by Greg Ballan
Erik saw the tail swing at him, but it was moving too fast for him to avoid. He rolled his body in the direction the tail was moving in order to absorb most of the impact. The tail struck him like a pile driver, knocking him over in somersaults. When he finally stopped, the thing was above him and was reaching down toward his throat.
Erik grabbed its claw with both hands, and bent it sideways with all his strength. He heard a snap like a lobster shell cracking and the thing roared in pain. It struck at him with its other hand, lifting him three feet off the ground and backward. Erik stood up and slowly came to his senses. As he tried to gather his strength, he felt fingers closing around his throat like a vice. He felt himself being lifted off the ground.
The thing simply held him there as if waiting for something. Erik could read confusion upon the creature's face as it held him nearly two feet off the ground. Erik heard it make a sniffing sound, and then he saw a look of puzzlement come over the creature as it slowly studied him.
The creature seemed to recognize or acknowledge something. Its face contorted with rage and anger. Slowly, it began to squeeze. Erik gasped as he struggled for air. He felt himself losing consciousness. He knew he only had seconds to break the thing's iron grip.
Erik lifted both his legs and drove them heel first into the thing's blood-red eyes. He felt the grip loosen slightly, and he quickly inhaled a much-needed breath of air. He took his right arm and slammed it in an upward motion into the arm holding him, where the elbow joint would be on a man. He was rewarded by another cracking noise as the creature dropped him.
As the detective hit the earth, his opponent kicked him solidly, propelling him several feet across the ground. The creature looked back toward Steve and slowly approached him. Erik crawled over to where his 45s had fallen. He grabbed one of the pistols and turned it on the creature. It was heading toward Steve who was still out cold. Erik grabbed his other 45 and shouted as he emptied each clip of high-powered slugs into the dark entity standing before him.
A shower of sparks appeared where each bullet either impacted or bounced off the creature's hide. Erik could see that at least four of the shots had pierced the thick skin, causing the creature to bleed again. Erik quickly reloaded, and continued to fire into the thing's back as it approached his friend.
When his 45s were emptied, he pulled his hunting knife from its sheath. He raced toward the thing, remembering the motion he used at the gym earlier. He shouted and leapt into the air, raising the large blade above his head. As he came down, he drove the Jim Bowie knife, point first, into the creature's shoulder plate. The blade penetrated about three inches, then snapped at the hilt from the excess forces applied on the metal, leaving a nine-inch section of steel protruding from the creature's dark, armored body. The creature spun around quickly and smashed Erik's face with its claws.
Erik was thrown back ten feet, but absorbed the force of the blow and rolled with the impact of the ground. He could feel blood flowing down the left side of his face. The creature quickly turned back toward Erik, and he prepared himself for combat. He crouched down, ready to strike out with all his fury against this seemingly unbeatable opponent. The creature closed in toward him, and Erik exploded with another series of complicated kicks. His heavy boots struck the creature's face with deadly precision. It swung its tail at him, but Erik anticipated its attack and dove over the appendage. He rolled sideways and came up in a guarded stance again.
Erik knew his blows were only glancing. Hitting the creature was like hitting a suit of metal armor. His hands were throbbing with pain. He willed his body to become stronger, but doubted that even then he would have enough sheer muscle to harm this inhuman juggernaut.
The creature paused to look at Steve who was still out cold, and then at Erik again. It rushed forward, reaching out to grab Erik with its razor-sharp claws. Erik grabbed each claw, and rolled himself backward, moving with the creature's momentum. He tucked his right foot into the creature's midsection and launched it eight feet into the air as he rolled over on his back. It landed with a loud thud against the forest floor, but quickly stood up and faced him again. The thing looked beyond Erik, to where Steve was laying. It wanted its victim.
Erik knew he needed to distract the creature, get it to focus on him, and not his unconscious friend. Erik took a step forward. The creature responded by swinging its arm toward him. Erik raised his left forearm and met the blow with a standard martial arts block. Erik nearly buckled under the force of its blow. If not for his greatly enhanced strength, his arm would have splintered. However, he felt a wave of pain travel through his arm and shoulder. The creature swung with the other hand, and Erik used a similar method to block this strike as well.
"Steve! Wake up, damn it. I can't keep this up forever," Erik shouted to his friend.
Erik leapt into the air and launched a flying sidekick into the creature's midsection. The blow was solid, and caused it to fall backward several steps. "C'mon, you bastard," he swore at it as he peppered its face with hard jabs, ignoring the pain already there from his previous punches.
The creature swung its arm again, but Erik swiftly ducked the blow. The creature moved its other arm unexpectedly, raking its claws across his chest. Erik responded by slamming both his open palms into each side of the creature's head, causing it to step back momentarily.
Erik's adrenaline was pumping through his body. He ignored the deep gashes cut into his flesh. Something inside him was pushing, giving him even more stamina and strength to attack this monstrosity. Erik's fingers began to swell from colliding with the thing's rock-hard hide.
"You can't have him!" Erik screamed as he pummeled the creature's armored hide. He succeeded in forcing the monstrosity back, but his hands were now bleeding from several cuts, and his fingers and joints were swollen. He crouched in a low defensive posture, preparing himself for the creature's next attack.
"Fall back," a voice commanded.
Erik turned to see Steve pointing his 44-magnum revolver at the black creature. The weapon erupted, spitting slug after slug into the creature. Erik retreated as he saw the sparks, and then bright blue blood flowing from the creature's torso. Steve paused as he emptied the spent brass and dropped in a speed loader with six fresh shells. He held the weapon head high, his eyes angrily locking on the creature that had struck him down.
"Get away from my friend, you bastard!" Steve shouted as he fired two more rounds into the thing.
The creature screamed with rage and anger as the jacketed hollow points burned into its armored flesh. The sound echoed throughout the forest for miles.
Erik sensed it, another presence. He turned, retreating behind Steve. Erik reached inside his boot and withdrew the two throwing knives he kept hidden there. He stepped up beside his friend as he peered into the forest depths.
"Something's coming," Erik whispered to Steve.
"Just fucking great," Steve replied hoarsely. "Inside my left pant leg, I have a 32 auto. I'd rather you use that than those," he said, glancing at Erik's throwing knives.
"So would I," Erik replied as he quickly retrieved the weapon.
The forest became even darker, as if some great hand completely blocked out the afternoon sun. The two stood their ground, staring at the creature before them, waiting for something to appear. They heard a low rumbling, and heard branches snap as something approached their position – something big. A loud screech broke the silence, more deafening than any sound Erik had ever heard before. Each man felt a shiver go through his spine. The expectation hung in the air.
Then Erik saw it. He spotted the bright green eyes that were easily twelve feet above the ground. Erik realized that it was now as black as the darkest night around them. The creature they had fought dissipated into nothingness, to be replaced with a larger, spookier horror. Erik could feel the tremors of terror emanating off his friend. A flash of lightning illuminated the forest. Erik could see a large feline-like creature looking down upon them.
"Yikes!" Er
ik whispered. "What in God's name are you?"
"What do you see, Erik?" Steve asked.
"Nothing you'd particularly want to look at," Erik whispered.
"I can't see a damn thing in this darkness." Steve cussed. "Are you sure it's out there?"
An ear-shattering roar answered the officer's question.
"Did you hear that?" Erik asked.
"Oh yeah, may I suggest a strategic withdrawal?" his friend asked.
"The question is: Will they allow us to retreat?" Erik whispered as the men began a cautious withdrawal.
The two men retreated back down the hill. The large creature held its ground. Erik felt a second presence. He looked up into the trees near the feline creature. The first creature crouched on a branch watching with hate-filled eyes.
"Our other friend is watching us leave," Erik observed, pointing it out to his friend.
"I don't see it now," Steve replied. "How is it that you can?"
"I don't know. Let's just focus on hooking up with our team members," Erik answered.
Erik had lost a great deal of blood. He was still bleeding from the deep gashes in his chest and face. The two men walked in silence down the sloping ground for nearly half an hour. Steve had continually tried to make radio contact with the rest of their party, but only received static through his radio.
"Damn it," Steve swore. "What the hell is wrong with this piece of junk? Where are they?"
Erik's head began to spin. His enhanced strength had long expired and the adrenaline rush that allowed him to hold off the monstrosity was long past. His body was wracked with pain. His hands had swollen and were bleeding from several places where the flesh had literally peeled away. He could no longer hold the 32.
"Steve," Erik whispered, "I think I'm going to black out."
* * *
Steve turned and helped Erik off his feet. He instructed his friend to drink deeply from his canteen. Steve looked overhead, relieved to see sunlight. He looked at Erik. The investigator was in bad shape. His hands and forearms were a bloody mess, and his shirt was in shreds. Blood was still seeping from the deep wounds across his chest. There was no way Erik was going to be able to make it out of the forest on his own.
"Nelson, Belechek, Hooper, Ramirez," Steve shouted into his radio, "I need help!" Steve looked over at his friend. He appeared to be going into shock. "Hang in there, Knight. Don't fizzle out on me."
"Steve, this is Hooper. Over," a voice crackled through the radio.
"Hooper, where the hell are you guys? I need help here, quick."
"We're heading up. Hang in there. We're on our way. Hooper out."
Steve sat with Erik who was in and out of consciousness. It seemed like endless moments waiting for the rest of their party to arrive. After fifteen minutes, he heard footsteps, and quickly reached for his weapon. He sighed in relief as he recognized the voices. "Hooper, over here," he called out.
* * *
The four other men quickly arrived and were horrified to see the condition of both men. Nelson took out a first aid kit and began to work on Erik. He was very concerned about the flesh tears on Erik's upper torso. He applied a disinfectant and wrapped his chest in bandages as best he could, while the two other police officers applied cold packs to his swollen hands.
"Didn't you hear us trying to contact you?" Nelson asked.
"Nothing," Steve answered. "All we got on our end was static."
"We saw the darkness approaching our position and fell back. We tried to contact you, but couldn't get through. This veritable wall of darkness just kept expanding, then it seemed to shrink back and slowly fade." He paused. "Then we heard the weirdest sound. It seemed to shake the forest," he added as he turned his attention back to Erik.
"Nelson to base. Over," he said into his radio.
"Base, go ahead. Over."
"Base, I need an ambulance and a med team to meet us at Grid 07-01. We have a man with multiple deep lacerations and impact wounds." He reached inside Erik's shirt and scanned his dog tags. "We need some type-B positive blood and equipment for immediate transfusion," Nelson concluded.
"Roger that, B positive for transfusion."
"Erik? Do you think you can walk?" Nelson asked.
"Yeah," he replied weakly. "Just help me up."
Erik was leaning heavily against Steve and Hooper as the six men made their way down the hill and through the woods. The third Hopedale officer, Ramirez, had his weapon drawn, providing cover for the group as they made their way down the mountain. Steve told Nelson of the events that transpired, and how Erik had fought the strange creature off while he was knocked out.
"Erik said that something else was coming. The next thing I knew, it was as dark as midnight, and I heard a shriek that shook the ground and echoed throughout the woods. I nearly peed my pants. We heard tree limbs breaking and a weird growling. At that point, we didn't think our weapons were going to do much good. I had four shots left in the Magnum and Erik had the five in the 32 auto. We felt a cautious retreat was in order. After that, I couldn't see the things anymore, just darkness. Erik claimed that our sparring partner was perched on a tree limb next to the other thing, watching us go," Steve reported. "I'll be damned if I know why they let us leave, but I'm not going to question our good fortune too closely."
"We saw the patch of darkness," Nelson confirmed. "Almost as if somebody just turned out the sun like a light bulb. As I said before, we heard the same sounds you did; and I'll be honest, it made my skin crawl. Somehow, we got turned around. We tried calling you two on the wireless, but only got static. We're not equipped to deal with whatever's going on up here," Nelson exclaimed, reinforcing his earlier remarks.
Erik was coming in and out of consciousness. Steve and Hooper were dragging him through the trails when he passed out, and helping him walk when he awoke. The trip out of the deep woods seemed to last forever. They finally met the med team at the designated grid and placed Erik on a stretcher. The paramedics started a transfusion immediately, and were busy tending to the other injuries he sustained.
"Cripes," one medic exclaimed. "Did he pick a fight with a tiger? His chest is torn up with claw marks. What the hell's living up there?"
"Just fix him," Nelson answered moodily.
That was the second man on his team down in one day. Nelson was not a man used to setbacks. Nelson took a hard look at the detective's battered body and torn flesh. He wondered how Knight was able to take such a beating and, according to the Hopedale cop, dispense physical punishment as good as he got.
Something didn't add up in his mind. Why kill Henderson and not kill Knight and Forrest? Was Knight that much better at defending himself, or just luckier? Nelson was grateful the two men survived their ordeal, but wondered why they were spared while his employee wasn't as fortunate.
Chapter 5
Wednesday afternoon, 5:30 p.m.
Erik sat up on the stretcher as the medics finished bandaging his chest. He had stubbornly refused to be taken to a hospital, wanting nothing to do with any more blood transfusions. He finished the half-gallon of orange juice Nelson provided, and paused to stare at the other men staring at him with some concern.
"I'll be fine," he reassured Nelson and the others. "They said it looked a lot worse than it actually was."
"You're starting to get some color back, anyway," Steve replied. "You had me spooked, my friend."
"We all got spooked," he replied seriously. "Gentlemen, I've been in these woods for nearly eight years and I've never, ever seen anything like we saw earlier today. Steve, you saw it. I saw it up close and personal. Nelson and Belechek, you saw what it did to Henderson and our 'Jane Doe,' Carol Carlin. Can we all agree that we're not dealing with an animal?"
They all nodded in agreement.
"If it's not a man and it's not an animal, then what the hell are we dealing with?" Nelson asked.
"I don't know," Steve answered. "All I know is that I put enough forty-four lead into that thing to stop an elephant, a
nd it simply walked away. It picked me up like I was a rag doll. I can still feel its icy cold grip around my neck." The officer had a tone of dread and a hint of fear in his voice.
"It's obvious that it has some kind of armored covering." Erik held up his skinned knuckles. "But, I do think we hurt it. We just need something with some more firepower. Like maybe Belechek's rifle, which we should have taken with us. As for the thing's larger friend out there, I just don't have the answers." He sighed heavily, shifting the position of his heavily bandaged torso.
"Bottom line, gentlemen," Nelson remarked. "We just got our asses kicked. Steve, from what you and Erik said, this larger thing could have had you, but it let you withdraw. I think they were just making a point, saying 'you can't hurt us, so stay away.'"
"I don't follow you," Erik said.
"I'm just applying logic, Erik," Nelson replied. "Let's look at the facts. You put eight rounds into it earlier, then capped off the rest of your four clips. So that's eight rounds times four clips. I've looked at those peashooters of yours. They're not exactly stock. It took thirty-two rounds from you alone, and six or eight rounds from Steve. Plus, you said you buried the blade of that big pig-sticker you were carrying earlier into its shoulder. Nothing human could live through that," the detective stated firmly.
He continued. "You were both beaten up there. It could have killed you like it killed Henderson. I'll admit that you may have caused it some measure of difficulty, Erik, but face it; we had to carry you out of the woods. If this thing wanted, it could have killed all of us at any time as we were heading back to the main trails, but it didn't."