Cryptotrappers!

Cryptotrappers- The Sheep Snatcher

Tuesday 6. The sun had risen by the time I woke up from the slumber I had fallen into, and it was not alone in that fact. Even as I stepped from the tent in the early dawn light, Sid was already outside hunched over something on the ground, barely turning his head to acknowledge that he knew I was there as he waved me over. Approaching the scene, my eyes were drawn to the matted patches of white covering the ground around the campsite, dyed with a redness that I would have written off in any other circumstance.
"Blood's fresh. This wasn't here when we arrived."
Sid moved his frame to let me view what he was seeing; more of the sodden fleece, but here it was soaked enough to stain the grass and piled more than anywhere else. The smell was now beginning to hit me, and it was far from pleasant.
"I'm going to take a look around, if that's alright." I contributed, with Sid giving a firm nod to my statement. Grabbing a torch from the backpack in my tent and zipping the entrance up with apprehension, I turned to the countryside and prepared to begin my search.

At first I didn't find much except for more of the scattered fleece as I walked through the dew-soaked grass. Well, besides a few discarded cigarette butts marring the landscape which I didn't think I could blame the Dragon for. As I walked, I began to track where the fleece was most prominent and to little surprise, there was a clear path that was taken. Following the path of the line, my eyes were drawn to a point where the field turned to forest and I began to walk down the path, not exactly sure what I was find. My blood ran cold, though, as my eyes were drawn to something far more interesting than fleece, something that I knew that I'd need the others for. So turning around, I began to briskly walk back to camp with hopes that by the time I was there, Randy would be awake.

"So, remind me, how did you find... whatever you're taking us to?"
Randy, despite having only just woken up before we arrived here, still took a reasonable amount of effort to rouse from his sleeping bag. The morning was now in full effect, and the bloody wool strewn about was even more obvious.
"There's a path of sorts where the wool is far more frequent, in what looks to be a pretty straight line. Sure enough, I followed it to the forest edge, and there it was."
As I spoke, I gestured generally to the path we were taking. Sid, however, was looking out to the sparser patches of wool with the net slung over his shoulder and a dire look on his face.
"Must have been flying pretty high then." he muttered, pensively. "To get so much fleece so far out from the path it was taking, I mean."
As we walked, my eyes turned to Lucy who was being extraordinarily quiet.
"Everything okay?" I asked, as she gave a quick smile.
"Yeah, I just didn't know you could get so uncomfortable in such a short amount of time." Lucy remarked, rubbing her back. "My bones feels like I've slept on a slab of rock without a pillow."
"Welcome to the team." Randy replied, sardonically. "Anyway, how much further is it?"
I stopped and gestured for the team to stand beside me. And now together, we all bore witness to the colossal clawprint embedded in the grass.

There was about six seconds of silence before Lucy spoke in a slightly shaky tone.
"That's... big."
"Yeah." I replied, swallowing my saliva. "Yeah it's big."
Even just the footprint was as long as I was, imprinted in the mud by considerable weight. Despite that, it still wasn't a perfect print, and some of the details seemed a little fuzzy.
"From the print, that thing looks like it would be big enough to easily carry our Knucker off." Randy commented, his tone now far more bleak. Sid looked over the print far more quizzically, however.
"It looks like the claw of a raptor."
"The dinosaur?" I asked, confused.
"No, like the bird." Sid clarified. "Three toes, one backclaw... I think at least. Hard to be sure. They look like they'd be use to grab prey, is what I'm saying."
"Where's the other prints though?" Randy asked. "If it landed here, shouldn't there be four?"
Before I could contribute, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Checking the number, it wasn't one I recognised but I felt like I should answer it anyway. Walking off from the group, I swiped the call and put the phone to my ear.