Teams swallowed whatever questions they had as they ran inland onto the island. Within two minutes of the horn blaring, the groups had already secured whatever patch of land they could call their base of operations for the next thirty-six hours.

The ones that were slower still argued over territory or debated if the "north" they were following was actually that direction.

Ash’s team was out in the open, still deciding where to camp. He watched two teams collide near the north entrance to the island’s forest, but both seemed to realize they were in the same alliance, and each ran off in a different direction.

"We should stay on high ground," Alina said. "The lower ground will expose us more to other teams."

"And what of the cold? The higher elevation will leave us exposed," Alexis responded.

Alina slowly raised an arm and pointed to the blanket Ash was carrying. "We can deal with the cold with those. For now we need to secure a position before another team ambushes us."

"Or wildlife," Ash added.

"No beasts dwell upon this isle. Thou speakest folly."

"She’s right," Alina said, taking Alexis’s position. This island is uninhabitable, no human or animal population lives here."

Ash’s gaze turned to a small tree, which looked like a fight had taken place around it. He let out a deep breath and continued trekking behind Alina and Alexis.

After walking through the forest’s elevation, they found themselves on top of the western ridge of the island. Ash could recognize some of the island’s ambient Shade readings, as if someone or something used to live on it. It didn’t feel threatening; rather, it seemed protective, the way a mother bear guards her cubs.

From their spot on the western ridge, Ash could make out six teams that had claimed the eastern section of the island. In theory, the area was more secluded, but that very seclusion drew multiple teams with the same idea. Three more teams were already making their way there.

Ash’s team set up between two large boulders. They pushed them back and forth to check if it would roll over on them in the middle of the night. After another hard push for reassurance, they were satisfied and began distributing their resources.

A sharp strong breeze blew against them, causing a few of their food rations to fall over.

"Alexis is right," Alina said, shivering. She looked the worst off between the three of them in her sleeveless compression top. "We should have purchased another blanket, maybe two."

"The coldest nights," Alexis said, pulling her cape tighter, "are known to strip the warmth from even the most stout-hearted of constitutions." She brought the cape even closer.

"That’s the most plainly you’ve spoken all event," Ash said.

"Suffering simplifies the tongue," Alexis said.

"Regardless..." Ash said, still thinking about that tree from earlier. "We need to plan how we’re going to advance."

"Fourteen points may not be enough to see us through to the next round," Alexis pointed out.

The sun was beginning to set, the cold of the night making open movement all but impossible.

"Most teams are going to do the same thing, assume others won’t move on them during the cold night," Alina said.

"Right," Ash continued. "Everyone will be on the defensive in the spots they’ve taken. We would be walking into a den where they have the advantage."

"Tomorrow, we shall have our points!" Alexis said in a battle cry tone.

The night was now fully upon them. Without Ash’s Shade reading, visibility was only limited to an arm’s length in front of them.

Just after, a Shade signature kept Ash from going to sleep. It was present, but that was the beginning and end of it. Other Shades Ash could always find additional information about them. The heat, the shape, anything.

This didn’t. It just remained present.

"Hey," Ash said, poking Alina and Alexis. "Hey, hey, hey. Wake up."

"Mmm, is it my turn to keep watch?" Alexis said.

The signal to the Shade signature was getting closer, and his hunger didn’t so much as want to touch it.

It always did this whenever a Shade signature interested it. Through walls or during his sleep it would do this. This Shade was like trying to carry water with two open hands. There was nothing to seize or hold, because nothing about it could be held.

"Something’s here," Ash said.

"A person?" Alina said, rubbing her hands.

"I don’t know what it is," Ash responded. "But it’s not a person."

Alina jumped to her feet in one simple movement, taking the blanket off Alexis with her. Alexis slowly got up, hiding her body behind Alina whenever she stepped.

A putrid smell hit their noses first. It smelled like decaying moss with a top note of rotting organs for good measure.

And then, the figure began to move.

The dark already limited visibility, but Ash thought it wouldn’t have made a difference in the light. It was like the shape was moving, snapping back to a previous position, then back to the location it had moved.

Proportions were harder to track. It was large. Large was all Ash could think of. It didn’t necessarily have any humanoid parts to at least make a figure out of. But above all, it didn’t make a single noise or sound throughout any of this process.

It wasn’t moving toward them, Ash saw.

It was moving towards their tarp and blankets.

Ash did his best to step between it and their supplies, but it easily relocated itself to continue straight towards the tarp. Ash stepped again, and the figure reconfigured itself around Ash.

"What is this thing?" Ash yelled out.

He didn’t wait for a response. He slammed a gravity field onto whatever mass he saw in front of him. The feedback connected; Ash could feel the figure’s weight staggering under the pressurized gravity, but it didn’t feel like it was stopping. It continued its path straight for the tarp.

Ash extended the gravity further to two times the baseline. The creature continued to stagger, but it was able to continue moving despite this.

Alina hit the ground by the bottom of the creature. Her palm caused the terrain to slightly jag upward, stalling it momentarily. But that was all it did.

"Don’t move!" Alexis yelled out. She raised a hand, and the terrain around them began to shift slightly. The creature momentarily stumbled over itself but then self-corrected.

By then the creature had already found its way to the supplies.

Ash, Alexis, and Alina all froze in front of the creature. Its body, for lack of a better term, incorporated each unnatural object it touched. First it absorbed all their food rations, then the water filtration kit. Finally, it absorbed their tarp and blankets, making it seem like they had never set up shelter at all.

When it finally finished, the figure retreated, having fulfilled whatever task it was meant to do. It didn’t attack the three students, who stood shaking in the cold. It moved back through the clearing toward the tree line at the same pace it had arrived.

The smell lingered long after it was gone.

"What—Ha—" Ash was speechless.

"I don’t—" Alina was too.

Alexis looked more upset about not having any food than the emergence of this creature.

Alina surveyed the damage, or rather, tried to find what wasn’t damaged. The small divot in the ground they created from the tarp was cleared. The crater Ash made through his gravity fields was restored to the original island’s setting when the figure turned around.

Ash tracked the Shade’s signature as it faded into the distance. It hadn’t disappeared; it only moved on to its next target to restore. What was more disturbing was he picked up three other signals of the same texture, each at various spots across the island.

"There’s more of them," Ash finally said.

"How many?" Alina said after some time.

"I don’t know," Ash said.

She held his gaze for a moment. Then she looked at the rock face behind them.

"What I do know is I think we’re safe," Ash added.

Alexis and Alina didn’t know how to respond.

"How?" Alexis demanded.

"We have no food or shelter, and the temperature is still going to fall. How are we safe?" Alina said.

"We are safe from that thing," Ash corrected himself. "I don’t feel any of them coming our way. And if we went after our resources then—"

"The same ending shall befall our enemies," Alexis said softly.

"We can survive the night if we bundle for warmth. One of the subjects in the satellite campus was for survival in areas like this. Alexis has her cape, and you have your hoodie, if we bundle for warmth, we can make it through without freezing."

Alexis clenched her cape close to herself, wrapping it as tight as it could go around her body.

"I think I’m good," Ash said, taking a seat propped against the rock. "Besides, there’s someone coming to our spot."