t expected action so soon, but it was somehow preferable to the silence that resumed. The sun finally touched the forest floor, making the fog thin and eventually disappear. Ava looked ahead of her, eyes landing on the body that she had downed. The man’s skin was almost gray, likely in the early stages of decomposition and decay. His eyes were red, bloodshot from prolonged periods of mental manipulation. All she could think about was the possibility that the man had a family, or if someone was out in the world searching for him.