Chapter 7: The Second Anomaly
The alien, chittering sound echoed through the trees, growing closer. Inside the blind, the air became thick with terror. Kenny Liu's breathing was shallow, his eyes wide. Jim Matthews was frozen, clutching a hand-drawn schematic of the blind as if it were a shield. Even Boyd, a man hardened by years of this nightmare, felt a cold dread snake up his spine.
Only Jin moved. His calm, analytical demeanor had vanished, replaced by a sharp, cold urgency.
"New hostile," he whispered, his voice a blade in the darkness. "Unknown class. Biometric signature is non-humanoid. Mission aborted. We exfiltrate now."
"We can't," Boyd hissed back. "We don't know what it is, where it is!"
"Precisely," Jin said, already pushing open the blind's concealed rear exit. "Which is why staying in a fixed position is tactical suicide. Move."
As they scrambled out into the terrifying darkness, Boyd risked one last look through the viewing slit. He caught a glimpse of movement in the clearing—something huge and multi-limbed, scuttling between the trees with an insectoid gait. It wasn't walking; it was skittering.
The retreat through the forest was a waking nightmare. The chittering seemed to come from all directions at once, a disorienting, predatory echo. Every snapping twig sounded like a death knell.
Jin was in the lead, navigating not with panic, but with a furious, internal calculation. He held a compass in one hand, his Glock in the other. He led them away from the direct path to town, forcing them down a steep, muddy creek bed.
"Why are we going this way? Town is straight ahead!" Kenny stammered, slipping on a wet rock.
"The direct path offers a 40% higher chance of visual acquisition by the hostile," Jin whispered back without turning. "The creek bed provides auditory and physical cover. It is 18% slower, but 65% safer. Move."
But the creature was faster. The chittering was right behind them now, accompanied by the heavy sound of something immense crashing through the undergrowth. They were being herded.
"It's closing in! We can't outrun it!" Jim gasped.
Jin stopped, pushing the others forward. "Continue to the town perimeter. That is an order."
Boyd turned, rifle raised. "The hell it is! We don't leave people behind!"
"Your sentimentality is a liability," Jin snapped, his eyes wild with adrenaline and frantic calculation. "Your survival as the command structure is more critical than mine. I have a 72% chance of successful evasion alone. With you, that drops to 38%. The logical choice is for you to leave!"
Before Boyd could argue, Jin reached into his pack and pulled out a small, cylindrical device. He twisted the base. "Fire in the hole," he said, and threw it into a thicket of dry brush.
It erupted not with an explosion, but with a blinding, white-hot magnesium flare that lit up the forest like a second sun.
In the brilliant, terrifying light, they all saw it clearly for the first time. It was a monstrous, spider-like horror, easily ten feet tall, its body a gnarled mass of thick roots and tangled branches. Dozens of glowing red eyes blinked in the sudden light, and it reared back, letting out a screech that was a mix of scraping metal and tearing flesh.
The light and heat were its weakness.
"Go!" Jin roared, the first real crack in his cold demeanor.
He didn't need to say it twice. They ran, adrenaline and pure terror propelling them forward. Jin, having proven his point and created the tactical opportunity, ran with them, his mind already processing the new data.
They burst out of the tree line and into the relative safety of the town just as the first hint of dawn colored the sky. A small, terrified group was waiting for them—Kristi, Julie, Donna, Ellis, and Fatima.
Kristi immediately rushed forward, her paramedic instincts taking over. Her eyes scanned each of them, but her focus landed on Jin. "Are you hurt? Are you hit?"
"Negative," Jin managed, leaning over to catch his breath. "All team members are accounted for."
As he leaned over, the small wooden bird Julie had given him fell from his pocket, landing softly in the dirt. Julie darted forward and picked it up, clutching it in her hand. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second, a silent, complicated exchange passing between them.
A shaken Boyd gathered the awakening town. He explained what they had seen. Not just the mimics putting on their smiling masks, but a new monster. A second anomaly. A creature that lived in the deep woods. The forest wasn't empty. It was an entirely new layer of the nightmare.
Later, in the diner, Jin had his map spread out, now covered in a frantic new web of notes and threat assessments. Jade, whose arrogance had been replaced by a feverish, scientific curiosity, approached his table.
"A non-humanoid entity?" Jade said, his voice trembling with a terrifying excitement. "Different biology, different behaviors? Does it react to the talismans? We have no data, no frame of reference!"
Jin looked up from the map. The fear from the forest was gone, burned away and replaced by the cold, burning fire of a scientist who has just discovered a new, horrifying world to conquer.
"No," Jin said, his voice low and dangerous. "We have no data."
He tapped a pen on the map, marking the spot where they'd seen the spider-creature.
"Yet."
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Chapter complete! I read every single comment, so let me know what's on your mind! If you want to support the fic even more, a review or some power stones would be amazing. Cheers!