The Van Helsing Conjecture – Excerpt No. 269

With their target down they moved out from cover, and approached in a deliberate manner. Julia remained where she was with her shotgun in hand, but they did not take the shot. Clara was running at such a speed that she could intervene… Julia can’t take them on herself…

At this rate their movements were slow and laborious, like watching snails run the thousand metre dash in slow motion. Clara used the time to track the motions of the group, paying heed to where they were and how they behaved.

Their discipline was unreal, with barely any variance in their heart rate and breathing. What differed were their strides, varying based on height and size.

a moody, high-contrast cinematic photo of a young woman with long, dark brown hair, pierced lips, and a subtle smoky eye makeup, wearing a fitted black leather jacket, ripped blue jeans, and scuffed up combat boots, surrounded by a dozen hooded figures clad in dark, flowing robes with subtle crimson lining, their faces obscured by shadows, set against a backdrop of towering, mist-shrouded trees in the depths of a moonless forest, the only light source being the faint, silver glow of distant stars, with the atmosphere thick with tension and mystery, captured in a wide-angle shot with a shallow depth of field, emphasizing the subject's piercing green eyes and the rough, earthy textures of the surroundings.

Disclaimer: This novel is an work in progress and readers may encounter grammatical errors and inconsistencies. Please view this a draft and not a published work.