***

  Perimeter status remains nominal (Ops shorthand for nothing has killed us yet today.)

  In the last six months I’ve logged: a handful of antlered rabbits the size of motorcycles, three varieties of carnivorous plants (one with a too-mobile vine network), a flock of birds that scream like small children when they hunt, and something in the marsh that was big enough to pull a deer off the shore but too fast for us to get proper visuals.

  Most threats here don’t act like monsters. They act like wildlife that has never learned to be afraid of people. That makes them worse in my opinion. You can’t intimidate a thing that doesn’t understand where we fit on the dominance hierarchy, and you can’t negotiate with something whose idea of territory is “everything I can smell.”

  The scouts are holding a circle about 5 km around the village. Keeping roads clear and threats away from the village is priority number one. Losses have been within an acceptable range considering what we are trying to do here.

  Recommendation remains unchanged: Increase the number of bodies we have. Keep patrols moving.

  It is also important to remind ALL staff, not just the new guys, that yesterday’s map doesn’t necessarily apply today, and just because something didn’t attack them once does not mean it won’t next time. (Elan Smythe is still recovering from the hit he took from those rabbits and has days to go before he’ll be back on his feet.)

  Operations Log, SHIELD

  Outer Perimeter & Scout Coordination

  Lt. Pavel