The inexplicable’s preposterous, hairy limbs swayed and stretched, grabbing for purchase. His feet turned, his body doing an uneven pirouette as he fought against the weight of the man who held him. The man was a true giant, but still not as big as this thing in the mist. He had the inexplicable by the neck, but his grip was being shaken, battered, and knocked free. Still, the lanky heft of his body held the thing back from the boys, just far enough that his hands couldn’t grab them.

The inexplicable shook himself like a wet dog. Once, twice, a third time.

And the captain fell backwards with a crunching smash into something just out of sight. His feet stuck up from wherever he’d landed, but only for the briefest of moments. With a leap he was up again, and coming again—a massive, bald shape in a gas mask and suspenders. Not quite a match for the thing in front of him. Rector knew that in a heartbeat … the very same heartbeat that caught in his mouth when the glittering amber eyes of the sasquatch streaked from left to right, judging his attacker. They shot through the bleak, uncertain air like two small fireworks.

They flashed and were gone, and a stomping leap launched the creature somewhere else.

In the span of a few long strides of the creature’s scrambling retreat, the city was quiet again, sullen and empty even of the rotter moans and bird calls that usually scratched across every stone.

Captain Andan Cly let his torso fall forward. He put his hands upon the top of his knees, hung his head a moment, and worked hard to breathe. Huey ran to his side, fretting about a bloody smear on the back of the captain’s head, but Cly waved the young engineer away. “It’s all right. I’m fine. It’s the filters—you know how it goes. Let me … let me get some air.”

“What happened?” Rector wanted to know. “How did you find us?”

After another ten seconds of deeply drawn gulps of air, he said. “Didn’t find you. Didn’t know you were here. Found it. We were doing low trainers, checking that new thruster. The damn thing jumped up and grabbed us.” He shook his head, stretched his shoulders, and stood up straight again. “Goddamn, it must outweigh me by a hundred pounds, and I’m no slouch.”

Houjin agreed, “No sir, absolutely not.”

“I opened the bay door to see what we’d picked up, and there it was. There he was,” he said, a marvel in his words. “There he was, hanging there like a kid from a tree house. I swear to God, there he was.”