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Description
Gremlin

The two F-15 strike Eagles roared across the skies, for 1st Lieutenant Don Mayfield, call sign: 8 ball and his wingman 1st Lieutenant Allen Holiday, call sign: Doc where on a routine training exercise. The two F-15 were cruising at 35,000 feet visibility were perfect the skies were clear and peaceful.

"Come on, Doc, you need to let it go." 8 Ball was trying to help his friend cope with the fact that his girlfriend dumped him.

"Me!! Doc Holiday!!" Doc shook his head and turned and looked out of his cockpit toward his friend. "She dumped me for a Marine cop!! I hear those MP's grunt every time they give you a speeding ticket on base!!"  The idea of being dumped for a base cop was like turning down a steak dinner so you could eat some greasy hamburger.

"I'm going scuba diving next weekend. Why don't you come? We'll have a great time!" 8 ball looked back at his friend.

"No thanks. If I wanted to play in the water I would have joined the navy not the air force." Doc laughed.

Suddenly something slammed into Doc's canopy it was small and the fighter pilot wasn't quite sure what it was.

"Jesus!!! I think I just hit something!!" Doc spoke into his oxygen mask.
"What do you mean you hit something? What was it?" 8 Ball looked toward his friend's fighter he wanted to make sure there was no damage.

"I think it was a bird" Doc began to say but then he got a better look at what his F-15 Strike Eagle hit. It was only about 8" in height, humanoid with a bulbous head and black stringy hair. Doc starred wide eyed from inside his cockpit, he hit this thing at 35,000 feet up and flying at a speed of 700 mph. And it was starting to wake up!! But how? Could it even stay on his canopy without it flying off? Doc got a look at its eyes they looked just like a person, they were white but with a large black iris's. Doc could see it looking down into the cockpit at him; it curled its upper lip snarling at the pilot. It bared these sharp jagged serrated teeth, and then it stood up and scurried over the top of Doc's canopy.

"Doc? Doc? Doc, do you read me?!"  Doc could hear his friend calling him but his was too busy trying to see where the creature went.

"It's just isn't possible" Doc thought to himself. How could he hit something so high up and at 700 MPH and not become some smear on his canopy. Doc reached up to his oxygen mask and pulled on the straps to tighten the mask to his face. He then looked at his air-hose and the oxygen system.

"Maybe I'm suffering from hypoxia the lack of oxygen?"  Doc checked the controls that regulated the amount of breathable air that flowed into his oxygen mask, but the settings were correct. "Yeah 8 Ball I'm ok" He almost forgot about his wingman calling him.

There was a warning flash on Doc's HUD or Head's UP Display but it only flashed for a second just enough for him to notice it just it was so quick he couldn't catch what the warning display read. "Hey, 8 Ball, I just got a HUD warning display" Doc alerted his friend.

"What was it?" 8 Ball asked concerned.

"That's just it, it only flashed for a second" Doc turned his head so he was looking at 8 Ball in his fighter as he was talking to him.  But then he felt something brush by his left wrist.

"What the?!!" Doc stood wide eyed. The thing was inside the cockpit right next to his left hand. This time it did glare it him it narrowed its eyes, Doc could see that it had only 4 fingers with one thumb it fingers were tiny razor like nails.

The creature moved with lighting speed, one second Doc left hand had a firm grip on the throttle control. The next moment the creature bite into the fleshy part of Doc's hand between his thumb and index finger. The creatures jagged teeth cut right pasted Doc's gloved hand and into his hand like a razor.

Doc screamed into his mask but the creature didn't let go. The pilot made a fist with the creature still attached and began punching the inside of the canopy.  Doc slamming the creature unmercifully against the Plexiglas canopy "Let go you son of a bitch!!!" After several repeated blows the creature dropped to the cockpit floor and Doc began bashing it with his boot.

Once it looked dead Doc looked at his wounded hand even with his glove still on the bit looked nasty. Focus on the mission, this thing is dead Doc thought to himself as he looked down the creature wasn't by his boot but on his knee snarling and growling it lip curled just like it did when he first saw it outside his canopy.

Before Doc could even react or call out to 8 Ball to say he was in trouble, the creature sliced into Doc with it's razor claws they cut into the pilot  like a white hot blade  it cut cleanly into Doc's  g-suit, through his flight suit and found its mark into the 1st lieutenants calf muscle.

8 Ball could hear his friend was clearly in pain, the sound of Doc's screaming resonated in 8 ball's helmet. He looked over at Doc, he saw him pounding against the canopy. "Doc talk to me what's going on!!!" 8 ball switched frequencies "Flight call this is 8 Ball, Doc appears to be in trouble."


Doc grabbed his leg screaming in pain, the cockpit was small and very confined. Doc couldn't figure out where the thing went. He looked down by his feet his hands and even the control stick. Doc could hear his wingman calling him over the radio. 'Where did it go?' just as Doc thought it the F-15 suddenly banked hard to the left.

Doc could feel his body straining against the weight of the g-s he was pulling, air hissed from his ripped g-suit. The G-suit main function was to help the pilot keep blood to his brain by providing tight pressure on his legs. 2 g's equaled twice the weight of gravity Doc was already at 5 g's or 5 times the weight of gravity. Doc instinctively began to tighten up his stomach muscles in order to keep the blood to his brain.

Doc squeezed with all his might struggling against the g's he was pulling, the fighter pilot let out one grunting snort after another. If he let up even for a second he would start to slip into G-LOC or G force induced Loss of Consciousness and that could prove fatal. Doc didn't realize he was seeing things in black and white he was in greyout or a loss of color vision.

Doc looked over at his HUD (Heads Up Display) he was at 7 g's, Doc tighten up on his stomach muscles all he could. But is never realized he loss all peripheral vision. Doc was experiencing Tunnel Vision. At 7.3 g's Doc eyes started to flutter and roll back into his head at this point he let out a light exhale and the F-15 fighter pilot blacked out completely.

"Doc?! Doc?! Doc?! Doc? Doc can you hear me?" As the blood began to rush back up into the fighter pilots brain, Doc's arms suddenly jolted alive in a sort of violent reaction like someone used electro shock to bring him back to life. It was a common body reaction, once the F-15 stopped pulling hard g's Doc was trying to refocus himself, he had a complete sense of time loss. He had completely blacked out. His first reaction was to grab the control stick but there was something in the way blocking his vision. At first he didn't quite make it out but as he recovered. Doc never felt terror before not like this. The creature was sitting on his oxygen mask.

Doc stared wide eyes he could see the things blood shot eyes those snarling curled up lips and those jagged teeth. For the first time in Doc's life he was truly scared to death.

The creature didn't wait it could almost smell Doc's fear it lifted up its clawed fingers and thrust them straight inside Doc's left eye. The claws stabbed into Doc's eye like tiny scalps scouring a soft squishy jelly.

Doc screaming in total pain and terror the agony he felt was beyond anything he had experienced. He felt like his whole skull was on fire, as if someone took a red hot railroad spike and jammed it into his left eye. His hands were held close to his face but the fear of more pain to come but pulling the creature off his face was to terrible to conceive.

But the creature didn't wait it pulled out its claw and Doc screamed again. Blood poured from the fighter pilots eye Doc's entire eyes was pulled out from his eye socket then creature then sliced off the nerve ending and looked at the eye that was now implied on his claw and began to eat it. Blood ran down the pilot's cheek and over his oxygen mask. Some of the blood began to seep inside the mask, Doc could feel the warm red liquid reach his nose then the mouth.

Doc's first instinct was to open his mask and wipe the blood from his mouth, but the fighter pilot soon realized he had another problem. The creature has scurried around to the back of his neck reached down and pulled Doc's military dog tags. Once it pulled the chain up tight it crossed the beaded strands and began to try and strangle Doc with it.

Doc began to choke and gurgle gasping peas for a breath went unheeded as the creature maintained a relentless grip. It had no intension of letting the metal chain lose for a second. And it seemed to delight in causing the fighter pilot the thrash around in his cockpit flailing his arms and legs.

Doc clawed about his neck trying to loosen the creatures choke hold, the pilot kicked with his legs slams hard against the rudder pedals forcing the F-15 to yaw left and right in a completely erratic manner as if both pilot and plane were going thru its death throes together.  Between the blood that seeped into his mask and creature relentless hold on him, it was clear this thing wanted him dead!!

Doc knew if he didn't do something he was going to die, he reached by his shouldered and grabbed his seat harness strapped and loosened them enough for him to lean forward in his ejection seat. He then let go of the strapped and trusted his head back against the seat. Doc helmet that he wore on his head slammed right into the creature like a huge wrecking ball.

As soon as Doc felt the chain with his dog tags on it loosen up. He reached up and pulled off his oxygen mask and spit out all the blood that was in his mask. Doc gasped and choked his eye was gone and he was covered in blood the creature bite his left hand and sliced into his leg. It then sliced out his eye and just tried to strangle him, Doc knew it was time to go; he reattached his oxygen mask to his helmet and made sure it was on tight. "Bon voyage you little fucker!!!" Doc reached for his ejection seat leaver and pulled. To his total surprised nothing happened, he pulled on it again but still nothing happened. Then Doc remembered the warning light the first when on and quickly went out. It disabled Doc's only way out!!!!

Oh God No!!!  But before Doc would think he felt the pain in the back of his helmet. The creature was squeezing itself up into his helmet, "NO, NO Get OUT!!!"

"Doc!!! DOC!!! What's happening?? For god shake talk to me!!!!" 8 Ball was almost frantic.

"8 Ball" Doc paused for a moment "Don it's in my helmet it somehow squeezed itself into my flight helmet!! "Doc voice was surprisingly calm it didn't know what to expect but he knew it was going to hurt if not kill him.

"Doc what's in your helmet? For Christ sake what is going on, get control Doc get control of your aircraft." 8 Ball tried to get his friend focused back on his job. 8 Ball knew his wingman was in trouble he tried repeatly to get him to pull up, he watched as his best friend seemed to almost react like he was suffering for some sort of wild secure. "Doc listen to me, I need you to get a hold of your aircraft and were going to change course" 8 Ball said it calmly his only concern to  get Doc on the ground safely he switched frequencies "Flight call this is 8 ball declaring an emergency our location is" But before 8 ball could finish the sound of his friend and wingman screaming unlike anything he heard before. 8 Ball turned to look at Doc's F-15, he focused in on the cockpit area. He could see his wingman with his back arched in pain and his hands in the air by his face. He Looked like he was paralyses with pain like being in the dentist chain and he starts drilling without any nova cane or numbing medicine.

Doc was screaming continuity his hands where on his helmet, the pain was so intense the creature was slowly cutting off his left ear. It felt like a slow constant burning as the creature slices slowly to savor every second of Doc's pain. Doc fought the desire to rip off his helmet, once he did that the thinnest of the air at 35,000 feet would cause him to pass out in seconds. Tears streamed down the pilot's good eye, as the blood dripped down Doc's neck and into his flight suit.

"Don it's not going to let me go" Doc looked at his cockpit controls; he knew his F-15 was spiraling out of control. The creature's relentless attacks forced Doc to give up control of his aircraft in order to fight the thing off. He was well below 1,000 feet at this point. Doc noticed that the loss of his eye caused him to see things in 2 dimensionally. His career as a fighter pilot was over, even if he survived this encounter he was now part of the millions of wantabe's out there. Most who tried to become a fighter pilot and failed and the others like him who became a fighter jock and some unfortunate accident forced him to become grounded.

"Doc you have to pull up!!! Come on buddy you can do this!!" Doc heard his friend in his good ear. The he saw the creature it was sitting in front of him on the HUD with Doc ear in his claw like hands. It waved the ear at Doc mockingly, then began to eat it like some well-earned reward.

You may have gotten me Doc thought to himself and looked at his control stick and throttle But I'm not going to allow you to harm another fight jock again   Doc grabbed the stick with his right hand and pushed it downward and with his left hand pushed his F-15 as fast as it would go.

8 Ball watched in horror as Doc quickly seem to regain control of his fighter only to point it nose first at the ground and slam into the earth. 8 Ball took a deep breath, he had no idea what happened "Flight call this is 8 Ball, Doc is down, I repeat Doc is down coordinates are. "  As 8 Ball looked on he stared at the black plume of smoke from Doc's wreckage where the fighter impacted with the ground. 8 Ball began to circle his thoughts where of his best friend, but suddenly the hairs on the back of his neck began to stand on end. Doc said it wasn't going to let him go? What was it? 8 Ball couldn't ignore the nagging feeling that something was looking at him. 8 Ball turned his head looking away from Doc's impact site and out toward the ski. There was the creature holding on to 8 Ball's canopy and chewing on the last piece of Doc's ear.

By
Mark Stise
February 14, 2012