Darkest Night

by James Cherry

  Terror.

  Bo was the only exception, his guise stony and emotionless.

  Marty shone the light in the direction of the scream, the beam lancing across the field. This subtle act seemed to break the group out of their stupor and Bo quickly slapped the light from his hand and it tumbled to the ground. When it hit, the light went out, plunging the group into complete and total darkness. The entire group, stricken with fear, huddled together and grasped each other’s hands in support.

  Marty didn't object as a hand clasped his.

  Chapter 3

  Marty kneeled next to Doctor Burch. “Let me tell you a true story Doc”.

  Doctor Burch paused in his examination of a cow carcass and stared at Marty with an incredulous look. “I don’t have time for your nonsense.”

  Marty shook his head. “This is serious.”

  Doctor Burch sighed in resignation. “Okay, let me hear it.”

  Marty clapped his hands and began, "An old Arkansas man had a craving for a meal of squirrel. He told his son to go squirrel hunting and bring him back a squirrel. He also instructed his son to be very careful and not to shoot the squirrel in the head. He would need one squirrel brain to tan the squirrel's pelt. The son spent all day searching the woods for squirrels, but didn't have any luck. Finally, high up in a hickory tree, he spotted a squirrel's head sticking out from a hole. He forgot about what his father had told him and shot the squirrel in the head ruining the brains.”

  Marty put his finger to his head and mimed a shot and continued, “His dad was pissed. I can't tan that skin without any brains. Now what am I going to do? The son remembered seeing three wildlife biologists doing some field work while he was hunting. He told his dad about the biologists, and his dad told him to go and shoot one of them and bring back his brain so they could tan the skin. The son went out and shot a biologist and brought back the brain. As it turned out, the brain was too small to tan the squirrel pelt. The father sent the boy back to the woods to shoot the other two biologists. Two more brains would be just enough for the job, he told his son.”

  Marty grinned and concluded his story, “Look on the bright side son, if they had been cryptozoologists, we wouldn't have enough brains for the job."

  Marty studied the doctor for some kind of reaction. To his dissatisfaction Doctor Burch merely turned his head and went back to examining the carcass of a cow.

  He looked to Ayako, but she was busy taking hair and tissue samples from the same carcass and didn't even bother to look up from her work. Bo stood statue-like behind her, looking on with interest at the doctor’s makeshift autopsy. He didn’t acknowledge the joke either.

  Marty then turned to Ron, and noticed he had a puzzled look on his face. He saw an opening and grinned. “Why do you look so confused?”

  Ron frowned. "I know brains were used in the tanning of animal skins but what was the point of that joke?"

  Marty laughed. Mocking Ron's Texas accent, he slowly drawled out, "Y'all know, I don't believe Ronnie here got that joke. It seems the joke went way over his head."

  Ron furrowed his brow and his jaw tensed up. "Boy, you best remember who is financing this expedition. You are on my payroll. You are here by my invitation. If you keep that shit up, I will send your punk ass back to your Yankee home so fast it will make your head spin."

  He stomped one foot and continued, "And another thing, punk, just because I talk slow doesn't mean I am slow." He emphasized his every word by pounding one fist into his cupped hand. "I did get the joke, I just don't understand why you insulted Doctor Burch. You are nothing but a smartass punk who is too full of himself. One of these days someone will take you down a notch or two, mark my words."

  Marty opened his mouth for a retort but thought better of it. He decided at this point, he had pushed Ron to the limit. He mustered his best apologetic voice and said, "I was joking with Doctor Burch. I was just messing with you, too. I meant no offense, really. Just trying to lighten the mood up a little." He turned away in order to end the conversation. He still took satisfaction that he got in the last word.

  They had been examining the four different carcasses since dawn. The midday sun beat down on Marty, and he craved a cold beer. "Damn, I am getting hungry and really, really, thirsty. Want me to go into town and grab us something to eat? Not to mention buy a new cooler and some more cold beer." With no answer forthcoming, he sighed and flopped down on the ground.

  He knew nothing conclusive had been discovered. Puncture wounds on the necks of the deceased bovids only indicated something had grabbed the cattle by the neck. The only obvious physical trait the cattle had in common were that they were all sickly with ribs distinctly showing through the dull mangy hides. Much of the blood had been drained from the cattle, but he had a theory about what he considered to be a mundane incident.

  Marty said thoughtfully, "You know, Doc, I have seen similar wounds on animals attacked by large predators such as puma, lions, or tigers. The puncturing of the jugular would in effect cause the blood to drain from the body after a short amount of time. The bite marks are unremarkable and the bite pattern seems to fit a large feline."

  Doctor Burch reacted intensely. "Marty, even with a jugular puncture, all the blood would not drain out, there would be some pooling in the low areas of the body."

  "Just look at the severity of the wound, a good chomp in the right place would bleed the cow dry,” Marty retorted.

  "I told you, no wound is ever severe enough to bleed any creature dry. The blood was sucked out. This was no puma, tiger, or lion either. There are no large felines native to this particular area, especially tigers or lions. Explain the image on the thermal camera of the thing dropping out of the sky? What about the radar contact?" The doctor turned away, obviously agitated.

  Marty continued, his words lost upon the doctor’s deaf ears, "There is some blood, the cow wasn't sucked completely dry. As for the image on the radar, probably just a false reading. Those portable radar units are notorious for being too sensitive to thermal changes. On camera, the image which dropped out of the sky was blurry, was probably a glitch due to the heat."

  The doctor continued his work, ignoring Marty completely, much to his chagrin. Marty glanced up and saw Bo staring at him intently.

  After an uncomfortable moment, Bo said, "What about the thing that flew over our heads? We saw it. We felt it."

  Marty replied smugly, "Oh, that. The thing we thought we saw fly over our heads was just a trick of the mind. With the amount of fear emanating from the group, combined with the darkness, it would be easy to trick the mind into seeing things. Also, with the amount of beer we consumed, it wouldn’t have surprised me to have seen flying pink elephants."

  Ayako looked sharply at Marty. "I don't drink and I still saw that thing. Besides, beer does not cause drug induced dementia, unless of course, you are slipping LSD into your beer."

  Ron piped in, "Drug induced what?"

  Thrilled someone was still listening, Marty replied sarcastically, "Dementia. Hallucinations. You know what that means don't you? When you see things that are not there? As an Indian, you should be familiar with that, with all the peyote you smoked and all."

  Ron replied hotly, "I am not an Indian, I am a half Native American. Indians are from India dumb ass. And no, I never smoked peyote. I was raised by my white mother and never learned much about the Native American culture. I do know this though; peyote was a hallucinogenic plant smoked by the Native Americans from the southwest desert area. My heritage is Cherokee. Learn a little about American History, you little shit."

  Marty, taken aback by Ron's knowledge, muttered an apology, "I didn't mean to offend your heritage. I was just explaining to you . . ."

  Ron cut him off with a chop of his hand, "Just shut up."

  Marty replied, "Okay, boss. I'm shutting up. You won't hear another word from these . . ."

  Ron, Ayako, and the doctor said loudly in unison, "Shut up!”

  Marty finally conceded as he rea
lized that he had pushed everyone too far. He meekly said, "Okay," and stood up. He retreated a few steps backward as if he were expecting to be attacked.

  ***

  Ayako peeled off her latex gloves and threw them to the ground in disgust as the necropsy was inconclusive. Something had attacked these cattle, but there was nothing to prove it was anything other than a large cat of some type as Marty had suggested.

  She had taken castings of the bite wounds from all four cattle, but more study would have to be done to determine what kind of creature bit these cows. A long and painstaking search would have to be done to compare all known predator’s bite patterns.

  She looked at Doctor Burch and said, "Don't you think it's really strange how none of the cattle's flesh appears to have been devoured? Other than from the area of the bite mark itself, and some minor flesh wounds from large claws, the remains are intact."

  Doctor Burch scratched his chin thoughtfully, "I know some predators will kill large numbers of prey on a hunt, such as domesticated dogs, and not eat any of the dead. It’s inconceivable that any dog could take down an animal as large as a full-grown cow. Goats or sheep, yes, but not a cow.”

  Ayako pondered the situation for a moment and answered, "It is possible that Marty is correct. An exotic species of predator could have been kept by a local as a pet and released at some time. Perhaps a large predator escaped from a zoo or sideshow?”

  She stood and put her hands on her hips. “Such incidents have happened in numerous places, even in North America. I remember a story of a young tiger, which had become too large, and the owners released it into the wild. The tiger terrorized the countryside until it was finally hunted down and put down by hunters."

  The doctor nodded with agreement. He added, "But that does not explain the radar contact, and what we saw with our own eyes."

  Ayako pondered everything that had happened. The thing flying in the sky and the radar contact were too eerie to have been a coincidence. Was Doctor Burch correct? Was it really a new species of flying predator?

  The doctor stated flatly, "My dear, I am correct. This is a new species. Do you know of any bird in existence that has teeth and is large enough to kill a full grown cow?”

  Ayako looked up sharply as she realized that she had been thinking out loud. Or had she?

  "How did you . . ."

  "My dear, I have worked with you for fourteen years, I know you all too well. Sometimes I can sense what you are thinking."

  The doctor stood and stretched. He bent down and touched his toes in an attempt to work out his sore and knotted muscles. As he straightened he yawned and pointed in the direction of the parked trucks. "You better get some shut-eye. I'll go and check on the other terminals to see if any had been tripped. I will also try and repair the damaged one and salvage any information I can from it. Go and get some sleep." He started to turn away.

  "So, just when are you going to sleep?"

  The doctor paused in mid-turn and replied, "I will catch a few zees when we all meet back here tonight. By my calculations, I don't believe those things will come back until well after dark, maybe not at all. I can sleep tonight, and you can wake me if something happens." As an afterthought he added, "Right now I am just too wired to sleep. Go on. Ron will take you back to camp. I will stay here with Bo."

  The doctor turned away and stumbled a bit. He paused for a second and stood up straight in order to regain his composure. He shuffled over to Bo leaving Ayako standing alone.

  "Night Doc," Ayako whispered.

  ***

  Doctor Burch instructed Bo to unlatch the terminal from the tree and unhook the attaching wires. As soon as Bo completed the task, Bo and the doctor worked together to gingerly set the terminal down upon the ground. The doctor quickly opened the access panel and unscrewed the hard drive. He carefully removed it from the damaged terminal unit and placed the drive into his rumpled pack.

  As soon as he was finished, Bo grunted in exertion as he picked up the damaged terminal again. His arms bulged with the effort and a bead of perspiration appeared upon his forehead.

  The doctor patted him on the back and said, “Lead on Bo," and the pair walked briskly back toward the truck.

  As they neared the SUV, the doctor glanced down at his watch. The others headed back to base camp fifteen minutes earlier and they had taken the damaged gear with them. With any luck they would be able to repair some of the equipment and still have time to get some sleep.

  Bo placed the damaged terminal into the rear of the vehicle and slammed the tailgate shut as the doctor climbed into the passenger seat. Bo retrieved the keys from his pocket, hopped into the driver's seat, and cranked the truck.

  The doctor retrieved a file folder from beneath his seat and fanned his face. He suddenly realized he was parched. “You know Bo, I could really use something to drink. Would you mind swinging by base camp first?”

  “Yes, sir,” Bo replied as he put the vehicle in gear.

  The SUV bounced and jostled down the gravel road and within a few minutes they arrived back at base camp. The doctor noted the others had only arrived a few minutes before and were still in the process of unloading the trucks. Marty and Ron were busy sorting through the damaged gear, placing items broken beyond repair into garbage bags. Ayako was standing behind a portable table, preparing sandwiches and drinks for everyone. As soon as she noticed their approaching vehicle she moved out from behind the table and sauntered up to Doctor Burch’s door as the vehicle came to a stop. The doctor opened his door and slid wearily out of his seat.

  Ayako had a puzzled look on her face. “Doc, I didn’t expect you back here until later. Is something wrong?”

  The doctor shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong, I just need a drink and perhaps a bite to eat before we check on the other terminals."

  “Sure, Doc, I am making drinks and sandwiches. You and Bo sit.” She pointed to some logs surrounding a long burned out campfire. "You want ice water or a beer?”

  Doctor Burch looked up at Ayako with surprise. He had never seen her so willing to wait on anyone before. “Hmmm, I think I will take, um, ice water. I am thirsty enough to suck a cow dry.”

  Ayako then looked at Bo. “And you?”

  “Water for me as well,” replied Bo.

  Ayako smiled and walked back to the table. She already had drinks poured so it only took a matter of moments and she returned holding a makeshift tray, which was once an icebox lid. On the tray were two glasses of cold water and two canteens full of fresh water. She handed a glass of cold water to the doctor and the other to Bo.

  Placing the canteens on the ground next to the two men she said firmly, "Those canteens are for later, when you go back out in the field to check those terminals."

  “Thank you,” the doctor replied. He really didn’t know what to say. He had never seen her with this level of generosity.

  Bo nodded in thanks and both men took seats on the logs. Ayako turned and walked back to the table so that she could continue to make sandwiches.

  The doctor noticed Marty as he ambled over to Ayako and quietly conversed with her. Ayako's face turned red, and she huffed in displeasure. Marty laughed loudly and made loud growling noises with his hands curled in the air, in imitation of a monster. He whistled as he moved back to his task of sorting the damaged equipment.

  Doctor Burch arched a quizzical eyebrow at the spectacle. He swiveled his head to track Marty and glimpsed the unmistakable gleam of mischief on his face. He knew that look. Marty was preparing some idiotic antic.

  “What Marty? Spit it out. I know you are up to something.”

  Marty slowly turned and said in a serious tone, “Well, I was just thinking about what you said about sucking out the cow’s blood. I know now what attacked the cattle last night. Seems devil worshipers using hang gliders flew in and landed on the backs of the cattle. Then they drained all the blood for use in their rituals, and then used puma skulls to place bite marks on the cattle to cover their tracks. Then t
hey caught a thermal and flew away.”

  Doctor Burch chided, “Okay, good theory. Now that you have figured out what happened here last night, let’s all pack up and leave. Good job people,” He shouted out loud, “Everyone, Marty has solved the case."

  Marty huffed and stomped up to stand in front of Doctor Burch. “You know, what I said in jest is still a more plausible theory than yours." He turned and stalked off.

  "Okay, if they were not flying, then explain why we could not find any tracks of the attacking creatures at all?" challenged the doctor to Marty's retreating form.

  Marty threw his hands up and bellowed, not bothering to turn around, "Because the fleeing cattle stomped them all out."

  The doctor knew he had Marty flustered and kept prodding. "Even around the immediate area of the carcasses? There should have been something there, a scuff, claw mark, bloodstained footprint? The cattle wouldn't have stomped out those prints."

  Marty, clearly exasperated, replied, "The ground was too hard and dry for any prints from a large feline to have shown up. The critter simply did not weigh enough to leave a print." Marty turned to face the doctor. "This whole damn expedition is a damn joke." He turned and stomped off like a child having a tantrum.

  The doctor chuckled and said quietly to himself, "He always has an answer for everything."

  Ron strolled up to the doctor and leaned down to whisper in his ear, “Always has to have the last word, too." Not waiting for a reply, he quickly walked off.

  Ayako approached with a plate of sandwiches, and handed one to the doctor, and then another to Bo. She then moved away to distribute the rest to the other members of the group.

  Doctor Burch laughed again and took a bite out of his sandwich, then blanched and spit out the bite he had just taken. He sputtered, “What in the hell is this shit?"

  He turned around and looked at Ayako who simply shrugged and pointed to Marty. Even with his back turned, it was obvious that Marty was laughing.