Darryl shook his head. “This equipment of yours will not help us find that thing.”
“Why not?”
“Because this animal detects things electronically, Craig. It will know that equipment’s out there and stay the hell away from it.”
“It didn’t stay away from it today.”
“That had nothing to do with us finding it.”
“Of course it did. It confirmed it was out there. It will help us even more going forward.” Craig returned to the map. “We should rejigger the equipment to cover as much of this area as we can. That Demonray will keep coming back, you watch. Then we’ll be able to figure out exactly where it is.”
Jason studied the four Xs then turned at Darryl. “It’s not a bad idea.”
“Maybe theoretically, but Darryl’s right, Jason, it will be a waste of time.” Lisa eyed the two lifeless monitors on the hearth. “That thing will definitely detect the equipment.”
Craig turned angrily. “Says who? Bandar Vishakeratne? What the hell does he know?”
“The number one brain expert in the world? Oh, nothing, Craig, I’m sure.”
“Lisa, I’m not questioning the guy’s analysis of neurons, but even he doesn’t know what this Demonray will detect out there. The bottom line is that this animal hasn’t stayed away from our equipment yet, and we should use that to our advantage. Jason, we should reconfigure the layout.”
“As long as it doesn’t interfere with what Darryl wants to do… I’m inclined to agree.”
Craig nodded. “First thing tomorrow, then.”
Jason nodded in kind. “First thing tomorrow.”
CHAPTER 76
“THERE THEY are.” Lisa pointed as Monique and Darryl emerged from the forest in their all-khaki outfits.
Darryl looked tense. “It’s still out there. Let’s go. Let’s go right no—” He paused when Craig sluffed from the cabin, bleary-eyed and still in his pj’s. “Get dressed Craig.”
Summers seemed to wake up. “What? Hold on. I wanna reposition the equip—”
“You’re not repositioning anything now. That thing’s out there and we’re going to look for it.”
Craig turned angrily. “Christ, Jason, that’s not what we agreed to last—”
“Craig, you got up late, and we don’t have time now.” Jason saw that thin streams of white were already flowing into the treetops. “Reposition it later if you like, but let’s go. For now, maybe just grab a radar gun.”
Summers did as he was told, and within minutes, everyone was dressed in khaki, armed, and ready to go.
As they started off, Jason looked up again and was amazed. The fog was already very, very thick.
IN A hunting circle fifteen minutes later, they walked slowly, heads pointed up.
The fog was a tomb, no signs of life at all, and Craig wondered if they were wasting their time. “Think it’s still up there, Hoss?”
Darryl’s head slowly turned. “Don’t know for sure. But stay sharp; everybody stay sharp.”
An hour later, Craig was exhausted. So were Jason, Lisa, Monique, and Phil. After staring at the white mist for as long as they had, their necks hurt and their vision had blurred.
Darryl Hollis was as alert as ever, studying the fog in every direction, his bow and arrow always at the ready. “This thing is smart. Knew we’d be looking for it.” He squinted, trying to see into the fog. “If we can’t see it, it can’t see us, right?”
Jason shook his head. “It might be able to see through the fog, Darryl. The visual cortex in that brain wasn’t small either.”
Monique nodded. “Its eyes evolved in total darkness. It’s either blind or has fantastic vision.”
Craig scanned the whiteness with his rifle. “No way in hell is it blind.” He vividly recalled the way the Demonray’s eyes had watched them, studied them. “For all we know it could be up there right now.”
Darryl slowly halted. “I think it is.”
CHAPTER 77
THE CREATURE coasted silently, studying the six upturned human faces.
Its eyes moved slowly, patiently, taking in everything about them. Their eyes. Their bodies. Their clothes. And then their weapons.
JASON GLANCED at the rifle in his hands.
“It can detect our guns.”
“What?” Darryl had heard him but didn’t understand.
“It can detect the metal in these rifles. I don’t know if it understands what they’re used for, but it knows we’re holding them.”
Craig removed his radar gun. “You think it can detect this?”
Jason glanced at it. “When you turn it on.”
A nod. “All right, I’m going t—”
“Don’t bother.” Darryl continued to look up. “If it will sense it anyway, what’s the point?”
“Because it will confirm if it’s really up there.”
Darryl’s eyes didn’t leave the fog. “Believe me, it’s up there. You really think it can see us, Jason?”
“Probably.”
“It’s time for a game of chicken, then.”
Jason looked up curiously. “What do you want to do?”
“Aim right at it. If it sees me, it will get the hell out of the way, then reveal where it is.” In an instant, Darryl drew an arrow back, and rapidly swept it across the fog. “This thing doesn’t have spiritual powers I don’t know about, does it?”
“You never know.”
“OK, everybody aim at a different patch of fog. Keep your marks twenty feet apart. Now.”
A clever strategy, Jason thought. He wondered if it would work.
They aimed at six different patches.
Then waited.
There were no signs of movement, just a silent white mass.
They continued to wait. Nothing happened.
“It could have flown away,” Jason whispered.
Darryl continued to stare. “It could have. But I don’t think it did. The damn thing’s playing chicken all right. On three, everybody fire five shots. Ready? One. Two… Three.”
Gunfire shattered the silence. Twenty-five bullets and five arrows ripped into the fog bank.
They waited again. But nothing moved.
Craig raised the radar gun. “I’m gonna use this now, OK?”
Darryl exhaled. “Technology hunting” was unnatural, untrustworthy, the opposite of how he’d been taught to hunt. But he couldn’t say no here. “Go ahead.”
Craig turned on the gun. A sweeping green line appeared on the rear display and then he swept it across the white.
But there was no reading, just an empty sweeping line. “Maybe it’s really not up there.”
Darryl shook his head. Something didn’t feel right. He couldn’t say what—but something. “This damn thing is smart. I don’t like this.” He studied the fog. “Let’s go back to the cabin.”
The others paused. Go back to the cabin?
“You sure, Darryl?” Jason asked.
“I don’t want anyone getting killed out here. Let’s go.”
But then Darryl Hollis didn’t move. A particular patch of fog had caught his eye, and he stared at it.
THE BLACK eyes looked right back at him.
The predator wasn’t flying anymore. Like cellophane, its entire winged body was wrapped around the trunk of a redwood, gently rising and falling as it breathed.
The eyes suddenly shifted. To something on the dirt. The predator had been so focused on the humans that it hadn’t detected it. But something had just moved. The faces turned to it as well.