A track’s end
“Come on! Keep up!” Jeremy leapt over a bush in the dark forest, urging his two teammates: “The track’s really fresh! We’re close!”
“Calm down! You’d spook it!” Wei, the cameraman of the crew cautioned, pushing some bushes away while almost tripping on a tree’s roots. It was late at night, the moon was covered by the clouds, the visibility was all crap. But it’s not like he had a say in the matter.
“Wait for me!” Alex raised his voice, he was Jeremy’s assistant, and the one to carry the miscellaneous items, including the emergency kit, snacks, water, batteries, various other tools. Everything a cryptid hunter influencer would need when they’re on a “hunt”.
Yes, this was a hunt. They brought cameras, just to record their process and capture footage. It was totally not an attempt to keep their audience interested and monetize their views.
They were not hoping for much when they first went on this trip after receiving a tip from one of their long-time viewers. This was not some regular bigfoot or yeti, but a landprey, not lamprey, but landprey - a kind of eel-dog hybrid that had been circulating in the cryptid hunting forum they frequented. From all the pictures they saw, a landprey should have the rough size of a German Shepherd, with a long neck and an actual lamprey-like head.
From what they could tell, the first sighting of landprey was about half a year ago, by a mountaineer vlogger with not many followers. Then some more sightings occurred in the following months. More people began talking about it. It had everything going for it as the next cryptid sensation, so it would be unwise to not capitalize on that.
“Looks like more marks of slime, we’re onto it!” Jeremy, being the above average tracker, exclaimed with a suppressed voice to Wei and Alex while showing them a small leaf he picked from the ground: “You see this? The glowing parts? Slime, and it’s not even dry. So it must not be far. ”
Wei nodded along as he kept the focus of the camera on Jeremy. Alex asked from behind the camera: “So - where do you think it is? Where is it going?”
“I hope it’s not going deeper into the woods, that would be hard for us.” Jeremey shook his head: “However, judging from the information we gathered so far, it probably wouldn’t. A lot of posts mentioned that it’s drawn to light when in the dark, so it won’t go very far from the edge of the forest. The only thing I’m worried about is that it may go into the water - it’s part eel, after all.”
“Aren’t you worried about getting attacked? It’s got lamprey-like teeth and - some posts mentioned its size can be bigger.” Alex asked again.
“Well then.” Jeremy chuckled: “Guess it’s time to find out who’s on the top of the food chain. Let’s go!”
The group pushed onward. Jeremy gradually slowed his footsteps, for he found more slime and footprints on the way. They were definitely getting closer, for the marks appeared to be fresher, and all three of them could smell a distinct fishy stench in the air. What else would leave such a smell in a forest but for a half-fish creature?
Jeremy was filled with more excitement with each mark he found. He almost screamed when his flashlight shone upon a patch of bloody trampled grass to his left.
“Red! Still wet.” Jeremy waved his fingers in front of the camera after rubbing them on the grass and giving them a quick whiff: “Salty smell, still lingering fishiness, definitely not from some random animal - I guess it’s injured. This could be good AND bad news. Let’s go.”
They pushed on, with slower, lightened steps. More visible tracks were revealed under the flashlights - bloody footprints, slime marks, and eventually leading to a messy scene where some kind of fight happened.
“Oh no, that’s not good.” Jeremy knelt down by the scene, running his fingers through the grass and the dirt covered in blood stains.
“I think we’re close to the edge of the forest.” Alex pointed forward: “There’s lights there. ”
“Shit.” Jeremy stood up to check out the lights in a short distance: “No! This can’t be happening. Someone else might find it before us!”
That would no doubt be the worst case scenario, so they picked up speed and followed the trail of blood and slime. As they did, the lights were also closer with each step.
“Nononono - no! No!” Jeremy finally saw where those lights were and on what kind of building they were installed. The trail of blood and slime led to the giant metal receiving door at the back of the building. An old, dirty and rusty billboard hung right above it.
“Old Wu’s Wild Game and Seafood.” The billboard read.
“Five stars for taste, one star for horrifying menu items.” Wei muttered the most memorable review he read of this place.