Thunderbirds Are Go

Range of Horror

by Lee Homer

Disclaimer: All rights reserved, Inspired immensely by the true events of the famed Skinwalker Ranch in Utah, I wanted to write a small horror story that was originally intended for this year's Halloween Special, but I was worried that I'd lose the story ideas by then. Reviews are welcome and I hope you enjoy them!

Day #01

Scott's Statement.

On the first day when all of the strange activity began, I had flown out to the Gran Roca Ranch, our private family range in central New Mexico. It's just a short flight away in Thunderbird One and I wanted to get there before everyone else, so I could set up the underground labs below. We were heading there to test out an entire assembly line of rescue equipment that could help prove our efficiency when we're out on a call. Our reward for this would be a week's vacation far away from the stress of duties and obligations to the rest of the world. I didn't travel out there alone though. Grandma and Kayo insisted on accompanying me. To tell you the truth, I didn't mind the company. I didn't fancy setting up the labs by myself. It would take twice as long.

As we crossed the desert horizon towards the rocky mesa, We all felt a bizarre sense of unease. We couldn't put our finger as to why. The ranch sat there in the same condition as when we left it last, albeit a little stained from the persistent sand storms that went on there. I remember it being weird at the time because it felt as if the entire property had lost its warm tones and homely charm. I chalked it up to anxiety for the gruelling task that been prepared for me and said nothing more. When we touched down on the metal hydraulic elevator which lowered us into the concealed hangar beneath the rocky mesa, we all felt the same vibe again. This time, it felt stronger than the last. Stepping out of the Thunderbird, we proceeded to get to work on the setup. I headed straight for the lab while Grandma headed on up into the house. It was tradition for her to give it a spring clean, even though she didn't have to see as we were all able to do it.

It had taken us few hours to prepare the testing labs when our stomachs started to rumble. Time had flown by and it was already lunchtime. Setting down our tools, we headed upstairs into the house. Grandma had left a note on the kitchen counter, She had taken the hovercar out to the nearest town to fetch some groceries, so we had the place to ourselves for a while. She hadn't finished her spring clean, so we helped her out with it. The first weird experience happened around the time we were both upstairs. We were in one of the guest rooms, making a bed when we heard the front door slam shut downstairs. It was such a loud slam that it made the walls shake. The sound of footsteps creaked on the wooden floor, following the door slam. We stopped and listened as the footsteps shuffled beneath us. The room we were in sat directly over the kitchen. Now we didn't think much of it at first.

"Wow, Grandma was quick!" said Kayo as she cracked a smile. "I thought she'd take longer. I could murder a Cheeseburger."

"So can I. I love the recipe mum had for making burgers," I replied. "I'm going go downstairs and see if she needs help unpacking them."

As I headed out on the landing, a strange realisation stopped me in my tracks. The shuffling sounds stopped, resetting the house in its ambient state. I felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck as I descended the staircase towards the sitting room. As I spun and looked towards the vicinity of the kitchen, my eyes widened. The kitchen was empty. There was nobody in there. The cupboard doors weren't open, there was nothing on either of the counters and the back door was locked from the inside. Adamant that we heard defined footsteps downstairs, I turned to face the front door. It was closed, but something on the floor caught my attention. I looked down to see a partial impression of a footprint in the dust. It appeared to resemble the sole of a boot, but it didn't match the style of footwear that Grandma was wearing. She wore comfortable Ugg boots where these looked heavy. Even more so, the print was faced in the direction of the kitchen. I tensed. Something had just entered the property. Startled by this, I called up to Kayo.

"Kayo! You're gonna want to see this!"

Kayo came bounding down the stairs a few seconds later. The urgent tone in my voice urged her to stop what she was doing. I showed her the boot print indentation and noted the perplexed look on her face. She immediately sprung into action and activated a security layout of the house. Nothing had tripped the alarms which mean that nobody had broken in while we were working.

"I don't get this at all, Scott," she said. "According to this, there's nobody here."

"What should we do?" I asked.

"Well, I could make a sweep of the exterior just to be on the safe side," she suggested. "If someone did try to break in, then they wouldn't get far."

"Alright," I agreed. "I'll stay here and finish up. There's probably a rational explanation?"

Opening the door, Kayo looked back at me and shot me a playful expression.

"Awh, is little Scotty afraid of the Ghosties?"

"Very funny!" I replied.

Kayo had covered half of the property when I sat down in the sitting room. The house remained silent for a further hour when suddenly, I heard the footsteps again. I could hear them echoing downstairs in the laboratory below. Each step had a metallic ring to it which reverberated off the walls. I grabbed a small taser gun from a utility harness and headed down to investigate. I'm going to interject here for a moment and explain why we carry taser guns. We at International Rescue stand by our reputation for not bearing weapons of any kind, but after our experiences with masterminds such as The Hood and his dimwitted yet dangerous Chaos Crew, we've had to take up a small precautionary measure, so my Dad issued us all with taser weapons in case we are ever attacked on a rescue. Now back to the story.

I made my way down the metal stairwell towards the laboratory which sat in perpetual darkness. As I stepped onto the metal grated floor, the footsteps quickened in pace. I stood there in silence and tried to judge the direction they were coming from. I couldn't work it out, I just knew that they were getting louder. Suddenly, I jumped at a loud ringing sound. A metal wrench, which had been secured on a tool hook, had been thrown across the lab. Another sound echoed behind me, and then again to my left. It seemed like whatever was down there with me, was messing about. Every time I tried to hone in on a sound, another would echo in a different part of the lab. I was beyond unnerved by this point. If someone had broken into the lab, they wouldn't have been able to escape which meant that I would see them. There was no one down there. I couldn't see this thing that was toying with me, testing my nerve.

I was down there for a good ten minutes, but it felt like an eternity. After being caught in the middle of a throw down, the activity stopped. I felt the aura in the laboratory shift around me as it transformed into its comfortable surroundings. I sat on the steps, trying to process what had happened to me. Rattled by this, I jumped at the sound of the front door opening. Only this time, I could hear faint and familiar voices. Kayo and Grandma were back. I raced up the stairs to greet them and explained what had happened in the laboratory. I watched the colour drain from Kayo's face, but Grandma didn't seem bothered by it at all. She shrugged it off and proceeded to unpack her shopping. I could have sworn that Grandma was a believer of the unknown so for her to simply ignore this was unlike her. I tried to get a reaction out of her at dinner, but she said to me;

"Listen, kiddo. I know for a fact that the surrounding land is sacred. Your mother personally saw that she built the Gran Roca Ranch on an undisturbed plot of land out of respect of the tribe that once lived here."

"So how would you explain the incident in the laboratory? What about the boot impression in the dust that we found?" I countered.

"Maybe you made it when you were cleaning downstairs?" she ventured. "It's easy to get spooked out by this place. It's an old building built on top of a foundation of complex computers and humming generators. Perhaps the lab vibrated and sent the tools flying?"

I didn't buy her half baked explanation for a second. She knew full well that I was a trained observer. We all were. If it stumped Kayo, then there was something to it. Anyway, the rest of the evening passed by without anything happening. The three of us settled down to watch the news, able to forget the weird events from earlier. Virgil called through to confirm his arrival for the following evening. So for that one night, it was just the three of us. The house remained settled when we went to bed. Grandma was the first one up. Kayo followed an hour later until it was just me. I finally caved in around One in the morning, unable to fight the fatigue that set in. I went to my and thought nothing more about the strange footsteps and flying objects. I was willing to accept Grandma's explanation, but the night would soon be interrupted. I woke up to the sound of loud shuffling. The same shuffling sound that came from the kitchen earlier. I rubbed my eyes and tuned my ears into the sound. It was coming from outside the house...on the roof.

I paused for a moment. Who or what could be moving about on the roof at four in the morning? I pulled on my dress robe and stepped out onto the landing. Kayo and Grandma stood there, their eyes fixed on the ceiling. Small flecks of dust and plaster wafted from the support beams. The landing lamp shades swung from side to side. Grandma glanced at me with an apologetic look. She now knew that I wasn't crazy. Without stun guns in hand, we stepped outside into the pitch dark desert night. We could still hear the sound as we scaled the side of the house towards a low bearing balcony. I gave Kayo a boost up onto it before climbing up after her. Grandma watched below as we crawled across the jagged roof tiles. Kayo shone her flashlight across the roof, what we saw, made our blood turn cold. The roof tiles had been scratched by six claw marks. It looked as if some kind of animal had tried to dig in to support its balance, but we didn't hear anything. We didn't hear any animals that day.

A sudden compulsive urge swept over Kayo. She raised her arm and flashed her light on the mesa behind the house.

"Scott, look," she whispered. "Look over there. Do you see that?"

It took me a while to adjust my eyes to the darkened horizon, but I did see something move up the side of the mesa. It didn't have any discernable features like eyes or a nose or anything, but I knew for a fact that it was heaving itself up the side of the mesa. We watched it for the next few minutes until it blended in with the pitch-black horizon. It made no sound what so ever. We remained on the roof until the sun rose over the horizon. None of us got any sleep after that encounter. After breakfast, we set out towards the spot where we saw the amorphous shape. When we climbed the mesa towards the location, we found another set of six claw marks in the dust. They were identical to the claw marks on the roof. Could this have been the same thing? Flabbergasted, we returned to the house. Nothing happened for the rest of the morning. The house's vibe reset itself again.

The day played out like a routine one. Nothing strange happened to us. We were beyond relieved when Thunderbird Two arrived at the range. Virgil, Alan, Gordon and John were unprepared for the story we were about to tell them. That night, we settled down and enjoyed the warmth that irradiated from each other's company. Spooked by our experience, they all expressed their hopes at experiencing something for themselves. Little did they know, they were about to get what they asked for.