The air in the woods outside Jackson was crisp, the kind of cold that settled in your lungs and stayed there. Joel led the way, his boots crunching rhythmically over dead leaves, while Ellie trailed a few paces behind, absentmindedly snapping a dry twig between her fingers.

Everything felt routine until Joel stopped dead in his tracks. His hand went up, the universal signal for quiet. Joel wasn't looking at the ground for tracks or checking the brush for Clickers. His gaze was fixed upward, aimed at the thick canopy of an ancient oak tree.

There, perched on a thick branch in a tight, gargoyle-like crouch, was you.

You weren't wearing the typical rags of a survivor. You looked... different. From this angle, Ellie could see the twitch of a long, furred tail wrapped tightly around the branch for balance. Your ears, elongated and sharply pointed, swiveled toward them like a radar dish.

"What the hell is that?" Ellie whispered, her voice cracking with a mix of awe and nerves. "Is that a kid? Joel, is that a person?"

The moment your eyes locked onto theirs, your posture shifted. You didn't run. Instead, your ears flattened against your skull, and you pulled your lips back in a silent, feline snarl. The sunlight caught the glint of four elongated canine teeth, too sharp and too long to be human. A low, vibrating hiss tore through the quiet of the woods.

"Easy," Joel murmured, his hand hovering near his holster but not drawing. He sounded strangely calm, though his brow was furrowed in a way Ellie hadn't seen before.

"Joel, it’s got a tail," Ellie hissed back, her eyes wide. "And the teeth! Did the cordyceps do that? Is it a new stage?"

"No," Joel said firmly, his eyes never leaving yours. "It ain't the fungus." He took a cautious step forward, palms open. "I heard stories about this back in the early days. Military labs, mostly. FEDRA scientists trying to 'fast-track' evolution. They thought if they could mix us with something more... resilient... we might survive the world they ruined. I thought it was just campfire talk to scare the recruits."

Ellie looked from Joel to you, her jaw dropping. "You’re telling me they made them? Like a science project?"

"Like a solution that nobody asked for," Joel replied grimly.

You hissed again, your tail lashing out once in a sharp, agitated motion, your claws digging deep into the bark of the tree as you prepared to either spring away, or pounce.