Night Sweep Unit 3
Footprints appear inside a locked building, then vanish into a wall like the creature simply walked through reality.
The tape clicked in, filling the monitor with a dim service corridor lit by a single flickering bulb. The timestamp blinked:
01:57:03
NIGHT SWEEP UNIT 3
Indy leaned forward. “Maintenance level. This is deep under the facility.”
Lara nodded. “And look at the lighting. Something cut the power.”
Boots clanked through the corridor as a lone sweep officer entered frame. His nameplate read RIGGS. He carried a floor buffer with a squeaky wheel and muttered into a radio.
“Unit 3 checking service hall C,” he said. “Lights still unstable. No movement yet.”
A woman’s voice replied through the static. “Copy, Riggs. We’ve had motion pings down there. Stay alert.”
Riggs snorted. “Ma’am, the only thing down here is mold and regrets.”
He pushed the buffer forward. The wheel squealed again.
“That noise,” Lara murmured. “Indy, that’s not the buffer.”
Riggs froze. The squeal continued behind him.
Slowly, he turned.
Nothing.
Then another sound. Soft. Repeating. Like something wet dragging across steel.
Riggs swallowed. “Unit 3 to Control… I think your motion sensors were right.”
He took a step. The lights flickered. When they returned, a new set of footprints stretched across the corridor floor.
Three-toed. Birdlike. Deep.
Riggs stared. “Those… weren’t here a second ago.”
Indy whispered, “That’s a mid-size theropod. Maybe… Herrerasaurus?”
“No,” Lara said softly. “Look at the print depth. It’s heavier.”
On the tape, Riggs crouched to inspect the tracks. His breath fogged as if the temperature had dropped sharply.
Then the footprints extended.
Right in front of him.
One print.
Then another.
Then another.
Invisible steps being pressed into the dust.
“What— what is that?” Riggs gasped. “Control, something is walking… something’s invisible down here!”
A low growl rolled through the hall. Deep. Hungry.
The lights flickered again and—just for a single frame—a shape appeared.
A towering dinosaur, shimmering like heat distortion, skin phasing in and out of visibility. It blended into the walls, into the floor, into the shadows.
Lara whispered, “Indy. Carnotaurus. But… some kind of… cloaking adaptation?”
Indy could barely speak. “Like a natural camouflage… that’s impossible.”
On the tape, Riggs stumbled backward. “Control, I have a visual! I repeat, I have a—”
The Carnotaurus roared. Fully visible now, horned skull dripping saliva, jaws wide enough to swallow a man whole.
Riggs bolted.
He sprinted down the hallway, flashlight beam shaking violently. The creature thundered behind him, claws scraping sparks from the concrete.
“Open the bulkhead!” Riggs screamed. “Open it now!”
A metal door at the end of the corridor began to rise agonizingly slow.
The Carnotaurus lunged.
Riggs dove under the door, rolling to the other side as the beast slammed into the widening gap. Its jaws snapped inches from his leg, teeth shredding the steel frame.
“Close it! CLOSE IT!” he yelled.
The bulkhead descended.
The Carnotaurus shoved its snout beneath the door, forcing it upward again, muscles bulging with terrifying strength. Sparks flew. Alarms blared.
Riggs grabbed a fallen wrench and hurled it at the emergency release valve. The impact triggered a manual override.
The bulkhead dropped.
The Carnotaurus jerked its head back too late. The door crushed down onto its skull, pinning it in place. It roared in agony, thrashing wildly.
Riggs backed away, panting. “Control… I’m alive… but we have a serious containment breach. This thing can—”
The camera caught the moment he realized the truth.
Another roar.
Behind him.
Riggs turned slowly.
A second Carnotaurus stepped from the shadows, jaws dripping, eyes locked on him.
Riggs whispered one last word.
“Please.”
The tape cut to static the moment it struck.
Lara and Indy sat in stunned silence.
“That wasn’t camouflage,” Lara said softly.
“That was evolution.”