With his mind swirling, Zo tried to sort through the varied cries. A young mother clutching her a little child’s hand grabbed his stirrup and screamed. “Help us, pleeease!”
Her curdling plea and the fear in her eyes knifed his heart. Why are they so scared?
While the Skalag guards forced their way through the brewing fits of madness, Zo’s horse led the others into the cave.
The confidant who cared for him and his siblings since birth rushed to his side as he dismounted. He gripped her shoulders. “What happened while we were away?”
Jrok’s face bore the strain of exhaustion. “Chaos broke out! The day after you left, we found the missing girl. She had been mutilated; most of her organs were gone.”
The scene of the slain warrior at the camp rushed back with a vengeance. It must be those monsters!
Caru and her Ukes must have been behind it all. He stood motionless while the noise seemed to fade away.
Jrok grabbed his hand. “Zo!”
He snapped out of the trance as she squeezed his arm. “It gets worse! Five more people and even some denamods were slaughtered in the same fashion, and the streaks — they light up the sky far brighter than the northern lights!”
Her horror-filled eyes brimmed with tears. “They’re all going mad! Oh, the chirping — it’s unbearable. I can’t take it anymore!” She lowered her head to her palms and cried.
Zo’s mind churned. How could things have turned chaotic so quickly? His ma’s voice overwhelmed him. Take control. They will follow.
Hugging Jrok, he tried to soothe her. “It’s alright. You did well.” He stroked her oily hair. “I’ll handle this.”
He motioned to Kree, who ran to his side. “Help her to bed.”
After they walked off, he turned to Gno. “Make sure our drone is armed and ready to fly.”
With his siblings and protectors surrounding him, Zo marched toward the entrance of the cave. Anger burned inside his chest. More monsters! It’s got to be those Ukes!
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Grizzly Creek
The Morning of October 23, 2105
After a restless night, Zo led his team along the trail down the west side of the mountain near dawn. Still fuming from the chaos of the previous evening, he bit his lip until it hurt. Never seen anything like it — the fear in that young mother’s eyes. Her child was terrified!
He murmured. “Gotta stop those monsters!”
Anger roiled his gut. Can’t imagine how Gno and Vra feel.
Turning in the saddle, he faced his brother. The strain from the havoc wore on the younger man’s deeply-tanned face.
“You get any sleep?”
Gno picked at a scab on his shaved scalp, one of many scattered scars from scrapes with denamods. “Not a wink.”
Peeking from around the other side of her brother, Vra’s eyes were bloodshot and swollen. “Me neither. How could we after what we saw?”
Gno shook his head. “They were so angry. I was sure they were gonna kill us.”
Zo looked at his siblings. “I know. There was a moment when I…,” he paused, “…but that’s over now. We’ve got to find those clickers. If we can kill ‘em and take one back, it’ll help.”
In his heart, he knew that was crap. It’d take much more than a revenge kill to soothe his people.
When they reached the dirt road at the base of the mountain, his sister swung around to Zo’s other side. “Where we headed?”
The familiar shadow markings across Vra’s brow and down her arm constantly reminded him of his ma. In many ways, her temperament was much the same. She’d stand up to any man in her way, including Gno. “Remember that strange scat we found on our way home yesterday?”
“Who could forget it. Weirdest droppings ever. Never seen shiny green poop like that.”
Gno wrinkled his nose. “That’s for sure. It stunk worse than anything I’ve smelled. Even the crap from those ostrich-raptors isn’t as bad.” With his thumb, he motioned toward the cages behind them. Four warriors clothed in heavy furs guided the two wagons carrying the cloned mutants.
Zo grinned. “Think the denamods are ready to track those things?”
“Hard to tell. They only had one feeding to adjust. At first, they didn’t want to get near the treated meat. I can’t blame them; that smell of ammonia is horrible. On the other hand, those crazy cheetah-beetles ate everything. The raptors were so hungry, it didn’t take long for them to do the same.”
Staring at the cages filled with the DNA-modified creatures, Zo shook his head. “I sure hope they’re enough.”
Vra blurted. “Me too. Don’t wanna be left behind like our dead friend at the camp.”
The drone’s engines hummed several feet directly above Zo. Eager to avoid his sister’s jabs, he glanced at Gno and pointed skyward. “How do you do that?”
“It’s locked on your location. The drone automatically hovers a safe distance above your movements. When the time comes, I’ll control it with this.” He patted a small, black device strapped to his thigh.
His sister snapped the reins. “Come on. I see the poop.” She raced ahead and hopped off her horse. Vra picked up a stick and poked at the pile of dung. “Ewww. It stinks so bad!” She pinched her nostrils.
Zo pointed toward a trampled path through Zolokt Forest. “They may have followed this to get to the Grizzly Creek on the other side of the trees. Let’s take a look.”
After following the trail for a while, he noticed strange but varied tracks in the mud of a low spot. He bent over his stallion’s neck for a closer look. Must be those clickers. Never seen anything like these.
He nudged his horse, and after a few seconds, it trotted onto a field of partially harvested corn. “Kree’s been busy out here.” Upright stacks of brown cornstalks dotted the area next to rows of dried plants still left untouched. Remnants of the earlier snow blanketed patches of the soil, shaded by the trees along the edge.
The small device on Gno’s leg beeped. “The drone’s found something.”
He grabbed it and looked at the screen. “Over there!”
Even with Zo’s determination to track the predators holding firm, a nagging wariness pricked his soul. He tugged the reins to the left, and his stallion trotted onward. “Let’s check it out.”
A few seconds later, the sounds of trickles and splashes drifted through the cool air. He whispered. “Whoa, there.” His horse slowed to a walk.
Peeking around a cluster of shrubs, he spotted a beast dipping its trunk in the stream. Zo put a finger to his lips and pointed toward the sky, then along the creek.
Gno nodded and pressed the screen a few times. A red beam streaked from the drone to its target. The monster screeched while writhing on the pebbles.
Loud rustling and snapping mixed with occasional squeals filled the air behind Zo. His pulse quickened as he spun his stallion around.
The racket grew louder. Something continued to plow through the dry, unharvested stalks leaving distinct paths of crushed plants to their rear.
Suddenly, they broke into the clearing and slid to a stop. Five horrific beasts remained fixed, glaring at Zo and his team.
The middle one stood taller with a much larger head. It lifted its trunk and roared.
Along its rear haunches, scales lifted and shook until they clicked. The greater they vibrated, the more they sounded like chirps. Vra covered her ears.
A stench of ammonia, so strong it could singe the hair in one’s nostrils, permeated the air. The cheetah-beetles jumped and ran around inside their prisons while the ostrich-raptors stuck their heads through the bars and gnashed their long, tapered jaws.
Zo pointed at the wagons and hollered. “Release them!”
Mid-Morning
Queasy’s Cabin
Hoot sat in the corner of the scientist’s living room while the meeting participants finished their greetings. Her hands ached from scribbling numerous pages of notes the past couple of days.
She never i
magined having that many muscles in her hands, and every one of them throbbed.
Rubbing her fingers, she scanned the room. Faces of the usual cast of Texans dotted the large screen, and all of Ukkiville’s leaders and those involved in the recent hunts were present, except her brother.
It’s probably a good thing Skeeter’s not here. No telling what will surface. He’d be bored anyway.
Andralec sat between Queasy and Teli. Hoot took a double-take at the robot, then at the monitor. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear she’s staring at Speedy. She doesn’t look too pleased.
Salty opened the discussion. “We’d like to thank y’all for all the video feeds from your dissections and Slasher’s cam. Tiger’s shared what she’s learned and has been bragging on y’all. She said you’ve been putting in a lot of hours.”
With dark, swollen bags under his eyes, Queasy offered a half-hearted chuckle. “Just a typical day in the lab when you’re dealing with muclones. Though I have to admit: this one’s been more intriguing than most.”
The admiral nodded. “On that, we can all agree. We’re dealing with an extremely dangerous killer that’s efficient at harvesting organs.”
Hoot blurted. “We call them ‘snatchers,’ but ‘six-legged spine suckers’ would have worked just as well.” Her father turned and lifted a finger to his lips.
Knowing better than to stare him down, she lowered her eyes. What’d I do? Lately, it seemed like everything she said, earned that look from her pa.
Speedy laughed. “That’s a great name.”
Looking at Queasy, Thoruk waved his hand in a rolling motion. “Proceed.”
The scientist looked at his notes. “I thought we’d start with some of the latest discoveries since we last spoke with Tiger. Then, we can open it up to a general discussion.”
Salty loosened his blue, silk tie. “Good, what have you got?”
“We’ve confirmed that the beast has two distinct hearts. Believe it or not, Hoot happened to disable both with one shot. One arrow penetrated the heart nestled within the rear haunches, while the other slashed the main artery of the second one at the base of the neck.”
Speedy’s brow rose. “Amazing! You’re the first to down one of these monsters.”
Thinking a little brag-time was in order, Hoot glanced at her pa and quickly thought otherwise. “Pure luck. Didn’t even know it had a couple of hearts, let alone where they were located. I was just hoping at least two of the three reapers would hit the snatcher.”
She nodded at her archery teacher. “I owe it to Caru’s reaper lessons.”
While her friend nodded, Storm forced a smile which was his typical acknowledgment of her efforts without having to say the words, ‘thank you’ or ‘I love you.’ Hoot knew he cared from the little things, like the way he hugged her before heading to bed each night.
Queasy continued. “Each heart was located in the same position as reflected in old heat signatures that The Judge’s drone captured during his last scouting mission in the mountains.”
Thoruk spoke up. “This confirms he had spotted one of these monsters as far back as the last Skalag battle.”
Teli chimed in. “It now makes sense why this is the first to be killed. We’ve determined that each heart supplies all the key organs and body parts, providing a complete backup circulatory system. Even if one is disabled, the other allows the creature to continue at reduced capacity.”
Two hearts? Could that work for me? Hoot chuckled inside. If I shared one heart with Woody, and the other with Hound Dog — nah, much too complicated.
Queasy flipped a page of his notes. “Another thing we noticed is that the beast’s body is stiffer than normal for rigor mortis. We’re thinking it may have something to do with the high concentration of copper in its body. The blood or whatever you want to call its vital fluid is very hard, and its skeletal structure is more of a creamy brown color than white.”
Aluki lifted a finger. “As Tiger has probably already told you, we found a rigid, serrated blade and long proboscis inside the trunk of this beast. We’ve been wondering how this thing could possibly curl its trunk and put it in the pouch.”
Barely audible whirring sounds emanated from Andralec’s chest. A moment later, she blurted. “Sorry to intrude. I wasn’t in on your earlier dissection of the trunk, but there may be a connection between all of this and the high heat signatures of these creatures. I overheard Teli talking to Hoot yesterday about temperatures exceeding 200 degrees Fahrenheit.” She went silent and stared at Queasy.
He shrugged. “Yeah? What else…?” Pausing for a second, he lifted a finger, “…ah, yes! Heat could soften metallic fluids.”
The android crossed her arms. “Good but keep going.”
While his eyes darted, he rubbed his scrubby chin. “The two hearts?”
Andralec nodded. “Getting warmer. Now, put it together.”
Aluki shouted. “Two hearts within the same body create much higher temperatures, softening the copper within its fluids that feed the cells and bony structures that become pliable when hotter and more rigid when cool.”
Both of the robot’s arms shot high as she smiled. “Profoundly perfect! Notice how a woman pieced it together first.”
Her grin broadened. “The creature must be able to control the flow to pump hotter fluids to areas needing to be softened and cooler fluids to structures to be hardened. I think if you do an analysis of the serrated blade, you’ll likely find a high concentration of copper compounds in the cell’s molecular composition.”
Andralec rose and strolled to Aluki’s station. She lifted the trunk and placed it against her arm.
The robot pointed to her chest. “Watch my thermometer.” As the digits rose to over 150 degrees, she flexed the trunk with increasing ease.
Flabbergasted, Hoot’s jaw dropped. Wicked! Robo Girl’s pretty amazing!
Queasy gawked at the android. “You’re brilliant!”
A confounded expression flashed across her face. “Of course, I am.”
She pointed at her brow. “Do I have ‘human’ written on my forehead?”
Laughing so loud, Hoot started snorting. “Never heard that one before. Guess there’s a new comedian in the house.”
Teli chuckled, but Queasy shot a glare and turned toward Andralec. “Why did you waste our time instead of just telling us.”
“I sense a little tension in your tone.” A wry smile spread across the robot’s face, and a small light brightened inside her mouth, causing her teeth to glisten. “You’ve just experienced one of my valuable teaching moments.”
Speedy chortled. “Don’t feel bad, Queasy. You’ve just been Andraleced, my friend! It’s happened to the best of us.”
Unable to contain themselves, the others joined Hoot, laughing and snorting.
Crossing his arms with a scowl, Queasy waited for the raucous to calm. “Have you guys had enough fun at my expense?” Thoruk held back a snicker while he waved his friend on.
The scientist looked at the screen. “Tiger, we’re going to need some help from you and your researchers. We’ve run a spectrum analysis of some of the molecular composition. Oddly enough, we couldn’t find a match for a couple of the elements. We hope your more sophisticated analyzers can identify the missing ones.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Howls Within Erik the Red
Later That Morning
Near Grizzly Creek
Vra watched intently as the denamods charged from the cages. Hope they don’t turn on us! Gripping the reins, she prepared to flee if needed.
The larger of the mutants with ostrich bodies and ferocious raptor heads raced to the front at a speed close to that of a horse. Their scarlet crests and broad, black stripes on each side of their prehistoric craniums stood out against the fluffy, brown feathers covering the rest of their plump bodies.
Leaning forward in her saddle, Vra drew a deep breath. She felt confident her brother’s latest creations would make short work of the freaki
sh six-legged beasts.
The jaws of the front-running denamods chomped incessantly while their razor-sharp teeth glistened in the sun. With the cheetah-beetles on their tails, the long-legged mutants quickly approached the heinous beings.
Her heart pounded against her mare’s neck. Kill those things! The clickers crouched while they stood their ground.
Stretching its muzzle wide, the closest ostrich-raptor attacked the largest of the monsters. The denamod extended its long neck, ready to bite, but the clicker rolled across the ground. It whipped its tail striking the raptor’s chest.
The legs of the denamod weakened, and it crumpled to the ground. With one swift movement, the clicker ripped off the creature’s head with its forepaws. Blood squirted from the severed neck while its stubby wings flapped for a moment, then stilled.
One of the smaller monsters rushed to the corpse and removed its organs. After stuffing them in the pouch of its chest, it returned to the side of the largest six-legged predator.
Terrified, Vra tugged on the reins, and her horse stepped back. What are those things? The horrific clickers had disposed of the first denamod at lightning speed. With agility unmatched by anything she and her brothers had created, how could the others survive?
She looked down to her god within the earth’s core and murmured. “Save us from these monsters!” Just as the words escaped her mouth, one of the smaller clickers rose to its hind legs, and an ostrich-raptor slashed the purple-eyed creature’s gut with a long, extended claw.
Vra raised her fist and cheered, but the largest monster rushed from behind, extended its trunk, and wrapped the denamod’s neck. The tenacious being lifted it high and continually thrashed the helpless victim against a rock, time and time again until it tossed the limp carcass aside. Her euphoria quickly vanished.
Firing a barrage of arrows, she and the other warriors struck the monsters several times. As each shaft penetrated their translucent hides, they shrieked but continued to fight as if the honed arrowheads were but twinges and nothing more.
The New World: Crimson Winter Page 10