Instead of the quick, skittering sounds of a critter trapped in a crawl space, the noises were more like thick claws scraping against the underside of the wood beneath Cole’s feet.
Once he was outside, Cole could barely hear anything coming from inside or under the house. A short lady with her hair tied into a bun raced from the neighboring house to meet him at the Cav.
“Did you hear any noises?” she asked. “It’s not rats! I keep a clean house and my son is an exterminator. There’s no rats!”
“I’m just getting some more equipment, ma’am,” Cole said as calmly as he could.
“You’re not making a mess, are you? Maybe I should come over there.”
“We’ve got some expensive stuff set up,” Cole said as he rooted around in the car and took what he needed from under the front seat. “I’ll send Mick out here to answer any questions you may have.” He shut the car door and headed back to the house. “We just don’t want you to trip on anything, that’s all.”
“Expensive equipment, huh?” the lady asked. “Is that a stick you’re carrying?”
Cole pretended not to hear that as he went inside and locked the door behind him. The moment he crossed the threshold, he was surrounded by the scraping sounds, which were now accompanied by the rattle of pots within the lower kitchen cabinets. The lights coming from that area let him know that someone was already investigating the disturbance.
Quentin and Val were in the kitchen, sweeping their meters along the floor and cabinets. “The lady who owns the house was outside and she seemed pretty upset,” he told them.
Turning to look at Cole, Quentin nearly blinded him thanks to the penlight gripped between his teeth. “She’s not gonna come in, is she?” he asked.
“She might. I told her Mick would go out to explain what’s happening.”
“Good. We’re busy in here.”
The two of them switched their lights off so they could use the thermal camera. Val dropped to all fours to get to one of the lower cabinets and pointed the camera in there while Quentin watched the portable monitor.
Although Cole knew the basics of how the camera worked, all he could see on the foldable screen was a mix of bright reds and darker blues. “Find anything?” he asked.
“We’re picking up traces of a heat signature moving around under the floor,” Val said. “There’s a spike in the EMF just before it comes along. It’s really cool!”
Cole hurried to the bedroom, where Paige and Mick were crawling around knocking on the floor. “You might want to go smooth out the lady who owns this place,” he said.
“Why?” Mick asked as he pressed his ear to the floor.
“Because she’s about to come in here, that’s why.” When that didn’t get the other man moving, Cole added, “She seemed to think you guys were breaking stuff in here.”
Mick jumped to his feet and grumbled, “I knew we shouldn’t have asked her to leave. Go against standard practices once and all you get is grief.” He continued grumbling, but couldn’t be heard once he left the room.
“What’s going on in here?” Cole asked.
Paige stood up and waved the K2 meter over the floor. “There’s something under the floor, and I think it knows we’re looking for it. Either that or it’s just getting restless. Did you hear all that scratching a few minutes ago?”
“How could I miss it?”
“Something moved right below the foundation of this house.”
“Hasn’t anyone checked the basement?”
“That’s the thing,” Paige replied. “Val went down there and came right back up again. There’s just a single room big enough for the water heater and some storage located below the living room, but no basement under this half of the house.”
“Then maybe—”
As soon as Cole started to talk, the scratching noises became loud enough to make him hop away from where he’d been standing.
“Are you recording this?” Val shouted.
Heavy steps thumped down some stairs and up again before Quentin replied, “Yeah, but it’s not as loud downstairs. I can hear it, but just a little.”
“Hey!” Paige shouted. “Get that thermal camera in here!”
More heavy steps along with some labored breathing announced Quentin’s arrival.
“Point it right here at the floor,” Paige said.
Quentin nodded and rushed over to her. Aiming the camera at the spot where she’d been pointing, he held the monitor for about two seconds before he nearly dropped it. “Whoa! Did you see that?”
“Sweep that spot again,” Paige said as she took the monitor from him.
The scratching sounded like nails raking against concrete. As it flowed up through the floor, it was distorted by all the layers of wood, insulation, wiring, dirt, and whatever else was between the MEG team and the source of the noise.
Then the scratching stopped.
“Have you heard anything like this before?” Cole asked.
Quentin continued to move the camera back and forth while shaking his head. “A few times, I’ve heard banging and whispers, but nothing this bad.”
“Did the home owner mention anything like this when you talked to her?”
Although he didn’t look away from the floor, Quentin shook his head. “Not that I remember.” He used his free hand to grab his phone and then keyed it to send a few chirps through instead of one.
After a few seconds Mick whispered, “Yeah?”
“Did the home owner ever mention scratching sounds?”
“Yeah. Those and some knocking.”
“I mean loud scratching like what we heard.”
There wasn’t a reply through the phone’s speaker, but Cole could hear muted voices coming from outside. After they died down, the phone chirped and Mick said, “She says there was scratching, but not from rats.”
“There!” Paige said. “Did you see that?”
Cole had been watching the monitor while also glancing down to see where Quentin was aiming the camera. “I saw something flash by on the screen, but don’t know what it was.”
“Here,” Quentin grunted as he got up from where he’d been kneeling. “Rewind the feed. Right here.” He pointed to a button and then tapped it. When he saw the movement in reverse, he backed up another few seconds and played it frame by frame.
Most of the screen was a mess of dark blues and greens. Brighter lines crossed the screen in bundles, which had to be wires or possibly narrow pipes under the floor. The thing that slowly moved from one side of the screen to the other wasn’t a bundle of wires, however, and it sure as hell wasn’t a pipe. It was, however, very hot.
“What the hell?” Quentin gasped.
Val raced into the room and pressed between Cole’s and Paige’s shoulders so she could get a look. “What? What is it? What did you find?”
“Is that…some sort of beak?” Quentin asked as he used his finger to trace a long hooked shape at the bottom of the glowing red and orange blob. “There’s another one. And another! It’s all connected.”
“Maybe it’s some sort of snake,” Val offered. “Looks like those beaks or whatever connect down at a neck and…move it ahead a bit.”
Quentin sped the video up a notch so he could watch the hooked shapes slide along until the bottom of the screen was covered by the larger body. He stopped the video, rolled it back, and played it at regular speed. Although Cole knew what to look for this time around, he still couldn’t see much before the entire shape wriggled past.
“That looks like a big snake to me,” Quentin said. “What do you guys think?”
Paige didn’t say anything, but glanced around as if waiting for the scratching to return. When nothing happened, she looked down and asked, “Where’s that big meter Mick set down?”
“You mean the Tri-Field?” Val asked.
“Yeah. Where is it?”
“I’ve got it,” Quentin replied. “Picked it up so it wouldn’t interfere with the thermal.”
