Chisos Basin, Big Bend, Texas

A pair of middle-aged women strolled hand in hand under a canopy of green leaves. Sweet air surrounded them, full of pine and dew and the buzz of insects. Something large fell from a tree and crashed into the underbrush just three yards away, making them leap to the side of the trail.

Marlis Bellows, the shorter of the two women, raised her walking stick like a baseball bat and watched the thick undergrowth for movement. Luann Lewis huddled behind her.

Mountain lions were rare in Big Bend Park, but one had pounced on a little boy three summers ago. Fortunately, the parents had chased the panther away before it dragged the child up into a tree.

The shrubs and dry grass remained still and quiet. The bees resumed their chorus. Marlis lowered her stick and stepped forward. She poked at something in the brush, then leaned back, looking perplexed, and spoke over her shoulder. "Lulu, get over here and tell me I ain’t crazy.”

Lulu crept up behind, her graying head over Marlis’ shoulder. “Its...its some sort of mannequin,” she said.

“Hell’s Bells, Lulu, in ain’t no mannequin. It’s bleedin’,” said Marlis, “If you call that milky slime blood.” She prodded the body in the shoulder. “Hey, fella, you alive?”

"It’s naked," said Lulu. "And...see-through."

"Naked, transparent alien,” said Marlis.

The body had two legs and two arms and was generally human-shaped. The skin was completely clear, allowing an unimpeded view of organs and a circulatory system the color of skim milk. The bones were clear as glass.

Marlis poked the body again. “Hey, fella, I can see through your johnson.” Marlis chuckled and elbowed Lulu. “Get it?”

Lulu rolled her eyes. Something in the tree above caught her attention. A big leather purse hung from a limb, its broken strap tangled in the branches. The sides swelled slightly from movement inside.

“You hear somethin’?” said Marlis.

“I think it’s a baby crying,” said Lulu, pointing up into the tree.

Next Chapter: The Herald