by Greg Ballan
"I almost feel sorry for those things," she whispered. "He'll tear them apart."
"No", Alissa disagreed. "They are the equal of his strength, but they are two. They will fight as a unit. He will still be hard-pressed, and need every ounce of his strength and skill to prevail, if he prevails."
Shanda looked over at her in alarm. "I thought that all of this was done so that he could destroy those creatures?"
Alissa nodded her head in agreement. "Yes, but the outcome of any battle is never certain. Humanity has been given a chance. It all resides with him now."
* * *
Hopedale Town Forest, 2:07 p.m.
"What in the hell was that?" Novacs swung his M-60 in a wide semi-circle.
"Don't know, but I almost wet m'self," Sparks whispered as he closed the scant three meters separating the two men.
Both men had heard a loud bellow that reverberated throughout the woodlands. Novacs heard the other men in his group of ten whispering amongst themselves.
"C'mon, people, let's keep moving. Look sharp. We're well into the unmarked sectors of this little wilderness playground. I want a continuous 360-degree sweep, side to side and up and down. Reports say that one of these critters is fond of the treetops. Let's not get jumped," Novacs announced as he urged his team forward.
The group of ten men continued their sweep deeper into the wilderness area, each one privately trying to identify what manner of creature could emit such an unearthly cry. None of them hoped that they would find out.
* * *
Bravo group paused for a five-minute break. They had been one of the luckier groups who crossed the two-plus mile body of water by boat. After seven hours, they were almost half-way to their objective.
The woodlands at this junction were most inhospitable. Briars and small saplings littered the forest floor, providing a near impenetrable thicket of underbrush for the hapless soldiers. The mosquitoes and black flies hung around the men in a merciless black, blood-sucking cloud that, at times, almost obscured their vision. One other group had radioed that they had located an old logging road and were following the road into higher elevations.
Bravo group was heading right up the middle, forced to machete their way through the heavier sections of underbrush. They were averaging about a mile each hour since the ground inclined, it was slow moving, but standard practice when conducting a search. The fact that they had to cut their way through the thick brush didn't make their journey any easier. Each section of ground had to be thoroughly covered before they could proceed.
The threat of the unknown creatures also made each man extra cautious. Each soldier could feel it in his feet and thighs as they made their slow ascent.
* * *
Brianna and her friends lay huddled together in a tight ball, attempting to share each other's body heat. The children had given up on any hope of being rescued.
Brianna, deep down, wondered what had happened to her father. She remembered seeing him locked in combat with the man-like creature at the park. She feared that he had been killed, or else, why wasn't he here by now?
The children had managed to sleep for a few hours. Sleep allowed them a temporary escape from their terminally dark imprisonment. They could hear their captors moving somewhere in the darkness, sometimes passing close enough to make the children shudder in fear, other times, they only heard a distant rumbling.
* * *
The Seelak awoke from its slumber and stretched its black-armored limbs. It needed to move, to escape the darkness of this place for a while. It carefully checked the eggs in its nest before slowly approaching the chamber's exit.
As it quietly departed the cavernous chamber, its feline companion quickly accompanied it. Together they traversed the deep tunnel that led to the surface and to the light. Both creatures leapt into the trees, and began easily moving from tree to tree, covering several yards with each leap as they made their way down the steep incline of Hopedale Mountain.
The felinoid saw movement below, and dropped from the trees like a speeding arrow. The silence of the forest was broken with a sudden muted shriek. The creature leapt back into the treetops, carrying a live deer in its jaws. Both creatures took delight in tormenting the creature, tossing it back and forth between them, relishing in its primitive terror as it was propelled helplessly through the tree limbs. Then, as quickly as the game began, it ended when the Seelak lost its grip on the creature and it fell crashing to the forest floor. Both creatures paused, stared at the lifeless carcass, and then leapt higher into the trees.
They had been traveling through the tops of the massive oak trees for nearly half an hour, almost relaxing, enjoying the light and fresh air when the Seelak sensed a disturbance. Its genetically heightened senses caught the spoor of primates. As it tasted the wind, it quickly noted that there were too many different scents for it to easily lock on a single odor. The felinoid growled cautiously. It, too, had picked up the telltale scent from the midday wind currents.
Both creatures sat near the top of a gigantic white oak tree that was nearly a hundred fifty feet tall, and over six feet wide at its base. They sat nestled inside the tree limbs, utilizing the large green leaves as cover and looking down for any trace of movement or strange sound that would give them a clue as to the primates' location. For several minutes, they sat unmoving, listening and sampling the now tainted air. A twig snapping caught the attention of both creatures. They quickly moved in the direction of the sound.
Silently, they traversed the treetops until they could see a group of primates off in the distance slowly making their way up the hillside. Both creatures tensed momentarily, then seemed to vanish into an inky liquid darkness. The darkness vanished, as did both creatures.
* * *
Richard Pendelton was tired. He had been up in his office all night and morning, getting e-mail from his corporate operatives informing him of the progress of his mission objective, and of the progress made by the armed bodies within the Hopedale parklands. Margaret had been on the other phone line getting calls from their family and friends.
Based on the latest communications, the teams should be encountering the creatures by now. So far, the soldiers were getting deep into the mountainside with no interference. Richard knew the Army now had three helicopters circling the search area. They had been informed the helicopters would be departing from Logan, but that bit of intelligence didn't pan out. Instead of tailing the helicopter group, his ship would have to arrive separately and head directly to the target.
Pendelton's Apache attack ship launched moments ago and was already en route, traveling close to 150 miles per hour. It would reach its destination within the next half hour or so, then the real fireworks would start. The Apache's orders were clear: Completely wipe out all traces of the tunneling and campsite. The pilot had orders to exhaust all ordinances during this operation. Pendelton also was informed that the ship's M-61A Vulcan Cannon had been armed, and would shoot down the other Army helicopters if they interfered with the operation.
Richard was nervous, the kind of nervous that made the pit of his stomach ache, and tensed every muscle in his already aching back. He had a throbbing headache that settled behind his eyeballs and felt like someone was driving an ice pick through his skull. His entire life and future rode on this operation. Everything his family had built and entrusted to him was on the line right now – a massive financial empire that spanned two continents, several businesses and investments, as well as his own personal wealth and freedom. If he failed, he would lose everything. But if he succeeded, the cost would ultimately be his soul and his conscience, and at this point, he had chosen the latter. His soul – he really didn't believe that he had one. His conscience he could, eventually, learn to live with.
Thus, the choices were made. All that remained was to sit back and witness the unfolding of events and be there for his wife, once news of her daughter's demise was finally determined. Richard did care for the child, somewhat, but his darker self reali
zed that she had to be sacrificed so his empire could survive, so that he could survive. To him, nothing else mattered.
* * *
Bravo group paused momentarily. Each man was busy adjusting various equipment and pouches. There were several sounds of Velcro refastening, and canteens being either opened or closed. Private Douglas noticed the sudden appearance of a dense patch of blackness, a black so deep that it seemed to dull the midday sun.
"Sergeant!" he shouted. "We've got company coming."
The ten soldiers snapped to attention, locking their weapons on the spreading blackness. The temperature around the soldiers dropped considerably, sending an ominous chill down the spine of each man.
"Fire!" somebody screamed.
The woods filled with the sound of heavy weapons fire. Yellow tracers hurled into the black abyss, intermixed with armor-piercing M-16 rounds and the more potent high-velocity M-60s. They heard something shriek with rage over the sound of their weapons as the men continued to focus their fire on the black apparition. Something moved inside the darkness, and the men could see sparks from bullet impacts.
"Pour it on!" the sergeant screamed.
They weren't aware of the second blotch of darkness that opened up directly behind them, so focused were they on their opponent ahead of them, until it was too late.
The felinoid killed three soldiers with one swipe of its massive paw, hissing with delight as it heard the sounds of its victims' bones snapping. As the soldiers turned to face the new threat, the Seelak warrior fully emerged from Netherspace and began its hideous attack. The darkened woods were filled with the shrieks of men being torn apart and the almost joyful cries of their attackers.
The remaining soldiers attempted to retreat and regroup, they were panic firing, spraying bullets in every direction. Several rounds struck both creatures, wounding them, but their enhanced energies kept them strong. The creatures were now at their full strength, more than a match for the remaining soldiers.
After sixty seconds of bloody massacre, the forest was quiet. The two creatures had suffered several wounds and were bleeding from gaping holes in their armored flesh. The Seelak warrior stood silently, glaring at the punctures in his armor. As the wounded creature rested, its enhanced metabolism worked to quickly restore him. After only another minute of inactivity, his wounds healed. The Seelak's body now showed no sign of battle damage. The felinoid's liquid black skin, too, had fully regenerated.
Both creatures leapt into the trees and began to look for further signs of the primates, leaving behind ten twisted, mangled corpses.
* * *
Captain Anderson looked over at the major, whose skin had gone pale as he reviewed the field reports. They had heard radio reports claiming to have heard the sounds of gunfire and unusual shrieks within the mountain. There had been several attempts to contact Bravo Company, the team furthest into the woodlands.
"We've lost contact with Bravo group," the major whispered to his subordinate. "Two teams have reported the sounds of weapons fire, but no one has heard jack from anybody in that group."
"It could simply be a defective radio, sir," the captain added comfortingly.
"It could be that they're all dead too," the major replied darkly. "I'm diverting one of our choppers into their last known position. The other two will still be on station-keeping positions." He reached for his coffee cup. "I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this, Captain." He drained the remaining contents of his cup with one large gulp.
"Major Ross, Major Ross, sir," a panicked voice shouted from the Army Mobile Command Headquarters.
Ross walked briskly over to the man. "What is it, Corporal?"
"D Company reported they're under attack by something. We heard the sound of gunfire over the receiver, and then everything just went dead. Our equipment is fine, but we can no longer get a transmission from D Company's frequency."
"Do you have their position?"
"Yes, sir"
"Divert Eyes Two from station-keeping to that point," the major ordered, "and radio to the rest of our boys to keep sharp." Ross walked over to a large map of the area and studied the position of the remaining troops. "I want them in bigger groups. Have the groups that are in the closest proximity merge. These bastards are getting the jump on them."
The control center staff began issuing several commands to the remaining teams, ordering them to several coordinates to join with nearby groups and form groups of twenty or thirty men instead of ten.
"What now, Major?" a corporal asked.
"Now we wait, and hope that the larger groups are more successful. We also get confirmation from our airborne surveillance as to what the hell happened to those twenty soldiers."
* * *
The Bell Striker helicopter hovered fifty feet above the tree line, slowly moving through the last coordinates given for Bravo group. The pilot carefully guided the craft while his second strained through a pair of heavy binoculars, trying to penetrate the tree canopy.
The observer caught a glimpse of something: Sunlight glaring off something metallic. He instructed the pilot to circle around so he could get a better look through the opening in the trees. The helicopter moved forward slightly, then spun around 180 degrees. The pilot then pitched the craft forward 20 degrees, giving the spotter a clear view through the gap in the tree canopy.
The spotter glanced through his heavy binoculars, cursing as he surveyed the limited field of view.
"What do you see?" the pilot asked.
The spotter looked over his shoulder at the pilot and mumbled into his headset, "Bodies, mutilated bodies," he answered as he switched frequencies to the command centers. "Eyes One to Command, Bravo group has been wiped out. I repeat, Bravo group has been wiped out." The spotter switched back to the cockpit frequency. "Mark this location then get us the hell out of here."
The helicopter's powerful blades changed their pitch, lifting the airship higher into the afternoon sky. The craft banked sharply and headed back toward the command post.
* * *
The sparkling being of silver leapt from tree to tree, moving still deeper into the forest, propelled by an ancient knowledge. The Hybrid, Erik Knight, now knew what he was up against, and more importantly, he now knew where to look.
There was something at the higher elevations of Hopedale Mountain – something huge, buried for thousands of years. What he still didn't know was how these things had been freed. That was a question he'd answer as soon as he recovered his daughter.
So he moved, a sense of urgency propelling him, and as he moved, his own essence, his sense of humanity, fully returned. He was Erik Knight. He still retained his memories and his soul, but now he was more – he had the memories of another creature, another entire lifetime of emotions and memories along with his own. He experienced emotions he had no words for, feelings that he, before his change, wasn't capable of feeling. He had become what they had made him: one with the earth, one with their species, the strengths of both species combined into one being, a being which could claim kinship to neither race. It was a unique genetic construct designed for one purpose: Destroying two other genetic constructs, the byproducts of a long-forgotten war.
Erik paused in a tall tree, overlooking a large expanse of woodlands. He recognized the area, and spotted an old tree stand several meters away, still hanging in a tree. He was still adjusting to his new senses and new body. His mind successfully sorted out the extra stimuli fed from his heightened senses, and he controlled each heightened ability with his thoughts, calling up each gift as needed. His enhanced brain could sort, process, and filter all the external stimuli and respond accordingly.
He was having difficulty adjusting to his increased physical strength. He had over-shot several trees while leaping, only to come crashing into the ground, unceremoniously landing on his bottom. The unusually large oaks that predominated in this area provided a veritable highway system, making traversing the distance in the dense woodlands much easier than navigati
ng the massive thickets and briars that occupied the dense forest floor. Erik had a new appreciation for the squirrels that adopted this method of navigating the forest.
He could feel the magnetic pull from the north, and he kept that sensation on his right side. He knew instinctively he was traveling due west, ascending Hopedale Mountain as he had done earlier with Steve. He easily leapt twenty feet, landing on the thick trunk of another oak. The claws in his hands and feet bit into the tree bark and provided a secure holding.
It was awkward to see his silvery flesh. He had to keep reminding himself this wasn't a dream. He wasn't going to wake up in the middle of the night. This was real. He had forsaken his humanity for the sake of his daughter and some alien race that perished thousands of years before he'd even been born.
He was truly alone, not only an outcast from his ex-wife, but also an outcast from the race that spawned him. There could never be a future with Shanda. He was a freak, an anomaly among nature. Who could love a near seven-foot chrome-plated humanoid?
Even if he did manage to rescue his daughter, and she were still alive, how would she view her father now? My dad, the "Bionic Tin Man." Erik was tormented by these dark thoughts as he propelled himself still deeper into the woodlands.
Overhead, he heard the distinctive thrum of rotor blades. As he focused on the distant sound, it became louder and clearer. He saw in the distance ahead of him, from his high perch in the treetops, an Army helicopter circling an area three miles away. If not for his enhanced hearing and vision, the helicopter would have gone unnoticed. The helicopter pitched forward drastically and accelerated toward the East. Erik was heading in the general direction of the chopper, and knew he would pass through that area. Something was there, his insides told him, something that he knew he wouldn't want to see.
