A light static sensation pulsated throughout the car. It was an energy surge that appeared to be generated by the creature. As Scarlet tried to drive away, he couldn't work out why the car's systems had shut down; the engine wouldn't respond, the computer systems had been fried and he couldn't activate the emergency jet controls.

They were completely dead in the middle of nowhere.

Captain Blue sat there defencelessly, unaware of what was going on around him.  He could hear his fellow agent smack the wheel in frustration.

“What's wrong?” he asked anxiously.

Scarlet didn't reply. Various sounds and images raced through his mind at a high frequency. He could see glimpses of the past that were shown in a red hue. The images were repeated in a loop, accompanied by sounds of screaming, news reports, unexplained noises. As he sat there in a trance, he realised something big: he had worked out the creature's true intentions. It wasn't there to harm him. It was trying to communicate with them. Everything he was seeing were memories of the past that the creature recorded throughout its life. The collapse of the Silver Bridge, which connected Point Pleasant to Gallipolis, in Ohio, which the creature witnessed first-hand and that people connected to it; the men in black agents from the American government, who were after it; UFOs appearance in the sky, terrified locals, it all replayed in Scarlet’s mind. 

Suddenly, the wave of dread Scarlet had felt since the creature’s appearance disappeared. He was now curious at what he was seeing. Unfastening his safety belt, he stepped out of the car. He drew his sidearm and set it to stun before aiming it at the creature.  The images lingered as he kept his balance; he tried his best to avoid making eye-contact with the mysterious being.

As he took a step forward towards the beast, a dull sound entered his ears. He could hear low-frequency pulses that seemed to repeat themselves in sequences and patterns. He couldn't be certain at first, but he suspected it to be something like a code;. the creature was trying to communicate with him. Scarlet attempted to decipher the pulses; he thought he understood what was going on. He took another step forward as he holstered his stun pistol.

"I know you’re afraid of us.  I can feel you’re scared and that you think we’re here to hurt you, like those men who came after you years ago,” he said as he raised his arm in a gesture of peace. “But we’re not here to hurt you.  Can you understand me?”

The creature shifted slightly as it retracted its wings. Scarlet took it as a sign of confirmation.

“People around here, they call you the Mothman. I've heard of you, but I never thought of you to be evil. From what I understand, you're just looking for a place to call home. A place where you can't live peacefully, without being disturbed.  Sure, I can understand that, but the people here are afraid of you.”

The Mothman squealed slightly as it shuffled closer towards Scarlet.

"I can help. I can help them see that you're just curious about them. I've seen the images in my mind. They're your memories, aren't they? You... never intended to hurt those people. You just wanted them to realise that... you wanted to live amongst them. Isn’t that right?"

The Mothman suddenly became erratic, prompting Scarlet to leap back. He hovered his hand over his firearm as a precaution. The Mothman seemed to anticipate a threat from him, and it stepped back. Scarlet slowly lowered his defensive posture.

“How did you get here? Where did you come from?”

Unfortunately, the Mothman couldn’t answer with words; however, as Scarlet had learned earlier, it had other ways to communicate. Scarlet felt a sudden pain as his mind were suddenly assaulted with new images.  Images that were all too familiar.

The images showed something incredible; the Mothman was in a deep slumber when suddenly, a large explosion occurred, waking it from its sleep. A flash of green light illuminated the TNT plant; Scarlet could see the manifestation of the Mysterons, but he couldn't see what they were trying to reconstructed exactly; he could also feel the increasing anger coming from the Mothman as in his mind’s eye, he could see the screeching creature facing a threat from an enemy it didn’t know. Suddenly, the rings reappeared. This time, they were inside, in the plant. He had managed to figure out what it was they were trying to do. He wanted to see more, but he couldn't.

As the images began to fade, Scarlet began to sense an overwhelming feeling of aggression and apprehension. It was as if the Mothman had tapped into his Mysteron side, and didn’t like it at all.  He suddenly felt as if he was in danger; he found himself right in the path of the creature.

“So it was the Mysterons that had awakened you. It wasn't about finding acceptance. You're angry because they had disturbed your sleep.”

The Mothman screeched; its shrill tone pierced the night's sky. Its wings flipped outwards as if it prepared to attack once again.  Scarlet stepped back.

“You think that I'm a Mysteron too. I was, but not anymore,” Scarlet said as he drew his gun. “Listen to me. I don't want to hurt you. I want you to go back and sleep. Let me help you.”

The creature screamed once again as it shot off into the sky. Scarlet spun on his heels and made a break for the car.

Captain Blue felt the car sway slightly which indicated that something had happened.

“Paul, what's happening?” he asked as he repeatedly tried to open his eyes.

Scarlet didn’t answer right away; he turned the key into the ignition and felt relief to hear the engine running; he put the Cheetah into gear and pressed the accelerator. The car jumped ahead on the road. 

Scarlet found it hard to breathe. His head throbbed and his senses were over-stimulated. All he could see was the angry red eyes of the Mothman as they shone brightly in the rear view mirror.

"The creature thinks I'm a Mysteron,” he explained as he tried to outmanoeuvre the creature. "I could see his story play out in my head, Adam. The Mysterons had done something to awaken it. Now it seems to be holding me responsible."

“Why don't we just kill it already? If it is Mysteronised –”

“It wasn’t Mysteronised.  It’s an innocent creature. Killing it wouldn't solve anything. We just need to keep ahead of it long enough until....”

Suddenly, the roof began to creak above them. Two sets of claws pierced their way through the seemingly bullet-proof shell. The Mothman was right on top of them.

Scarlet swerved violently to shake the creature off but he was having no such luck. The creature was too heavy to throw from the roof which meant that he had to take the three of them off the road. The car bounced across the rocky terrain, causing the onboard systems to shut down. The car then tilted on its side and started to barrel roll down the hillside, narrowly avoiding the trees on the way. The two Spectrum officers were tossed around like crash test dummies, their seat belts now the only thing keeping them from further harm.

Scarlet’s fingers tightened instinctively on the wheel, but he couldn’t do anything to stop them. The car stopped rolling when the ground started to level off; it finally landed upright, on its four wheels. Its re-enforced shell had taken most of the damage, but both men were alive.

Scarlet quickly assessed Blue for any sign of injury before he checked himself over.  He felt okay, but he imagined the shock hadn't set in just yet. All the images he had seen in his mind, all the pulsating sensations from the Mothman had vanished; all that was left was a deadly silence under the pale moonlight.

Scarlet stumbled out of the car and took a look around. He spotted the Mothman, perched on the low branch of a huge tree overhanging the precipice at the bottom of which the car rest.  The moon cast its silhouette over them accompanied by its large piercing red eyes. It was looking straight down at them. Scarlet couldn't anticipate its next move; they weren't prepared for another attack.

However, the creature didn't advance on them. Instead, it opened its wings and shot off into the night. Scarlet watched as it disappeared into the shadows, never to re-appear.

Scarlet slumped his aching body up against the car. The extent of his injuries began to show as a thick bruise emerged on his face. The passenger door opened up and Captain Blue hobbled out; he leant up next to Scarlet, wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

“Has it gone?”

Scarlet nodded. "Yes, it's gone. I think it was trying to teach us a lesson of some kind."

"You're kidding, right?" Blue replied in disbelief. "That thing wanted to kill us. It just gave up because we outsmarted it."

“You keep telling yourself that, Adam, but we were just damn lucky. Perhaps it realises that I wasn’t a Mysteron in the end and that we really meant no harm?”

“But what were the Mysterons doing there in the first place?” Blue asked.  “They were planning an attack on the centre, obviously.  But you said they didn’t mysteronise the Mothman.”

“They didn’t,” Scarlet answered, rubbing his forehead and frowning as he tried to make sense of what the images he had seen earlier.  “The creature was deep asleep, hibernating.  A century-long sleep, perhaps…  They must have thought it was dead.  They tried to mysteronise it, but as it wasn’t dead, they only disturbed its sleep.  And whatever they wanted to do with it, it failed.” He shook his head.  “We should never go back there. I've learnt how the Mysterons can affect beings other than humans. It was just angry because it had been awakened, and we didn't help.”

“So? It wasn't our fault. We had a job to do.”

“I know, Adam. I just think in future reference, we should make the area restricted. It could reduce future attacks on the locals here.  We’ll have to move the centre away from this place.”

Blue huffed. “Yeah, well, that's for the colonel to decide. I suppose this is going to go down in your report?”

“Yeah, but first things first. Let's get back to town and arrange a flight back to Skybase.” Scarlet said as he put Adam's arm around him. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah, I can, just need you to be my eyes.” Blue moaned.

With that, the two Spectrum officers set off for the town. It was just the two of them, alone in the vast eerie expanse of countryside. Their ordeal was over, but West Virginia would forever leave a mark on their lives.

The End

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