by Gary Crew
Chapter 7
Once outside, the wintry wind pinked the boys’ cheeks and tossed their hair. Never had they loved the daylight so much even though it was overcast and threatening rain. As one, they flopped onto the grassy hillside and lay back.
“So,” Andy asked, “what was that thing?”
“It looked like a giant cockroach. But your guess is as good as mine. It was straight out of a science-fiction movie. Man, that was bad.”
“Yeah. But do we tell someone? I mean, it has to be the thing that attacked Rusty’s house.”
“Or one of the things. That’s how come that wing got stuck in with the windmill sails. I’d say that squeaky, kinda chirpy noise of the windmill called it out of the cave. You know, like maybe it mistook the windmill noise for a mating call, or something. Rusty said that the Energy people lubricated the windmill to stop it squeaking. Maybe that’s why it hasn’t come out again. But it’s awfully big — and dangerous.”
Andrew sat up and rested his chin on his knees. He stared out over the valley. “Yeah,” he mused. “I was just wondering if Rusty has seen more than he’s letting on.”
“Nah, he couldn’t have,” David answered. “No way he would have let us go in there — or anywhere else for that matter. I bet now the windmill has stopped making that squeaking, that thing has got no reason to come out. I mean, it didn’t try to follow us, did it?”
Andy was quiet for a moment, thinking, then he spoke up. “I know that it’s big and potentially dangerous, but if we told the papers and anyone believed us all these hillbilly yahoos would probably come out after it with rifles.
“You might think that I’m crazy, but even something that ugly has got a right to live. I mean, it’s unique. Maybe even prehistoric, like the cave formations, heh?”
David looked at his little brother with renewed interest. He was impressed. Not only had Andrew been the most level-headed but now he was talking really good sense.
“Yeah, you’re right,” he found himself agreeing. “We should say nothing. Not right now. Right now we just keep the monster our secret, okay?”
“Still, I wouldn’t mind another look.”
“No, Andy. Let’s leave the thing alone. Like you said, it’s got a right to live. Let’s leave it in peace.” David sighed as he heaved himself up. “Come on bro. We should be getting back to the house. I’m freezing.”
But as soon as they headed off Andy called, “Hang on, there’s something stuck on your shoe . . .”
David stopped and lifted his foot. Something square and white was stuck to the patterned sole of his hiking boot.
“Here. I’ll get it,” Andy volunteered and he pulled away a piece of tattered fabric. Something about it caught his attention. “David,” he said, “it looks like a shirt pocket.”
“That’s the nuclear symbol on it,” David muttered, turning pale.
“I wonder where you picked it up? Wait, there’s something written beneath the symbol. ‘Anglesea’. That’s on the other side of the hills where the nuclear power station is. Say, do you think there could be a connection between this bit of rag and that beast thing? That’d be really weird, heh . . .”
To be contuined in