by Sydnie MacElroy
[state park, 10:10PM]
>"Many of the original animals were Shepards, and their >characteristic traits have continued to be passed down."
>Suddenly there was a long, mournful howl.
>"What was that," Kleinberg asked, looking around.
>"Probably just a wolf," Martin said.
>Jordan wasn't convinced, and from his appearance, neither >was Kleinberg.
Damn, Zenya was thinking, I should have brought Leo's shotgun along. She closed her hand around her gun, which had been laying on the seat next to her since Kleinberg's sudden appearance.
"Wolf or not, it sounds close," she said.
Jordan scanned what was visible of their surroundings, which wasn't much. Where they were parked, there were enough trees to provide more than adequate cover for anything that might want to lurk out there. The car's headlights did little more than slightly obscure everything that lay outside their beams. Jordan nodded.
"How many of these animals are out there," Martin asked.
Kleinberg shook his head. "I'm not sure," he said. "Half a dozen."
Zenya glanced back at Kleinberg, who looked decidedly nervous, and frowned. Not that she doubted anything he'd told them so far, but she had the feeling that there was something more - something perhaps that he wanted to tell, but that would nonetheless have to be pried out of him.
"How did they escape," she asked.
Kleinberg sighed and cast a nervous glance out the window. "Escape may not be the right word," he said after a long pause.
"Field trials," Jordan surmised.
"Yes. We were using the old subway tunnels. The area was supposed to be sealed off, but one of the walls collapsed. That's how they got out."
There was another howl, closer this time. Kleinberg frowned, staring out the car window in the direction of the sound. He froze for a moment. He was sure he recognized that howl. But it couldn't be, could it? Then before anyone could react, he opened the door and bolted into the darkness.
"Dr. Kleinberg!" Jordan called after him, at the same time reaching for the flashlight in the glove compartment.
Martin and Zenya were already out of the car and at the edge of the road when Jordan joined them with the light. The three of them moved off into the trees, with Jordan in the lead, shining the beam ahead of them.
"There," Zenya called out. For just a moment, the light had reflected off something silvery-blue, like a pair of eyes.. She pointed in that direction and Jordan focused the light there. There was another flash and then whatever it was turned away, and there was only a dark shadow.
"Stop! Please," Kleinberg called from somewhere ahead of the agents. "It's okay."
Following the sound of his voice, they found him standing between two trees only a few yards from the shadow. The animal was walking slowly toward him.
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NRPG:
I had to cut this one short. I had about a dozen ideas about what happens next, but I couldn't pick one. I'll let someone else figure it out. :)