The Awakening

Prologue

Albert regained consciousness, fighting his way up out of a deep abyss. Slowly, he became aware of the sound of a steady rain pattering on metal above his head. He looked around, but the darkness was impenetrable. Try as he might, he couldn't remember where he was or how he'd gotten there.

He reached up to rub a painful spot on his face, pausing when he felt the slick wetness of blood. Panic set in and he tore at the harness securing him to a seat.

Freeing himself, he scrambled his way clear. The smell of spilled fuel was sharp in the air and he blindly fumbled with a hatch until it opened unexpectedly. Falling through, he landed on his back and lay unmoving as cold water instantly soaked his clothes. Rain fell on his face, rinsing the blood away and helping to restore a degree of composure.

Slowly he sat up and looked around, still seeing nothing in the complete darkness. When he put his hands on the ground, they sank into moss-covered mud. But he couldn't recall how he'd wound up wherever he was. His body protested loudly as he climbed to his feet.

Moving forward with his hands extended, he stopped when he felt the smooth skin of an aircraft. With sudden clarity, he remembered. Watching as four men loaded cargo into the plane at a remote airport in British Columbia. Securing it and taking off in the middle of the night. Following the western slope of the Cascade Mountains from Canada down into the United States, staying low and hugging the terrain to avoid detection.

Then, something had gone wrong. That's the one part of his memory that was still blank. But he didn't dwell on it. It didn't matter. What did was that he had survived the crash and now he had to get word to his employer as quickly as possible so the cargo could be retrieved. The loss of the plane was considered part of doing business, but the cargo was an entirely different story. No excuse would be accepted, and he knew there was no hiding. That left him with one option. Call the emergency number.

His phone! He slapped all his pockets, but they were empty. He didn't carry any form of identification, only a cheap, pre-paid burner phone that had been purchased somewhere in the mid-western US. Grumbling, he climbed aboard the aircraft and entered the cockpit. The damn thing must have fallen out of his pocket when he crashed.

On his hands and knees, he searched by feel for what seemed an hour, but failed to find it. Acknowledging the futility of continuing to fumble about in the dark, he moved back outside. Standing in the rain, he tilted his head back to scan the horizon. After several minutes, he was all but certain he could detect a distant, faint glow in the cold, misty night.

Setting off, he scrambled up a long, steep slope. Following a muddy track through the forest, he emerged into a broad pasture. In the distance, he could see a brightly lit house. Trekking across the field, he smiled in satisfaction as the sheep complained loudly and hurried away when he passed too close.

Pausing well short of the house, he took his time watching. A battered pickup sat in the gravel drive and he expected there to be dogs. He was mildly surprised when his presence didn't trigger a fit of barking, but then not everyone was a dog person.

Exiting the pasture, he angled for the barn. Slipping inside, he left the door open for the small amount of light that made it into the dark interior. Ignoring a variety of implements whose purpose he couldn't even guess, he selected a rusting axe. Hefting it in his hands, he got the feel for it and turned, freezing in surprise. A very tall man stood in the barn with him, silhouetted by the light streaming through the door.

"I see you," the man said in a rumbling voice.

Albert's eyes narrowed and his skin suddenly became translucent. Beneath the surface, as if revealed by a full color motion X-ray, writhed a hideous, scaled creature. Long, powerful arms ended in razor clawed hands. A black tongue flicked in and out of a mouth lined with rows of needle-sharp fangs. Burning red orbs floated behind the human eyes and they flashed angrily as he raised the axe with a snarl.

The tall man's hand moved incredibly fast, darting forward like a cobra. When the index finger touched Albert's forehead, there was a searing flash of light and his skull split open as if struck by a heavy sword. The creature's red eyes vanished, snuffed out with the death of the human. There was no sign of the creature that had inhabited the man.

Bending stiffly, the tall man grabbed an ankle and dragged the corpse out of the barn.