"Wait a minute," he whispered to himself as he crouched and hurried over to the goat pen. "What the hell is going on in there?" He looked over the fence and saw all the goats pressing up against the far wall. In the middle of the pen, a nanny goat was laying on her side. Stooping over her was a creature like Dylan had never dreamed possible.

The starlight gave the beast's scaly skin a gray-green cast. There were thick black hairs scattered over the creature's body, so it's skin looked like it might be more at home on a rat's tail or the back of an elephant. There were several long protrusions that looked like overgrown and flattened porcupine quills growing out of its back. There were no more than a dozen of these, protruding randomly out and down from the thing's back and shoulders.

Almost without thinking, Dylan drew his pistol and fired, just like a movie cowboy. The shot went wild, missing the beast and actually striking the afflicted goat, killing it instantly. The creature snapped up, stood on its two hind legs and turned towards the now terrified Dylan.

It was about four feet high and had a very slim build, like that of a weasel standing on elongated legs. The powerful legs bent forward at the knee, like human legs, and the feet had four clawed toes each. Its belly was smooth and hairless, colored lighter than its back. Its thin arms terminated in three fingered hands with terrible hooks for fingers. On its spindly neck, its triangular head bobbed slightly. It had huge, almond shaped eyes with no whites and a wicked mouth so filled with teeth it looked like a rabid sewing machine.