FanStory.com - Back from the Pastby DeboraDyess

The orange and purple lights of his back-up bounced off the abandoned buildings surrounding him and Officer Sahedral sighed in relief. He hadn’t believed the dispatcher when the call came over the radio about a ‘sighting of a giant prehistoric monster' in the warehouse district, but now … He’d seen it with his own eyes. It was horrifying.

Sahedral blinked in surprise at the number of cars that screeched around the corner, their tires shrieking against wet pavement. They pulled his attention from the building he'd been guarding -- the creature he'd been guarding. Silently, he counted. One, two, three, four … more were coming, filling the dark night sky with alternating emergency colors. His eyes widened as two more vehicles rounded the corner: the Commissioner’s car and one marked 'DA’.

District Attorney? Sahedral thought. Why?“Who was first officer on the scene?” the Commissioner barked. His voice sounded just as gruff in person as it had on television and the radio, the only way Sahedral had seen the man since his graduation from the Academy some dozen years before.

"Sahedral," a sergeant at the boss' elbow answered. He pointed.

“Here, sir.” Sahedral tried to sound solid, confident. He was aware that his voice squeaked. “Here, sir,” he repeated. Here come the questions, he thought. How can I answer what he’s going to ask? I can't! I have no idea what's going on.

The Commissioner strode toward him and Sahedral knew he needed to honor the man with his full attention, but …

Something moved inside the abandoned warehouse, illuminated by not just his squad car’s headlights, but the lights of all who had joined him. A giant eye looked through a window, blinked and pulled away.

Murmurs and gasps seemed to be pressed from the crowd of seasoned officers. It sounded like the air being let out of a tire, slow and steady and low. Even the Commissioner appeared taken aback.

The officer nearest Sahedral whispered, “It took up the whole window. The whole window. Just an eye.”

“What the hell was that?” someone behind them asked.

The Commissioner repeated the question to Sahedral. “What the hell was that?”

The officer shook his head. “I’m afraid I don’t know, sir.”

“A description, please.” The man from the car marked DA stepped toward them. His voice was nasally and unpleasant.

Commissioner Rubelan seemed irritated at the appearance of this civilian. "Dr. Onavir is here to shed light on the creature. We are to cooperate with him fully, per Governor Chikungu's request."

Sahedral looked at the man. He was small, smaller than any other man or woman out here. A business suit that Sahedral assumed was supposed to make him look official, only served to make him look like a boy playing dress-up in his father’s closet. The officer shifted his gaze to the car just long enough to make out the wording beside the two larger letters: Department of Antiquities.

“You’re the guys that did this!” he accused before he could stop himself.

“Officer,” the Commissioner warned quietly. His voice was but a whisper, but it carried the weight of his office.

“A description, please,” Dr. Onavir pulled a tablet out of his coat pocket and turned it on, preparing to take notes when Sahedral gave him the information he desired. His beady eyes focused on the officer. “Please.” His mouth almost seemed to water with anticipation.

Sahedral looked back at the building. He didn’t take his eyes off it again. “I received a call from dispatch at 2200 hours,” he said, “and arrived here five minutes later. I spotted the … the … suspect entering the premises upon my arrival.”

“How?” The beady eyed man asked. He scratched his ear with long fingers and licked the corner of his mouth, waiting on Sahedral’s answer.

“Through the back.”

The Commissioner looked at the structure hiding the beast. “Door?” he asked.

“Wall,” Sahedral corrected.

Brows furrowed, the Commissioner studied the building. “He removed a wall?”

“Yes.”

A roar exploded from the warehouse. It barked out an unintelligible threat. Officers ducked behind squad cars. Those who hadn’t drawn their weapons when the giant, black pupil appeared at the window did so, peering out from behind their hiding places. The eye looked out the window again and the beast wailed.

“Is it true, sir?” Sahedral stood tall beside the Commissioner, only allowing himself to flinch at the monster's challenge. He noticed that the man from the Department of Antiquities had taken cover behind them. “Is it true that they brought it back to life?”

Rubelan nodded, curtly, no words needed.

“Well,” a voice floated from a distant cruiser, “didn’t they know what was going to happen? Don’t those idiots watch movies? It didn’t work out too good there, either. And now—“

“Silence" Rubelan barked the order. He turned back to the patrolman. “Sahedral, the mad scientist here asked you for a description. Give him your best, Officer.” His voice had softened. No other man had stood beside him when the monster made its threatening growl, and he put his hand on Sahedral’s arm, a sign of gratitude.

“It was big.” Sahedral put his hands up in the air and then lowered them, feeling silly that he’d done so. He scanned the area. “That grain silo,” he said, pointing into the darkening sky. “It was about that high.”

“There’s no way!” a female detective said, not even aware she’d entered the conversation.

Sahedral returned his eyes to the warehouse where the thing had taken refuge. “Its feet were … huge. The size of two or three squad cars together. Maybe four. It was massive.”

“Coloration?” Onavir asked.

“Light, I believe. The lights of my squad car seemed to make it appear kind of yellow.”

“Feathers?”

“Feathers? No … It had a kind of hair. But not like us.”

“Legs?”

“Yes,” Sahedral glanced away from the building for a second to the scientist. The question seemed odd to him. "Of course.”

The Antiquities man huffed. “How many?”

“Only two.”

The beast roared again. This time glass in surrounding warehouses burst as though struck by a thousand rocks at once. The windshield in the closest patrol cruiser cracked. Officers cupped their hands over their heads, trying to protect their hearing.

“Holy crap!” the Commissioner whispered under his breath.

“Sir, if it comes out of the building, it can smash all of us with a couple of steps." He swallowed hard. The idea of being squashed under the monster's foot gave him chills. He thought of his mate waiting at home, unaware of the danger that lurked only miles from her. "We need to spread out. We need to contain it.” Sahedral was sure the front of the building had just shifted. The roof was moving, inching upward slightly as tin panels crashed to the ground. The eye appeared in the window again, then teeth.

A nearby officer screamed in terror.

Dr. Onavir shoved his tablet under Sahedral’s nose. “Is this it? It was called ‘human’.”

Sahedral looked at the horrifying picture on the screen and began to shake. “Yes.” He breathed the word, fear taking the rest of the air from his lungs. He turned his eight eyes to look as the building began to disintegrate and the beast stood, roaring its fury.

“Good bye, Helica.” Sahedral knew she couldn’t hear him and hoped above all hope she would find a way to escape the coming destruction. Then they all opened fire.