“Remarkable…” Luhan muttered as he brought the book closer to his face, studying the picture that Tao and Kai had pointed to after bringing him over.

“Isn’t it?” grinned Kai happily.

The image appeared hand-drawn next to the ink-smudged writing, and although the pages had been worn with age, it was unmistakably a depiction of the bite that Lay had received on his thigh. Or, probably more accurately, that some other unfortunate soul had found on himself after spending a night or two in these woods long ago. Luhan traced the twin etchings with his thumb before turning to the text that was written alongside the drawing.

“‘Skinwalker…’” he read the unfamiliar word aloud. “‘That is what Mr. Yu referred to the monster that attacked us as.’ Does that ring a bell for either of you?”

Tao and Kai both shook their heads as they leaned forward to read over Luhan’s shoulder. Luhan didn’t recognize the name either, so he continued to scan the page, reading about this mysterious other group’s encounter with the Skinwalker, whatever that was.

“‘I’m not sure that any of us believed Mr. Yu at first; instead choosing to tell ourselves that the Skinwalker was a being created simply by legends and imaginations gone wild. However, many of our opinions changed when Youngsik awoke on the second day with a bite - illustrated below - on his left shoulder.’”

The account was chilling to read, and Luhan felt his hands getting clammy; the similarities to their own situation continuing to dawn on him as he kept reading.

“‘After many hours of waiting for medical assistance to arrive, Youngsik became delusional and aggressive,’” he quoted. “‘The skin surrounding the bite darkened and appeared to rot before peeling off in sections. This revealed… matted fur beneath Youngsik’s flesh, which was attached to a twisted, spindly frame that slowly emerged as the infection spread. At this point-’”

Luhan stopped and covered his mouth, unable to go on reading about what was very likely happening to his friend at the hospital as he spoke. Kai took the book from him and continued in a shaky voice.

“‘At this point, Youngsik had lost all semblance of his humanity, and had to be restrained by one of the expedition members, who had experience with knot tying. Cloth restraints were easily broken out of, which mandated the use of thick, woven rope to secure Youngsik’s hands and feet. After about two-and-a-half days - at which point all hope for medical intervention had been abandoned - the transformation appeared to be complete.’”

The text ended at this point, so Kai turned the page once again. What he saw made him cry out and drop the book, which landed heavily on the uncarpeted ground.

“Is that…” Tao drew back and away from the second drawing, hiding behind Kai.

“The Skinwalker,” said Luhan simply.

The image was that of a horrific and distorted creature. It was vaguely canid in appearance, but that was mainly because the only recognizable feature was a gnarly, elongated snout - from which a series of jagged teeth protruded. The rest of the body was bipedal, but by all accounts looked like it should be in jeopardy of snapping at any moment. The torso could hardly be referred to as such, as there was almost nothing but a thin layer of dark skin and patchy fur covering the thing’s ribs. No muscle tone, no body fat. It was practically a skeleton that didn’t look like it should be able to support itself. The arms and legs, too, were bent at awkward, impossible-looking angles. The creature was drawn lying on its back, the restraints visible, and in incredible detail. It must have taken hours to sketch the intricate face alone; especially the eyes that were pure black and b with malice.

“That’s… what Yixing is turning into…?” squeaked Tao. It was less of a question and more of a fearfully resigned statement.

Neither of the other two men answered him, and they all sat like statues for a moment before Kai leaned forward to read the last few words that accompanied the second picture.

“‘We have decided to keep Youngsik for the time being in order to make whatever further observations we can regarding him and his condition. He has not slept, nor has he had anything to eat or drink for three days. Hopefully the party that was sent to look for help will return soon - with or without medical aid - to assist in the decision concerning what is to be done with Youngsik. I fear that it is too late for our friend, as Mr. Yu informs me that not even he has actually seen one of the beasts being created; nor does he know of what to do in the event of a transformation such as Youngsik’s.’”

After this, the writing stopped, only to be continued in a shaky, jagged script much further down the page. Only two words were written here, and they appeared to be accented by a dark red smudge of blood.

“He escaped.”

«««

“What are we going to do?” breathed Tao. “What in the hell could we possibly do?”

He, Kai, and Luhan had flipped through the book with the hope of finding some sort of answer or resolution, but the frantically scribbled message seemed to be the last thing written in the diary. The pages before the description of Youngsik and the Skinwalker were mostly filled with normal illustrations of plants and animals as well as the occasional journal entry about a particularly interesting outing. The author appeared to be an explorer, or perhaps a naturalist of sorts, and he frequently went on camping expeditions throughout the surrounding area. Tao didn’t know what had become of the man, but he could only assume that it was nothing good.

No one attempted to answer his earlier question. They were all spread out on one of the couches, Luhan in the middle with the leather book firmly planted on his lap as he continued to search for some kind of clue that could help them save Lay.

“Say, have either of you seen Chen or Sehun?” Kai asked after another few minutes of listening to Luhan flutter through the book. “They haven’t been in here for a while.”

Luhan stopped flipping pages and looked up at Kai as he realized that he hadn’t heard from the other two men for quite a few minutes. The cabin had several connecting rooms, but it was still relatively small; there shouldn’t have been many places for them to hide.

“Jongdae?” he called tentatively, shifting the heavy book onto the couch beside him as he stood up. “Sehun?”

Luhan’s heart thumped so loudly that he was sure that Kai and Tao could hear it as he made his way over to the last door he remembered Chen disappearing behind. Tao picked up the leather book and followed after him, with Kai trailing not too far behind.

“Jongdae?” Luhan called once again, his hand hovering above the doorknob.

He turned it and the door opened with a creak to reveal an empty space that looked like some sort of mudroom. On the opposite wall, however, stood another tall entryway; this one open to the outside world.

“Jongdae! Sehun!” cried Luhan as he burst through the swinging door with Kai and Tao right on his heels.

The three of them spun around, searching in all directions, until finally Kai spotted something against the side of the house.

“There!” he yelled, rushing toward a huddled shape behind the bulkhead at the opposite end of the cabin.

«««

When they reached the small metal structure, Luhan saw that it was indeed Chen who was crouched next to the house, with Sehun to his left. In front of them on the ground lay a third figure - this one shivering as it looked up warily at the three new men.

“Xiumin?!” Luhan gasped as he got a better look at the curled up man.

A low groan escaped the older man’s lips, and Luhan noted that there were several bruises on his tanned skin. Aside from the intense shaking, nothing else appeared to be physically wrong with him, which was a relief, but none of this answered the question of what the hell he was doing here.

“Did he follow us here or something?” asked Kai, keeping his distance so as not to startle the already frightened man.

“I don’t think so,” answered Chen, still crouched near the bulkhead. He tried to reach out to Xiumin, who shrunk away from his touch but didn’t protest when Chen started ruffling his hair. “He’s dirty and there are leaves in his hair. It almost looks like he was out here all night.”

“But that’s impossible,” laughed Luhan nervously. “Minseok came home with the rest of us - just this morning. This can’t- he couldn’t possibly be…”

“Guys,” whispered Tao. “I don’t think this is Xiumin.”

“It has to be,” countered Kai. “Why would a Skinwalker get all… beaten up like this?” He gestured to the purplish bruises covering Xiumin’s arms and legs. “Why wouldn’t he be attacking us right now?”

“Skinwalker?” Chen repeated, curious.

“We found a book inside the house,” explained Tao as he held it up. “We think that’s what this thing is called. Or at least, that’s what the author of the book called it.”

“I still don’t understand why he’s not attacking us if this really is the Skinwalker,” reiterated Kai. “If he’s as aggressive as the thing in that guy’s journal was.”

“I think fully transformed Skinwalkers are a lot more subtle,” theorized Luhan. “They like to play games and be tricky. The one that was imitating Tao stayed with us for almost an entire night pretending to be him, and it only attacked Lay once it had our trust.”

“And even then it didn’t kill him,” added Tao. “It only left enough evidence for you to have a mystery on your hands.” He scratched at his chin a bit, considering something. “Still, I wish there was a way for us to tell if this is really Minseok or not.”

Wordlessly, Chen reached into the shivering man’s pocket, and pulled out his phone. The device was nearly drained of battery, but the screen still flickered to life when Chen pressed the center button. He scrolled through Xiumin’s texts, and passed the phone to Luhan to verify that it was indeed Xiumin’s phone.

“All his texts with Tao are here,” he said as Luhan took the phone. “I think this really is Xiumin hyung.”

“Obviously a shapeshifter couldn’t just make a cellphone out of thin air,” agreed Kai.

Luhan flicked through the phone, confirming that it belonged to Xiumin without a doubt.

“Just like when the one imitating Tao didn’t have the map with him,” added Chen.

“But then that means…” Tao started.

“You brought the shape shifter back with you,” finished Sehun.