"It looks like there was a fight here," Nostradamus said.
Just a couple of feet from the lake was an impression in the dirt where all the grass wilted and bent outwards. Something had been laying there for a long time, curled up into a ball. A large boulder not much further away was scorched black and red, possibly from a fire.
Then I saw it. Patches of black fur.
"He's hurt…." I mumbled.
"Look at this!" Nostra pointed to the ground at the edge of the clearing.
Three toed footprints. Damn near as big as I was! Sunk into the soil a few inches. One set. Then two. Followed by the same kind of prints, but half the size and weight.
"What did you find?" Yaaranam asked, the dead creature tied up and slung over her shoulder. “Whoa...I’ve seen those before.”
“Where at?”
“The first location I was sent to when looking for my father. These were all over the place.”
“The eos have spread far…” Nostradamus sighed. “Everywhere we went we found more and more.”
“Did you see what made them?” I asked, heading back to the center of the clearing. There had to be a trail to follow. I saw Fenris’ foot prints; those heavy wolf paws. Lost them in the grass and water. I was not good at spotting those subtle impressions in the dirt. I did, however, find blood splattered on a tree trunk at the edge of the clearing. A few broken branches of something leaving in quite the hurry. A small pool of black blood.
I knelt down there and touched it. Still soft and tacky. With almost no pressure at all my fingers punctured the partly dry layer and into the cold wet stuff. Maybe all that howling earlier was Fenris in a fight? It had to be!
I followed the trail without a word. I figured Yaaranam and Nostradamus would try to stop me if they knew and I was not going to give them the opportunity to. I never really saw Fenris bleed before and it made my chest ache to know he was running around injured. Either he had thin blood, which still would not be good, or he was fatally wounded. He could have left me for dead multiple times in the past, yet he stayed with me through it all. I was not going to abandon him now.
Nostradamus and Yaaranam caught up to me with no issue. Nostra stayed at my side, using his light to keep our path visible.
"It's dark. We should all go back." Yaaranam said.
"She's right. We have no idea what kind of nocturnal life could be here." Nostra said.
Yaaranam gave a look around and groaned.
"Is this about that stupid valkyrie?"
"Excuse you?" I snapped.
"You fucking heard me. You want to go and find it, don't you?"
"It's none of your fucking business."
"It is my fucking business." Her lips curled back to show off those razor sharp fangs. "You're forgetting the mission at hand to go off on a whim for no good fucking reason! It doesn't matter if that valkyrie is hurt, dying, or dead. It's probably never going to come back! If it hasn't already, then it won't be. It's gotten the exact thing it's always wanted. To be on this damned planet."
"Shut your fucking mouth, you stupid raven!" I pointed at her. "You don't fucking know her! You don't know a damned thing about her! She's doing what she thinks is best and what she's used to doing! If she's hurt, then I have to find her and help her!"
"No, you fucking don't. Fenris isn't your responsibility. It can take care of itself."
"She may not be my responsibility, but she's my friend. She's family."
"I'm sorry to interject," Nostra frowned, then put up a question mark. "Why are you referring to Fenris as 'she' instead of the usual 'he'?"
I just stood there and stared at him. Had I really been doing that? I found it hard to believe. I always referred to him as a male even if he technically had no gender. It was the first assumption when we met, so I just stuck with it. It didn't feel right calling him an it. The thought of it upset my stomach. Made it feel like he was just a tool, or a machine, not a living, breathing creature.
"Oh, yeah, you did." Yaaranam said it as if it made her point. "Why's that, Lieutenant? Emotions getting the best of you? Is Fenris more to you than you let on?"
"Fuck you. Fuck off." I snapped at her. "It doesn't fucking matter. I'm going after him."
"Jackal, we should return to camp with our supplies." Nostra said. "Besides, it's dark, it's hard to see out here and we aren't well armed. If anything, we should retrieve a vehicle to travel faster."
I thought about it. He was right. A vehicle would be great. Cover more ground.
"Fine. Let's head back."
"Which way is that?"
"Oh! I have the cartographer." Nostradamus pulled out the device and turned the screen on.
"This way!" He pointed and marched on, using his flash light to keep our path lit.
FORTY-ONE
They groped through the dark, sticking close together. Johnny hugged himself against Reaper's waist. The rifle had been taken from the boy and given to Ruby to replace the one he had lost. They tried to head back the way they came, but all the trees and shrubs looked the same in the dark. With no map, nor a radio to call for help, they were on their own.
Surprisingly cold in the humid climate, they trudged on. The jungle came to life in these darker hours. Birds and apes called back and forth. Roars and cries sang through the night. They couldn't tell what was near and what was far. The sounds blended together in some strange conglomeration of brown noise that dulled the senses.
"This is bad." Ruby whispered.
"I don't even think zoos are this noisy." Reaper stated.
Tahoe, the new pet, flailed around on the ground just in front of them. It clicked its tiny jaws together and took off. It scaled a tree and leaped, gliding through the air to another. It danced again to keep their attention.
"I think he's trying to take us home." Johnny said.
"Sir, are we really going to follow a bird?" Ruby questioned.
"Well, it lead us to Johnny. It may know the way back."
"Do you think birds are dumb?" Ianisse asked.
"No! That's not what I said!" Ruby defended himself. "That's just a wild thing. Your bird is different."
"How are we different?"
"Your bird obviously uses your brain."
Reaper held up a hand to stop the conversation.
"That's just false!" The bird squawked, wings flapping. "We are two separate entities!"
A grumble made them shut up. The ground trembled with low resonating thuds.
Tahoe gave a questionable roar.
Another grumble, this time louder.
Reaper waved for the others to get down. They ducked into a few bushes, faces to the dirt. Reaper was tucked under a rotten branch, peering out into the shadows. Johnny was tucked under his arm. Covering his own mouth.
Something crashed down just a few feet in front of them. They could just barely make it out in the moonlight.
A tall, lanky creature. Long, thick legs, no arms and an oversized head. Even its three-toed feet looked too big for it. It hopped in place and spun in a circle. It gave a high pitched roar up to something lurking behind it.
Another one rammed its side into the first, giving it a rough bite to the back of its armored neck. The two bit at each other for a minute.
Then came the grumble that shook their bones. An enormous foot sunk into the soil inches in front of Reaper.
They could smell the rotting flesh. That stench of death looming around them.
Another thud. The beast steadied itself to sniff the air.
A few more thuds. Another one stepped out of the shadows. This one was even bigger than the other one. Its face mangled with metallic bone shining in the moonlight. One of its eyes was cracked, split open with a crimson light shimmering down the side of its face. Teeth were missing from those gigantic, bone crushing jaws.
It grumbled low, but they felt it worse than the last.
Johnny nearly cried out. Reaper put his hand over his mouth to help keep him quiet.
The two
giant beasts clicked their jaws together and growled as if they were having a conversation.
They sniffed the air together. The one closest to them lowered its head to sniff at the bushes.
Its hot breath wreaked something awful.
Ruby gagged, tasting vomit in the back of his mouth.
It shoved its nose into the bushes. Inches over their heads.
Trembling like never before, they laid as still as possible. Reaper quietly tucked Johnny's head under his chest. Kept his own head low.
The larger beast took interest now, joining in on smelling the bushes.
One of its teeth was nearly the size of Ruby's torso. Conical with the slightest angle back towards its throat. Those nasty things were hovering right over him, practically begging to sink into that soft flesh.
Tahoe roared from above.
The smaller one hanging over Ruby lifted its head to see where the sound came from.
The other snorted.
Tahoe roared again, but the bigger one snapped its jaws.
Since that didn't work, Tahoe studied them. Then used its last resort; Fenris' howl. It leaped from its perch as it howled, making the song fade out in a different direction.
The youngest of the beasts squealed, tucked themselves underneath the hulking bodies of the adults.
Now they took interest. The largest of them slammed its jaws together, making the humans and fleebeeron cringe. Visibly worked up, it let out its own song. A freight train's horn of a bellow that shook its neck and sent spit flying out if its massive maw.
They covered their ears in hope it would help protect them from the sound.
The beast nudged into the heavy tail of the other and marched off to follow the sound of the howl.
The other hung back for a moment more. Its jaws opened as it breathed on Ruby and Ianisse. A few of its teeth just barely brushed against them. They knew they were hiding there.
Then it lifted its head and thumped away with the younger ones following.
Reaper waited until they no longer heard, nor felt the footsteps. Then he stood up.
"Thank you, Jesus…" he exhaled.
"They knew…" Ianisse's bird said.
"Yeah. Yeah, I figured that out on my own!" Ruby cried. He still hadn't even sat up.
Reaper sniffed, his face twisted. "What is that smell?"
"Them." Ruby answered quickly.
"Did you...really?"
"We're happy to not be human." Ianisse shook his head.
"I thought we were gonna die!" Ruby cried.
"Is this why they call you pukebucket?" Ianisse asked.
"What?! How did you hear about that?!"
"Mjolnir and Sparrow told me. You walked around in puke for hours."
Reaper would have laughed if he wasn't so dumbfounded about this incident. He never knew someone to relieve themselves out of fear. He thought it was just a movie trope.
Ruby whined, hanging his head.
Tahoe skidded to a halt in front of them. It cawed.
"Tahoe!" Johnny exclaimed. "You're all right!"
It flapped its feathered arms and ran down the path.
They followed it.
"If they knew we were there, then why didn't they attack?" Reaper scratched his cheek.
"They had us dead to rights…" Ruby grumbled.
"They were talking to each other, too. Or was that just us?" Ianisse pointed out.
"It definitely looked like they were talking!" Ruby agreed.
"Fenris said they were mindless. They go by hunger and nothing else." Reaper raised a brow.
"Maybe it's wrong?"
"Maybe these aren't the same eos its encountered before? Maybe the other ones really are mindless. Or maybe a hive mind?" Ianisse bobbed his head.
Reaper thought about it. Each of the options. How can you fight something for years and not know anything about it? The first rule in war was learning your enemy. What motivates them. What and who they are. Their weaknesses. Their hierarchy. You can’t defeat the enemy unless you know everything about them.
Fenris had to know. It may not know the words, but it had to know. So, it must have lied? No, there was no reason to lie. It would have gained nothing from lying about it. It must not know. The eos must be smarter than anticipated.
Reaper could have been putting too much faith in that valkyrie. After all it had been weeks since he last heard anything from it.
They followed that bird for a long time, using only the moonlight to see where they stepped. After hours, they spied the fires at the camp site flickering between the trees.
"Goddamn!" Ruby exclaimed. "That bird did it! It brought us back!"
They ran for it.
The bushes shook. A low growl vibrating the leaves.
Too focused on getting back to the camp, none of them noticed. They ran right by.
The natural predator instinct kicked in. The beasts leaped out from the shadows and ran down their prey with almost no effort at all.
Ruby was first to go down. A four legged brute held his chest to the dirt and tore into his back with large incisors.
"Fuck!" Reaper doubled back.
They were surrounded right at the edge of the forest. Four brutes. He just barely made them out in the faint light. The same beasts from the quicksand. He recognized the scarred face of the one looking him in the eye.
Johnny screamed, collapsing to his rear. Ruby cried out, reaching for his rifle.
The commotion must have caught the attention of the guards standing at the perimeter of the camp. They were running to them, ready to fight once the situation was better assessed.
Reaper picked Johnny up and threw him towards the camp, narrowly missing one of the beasts coming for them. Aside from trying to protect the child, Reaper had no idea what else he could do. Unarmed, he had no options. Even when the Alpha of the pack came after him, he could only run, or take the hit.
Ruby was stuck on the ground, crying for help. Ianisse was too scared to do anything at all.
Reaper took one of the fleebeeron's blades and rushed to help Ruby. Just as he got there, the scarred beast pounced on him. They rolled from the group and back to the edge of the woods.
Mjolnir gave the order to shoot. The guns blazed with pops of electricity. Despite the beasts being outnumbered, they showed no fear. No concern for their own wellbeing. They came after them with a ferocity unlike any other.
Snapping teeth cracked bones like brittle twigs. Paws swiped with the strength of a hydraulic press. They took the projectiles, that would either pierce through a human body, or knock an armored human on his rear, like they were bug bites. They didn't even flinch.
One of the smaller ones distracted the group while another pulled back to a safe distance. Chest down, it took aim and charged the rifle protruding from its back. The sound of a cannon cracked through the air.
It resulted in one soldier nearly disintegrating. All that was left was his knees down, a hand, some teeth, and half of his rifle.
Mjolnir had rescued Ruby for the moment. He tackled the beast off him and used the rifle on its back to swing it around and toss it into a tree.
That left Reaper still struggling against the largest of them. Holding onto that machete as tight as he could, he risked his face being clawed to jab it under the beast's arm. Its claws dug in, slicing right down from the side of his head to his chin. He bit back the pain and twisted the machete. It cried out. Pulled away.
Reaper hissed, still holding the blade up. He laid there and waited. The pain was coming through. He could barely move his mouth.
"Go! Go!" A familiar voice shouted.
One of the beasts roared. Fired its weapon. A tree exploded into a hail of splinters. Toppled into the field, narrowly missing a few soldiers.
Ruby shrieked out in pain, writhing on the ground. Sparrow screamed.
Reaper couldn't see what was going on. All he saw was the black sky above splattered with the beautiful colors of the cosmos.
Move!
He told himself.
He twisted his aching body. Propped himself onto an elbow. That beast was coming back for him. Black blood pouring out from under its arm. It locked its jaws around his ankle. He kicked it in the nose. The ear. It dragged him with a snarl.
"Get off him!" Someone shouted.
Another beast shrieked just out of his sight. The gunfire quieted. At least until the shouting man opened up on the creature dragging Reaper away.
Its head and body flayed open with blood spraying out. Its jaws released. It wanted to run away now, but collapsed under its own weight right over Reaper's leg.
"Captain, hang in there."
He looked up to see who was grabbing his shoulder.
"J-Jack?" He grumbled. His vision blurred. He could see only out of one eye. The pain made it hard to move. The burning fire in his lungs made him wheeze.
Jackal pulled on him, then called for help. Yaaranam pushed the beast off his leg, letting Jackal drag him across the ground and back to the camp.
Plenty of the soldiers were crying, begging for help.
Reaper was sat down at the end of a crate. The first to be seen by one of the doctor's. Dazed and confused, he was conscious.
"What happened?" Jackal asked, holding Reaper's shoulder.
He cringed, touching the side of his flayed head.
"They jumped us." He hissed. "Fuckers must have been waiting."
"Waiting? Why would they wait for you?" Jackal looked out to watch bodies get carried in. He made a quick count of those limp frames. Five men lost. Seven injured, including Reaper and Ruby.
"Why were y'all even out there?"
Reaper held his chin up. The nurse patted his head with a wet cloth to clean away the blood.
"One of the kids ran off. We went to find him." He took a sharp breath. Picked up the bottle of water that had been set down next to him and drank. "Those were the same animals we ran into on our way to find the kid. They got scared off, but must have come back to finish us off. That big one….I'm not sure why, but he wanted me."
Mjolnir stepped up with a big grin on his face.
"Captain, that was some good fighting out there!" He said, "We really showed them!"
"They're all dead, right?" Reaper smiled briefly before wincing.
The Soul Eaters (The Thin Hex Line Book 1) Page 34