Hybrid (12 page)

“We're not going to fight today. I'm not looking to encroach on your territory. I'm just passing through, big fella.” The detective held his hand straight out and lightly exhaled in the cat's direction.

The animal quickly caught his scent as the air carried his spoor. The cat sensed no fear, and did not smell any standard prey scent. Without warning, the cat crouched down low—it felt something. At the same instant, a feeling of dread passed through Erik. Somehow, the sun seemed imminently darker. The cougar howled and hissed as it backed away from something unseen. Erik stared hard into the woods in the direction that the cat was staring, but could not see anything. The cat slowly retreated, and then broke into a full run in the opposite direction.

Erik's body began to tingle and he felt goose bumps run up and down his arms and back. He was being watched. Someone was out there in the darkness. Now that the distraction of the cougar was gone, his heightened abilities could sense it. He turned back to where the cat had looked and knew that the source was there. As he made the realization, the surrounding woodlands became even darker. He saw some movement coming toward him quickly.

“That's far enough, friend,” Erik shouted loud enough to be heard by the figure. It still advanced. Erik's senses were shrieking. It was the same feeling he had when he was led to the park earlier; his senses all sprang into full combat alert. Bioelectric impulses sent signals to all parts of his body. Erik's involuntary nervous system responded, as trained, to the potential threat. Erik quickly tugged the other pistol from its holster and both Wilson's locked on the intruder, following every movement, adjusting to every action. Every muscle fiber was prepared for action, but relaxed, not tense as most in this situation would be.

“I said that's far enough!” he warned again.

The figure was like an animated shadow, all black in appearance. It didn't move so much as it seemed to hover over the ground. Erik momentarily stared at it and admired the graceful, fluid movements it possessed. The creature passed into Erik's red zone. He warned one last time, and was ignored. It was then he saw the thing's blood-red eyes, and spiked tail whipping back and forth.

Both Super 45s roared to life, spewing hot metal-jacketed slugs at near supersonic speed and illuminating the darkness with the muzzle flare from both gun barrels. Eight bullets impacted against the intruder, causing a dazzling display of sparks as the slugs collided with its hide. The thing cried in pain and surprise. The shriek was something so loud and terrible it sent shivers down Erik's back. Erik stopped firing, but kept his guns aimed directly at the target.

The thing was bleeding some type of blue ichor. It touched a wound with its hand, and held up the stuff in front of its vacant blood-red eyes. Those eyes looked at Erik with absolute contempt and malice. Erik felt hate and the desire to kill emanating from it.

“What in God's green earth are you?” Erik whispered, staring at the hideous dark figure.

As sudden as the creature appeared, it simply vanished, slowly evaporating into the darkness. The sun once again was normal, and the eerie chill was gone from the early fall air. Erik slowly approached its position, guns ready to fire at the slightest hint of danger. The repugnant scent of decaying flesh even stronger, he advanced further and spotted the lacerated body of Carol Carlin, minus the jogging shoe he had in his pack.

“Good Lord, what the hell happened to you?” he whispered.

He heard the shouts of several voices in his radio responding to the sound of weapons discharge.

“Knight to base, I found our Jane Doe number two, deceased. We need a coroner team up here and someone better notify her family.”

“Knight, this is Patrol Two, closing on your position; we heard gunfire. Over.”

“Knight to all parties, we've got something out here besides animals. Over,” he began reluctantly, knowing the other people would think he was crazy.

“Base to Knight, would you care to elaborate? Over.”

“I wish I could. Something came at me; it was hovering near the body. Just make sure everybody is hot!” he urged. “There's something out here and it is a hostile, I repeat, hostile! Over.”

“Hey!” a voice came back over the radio. “Did our local ‘Grizzly Adams’ see a Bigfoot in the woods?”

“Just get up here and help me with this body. And for God sakes, watch your ass!” Erik responded into the radio.

“Don't wet yourself, local, we're almost there. Patrol Two out,” one of the Halls investigators replied

* * * *

Agent Henderson cursed as he looked at the map. He wondered how he had gotten turned around. Henderson decided to cut through the woods, hoping to get to the adjacent path and save time. He had been monitoring the radio and knew that a body was found. He also heard Knight panic over seeing something hostile.

Amateur. The worst thing you could get out here is a case of poison ivy.

He waved his hands at the swarms of flies that had been buzzing around his head incessantly since he began his foray into the forest. “Or maybe a billion mosquito bites,” he mumbled, amending his prior thought. He quickly realized that one should not wear cheap aftershave; it drew every blood-sucking insect for miles. To Henderson's misfortune, it also attracted something else.

The young agent fumbled his way through the thick scrub, sounding like a stampede of buffalo as he tripped and stumbled his way over fallen trees and saplings.

“Damn woods,” he muttered as he lifted his radio. “Henderson to base. Over.”

“Base here.”

“Base, where the hell am I? Give me a direction to the target. Over.” Henderson heard stifled laughter over the static on his radio.

“Base to Henderson, proceed North at 278 degrees, for 200 yards. That should take you to the next path, follow that path west. Belachek says that you can't miss the orange marker on the trail.”

“Thanks.”

“Base to Henderson,” his radio called.

“Go, Base.”

“Henderson, we have a girl scout here willing to go out and be your guide. Over.”

Henderson heard the laughs of the men who were at the Command Control Van. He keyed his radio. “Ha, ha, ha. Why don't you come out here and do this, smart ass.” He took a compass reading and headed in the direction he had been given.

As Henderson made his way through the woods, he noticed the temperature had noticeably dropped. He looked up at the sky, and the sun seemed to be dimmer than it had been moments before. As he continued on his way, he caught scent of something foul.

“Oh, God, what the hell died out here?” He spotted some strange blue stains on the ground, and knelt closer to examine the strange fluid. He quickly determined that this was the source of the foul smell. He touched the stained leaves with his finger and brought the substance closer to his face to study.

“Sulfur base. What is this shit?” he asked aloud.

He heard a twig snap, then footsteps. Henderson looked up in time to see the claws rake across his face. The force of the impact knocked him end over end. The agent got up quickly and felt his own warm blood flowing down his face. He looked into the face of something that wasn't human. The fear spread through him like wild fire. He went to draw his gun, but the thing slapped the weapon away with its long tail.

“What are you?” the agent shrieked in a voice filled with panic.

Silence was the thing's only response. It attacked again, moving with incredible speed as it jumped upon its intended victim. Henderson fought back with the ferocity of a man fighting for his life. He slammed a right cross into its face only to feel his hand creak as it hit a surface much harder than flesh and bone.

“Oh my God! You're not human. Get back,” he screamed in panic.

The creature grabbed the agent by the throat and held him in the air with one hand. Henderson responded by driving his left foot into the creature's midsection. The creature felt the blow, but shrugged it off easily. Henderson grabbed the creature's arm that had his throat to avoid being choked as his neck supported his whole body weight. He tried again, kicking at the thing, but his blows had little effect. He felt the blood supply being cut off from his brain, and it was becoming harder to breath. He saw black specs begin to appear in his vision. He was blacking out, having his life literally squeezed from him.

* * * *

It felt the human struggle against its iron grip; it savored every ounce of his sheer terror. The creature squeezed the primate's neck harder and was rewarded with a sickening crack. The man no longer struggled. It hung at the end of its arm with limbs dangling lifelessly.

It dropped the now bloody corpse and withdrew deeper into the woods. It needed time to finish healing. The man had caused it intense pain. It knew the primate's scent; it would find him, make him fear, and feast on that fear. It would not kill that man—not for a while. These soft, fleshy primates were fun to play with and they scared so easily.

* * * *

Erik stood over the body of the young woman, a gun in each hand. The adrenaline still coursed through his body from the previous encounter. He heard voices of other men converging on his location.

“Over here,” he shouted.

The two Halls operatives Nelson and Belachek arrived and made their way over to the body. They were accompanied by two uniformed police officers.

“There's an ambulance unit on the way with a team to take the body. Did you touch anything?” one of the officers asked.

“No,” Erik answered. He reached into his pack and handed the officer the sneaker he bagged earlier. “She's wearing the other one.” Erik walked away from the body as the others voiced their astonishment at the condition of the corpse.

* * * *

Erik sat alone on a large rock while the once quiet woodlands were now buzzing with activity. The medical team had removed the body by stretcher, and the police were combing the surrounding area for more clues. Nelson, the lead Hall operative, was speaking via radio to the van operatives. His face looked pale as he placed the receiver back into his coat. He looked toward Erik and walked to the shaken detective. Erik stood and met the operative in a small clear area.

“All right, Erik, I need to know what you saw.”

“It was weird,” Erik began. “It was like somebody put a filter over the sun then seemingly right out of nowhere this ... this thing shows up. I called out to it twice, warned it off. It kept coming faster. As it got closer, I saw its eyes, they were red, almost a blood-red. Its skin was black, not black like an African-American, I mean freakin’ Crayola Crayon Black. That's when I saw it.” He sighed.

“Saw what?”

“Its tail,” Erik replied. “I emptied eight rounds into the thing as it continued to charge me. It gave off a moan that sent shudders down my spine. Then, almost as fast as it appeared, it simply vanished.” He cursed, looking at the other man. “I know what you probably think, but I'm not nuts. I saw what I saw. Go look at those weird tracks, that blue shit it bled is still decorating the ground. I didn't imagine that,” he added defensively.

“I believe you. I also believe Henderson encountered it, too, although he wasn't as quick to react as you were.”

“What do you mean?” Erik demanded.

“Something attacked Henderson. His radio was locked on transmit. The boys at the van recorded the whole encounter. Whatever attacked him, he didn't think that it was human either. We got that much from the recording.” The older man sighed, and his shoulders seemed to slouch. “Henderson is overdue. He hasn't checked in for half an hour. I'm hoping you're not too shaken by your encounter to help me look for him.” He handed Erik a map with the missing man's last location.

“What about that chip thing we each got this morning; can't you find him with that?”

“It's no longer functioning; we're going to the last location lock we had.”

Erik stared at the map, visualizing the marked location. It was very close by—only a fifteen or twenty-minute walk through a thicket, a little under a mile. Erik paused momentarily and swapped the clips from each weapon with two others. These clips had blue bumper stops on them. Erik loaded each weapon with these new clips and re-holstered the guns.

He looked at Nelson. “45 supers—more ‘knock down’ power. Next time, it's not getting away,” he remarked, heading toward the woods. “Let's go find our missing man.”

Nelson nodded and followed him. The two broke away from the rest of the group and headed into the woods toward the marked location. This particular section of woods was heavy, dense with saplings and undergrowth. Erik had drawn both his weapons; Nelson responded by drawing his Glock 9mm. Erik stopped abruptly, his eyes closed. He opened his eyes and then looked back toward Nelson. Erik gestured with his head and both men continued forward.

Erik spotted Henderson's body first and pointed it out to Nelson. Both men approached cautiously.

“Check him out,” Erik said quietly. “I've got your six.”

Nelson nodded and approached his associate. Henderson's face looked as if it had been slashed by razor blades. His head was lying in a pool of blood. Insects and flies circled around the corpse. Nelson noted the awkward angle of Henderson's head in relation to his shoulder. The elder detective looked back to Erik, his face reflecting his sorrow, “His neck's been broken.”

“Look for strangulation marks, like our Jane Doe,” Erik suggested as he studied the surroundings

“Same thing,” Nelson replied after examining his fallen colleague.

“We have ourselves a problem,” Erik commented as he approached Henderson's body. Erik stared at the man's corpse; the left side of his face was literally sliced to shreds. “Sleep peacefully; may your final journey take you to a better place.”

“God-fearing?” Nelson asked.

“Not like you think, probably. Not in the typical sense anyway,” Erik answered evasively. “Somebody should say something though. No one deserves to die un-mourned.”

Nelson activated his transmitter and made the call. “They're sending the coroners team back up here. You can head back if you want; I'll stay with him,” Nelson offered.