Mayor Davies’ brow furrows as the few gathered citizens turn away from the open-air podium and begin to talk amongst their small groups. He’d not been finished with his speech by any stretch of the imagination, but the crowd seems unwilling to listen any more. The weight of the news hangs heavily on his shoulders and he uncharacteristically refrains from demanding attention for the remainder of his speech. The scrap of paper he’d taken notes on crumples beneath his fist as he turns away from the podium to hug his quietly weeping wife.<br/><br/>The microphone squawks feedback as the scruffy aide fumbles to turn it off. Some of the dispersing citizens stop to glance back at the podium. The mayor turns to wave at a few of his closest and most trusted friends to call them over. The microphone catches a snippet of his conversation, something about turning the other way and “no use leaving all of that behind. Who knows what we’ll meet on the way to Gunnison.”<br/><br/>The aide drops the mic, which once again arrests the dispersal of the gathered citizens. But this time, when they glance back at the podium their attention is cemented. All color has drained from the aide’s face, though the mayor et Al. behind him seems oblivious. A wave of silence washes over the gathered citizens as they stare at the sickly looking youth sans microphone. Only the pleasantly cheery chirp of sparrows disturbs the pall that has fallen, but even they fail to break it. At the same time, the gathered citizens follow the ghostly aide’s gaze across the small park to its southern parking lot.<br/><br/>There, standing in the midst of the lot is . . . something: an abomination. The creature stands on two menacingly clawed feet. The creature’s head swivels on its neck from one side to the other in a very avian way. A soft morning breeze tumbles a few abandoned newspapers through the gathered citizens before ruffling the dirty brown mane that peaks out from behind the curiously broad plate that comprises the upper part of the creature’s head. A broad, flat tail trails behind the thing as it pads between the cars in the parking lot. The entire crowd holds their breath.<br/><br/>The creature lifts its head up in response the mottled dark shadow that suddenly darkens the bright early morning park. A huge flock of birds momentarily blots out the sun as they travel west, their cries of alarm barely reaching the citizen’s ears in the park below. In doing so, the glitter of a chrome bumper catches the attention of the beast.<br/><br/>The crunch of steel and the sound of shattering glass snap everyone’s attention back to the beast in the parking lot. Apparently, whatever it was didn’t much care for his reflection and had charged a glossy black suburban. The piercing shriek of the car’s alarm surprises the monster. It jumps back, stands to its full height: nearly 7 feet from the ground to the top of it’s upturned snout, and emits a nightmarish bellow. The monster lowers it’s head and charges the suburban again, tossing the car into the air and flipping it completely over onto it’s top. But even the crash of the car can’t drown out the chorus of equally nightmarish calls that bounce off the walls of the surrounding buildings in a vertigo-inducing assault on the citizenry’s ears. And as if on cue, those gathered begin to scream, to flee, or some combination of the two.