Morphing a wolf alongside Cassie and Marco, since the three of them were going to be acting as observers on the ground while Rachel, Jake, and Tobias keep a lookout from the air, Tommy controlled his breathing as he made the changes. It was good to know how well they'd have the place covered, but Tommy still couldn't help feeling uneasy. Maybe it was the way that something always seemed to go wrong on every mission they'd been on ever since this fight of theirs had started.
Or maybe it was just the same kind of uneasiness he'd always had before a fight.
Setting off with Marco and Cassie, deeper into the forest in their search for the Yeerks and the compound they'd set up, Tommy caught sight of bright lights, shining through the gaps in the trees, as the three of them crept closer to the compound. The compound itself was a large, two-storey building made of thick logs, and the only windows were on the second floor, all of them dark.
The first floor, by contrast, was windowless and washed out by the floodlights mounted on top of the base.
Tommy found his eyes aching slightly, as he, Cassie, and Marco all made their way through the trees and closer to the compound. There was a wide space of scarred earth, covered in stumps closer to the remaining tree line, cleared and churned up by the treads of the tree-cutters and Earthmovers sitting close to the compound itself. Tommy stiffened, catching the scents of guards, just before one of them came into view.
(Okay, this does look kind of extreme for a logging camp,) Marco said, as the guard passed out of range and the three of them stood up.
(Yeah,) he said. (There's no way they need that many guards just to cut trees, even in a national forest like this.)
(Are you getting anything from inside the building?) Marco asked, looking from him to Cassie and then back again.
(No,) Cassie said, ears cocked as far forward as she could get them. (Not from inside the building, at least. But I am smelling something, some kind of animal smell. I can't tell what it might be…)
(Hork-Bajir?) Marco suggested.
Tommy, who had been keeping at least one eye out for any trouble that might have been coming, sniffed the air, turning his head back and forth, paused. (Guys, where are the guards?)
