Prologue
Trespassing
It was getting late. County Sheriff Barry Jefferson looked up from his work, and sat back in his chair. This had been one tough case. There was so much paperwork that needed doing.
He looked at the clock. 04:15. Damn it's late, he thought to himself. Way too late for doing paperwork, in his opinion.
Suddenly, the phone rang. He picked it up.
"Hello," he said. "Jefferson here."
"Hello sir," said the voice. "This is Sergeant Harris. We just got a report in about some kids trespassing on some privately owned land."
"Okay," Barry said. "I'll meet you at my office in five minutes."
The two officers drove out to where the trespassers had been reported. It was on the outskirts of Miami, where the suburbs ended and the Everglades began. They stepped out of the police car. The sound of distant techno music could be heard. There seemed to be a party going on in the distance.
The sheriff peered into the thicket. The moon shone through the branches of the cypress trees, bathing the dense undergrowth in a faint, eerie light.
Suddenly there was a rustling sound in the bushes about thirty feet away, and the sound of snapping twigs.
"Hello?" Sergeant Harris shouted. He turned his torch on, and pointed it to where the sound had come from. The branches of the bushes were still waving about.
"Did you see anything, Sergeant?" Barry asked his colleague.
"No sir, but I think there may be somebody in those bushes over there," the Sergeant said, pointing into the thicket. They could still hear something moving.
Sighing, the sheriff walked out into the forest, and Sergeant Harris followed.
It was strangely quiet in the swamp. Not a single frog or cicada sung. There was no sound to be heard, except for the footsteps of the two officers, and those of the people just ahead of them.
Suddenly, and without warning, there was a loud crunching sound that seemed to dominate the total silence. Barry spun around. Sergeant Harris had trodden on an empty beer can.
The sounds ahead of them stopped for a second, but then continued, growing steadily fainter.
"Geez," Harris said, picking up the empty beer can. "Haven't these kids ever heard of a trash can?"
All of a sudden, Harris froze. He was staring at something behind the sheriff.
Jefferson turned around, and saw something that sent a chill down his spine. Something that looked distinctly human lay in the reeds. Whatever it was, it did not move.
"Hello?" Barry said, hoping for a response. "Are you okay there?" But there was no response.
The two men ran over to where the figure lay. This person could be injured. Once they got there, Barry's stomach turned. In the reeds lay a boy in his late teens. He wasn't just injured.
He was dead.
His throat and torso had been torn open. Many of the internal organs were missing, and it looked almost as though they had been ripped out.
Further on, they found four more people lying dead in the grass. Two boys and two girls. All of them had been mutilated in this same fashion. It looked almost as though they had been savaged by a wild animal.
"My God. . ." Harris said, turning pale. "What the hell happened here?"
A cry broke the silence. It was an unholy shriek, unlike anything on this Earth. This primal war cry was answered with a hiss, and then seven large, dark shapes began moving through the reeds, towards the two officers.
"Run!" screamed Barry, as the dark shapes moved faster and faster towards him and Harris. Barry ran. Behind him, Sergeant Harris screamed and fell to the ground. Barry heard the hissing pant of the creatures, and knew that it would only be a matter of time before they killed him as well.
The blow was swift and without mercy. Barry fell to the ground and felt the creature leap onto his back and dig its sharp claws deep into his shoulders. He tried to fight the assailant off but it was too strong. He felt a searing, fiery pain in his throat and knew that the creature was biting him.
The last thing Barry Jefferson saw before he lost consciousness was scaly skin, a long snout, and a pair of glaring, emotionless yellow eyes.