He would protect his family.
No matter the cost.
2
Melinda Carpenter, or just Mel to everyone who knew her, was stuck trying to keep a straight face while she intently interviewed a man they’d just met on the street in Parson’s Creek.
“I tell ya, I saw it with my own eyes! As big as a mountain with a gaze that would scare the pants off even the devil!” the man named Harry exclaimed, reeking more than a little of an afternoon trip to the bar.
“What did the creature do?” Mel asked, pulling the microphone in her hand back a bit as Harry tried to lean closer to it as if he weren’t already loud enough the whole street could hear him.
She and her cameraman, Trent, had arrived in the sleepy town of Parson’s Creek earlier that afternoon. And from the minute she’d set foot on the ground, awed by the quiet peace and rugged beauty of this remote location in Texas, she’d been on the hunt.
For years, she’d worked as a reporter for Channel 8 news, part of a local branch based out of the suburbs of Houston. And for years, she’d been doing filler pieces about bakeries and local holidays and all sorts of other things that made people click their remotes to change to another channel.
But now? Now was supposed to be her big break. Her shot at something really interesting.
Though, as big as whatever Harry was talking about, she wasn’t sure.
“It roared, and I could see spikes the size of flagpoles all along its back, and horns the length of school buses—”
“Did it spout fire too?” Trent asked sarcastically as he haphazardly hefted the camera around.
How he had gotten a job as a cameraman in the first place, she didn’t know.
Oh yeah, nepotism. That was how.
“Not helpful,” she replied to Trent, who shrugged as she focused back on Harry, who was starting to wobble a little.
“Talk to Vern up at Hillson Ranch. He saw it too! Even got a video of it.”
Video evidence? Now that was something worth pursuing.
Not that she was sure what to make of this drunk, raving cowpoke’s tale in the first place. But inebriated or not, he was nice enough to speak with her, which was better than their initial reception when they’d arrived in town.
Most of the passers-by had eyed her with suspicious expressions as they went about their business.
“Aaand that’s a wrap,” Trent exclaimed, removing his camera from his shoulder before Mel had even fully concluded the interview. She wanted to say something about it, but trying to get Trent to do something he didn’t want to was nearly impossible. So instead, she thanked Harry one more time for the interview.
Before she left, though, Harry glared at her with his jaundiced eyes. “Beware the sleeping giants. Beware the gazes of ba—”
“Are you coming or not?” Trent interrupted, sounding annoyed, and Mel scurried after him before Harry had even more cryptic things to say.
“I think you sometimes forget I’m the reporter here,” she said with a huff.
Trent just groaned as he opened the door of the van. Thankfully, it was unmarked, just another vehicle with their equipment inside it.
“Dude was clearly on something.”
“On something or not, I think it’s worth pursuing.” Strange reports of unexplainable things that had filtered through local newspapers and stations began arriving on her desk a few days ago and led to this excursion in the first place.
It had taken three hours of begging her boss to let her have a week to come here and see if there was any substance to the reports of giant monsters that appeared during rainstorms and flying beasts that ruled the plains.
So far, it was just another small town in the heart of Texas.
But monsters or not, there was something about this wild, beautiful land she’d never seen before. Remote. Quiet. Devoid of all the distractions and noise of the city.
A girl could get used to living out here, she thought.
“There’s still enough light outside. We should see if anyone else has heard about the disturbances,” Mel said, invigorated by the orange and blue sky above that seemed to stretch out forever in every direction.
Trent rolled his eyes. “But I have to pack up all the equipment, lock it up, back up the footage to our internal storage…”
“That takes five minutes.”
“And I’m starving. So I’m going to go get something to eat.”
She paused, deciding whether she wanted to join him or not. After all, he wasn’t the worst co-worker she’d ever had. He was just a bit stubborn at times.
“You go ahead. I’ll just walk to the hotel when I’m done.” Thankfully, the town itself was only a few blocks from end to end, and their hotel was right in the middle of it.
Trent shrugged and busied himself with the equipment. “Suit yourself.”
She handed the microphone back to him, then pulled a small audio recording device out of her pocket. There was still daylight, and she sure as heck wasn’t going to waste it when the hope of something so much bigger going on still lingered in the air.
Leaving Trent behind, she made her way to the nearest pedestrian, fearlessly introducing herself and asking if the person would be interested in answering a few questions.
The man promptly said no, and Mel went on her way.
The next hour passed quickly in this fashion. And before she knew it, the sun had all but set, leaving trails of purple and dark blue at the edges of the horizon as the moon began to rise behind her.
Mel took a moment and just breathed in the clean, fresh air. Even with her body still aching from the long drive and her spirits a little downtrodden from the lack of further prospects, this sure beat doing any of the many repetitive things back at her office.
Even if she couldn’t shake the strange feeling of being
