1 Chapter 1: The Experiment

The discovery was made many, many years ago in a different time. During the Great War, humankind nearly killed itself off again. There's been diseases previously eradicated that were mutated into something much worse. The Spanish Flu pandemic of the 1900's doesn't quite cover the devastation after the Great war. It was biochemical weapons that killed all the bees. The bees took most of the food production with them.

It was a quiet new moon night draped in darkness. A young solider kept watch while the others slept staring into the darkness near the campfire. The land was almost barren of all life completely, but his group had found a small meadow alive with a few insects. The bush near the tent swayed to the right.

The solider, Alec, was sure that he was seeing things. He would have to find someone else to take watch when he could swear it moved again. The land was barren of life or that's what he could swear the general had said. Alec was 5' 10" with a skinny build only accentuated more by the baggy military uniform from his past.

Alec cursed under his breath as he remembered the fine print about this endurance training exercise. Something about a gas causing psychosis or hallucinations or something like that. Some technical words that made the company not liable for injuries, but this young group of four was also desperate enough for the handsome reward- a great deal of money. Money that Alec would use to get his sister a proper wedding gift.

"Hey! You can stop now." He said as the moving increased in the bush. He pulled his cigarette from behind his right ear hidden by his mid ear long curly black hair. The people in charge had forbidden the use of tobacco products and he pulled a stick from the campfire to light his cigarette.

Alec's dark brown eyes squinted in the dark as he tried to make out what creature was hiding. "Oh, bat!" he said as the tent flap opened and startled him. That was also the only animal he could think of to be in the bush. "Good. You are awake. Take watch for me" he said to the similar looking Stephan. He slapped Stephan's head playfully.

"I thought you were keeping watch! It's so hard to sleep with you talking and hitting the tent so much!" Another man of similar build had slipped out of the small tent after Stephan. Stephan rubbed at his bright blue eyes and sighed. "Okay", he said after slapping his face several times to wake up. Lex was more average looking a steady weight for his height of 5' 6" unlike Stephan and Alec, but he went back in the tent after hearing Stephan would take watch.

"I was scaring away something." Alec said and took a long drag of his cigarette. He didn't need everyone thinking he was crazy. He needed the money. He needed this assignment. He needed to get his sister a proper gift. She had helped him with schoolwork after their parents died. She was the reason he managed to graduate school and could join the military.

Stephan looked around and focused on waking up, "Didn't you read the fine print?" He stuck a finger up at Alec. "There isn't any animal in this area which is why they selected it for this endurance exercise besides some small insects. We just need to last another 6 hours until sunrise."

"Chill, Stephan" Alec said to him. "Not everyone is as gifted as you with your memory of such intricate details." He had taken his time pronouncing intricate to ensure it sounded extra insulting.

Stephan was about to give his snarky reply when a creature jumped on Alec's back knocking him flat on the ground face first. Alec let out a horrifying scream before hitting the ground. The creature had dark wings. The light from the campfire made its eyes glow a sinister, murderous red.

"Alec!!" Stephan almost screamed his name as he watched the creature walk up and down his back. The sounds of the night were still as he heard every bone shattering under the creature's weight. "GET AWAY!" he yelled, but the despicable creature only dug its talons into Alec's back.

The tent had opened, and the other two volunteers had sprung out as quickly as possible, but not fast enough. The group watched in horrified fascination as this giant 100 something pound creature tore into the man they had just met a few days prior. No one could move. No one spoke. They watched in horrified fascination for hours as the thing slowly devoured Alec.

It had dark wings and sharp teeth. Its face was like a huge snake. It was difficult to tell as the campfire's shadows danced over the scene. Erik had convinced himself that he'd never be able to get the smell of blood out of his mind.

Stephan had somehow put himself between the others and whatever horror was taking place a mere foot away. Erik was the heaviest of them all, but the most afraid. He had put his hand over his own mouth to prevent himself from screaming. A few minutes later, he had to use his other arm to support Lex whom he was sure had fainted.

"What do we tell them?" Stephan poked the fire. "There aren't supposed to be animals in this area. They said that in the papers we all signed and that they wouldn't be liable for injuries. What do we tell Alec's sister?"

"What was that thing?" Lex asked everyone around the fire.

"I have no clue, but I don't want to ever run into one of those again. I don't even think if we had guns, we could have defended Alec." Erik said.

A bit before sunrise, they received word that the experiment was over and due to Alec's unfortunate 'accident' they would only receive half the money promised. They were forced to sign orders to never speak of the incident. They were told that Alec was killed by a wandering cougar. They would face harsh penalties if they ever mentioned anything different.

And so the discovery was hidden for many more years.....