The Void

CHAPTER 41

Andy Gibson pointed, his mouth working for several seconds, before a word would finally come.

“Loo… look!”

The wooden crate had been obliterated. But what stood in its place made him think he had been hit in the head and was now hallucinating. A slim, silver figure stood in the center of the mound of broken wood, and it seemed to be listening for a moment or two. It then turned its head toward him and stared, he guessed, because it was hard to tell as there was no face, other than a slight red glow where two eyes should have been.

“What the hell is going on back there?” Scoffel’s yelling shook Andy.

“It’s wearing a suit.” He still pointed.

Then the figure moved, fast. Andy threw his arms up, but it ignored him completely, instead heading toward the side door of the helicopter. Andy knew the doors could not be unlocked manually unless the pilot flipped the release from the cockpit, but the figure placed a hand either side of the doorframe.

“Hey.” Andy half rose to his feet.

The figure continued to ignore him and impossibly, started to pull the doors apart with the sound of screeching steel, followed by an alarm from the cockpit.

“Hey, don’t do that!”

Andy braced himself as air began to rush in, creating a freezing mini tornado in the back of the chopper.

“Airman Gibson, what the hell is happening back there?” The maelstrom entering the chopper drowned out Scoffel’s furious voice, and Andy backed up then, easing away from the silver being even though it acted like he didn’t exist. But what did scare the shit out of him even more was that they were at least a thousand feet above the mountaintop, and an open door without tethering meant a slight tilt on the craft and someone had better learn to fly real quick.

“Shut that door, airman!” Scoffel spluttered. “Shut that fucking door, right now!”

Andy sat down and held on tighter than he had ever held on in his life and watched the strange silver creature stare out of the open door for a few more moments, before facing him again. He could have sworn it nodded once, before turning back, and simply diving out.

“Jesus Christ.” Andy felt his stomach flip, either from a surge of adrenaline or relief.

“What the hell is happening?” Scoffel’s voice was so high it sounded like he had been sucking on helium.

Andy grinned a little madly. “Ah, Scoffel, buddy, looks like our payload just decided to deliver itself.” He touched his lips as he suddenly realized they were icing up. “Better tell HQ we might have a problem.”