Manhunter Revelations

by H. F. Daniels

  I burst up and cleared the rest of the clearing in seconds. About a minute or so later I heard the creature burst back into the wood behind me. Right about now I was getting really pissed off. I had to stop this creature at all costs but, how? I had shot it with the best personal ammo in existence from a firearm. Just one of those rounds placed right would have brought down an elephant or a rhino. Yet all it did was piss this creature off into some type of accelerated healing and an intense desire to tear my head off. So, how do I kill it. Better question yet, can it even be killed? Moving swiftly now I came out of the woods again to see a clear space of about twenty feet between me and the edge of the cliff. Fate must have taken pity on me because a few minutes before I entered the clearing the clouds had moved and moonlight was shining down on everything giving me a much better view of my surroundings. Racing to the edge I stopped and looked over to see what was below. To my relief, the river that was on the map was below. It was around a sixty foot drop. The Nav-Comp had the depth of the river between thirty to forty feet. Hearing the creature rapidly approaching, I didn't wait for it to appear. Steeling myself I jumped from the cliff down into the river. Keeping my legs straight and toes pointed down, I tucked my arms to my chest as I fell. The jolt as I hit the water was sharp and painful, but manageable. I could have snapped my spine or some other serious bodily damage in that jump. As I dropped down into the water about a dozen feet, I swam powerfully back to the surface as I did not know if the creature would or had also took the plunge. As I surfaced I immediately looked around me for evidence of the creature, and seeing none looked back up to the cliff top. The creature was still at the top, leaning way over the edge as if he could just reach down and pluck me up out of the water. The water current was powerful and was rapidly taking me away down the river from the creature. The creature now determined not to let me get away followed up top at a rapid pace keeping up with me. Then it turned and moved away from the edge of the cliff out of my sight. Less that a minute later it reappeared moving swiftly to catch up to me. As I stared up at it I saw it had a large boulder in its arms. It wasn’t! It was! As I watched the creature got close to the edge of the cliff, stopped and it looked as if it was gauging the distance to me and then it threw the boulder. As the boulder approached I tried to gauge its trajectory and to my astonishment it was coming directly at me. Swimming powerfully cross current I had to change my direction of travel. The creature had been able to accurately guess my trajectory in the water and had thrown the boulder where I would be when it landed. A few seconds later the boulder splashed down less than half a dozen feet in front and to my right. If I hadn’t desperately swam and changed my direction of flow the boulder would have landed directly on my head. The boulder caused a large turbulence in the water tossing me around. As I fought to orient myself I saw the creature throw another boulder. This time there was nothing I could do. Expelling my breath I dived down under the water. Less than a second later the water exploded as the boulder hit. The boulder brushed by me hitting hard as it sunk causing more turbulence that pulled me down. Relaxing I dropped a few more feet before I felt the grip of the current lessen. Swimming hard I broke the surface coughing up water. Looking around desperately I spotted the creature still on the top of the cliff but no longer following me as the cliff had came up to a rock face that rose many feet above it's head. The creature was standing there next to the rock face watching me as I flowed away. We both stared intently at each other until I passed out of sight around a curve. We both knew that we would see each other again, and that one of us would die when we did. The how on his part would be easy. On mine I just did not know.

  Chapter Seven: We Need A New Plan

  After a few hundred feet, the river became somewhat milder, but there was still a considerable current continuing downstream. I allowed the river to carry me downstream for quite some time, which wasn’t easy while scanning the riverbank for signs of the creature. The water was chilly, but bearable for a while. Remembering the data on the river from the Nav-Comp I knew further down was a series of rapids, which would not be kind to me if I tried to flow over them. After seeing no signs of the creature anywhere, I swam to the riverbank on the opposite side and left the water. Even though I can see at night, trying to make it back to the village could be a very foolhardy thing to attempt, as I could conceivably either run into the creature or walk into a trap set by it. No, the prudent thing would be to find a good place to hold up for the night, which gave me good visibility of my surroundings. Then again staying in the woods would give the creature time to track and find me and I was convinced it could track me. No, liking it or not I had to continue back to Woodspirit. Checking the Nav-Comp I estimated I was still a few hours or so from Woodspirit, and took off along the riverbank. Then it hit me. The creature knew I had come from Woodspirit, and knew I would head back there. It could right now also be heading for Woodspirit and Hennings and his men did not know about its rapid healing ability. They would engage the creature ending in somebody dying. I definitely had to get back to Woodspirit and do so as quickly as possible. I reached for the comm unit to call Hennings and give him a quick update as to the creature's other capabilities. The comm however would not work. Checking it out quickly, it appeared to be burned out somehow. Stowing it away, I continued my journey back to Woodspirit. Moving as fast as I could, I could not help but speculate as to the creature's ability to regenerate any damage done to it. This was definitely something new to me or anyone else. It was time for some answers. Answers I think the Ladies had. It was obvious from the beginning they are hiding something, and it may be something critical, something I needed to know.

  The way back turned out to be uneventful as I saw no sign of the creature on my way back. I came upon one of the roads to and from Woodspirit that crossed the river via a bridge. After crossing the bridge it was another twenty minutes back to Woodspirit. On the other side of the bridge there was a eight-man patrol station set up. After identifying myself, the sergeant in charge called in to let Major Hennings know where I was. The comm was passed to me.

  "What happened? After you missed two call ins, I dispatched three teams to search for you"

  "Stop. Call the teams and have them report back to the village ASAP. Tell them if they encounter the creature, not to engage it in any manner. It cannot be killed. No questions, I will explain when I get there. Call them back Now."

  The urgency of my message must have impressed the need to call his troops back right away, because he immediately disconnected. I briefed the troops at the station as to the inability of killing the creature with conventional weapons, and told them if the creature showed up, to withdraw immediately back to the village. They were a little skeptical at first, but they were professionals, and the sergeant assured me he would check in with Hennings after I had reported back for further instructions. I refused the use of their vehicle to drive back to village in case they needed it. I walked the rest of the way back to the village. As I got to the edge of the village, I was surprised to see all of the Ladies waiting for me there. They were relieved to see that I was okay, but I looked like something dragged through the mud. Sessa however appeared to be slightly mad and upset. She said nothing to me, just looked at me for a while, then turned and stalked back into the village. The other Ladies walked back with me. I looked at them for an explanation of Sessa's attitude, but they conveniently ignored me. We met Major Hennings and Lt. Forne on the way. I informed all of them I would take a quick shower and meet all of them at Matriarch Hall for a debriefing. The major insisted one of his medics check me out first, but I finally convinced them I was okay. I got back to my cottage, took off my equipment and wet clothes and jumped into the shower.

  The shower was so good it almost made me change my mind about any meeting, and instead go to bed. I fought off the urge, got dressed and reported to the hall. When I got there all the Ladies were present including Serona and Tessia. Major Hennings and his core staff, which consisted of Lt. Forne, Sergeant Dan
vers, Sergeant Stallings, and Spec Ops 1st Williams were also already there. Hennings men was an impressive staff, all of whom I had met previously except for Lt. Forne who had joined the team after my assignment working with them. He was a short man about five foot seven, and was almost as wide as he was tall. A bull of a man with a serious demeanor that brooked no nonsense. Sergeant Stallings was a big black man. Taller than me by half a head and a good seventy pound heavier, all of it muscle and he has seen combat in a number of very bad engagements on assignments around the world with Hennings. I had seen him in action when I was on assignment with them. He was one of the most dangerous men I knew in a combat situation. Sergeant Danvers and Spec Ops Williams were family related and you could see the resemblance in them. Both was of slim build, but you could see the muscle on them was lean and mean. They looked like slightly smaller versions of Hennings who had the same general slim build, except Hennings was also a big man. As tall as me and around the same weight and build. I had also seen Hennings in combat. Hennings and Stallings had been in some of the worst combat situations imaginable around the world and they were very dangerous. It was no wonder Hennings had been picked to head this team, and having Stallings on it. Danvers and Williams had joined Hennings a few years back when his special unit was being formed. They were all specialists in different fields, but their most enduring qualifications was their combat ability. I didn’t know the specifics, but had learned enough to know they were the best of the best at their jobs. Apparently no one had yet eaten as there was a full food layout on a banquet table that looked untouched. After shaking the other troops hands and small talk everyone had a quick snack and then settled down to hear my report. It wasn't pretty. When I finished, they all had very grim looks on their faces. All except Tessia. She had a look of shocked and terrified recognition on her face. Noticing my gaze at Tessia, Serona turned and looked at her. Tessia slowly turned and faced Serona. For a few seconds they stared at each other and then Serona got the same shocked and terrified look on her face. Both of them stood up and Tessia said,

  “Wait here, please”

  Right then and there in front of all of us she took a step forward and just disappeared.

  “What the fu…” started Sergeant Stallings jumping up before catching himself. Yet the feeling was mutual. All of us were shocked at her sudden disappearance. All of us except the Ladies.

  “Serona, what just happened. Where did Tessia go?”

  “She went back to Muraii. Please be patient and wait”

  “So that’s how you all go back and forth to Muraii” stated Williams. It was more of an affirmation then a question. Yet all of us were shocked to our core to just see Tessia disappear like that. The other ladies had realized that something was terribly wrong and you could see it in their faces, but they remained quiet, yet vigilant.

  I looked at Serona

  "Killing this creature by conventional means is not going to work. We need something out of the ordinary to do so. If any of you have any tricks up your sleeve, now is the time to reveal it"

  She as well as the other Ladies understood me completely. They knew I was referring to the fact I felt they were keeping something from the rest of us. Everyone was quiet for a few minutes.

  “How about using Power Torches” this from Spec Ops Williams.

  “If we can trap the creature in a open area and blow away it’s legs like Tracker here did, while it is down we can surround it with Suppression Foam and torch it using the Power Torches. Within minutes it would be nothing but a pile of ashes. Surely it couldn’t regenerate itself from that”

  That was a very good idea. You could see the idea was taking hold in Major Hennings and his men minds. The Ladies however had looks on their faces ranging from shock to horror.

  “I gather you Ladies do not think that is a good idea. Why?”

  Serona raised her hand to stop the flow of replies that started with the younger Ladies.

  “I am sure that all of you have noticed the unusual beauty of the forest surrounding Woodspirit. It is not a fully natural occurrence that it is so. We have been working with the residents here for over forty years cultivating the forest here to it’s present beauty. This process is still ongoing. One of the benefits of our cultivation is that these woods are somewhat fire resistant. You see for centuries these woods were very prone to forest fires caused by a multitude of different sources. Since our project has been going on there has not been a forest fire in this area for over twenty plus years. In another generation the tree growth and plant life in the area around here for six hundred square miles will be regulated, fire resistant and much more beautiful then the woods you are seeing now. We are all familiar with the Power Torches the military uses for clearing away unwanted foliage and debris. They are powerful enough to turn even these woods to ash. We cannot allow their use here. The damage would be incalculable”

  I had never heard of these Power Torches, but surmised they could be used to start fires to burn away all traces of the creature. The fear of a forest fire was somewhat understandable. Yet I needed clarification.

  “What are Power Torches?”

  “Power Torches are small portable flame generators we use to clear away large tracks of land. We surround the area we want to clear with Suppression Foam, which was specially formulated to resist the intense heat generated by the torches and prevent the spread of the heat and flames. This is necessary as the torches generate heat beams from 200 to as hot as 2000 degrees depending on what we need turned to ash. They are very powerful. Misuse would be disastrous. No matter how fire resistance these woods are, a power torch would turn them to ash if the beam was misdirected. I can only assume any battle we have with the creature using the torches could get out of hand then damage to the forest could be done” explained Hennings