Black Rock Forest, New York

March 25, 2012

3:15 A.M.

The sound of helicopter blades broke through the early morning forest as the transport touched down in an open clearing, birds scattering from the site. The doors opened, allowing five figures with body armor and assault rifles to jump out and begin traversing into the woods. The first one to disembark, the leader, signaled to the chopper, which acknowledged and rose into the dark sky.

The forest was once again quiet. Visitors wouldn't arrive for several more hours: the perfect time for an operation. "Night vision on." The lead solider ordered, making himself and his squadmates don goggles with green lights shining from them.

"Remind me again why we're doing this?" the third soldier asked uneasily. "What's the matter? Scared?" The second one mocked. "We're hunters here, boys." The first one replied, ignoring the second soldier's statement. "Reports came in about some sort of unknown wildlife decimating the fauna population. Our mission is to track it down, find out what it is, kill it and call in evac."

"Any guesses on what this thing is?" The fourth soldier questioned. "No one's got a clear look, but someone said it was some kind of lizard. Moved too fast for a proper identification." The fifth one replied.

"A lizard?" The third one answered confusedly. "What kind of lizard would-"

"Cut the chatter." The lead solider barked, raising a fist to halt their advance. "We've got tracks." He bent down, shining his rifle's flashlight on a large animal footprint, consisting of four claws and a near-round shape. The second one felt concerned. "We're not dealing with ordinary wildlife, are we?"

A snapping sound rang into earshot, prompting all five humans to aim their rifles at a series of small bushes. "Sarge, how we doing this?" The third soldier asked with a heat of discomfort.

"Nice and easy…" The lead soldier responded. "Safeties off." The squad complied this order as the bushes remained motionless. Everything was silent…silent…silent…

KERASH! The bushes exploded as a small herd of deer galloped through in panic. "Whoa, sh-!" the fifth soldier hissed as he dodged to the side, avoiding the stampeding mammals.

"Too close." The third soldier muttered. "Well, they're in a hurry." The fourth one observed. "What do you think scared them o-"
WHAM! A large black figure burst from the treeline, colliding with the fourth soldier and carrying him off into the woods, its prey screaming.

"Set a perimeter!" The leader shouted over the chaos. "What the hell is that?!" The fifth soldier gasped, whirling his rifle this way and that in search of the creature.

The leader examined the area with his night-vision goggles…until finding a large, quadrupedal shape. "There! Open fire!" He yelled, prompting the other soldiers to turn and fire streams of bullets in the indicated direction. "Get it! Get it!" The third one shouted as a yowl of pain echoed in the night.

Through the night-vision goggles, the leader saw the creature react in pain to the gunfire before bounding off across the woods, launching itself off a fallen tree… and spreading massive bat-like wings as his comrades kept firing.

"W…what the hell?" the leader stammered, trying to comprehend what kind of animal this was.

"Where is it? Where is it?" The third soldier stuttered in panic, almost about to fire in random directions to scare it off. "It's on me!" The fourth solider yelled in the leader's earpiece, clearly terrified. "It's on- AAAAAAHHHH!" The line went into static.

The second solider was running now, but he didn't get far as a pair of black talons snatched him by the shoulders and carried him off, ripping him apart in midair.

"What do we do, Sarge?! W-what do we do?!" The third soldier panicked, standing back-to-back with the leader. "I…I don't know. I don't know what this thing is…Wait…"

"What?" The leader motioned for him to stay quiet. "Do you hear that?" The third soldier shook his head…before hearing a high-pitched whistling noise and seeing a purple glow in the distance.

"Run! Go! Get to the evac point!" The leader yelled, making the third soldier bolt off into the darkness. The purple glow shot forward as the whistling stopped, striking the very ground where the third soldier stood. The resulting explosion sent the soldier flying and smacking the dirt, a burn covering his side.

"Evac, get me out of here." The leader whispered into his radio desperately. "Copy that. ETA one minute." As soon as the leader ended the transmission, a low reptilian growl rumbled into earshot. Instinctively, the leader fired off more rounds in the sound's direction, resulting in an inhuman shriek of pain and a banshee-like roar. The leader took off running as the black beast thundered behind him, smashing through trees in the process.

"Oh, shit! What is that?!" The leader heard the helicopter pilot's outburst of shock. "Light it up!" He shouted through the radio, prompting the chopper's gunner to unleash a storm of bullets that smacked the dirt and grazed the predator's dark scales.

The leader dove to the ground as the animal growled in rage and leapt skyward, its massive wings spread as it snarled. "INCOMING!" The leader shouted as the reptile zeroed in on the helicopter, its jaws wide open.

The winged beast slammed onto the chopper as the leader's radio filled with screams and shouting. The beast grabbed the gunner in its jaws and tossed it out, letting the human plummet to the ground as the chopper spun out of control. The blades collided with the creature's hide, causing the animal to launch off the doomed aircraft and take flight.

As a low howl from the beast echoed throughout the dark forest, the chopper collided with the cliffside and dropped into the stream resting at the bottom. The fiery explosion that followed lit up the whole forest and caused nearby animals to scamper away in panic.

The leader stared at the wreck in horror, his only way of escape gone. A loud thud sounded behind him, making him whirl to see the entirety of the black beast with his own eyes. A sleek black, quadrupedal reptile with teeth sliding from its gums, wings spread wide and yellow eyes burning with primal ferocity. The predator stepped forward, its jaws stained red with blood.

The human soldier tossed his gun aside and drew out a combat knife from his vest. If he went down, this monster…this fury of the night…would be dragged down with him. "Come on…" The soldier growled with his teeth bared, his foe doing the same. "COME ON!"

The fury of the night bellowed in response, accepting the challenge. Both of them charged at once, the creature leaping into a pounce that the human soldier slid under, slicing a red gash in the beast's underside. The monster howled in pain as the leader scrambled to his knees.

The creature's pain only fed its rage, causing it to leap at the soldier once more. The soldier rolled to the side and slashed at the beast again…but his adversary anticipated this attack. Weaving its body to the side, the predator dodged the blade by inches…

…and clamped down its jaws on the soldier's arm, ripping it off with terrible strength.

"AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!" The soldier screamed in pain as his dismembered arm, still holding the knife, tumbled off the cliff. Blood leaked out of the wound, the beast continuing its aggressive tactics upon the scent of it entering its nostrils.

The human had no time to react when the fury of the night lunged once more, closing its mouth on the soldier's neck and twisting it with a sickening snap.

The human now lay motionless as the rocks were stained a bright crimson. The creature turned to examine its own wound, moaning at the pain. Fighting through the agony, the creature stood on its hind legs, drew back its head… and roared into the night, claiming its victory and territory. Now, none would dare challenge it.