Natural Selection

by Dave Freedman

  Still, the forest was whispering to the animal. Something was coming.

  THE RUSTLING of pine needles, a trickling stream, the creaking trees. The predator ignored every sound except one: the bear’s beating heart.

  Rushing past redwoods and speckled shafts of moonlight, it saw the fur-covered mammal from several hundred feet. The bear was just standing there.

  THE BEAR spotted it zooming closer and immediately roared, producing a sound that normally scared away anything and everything.

  The creature flew straight for it. And began making its own sound. A series of low deep rumbles.

  Barely hearing them, the bear roared again, louder, convinced its intimidation was working.

  The creature’s rumbles erupted into a shattering roar so loud that it actually hurt the bear’s eardrums.

  Confused, the bear instinctively swung its arms. Then, as if struck by a freight train, its nine-hundred-pound frame was suddenly flying backward. It was carried a hundred feet, then slammed violently to the dark soil. It desperately tried to escape but couldn’t move.

  The winged creature was on top of it, and it was relentless, tearing away at it, large portions of the bear’s neck and upper body already gone. The bear’s horrific, desperate screams echoed everywhere. To the ferns. To the redwoods. Even into the sky. Cold and knowing, the moon just watched.

  ABOVE THE treetops, the Demonray flew toward the ocean. Visible against the moon’s whiteness, the top half of the bear carcass dangled from its mouth.

  It flew beyond the trees, passed the churning shoreline, and continued out to sea. It found the spot it was looking for, then released the carcass. It watched as the chunk of ragged meat splashed in and submerged. Then it banked and flew back to the land.

  CHAPTER 75

  “Four DATA points?” Jason walked toward Craig. “How do you figure four?”

  Craig pointed to the map spread out on the living-room table. “One, where the jogger disappeared. Two, where the body was found. Three, where we got the radar readings. And four, where we actually saw it.” He drew four big Xs. “All four are in the same vicinity. Darryl, you talk about territoriality . . . well, this looks like a classic case of it to me.”

  Darryl shook his head. “This equipment of yours will not help us find that thing.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because this animal detects things electronically, Craig. It will know that equipment’s out there and stay the hell away from it.”

  “It didn’t stay away from it today.”

  “That had nothing to do with us finding it.”

  “Of course it did. It confirmed it was out there. It will help us even more going forward.” Craig returned to the map. “We should rejigger the equipment to cover as much of this area as we can. That Demonray will keep coming back, you watch. Then we’ll be able to figure out exactly where it is.”

  Jason studied the four Xs then turned at Darryl. “It’s not a bad idea.”

  “Maybe theoretically, but Darryl’s right, Jason, it will be a waste of time.” Lisa eyed the two lifeless monitors on the hearth. “That thing will definitely detect the equipment.”

  Craig turned angrily. “Says who? Bandar Vishakeratne? What the hell does he know?”

  “The number one brain expert in the world? Oh, nothing, Craig, I’m sure.”

  “Lisa, I’m not questioning the guy’s analysis of neurons, but even he doesn’t know what this Demonray will detect out there. The bottom line is that this animal hasn’t stayed away from our equipment yet, and we should use that to our advantage. Jason, we should reconfigure the layout.”

  “As long as it doesn’t interfere with what Darryl wants to do . . . I’m inclined to agree.”

  Craig nodded. “First thing tomorrow, then.”

  Jason nodded in kind. “First thing tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER 76

  “THERE THEY are.” Lisa pointed as Monique and Darryl emerged from the forest in their all-khaki outfits.

  Darryl looked tense. “It’s still out there. Let’s go. Let’s go right no—” He paused when Craig sluffed from the cabin, bleary-eyed and still in his pj’s. “Get dressed Craig.”

  Summers seemed to wake up. “What? Hold on. I wanna reposition the equip—”

  “You’re not repositioning anything now. That thing’s out there and we’re going to look for it.”

  Craig turned angrily. “Christ, Jason, that’s not what we agreed to last—”

  “Craig, you got up late, and we don’t have time now.” Jason saw that thin streams of white were already flowing into the treetops. “Reposition it later if you like, but let’s go. For now, maybe just grab a radar gun.”

  Summers did as he was told, and within minutes, everyone was dressed in khaki, armed, and ready to go.

  As they started off, Jason looked up again and was amazed. The fog was already very, very thick.

  IN A hunting circle fifteen minutes later, they walked slowly, heads pointed up.

  The fog was a tomb, no signs of life at all, and Craig wondered if they were wasting their time. “Think it’s still up there, Hoss?”

  Darryl’s head slowly turned. “Don’t know for sure. But stay sharp; everybody stay sharp.”

  An hour later, Craig was exhausted. So were Jason, Lisa, Monique, and Phil. After staring at the white mist for as long as they had, their necks hurt and their vision had blurred.

  Darryl Hollis was as alert as ever, studying the fog in every direction, his bow and arrow always at the ready. “This thing is smart. Knew we’d be looking for it.” He squinted, trying to see into the fog. “If we can’t see it, it can’t see us, right?”

  Jason shook his head. “It might be able to see through the fog, Darryl. The visual cortex in that brain wasn’t small either.”

  Monique nodded. “Its eyes evolved in total darkness. It’s either blind or has fantastic vision.”

  Craig scanned the whiteness with his rifle. “No way in hell is it blind.” He vividly recalled the way the Demonray’s eyes had watched them, studied them. “For all we know it could be up there right now.”

  Darryl slowly halted. “I think it is.”

  CHAPTER 77

  THE CREATURE coasted silently, studying the six upturned human faces.

  Its eyes moved slowly, patiently, taking in everything about them. Their eyes. Their bodies. Their clothes. And then their weapons.

  JASON GLANCED at the rifle in his hands.

  “It can detect our guns.”

  “What?” Darryl had heard him but didn’t understand.

  “It can detect the metal in these rifles. I don’t know if it understands what they’re used for, but it knows we’re holding them.”

  Craig removed his radar gun. “You think it can detect this?”

  Jason glanced at it. “When you turn it on.”

  A nod. “All right, I’m going t—”

  “Don’t bother.” Darryl continued to look up. “If it will sense it anyway, what’s the point?”

  “Because it will confirm if it’s really up there.”

  Darryl’s eyes didn’t leave the fog. “Believe me, it’s up there. You really think it can see us, Jason?”

  “Probably.”

  “It’s time for a game of chicken, then.”

  Jason looked up curiously. “What do you want to do?”

  “Aim right at it. If it sees me, it will get the hell out of the way, then reveal where it is.” In an instant, Darryl drew an arrow back, and rapidly swept it across the fog. “This thing doesn’t have spiritual powers I don’t know about, does it?”

  “You never know.”

  “OK, everybody aim at a different patch of fog. Keep your marks twenty feet apart. Now.”

  A clever strategy, Jason thought. He wondered if it would work.

  They aimed at six different patches.

  Then waited.

  There were no signs of movement, just a silent white mass.

  They continued to wait. Nothing h
appened.

  “It could have flown away,” Jason whispered.

  Darryl continued to stare. “It could have. But I don’t think it did. The damn thing’s playing chicken all right. On three, everybody fire five shots. Ready? One. Two . . . Three.”

  Gunfire shattered the silence. Twenty-five bullets and five arrows ripped into the fog bank.

  They waited again. But nothing moved.

  Craig raised the radar gun. “I’m gonna use this now, OK?”

  Darryl exhaled. “Technology hunting” was unnatural, untrustworthy, the opposite of how he’d been taught to hunt. But he couldn’t say no here. “Go ahead.”

  Craig turned on the gun. A sweeping green line appeared on the rear display and then he swept it across the white.

  But there was no reading, just an empty sweeping line. “Maybe it’s really not up there.”

  Darryl shook his head. Something didn’t feel right. He couldn’t say what—but something. “This damn thing is smart. I don’t like this.” He studied the fog. “Let’s go back to the cabin.”

  The others paused. Go back to the cabin?

  “You sure, Darryl?” Jason asked.

  “I don’t want anyone getting killed out here. Let’s go.”

  But then Darryl Hollis didn’t move. A particular patch of fog had caught his eye, and he stared at it.

  THE BLACK eyes looked right back at him.

  The predator wasn’t flying anymore. Like cellophane, its entire winged body was wrapped around the trunk of a redwood, gently rising and falling as it breathed.

  The eyes suddenly shifted. To something on the dirt. The predator had been so focused on the humans that it hadn’t detected it. But something had just moved. The faces turned to it as well.

  “HEY, LOOK.” Monique saw it first, a mountain-lion cub, the size of a house cat, with little paws and golden fur with dark stripes. The tiny animal had been there all along, but none of them had noticed it. One of its hind legs was caught in a bear trap, and it had just made a sudden and useless attempt to escape.

  Darryl shook his head. “Somebody should kill that thing.”

  Monique gave her husband a filthy look. Then she trotted over to it.

  As she did, Jason ran his eyes up and down a few of the redwoods. What if the predator had somehow attached itself to a tree? No one had aimed at a tree; their shots would have missed it, just as Craig’s radar gun would have. Jason followed the largest trunk from the ground into the fog. Was the predator smart enough to realize they wouldn’t fire at a tree?

  “Jason.” Darryl was looking at the same spot. “You think?”

  “Maybe.”

  Suddenly there was a hissing scream—from the mountain-lion cub. Monique was crouched over it, yanking hard on the clamps that had ensnared its paw.

  Darryl turned angrily. “Not the time for that, Monique! Just shoot the damn thing!”

  The clamps snapped open, and Monique was her typical calm self. “No need for that, Husband.” She lifted the little animal gently, crying softly now, like a cat that wanted its milk.

  “Keep it quiet,” Darryl snapped.

  Monique walked over. “Shut up, Darryl.”

  He ignored her and turned back to the tree.

  THE BLACK eyes focused on the cub, studying it, analyzing it. Then they returned to Darryl.

  One of his arrows was pointing right at it now. Pulled back in the bow and ready to fire.

  The Demonray didn’t move, didn’t breathe.

  DARRYL GAZED at the patch of white above the tree trunk. Unsure if the predator was up there or not, he noted how quiet it was. No movement at all. He lowered the bow and turned away.

  “Let’s get outta here.”

  Then, without warning, he spun and fired—five times.

  Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! The arrows ripped into the fog and plunged into something unseen.

  Then nothing. Silence.

  No one moved. They just watched and waited.

  THE EYES shifted. To an arrow an inch away.

  Then they swiveled back to Darryl.

  HE STARED right back at the animal, albeit unknowingly. “Let’s go back to the cabin.”

  AS THEY turned to go, the creature didn’t move. It just watched them. Then it focused on the bear trap.

  CHAPTER 78

  “WAIT A second.” In the middle of a clearing, Craig paused. “Let’s reposition the equipment. Cool, Hoss?”

  Darryl Hollis hesitated. He actually felt like using the equipment here might be to their detriment, but—

  “What do you say Darryl?” Jason didn’t see any reason not to reposition it.

  “Sure, whatever.”

  Craig crinkled open a map. “OK, we need to go . . . this way. . . .” As he and the others walked off, Darryl didn’t budge. He looked up and was amazed. In just minutes, the fog had thinned considerably, so much so that he could see. He could make out the upper tree trunks and branches now. But nothing else was up there. He turned and followed the others.

  “ALL BETTER now. Thanks a lot, Jason.”

  Jason smiled. “Looks like the patient’s doing fine.”

  Snuggling on a towel, the mountain-lion cub rubbed its tiny head on Monique’s thigh. On the living-room floor, Jason had just assisted Monique in splinting the animal’s broken leg. While Jason had held the little creature down, Monique had done the real work, and she’d been impressive. The cub had been in excruciating pain, and when Monique reset the bone, the animal bit her hand, gashing the skin and drawing blood. She’d barely blinked. Monique had simply absorbed the pain and continued. Sometimes Jason forgot, but despite her looks, Monique Hollis was one tough hombre.

  “OK, baby; all better.” She gently petted the cub, which was purring loudly now.

  Watching from the couches, Lisa and Jason thought this was adorable, but Darryl couldn’t have cared less. “What are we gonna do to hunt this thing, Jason?”

  Jason got up from the floor. “I don’t think we can sneak up on it. That might be impossible, literally impossible.”

  Craig laughed darkly. “Well, that’s a problem.”

  “You know what else is a problem?” Darryl turned. “It might not even hunt on instinct.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “Most predators hunt on instinct, meaning they’re not really ‘thinking’ about what they’re doing; they’re just sort of going through preprogrammed motions. But what we’ve got out there is thinking. It analyzes what it sees, then adapts to it.”

  “Maybe we can bait it.”

  “With what?”

  Craig shrugged. “How about Phil?”

  Everyone laughed, even Phil Martino.

  Darryl wasn’t amused. “It will detect steel traps, right, Jason?”

  “I think so. Can we hang a net or something?”

  “Any nets in that storage shed, Craig?”

  “No.” Summers eyed the two monitors on the hearth. “I still think this equipment’s gonna help pick something up.”

  Darryl doubted it. “We’ll keep hunting it the way we have been.”

  Craig shook his head. Then he walked to the window and looked out at the moon-dappled landscape. “Anybody ever wonder why this thing came to the land in the first place?”

  “We’ve been over that, Craig.” Monique wondered if he had Alzheimer’s. “Food.”

  “No, I mean philosophically.”

  “Philosophically?” Darryl wondered if he was hearing things. “I didn’t realize you knew what philosophically meant.”

  “What do you mean, Craig?” Monique asked seriously.

  “I mean, did you ever think this thing might have evolved for a reason?”

  “Like what?”

  “Like maybe it’s nature’s way of protecting itself.”

  “Protecting itself from what?”

  “From us. You know, Jason, your name choice for this thing is surprisingly apt.”

  “How so?”

  “Demonray. Do
you realize what the very first ‘demons’ actually were?”

  A pause. “No . . . I don’t.”

  “According to the book of Revelation, the original demons were—get this—expelled from heaven because they wanted to destroy humanity.”

  Everyone paused. This was eerie.

  “That’s in the Bible?”

  “Uh-huh. Kind of ironic, isn’t it? Because I’d say if there’s anything that could destroy humanity, this species is it.”

  “Destroy humanity?” Darryl rolled his eyes. “When’d you start believing in fairy tales, Peter Pan?”

  “It’s no fairy tale, Darryl, and the science side is even scarier.”

  Jason turned. “How so?”

  “Why do predators evolve in the first place? To stop existing species from becoming too abundant. So think about the existing species that is the human race. Just eleven thousand years ago there were less than five million people on this planet, but there are six billion today, and that’s supposed to go north of ten billion in just a couple of decades. Man’s been growing like a weed and nothing. Not a virus. Not another species. Nothing has kept that growth in check. Maybe the evolution of this thing is nature’s way of doing that.”

  Darryl wasn’t amused anymore. “There’s one of those things out there, Craig.”

  “Yeah, right now. But like Monique said, evolution takes place gradually.”

  “Meaning what? That these things will take over the planet one day?”

  “Maybe.”

  “How long do ya figure, Socrates?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe twenty million years. Maybe a thousand. Maybe ten.”

  “Ten?” Monique turned. “Craig, there’s no historical precedent for anything like that.”

  “So what? So you’re saying that because it took other species millions of years to make evolutionary leaps, it will take this species the same amount of time?”