Pursued by a Relic

It was 10:23 pm on July 12th, 1947. A small platoon of 20 Army Military Cadets was training in the Mojave National Preserve near Hole-in-the-Wall. It was an elaborate maze of canyons, covered with both small holes and huge caves on the sides of the canyons. It was at this time that the platoon was settling in, preparing to go to sleep, when they suddenly heard Private David scream from the darkness. The whole group grabbed their weapons and gear, 4 soldiers went off in the direction of the scream, while the others formed a defensive position. It was probably the longest 5 minutes the group had waited, when suddenly there was a mix of gunfire and blood-curdling screaming from the same direction, and they heard Private David scream for help. Once again, it was dead silent, not even the crickets were chirping. Suddenly, something big swooped down, grabbed one of the soldiers, and carried him off into the dark sky. Some soldiers fired their weapons, but the Staff Sergeant screamed, “HOLD YOUR FIRE!” The remaining 14 soldiers were beyond terrified. What was this thing that was attacking them?

“Alright, whatever this thing is, we will take it down!” That’s when they heard from behind them, rocks tumbling down the side of the canyon walls. All turned around and shone their flashlights at the walls of the canyon. That’s when they saw not one but 5 of the mysterious creatures attacking them, yet couldn’t believe what they were seeing. What they were looking at could only be described as a Pterodactyl, a giant reptilian creature with wings longer than a man and an elongated snout with razor-sharp teeth jutting out. Then the 5 creatures let out a horrible shriek, so loud and ear-piercing that it made all the soldiers drop to their knees, and then all 5 creatures swooped down towards them. The next day, a search and rescue squad was deployed to find the missing squad, and when they came upon the camp, it was destroyed. But more mysteriously and scarier, there were hundreds of puddles of blood, torn clothing from the soldiers, and what looked like scratches on the ground, trying to get away from something. To this day, the squad that disappeared was declared MIA due to a training mishap. But what really happened to them, and what was it that attacked them? Were they really Pterodactyls? If so… how are they here and when will they strike again?