Dave Freedman - Natural Selection

She walked forward quickly. She didn’t notice that the fog had thickened even more.

THE TWO heartbeats were very close now. Following the twisting double-yellow line, the creature rocketed toward them.

But then the animal saw something peculiar. A hanging white mass straight ahead. The great body immediately slowed down and began tuning. Strangely, despite what its eyes saw, the creature’s other sensory organs indicated nothing was there.

The animal glided closer and the whiteness leaked toward it… then gradually enveloped it. It looked down, but the double-yellow line was gone now. So was the road. Unable to see, the creature instinctively navigated with its radar. It continued for several seconds when it glanced below and saw the line. Saw it through the fog. Its powerful eyes had taken just a moment to adjust. Up ahead, it spotted an owl. The little animal was just below the mist, on top of a massive branch jutting out over the road, apparently unaware it was coming. Speeding closer, the creature rumbled, and the owl suddenly looked up, turning in every direction. It couldn’t see the creature, it couldn’t see through the fog.

The predator sped up. Rushing through the whiteness, it came upon the tattered roof of Laura Meyer’s SUV. It slowed slightly. The human heartbeats were just yards away now, but… the black eyes focused on the car. The animal immediately dipped down toward it.

“ IS THAT your wife’s?”

Allen Meyer whipped his head around as they accelerated past a dusty red pickup on the side of the road. “I have no idea whose that is.” He turned to Jason. “There shouldn’t be anyone else here.”

Darryl concentrated on the road ahead. “Forget it then. Let’s just find her.”

Meyer nodded. As they headed into the next turn, he noticed the speedometer. They were doing ninety-two.

A RACCOON foraging near Laura Meyer’s parked SUV abruptly looked up. Suddenly, from deep within the fog, something enormous and black appeared, dropping like an elevator. As the raccoon ran off, the predator hovered out of the whiteness, wings flapping furiously. It descended quickly, then, five feet from the dirt, ceased pumping and landed with a thud on the road and dirt.

It didn’t move. A few feet behind the car, it just stared at the machine, the baseball-size eyes shifting, studying everything about it.

Seconds passed. The car didn’t move, didn’t make a sound.

The engine popped.

Startled, the creature coiled its front half into the air and opened its mouth.

But the car still didn’t move.

In the upright position, slightly more than six feet tall, the animal just watched it.

More time passed. The car remained perfectly still.

After a moment, the mouth eased closed. The eyes studied the machine more carefully, looking through the glass… at the seats, headrests, steering wheel, and dashboard. They were all frozen, inanimate. The engine popped again. This time, the animal didn’t flinch.

The eyes swiveled up to the fog. The two human signals were just beyond the trees. The predator would use the mist to hunt them.

SWINGING IN his little tree cave, Samuel Meyer watched his mother walk down the trail. Then he looked up at the fog as a large dark outline surged past his tree and headed toward Laura’s back.

LAURA WALKED forward, the forest as silent as a tomb. Suddenly, she heard a snap.

From above the trail.

She looked up as a branch the size of a pencil fell out of the whiteness.

It bounced on the soil and settled.

Laura stared at it for a long moment. Then looked up again.

Nothing was there, just the shapeless mass of silent white. She wondered if an owl was up there somewhere. They often ate things up on the branches.

She glanced back at Samuel. He looked fine, and she was far enough away from him that she could use the walkie-talkie without him hearing. She turned the device on and—

“Laura, you there? Hello; please come in, Laura. Laura?”

Her husband sounded even more tense than usual. “What is it, Allen?”

“Jesus. Where the hell are you?”

“Where do you think? Searching trails.”

“Which trail?”

She continued walking. “Smuggler’s Gulch.”

“Where in Smuggler’s Gulch?”

She eyed a tiny metal sign poking out of the dirt. “The seven-hundred-yard marker.”

“Near that burned-out tree?”

She glanced back at Samuel. “Exactly.”

“Do me a favor, Laura. Get in the tree.”

She halted. “What?”

“I can’t get into it now; just do it. We’re coming to get you.”

“We?”

“ Laura, just get in the tree.” A pause. “You don’t see anything there now, do you?”

She looked around. “No, nothing.”

“You sure?”

A quick glance. “Positive.”

“All right. I’ll see you in a few seconds.”

She clipped the walkie-talkie to her belt, then walked quickly toward the tree.

Then she jogged. Why the hell had Allen told her to get inside it?

She jogged faster, looking in every direction.

She sprinted. The tree was forty feet away, then thirty. Why did she feel like something was following her? She ran harder, twenty feet away, ten…

She suddenly froze. What am I doing? Letting Allen freak me out? She ordered herself to get a grip. She calmly walked to the tree and peered in at Samuel. The baby looked fine.

The walkie-talkie sounded again. “Laura? Laura?”

Samuel started scowling, and she jolted to the opposite side of the trail. “Yes, Allen.”

“You OK?”

She was annoyed now. “I said I’m fine. See you when you get here.”

But just as she returned the walkie-talkie to her belt she heard something off the trail. A rustling. She looked out but saw nothing, just silent forest.

She didn’t know why, but she wanted to look up…. Huh. The fog seemed to be swirling ever so slightly.

Something rustled again. Something behind the trees.

An animal? Her husband was nervous about something . If an animal was nearby, she didn’t want it getting anywhere near her baby. She considered grabbing Samuel, putting him in the Snugli, but if whatever was out there jumped on her… Once, a playful dog had done just that, and Samuel had required stitches. The baby was safe in the cave where he was. She removed a pocketknife and quickly walked toward the trees.

SAMUEL JUST watched as his mother walked out of sight.

Instantaneously, an enormous black shadow descended on top of him. There was a flapping sound, and a powerful breeze blew back his hair.

The child looked up.

Something was there now. Looking right at him.

“ Come on, come on, come on….”

Allen Meyer sprinted past trees and ferns, leading the way. They’d just parked and were tearing through the forest, seconds away from his wife, his baby…

Following, Darryl and Jason darted their eyes, studying the ominously silent landscape. They had a bad feeling.

CLUTCHING HER pocketknife, Laura Meyer took another step. Whatever she’d heard, it was just around the next redwood, she was sure of it. She’d just scare it off and go back to her child. She held the knife firmly, rounded the tree, and—

“Oh my God, Allen.”

It was her husband and two men she didn’t recognize.

Winded, Allen froze. “You OK?”

“Fine.”

He suddenly looked around. “Where’s Samuel?”

“He’s… in the tree cave.”

A stunned pause. “You left him alone?”

“I heard something and—”

Allen Meyer ran toward the trail. They all did.