"Any sign of them?" Devon asked Alex over the communicator. 

"Not yet sir. I have my men searching throughout the swamp-" 

"I don't want excuses, Alex. I want answers." Devon cut him off, "It's not the loss of Inhumans that bothers me, but the circumstances. We are in a dire situation. A sword is hanging above our necks. We cannot afford to make any mistakes now or it would be the last mistake we ever make. I don't care about what happens to me, but Gary is innocent in all this and I have to ensure his safety before anything else."

Alex couldn't muster a reply. He knew Devon had already given up on himself but he wasn't going to give up on his son. Especially after dragging him back from the afterlife. Still, this wasn't the leader he wanted to serve. The leader he knew would never give up on himself and give his attackers a run for his blood, but now... It seemed as if Devon was only waiting for someone to arrive and kill him. 

"Understood sir. I will find the culprit behind-" 

"Sir!" Ajek's voice roared behind Alex, once again cutting him off. But this time Alex wasn't pleased with it at all. He never liked getting interrupted but now things were getting on his nerves. 

"WHAT IS IT!?" Alex roared back, viciously looking at the rest of his platoon. 

"W-We found something..." Ajek mumbled but his half-assed reply only made Alex madder. 

"I KNOW YOU FOUND SOMETHING, YOU FCKING MORON! I'M ASKING WHAT DID YOU FIND?" Alex's mood got progressively worse and worse. 

All of the soldiers there were stunned. In all the years they had known Alex, they had never seen him so enraged. They couldn't recognize Alex anymore. Just like Alex couldn't recognize Devon. With every passing moment, things were getting worse. 

Alex realised what was going on and immediately calmed himself down. The life in the swamp coupled with the stress of being attacked was getting on his nerves and it wasn't a good sign. He had always been calm and collected but now... He was just a mess. At that moment Devon's voice echoed from the communicator. 

"It's not you." He mumbled, "It seems your mind is adapting to the personality of the lizardmen. Always lashing out at the littlest things. I suggest you leave the rest to your soldiers and come back and I'll run some tests on you."

"Understood sir." Alex ended the call and went ahead to see what Ajek had found, "A treehouse? Here in the middle of the swamps?"

The others were as confused as him. A few thought that since the soldiers frequently patrolled this area, they might have made it to rest there briefly. But this theory was quickly debunked. Because Ajek was on one of the patrol teams as well and this was his first time seeing the treehouse.

Moreover, no one could've possibly bent the trees in such weird shapes. As insane as it sounds, he felt as if the trees had changed their shape on their own free will. But he didn't call Alex to lay his eyes on the treehouse, but on what they found inside. Something he thought was more disturbing than watching lizardmen go all rumpy-pumpy with each other. 

Alex walked in through the doors then he stopped.

Stunned. 

The floor of the treehouse had been painted red by blood. There were numerous corpses inside. Two of which belonged to the people they had been looking for. It was a vigorous task to recognise their bodies from the pile. Especially after seeing the condition, they were in. 

They weren't murdered... They were annihilated. It felt like their killer wanted to erase them from existence. While they were still in shock after seeing the condition of the corpses, a drop of something fell on to Alex's forehead. He looked up... only to be shocked once again. 

Something was written on the ceiling... With blood.

'You're next.'

That was all. Those two words sent shivers down the soldier's spines. Cold sweat began dripping down their heads. Alex and Ajek were the only ones who managed to keep their cool. It was clear that whoever attacked them wanted to get in their heads and mess it up. Otherwise, they wouldn't have left the bodies there along with the message. 

Alex's soldiers started mumbling among themselves. But the mumbling soon turned into full panic mode. Some were abnormally silent while some couldn't help but puke their guts out, mixing it with blood. 

"That's enough." Alex's voice snapped most of them back to reality, but still, the nauseating image was printed within their minds. 

"What kind of sick f*ck would do this?" Ajek mumbled while squatting down next to Alex. 

"The one who doesn't give a crap who he's going up against." Alex replied, "Get the body bags. We're bringing the two with us."

As instructed, two people immediately pulled out the body bags placing the corpses inside. Or whatever resembled human anatomy. 

Alex might have said the sight was disgusting but it was far from the worst he had witnessed. You see, he had been by Devon's side for the longest and thus he had seen lots of inhumane things that the so-called leader did. Including massacring his own men to make the ultimate soldiers. Even going as far as resurrecting his son while sacrificing hundreds if not thousands of innocent. 

He thought being in Devon's company had made him... Heartless. Then why was his heart so viciously pounding against his chest as if it wanted to get out of his body? He had no idea who was coming after them but he seriously doubted that they'll be able to stop them. Forget about them, even the lizardmen wouldn't be able to stop the person who had marked them as their enemy. 

Once the men were done packing the dead, Alex signalled them to head out. Unbeknownst to them, they weren't alone as they thought they were. Someone was following them like their shadow, the shadow of death.