“We finally have the all clear from the president sir!” A man about 6`2 in a similar black suit like mine, standing in a respectable position in my doorway, shouted into my office. His name was Christopher Blake, a member of my CIA task force. “Roger that, carry on!” I shouted. He responded with, “Yes sir!”and continued his path down the all white and blindingly bright hallway.
I sit back in my stiff, black, leather desk chair and gaze at an old family picture on my glossy oak desk, cluttered with stacks of papers; a memory lined with gold trim of me and my brother Robert Newman. He was always taller than me but I’m the oldest. “What happened out there little brother?” I whisper through trembling lips.
A year ago my brother came in contact with an unknown entity, well, unknown to science. Me and my brother knew exactly what it was. We used to camp in that area when we were younger and had came face to face with this Skinwalker. It was not as powerful than as it is now. These things feed off of fear but, it will receive nothing but fury from me.You don’t f**k with my family!
I locked the door to my office and fixed the nameplate on the wall that read “Richard Newman : Sector Leader”. It was always crooked. Someone was always bumping into it. I then continued down the brightly lit snow-white hallways with black name plates interrupting the white landscape until, I came across one named briefing room. I took my badge out of my suit jacket and scanned it on the door. The door beeped, clicked, and I opened it.
Behind the door sat a group of rough, combat hardened individuals. Most of them had scars that decorated their faces. As soon as they saw me they all stood up at attention. I made a gesture with my hand and said, “relax and have a seat.”
“This briefing is for the mission at hand regarding the unknown entity?” a man short in height but, built like a linebacker asked.
Christopher was present and responded with, “Let him explain and don’t ask s****y questions that will be answered in due time.” They began to argue back and forth until I said in a harsh tone.
“Gentlemen, calm yourselves.” The room went as quiet as an abandoned house. “There is more than your egos at stake here. I am focused on public safety.”
I began to explain how after the attack last year, the camp grounds in the forest had been gated off and closed down from all of the public. People are unaware that these campgrounds were originally an Indian ritual area. This doesn’t mean a lot to normal people. They think that this is just superstition. Well over two dozen people lost their life to this folklore last year so obviously it’s a real problem.
“Gentlemen please be advised this thing is highly intelligent and stronger than you could ever imagine.” I mean think about it, this thing used to be a man and it’s been around for eons. That level of intelligence is off the charts to say the least. “Meet me on the landing strip at 0500, we are jumping in at sunrise. Skinwalkers mainly operate at night.”
When I arrived at the landing strip the moon was high in the sky surrounded by deep dark blue, freckled with a few remaining stars. Daylight was approaching. As I walked to the aircraft I could see my team dressed in camo with their rifles strapped on their backs. Some smoked while others sat on their baggage with the look of deep thought. At that moment I had a chill creep up my back and a resounding thought that some of these men may not make it back home. I looked down and found myself grasping hold of my fatigues. I gathered my thoughts and calmed myself. “Alright men, board the bird.” We all boarded, me being last of course, and I closed the door.
“Prepare for insertion!” Christopher yelled over the sound of the Cl30 engines. His voice was almost inhumanly deep and kind of gave you chill bumps in combination with the loud noise and vibration. We sat in a big aircraft the military used to transport soldiers. A green light then illuminated the entire bay and revealed a team of calculated killers. “Get your chutes ready, you have five minutes before the door opens; I need everyone on target.”
The door on the back of the plane opened like an enormous mouth flooding the bay with the light blue tint of the early morning sky. We’re jumping in pairs gentlemen. After all were gone, me and Christopher jumped out of the mouth of the plane. Immediately I was hit with a gust of wind that took the breath out of me. Free falling is a weird helpless feeling. After 30 seconds of falling we pulled our chutes. I looked at Chris who was 20 feet away from me descending slowly to the ground and said, “stay frosty brother”. He responded with, “Yes…” but, was cut short with a horrible open mouth gaze directly at the ground. I turn to look down and was stabbed through the heart with fear as a man, or what looked like a man except he had to be 8 or 9 feet tall dressed in tribal clothes was preparing to Spartan style launch a sharpened, makeshift, spear at one of my men falling slowly to the ground.
We were positioned about 60 feet off the ground, all men staring at this once fairy tale being. The beast on the other hand had its eyes trained on Chris. It launched the spear at such velocity, it made the vegetation bend with the backlash of wind. The spear struck Christopher mid-air, through his nose with such force, his head literally peeled back on his neck and his head was only attached by a flap of skin. Chris’ body slowly sank leaving a trail of blood as he hit the ground leaving a cloud of dust and blood soaked mud.
The most unsettling part about the whole situation was, no one kept their eyes on the Skinwalker and he was gone without a trace. We hit the ground seconds after Christopher’s body hit and they all rushed to see the damage except me. I knew he was already beyond dead and I didn’t need extra emotions clouding my judgement. I scanned the tree line looking for any movement with my assault rifle trained wherever my eyes went. Sobs and helpless cries filled my ear as I searched from the death scene. After I was sure we were safe I made my way over to the insanity.
Voices screaming what the hell was that and we should never have taken this mission strolled through my head. It did nothing but enrage me. “Get your head out of your a*s! I informed you on the situation before we left, it is now time to execute gentlemen! Let’s make this m**********r pay!” The men seemed to gather themselves and gather their gear. They were ready to fight. I pulled out my map. “This building here seems to be the place of interest according to intel. This is where this thing operates. It is known to gather its prey in a localized spot. Also these beings are known to do rituals to increase their power in closed quarters. We will infiltrate at sundown and destroy this thing, is that clear?” The men gave me a nod and we moved to a different location, hopefully not being surveyed by the Skinwalker.
The sun was getting lower by the hour and the light painted the low hanging clouds a fierce orange. We hunkered down 1000 meters from the building where my brother had lost his life. I was alone gathering my thoughts about 20 ft from my team. They found a downed tree to perch on. They sat quietly making sure their weapons and gear was operational. I swore I was going crazy because I kept hearing my brother call my name. It was unnerving because it was getting louder and I was beginning to get the direction it was coming from. As I scanned to my right, I saw my brother’s face staring at me with a chilling smile calling my name in a monotone, calm voice, out of the thick brush. He was entirely naked and pale. As I stared in disbelief with my heart pounding in my chest, my team came over slowly to stare at this thing pretending to be my brother. The short guy said in a low trembling voice, “God help us”. I screamed, “Open fire!” We all started firing at this thing. Its body changed shape growing feathers and wings and its mouth formed a beak. It changed into a hawk in front of our very eyes and flew out of the path if our bullets and flew right at my team. Its speed was out of this world and it snatched the little guy straight of the ground. I heard something snap and I think it was his neck. We all watched in horror as it flew, grasping that poor soul with its talons, in the direction to that old abandoned building.
Looked down at his weapon laying in a blood spot on the ground. I was livid to say the least. My gaze turned to my men who had the look of frightened children on their faces. “Let’s move,” I said. They snapped back into action and we navigated to the abandoned building. It was now after sundown. There was minimal light to be able to see but the building was lit with candle light streaming out of the windows. We creeped out of the bushes and moved to the darkest side of the building. One of my guys spotted a window open. He motioned to us and we all silently hopped in. The walls in this building were decorated with candles. What held these candles made me sick to my stomach. The skeletal remains of the Skinwalker victim’s held the candles with two hands. There were hundreds of them lining the hallways and standing by each door as if they were greeting visitors. The walls were covered in what looked like ancient Native American symbols drawn in blood.
Our stomachs turned out as the sound of something like a piece of meat being cut at the butcher shop filled our ears. We searched for the source and found a hole in the wall which looked like it had be done by bullet. As I peered through the whole my heart felt like it drop out my chest cavity. The skin walker stood over the body of the short man in a room full with ancient dissecting tools hanging on what looked like racks made out of human and animal bones. I could hear my guys behind shivering and then a loose shell from one of my guys gunbelt hit the floor, right when the Skinwalker was beginning to eat his bowl full of gore. He turned and looked right through the bullet hole, right into my eye and a slow unsettling smile stretched across its face showing his sharp, blood soaked teeth. The fight was only beginning.
I rolled out-of-the-way just in time as a clawed hand ripped through the wall. We all open fired through the wall at it until we had to reload. It was quiet for a second until the thing exploded through the wall in an almost saber tooth form. It emerged through the wood and drywall and latched onto one of my men. There was some much blood and help less screams. The rest of us ran around the corner.
“Drop the C4 and give me the detonator we are going to get out of the building and blow this thing sky-high.” Screams from around the corner made us run faster and as we dove out of the window I pressed the button. We all went blind and deaf as we hit unfamiliar ground. The explosion took three-quarters of the building out and it was set ablaze painting the trees an orangish red tint in the pitch black night. We all checked in each other. Everyone was alive and had made it out and we felt triumphant until we heard a laugh from the wreckage which sounded like a crow mixed with a man’s voice. The Skinwalker stood up out of the debris completely engulfed in fire. We had no ammo left and was in shock. Why won’t this thing die. He stood there on fire staring at us silently.
The Skinwalker began to shift and I just knew this was the end. Sorry little brother, I have failed you. It shifted into a man-sized owl and with its wings, it shook the fire out and took off into the night with a hoot in the distance. We were still paralyzed and didn’t know if it was even safe to move. Our adrenaline ran out and we all fell to the ground. As I laid there panting in the dark I said, “F**k this, I’m calling for extraction.”
The sun was rising when the chopper came bending the trees with its rotary blades. The pilot said, “Get in, you guys look like s**t.” I just stared at him and we all got on and left the epitome of hell behind us. After that day, our lives would never be the same.
