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Unbelievable. The Brush-Man had used a tool. McBrid stared at the monitor. The intelligence of the creature was impressive and terrifying. Until today, he’d considered them dangerous due to their ferocity, speed and proliferation, but he’d have to add their cunning to the list.
After he’d escorted Parson out of his section of the building, he’d gone straight back to his office and turned on the video. The meat had been gone and there’d been no sign of the Brush-Man. He’d rewound the tape and watched it over and over.
Finally, he’d stretched out to get some rest before he had to start work, but sleep had been as elusive as that Brush-Man. However, he must’ve dozed because he’d woken to sounds of activity on the floor. He’d changed his clothes, sent a message for Charlie to come to his office and then he’d watched the video again.
There was a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
“You wanted to see me, sir.” Charlie stepped into the room.
“Lock the door and come here.”
The young Guard hesitated a moment before closing and locking the door behind him.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” After all they’d been through the kid still didn’t trust him. He reminded himself that a lifetime of abuse didn’t go away after only a few months of friendship.
“Sir?” The Guard fidgeted at the door.
“Watch.” He pressed the play button.
“That’s him. He’s not dead.” Charlie grinned.
McBrid wanted to groan. The Brush-Man being dead and in the lab would’ve been the perfect solution but Charlie didn’t see it that way.
“Wow.” Charlie’s eyes widened. “He’s a smart little bugger.”
“He certainly is.” He stopped the video playback. “You said the others attacked him?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s a lot smaller than the rest of them.”
“I know. I really felt bad for him. He was just standing in the grass and they raced toward him.”
“Standing where?”
“In the enclosure.”
“I know that”—he counted to ten—“but where in the enclosure?”
“Ah...”
“Show me.” He headed out the door and down the hallway to the Brush-Men lab.
Once inside, they walked to the enclosures. Charlie stayed a step or so behind him. He didn’t blame the kid. These things made him nervous too.
“He was kind of in the center but close to the doors.” Charlie pointed.
McBrid stared at the Brush-Men who wandered about the cage. They were the smallest but they were still at least three or four times the size of the one loose in the lab. It didn’t make sense. Unless...“We need to look very closely at the cage with the bigger Brush-Men.”
“What are we looking for?” Charlie followed him to the front of the second enclosure.
The hair stood on his back and his instincts screamed for him to run as all the larger Brush-Men turned and watched them approach, a slight chirping filling the air.
“We need to see if there are any other small ones, like the one who escaped.”
“I thought the eggs in this cage shouldn’t hatch for a month or more.”
“I thought so too but that’s the only explanation for any of them to be as little as the one you saved.” He was not looking forward to telling Conguise that he’d waited too long to eradicate the eggs.