Return of the Ancients

Chapter 32 Please Tell Me You Got that?

‘Something coming at us fast — biological — go to strobe, sir?’

The room fell silent as the technicians pressed buttons and shifted joysticks to keep the camera hovering in the darkness.

Harper folded his arms and tried to remain calm, but his heart was racing. ‘Not yet; we might frighten it off, and never actually see what it is.’

‘Could it be Singer?’

Harper ignored the question, but kept his eyes on the screen. ‘Recorders running. Prepare for evasive.’ He turned briefly to another screen showing pulses of radar waves, bending around the approaching object. It was nearly on top of them. ‘Hold at six feet vertical.’

‘It’s too dark; at the speed it’s moving, it’ll run right by us and we won’t see it. We’ve got to light it up.’

‘Negative. Hold…’ Harper got to his feet, his wide eyes flicking from screen to screen. ‘Hold…’

Shapes appeared as the radar blip converged with their position. In night-vision mode, everything was a ghostly green. But the apparition that emerged from the darkness was unmistakable:

‘It’s a freakin’ giant wolf!’

For a moment, a second, human face was exposed by the greenish light, and then there was a ferocious snarl as a giant wolf creature, even more terrifying than the first, loomed up in front of them.

‘Go to strobe!’ The forest lit up — but for less than a few seconds, as something came down hard on top of the camera. The screen immediately melted into snow.

The entire room was on its feet. No one could speak, and the only sound was the static from the destroyed camera.

Harper turned to the recording engineer. ‘Please tell me you got that.’

The engineer nodded. ‘Yep, all of it.’

The loop was replayed for the first of many times, the technicians staring in wonder at the beasts’ faces. And Arnold Singer was clearly there too; he looked frightened and thin, but otherwise seemed healthy.

Harper leaned back and smiled. ‘Welcome back, son.’ He spun in his seat and eyed the army personnel hovering over him. ‘And now… we go and get him.’