E.B.E. 21- the Hunt

by Peer Lehregger

  Helga: "I am not enthusiastic. I'm scared. I'm terrified. I want to go back. I don't want to know anything about this either."

  Rachmiel: "I'll, no, we'll help you. I promise."

  Friend: "When you talk like that, yes, you can really help me. You can pick something up for me. It's bad when I do that. Maybe you can do it..."

  Rachmiel: "What is it?"

  Friend: "Yes, how shall I put it? I ordered something. A Bockdrilling D99. Fantastic gun. Wasn't cheap. But it's good. Unfortunately, how shall I put it, unfortunately, it’s not quite legal. Fell off the truck."

  Rachmiel: "And?"

  Friend "Uhh, the package is handed over by my supplier. It's already paid. But the exchange, that's the problem now. I know who's delivering the package. "Unfortunately, I've had trouble with the delivery guy before."

  Rachmiel: "Real trouble?"

  Friend: "So what. He'll kill me if he sees me. He unpacks the shotgun and shoots me."

  Rachmiel: "If I understand this right now, you need someone to receive the package, right?"

  Friend. "Yeah, that's what it looks like."

  Rachmiel: "Okay, I'll get you your package. When's the drop off?"

  Friend: "From tomorrow at 21:00 o'clock in a period of seven days. He wants to send me a WhatsApp."

  Rachmiel: "Then he'll know who you are."

  Friend: "No, I've got another cell phone."

  Rachmiel: "Where's the exchange?"

  Friend: "On the ‚Mondhalde‘ at the Kaiserstuhl[9]. It’s a parking area."

  Rachmiel: "Well, I know. I'll do it. Am I in trouble? Is this guy getting aggressive? Will he draw a gun on me?"

  Friend: "No, don't worry about it. This would damage the reputation of the suppliers. That doesn't usually happen."

  Rachmiel: "Okay, I'll have to drive soon."

  Friend: "Watch out, I'll give you the other phone. As soon as you get a WhatsApp from a Max, you know when to be there. Put it in the trunk and come back."

  Rachmiel: "So it'll be enough if I leave tomorrow morning? I'll need your car then. Is there a cheap place for me to stay somewhere? Do you know anyone?"

  Friend: "Nope, just have to look. But are there enough free rooms down there at this time of year. Just go in and ask. That shouldn't be a problem."

  Helga: "I want to go. He can drop me off at my girlfriend's house."

  Rachmiel: "Okay, no problem. But someone has to stay with Ibby. I don't want to leave her alone. Helge, are you watching her?"

  Helge: "Sure. I will."

  Rachmiel: "Ibby, do you agree?"

  Mike looked at the table, even the cell phone man turned around and looked at the four.

  The alien looked at Rachmiel for a long time before nodding slowly.

  Rachmiel said he would leave tomorrow morning and of course take Helga with him.

  Rachmiels friend replied that he would stay with Helga in a hotel for tonight. The two would then arrive at Rachmiel on time at like seven.

  When Rachmiel said that he would prefer six o'clock, everyone involved nodded and decided to drink a little more.

  Mike and Sergej stood up, Mike threw a twenty on the table and in the crowd as several guests came in and others just left, they managed to leave without anyone noticing. They had heard enough.

  On the sidewalk, Mike called for a cab. When it came, they both got in. Silently they drove to the hotel where Mike was staying, Sergej drove off alone in the taxi. Without the two of them changing another word, they agreed on the responsibilities: Sergej would make sure that the alien would stay with Rachmiel's friend in Cologne and Mike would take care of the Mondhalde and the handover.

  After Helge and Helga got up and left, Hannes was still sitting at the table with Ibby. Ibby looked at the table lost in thought and Hannes looked at Ibby.

  "What's the matter, Ibby, don't you like it? You can count on Helge. He'll take care of you!"

  Ibby looked at Hannes and nodded.

  But he was not satisfied with the economical reaction.

  "Ibby, what's going on? He helps us and we help him. I just have to pick up the package, I'll be gone a week at the most. You can’t be without me for that long?"

  Ibby smiled and wiggled her head. Then she led both hands to her belly and made a gesture as if she wanted to crush something. Hannes understood that.

  "You don't have to be afraid. Helge won't hurt you..." Ibby laughed with her hand in front of her mouth, then she pointed to herself and made a negative gesture, I didn't do anything to him either, but then I pointed to Hannes.

  "Ibby, you don't have to be afraid. I'll be careful. I'll be there earlier than the delivery guy, I'll check the area first, and if there's anything weird, I'll be out faster than you can blink. I take this thing and I come back."

  Hannes knew Ibby wasn't convinced, but he felt he owed his friend the favor for his sake, oh no, they almost blew up for her sake. Hannes noticed with astonishment that he was no longer burdened by all the bizarre events; he had probably come to terms with his situation.

  He waved at the waiter, paid, and the two of them went outside. Ibby linked arms with Hannes and made the gesture of walking with two fingers. Leave? All right, Hannes thought.

  The two of them strolled slowly to gingerbread street. Hannes was astonished to discover that the feeling of being tailed had not, as so often noticeable in the last few days, set in on the way home.

  In the apartment they took off their coats and Hannes went into the kitchen, saw the dirty dishes, but had no desire to wash up. Ibby stepped up to him, also looked into the sink and turned around to Hannes. She repeated the gesture that she was afraid, and Hannes didn't know what else to say to calm her down. Slowly Ibby approached him and put his arms around his neck, pulled him to him and kissed him.

  With an amazingly firm grip, she pulled him into the bedroom.

  Vagina Dentata

  Arriving in the bedroom, Ibby closed the door, turned on a bedside lamp and began to undress. Naked she went over to Hannes, who stood motionless and surprised in front of the bed. Ibby smelled different than usual, Hannes realized, she just smelled good. When he didn't react, she began to undress him. Hannes didn't know what happened to him. Ibby did not let herself be dissuaded from her plan.

  Standing naked in front of Ibby, he was pleased to discover that everything was working. The two of them let themselves fall on the bed and nature took its course. It was easier than he thought, Ibby was a devoted partner. Hannes wanted to say something, when she was sitting on him. But Ibby closed his mouth with one hand and held on to the bed’s headboard with the other. Hannes closed his eyes and surrendered. Then Ibby wanted to change position, with a wet blop she got off of Hannes and lay down next to him, greedily looking at him, breathing heavily. Hannes was happy to comply.

  He looked into Ibby's eyes, saw them slowly closing and putting her head back. Her body vibrated with tension and she sighed softly. Hannes kept struggling, noticing how he was getting closer and closer to his goal. Suddenly, without warning, Ibby looked at him with her eyes wide open, Hannes saw fright in them, as if Ibby had just thought of something important, something she hadn't thought of before.

  He felt Ibby's feet on his pelvis, wondered for a second how that was possible and was abruptly pushed out of her with tremendous force. He flew through the air, first he slammed with his back against the wall before his ass hit the dresser with and then slipped off the dresser. In his terror, he could not hold on and fell to the ground. Pain flashed through his back and ass; his abdomen throbbed.

  He lay there for a moment, heard Ibby groaning out loud. He straightened up, staggered to bed, saw Ibby with her hands between her legs, lying on her back, her legs pulled up, her head stretched back, her eyes closed, her mouth half-opened, breathing heavily, but his excitement was gone.

  He lay down next to Ibby and waited until she was back to her senses. She opened her eyes, looked at Hannes and turned to him, snuggled up to him, put one leg on his hips. Hannes n
oticed that her chest nipples were rock-hard, that Ibby was sweaty, but the pain in his back and ass prevented him from enjoying the situation.

  "What was that about?" he wanted to know. Ibby laughed quietly. Hannes detached herself from her, turned to her, asked again. "Ibby, why'd you do that?" He straightened up, pushed the pillow to the headboard and sat down halfway, put his arms behind his head and stared at the wall. Ibby laughed again. Then, with a tremendous swing, she turned to Hannes, swung a leg over Hannes, straightened up, held on to the headboard of the bed and pressed her vagina directly on Hannes's nose. Completely surprised, Hannes held his breath. "Ibby, don't do that!" he tried to say, but it was just a mumble to hear. Hannes suddenly felt Ibby tense muscles in her labia, his nose deep in the wet, he felt pointed little teeth on his nostrils suddenly drilling into his skin, then harder, it hurt. He tore his hands up and drummed on her ass between Ibby's legs. "Stop it, Ibby, it hurts!" Ibby let go, lay on the bed, slapped her hands in front of her face and almost couldn't breathe with laughter.

  Hannes grabs his nose, looks at his hands, he bleeds. "What the hell were you doing?" he shouted, "I'm bleeding!" Ibby waved off. She grabbed his nose, showed him her hand, no more blood. Healed. Sure. He could have remembered. Grinning broadly, Ibby slowly crawled towards Hannes, like a big cat, growling softly, with sparkling eyes. Hannes scooted further and further away from Ibby with big eyes. When she then raised one hand and drove out the claws, Hannes scooted too far and fell out of bed. Ibby had another laughing fit. Hannes, on the other hand, didn't think it was funny.

  He sat up, saw Ibby lying on the bed. She saw him amused, with big eyes, waving at him. Hannes took a deep breath, stood up and sat down again on the bed. Ibby got up, scampered into the living room and came back with a block of drawing paper and a few pens. She turned on another lamp, sat in bed with Hannes. She looked at Hannes, suddenly bent over to him, wanted to kiss him, but Hannes retreated. She put the block to one side, grabbed his neck and pulled him to herself. A long kiss reconciled Hannes with this strange situation. Ibby reached for the block and sketched a male body with an erect limb and testicles. She then pointed the pen at Hannes, looked at him questioningly. He nodded. Ibby sketched another body, also with an erected penis, but without testicles. She drew two circles in the sketch of the penis, then pointed to herself with the pencil. Okay, Hannes thought, okay, so the men of her species had no balls.

  She looked at Hannes, smiled. On another sheet she painted two bodies that had sex, one male and one female; the man's penis was in the female. She turned her head to Hannes, looked at him questioningly. Did you get that? On a third sheet, she again painted two bodies, one male, who had no penis anymore, and one female, who had the penis in her stomach. Hannes got big eyes. "You bite the dick off your men while you're fucking them?" Ibby nodded as if this was perfectly normal.

  Hannes kept quiet, Ibby waited.

  "And then what? I mean, that's a big wound! That hurts!" Ibby nodded, painted five male figures into a free corner of the sheet, she stroked through three of them, looked at Hannes again. "Three out of five die?" Ibby nodded. She opened another page. She now painted a female person carrying a child in her belly. Including a female person and the child next to the person. Then she painted a row of serrated teeth. Sitting, she spread her legs, pretended to press something out of her stomach, then pointed to the painted teeth, then to the painted child.

  Hannes understood. "You lose your teeth while giving birth, don't you?" Ibby nodded. Then she painted seven female figures on another sheet and crossed out three of them. Hannes looked at the sheet of paper with his eyes set on it. "Three out of seven women die during childbirth, right?"

  Ibby nodded again. "What happens to the survivors?" he wanted to know. Ibby now drew several pages full without interruption, Hannes got them pressed into his hand and was able to gradually make the connection. While he was studying the drawings, Ibby disappeared into the bathroom.

  As far as he could see from the sketches, each couple had only one child. During the act of procreation, the man got kind of castrated, the sperm cells were probably in the penis instead of outside. The child grew, as far as Hannes could see from the sketches, only inside the penis. “How does it work?”, he wondered. Then the child continued growing in the womb, apparently, the male tissue was softened, absorbed, Ibby had not become more precise in the drawings. At birth, first the "teeth" were pressed out, then the child. Very strange, Hannes thought.

  The mortality rate was enormously high, but not among the children, but among the parents. The survivors of reproduction were used as teachers or caretakers, Ibby had drawn a group of small figures, a large figure taught the little ones well, another page showed a bent figure supported by a standing figure. The question of what happened to the children also became clear from the drawings. The male offspring, Ibby had drawn them all little dicks, could be seen on fields, buildings, scaffolding. The female children, indicated by breasts, were drawn by Ibby in an exact formation with a figure with a flag or badge in front of the group. Hannes needed no further explanation, the military or police consisted of the women.

  So far Hannes had understood all this, thoughtfully he put the papers next to him on the bed. Pensive, he stared into emptiness, heard Ibby turn off the shower.

  She came back into the bedroom, lay down with Hannes. Hannes pushed his pillow back on the mattress and lay down. The two moved closer together again, Ibby put her head on Hannes's arm and put her arm on his chest.

  Suddenly he was startled, he sat down again, Ibby was frightened too. "Ibby, now I see why they sewed you up. They knew you had teeth, didn't they? They were trying to use it to warn everyone else. Is it true?"

  Ibby closed her eyes, nodded slowly. "Have you been able to bite anyone?" Ibby shook her head, turned around and pointed to her ass. Hannes understood. "Who was that? People from Earth? People from out of town?" Ibby turned around again, pulled a big circle into the air with one hand. All of them.

  Hannes was horrified. "All of them? Ibby, I need to know why this is happening! Why are you here? Who's after you and why is all this happening?" Ibby shook her head with her eyes closed. Not here, not now.

  She extinguished the light; Hannes extinguished his too.

  They lay down and cuddled up together. Hannes was horrified by what he had learned. Again, he thought of the strangeness of Ibby, of the alienation, of the weirdness, of the terrifying. He had fewer problems with her tooth-reinforced vagina, he knew the rumor of the vagina dentata, but he was now aware that there were far greater differences between their species than he had assumed. Everything was set back to zero; all assumptions that they were more similar than different no longer applied.

  When he was thinking, he realized Ibby wasn't asleep either. He turned his head to her and gave her a gentle kiss on the tip of her nose. Ibby moved a little and then Hannes learned that she had very skilled hands.

  Arbitrary act

  Ibby had been up long before Hannes. Hannes woke up at five just before the alarm was supposed to ring. He felt for Ibby, but she had been awake longer, the place next to him was cold. He stood up, dressed, turned off the alarm clock, which was ringing in the meantime, with one hit, and went into the kitchen. Ibby sat at the table, dressed, staring into space. Hannes went to the coffee machine, made himself a coffee, smoked, drank another coffee.

  Hannes and Ibby kept quiet. Hannes broke the silence when he could no longer stand it.

  "Ibby, you don't have to be afraid. I'll get the package and I'll be right back. Nothing can happen."

  Ibby looked at him, Hannes could now see any kind of emotion in her gaze, she was skeptical.

  "Ibby, Helge's looking out for you. He's pretty strong, and he can fight if he has to. Besides, he's armed. Nothing can happen to you."

  Ibby pulled her mouth to an oblique face and looked away.

  Shortly before six, the doorbell rang, Hannes opened and heard the footsteps of Helga and Helge in the stairwell. Hannes
left the door open and sat down with Ibby again. Helge and Helga entered the kitchen. Helga immediately went into the living room and got her bag, Helge sat down with them. "Coffee?" Hannes asked, but Helge shook his head. "I'll do it myself. You better start driving now. Traffic news are saying that the highway is clear, so you can be there in five hours." He threw papers and keys on the table. "Don't worry about us, we'll be fine."

  Hannes took the key, put on his jacket and shoes in the hallway, then went back to the kitchen, stuffed the papers into his jacket pocket, Helga stood there with her bag in her hand, ready to leave. Ibby got up slowly, hugged Hannes, squeezed him so hard as if she never wanted to let go. "Not long, Ibby," whispered Hannes, "take care. And watch Helge. I'll be back in a few days." Ibby wouldn't let him go. Hannes saw that Helge grinned over both ears and Helga stepped restlessly from one leg to the other. "I love you very much," Hannes whispered in Ibby's ear. Ibby let him go, gave him a kiss and then walked into the bedroom.

  The two friends hugged each other. "Take care, man. Watch out for Ibby," Hannes said and Helge assured him that he could rely on him. Hannes gave Helga a look and they went to Helga's car. It was a Korean SUV, but it was no problem for Hannes to move the vehicle quickly out of Cologne. Helga sat in the passenger seat and stared silently forward. Hannes asked where to drop her off, and Helga replied that they had thought about going to a former friend of hers with whom she had had no contact for years and she was safe there. Hannes asked where it was and was ordered to drive towards Ahrweiler, where she could navigate him.

  Silently they drove on, after forty-five minutes they arrived, Helga took her bag from the trunk, waved briefly and Hannes sat in the car alone.

  After a good five boring hours on the highway, Hannes reached the town Breisach, where he tried for another hour to find a room in a guesthouse; it was like cursed, all the guesthouses had probably closed during the winter months or didn’t rent out. Hannes then reluctantly took a room in a hotel, paid five nights in advance, then lay down on the bed in his room and turned on the prepaid phone to see if a Max had called.