Darryl looked down at the massive plumes of black smoke wafting up from the treetops a thousand feet below. “We’re fine here. That thing will come out sooner or later.”
Jason suddenly jerked his head down. “Did you see that, Darryl?”
Darryl was stunned. “Yeah, I did.”
Lisa jolted forward from the bench in back. “Where is it?”
Jason pointed. “Right there.” It was the area between two of the tallest treetops, a few soccer fields apart and belching big puffs of black smoke. “It just popped up then zoomed right back in.”
“Craig.” Darryl adjusted his headset. “Did you guys see that over there?”
Craig and Phil were still leaning forward in their seats, staring at the same smoke-filled gap. “Do we go down after it or keep waiting?”
“Ask Phil how hot it is down there.”
Craig relayed to his passenger. “How hot is it?”
Martino pulled some binoculars to his face. “Well… It looks like all the flames have burned themselves out by now, so it’s probably just really cooking down there.”
“What temperature?”
“A hundred fifty, maybe a hundred sixty degrees.”
“Jesus Christ. Darryl, it could be as hot as a hundred and sixty degrees down there.”
Darryl turned to Jason. “Up to a hundred and sixty degrees.”
“Wow.” Jason eyed the smoldering treetops. “I can’t imagine it surviving that.”
“Want to take a look and make sure?”
Jason looked down again. “Let’s let it fry a little. If it doesn’t come back out in thirty minutes, we’ll go down after it.”
THIRTY MINUTES later, the creature hadn’t returned. There was just thick black smoke—everywhere, the clouds now so big that they were even larger than the trees.
Jason exhaled then turned to Darryl. “Let’s get down there.”
Darryl fingered a lever with his left hand and the jungle-green bird descended, dropping toward a gap in the trees the size of a college football stadium. Suddenly black smoke was swirling everywhere. It was impossible to see, but Darryl Hollis didn’t blink. He descended through the blackness when the smoke abruptly cleared and they entered an eerie, charred world.
Seconds after the Vertol landed, Craig touched down in the Sikorsky. “Thanks a lot, Craig,” Phil said happily.
Summers was stone. “No problem.”
Phil yanked open the door, and suddenly the pilot felt like he might faint. He’d never felt such heat in his entire life. It was absolutely overwhelming. The door closed, and the Sikorsky immediately began rising. While the others searched the forest Craig would stand watch above. As he ascended back into the smoke his last sight was of the four of them sprinting into the superheated smoldering lair. He wondered what they’d find.
CHAPTER 85
EVERYTHING WAS black. The redwoods. The plants. The soil. Even the air. What had once been lively green ferns and big-leafed rhododendrons were now crumpled black skeletons and piles of soot. The redwoods were singed with forty-foot-high black streaks that smelled like charcoal.
And then there was the heat. The heat was fantastic, unlike anything any of them had ever experienced before, hotter than wearing a ski jacket in a sauna. The heat was just phenomenal.
Dripping sweat, Darryl ignored the temperature and ran right into the superheated gloom, his big bow slung over his shoulder.
“Form a circle.”
They did, then slowly walked forward. The entire forest seemed to be smoldering.
At the rear of the circle, Jason saw there wasn’t any fog at all in the treetops, just wispy black smoke and pieces of blue sky. His view leveled. If the predator was still alive, it would have no place to hide here. So where would it be? On the ground? Or up high, where it was cooler? He followed a massive black trunk into the air and realized the Demonray would blend in perfectly with the tree’s new color. He saw nothing unusual. His gaze leveled, sweat pouring down with every step.
After fifteen minutes, they reached the base of a steep hill, its incline like that of a staircase. The hill was filled with more of the same—charcoal-streaked redwoods, twisted plant skeletons, and smoldering superheated black air. Darryl led them up. “Stay alert here.”
Ten minutes later, they reached the top, and Jason felt like he was going to collapse. The heat was just stifling. But he knew as hot as it was for him, it was even hotter for the thick-skinned creature. He looked skyward, the cocktail of black smoke and streaky sunlight searing his eyes. The animal had to be up high. But he didn’t see anything unusual, just more streaked trunks and dulled rays of blackened sunshine.
“Anybody notice anything different here?” Darryl asked.
Bathed in sweat and miserable, Lisa turned. “Like what?”
“Like a temperature change.” Darryl studied the smoldering surroundings suspiciously. “It’s a little cooler here. You feel it, Jason?”
“No.”
“Phil?”
“No, but I saw in a file that this is one of the coolest spots in the forest.”
“Is that right?”
Phil nodded. “Apparently there’s a natural draft from the ocean.”
Darryl eyed a distant pile of debris directly ahead. “Jason.”
“Yeah.”
“How well does this thing sense temperature gradients?”
“Possibly very well.”
Darryl walked forward, stopping abruptly after a hundred feet. “Anybody smell something?”
Lisa wiped her forehead. “Like what?”
“Jesus. Like that.” It was right on the blackened soil, a carpet of black skin the size of a pool cover, spread out in uneven folds.
Jason crouched to touch it. He couldn’t believe it. He could barely lift it. It was thicker than his wrist, and it was only skin. And hot as hell, like burning rubber. He let go to avoid burning his hand.
“Shedding its skin like a goddamn snake.” Darryl looked around. “Think it’s still alive now, Jason?”
“I’m starting to wonder.”
Darryl turned back to the massive pile he’d been eyeing earlier, still directly ahead. “Get back in the circle.”
They walked forward, and Darryl just stared at the pile. There was something unusual about it. Since they’d been here, he’d seen hundreds of such piles, most just burned plant skeletons fallen on top of one another, a fern here, a rhododendron there, usually collapsed and strangely shaped.
But this pile was different. It didn’t look like burned plants—not exactly. The top portion did, with bent and twisted forms that allowed Darryl to see the sun-dappled smoke rising on the other side of it. But the middle and lower portions looked solid. Was something else there? Darryl wasn’t sure. He walked toward it.
THE HEAT was excruciating, unbearable, unfathomable. The predator couldn’t take it anymore. And yet it had to. The prey was very close now. Like the rest of its body, its eyes were covered by the scorching pile of debris it had plunged into. It couldn’t see them but it knew they were coming closer.
It remained perfectly still.
Then something moved. A tiny patch of black soot covering the predator’s closed right eye had just fallen. The animal could see them now. It just had to open its eye.
MOVEMENT. DARRYL Hollis didn’t know what had moved, but something. Walking closer, he stared at the spot. It was low on the pile, maybe two feet off the dirt. He thought a loose piece of debris had fallen, nothing else. But he stared at the spot anyway. And then he noticed it.
A reflection.
From a tiny pool of darkness.