Finding Humanity: Book 3 in the Saving Humanity Series

CHAPTER 20

The sun started its descent down the mountain. Shadows stretched and deepened across the landscape. A cool breeze touched the air. Caleb crouched with the others, behind a large boulder.

"Remember," he whispered. "They'll see you before you see them, so stay alert, Anything that seems out of the ordinary, probably is."

Venger shook his head. "Doesn't seem possible that a creature that size could hide, but I never really believed they existed, so there's that."

"Don't forget that shooting them in the head won't take them down," Matt interjected. "You have to sever the spine."

"Which is much easier said than done," Terry spoke under his breath.

"Don't waste your ammo," Caleb said. "Avoid them at all costs. I'm sure they have orders to kill any intruders on sight. We're just looking for a lair. We'll formulate a plan when we have more intel."

The others nodded.

"Groups of two. No one goes on their own."

The others nodded again.

"Good luck."

The group rose together, as if connected by a string that was pulled up at the same time. They split in various directions and began their search of the area.

They had been in the mountains all day, unable to find any sign of unnatural creatures. There were plenty of rabbits and chipmunks, but nothing larger. Caleb felt his hope slipping away, turning into dread and despair, when Terry found a scrap of clothing. It wasn't much, and it clung to a low bush, but it was enough. After that, True found the nail and first knuckle of a finger. They were in the right area, but they still had a lot of ground to search. It gave Caleb his hope back, though. He kept his fingers crossed that they would find something before darkness covered the area—but that slipped away with the last rays of light.

He and Matt had been paired together, and they separated slightly to cover more ground. The others were in sight, but farther away. Caleb scrutinized every crack in the rocks he found, in addition to keeping his eyes on the ground for more body parts.

The light faded fast, casting the mountain deeper in shadows. Urgency and desperation grew inside of Caleb. They couldn't search in the dark, especially with flashlights, because that would give away their positions, but at the same time, Caleb couldn't leave without Jan. More days with Maudas meant the possibility of bad things happening to her.

A roar echoed across the mountainside, pulling Caleb's attention from the ground. His gaze darted across the landscape, trying to pinpoint where the sound had come from. His sight fell on True, who backpedaled away from a cluster of rocks, her hand flailing at her waist as she attempted to pull her gun out of its holster. The roar sounded again. Caleb ran toward True.

She finally had her gun out and had lifted it to aim right as Caleb made it to her position. He placed himself in front of her, forcing her to move the gun out of the way.

"You can't stop them with that," he wheezed.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the RBZ stepped from a crack in the rocks toward the two of them. The space was almost too tight, forcing the creature to turn sideways. Its large body scraped the sides and tore its already tattered plaid shirt. Caleb lifted his arms in a protective gesture, in front of True. The creature's milky gaze slid between the two of them, its lip curled in a snarl.

The others made it to Caleb and True's position, and they stood together with weapons drawn, staring at the RBZ. The creature squared its shoulders and balled its fists. It stared down at the intruders, but made no move toward them.