After Earth: A Perfect Beast

by Peter David Michael Jan Friedman Robert Greenberger

  A shriek provided the evidence they needed.

  All three broke into a dead run, cutlasses humming in the still, hot air. Boots crushed pebbles but there was no use hiding their presence. This was to be an attack, not a stealth mission. Tanger fanned out to the right to help flank whatever it was they were approaching.

  Kevin was first around the corner and saw the source of the scream. An older woman lay on the street, her blood feeding the ground, the life fading rapidly from her eyes. A leg was missing and her belly was slashed open. Bits of entrails remained visible amid the gore but the organs themselves seemed absent, no doubt taken by an Ursa for dinner. Any thoughts Kevin had of hunger were erased with that image.

  While he focused on the woman, Minh was slowly swiveling about, looking for evidence of the Ursa, his cutlass gripped tightly in both hands. Tanger was similarly poised a short distance away.

  “There,” he called, pointing to darkening red splotches of blood near the base of a structure. The creature had gone that way, likely into the building itself to eat.

  Kevin tried to remember Ursa feeding habits, couldn’t conjure up the information; all he could think of was the dead woman.

  Minh and Kevin joined Tanger, their breathing the only sound they could hear. He pointed at an open doorway, the blood and bits of bodily matter a grisly welcome mat. All checked their weapons, making certain they were fully powered. Tanger selected the sickle configuration as the metal altered its shape so the curved blade reflected the fading sunlight. Kevin briefly considered which of the dozen shapes he wanted to use but went for the basic blade. The thousands of pieces of smart metal reconfigured themselves into a sharp blade, pulsing with nuclear-fission power. Once the cutlass re-formed itself, he glanced at Minh to see that he, too, had gone for the basic blade. Nothing fancy needed: just hacking and slashing until the beast was dead.

  The stench hit them before the slurping sounds. Raw organs, waste matter, and blood mingled to create a vile odor that made Kevin try to breathe only through his mouth. This was followed by the distinct sound of moist mastication as the Ursa devoured the remains of its supper. The oval maw had only sharp fangs, but they were sufficient to puncture and shred the human organs.

  Kevin tightened his grip on the cutlass. The shadowy hall was a shambles thanks to the Ursa’s entry. Kevin had no idea what the building was used for, but it was in ruins and would be worse when they finished off the creature. On the other hand, the space was confined enough to make a three-pronged attack impossible. Tanger had a year on them so Kevin deferred to the senior member of the trio. He had been intently scanning the area and gestured toward the beast, then signaled that only one could attack at a time. He was suggesting they thrust and retreat, letting the next man take a literal stab at the Ursa, until it was dead or flushed outside where all three could attack simultaneously.

  Kevin wasn’t certain that was the smartest plan, but he figured a plan was better than no plan.

  The sickle end of Tanger’s cutlass swung through the air as the Ranger lunged forward, hoping the element of surprise would help. Instead the sound alerted the Ursa, which swung partway around, a shortened arm pressed against its chest to avoid being cut. With an unearthly shriek, it whirled itself around on its six legs and charged.

  The hallway was wide, but not wide enough to let four figures move with ease. Minh and Kevin made it through the doorway, spinning about to stand ready to attack when the creature came out. Tanger was not so lucky.

  He slid on the human remains that were in the doorway, losing his balance, which slowed him just enough for the Ursa to scurry atop him.

  Kevin and Minh watched, horrified, as the creature dripped the infamous black viscous liquid on Tanger, while its forward talons pierced his uniform. Their fellow Ranger was a dead man, although his cries of pain indicated he wasn’t quite gone.

  Without hesitation, letting out a war cry of his own, Kevin rushed the preoccupied beast and slashed at it with his cutlass. He managed to cut deeply along a flank—or at least thought he did. There was a distinct lack of blood or scream, but he did capture the beast’s attention. Leaving the corpse beneath it, the Ursa scurried over Tanger and headed directly for Kevin. The Ranger stood his ground, wishing there was time to reconfigure the cutlass, but there was none. Instead, he took a two-handed swing toward the Ursa, the charged hum singing through the air.

  That at least caused the Ursa to stop its charge, allowing Minh to come from the side and take a stab at the beast. Instead of cutting the Ursa, the cutlass’s tip glanced off the smart metal infused into the creature’s organic structure. The Savant’s people were still trying to understand the alien metal and how it was made a part of the Ursa, but that was not an issue right now. Survival was at the top of his mind. It was just him and Minh, a pair of second-year Rangers, both hoping to make it to seventeen.

  The Ursa was distracted by Minh’s attack, allowing Kevin the chance to strike a second time. With uncanny speed, the Ursa dodged the thrust and charged Minh instead, causing the Ranger to back up, seeking cover. The Ursa bellowed directly at Minh, and Kevin realized the monster must have imprinted on his fellow Ranger. Minh was effectively a dead man.

  Oddly, Kevin’s mind flashed to a joke from his cadet days. How many Rangers does it take to kill an Ursa? One, but only if you’re Cypher Raige. At that time the Prime Commander was the only man known to have killed an Ursa single-handedly. Drinking beer after hours, the cadets marveled at the feat considering the beast’s specs and ferocity.

  Now Kevin wished the PC were here to lend a hand.

  “Oh shit!” Minh cried out, suddenly realizing what had just transpired.

  The Ursa scuttled with great speed toward Minh, who was backpedaling but not fast enough, hampered by the hallway’s confines. Kevin saw that his friend was in danger and came up from the rear, swinging with all his might. The cutlass cut skin this time but it was also his turn to hit the smart metal, making the effort mostly useless although it did seem to enrage the Ursa. It stopped charging Minh to turn toward him, much as a fly might distract a tiger hunting its dinner. Minh, to his credit, was returning the favor, coming up on the creature, his cutlass raised high for a strike.

  The next several minutes—or were they seconds?—were a fast mix of thrusts, parries, retreats, and alien shrieking that hurt Kevin’s ears. He took several glancing blows from arms or legs, leaving him bruised and in pain. It felt like a stalemate—but one thing Kevin knew was that Ursa endurance was easily superior to a human’s. It could wear them down, then just strike.

  It became apparent the rampaging creature had the advantage in the tight space; in addition, everyone who lived in the area was endangered. Diaz wondered if they could survive a jump from the window at the hall’s end; they were up just a floor.

  “Window!” he shouted.

  “Are you crazy?” Minh shouted back to be heard above the creature.

  “Desperate to survive and keep that bastard away from people,” Diaz replied. “Look, I’ll go first, it’ll follow you out, and maybe the fall will slow it.”

  “And kill me first,” Minh added. “Go!”

  Diaz turned and ran, ignored by the Ursa, which was solely focused on Minh, who continued to swing wildly in the hope of slicing the forelimbs to ribbons. Kevin stopped to look down, saw there was a drainpipe, and reached out for it so he could shimmy down.

  The next sounds he heard, as he leaped the final few feet to the ground, were the Ursa’s cry and the crashing of building materials. He spotted Minh’s head peek out the window; Diaz gestured for him to jump toward the left. Without hesitation, the Ranger came hurtling out the window and tumbled on the ground, his cutlass flying free. Diaz ran to retrieve it just as the Ursa burst through the window, shattering the frame and raining debris over the area.

  Minh had already gotten to his feet and looked about, figuring out a route to lead the Ursa away from the area. Diaz tossed him the weapon and watched as his partner darted be
tween two buildings, too tight a fit for the Ursa. It continued to ignore him as it sniffed the air and leaped to its right, in search of its prey.

  Diaz noticed the air had finally begun to cool as one of the two suns had slipped below the horizon. The creature was poised to win but Kevin didn’t want to die. Not yet.

  “Minh, where are you?”

  “This structure is empty,” Minh radioed back. “I can try to contain it until help comes. Might be a good time for you to get us some.”

  “Roger that,” Diaz said, and switched controls, calling in his status to Commander Isinbaeva.

  He heard the Ursa break through a door—or wall, or something—and enter the building in search of Minh. Diaz would follow, holding out hope Minh would survive this.

  Breathing hard, Kevin approached from the right, certain he alone could not kill the beast, even as it ignored him and focused solely on ripping a wider opening into the building.

  He found a spot out of sight of the Ursa, which continued to pound away at the building. Minh had radioed that he was actually moving through the interior, hoping to find a way out that might confuse the creature. All he had to do was remain a moving target, keeping the building as a barrier between him and the Ursa.

  “I would, though, appreciate it if the backup would hurry,” he told Diaz.

  The Ursa forced its way into the building, roaring and leaving behind an obvious trail of destruction. Whoever lived here would have quite a bit of cleanup work to do, Diaz mused, as he carefully stalked from the creature’s rear.

  In less than a quarter hour three other Rangers arrived: Carla Macionis, a ten-year veteran Kevin had never met before; David Telgemeier, a swarthy hulk of a Ranger; and Donald Varley, a lean, always angry man just a few years older than he was. After a brief round of introductions, Kevin met them by the ripped-open entrance into the building. Minh had successfully made it up two levels with the beast on his tail.

  The second sun was now halfway down the horizon and the skies were rapidly dimming, which would only complicate the hunt should the Ursa escape the structure.

  “How many entrances?” Macionis asked. Varley consulted his screen and held up two fingers.

  “Telgemeier, take the other entry.” They nodded and began to move before Diaz interrupted.

  “That thing’s imprinted on Minh,” he said.

  Macionis’s eyes widened at the news, and one of the men cursed out loud.

  “Okay, the priority remains containing then killing that thing. We may need Minh as bait once I figure out a plan.”

  She grabbed her radio and clicked it on. “Minh, it’s Macionis. You okay?” She carefully walked up a stairway, leaving Telgemeier on the first landing as backup.

  “A hot shower would be nice. That thing’s getting closer and I’m beat.”

  “I have a plan but need you to be swift.”

  “Like a rabbit,” he replied.

  “I need you to expose yourself, make certain the Ursa is locked on to your position, and then lead it away from the building to the granary half a klick behind your position.”

  “Is that all? I can run pretty fast. Why not finish it here?”

  “The PC has studied the attacks and thinks they’re hungry. It’s been an unusually hot season and their normal prey may have been diminished. These are walking engines of destruction and they need to stay fueled. If they can’t eat anything warm and bloody and human, they’ll find the next best thing,” Macionis told the Ranger. “Besides, people may still be in hiding somewhere and we have no time to do an apartment-by-apartment sweep.”

  “They’ve lasted decades out there,” Kevin said.

  “Our job, Ranger, is to find them and kill them. You up for the task, Minh?”

  “No doubt about that, sir,” Minh told her, sounding more certain than he could possibly be.

  “It can run faster, so be smart. Take a moment to map a route. We’ll try and slow it down from the rear.”

  Diaz whispered a silent prayer for Minh’s survival. As he moved, he could hear the Ursa scuttle away up another flight of steps. Minh had clearly been on the move and he heard a roar. Minh was now exposed, his scent carrying through the warm air.

  Macionis’s planning time got cut woefully short when they heard the sound of cloth tearing, and then something crashing with a metallic sound. Next came the screams, confirming the building was far from as empty as they’d hoped.

  Macionis shouldered her way through a doorway and was taking the stairs two at a time, followed by Varley, Kevin once more in the rear. He tried to determine how high up the sounds were coming from, estimating it to be no more than the third or fourth floor.

  One shriek was cut off midcry but a fresh one was heard and then the unmistakable sound of crying.

  The Rangers arrived on the third-floor landing and saw two hind legs; the rest of the hideous creature was inside an apartment. Once more, it would be close-quarters fighting, which Kevin dreaded. An Ursa, civilians, furniture, narrow spaces, and three, soon to be five, Rangers meant no one would have an advantage. The ferociousness of the Ursa would probably dictate how quickly this fight would turn into raw carnage.

  Perhaps sensing trouble was coming, the Ursa swung about, literally ripping through the wall and placing its forward legs into the hall. It roared at Macionis, who stood her ground, aiming her sword-shaped cutlass at the beast.

  Kevin could never be certain afterward who charged first: his leader or the Ursa. It really didn’t matter because the woman was torn in two before he could move. Her torso was hurled down the hall toward the Rangers while the lower half collapsed in place, her blood splattering the Ursa and walls, pooling underneath.

  He imagined its roar was one of triumph.

  The next sound was that of his fellow Rangers finally making it to the end of the corridor. Telgemeier cried out, “You ugly bastard!” and charged the Ursa, whose back was turned his way, returning its attention to the apartment. The soldier leaped toward the beast, his cutlass shaped like a sickle, and he swung. Amazingly, the weapon cut through the skin only to strike a metallic portion. It still hurt the beast, which writhed and cried out in a terrible high-pitched tone.

  Telgemeier landed on one knee, grimacing in pain, but held on to his weapon. The Ursa turned toward him, and as it twisted in the tight space Varley struck with his own cutlass. His attack was met with a razor-sharp talon piercing his chest, nailing him to the wall. The cutlass fell and was quickly covered in its owner’s blood.

  The wounded beast roared once more and charged toward Minh. The Ranger backpedaled until he found a door to an emergency stairwell. He started up at a scramble and stumbled through a thin, wooden door, leading into a different apartment. The Ursa followed into the stairway where Kevin could hear it head upward. He knew there were just two more floors before the roof. The stairway was wide enough not to impede its progress so he tried to determine if it was smart enough to get to the roof and leap away until it could heal.

  Or would it lie in wait? It was, after all, a hunter. It seemed programmed for maximum slaughter. It probably ran to find open space for a better fight, and the Rangers were hellbent on giving it to the creature.

  In less than a minute it had killed two Rangers and received little more than a flesh wound. Diaz cursed himself for being in the background, not following through on his convictions, not attacking. What was keeping him from engaging the creature: Fear? Or some vestige of his upbringing?

  Minh recovered from his stumble and was on his comm unit, reporting in, begging for more Rangers. What Colonel Green told him was dispiriting. Three Ursa were on the opposite side of the city, and a disproportionate number of Rangers had been redirected in that direction. Being unable to see the Ursa at all times meant the Rangers had to spread themselves thin around the city’s perimeter along with the interior. Each Ursa sighting was usually accompanied by reports that Rangers were being maimed or killed, further depleting the ranks. That Minh was still alive felt like a
miracle.

  They needed a new plan and Kevin Diaz was out of ideas, brilliant or otherwise.

  All his life, he seemed to strike first, especially since he’d watched his brother’s less aggressive approach fail miserably. Strike first, strike hard, and don’t give your enemy a chance to get up. He had used it in simulation after simulation, satisfied with the results.

  It clearly wasn’t working here when others tried it in a non-simulated situation.

  “What next?” he asked Telgemeier, now the senior member of the team.

  “Hell if I know,” he said, wiping sweat from his eyes. “Follow that sucker and kill it before it gets Minh. Oh, and keep the citizens safe.”

  “A little weak on tactics but it works for me,” Diaz agreed, sounding a little too enthusiastic for someone who hadn’t accomplished much in this fight.

  The sound of rampant destruction punctuated his comments and both Rangers looked up, concluding that the beast and their colleague had made it to the roof. “It will follow Minh over to the grain storage building since it probably hasn’t eaten in, well, minutes,” said Kevin with bitter sarcasm.

  “We stay together.”

  “That didn’t work terribly well before and we need to keep tracking it,” Kevin said, shaking free and ignoring the direct order. He had Rangers to avenge and an Ursa to kill. Somehow.

  “Minh, it’s Kevin,” he said into the comm unit. “Same plan: Lead it to the granary.”

  “Easier said than done, but it shall be done,” Minh replied. “Since when are you in command?”

  “No one’s in command,” he insisted. “Just following orders. Out.”

  As he made his way downstairs, he flashed on the dead bodies, the portions of Macionis that had once been a comrade in arms. He was channeling the anger, trying to control it and let that fill his thoughts instead of the fear that he’d be next.

  Turn the other cheek.

  His parents’ favorite phrase echoed in his mind, but it seemed eminently useless. An Ursa would simply tear any turned cheeks to shreds.

  “That sucker is on the roof with me, where the hell are you?” Minh cried.