Six men worked their way to the gully using techniques they had honed for years, their passage silent and their intent deadly. They had heard the transmission from the gully, then the gunfire. It did not take a genius to come up with an answer to the mystery; the correct question was, who killed their friends?

Instinctively, they excelled in their methods to match the unseen opponent.

One man slipped into the gully and worked his way north. As he drew slowly around the last corner to the resting-place of the dummy UFO, he noticed a burning stench in the air; it was as if the forest had caught fire in the rotting undergrowth. Oddly, there was no smoke.

Movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention. The man slowly turned his head until he could see a dark metallic shape move slowly along the edge of the gully. He lost it for a second, then regained the object as it slipped from behind a tree.

While he could not understand what he saw, he could comprehend what it was doing; it was stalking an unseen prey.

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“I have a target,” he froze. The thing stopped its flight and held its position, seeming to scan the surroundings for intruders.

A bullet whined from the woods and ricocheted off the object. It immediately turned and coughed a series of projectiles into the woods; puffs of gray smoke marking the firing.

“Engaging,” a voice came through the headset. A spray of bullets savaged the forest around the object, several bullets hitting the thing. Somewhere in the woods, the suppresser on an automatic weapon burned out and the gun fired with louder reports.

The object returned the fire at a stunning rate. Trees shattered and fell from stray effects, their stumps emitting dark smoke.

The gunfire ceased with a human scream that echoed in the headset.

He watched the object weave unsteadily to the edge of the gully and descend until it hovered only feet above him.

He held his breath as the small disk paused in its struggle to regain its balance, then worked its way up the gully, around the corner, then out of sight.

“It’s some kind of floating gun platform.” He knew the rest of the men on the team could hear his words. “It has gone north in the gully. I am going to follow it.”

Casey’s response was quick. “Do not engage. I want Recon before we commit.”

“Affirmative.” The man started his way around the corner.