Jack noticed Shanna's restlessness and chimed in, "Super, chief. But can we all do whatever we're doin' and get on with it?"
Emily nodded in agreement, and Paul led the way through the woods towards the clearing he'd mentioned. As they walked, Katie's eye was caught by a splash of color in amongst the dry leaves. Bending over, she saw it was a scrap of cloth. Picking it up, she looked it over before glancing to Shanna.
"Hey, check this out."
Shanna took the scrap in a long-nailed hand as Katie offered it to her, turning it over in her hand. Her nostrils flared, and she could smell something musky on it.
"That's just weird, Katie."
"Eh, somebody was probably just partying too hard," Jack quipped as he passed them.
"Yeah," Paul replied. "Some folks get some booze in them and just turn into...animals." There was a downturn on his last word as he stopped in his tracks, looking over the clearing they'd finally reached.
Scattered about were larger scraps of cloth, some obviously from the same shirt as the scrap Shanna held. The tents were in disarray, nylon shredded by what must have been claws. Shanna's gaze darted about the clearing, her senses going wild as she spotted some dark reddish stains in the dirt, and on some of the clothes.
"Oh my God," Katie said in shock. "What happened here?"
"I... I don't know." Paul stammered.
"I don't think I want to know..." Emily murmured.
Anna was silent, striding into the clearing. Looking about, she nodded her head a moment before speaking.
"Relax, it's not human blood."
"Huh?" Emily said in confusion at her friend.
Shanna's nostrils flared again, and she found herself walking across the clearing as she gathered her wits about her once more. "No, Anna's right."
She continued sniffing, going where her nose led her, circling around the ruined tent. Behind it, she spied a deer carcass, most of the meat stripped off. "It's just roadkill, guys."
"Damn," Jack said as his unflappable demeanor returned. "Didn't think they'd go this far for atmosphere. That's pretty awesome when you think about it. Almost got me. Almost."
"Yeah right," Paul shot back. "You almost needed another pair of pants. Almost." He chuckled.
Jack grinned back. "Man, no respect. I tell ya."
Shanna walked back over to the middle of the clearing, trying to shake the scent of the blood from her head, as well as the other scents that seemed to pervade the wrecked campsite and threaten to distract her. She gave a nervous smile to Anna as she neared.
Anna was breathing fairly heavily, clearly agitated though not speaking up as to why. She finally did find her voice again as she looked to Emily. "Well we should leave it like we found it. Let it be someone else's scare, right?"
"Works for me," the strawberry blond replied. "Kinda creepy anyway. Let's move on."