Caught in Your Wake

by Darien Cox

  “Hey guys,” Tyler said, and Baz looked up.

  Tim froze. Those eyes...so large and colorful, lashes like snowy butterflies framing tinted glass marbles. Beautiful. Mesmerizing. But so definitely not human. The double ring of green and blue was startling. Yet unlike the night of the wedding party, Tim didn’t panic, and he didn’t look away. As large as those eyes were, they widened further when they fell on Tim, surprise evident in the hybrid’s expression. Baz’s lips parted, and Tim could definitely discern emotion there, a sudden alertness and caution.

  Was the alien frightened of Tim? Wouldn’t that be ironic.

  Baz quickly cast his gaze down, shoulders hunching as he fumbled in his jeans pocket, pulling out a pair of dark sunglasses and slipping them on.

  “Hey, you two,” JT said. “Is Nolan ready up there?”

  “Yeah, and he’s getting impatient,” Tyler said. “Hi, Baz.”

  “Hello, Tyler. Is good to see again.”

  “Same here. This is Tim Patterson. He’s the forest ranger in the village. I wanted to introduce the two of you.”

  “Okay,” Baz rasped. With trembling white fingers, he adjusted the dark sunglasses, securing them more firmly on his face. “I did not know...to be here. To meet. Apology.”

  “It’s okay.” JT leaned in close to Baz. “What’s wrong?” he asked softly. “You nervous?”

  “Shaytee!” Baz swatted JT’s long blond curls with his hand. “You hair just go up my nose.”

  Elliot snickered.

  “I’m sorry!” JT tugged his hair back into a ponytail and tied it off. “You looked nervous when you saw Tim, I was just checking.”

  “Apology,” Baz said. “A little nervous, yes.”

  “You don’t have to be nervous,” Elliot said. “Tim’s the one who’s been encountering weird shit near the base, that’s why he’s here.”

  “Yes. Okay.”

  “Tim’s also the one who found you in the forest when you were hurt,” Tyler said. “He’s the one who initially called for help. He’s trustworthy.”

  Elliot gave Tyler a look, one eyebrow cocked.

  Tyler scowled at Elliot. “What?”

  “Just not used to you stepping up to defend someone’s honor,” Elliot said with a smirk.

  “I’m just letting Baz know who Tim is. Since he’s partly responsible for saving his life.”

  “Okay, let’s not get carried away.” Tim chuckled. “Hello, Baz. Nice to formally meet. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  “Yes. Okay.” Baz’s head lifted and he seemed to look at Tim, though it was difficult to discern with the sunglasses. “If I see you in the before I...apology. Was not awake on the mountain. Injury.”

  “I remember,” Tim said. “Good to see you healed.”

  “Yeah, he’s all in one piece again,” Elliot said. “Baz, you don’t need the glasses. Tim’s fine with your eyes, right?”

  “Yeah. I’m fine. You can take the glasses off.”

  “Okay.” Baz removed the dark glasses and slid them into his pocket. He slowly looked up and met Tim’s gaze. “Thank to you,” he said. “Tim Patterson. For help me when injured.”

  “You’re welcome. I’m glad you’re all right.”

  “Yes. Okay.” He held the brown sticks out to Elliot. “Ellytot to put away?”

  “I’m not touching those things,” Elliot said. “They stink!”

  “They don’t stink,” JT said, grabbing one of the sticks and taking a bite. “I like them! They taste like sesame seeds.”

  “What are those?” Tyler asked.

  Baz looked at Tyler. “Hybrid snack. Nolan love. Ellytot thinks gross.”

  Tim barked a laugh, and the tension in the room broke, JT and Elliot laughing along with him. “You brought Nolan a snack?”

  “Ah ah. Yes. Nolan like. I bring one night when I come and he eat so many. So I bring more.”

  “Because you love Nolan and you hate me,” Elliot said.

  Baz slapped Elliot’s shoulder lightly. “Is not true! No to be asshole, Ellytot.”

  “Well, he can’t help that,” JT said. “Here, I’ll put them in the fridge.” JT gathered up the sticks and stuck them in the refrigerator. “We should get up to the viewing room or Nolan’s gonna pop a blood vessel.”

  Baz sighed, rubbing his long chin.

  “What?” JT frowned at him. “I told you it’s no big deal, we just want you to watch.”

  “I tell you, Shaytee. I do not know about! No to lie to you.”

  “I believe you. But it’s important you watch this footage with us, in case you have any insight.”

  Baz shrugged. “Is possible I do not know even when I see.”

  “I know that, Baz. We’re not putting this all on you. But it’s been happening not far from the base. Something’s definitely been messing with Tim at the station up there. Even if you don’t know what it is, we could use your help figuring it out.”

  Baz’s white lashes blinked and he glanced at Tim. “Frightened?”

  “Who, me?”

  Baz nodded. “Frightened in forest?”

  “I um...a little frightened, yeah,” Tim said. “There’s something out there in the woods, and I don’t know if it means me any harm.”

  “Okay.” Baz stepped away from the island. “Tim Patterson help Baz in forest when injured. Baz will help Tim Patterson now. We will take a look, yes?”

  Tim glanced at Tyler, who smirked and shrugged. “Yeah, okay.” Tim gave the hybrid a smile. “That’s great. Thanks, Baz.”

  “No problem. Ellytot, we go see now?”

  “Yeah, let’s go do this,” Elliot said.

  They all headed out of the kitchen. JT and Elliot took the lead, with Baz behind them. As Baz passed by, Tim stared up at him, wide-eyed. Tyler nudged him. “Don’t stare,” he whispered.

  “He’s just so fucking...tall!”

  Tyler chuckled. “I know, but don’t stare. He’s already nervous around you.”

  “Why the hell is he nervous around me?” Tim whispered. “He’s the alien!”

  “Because you’re unfamiliar to him. He knows everyone else, and time and circumstances have built a hard-earned trust. He hasn’t met any new humans in a long time. Plus he’s shy. Come on, let’s go.”

  Tim followed Tyler. “Where is everyone else? Is this it?”

  “Brett is at the lab testing your jacket. Myles is working. Christian said he’d call later, he and Baz have some weird thing where they don’t like to be in the same room together.”

  “Don’t they get along?”

  “I think it’s just the opposite.”

  “What? What does that mean?”

  “Just internal gossip,” Tyler said. “Forget I mentioned it. Come on, let’s go.”

  Minutes later, Tim sat between Tyler and Elliot, all of them on recliners facing the big screen. Baz had chosen to sit on the floor nearby. JT leaned against Elliot’s chair, one butt-cheek resting on the arm. And Nolan stood before them all, huddled over his laptop. “Okay,” he said. “What I’m about to show you is the footage from the station, starting just after Tim returned from the woods. I cleaned it up but you’ll still see some flickers and flashes. It’s not perfect, but it’s clear enough to see what’s important.”

  “What exactly are we looking for?” Tim asked.

  “You’ll see.” Nolan started the recording, then picked up a pool stick and walked over to the screen. “This area here, between these two trees,” he said. “Watch the ground closely over the next few minutes.”

  Nolan tapped the pointer onto a spot on the lower right of the screen. The shot showed the woods beyond the station, the same area where Tim stood when Tyler was testing the cameras. He shivered now, remembering the twigs he’d heard snapping while he was out there, the shadows in his peripheral vision. He’d written it off as imagination, but now? Who knew. The idea that something actually was out there with him made his stomach churn.

  The woods were somewhat illuminated at the tree-line
because of the lights from the station, but the spot between the trees where Nolan had his pointer was still pretty dim, so Tim leaned forward, squinting.

  “Don’t worry, Patterson,” Nolan said. “You’ll see it when it comes up.”

  Tyler reached over and squeezed Tim’s hand. He quickly released it and crossed his arms over his stomach, like he hadn’t intended to touch Tim and caught himself. The idea that comforting Tim might have become second-nature for Tyler gave him a warm feeling inside, despite staring at this creepy, flickering footage of the dark woods.

  “Here we go.” Nolan tapped the pool stick on the screen. “Watch here,” he said, then stepped back.

  Tim frowned as something came up out of the ground. The space between the trees was shadowy, but this thing stood out because it was blacker than night. At first it looked like a large black tentacle, slightly pointed on top like a fat teardrop. It wriggled back and forth as it emerged from the earth, nearly as thick as the tree beside it.

  “The fuck is that?” JT said.

  “Is that a snake?” Elliot asked.

  “Keep watching,” Nolan said.

  Tim’s thoughts echoed JT’s as he watched the strange black shadow rise. The fuck is that? But it wasn’t just a shadow. It had substance. Its surface reflected the light, like smooth, oily black skin. Reaching a height of about six feet, it stopped rising, lingering there beside the tree, fat in the middle, narrower on the bottom. That teardrop shape remained at the top, a head of sorts.

  “I’m gonna ask again,” Elliot said. “Is that a snake?”

  “Too thick,” Tyler said. “Unless it just ate a dog or something.”

  “Looks less like a snake and more like a giant worm to me,” Tim said.

  Nolan paused the shot. “Okay. Now watch what happens here. You’re about to get a closer view when it suddenly moves toward the station.”

  He resumed play, and the thing bent, or rather lurched over, falling flat to the ground. The pointed ‘head’ part rose up, as though sniffing the air, then it darted swiftly closer to the station, shifting side to side. It was fast, a slithering motion like an eel moving through water. “Holy fucking shit,” Tim said. “What is that thing?”

  Nolan wound it back. “Whatever it is, it’s fast, so I’m gonna slow the recording down. There’s a lot of detail here so pay close attention, particularly to the tail end when it passes by the camera.”

  Nolan resumed play and the thing slowly slithered across the ground toward them.

  “It has legs,” Elliot said.

  And it did. Three sets sticking out the sides, front, middle and back, short with something akin to claws on the ends. As it approached the station, Tim could see the legs pinwheeling low to the ground. With the short legs and length of the body, the movement reminded Tim of an alligator. As the station lights hit it fully, golden-brown eyes became visible on the pointed head, like shiny buttons on a doll or Teddy Bear. A flash of light bounced off something above the eyes, silver and metallic, strapped across the top like a crown. “Is that metal on the head there?” JT asked.

  “I think so,” Nolan said. “But keep watching the very back end of the thing. Right...there.”

  Tim gasped. As it slithered past the camera’s view and disappeared under the station out of sight, a thin coiled tail was visible, sticking up and curling at the rear. And that tail held Tim’s ranger jacket, as though it was hanging by a hook. “That’s my fucking jacket.”

  “Yes,” Nolan said. “That’s your fucking jacket.”

  JT leaned forward and looked over at Tim. “You think that’s what you’ve been seeing out in the woods?” His nose wrinkled. “That six-legged black...crawly thing?”

  “Probably, yeah. From a distance, the shadows I’ve been seeing move just like that.”

  “Shadows?” Elliot said. “Plural?”

  “Yes. When I saw those slithering things out in the trees, there were always more than one.”

  “How many?” JT asked.

  “Like...two at a time? Possibly three?”

  “I think it looks more like a seal than a snake,” Nolan said. “The face, and...” He wound the recording back and froze it. The creature’s head was visible, two luminescent brown eyes with a long snout. “The skin looks smooth and shiny, almost like an aquatic creature.”

  “But that tail looks like it belongs on a scorpion,” Elliot said. “And those little short legs coming out the sides, they’re like...”

  “Alligator legs,” Tim said.

  “Yeah! Kind of.”

  “I’d say more like a giant salamander,” Tyler said. “With the long body and the legs off to the sides. Albeit with many physical aberrations.”

  “Is it some sort of hybrid animal?” JT looked over at Baz. “Yo, Whitey. You nod off?”

  “Yeah, Baz,” Nolan said. “You’ve been awfully quiet.”

  “I do not know what this is,” Baz said. “I never see in the before.”

  Nolan turned toward the group, sighing. “Okay, so I haven’t told you the weirdest part.”

  “Fuck,” Elliot said. “There’s a weirder part?”

  “I’ve watched several times, from every camera angle outside the station. The thing is never seen leaving to go back out into the woods. But it was gone by the time Tyler went out there and found the jacket.”

  “So...where did it go?” Tim asked. “Was it hiding somewhere on the station? Could it have climbed up one of the beams and we didn’t see it?”

  “No,” Tyler said. “I shone my light all over the underside, there was nothing there.”

  “Then how did it get out of there without us seeing it on the cameras? Nolan?”

  Nolan shrugged. “We have to assume it left the jacket, then went underground again. Beneath the station. Tyler, Tim, were there any signs of the earth being disturbed there? Like something dug a hole?”

  “I don’t think so,” Tim said.

  “I didn’t see anything like that,” Tyler said. “But admittedly, I wasn’t looking for a hole in the ground. I was pretty anxious to get out of there.”

  “Okay,” Nolan said. “Next trip up the mountain, we need to see if the earth is disturbed, under the station, and out by that tree where it first emerged. Because if not, then we need to know how this thing is traveling through solid ground like that. Baz? Any thoughts?”

  Seated cross-legged on the floor, Baz wrung his hands, big eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at the screen. “Does not look like Earth creature.”

  “Yeah, no shit,” JT said. “Is it some kind of alien staying at the base?”

  “They...Whites do not allow other species to stop over as guest. Whites and hybrids only.” His high brow furrowed, and he pointed a long white finger. “What is this thing on the head?” He patted his own forehead. “Is technology attached to?”

  “That’s what it looks like, some kind of tech.” Nolan trailed the pointer along the image, the glimmering silver band resting atop the thing’s head, just above the eyes. “Could it be cybernetic enhancements of some sort?”

  “Maybe that’s what it used to disrupt the signal on the cameras and motion sensors,” Elliot said.

  JT nodded. “Yeah, good theory.”

  “So what is it?” Tim asked. “Some animal that lives underground?”

  Baz shook his head. “If lived in ground above base, we would know this creature.”

  “Okay,” Nolan said. “But could it still somehow have come up from the underground base, even if it’s not formally a guest? I know you don’t recognize it and you say the Whites don’t allow other species in but...could it have arrived on a ship with Whites or hybrids? As a stowaway or something they brought with them?”

  Baz sighed. “Is possible.”

  “So...you think these things came up to the surface from the Whites’ base?” Tim asked.

  “It’s only logical that they did,” JT said.

  “Not true,” Tyler said. “No evidence to support that theory. Please don’t
jump to conclusions, it’s not helpful. These things could have come from anywhere.”

  “Oh, here goes Captain Logic,” Elliot said. “In case you didn’t hear, Tyler, Baz just basically agreed that they could have come from the base.”

  “I say is possible. Not certain,” Baz said.

  “If something like that arrived on one of the incoming ships, why don’t you know about it, Baz?” Nolan asked. “Thought you handled traffic in and out. Don’t they have to check in and what have you?”

  “Nolan.” Baz shook his head. “You know how many Whites, hybrids occupy base at all time?”

  “I’m guessing it’s a lot.”

  “Okay, yes.” Baz stood, rising on long legs, then walked over to the screen. “This area. Beneath ranger station, and woods around here?” He turned from the screen to face them. “Down deep, underneath, is location where ships dock. Big space. Like parking lot for cars but with craft.”

  “How many craft are docked down there at one time?” Tyler asked.

  Baz’s eyes narrowed, a thoughtful expression. “Depend...changes...”

  “Give us an estimated picture, Baz,” Nolan said.

  “Yes, okay. Maybe...few miles of craft.”

  “So...” Tyler leaned forward in his chair. “The area directly beneath the ranger station is part of the space dock. Is that where all the travelers’ ships park, or are they dispersed throughout the base?”

  “All craft rest there,” Baz said. “If creature pass through ground to surface near ranger station? Is coming from space dock. Nothing else there.”

  “And do you know exactly who all these ships belong to?” JT asked.

  “Some belong to residents that stay, Whites who work and hybrid like Baz who run certain areas...” He frowned at Nolan. “Around the year?”

  “Year-round,” Nolan said.

  “Yes, okay. Year-round resident. But...” He raised a finger. “Most ship are from travelers who stop only short time. Park then go. Sometimes stay for one day. Sometimes one week. Sometimes three month, or year. Coming and going. Always coming and going.”

  “You must have some kind of log,” JT said.

  “Okay yes. But so many, do not know every detail of every visitor by brain!”

  Tim scowled. “By brain?”