- What a wonderful view. – said Carlos. – But….. Are we going the right way?
- I feel it's in that direction. – replied Lyle.
With the light of dawn they realized how close was Lyle flying near to the surface of the sea.
- Be careful. We could fall.
- Don't worry. I think we are approaching land.
- Look! Over there! – shouted Carlos pointing forward.
Flashes of light could be seen in the sky. They were small glittering dots that flashed for a few seconds and them dimmed away.
- What is that? – asked Carlos.
The answer didn't took long, because as they came closer, loud explosions coming from the coast could be heard. One of the shinning lights was approaching them and past by them with a roaring noise.
It was a US Air Force fighter jet.
- Hang on! – said Lyle flapping his wings which made him gain altitude suddenly scaring everyone on board of him. Everybody screamed and grabbed onto his feathers in terror to the extent of almost yanking them.
Then, they could see that behind them the fighter jet was turning around but when it came back it didn't seem to regard them.
When it flew back past them they noticed that its target was near the shore.
It was a huge monster with the head shaped as a squid. The color of his body was completely black and it waved its tentacles fiercely, sinking under the sea the small ships that happened to be around him. His enormous legs gave him a height of about 30 feet.
The jet approached the creature almost in a dive and then loud detonations produced by the gunfire coming from the machine guns could be heard. The rounds impacted the creature without causing any harm. It flew over it and turned around again for another run.
When it flew close to Lyle once again, his body shook to the side making Hector fall off to the side and into the sea.
- Hector! – shouted Carlos when he saw him fall off. He gazed at the sea and saw a layer of foam where Hector had splashed seconds before.
He didn't say another word, when Hank dove into the sea behind Hector. Lyle shook once again with another pass of the jet, which made Carlos hang on to him real hard so he would not fall.
Seconds seemed like hours, because there were no signs of Hector or Hank.
Lyle was flying closer to the octopus like creature who tried to smack him with his tentacles.
- Cover your ears! – shouted Lyle.
Aurora did so like if it were a reflex, but Carlos didn't get it until he heard a piercing shriek that seemed to come from Lyle's beak. As he covered his ears, Carlos saw how the shrieks were not only sounds but they also moved clearly visible sound waves to the front. These waves struck the squid creature making him dizzy, but it didn't seem to give up. He wanted to take Lyle down at all cost.
Just in that moment an explosive projectile impacted the body of the squid creature leaving him to the point of black out. Carlos looked to the side where the projectile had come, and there, on the sea he saw a creature covered completely with white hair. From his jaws two saber shaped teeth could be seen. In the forehead he had a long pointed horn that blasted away like a rocket that flew like a missile to the target. With the second blast, the squid like creature disintegrated without leaving a trace and it was on this moment that Carlos saw that on the back of that animal Hector was waving his hand safe and sound.
- Hector! – cried Aurora from the back of Lyle as he planted his claws on the ground to land.
- Look! This is Hank……..I don't know what happened. – shouted Hector as he stepped down the back of the enormous creature that returned to his previous shape.
For an instant, everybody thought the same thing was going to happen to Lyle when the chopper that had harassed them in Puerto Rico showed up.
- Hop on! – shouted Lyle.
He climbed to the sky again leaving that place very fast.
- We thought you were going to drown….. – said Carlos.
- I thought the same thing until I saw how Hank turned into that thing. – replied Hector shaking hands with Hank.
Only at that time, Carlos noticed that Hector was carrying something wrapped into his shirt.
- What do you got there?
- I don't know. It seems that he was also defending himself from that squid thing and he got knocked unconscious and was sinking in the sea. That's when Hank and I picked him up.
Hector unfolded his shirt showing the little orange colored critter. It had bat wings on the sides of his body which was all rounded. His eyes appeared tightly shut and the skin was velvety. Also, it was remarkable that it had no visible nose.
- It looks like a little piggy. – said Aurora
- He looked helpless, so we rescued him.
In that moment, the critter opened his eyes slightly and said faintly:
- Don't go……..please………you are in danger……..
And with that he fell unconscious again.
They flew for a few hours. In some deserted spot they had to land so the humans could eat something and go to the bathroom. Lyle and the other monsters had to hide behind a hill while the humans stepped into a fast food restaurant.
After eating something, they took off heading north. Apparently none of the monsters was interested in the idea of eating something, so they went on.
Later, as night was falling Aurora began to notice something funny.
- Lyle is flying lower… - she whispered very concerned.
Carlos looked at the sides and noticed that evidently they were loosing altitude, so he decided to approach Lyle's head to ask him what was going on.
He was shocked when he noticed that Lyle was breathing heavily and that he looked completely washed out.
- Are you Ok? – asked Carlos, when suddenly Lyle began loosing altitude rapidly.
They were going to crash land in a place with lots of trees. Lyle tried with all his remaining strength to flap his wings so he could glide himself to a safe landing place.
The landing was rough. Lyle practically dragged his belly against the ground before he was able to stop.
Everybody stepped down from him very afraid to check what was going on with him.
- I didn't notice this before……. – said Lyle faintly raising his right wing very slowly. There was a huge splinter buried in his flesh.
- That came from that stupid squid!!! – cried Hector.
- It might be poisonous – said Carlos getting closer to the huge ivory color splinter. He took it with both hands and yanked and tossed it to the ground.
With this Lyle shrieked in pain and his body returned to his original shape. Aurora embraced him and noticed he was shivering.
At that moment, all of them heard a load howling noise which froze the blood in their veins. Something was moving in the bushes nearby.
From behind the trees a 9 ft tall creature showed up., which was more than three times as tall as the creatures that accompanied the humans. It had yellowish eyes and long jaws with very sharp fangs. Its body was all gray and covered with blue stripes and his ears were pointed. His chest was covered by strip of leather with metal incrustations embedded in it. What was curious about it is that the creature was wearing blue jeans and he had knee pads that had pointed spikes on them. In his claws he had similar apparel. He growled fiercely and he was getting ready to strike.