The Superspecies Two: A Haunting Sci-Fi Horror Mystery

The Second Research Team

Falcon sat at his desk pouring over a letter from the Commission for the Preservation of Natural Resources containing some minor details about the arrival of the next group of researchers. As he glanced at the creased pages, he at odd times became distracted by a noise at the window where a small branch caught in the wind tapped persistently on the glass. Rubbing his chin, finishing the letter and tossing it onto a pile he took a sip of coffee, put away some files gathering dust on his desk and relaxed his torso against the back of the chair after throwing his hands up behind his head. It had been three weeks since the last group of researchers left the forest and today, the 1st of August, the next group would be arriving. Again there'd be three of them for approximately the same duration—-two to three weeks—-but the letter didn't state exactly what sort of research they'd be doing or what was expected of him although he gathered it'd be of the same nature. The nagging concern being the safety of the arriving visitors after what happened to Pickney which made him question whether he'd be able to protect anyone using the standard methods he knew. He'd never had to escort so many people all over the grounds before and became painfully aware of complexities of shuffling inexperienced people around this environment as the image of a ghostly figure lying in a pool of his own blood still haunted him at night. Whatever happened he couldn't allow a repeat of that incident and would stick to these ones like glue if necessary, demanding compliance and never letting them out of his sight for any reason.

The phone rang so he forced his shaky hand toward the receiver, "Jack Falcon here." It was Laura. "Honey, what's up? Calling to check up on me?"

"No, calling to remind you I'll be working late tonight till around 9:00 pm. I have parent-teacher conferences this evening, remember?"

"Sorry, totally slipped my mind with all that's been going on lately. I'm gonna be all alone tonight is what you're saying, huh?"

"Yes...," seeming distracted as he heard kids screaming in the background.

"What time will you be home tonight?"

"Round about 10:00 or 10:30 I suppose," voice drifting away and returning as she ordered some students to settle down, stay in their seats and keep quiet. "Oh, almost forgot, I saw Chris Serugin today...," with renewed interest, "...he asked for you to call him as soon as possible but didn't want to leave a message because he said it was something private between you two. He wouldn't tell me what it was."

"Oh, thanks, I'd almost forgotten about that. See you tonight," blowing her a kiss and hanging up.

He immediately dialed Chris' number and it rang a couple of times, made a few sputtering clicks and died. He hung up and tried again. This time it rang only once and a calm voice picked up.

"Chris, it's Jack."

"Oh, you're finally giving me a call?" said the unhappy voice with mock surprise, "The man too busy to call anyone back!"

"Sorry, I asked you to do something for me and forget to follow up on it."

"Oh, it's alright."

Chris Serugin was an old high-school chum who had settled in Steamboat Springs three years before Falcon was transferred to White River. They hadn't been in touch since high school but, at the time, were very close friends. A year ago Falcon was walking through downtown Steamboat Springs when he saw Chris' name painted on the window of a citizen's action committee on state environmental law. Curious, he stopped in to inquire if it was the same man since back in high school he'd talked about becoming a lawyer all the time, and after catching up on the old days and all that had happened since then they became remarkably good friends again. Environmental laws were a hotly contested issue in Colorado so Chris was a busy man, despite that Falcon asked if he could offer any insight into the federal government's authority over the national forests, the possible presence of the Superspecies in the park and his fears over losing his job.