by Ryan Kirk
Just as Derreck spoke, Kindra saw another motion hit on Kenan’s monitors. It didn’t appear on Derreck’s. Kenan beat her to the punch.
“Solid motion, sir.”
Kenan turned around, and Kindra’s breath caught in her throat. In front of Kenan, about thirty meters away, was a man. There was no doubt of it in Kindra’s mind. There was nothing else it could be. He was naked except for a loincloth. He was tall and muscular, and if Kindra’s mind wasn’t so consumed by everything else, she might have even found him handsome.
Kenan and the man looked at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Then the man raised his arms and yelled, a primal scream that chilled Kindra’s heart even through the mic pickups. Kenan’s calm voice came through next. “Sir, I’m looking right at someone, and they seem hostile. Permission to go weapons hot?”
Kindra couldn’t believe what she was hearing. There was no way a man in a loincloth was dangerous to Kenan.
Derreck’s voice, equally cool, answered. “Under no circumstances. Join up with me. We’re collecting the sample and going back to the dropship.”
Kenan acknowledged, but Kindra could hear the disappointment in his voice.
Then both Derreck and Kenan’s motion detectors came alive with hits all around them. Kindra couldn’t help but state the obvious.
“You two need to get out of there right now. You’re surrounded.”
Hunting was the pinnacle of experiences, in Tev’s opinion. All his worries and fears fell away as the hunt progressed. There was no place here for preoccupation. Every sense and every muscle had to be primed and focused. Anything less brought danger to your doorstep.
It had been a difficult hike, taking most of the day to get to the site of the previous encounter. It was unlike any battleground Tev had ever seen before. He slipped into a soft, focused state, gathering all the information he could.
The first sight that drew Tev’s attention was a felled tree. Tev had seen trees fall before, but trees only fell for one of two reasons: either their trunk snapped, or their roots pulled out of the ground. Neither was the case with this tree. The majority of the tree was almost a meter away from the rest of the trunk, but it looked as though the trunk had been blown out from the inside. Tev couldn’t even imagine what kind of forces had to be in play for something like this to happen.
His gaze wandered, and he saw other trees that bore signs of damage. There were both deep and shallow gouges, and some small holes that went straight through the trees. Tev studied the damage with a mounting sense of unease. The damage was certainly the result of some sort of high-powered projectile, but he was certain there was no weapon he knew of that could create it. Whatever they were tracking was far more dangerous than they were.
Tev joined the rest of the group in examining the trampled ground where the creature had once stood. Its markings were heavy and distinct and unlike anything Tev had ever seen. The prints were shaped almost like a foot, but far too large. Something was wrong about them, and it took Tev a few seconds to identify the discrepancy. There weren’t anything resembling toes. Every creature of size he knew had toes or claws to help stabilize themselves. How could the creature possibly manage to stand on two legs? It didn’t make any sense.
He kept his concerns to himself. Most of the other hunters were only concerned with tracking the creature, a simple task considering the depth of its prints. The sun was beginning to set, but there wasn’t any hesitation on the part of the group. They were confident the creature would be dead within the day, and the pursuit continued.
Tev followed the group, his eyes constantly scanning the ground for new signs. The creature, strong as it seemed to be, didn’t have any woodcraft to speak of. Tev and his fellow hunters didn’t even need to follow the tracks. The creature had left behind a disturbance even a child could follow with their eyes closed.
Tev considered the creature as they hiked. There were two possibilities in his mind. The first was that the creature was so strong it didn’t need to worry about hiding its presence. The idea seemed a little strange to Tev, but he supposed it could be true. But every animal he knew of protected itself, no matter how strong it was.
The other idea, slowly growing in certainty in his mind, was that the creature wasn’t from this area. It would explain the strangeness of the sign, and if there was any credence at all to the dream he’d had, perhaps that was what Lys had been hinting at.
The trail led upward until they broke through the tree line onto exposed rock. As easy as the trail had been to follow, it had still gone cold on them. Tev looked around. They were on top of a tall ridge, and it would take them some time to find the trail again. More importantly, the sun was going down. Begrudgingly, the others came to the same conclusion, and the advance halted for the day. They moved back into the edges of the woods for shelter and made camp for the night. When the sun rose again, they would track their quarry to the end.
Tev was up before the sun rose, as was his custom. He packed his gear onto his back and climbed back onto the ridge line. The rest of the camp wasn’t up yet, and there was no chance Tev would try to hunt this prey alone, but he thought perhaps he could learn more about his prey without the distractions of others. Tev hiked to the highest place on the ridge line and settled in for a moment to take in the sights and sounds of the forest.
Tev listened to the sound of the breeze drifting through the pine trees and the birds making their morning calls. A peace fell over his heart, and he breathed in the cool morning air. There was no place he would rather be.
As his attention wandered, he gradually realized something wasn’t as it should be. He had never been here before, but he had spent his entire life in the woods, and its ways had become his ways, and something was wrong. From a lifetime of experience, he didn’t try to focus on any one sense. If he did, he knew he would lose the feeling. Instead, he allowed his attention to wander, almost as though he were in a daze. His mind, of its own accord, settled on the disturbance.
The sun was rising to the east, and in that direction, the birds were not singing. Along with the unusual silence, there was something else. At the limit of his hearing, there was a sound he struggled to recognize. It sounded almost like a high pitched whine, but faint. He shook his head and listened again, turning his head from side to side to focus on the direction of the sound.
There could be no mistaking it. Something unnatural was happening to the east. Tev stood up, only to find a few other hunters had also woken up early and were hiking to the top of the ridge. He waved them over, and in a few moments, all of them agreed the sound wasn’t natural. The decision was made to wake the rest of the camp and follow Tev’s discovery.
Curiosity overrode Tev’s apprehensions, and he took the lead as the hunting party left their campsite. After hiking two kilometers, the sound became clear to everyone. It wasn’t constant, but rose and fell at random intervals. Tev had never heard anything like it before.
A new sign drew his attention, something else out of place in the world he understood, shifting it ever so slightly again towards one that embraced mystery. He gestured to show the others what he saw. In the ground was a hole, perfectly round. Tev took his spear and put it down the hole. It ended near the bottom of his spear, almost two meters deep. Tev knelt and examined it. It hadn’t been dug using any tool he could imagine. It was narrow, not much wider than his spear, but the edges were perfectly sharp.
Signs of the creature were everywhere, and as Tev took the time to stop and examine his surroundings, he realized there were more than one of them. There were two sets of prints, one on each side of the hole. The creatures must have worked together, Tev surmised. He studied the tracks. The shaping was almost identical, but one set of prints was a little larger than the other. Tev took note.
By the time he stood back up, many of the hunters had already moved on towards the sound of the noise. There was little doubt in anyone’s mind that they were approaching the creature, and they were prepared. Bo
ws had been strung and spears were in hand. They all crept forward, Xan in the lead, Tev far behind them all. Seeing the hole had raised his apprehensions once again.
From the moment he saw them, he was certain they were from a very long way away. There were two of them, just as he had guessed. His mind warred within him. At first glance, everything about them seemed so familiar; but at the same time, Tev had never seen anything like what he was looking at.
In so many ways they seemed just like him. They stood on two legs, using their hands as their primary way of interacting with the environment. But Xan’s description of them had been accurate. They were made of rock, or at the very least, a hard surface. Together, the two of them were working with something else, pointing it at the ground. They must be making another hole.
The creatures weren’t aware of the hunting party’s presence, and for a few minutes, uncertainty reigned. Although Xan had acted as the unofficial leader, no one had actually designated him. The group, faced with their prey for the first time, hesitated, waiting for someone to take the first action.
Tev used the time to study the creatures more carefully. They moved in the same way he did, but their actions lacked the grace Tev associated with hunters. He watched as they stopped using the tool. One of the creatures knelt to the ground, an action Tev thought was clumsy. Another object was placed where the first tool had been, and Tev saw something coming out of it, going into the ground. The creature stood back up and pulled at the object, and Tev watched in amazement as it pulled out a perfectly round section of the ground. The section was placed in a tube and lined up with several other tubes. Tev nodded. He didn’t understand what was happening, but he knew now where the holes came from.
The creatures grabbed the first machine and brought it back between them. Tev assumed they were going to make another hole. A hint of motion caught his eye, and he turned his head slowly. Xan was leading some of the hunters closer in.
Tev thought quickly, but he couldn’t convince himself to move in closer. These creatures were entirely outside of his experience. There wasn’t any hurry. The day was young and the creatures didn’t seem to be going anyplace soon. Far better to be informed than dead, in Tev’s own estimation. He stayed where he was, sheltered behind a large tree. He continued his study.
He examined the joints of the creatures. Many animals were vulnerable at the joints, and he wondered if that was true here. At first glance, it seemed like the creatures were entirely rock, but as Tev continued to watch, he saw hints that this wasn’t true. Over the joints the rock seemed different, and as he watched the creatures move their heads, he could see the material move. So they weren’t completely solid. Tev assumed if he was going to kill one of these creatures, it would have to be at one of these weak joints.
One of the creatures suddenly turned and looked into the woods, and Tev knew they had been spotted. He didn’t know how these creatures sensed the world around them, but one of them, at least, was suspicious. The suspicious one stood and started walking towards the area where Xan had led a party of hunters forward. Tev watched with fascination, unable to will his feet to move quite yet.
Xan and the other hunters flattened themselves against trees. Tev evaluated their positions quickly and approved. They should be well hidden and were downwind of the creatures. There wasn’t any more they could do.
The wind seemed to die down as the world held its breath. Tev watched as the creature stood at the edge of the clearing. Although he couldn’t be sure why, Tev was convinced the creature was just about to turn around and head back to its partner.
But then Xan stepped out from behind the tree and let out his hunter’s challenge. A part of Tev was impressed by the man’s ferocity, but he couldn’t help but think the other hunter had doomed them all.
Tev’s world exploded into action. One hunter who had taken position behind Xan broke from cover and drew an arrow to his cheek in one smooth motion. The hunter released, and Tev was impressed by his aim and skill. The arrow flew true, striking the creature. Tev watched, fascinated, as the arrow bounced right off the creature’s face. It confirmed his suspicions. If there was any weak point on these creatures, it was at their joints. The hunters’ weapons weren’t strong enough to do any other damage.
The other hunters didn’t come to the same conclusion. All of them broke cover and charged at the creature that had wandered to the edge of the woods. Tev stayed behind his tree. Unless it was necessary, he wasn’t planning on becoming prey for this creature.
The creature raised its arm and Tev flinched back. Xan’s story had been true so far, and Tev remembered that the creature had a weapon in its arm. But nothing happened to the charging hunters, and Tev couldn’t figure out why.
One hunter hurled a two-meter spear with all his might, and his aim was perfect. The spear hit the creature right in the chest, and Tev saw that it took a step back. Tev’s head twitched as he processed the information. The spear had a fair amount of force, but not all that much. If that was enough to make the creature lose its balance, it wasn’t as invulnerable as Tev had expected.
His heart stopped when he saw Neera in the pack of hunters charging the creature. He shouted for her to stop, but his voice was lost in the yells of dozens of hunters. Her passion overcame her reason, and he could see the bloodlust in her eyes. He almost left his tree, but couldn’t bring himself to join the charge. It wasn’t cowardice, he just didn’t think they had a chance. Not like this.
The hunters reached the creature unharmed and swarmed him with their knives, their attacks completely ineffectual against the hard skin. At first, it didn’t respond, as though it was unsure how to react. Tev had the fleeting impression it was like one of them trying to decide what to do about an annoying insect.
When it did react, the balance of the battle changed completely. With a few smooth motions it threw the hunters bodily away. They all rolled back to their feet, wary but unharmed.
Xan stepped in next, off to the side of the creature, where it shouldn’t be able to see. He raised his arm up above his head in an attempt to bring his knife down on the creature’s skull. But the creature turned before Xan could strike his blow. However it sensed the world around it, Tev saw it wasn’t safe to assume it had any blind spots.
Xan was still fast enough to bring his blade down with tremendous force. The knife struck the rock skull of the creature and broke apart. Tev wasn’t surprised, but all the same, he was disappointed. It had been an excellent strike.
Unfortunately, Xan paid the price for his attack. The creature lashed out with its arm, catching him full in the stomach. Xan doubled over as the impact of the punch knocked him backwards. He coughed up blood, and Tev wondered if his internal organs had been ruptured. He wasn’t dead, but he might be soon.
Xan’s sacrifice energized the rest of the hunters. Tev didn’t blame them, even though his rational mind kept his body in check. He could feel the fire in his blood, the anger at seeing a fellow hunter injured. The hunters attacked with a fury, knives and arrows and spears striking all over. None of them had any effect, but the creature was disoriented. The creature tried to swipe at any hunter who got too close, but they had learned their lesson. They darted in and out, striking quickly and then retreating before they were hit.
One of the hunters, a young male Tev hadn’t had the time to meet in person, snuck behind the creature and wrapped his body around one of the creature’s legs. Muscles straining with effort, the hunter lifted the leg of the creature, shifting its balance. The other hunters seized the opportunity without hesitation. In less time than it took to take a deep breath, at least five other hunters had tackled the creature, bringing it to the ground.
As soon as it fell, even more hunters leapt on top of the creature, stabbing at it with anything sharp they had in their hands. Tev couldn’t see if any of the strikes were doing any good. If there was a weakness to the creature, surely they would have found it by now.
Tev saw the second creature begin to
come to the aid of the first one. From his vantage point Tev tried to yell out a warning, but none of the combatants could hear him over the sounds of their struggle. He debated for a moment and cursed. He didn’t see that he had a choice. He couldn’t let the others take on both creatures without him, no matter how unwise the decision seemed. Tev tracked the second creature’s path and studied the terrain. The creature would pass near a rise in the ground about ten meters away from Tev’s location. It would have to do.
Tev sprinted from cover. As soon as he did, the creature turned his way. There wasn’t going to be any chance of sneaking up on it, but Tev didn’t lose his resolve. He got up to full speed in just three steps and launched himself from the small rise. With a yell, he struck out with both feet, driving all his weight into the creature’s head. The creature saw it coming and was already moving backwards, absorbing a small amount of the force before Tev could even strike. But despite the move, Tev still collided with the second creature with tremendous force, knocking it to the ground.
He landed on his side, taking a moment to catch his breath. He hadn’t been sure that would work. Tev got to his feet faster than the creature. He thought he heard the creature grunt, and he had the sudden impression he wasn’t seeing the creature as it actually was. What he had thought was skin was actually some sort of protective covering.
Tev didn’t have time to follow the thought to its conclusion. He was knocked forward a step by a concussive wave. Behind him, the first creature had done something that had dazed every hunter on top of it. With a few powerful moves, the creature flung the limp bodies away from itself, struggling back to its feet. Tev could hear bones snapping as several of the unconscious hunters landed without muscular support.
Those who still could rushed the first creature, and Tev saw that Neera was among them. But his attention was distracted by the movement of the creature in front of him. It was back on its feet. Tev drew his long knife, which seemed to give the creature pause. He took the moment to study his opponent. Its skin, or armor, or whatever it was, was different than that of the first creature. There were bigger joints, and if Tev was going to defeat the opponent, it was in those spots he would have to strike.
