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  He was now worried they might not get back before dark as it was clear they were now virtually carrying a mini ‘dead zone’ around with them wherever they went.

  Back at Eugene meanwhile, Jenny was beginning to get worried herself as she nervously looked down at her watch.

  ‘Where are they, Dad?’ she asked, looking very agitated ‘they surely should have been back by now?’

  Joan meanwhile just looked to the skies as she just bit her lip, as she too looked very tense.

  ‘It’ll be dusk soon’ she observed ‘I hope it wasn’t my crane idea that let them down, maybe it didn’t work properly?’ she queried.

  ‘It’ll be fine’ insisted Stuart.

  Just then, one of the soldiers came running over towards them.

  ‘THEY’VE BEEN SPOTTED!’ he shouted ‘AND THEY’VE CAPTURED SOMETHING IN THE GRAB!’ he added excitedly.

  ‘See? I told you it would be all right’ smiled Stuart.

  ‘Thank the Lord for that’ uttered Joan, now looking very relieved.

  Around a mile still to go, Jack could see the sun about to set. He just prayed they would get back to the deep enclosure Stuart had prepared for them, before it got too dark for them to even see it!

  With the creature on board, they would have no lights and so would not be able to see anything at all once it turned dark and this was now a very big problem.

  Matters weren’t helped by the creature’s wriggling around all the time, as it made the airship roll around in the air and slowed it down.

  The creature itself though, had not slowed up one iota and still looked as fierce and threatening as ever!

  In a rare lighter moment, Jack looked down to see a drunk sitting on a roof top as he took a swig from a bottle of whisky. The down and out had obviously found himself a hideout and was just settling down for the night.

  Jack carefully steered the creature clear of his building, but the airship was still close enough for the old tramp to see it.

  The tramp initially held his bottle up to toast the airship as it sailed on by, but then he noticed the violently struggling and snarling creature as it just spat and wildly waved its claws at him and the old tramp just jumped back in shock!

  ‘Holy Mother! I swear I’ll never touch another drop of this stuff again!’ he uttered before he promptly fainted.

  Jack allowed himself a brief chuckle, before returning his attention to the serious matter in hand once again.

  Then he saw it. Stuart’s trap, as soldiers were now running along the ground and frantically waving up towards him and pointing the way.

  Staring up at the airship, Joan now gasped.

  ‘Stuart, they’ve had to cycle all the way here’ she groaned ‘so no wonder they’ve taken so long to get here.’

  ‘Crumbs, they must be exhausted’ uttered Stuart in admiration of the soldier’s huge efforts.

  Looking up ahead, Jack could now see Stuart’s creature trap all lit up with lights. It was very noticeable however, how every light was steadily going out as they made their approach towards it.

  Jack was really panicking now as the sun was beginning to set.

  ‘Come on, we’re almost there!’ he uttered tensely ‘all we need is enough natural light to finish this last task that’s all.’

  Soon, he was close enough to ask the soldiers to stop peddling.

  ‘OK, WE’RE HERE!’ he shouted as they both ran to meet him, sweat now dripping from their bodies.

  ‘But it’s getting dark on the ground, we can’t see what we’re doing?’ uttered the sergeant as his fellow soldier immediately passed him one of the electric torches.

  ‘It doesn’t work?’ he queried.

  ‘It’s the creature, it’s somehow preventing anything from working’ explained Jack.

  ‘Heck, but can we now see enough to even drop this thing down there?’ asked the sergeant, looking very concerned, as he gazed down onto the increasingly gloomy ground beneath them.

  ‘I think so’ uttered Jack ‘but I reckon we’ll only get one chance at this as the sun will soon set completely’ he uttered tensely.

  ‘I’ll guide you’ uttered the sergeant racing to the release lever of the crane.

  ‘Hell, its damn dark down there, I just can’t see anything!’ Jack groaned as he now just grimaced with worry.

  Down on the ground, Stuart was showing similar concerns.

  ‘Christ, Joan, I don’t think they have enough daylight left to even see what they’re doing’ he uttered in panic ‘all the lights have just gone out now.’

  But then, back on the airship the sergeant had an idea.

  ‘HAVE YOU A MIRROR ANYWHERE?’ he shouted up to Jack in the control room.

  ‘WHAT? DO YOU THINK WE HAVE WING MIRRORS ON THIS THING OR SOMETHING?’ Jack shouted back as he kept his concentration on aiming the airship to drift directly over the pit.

  ‘HAVE YOU ONE ANYWHERE?’ screamed the sergeant ‘NOW WOULD BE GOOD, PROFESSOR!’ uttered the sergeant urgently.

  Jack just shook his head as he tried to think.

  ‘THE REST ROOM!’ he shouted back ‘ON THE WALL, BUT YOU’LL PROBABLY HAVE TO FEEL YOUR WAY NOW, AS IT’LL BE PITCH DARK DOWN THERE WITH NO LIGHTS WORKING!’

  ‘Soldier!’ nodded the sergeant.

  ‘I’m on my way, Sir’ nodded the soldier as he blindly stumbled his way down the stairs. Then upon feeling his way around the rest room, he quickly grabbed hold of the sides of the mirror, before he ripped it clean off the wall!

  He then sprinted back.

  ‘I HAVE IT!’ he shouted.

  ‘Hold it up to the setting sun and shine it down towards the ground’ suggested the sergeant and with that the soldier just nodded his head and did as he had suggested.

  ‘Brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that?’ uttered Jack in admiration.

  ‘WE’RE ALMOST THERE!’ shouted the sergeant as he now grabbed the mirror himself and positioned the soldier ready to pull the release lever.

  Meanwhile, in the ever growing gloominess on the ground, the creature’s sheer savagery was making everyone step back sharply, as they all looked up to see it’s silhouette writhing away fiercely as they listened to it’s loud growling and snarling away at them all!

  ‘ALMOST THERE!’ shouted the sergeant ‘JUST KEEP HER STRAIGHT’ then he had to correct himself slightly ‘NO, TO THE LEFT SLIGHTLY! NO! THE OTHER LEFT!’ he screamed ‘ALMOST, ALMOST, NOW!’ screamed the sergeant as the soldier immediately pulled the release lever!

  ‘SHIT! IT’S STUCK!’ the soldier uttered as he found he couldn’t pull the lever any further.

  ‘WELL HURRY UP! OR WE’LL OVER-SHOOT THE DAMN PIT!’ screamed Jack.

  On the ground meanwhile, Stuart and the others were beginning to almost pull their hair out in panic!

  ‘Christ! They’re going to miss it’ uttered Stuart as people began to scatter in all directions.

  ‘HELP US PULL THIS DAMN LEVER, JACK!’ grunted the sergeant as Jack now sprinted to join them, as they all now strained to pull the release lever together.

  ‘OH, FUCK!’ uttered Jack ‘I CAN’T EVEN SEE IF WE’RE STILL OVER THE PIT OR NOT!’ he uttered as he now really began to panic.

  Suddenly the lever release went as all three of them then fell down in a heap!

  They immediately jumped up and stared down over the side, to see exactly where the creature had landed.

  ‘IS IT IN THE PIT?’ asked Jack.

  ‘PASS ME THE MIRROR DAMN IT!’ uttered the sergeant as Jack quickly handed it to him as he then shone some light upon the ground.

  ‘I THINK IT’S THERE! They’re safe’ the sergeant uttered as they now all fell down exhausted and felt very relieved.

  ‘Professor, don’t ever ask me to do this trip again!’ uttered the sergeant as he just sat back and wiped the sweat from his brow.

  The creature had fallen to the groun
d, but unfortunately what they hadn’t noticed, was that it had landed right on the very edge of the pit and now it began clawing its way upwards!

  Jack heard the sound of people on the ground panicking and he just jumped up and then looked down.

  ‘OH CHRIST!’ he immediately shouted in alarm.

  ‘What’s wrong? What’s happened?’ asked the sergeant urgently.

  Then he quickly got up and straining his eyes, just managed to make out the creature clawing and snarling away as it clung onto the very edge of the pit.

  ‘Oh hell!’ he uttered in shock.

  His remaining soldier just held his head in panic.

  ‘Christ, it’ll kill everyone if it gets out of there!’ he cried in horror.

  Meanwhile, down on the ground they suddenly noticed the creature beginning to climb out!

  ‘OH NO! IT’S CLIMBING OUT! RUN FOR IT EVERYONE!’ someone screamed as people then began scattering in all directions!

  Whilst everyone around him had been panicking and running away just as fast as they could, Stuart instead, had kept an eagle eye out for the creature and he now called upon soldiers all around him to help him push the creature back into the pit again.

  ‘HELP ME PUSH IT BACK INTO THE PIT! QUICKLY!’ he ordered in the gloom of the sunset.

  ‘QUICKLY, HELP ME THROW SOMETHING AT IT!’ shouted Jack up in the airship.

  ‘Throw what exactly?’ asked the sergeant.

  ‘I don’t know, throw your knives or something?’ replied Jack as he began to panic.

  ‘It’s already too late, Jack, we would be more likely to hit our own people from here, we’ve already drifted too far away’ the sergeant informed him as Jack could now barely even see anything.

  ‘I don’t know how they’re still able to even see it down there’ pondered the soldier ‘I mean it’s so dark down there now.’

  ‘Their eyes may be more accustomed to the light’ suggested the sergeant positively.

  Down on the ground meanwhile, the men were all grabbing anything they could as they surrounded the creature, poking things at it in an attempt to try and force it backwards.

  Instantly though, several men fell down injured from the beast’s sheer savagery!

  Joan had taken one look at the scene and looking all around her had immediately called upon Jenny to help her.

  ‘HELP ME, JENNY! RELEASE THE HAND BRAKE ON THAT JEEP’ she told her.

  ‘BUT IT WON’T WORK!’ cried Jenny fearing for her father’s life ‘NOTHING WORKS!’

  ‘I doesn’t need it to work, Jenny, I just need it to roll!’ explained Joan quickly as Jenny immediately nodded her head, before she jumped into the Jeep’s driver’s seat and immediately released its handbrake.

  ‘HELP US THEN!’ screamed Joan to some soldiers who instantly rushed in to join her in starting the Jeep rolling.

  Jenny then carefully steered the Jeep straight at the creature as more and more soldiers rushed in to push it.

  Faster and faster it went until last minute she looked up!

  ‘JUMP CLEAR EVERYONE!’ she shouted as she suddenly leapt from the Jeep’s driver’s seat at the very last minute, landing heavily onto her father, knocking him flat onto his back!

  The soldiers continued pushing the Jeep to the very last minute leaving it hurtling straight towards the creature!

  The ugly looking beast looked up and just snarled at the vehicle defiantly, but only seconds later the Jeep had knocked the angry creature clean off its feet, sending it headfirst straight down into the pit with a loud crash!

  They all quickly stared into the gloom of the pit as they struggled to see anything.

  ‘Is it there? Is it safely in the pit?’ they all asked urgently.

  ‘We have some mirrors’ announced some of the female members of the army personnel, as they all used these to good effect to shine the last embers of sunlight down into the pit.

  They then all gasped when they saw that the Jeep had landed upside down, right on top of the creature.

  ‘Have we killed it?’ asked Jenny gazing down into pit.

  ‘I don’t know? It’s so hard to see in this low light’ replied Stuart.

  All was still for a second.

  ‘It looks like we’ve killed it!’ someone announced.

  Just then, they suddenly all heard a low angry roar as the Jeep suddenly flew up towards them and then crashed back down into the pit once again as everyone instantly jumped back in shock!

  ‘I suggest we haven’t killed it after all’ announced Stuart.

  ‘I think we may have thoroughly pissed it off though’ smiled Joan as everyone began to laugh and then cheer loudly as they all shook their heads in relief that the whole ordeal was finally over!

  Aboard the airship, Jack and the troops briefly celebrated too.

  ‘Thank the Lord that’s over’ uttered Jack in relief.

  Then he remembered the soldier who had been killed.

  ‘Oh, I forgot, I’m really sorry about your friend’ he instantly apologised.

  ‘Thanks’ nodded the sergeant ‘he was a good man. Never mind that now though, we’d better find out how good you are at landing this thing in the dark’ added the sergeant.

  ‘Uh oh!’ uttered Jack.

  Unfortunately, they soon found out as in a deafening, grinding and high pitched scraping noise the airship suddenly came to an abrupt halt, before it suddenly tipped over sideways and then slowly sent the large cockpit area plummeted downwards onto the ground!

  ‘JACK! JACK! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?’ he suddenly heard Stuart shouting as he came running over to help him.

  ‘Yeah, I’m all right, a bit bruised I think, but otherwise I feel all right’ Jack answered.

  Then he remembered the two soldiers.

  ‘Soldiers are you OK?’ Jack asked quickly.

  ‘Ouch!’ suddenly groaned a voice ‘yeah, but I wouldn’t recommend you’re driving much’ laughed the sergeant as he and the other soldier helped Jack out of the remains of the airship.

  In the darkness, Jack had accidentally flown the airship straight into a tree.

  ‘But weren’t there three of you?’ asked Joan, now arriving on the scene arm in arm with Jenny.

  ‘I’m afraid he didn’t make it’ nodded Jack sadly.

  ‘What, the crash?’ asked Stuart.

  ‘No, one of creatures got him I’m afraid’ answered Jack in the increasing gloom of the final stages of sunset.

  ‘Look, we’d better hurry, before it turns completely pitch dark’ suggested Stuart urgently. ‘I suspected this might happen, so we set up ropes all around the area, to guide us to where we hoped the lights may still work’ he explained.

  ‘You considered the creature itself may bring about our lights and stuff not working then? Good thinking, Stuart’ nodded Jack.

  ‘Well I considered it may be a possibility’ replied Stuart.

  ‘What about the creature though?’ Jack asked as Stuart guided them all along.

  ‘No, he seems to be able to see in the dark perfectly fine’ replied Stuart with a chuckle.

  ‘It’s nice to see you haven’t lost your sense of humour anyway’ smiled Jack.

  ‘Now is no time to joke, Professor Keys, who’s keeping guard on it?’ asked the sergeant firmly.

  ‘It’s all right, we have troops stationed all around him’ explained Stuart ‘with manually operated car hooters or bells to sound the alarm if it escapes. Though what we can do if it actually does escape is anyone’s guess, but at least we can all run for it I suppose’ suggested Stuart.

  They then set off on what seemed like a very long trek, before they finally saw some lights in the distance.

  When they reached a point where the lights worked again, Stuart nodded his head.

  ‘Well I make that just over five hundred yards, a long way for just one creature to prevent any electricity or anyt
hing else from working’ he commented. ‘Any further and we would have had to move the entire camp further back.’

  Now in some light again, the soldier went to light up a cigarette, but his lighter still wouldn’t work.

  ‘Damn and I could kill someone for a smoke’ he cursed.

  ‘You’ll have to pack it in’ smiled his sergeant, putting his arm around him. ‘Well done, Soldier, well make a man of you yet’ he smiled.

  ‘Thanks, Sergeant’ the soldier nodded back ‘but I don’t fancy meeting those things again.’

  ‘Curious’ nodded Stuart as they continued walking towards the camp ‘then electricity is definitely restored before the natural flame is.’

  ‘By the way’ uttered Stuart, as they finally arrived closer to the lights and were able to see a little more ‘well done, you three, you may have just saved the whole human race for all we know.’

  ‘God, that light hurts my eyes now’ moaned Jack as he held his arm up to cover his face.

  ‘Don’t start bloody moaning or we’ll send you back there, so you can spend the night with old ugly face down in the pit’ Stuart grinned.

  ‘No thanks, I think I’ll pass on that invitation’ smiled Jack.

  Eventually, they made it to where everything actually did work again and Stuart smiled as the soldier lit a cigarette and then closed his eyes as he took a long deep drag.

  ‘This makes you appreciate simple pleasures doesn’t it?’ he smiled.

  ‘I feel sorry for those poor soldiers having to sit there all night in the dark, just listening to that thing growl’ uttered Jenny, now looking quite scared.

  All around the pit, soldiers were doing just that in a night many of them admitted afterwards easily seemed the longest one of their lives.

  The very ground under their feet shuddered every time the creature suddenly smashed itself against the walls of the pit, as it snarled angrily and tried to escape.

  It didn’t stop all night long.

  Back at the camp the soldier and his sergeant were finally able to rest again.

  ‘This is the part I hate the most’ the sergeant uttered quietly as he sat next to Jack.

  ‘What this? I would have thought this would be great after what you’ve just been through’ smiled Jack.