Claws

by Ricky Sides

  Without waiting for a reply, Jerry fired his shotgun into the air and worked the pump to expel the discharged hull and chamber another round. Some of the animals turned to face them, but none of them ran. Frustrated, Jerry charged the animals. He had to drive them off the man by the tree. It was just a matter of time before one of the animals managed to time a jump and take the victim down.

  When Jerry and his team charged the animals, they hissed angrily, but backed away from their victim. The team saw their opportunity to terminate the felines, so they stopped and opened fire. In rapid succession, they killed eight of the dangerous animals, but several more got away.

  “Thank you men,” the beleaguered man said. “Are those twelve gauges?” he asked with a nod at the shotguns. “I could use some shells, if you have any to spare,” the man added.

  “What are you doing out here, mister?” asked Jerry.

  “My name’s Miller. I’m Johnny Miller’s father. I’m out here hunting what killed my boy. I found them. I killed four of them, but then I got low on ammunition and I’ve been trying to get to the truck for more.”

  “Was that your brown Dodge Ram, we saw up the dirt road?” asked Jerry.

  “Yeah, that was mine. I started hunting where my boy had the wreck. I ended up here, and here is where I found them. Now, about that ammunition…”

  “Of course, we’ll give you some shells so you can make it back to your truck. But we’ll handle the cats. You should go home,” Jerry said.

  “The hell you say,” the man said in an irate tone of voice. “Mister,” the man added, “Those damned cats ate my son. Now, I’m going to kill them or die trying. If you won’t help me, then to hell with you. I have ammo in my truck. I should have brought more. I would’ve too, if I’d known the woods was crawling with the damned things,” he said, and then he started to walk away at a fast pace.

  “Hold on, Mr. Miller. It would be best if we stick together. Look, I’m really sorry about your son. I’d feel the same way if I were you, but you stay with us and do as I say. Agreed?”

  “Agreed,” said the man in a calmer tone of voice. “I’m sorry. I’m not usually so mouthy to people. I appreciate you men getting the cats off me. I was in a bind. How’d they get so big and mean anyway? I’ve never seen the like.”

  “Neither have we. We’re as surprised as you are,” Sergeant Haskell stated in an effort to maintain secrecy concerning the project. “Are you hurt?” he asked. The sergeant also served as the medic for the group.

  “It’s nothing serious. I got clawed up a bit, but it’s just bleeding a little bit now.”

  “The smell of blood will give us away. Bandage his wounds, Sergeant,” ordered Jerry.

  Miller chafed at the delay, but he knew that Jerry was right. From his own experience, he knew that at times, the animals would try to avoid a man. The smell of blood would make that easier for them. While his wounds were being bandaged, he asked, “Are you boys military?”

  “Yes,” Jerry answered.

  “Why is the military involved in this?” the man asked curiously.

  “We came out here just hoping to do a bit of hunting,” Jerry lied. “We heard your shot and then we heard you scream, so we came to investigate.”

  “Yeah? Well, you boys couldn’t have picked a better day to go hunting. If you hadn’t shown up, I’d most likely be dead now,” Miller said thoughtfully.

  Sergeant Haskell soon had the man’s wounds bandaged. The men of the ops group gave the man five rounds each. He loaded his shotgun and pocketed the rest of the shells. “I’m ready,” he said with a steely look in his eyes.

  “Alright, we spread out and head north through the woods,” Jerry ordered. “Miller, you’re on my left. Stay within sight. Sergeant, you’re on his left. Corporal, I want you to my right. Remember to watch the trees as well as the ground.”

  “That’s damned good advice, boys. Some of the bunch that just jumped me was in the trees, hiding and waiting. They lie down on a limb and watch for you. If I hadn’t seen the tail of one of them hanging down, they’d have gotten me too. That gave me just enough warning to stop shy of the ones in the trees,” Miller said with a visible shudder.

  “Anything else we need to know?” asked Jerry.

  “Yeah, there is one other thing. They like to come up on you from behind, when they can. They jump on your back and try to get to your head.” Turning around, Miller showed Jerry the back of his jacket, which had been shredded by claws. “This happened back at the tree. I slammed the critter into that tree to get it off my back.”

  “You heard the man, watch your backs,” Jerry ordered, and then they moved out.

  ***

  Patricia spent the morning doing a more thorough job of cleaning up her home in the wake of the cat invasion the previous night. She was putting the finishing touches on her cleaning, when Robert Woodfin knocked on the door. When she opened the door, she frowned and asked, “Okay, what is it this time?”

  “I need your help. Your former assistant, Jennifer, has discovered some discrepancies in the amount of the trial food that is available and what was used during the testing. I need you to help trace the discrepancy.”

  “I don’t understand. Why would you need me for that? How much is unaccounted for anyway? A discrepancy of a few pounds can be accounted for by…”

  “Three thousand pounds,” Robert said interrupting her.

  “Oh hell. That is serious,” she said. “But still, I don’t understand why you need me.”

  “Doctor Reese, something is going on at Alcorn. I just learned that someone deleted the food records from the database. All we have to go on now is the hardcopy paperwork of the team working the test. Jennifer believes she’s compiled an accurate assessment of the usage from those records, but it would be best to confirm that. She tells me you kept a detailed record on your laptop. I have your hard drive installed in a computer, but I can’t access the file.”

  “I thought you reformatted it. What did you do? Replace my old drive?”

  “Yes. I had Phillis replace the drive, rather than reformat it, just in case you were rehired in the near future.”

  “Well, why don’t you just let Phillis crack my codes then?” Patricia asked angrily. She didn’t like being lied to, and Robert had lied.

  A hurt look came across Robert’s face, but it was fleeting. His eyes turned hard as he replied, “I wish the hell I could ask her to do it. Two of my people were murdered this morning. Phillis was one of them. I’m sorry I bothered you.”

  “Wait, Robert,” she said as he turned to walk away. “I’m sorry. I had no idea anything had happened to Phillis. Of course, I’ll help. Who killed your security people?” she asked.

  “The police are investigating that. Hopefully, they’ll find out the answer to that question,” Robert was forced to lie to her again because of his promise not to reveal that Talbot had murdered his people.

  “I’ll help, but Talbot may have me arrested for setting foot on Alcorn property. Maybe you should bring the computer here instead,” Patricia suggested.

  “Talbot won’t make waves. I can guarantee that.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “I wouldn’t lie to you if it puts you in danger. I was trying to do you a favor by saving your laptop hard drive.”

  “It would’ve been a huge favor, too. Some of that data is irreplaceable. I’ll get my coat,” she said.

  “I’ll be in the car waiting.”

  “Thanks, but I’ll drive myself,” Patricia stated.

  “Alright, I’ll be waiting at the gate to make sure you get in without delay,” Robert said.

  Chapter 13

  Jerry’s eyes constantly roamed the woods as he slowly made his way through the trees. Various members of the group had spotted furtive movement three times since they had begun their northward sweep through the western side of the wooded tract, but the movement had been far ahead of them. The special ops leader felt that the animals were retreating before them a
nd wished that he’d had more men available to properly encircle the area of interest before they had begun their hunt.

  Finally, Jerry stopped the group and motioned for the men to come to him for a consultation. When the group was once more assembled, he said, “This isn’t working. They’re ahead of us and they just keep moving away. I don’t like it, but I’m afraid we need to separate.”

  Taking out his map, he pointed to what he thought was a stream to the west. “Sergeant, you take Mr. Miller with you. See if you can use this stream to cover your movement into the woods.”

  “That might work. The banks of the stream are steep in places, but there are several places where we can easily get in it,” Miller pointed out. “We’d need to backtrack a bit, but there’s a good entry point here,” he added, pointing to a spot Jerry estimated was a hundred yards south of their current position.

  “Is there a place where you can get out of the streambed near the woods?” Jerry asked.

  “That’s easy. It gets shallower to the north. It’s only a couple of feet deep in that area,” Miller assured him.

  “Then do it, but be careful. We’ll wait here until we hear that you’re in position, and then we’ll move out. Remember, we may actually drive a bunch of them over your position, so be ready to deal with them. Stay close to each other. Sergeant, check in every ten minutes.”

  “Yes, sir,” the sergeant responded. “Let’s go, Mr. Miller,” the sergeant said.

  Miller nodded and followed the sergeant back through the woods to the south.

  “Corporal,” Jerry said, getting the man’s attention.

  “Yes?”

  “We won’t be able to cover as wide an area alone. We’ll have to shift to the west,” Jerry explained. They moved slowly to the west, stopping when they could see the edge of the forest. The corporal then moved back to the east.

  “We’re in the streambed and moving north. It’s easy going down here. There’s a stretch of open ground between the steep banks and the water, so we’ll make good time. Mr. Miller says we should make it to the woods in less than ten minutes,” the sergeant reported on the voice-activated radio.

  “Understood, Sergeant. We shifted to the west a bit. We’ll begin our push on your signal that you are in position,” Jerry responded. He looked to the corporal, who was shifting his weight from foot to foot in an attempt to keep his feet warm. It was another bitter cold day. His own feet felt like ice. He smiled as he remembered Patricia’s comments from the night before, but then he pushed those thoughts out of his mind. This was a dangerous mission, and he needed to keep his mind on what was happening.

  Nine minutes later, the sergeant radioed in that they were in position.

  Jerry signaled the corporal and then the two men moved out. Since their purpose had shifted from strictly hunting the animals to driving them toward the stationary team, Jerry set a much faster pace.

  As the two men moved north, they were deliberately loud. It wasn’t long before they spotted movement as the cats ran to the north. Jerry thought he saw two cats turning to the east as they disappeared from view. “Heads up, Corporal,” he said. “Two were turning east. They may be trying to circle and approach us from the rear.”

  “I saw them too, but thanks,” the corporal responded.

  The two men tried to look for danger from their rear as they proceeded through the woods. The trees in the section they were currently traversing were thinner, so they proceeded even faster.

  By now, Jerry estimated they were within a hundred yards of the northern boundary of the wooded tract. He had just glanced to his rear when he heard a shot from the north, rapidly followed by another. Then, there was a steady succession of shotgun blasts from that direction.

  “Look out behind you, Lieutenant,” Jerry heard the corporal shout, the man’s voice also echoed in his ear via the radio. Spinning to the rear with his shotgun leveled and ready to fire, Jerry had only a moment to react to the charging cats. There were two of them, spaced several feet apart. He fired at the closer of the two giant felines. His shot struck the animal in the chest and it dropped to the ground dead. He was in the process of working the pump when the other feline leaped into the air.

  ***

  “Her findings were right,” Patricia informed Robert. “According to my records, there should be five thousand three hundred and twenty-seven pounds of the food left. Of course, I was fired before I could document the amount of feed that was used during their final feeding. Subtracting that amount, there should still be five thousand two hundred and eighty pounds of the food left. Your current inventory is three thousand sixty pounds off.”

  “Where the hell could it have gone?” asked Robert.

  “Did you check with shipping?” asked Patricia.

  “That was my first stop when the discrepancy was discovered. They say there were no special shipments,” Robert stated.

  “There were no signs of rodent activity in the storage facility, was there?” Patricia asked.

  “Rodent activity? Rats couldn’t account for that sort of loss,” Robert said skeptically.

  “No, but if a container was breeched, protocol demands that the entire bag of feed be destroyed. It’s possible that someone in inventory control didn’t properly log such incidents. Over a period of months, that could account for the loss.”

  “That’s a good point. I’ll go see what I can learn,” Robert stated. He paused for a moment, and Patricia saw a sad expression on his face. “I’d feel better if you come with me.”

  “Considering what happened in this room earlier today, I think I’d feel better too,” she replied. Standing up, Patricia said, “Phillis really loved her job, you know. She told me that she was so glad that she decided to work here. She really had a high regard for you. She said you gave her an opportunity to shine.”

  “Huh?” asked Robert, not understanding Patricia’s reference.

  “She almost went to Microsoft, but then you gave her the chance to work for Alcorn. She said at Microsoft, she’d have been just another geek in a cubbyhole, but you gave her the opportunity to stand out and shine as a specialist.”

  “I wish I hadn’t. She’d still be alive today, if I hadn’t changed her mind.”

  “I can see where that would bother you, but consider this if you will. Phillis was happy doing what she did. She loved working for you. She told me she’d have been miserable at Microsoft as just another technician. Here, she was the best in her field. You gave her the chance of her dreams. That never would have happened for her if she’d gone to Microsoft.”

  Robert looked thoughtful as he considered what Patricia had just said. He said, “Thanks for telling me. I didn’t know how she really felt about her job here. People will tell you they like it when you’re the boss, but hearing it from you makes it seem more credible to me,” Robert stated.

  Patricia nodded her understanding, and then she said, “Well, let’s go check on those rodents.”

  The special test feed was housed in the main production facility in a storage room separate from the standard feed storage. Robert used his keycard to open the door and the two of them entered.

  Inside the storeroom, they saw two men loading sacks of the feed into a scrap cart, which was a large red tub on wheels. The men had their backs to the newcomers, and had yet to note their presence. Robert motioned for Patricia to remain quiet, then turned and left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

  “I think we’re about to find out what’s been happening with the food,” Robert said. “I’m pretty sure they aren’t following protocol.”

  “So am I,” Patricia observed. “Red is for standard food scrap. The experimental stock is supposed to go into black tubs. That lets the disposal team know they have to dispose of it in house, rather than ship it to our regular disposal channels. That’s a precaution to prevent industrial espionage.”

  Robert nodded his understanding and then radioed his personnel for assistance. He instructed them to head for a s
taging area right outside the production facility, and to be ready to enter the storage area on his order. Then they settled down to wait.

  ***

  Knowing he wouldn’t have time to chamber another round before the cat reached him, Jerry threw himself to the right, and out of the path of the animal. Landing on his side, he surged to one knee and chambered another round, but held his fire. He knew the corporal was beyond the cat, and that it was likely that at least some of the shot could hit his own man. He knew he had to get to his feet. He was too vulnerable to the animal in his current position.

  Lunging to his feet, he barely had time to regain his balance before the animal once more leaped at him. Unable to fire because of the danger to his own man, the lieutenant did as he’d been trained and lashed out with the stock of his weapon. The stock struck the giant feline in the left shoulder, knocking it to the ground. Jerry was surprised when a shotgun blast near him struck the cat as it hit the ground. Glancing up, he saw the corporal and nodded his thanks. “Thanks for the warning. Damn these things move fast.”

  “Are you two okay?” Sergeant Haskell asked over the radio.

  “We’re good, but what about the two of you?” Jerry asked.

  “Same here. We got a lot of them, we haven’t moved out to count them yet,” the sergeant explained.

  “Hold your position. We’ll be there soon, and then we can determine the count,” Jerry stated.

  They started northward again. Soon, they encountered a section of the woods where the terrain changed. The trees had thinned sufficiently enough that some dense brush had managed to take hold. Behind that brush, a large calico tail stood upright. It moved back and forth briefly, and then it disappeared from view.