Doc, Drew and Zak's cryptid siblings continued to venture further into the forest looking for any signs of Zak and Doyle. Komodo had lost the scent and was circling the trees, searching until he stopped in front of one of the larger trees.
"Komodo lost the trail, they must've gone another way", Drew sighed, sheathing her sword and shrugging her shoulders.
"I don't think he has, look", Doc said, gesturing up into the tree. About halfway up the tree there was claw marks in the bark, which continued up the trunk into the branches, indicating that whatever it was had climbed into the trees. Upon closer inspection the parents were shocked to find a scrap of Zak's shirt tangled in the tree.
"Zak!", Drew cried "oh Doc what if something happened to him!?"
"He got away, I'm sure of it", Doc reassured, putting an arm around her "See the mark on that first branch? That was made by the claw and there's more of them on those trees over there", he continued, pointing to the trees ahead. He walked over, Drew following. They found about 10 trees with both types of marks on them and continued to follow them until they came across a ditch. Judging by the marks on the rocks on the other side and the situation, they suspected Zak had used the claw to grapple across. Whereas they were shocked to find that judging by the larger footprints, his pursuer had climbed down from the trees and jumped across. Only fisk had the agility to jump across and when he did, he began shouting and pointing to something down the hill.
"Azubruzura!", Doc and Drew came up behind him and looked over the brow of the hill."
"If I was Zak and I was being chased, I bet that's where I'd hide", Doc said, beckoning the others over the so that they could see the farm at the bottom of the hill. Since komodo now had Zak's scent, he was able to retrace Zak's path into the farm. As soon as they stepped into the yard, they were approached by a rather angry looking farmhand. He was armed with a shotgun and it was aimed towards them.
"What do you want?", His voice was rough and agitated.
"We are very sorry to be trespassing, but we are looking for our son, have you by any chance seen a young boy running through here? Short, bi coloured hair, orange shirt" Drew said softly, in order not to anger the man any further.
"I certainly haven't miss, have you a crazed looking scoundrel anywhere around here, he's been terrorising my livestock", He growled, loading his gun.
"I'm afraid we haven't, what does he look like?" Doc asked.
"Like a freak of nature. Tall, snake eyes, bizarre hair, claws, but alas I didn't get a good look at the alien, tried to shoot the maniac down but he got away", the man demonstrated by lifting his gun and taking aim. Doc and Drew looked at each other and for the first time got a near enough full description of who they assumed was Doyle.
"Did you see which way he went?", Drew asked.
"I have a hunch he went back towards the forest", the man replied.
…
Drew and Doc ran back towards the woods, Fisk and Komodo straight behind them.
"Assuming that Zak was right and that was Doyle that the man was describing, I say we have a real problem on our hands", Doc stated, looking over at Drew who was running beside him.
"And assuming that what he said was true, it seems that Doyle's already dodged a few bullets and that there is an imminent threat of either him hurting himself, or somebody else, like Zak", Doc said, activating his power glove.
"Doyle may be a pain of a brother at times, but he definitely does care for Zak and the fact that he is chasing and trying to attack him means that something has gone wrong with him somehow."
"I think that his mutations have something to do with that, if he's changing into some kind of cryptid, then he may be experiecing predatory cryptid instincts, like the urge to hunt and chase."
"But I don't understand why he changed in the first place. What could have possibly made him change forms like that?"
"A practical explanation would be a virus or bacteria however we wont be able to tell until we see him for ourselves, of course we don't know exactly what we're dealing with he-."
*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*
"Is that your phone Drew?"
"Yes I'm not sure who….", Drew gasped "it's Zak!", Drew answered and saw the familiar face of her child, he looked stressed, scared even but she could also see the walls of the airship interior in the background, indicating that had made it back, "Zak! Oh thank goodness, baby boy are you alright?!"
"MOM! DAD! Where are you?!" Zak cried angrily.
"We're out looking for you Zak, are you okay?", Doc asked seriously.
"You need to get back to the airship, Doyle is trying to break in! I barricaded myself in the kitchen but…"
"Your uncle? Zak are you hurt, did he injure you at all", Drew asked in hysteria.
"My arm is busted pretty bad from the crash and Doyle scratched me but that's about it", Zak answered, turning around, conscious of the banging and scratching that had begun on the locked door, "how soon can you get here!?"
"Just hang on sweetie, I promise we're nearly there, we can see the airship, everything's going to be fine", Drew assured, handing the phone to Doc as they broke through the treeline, straight towards the two vehicles. They raced across the open field and up the ramp into the orange blimp.
"Zak!?", Drew shouted, her voice echoing down the halls, the power was out for some reason so she had limited vision. No answer. "Zak!?" Again. No answer. She checked the phone screen, static. They raced down the halls until they reached the kitchen and they were shocked by what they found. The door was broken off its hinges and was lying part way into the room. Chairs were upturned and glasses were shattered. The trail of destruction lead out through another door and up into one of the other halls, they followed this trail of mass destruction until they reached the engine room. The huge metal pillars weren't spinning as the engines weren't on, but the control panels were alight not with lights but sparks. Doc activated his power glove for a light source to reveal that some of the panels had been scratched and smashed.
"He sure is destructive",Doc said "These turbines are hard to damage, but Doyle made short work of them alright." Doc punched in some numbers in one of the panels, "I'll have to reboot the system."
"So that means keep an eye out for any trouble boys", Drew commanded, turning to Fisk and Komodo. The komodo dragon (nearly invisible in the dark room) hissed whilst the lemurian nodded and saluted Drew, his red eyes standing out into the blackness. She took out her phone once again and tried to call Zak, but heard more than one ring this time. She listened. It was coming from above them. Doc pointed his illuminated glove towards the beams and pipes above them and sure enough there he was, sat curled up on top of one of the pipes in a corner. Zak looked terrible. Bruised, scratched and clutching his arm.
"Zak!" Both parents cried, enveloping him in a tight hug as soon as he climbed down to greet them.
"Shhhh! Are you crazy!? He'll hear us!" Zak whispered, pushing his parents away.
"Oh Zak! You're bleeding!" Drew gasped, noticing a reddened patch on Zak's now torn trouser leg."
"I'm okay mom, but we can't stay here! Doyle could be anywhere!" Zak replied, backing into his mothers arms.
"He's right Drew, we need to get to the bridge and figure out a plan, Doyle is at the advantage now that we're in the dark", Doc said, gesturing to the door.
"Then lets not take our chances", Drew responded, opening the door latch once again and stepping out. The hallways were still pitch black as they made their way down the ship as Doc's glove only provided limited light, but they could see well enough to make out the shapes of doorways and furniture in the hallways. After weaving through the rooms, they began to hear whispering, like a sort of chanting, low and raspy.
"Find them."
"Destroy them."
"Doc, what is that?"
"I have no idea."
"Go ahead servant, tear them apart, prove your loyalty to me."
"Mom, Dad, what's that at the end of the hall?"
There was something at the end of the hall, hunched over by the door. The adults at first thought it was another wrecked ornament, but then saw it to be more human, like a dark crouching figure, sat watching their every move. Drew then made the mistake of calling out to it.
"Doyle? Brother, what are you doing?"
The figure's head snapped to the side, his orange orbs locked onto them. A hostile hiss echoed down the walls as the figure drew himself up to his full height, hesitated and then to Drew's horror, charged full steam ahead towards them…