The people were gone this time around.
And while everything surrounding the pond seemed quiet, it was an eerie silence, the type he always felt when great danger and death were looming.
He could sense it in his fingertips, the sensation making the hair on his well-muscled forearms stand on end, raising his heartrate to fight-or-flight levels.
Carefully, he peeked his head above the small incline behind the pond, making out the assortment of fresh footsteps leading away from there.
His eyes narrowed when he saw a body float in the water right below his position, motionless. One of the peacekeepers, the first one he encountered, the younger, flightier one.
Surveying the area to be absolutely sure that he didn't have any unwanted company, he carefully walked down the incline, his feet barely leaving an indent in the damp soil as he made his way down to assess the situation.
Up above, a crow screeched in surprise and flew off, a silent witness to what happened while he was away.
Subconsciously, his eyes travelled back to the hole where the boy had lain for too long, the spot he had dreaded visiting since he saw it happen. And not just the spot, he'd dreaded coming close to the entire pond since that fateful day.
Nobody would ever know what kind of strength it had taken to return to the place of such a sinister past, and now doing so over and over again.
"Focus, Sergeant. Get to work!", a voice inside said, and his gaze drifted back to the peacekeeper quietly floating in the dark waters.
"Work…", he mumbled in response and waded into the knee-deep waters, his bare feet sinking into the silty ground below, the murky pond feeling thick with debris.
"Work…"
Using his long arms, he reached for the peacekeeper's boot, gently pulling him away from the center of the pond and toward shore, a handful of rotten twigs and thick layers of algae following him along.
When he was close enough to the shore, he grabbed the young peacekeeper by the jacket, dragging his body out of the stagnant water with surprising ease.
"Work…", he repeated once again, his feet digging into the soil as he marched toward the side of the pond, trying to find a safe place, away from prying eyes, the limp body in his arms leaving tracks in the ground.
It took some handling to finally drape the young peacekeeper's body across his shoulders, balancing his weight, as he backtracked, away from the horrible pond and toward a different spot altogether, a hidden one, a protective lair where they could both be out of harm's way.
His walk turned into a sprint, allowing him to arrive at his place within a matter of a minute, maybe two, his unusually rushed actions startling some warblers and sparrows feeding on pine seeds.
With the utmost gentleness, he laid the young peacekeeper out on the ground of his lair, brushing the wet hair away from his face, immediately noting the blue hue to his lips.
It wasn't the first time he'd come face to face with the process of dying and he knew it wouldn't be the last. Nature was unforgiving, crude, hostile to those who messed with her.
But he had challenged her before, and would do so now.
In the past there'd been times he'd won, sometimes he'd failed. Mostly, his attention had been on birds or small critters who had fallen into the pond, not necessarily humans.
Then again, there was a part of his past where he'd done the same to humans, saving them; and it was the part he had to wake up now, whether he wanted to or not.
"Get to work, Sergeant. You are thinking too much and doing too little.", the stern voice said again, guiding his right hand around the young peacekeeper's throat and squeezing it slightly, his calloused hands unable to find signs of life beneath the cold skin.
"You gotta get the systems going and the water out of the pipes, son.", the voice ordered, explaining the situation as though he was attempting to fix a car.
"Work…how…", he mumbled, growing more exasperated the longer he stared at the still form at his feet, his troubled mind refusing to come up with the answers he knew were hidden within, the knowledge that could make a difference when he needed it the most.
"Don't worry son.", the voice in his head replied evenly, "Just relax and let me guide you through the process."