Dib opened his eyes to darkness and turned to look at the clock. 12:00 blinked at him. The power must have tripped at some point. He groped the bedside table for his phone and turned onto his side when he didn't find it. He noticed an unfamiliar shape in the corner and squinted. Narrow red eyes stared back.
His eyes widened and he sat up quickly. Daylight filtered through the curtains, the room bright. He looked to the corner quickly but nothing was there. Dib rubbed his face and shook his head as he shifted to the edge of the bed. He glanced at the clock. 11:00. Had he reset it during the night? He tried to remember but the tendrils of sleep were melting away, dragging his memory with it. He stood and fished his phone from his pants pocket on the floor. Two missed calls and three texts. Dib sat back down to read them.
'Wake up damnit Dib'
'Hey, answer me'
'It's Steven, something happened, call me'
He dialed and waited through two rings.
"Dib, get up here now."
"What's going on?" He shouldered his phone as he stood and began pulling his jeans on.
"A landowner called about something that attacked his dogs early this morning."
"Dogs?"
"Yeah, a fox got in his chickens last night and he was out tracking it down. His dogs cornered something by a lake and it killed them. He shot at it but it got away."
"And why does that concern me? Not my district. Not even a workday for me." Dib asked, putting the phone on speaker as he pulled a sweater over his head.
"He's claiming it was green and had red eyes."
Dib picked up the phone quickly and turned off speaker.
"Where?"
"Meet at my place, I'll drive."
Dib hung up and collected his scattered necessities before heading out the door.