Cryptotrappers!

Cryptotrappers- Goat Sucker

Thursday 9th. I've got a nice set of nasty scars on my back from last mission. Phoenix tears helped the recovery and I've certainly enjoyed the time at home with Seth, but I'll definitely say I've missed being in the lab. Good news is I'd heard that Lucy got out of the hospital whilst I was doing my own recovery, so I was excited to see her at the lab again when I myself had recovered. And now that all that was left was a mild itch, I felt ready to clock back into work.

As I stepped into the great hall and took my place ready for Eva's explanation, I shared a quick smile with Lucy.
"Good to have you back." Sid gruffly but kindly spoke, slapping me on the back as I winced with pain.
"Please... you gotta stop doing that when my back is injured." I replied, keeping a brave face.
"Right then," Eva began, commanding the room in a word. "Today, the four of you will be sent to an abandoned farm in south Texas. The livestock have been coming up dead with unexplainable puncture wounds and the family who owns the farm have fled the place for their lives, leaving their animals behind. Three large animals or five small ones on average die each night; coincidentally the amount of blood required for a healthy Chupacabra to live on. Your job is to capture it and bring it in."

There was some commotion as to what we were actually going up against as we were grabbing supplies.
"If it can fly, we should bring a weighted net, keep it grounded." Randy argued.
"What do you mean 'if it can fly'? We're going after a hunched lizard man thing, right?" Sid replied, confused.
"Isn't it some kind of mangy dog thing?" Lucy added on, just as puzzled.
"Any ideas, Exo?" Randy asked, and all eyes were on me.
"Well," I began, "since we don't know what we're going after exactly, we should plan for any occurrence. Randy, get the weighted nets; Sid and Lucy, you two plan similar to what we did for the Jackalope. Without, may I add, the alcohol. But see if Eva has any more of the stuff she put in those berry balls, lace some meat with it, and for everyone's sake, keep it away from our food supplies!"
As everyone began to pack, I prepared myself with my Phoenix gear. Nobody else around at the farm, land based mission, it was perfect to let Seth fly around a little. Ten minutes later and we were ready and prepared to head on out.

The stench of a carcass left out was the first thing to hit us as we arrived. I covered my nose instinctively, as did the rest of us. It didn't take long to trace the smell to four dead cows and five chickens, some left out to rot longer than the others. I didn't know if they would have been better with blood left inside or not, but as it was, they were drained.
"Thoughts?" I asked, not exactly sure what else to say.
"If we had some salt right now we could make some damn good jerky." Sid responded, seeming almost a little eager.
"Agreed." Randy added.
"Okay." I replied, not quite sure how I could find any use in that. "Any other thoughts, Lucy?"
"Only that I really want to get indoors and away from this." Lucy answered, sensibly. With agreement from the rest of the group, we made our way inside the farmhouse.

Sitting around the living room, we began to plan.
"I think this is going to be a multi day endeavour, especially if it only comes out at night." I began, laying down my stuff, before I added, "At least we don't have to camp."
"Best not get too used to it." Sid replied, though he did seem happy enough that he'd be sleeping in a bed.
"We should definitely figure out what we're dealing with first." Lucy suggested, to which I nodded.
"Definitely. So, first night, we wait outside and just try to see what sort of Chupacabra we're dealing- Randy, are you making food right now?"
The beep of a microwave in the kitchen made it hard for him to deny when Randy poked his head through the doorway.
"We were talking about jerky outside, I got hungry, okay?"
"As I was saying." I continued, turning back to the rest of the group as Randy sheepishly took a seat with his bowl of food. "We should spend night one seeing what we're dealing with so we can spend day two preparing to capture it on night two."
"At least you don't have to be bait on this one." Randy added, through mouthfuls of what seemed to be pasta. If nothing else would be simple here, I could be thankful that I at least wouldn't have to be bait.