Make Believe

1.

The forest was quiet. Too quiet. No shouts from the other soldiers. No gunshots, no footsteps. Not even the alarming sound of a snapping branch. No sight of the monster either. Enoch Moore let out a small sigh. One peaceful day, that was all he wanted. He hadn't had a day off in months. As usual, something had intervened, in this case - a runaway alien from an intergalactic prison. Now he seemed to be lost in this forest. Of course, had he not fallen so deep in his thoughts, that wouldn't have happened.

Suddenly, Enoch heard a sound. Extremely quiet, almost undetectable. But, in the dead silence of the forest, his ears sensed the disturbance.

"Activate shield." He said, his voice barely audible. Still, his force-field device detected it and with a small beep activated an invisible shield around the man. He had been told that the monster was venomous and wasn't about to personally test the truth of that information.

Unfortunately, the quiet beep from his device had been enough to alert the alien he and his comrades were going after. It made a surprised noise from the tree it was hiding in. From the small glimpse Enoch managed to get before it fell, it had been preparing to attack him from behind. Nevertheless, his shield force-field would have stopped it.

Enoch was finally able to get a good look at the monster before him. He had travelled many galaxies and visited many planets but he never ceased to be amazed by the aliens he was able to see. This one resembled an ostrich in some ways, an ostrich with gigantic bat wings and a venomous bite. Its long black legs ended in sharp claws and its dark blue feathers were long, yet looked soft. To finish off the nightmare look the monster had a long neck and small bright red eyes. Enoch felt as if it was staring into the darkest corners of his being.

Falling from the tree had left the alien a bit dizzy so it couldn't react fast enough when the soldier approached it. He knew that he should have immediately put it to sleep but his curiousity had got the best of him. His comrades weren anywhere near so he could examine the creature further. He took a few steps towards it but it quickly rose to its feet, the big black wings spreading threateningly. Enoch had his gun at the ready, after all, he was a soldier.

However, the monster didn't react well to the weapon and flew up to avoid an attack. The man knew he would have hell to pay if he let it escape. He shot at the alien, the small dart hitting it a little below the neck. Its wings stopped moving and it fell to the ground, this time not moving. Enoch knew the others had heard the shot and were on their way. While waiting for them he decided to make sure that the monster was asleep and not dead. The employers from the prison wanted the alien alive and well.

Enoch heard footsteps as he was examining the creature. It was the group's leader Captain Atkins and a small group of around ten more soldiers. That wasn't all of them, the group consisted of around twenty people.

"Good job Moore. The job is done, now we find the others, drop this thing off and go home."

"Sir."

Enoch was a soldier. But he wasn't a hero. He had a home, a family and a more or less stable job. He didn't think he was special just because he had caught that one alien. There were many more that still hadn't been caught and he didn't consider himself to be the one to catch them all. Enoch was just a man. And he was happy.