Spores

 Before descending the staircase, Albaric Corbin collects his belongings to start his day. Tending the farm is an all encompassing occupation so the sun hadn't risen just yet and he already had much to do. As he enters the dining room veering to the right into the kitchen a pass of exhaustion and aggravation falls on his shoulders. Of course age would play a role considering his 47th birthday is coming up in the fall, but he was a sturdy hard worker and this isn't normal for him during growing and crop season. Putting his disdain aside he makes his coffee as usual, an omelet, fresh fruit, and two biscuits and goes to the mail slot. The farther he steps through the house nearing the front door, a pungent rotten odor invades his nose causing him to gag. "What is making that smell!?" Checking the rest of the house the only conclusion he could come to was it was coming from outside and the mail hasn't arrived yet either. This smell stood out against the typical farm odor. This concerns him. Cattle mutilations aren't so uncommon nowadays. Bordeaux is very dense in farms, calves are due to being born and have fed many families for generations so he can't afford to lose any animals this early in the season. 

 Cutting breakfast short he grabs his tools and heads out through the mud porch and out the back door where the smell becomes thicker. He ran towards the small shed tying a scarf around his face, starting the engine of the tractor and driving down the path to the barn. The grazing field is empty and all of the fowl are nowhere to be seen, must be in the coops. Usually at least the roosters would be roaming the fence by now. He pushes on down to the barn, below it is a small creek where the cows cross over to enter the left side of the property. It's still not fully daylight so at a distance he couldn't completely see the dark tree line. What he saw though, looked off. There was a dark mass laid down in a shallow portion of the creek near the barn doors that slightly floated on and shifted with the water. The smell is stronger than it was a few feet away from the sight. Inhaling is painful at this point, but he didn't stop. Approaching the mass it became clear that it was one of the pregnant cows, but the stomach was stretched beyond the normal capacity and empty. Blood had poured from all her orifices and she tore abnormally. What was the strangest thing was it looked as if her carcass had been emptied from the inside out. No calf, no organs.

 Albaric stumbled back in shock. He hadn't experienced a mutilation in 5 years and never one this severe. Running back to his tractor he pulls out his phone to contact animal control and their vet but his phone was glitching, dialing random numbers, and typing. He gave up, obviously shaken he sped up the path to use his house phone. Still no other animals in sight. He reaches the house he races into the back door and grabs the wireless off of the countertop and dials. "I need someone to come check my cow and her pregnancy, something happened. It's not normal. I think it's a mutilation but worse than what I've dealt with before." He said, completely winded. "No, she was fine yesterday. She was getting close to being midterm with her calf." he paused. "Okay, thank you." He proceeds to call the veterinary office and leaves a request for a home check and before sliding the phone across the countertop, letting out a distressed sigh.  A few hours later, both animal control and the vet had conducted their examination, paperwork, and had left. They recommended getting a second opinion from other local authorities to make sure there wasn't foul play or intruders involved, but the only facts they could give him is that it wasn't a normal birth, the stretching and tearing was unexplainable, her carcass was emptied in an unnatural way, and to avoid touching her directly.