CHAPTER 7

The forest met Isaia with the same ease and carelessness, not paying attention to his condition, nor to his emotional swings and experiences. The silence and audible sounds of wild animals, as before, did not bring anything positive, but at least there were no threats from law enforcement agencies.

It was reassuring that the second poor fellow would be mistaken for a crazy person if he told about the events that happened to him, namely about the strange death of a man standing next to him, who suddenly began to be overwhelmed by unexpected changes and who eventually seemed to be torn apart from the inside.

There was no sound of an explosion or scattering of scraps over a long distance, as if the explosive had been placed inside a living person, but still it would be hard to call the death of that individual a calm and ordinary death.

All of this leads to the conclusion that hardly anyone would suspect Isaia, if he left and did not appear here again, because there is not that much adequate lighting nearby, not even poles or other places for installing CCTV cameras.

Of course, all this time there was a feeling that another Truman Show was being filmed, which caused a considerable amount of dissatisfaction and negativity, but still he wanted to believe that the Hollywood joke would turn into something painless and without negative consequences.

As someone who had just woken up in the middle of nowhere, the events that had occurred were somewhat unexpected and all too rapid for the young man. Before he had time to recover, he'd already witnessed a rather violent and bloody scene, to put it mildly. There wasn't even time to reach human community, and try to find out the circumstances of his own case, as the first meeting didn't turn out to be the friendliest.

And also this hunger with the desire to satisfy it as quickly as possible seemed an inhumane appeal to any reasonable person. Such feelings made Isaia think that what had happened earlier was not quite real and he was imagining it all, doubting the reality of his surroundings.

If this all turns out to be a cruel joke, he will have more than enough reasons to sue those who bully him like this, with a fairly decent probability of winning the hearing in his favor.

Plunging into the embrace of the forest, Isaia lurked at one of the roots of a fairly large tree, which served as a hiding point, because it was enough to sit down and if no one looks closely, or didn't know in advance that a person was there, then no one would notice presence of a person there.

What followed were long minutes of observation, eyes searching for anything that could be threatening. In particular, it was about human presence, which was due to the possibility of persecution or other surveillance.

Of course, we shouldn't forget about the forest itself, the sounds and noise of which spoke of the obvious presence here of not only small animals, but even representatives of the canine family.

He didn't want to convince and console himself with all sorts of excuses, but the howl that sometimes echoed throughout the forest clearly did not resemble a neighbor's puppy howling out of boredom. No, there was a rather long and deep howl, which most likely would be difficult for a pet to imitate, which means there was a considerable chance of bumping into a wolf here, or even several.

Fortunately, Isaia clearly remembered that, unlike large cats or even bears, wolves are not famous for their ability to climb trees.

If someone experienced was nearby who heard the thoughts of the young man, he would condemn him for stupidity and ignorance. Many animals are distinguished by fairly high perseverance and tolerance, often waiting under a tree until the exhausted victim gets tired and comes down on his own, either from helplessness to continue holding himself on the tree, or from trying his luck and playing catch-up with the wildlife.

Isaia didn't want to get carried away thinking about all the probabilities, Murphy's Law had not been lifted, but as soon as he remembered this detail, his mood sank even further. It was as if he was trying to cause trouble, because every mention of it increased the possibility of expecting those negative consequences.

What really required personal involvement was reflecting on what had recently occurred. Putting aside thoughts of hunger and all that surrounded him, Isaia gathered his wits to take in the details of what had just happened.

If he wanted to sort things out and deductively come to conclusions, then the behavior of the people he met becomes an important starting point. Without delving into the language barrier and aggressive behavior, what began to happen after metamorphosis with one of them spoke of several variations.

Being a man of a flexible and insightful mind, as a cost of his profession, it was impossible not to pay attention to the behavior of the escapee. The fact that he ran screaming and panicking indicated that the situation was unusual for the average person. For Isaia himself, such behavior was also within reason, but he also had doubts that he could not get out of his mind.

The blood on the body, which gave a sense of familiarity, spoke a lot about the strangeness of everything that was happening. Of course, being a person whose mental acuity was at a fairly high level, allowed him to quickly understand and accept the situation, but there was still a heaviness inside, due to the emergence of some not entirely pleasant conclusions.

There were three logical variables and probabilities, at least those that Isaia came up with. Firstly, this unfortunate leper was sick with something not very pleasant and lethal, which manifested itself precisely at the moment of their integration. After COVID and all the bacchanalia that was going on in the world, few people will be surprised by this. Secondly, a long-range biological weapon was used on him, and then again, greater and stranger things have happened before, this incident will not be an exaggeration. And finally, the most ridiculous of all possible explanations is magic.