by Brian
“At this point all I can do is hypothesize. His brain is obviously evolved to do different things than ours.”
›
The creature is in front of the door of the cold examination room. It cannot see in the window, though light spills into the dimly lit hallway. She hears muffled human voices. Her hand goes up to the doorknob and turns it slowly. She opens the door with all the caution and care she and her kind can muster.
›
“Those two extra sections of the brain may have to do with their hunting of humans,” says June. “I’d hate to call it more evolved than the brain we have, but it is certainly differently evolved and highly so.”
“I suppose you’d really have to call them quadrispheres then, wouldn’t you?”
›
The Maero stands in the doorway and lets the door close slowly behind her. She takes in what she sees. She sees two humans sitting in front of two bright computer monitors and a dead Maero on an exam table sticking halfway out of a machine. Instinct generally told her not to attack more than one person, but seeing the dead Maero - perhaps her missing mate - she disregards caution and moves steadily toward the two people. Her breathing becomes louder, more unsteady. Her bare human-looking feet do not make a sound on the tile floor. The mechanical drone of the computers and MRI unit are loud enough to mask the sound of her near hyperventilation. She is closer to them . . . closer. Almost close enough to launch into an unstoppable attack.
Suddenly, something makes the human female look up.
›
June looks up and sees the creature. She screams. The creature launches itself toward her. Linus tackles June to the floor, underneath the leaping Maero. The creature is airborne when Linus and June hit the ground, so that she crashes into the table on which the monitors sit, jarring them enough so that one of them falls very near the creature where she lands.
She rolls away from the danger, out toward the middle of the room. The room is somewhat darker now that one monitor is wrecked.
June and Linus are scrambling to put distance between them and the creature, but the way they have gone and the way that the creature recovers leaves her between the door and them. The best they can do for the moment is to get behind an examination table.
The creature rises from the squat she had been in and looks at the two humans and then over at the dead Maero. She looks at Linus as if he has said something and he returns only a confident defensive stance, knowing that if it comes down to a strength against strength battle that he has the edge over the smaller creature. The creature looks back at the dead Maero.
Linus is looking at the creature and at the same time remembering the scene in Argentina where he killed the creature that now lies on the table in this room. He remembers the darkness and the dampness of the grasslands and his struggle with the Maero as he launches it over his head with a strong kick to the groin. His hand holds onto the lance arm. He is on top and soon has the creature’s head in his arms. He breaks its neck and it dies in his tired arms.
The creature looks at Linus with clear malevolence. She projects a picture to Linus’s mind of her standing over two dead humans, blood dripping from her lance.
In the examination room he speaks under his breath to June. “She’s reading my memories. She knows I killed her friend here,” says Linus at a normal volume. He gets angry as well. “Come on baby. I’ve fought prisoners twice as scary and three times bigger than you. And don’t forget what I did to your friend.”
The Maero seems just about ready to leap at Linus, it is so trembling with rage. Suddenly, there is barking outside the door. The two humans look and the creature as well. June brightens. The creature seems momentarily confused.
“Falstaff!” shouts June. “Thank God! We have to let him in, we could use his help.”
Linus points at the Maero which stands between them and the door. “I don’t think she’s going to let us get near the door.”
Falstaff’s barking continues raising the pressure level in the room, and disconcerting the Maero.
“Okay,” says Linus quietly to June. “We have to both make our way to the door. You behind me, I’ll shield you and when she’s busy with me, let the dog in.”
June doesn’t like this plan. She shakes her head. “You’re not going to sacrifice yourself for me.”
“If we stand here, she’ll kill us both.” Rather than wait he puts her behind him and starts moving sideways toward the door, toward the dog’s constant, worried barking. To avoid the Maero, their path toward the door traces a crescent shape.
Rather than attack, the Maero runs quickly to block the door, cutting them off from their would-be rescuer.
“Ah, shucks!”
“What now?” asks June.
“Shhh,” says Linus quietly. “Let me try something. I have to clear my mind.”
Linus is staring at the creature now. He mostly looks it in the eyes, but he also appraises her from top to bottom. He looks without thought at its hands, feet, stomach, its legs, arms, its ears and again its face. The barking continues. June stands behind Linus wondering what’s going to happen next.
The Maero is uncomfortable. She is unable to read Linus’s mind and the nearby dog won’t be quiet. She fears Linus now because she doesn’t know what he is thinking. She begins to look nervously around the room for an escape, but there’s no other way out than through the door and past the dog.
After what seems like a long time to June, something happens. The creature had been looking nervously away when suddenly Linus dives toward it. His hands are aimed low. Before the creature can react, Linus has two ankles in his hands. Unfortunately, this leaves the creature’s hands free and although she has fallen from the force of Linus’s dive so that she ends up lying on his back, she stabs him in the back with her lance.
June, seeing the stab, screams, “Nooooo!”
She rushes forward and kicks the creature hard in the head. The Maero groans from the force of the blow and she dazedly stabs the lance into Linus’ back again. He screams in pain.
June is sent into a frenzy at seeing the Maero stab Linus again. She kicks the head again, kicks the creature’s back and then reaches down for the now limp lance arm and bends it back behind the creature, its lance still extended, struggling to break it and leave the Maero defenseless. Changing her mind, she drags the creature off of Linus. She hears him grunt as the creature’s foot is dragged across the last stab wound. The sound of Linus’s pain redoubles her determination. Once she has the half-conscious creature lying on the floor near Linus, with both hands she guides the creature’s arm toward its chest. Realizing through its stupor that she is going to stab it with its own lance, the creature makes an effort to retract it. But June is squeezing those retractive muscles in the creature’s arm too tightly. The Maero tries to gather strength against the stronger woman’s push. She tries to bang her head into June’s, but only connects with June’s chest. This causes June a moment of pain but she recovers quickly.
June is determined to kill this creature. The Maero’s free arm is hitting June and its feet are flailing with little effect. Then it is using its free arm to prevent June’s pushing. Finally, with a shove using all of her weight, June’s strength overcomes the Maero’s and the lance bites the flesh in the center of the creature’s chest, causing it to scream in pain and blood to come pouring out in a thin stream. The creature’s blood stains June’s T-shirt.
When she is certain that the still animal is dead, its eyes open and pain its last expression, she rolls off of the beast toward Linus. He is still on his stomach as blood stains two spots on his shirt. She pulls up his shirt and puts her thumb on the one that’s bleeding more heavily.
“Linus, are you okay?”
His arms are still out in front of him and June slaps his face lightly. He is almost unconscious. He says something which is barely audible over Falstaff’s continued barking, “Put out the dog, Mom. He wants to go out…”
June smiles in spite
of her dread that she has just heard Linus’s last words on Earth. A tear runs down her face as she runs her free hand through the prison guard’s hair. Then she gets up momentarily leaving him while she opens the door for the barking dog.
Chapter 12
Professor Jay Miele and Dr. June Dituro are dressed for a warm summer day as they sit at a patio table in June’s backyard. The barbecue is smoking and they have lemonade, potato salad, BBQ sauce, beer, and potato chips on the patio table. June’s left hand is on her glass. She looks at the diamond ring on her left hand and becomes lost in thought.
Falstaff is on one corner of the wooden deck, taking a nap.
“You know it occurred to me today,” says Jay, “that maybe the reason that the Maero never really gained a foothold against man, in fact was destined to lose, is because of man’s best friend there.” He points to the sleeping hound.
June looks up at Jay, out of her daydream and answers him. “But we’ve suggested through the media that everyone should get a dog if they want to feel protected from the Maero. We have known for a while how useful the dogs are at deterring the creatures.”
“What I mean is that it may be that our very friendship with dogs has been brought about because we sought their protection from the Maero. Who knows what the situation would be had this partnership not come about.”
June is about to agree when the patio door slides open and through it walks a large man and a woman with curly blond hair.
“Any food left for us?” he says.
“There’s the college boy,” says Jay. “Thanks for picking up my pretty wife!”
“That’s no problem,” says Linus smiling at June. “She likes to hear the stories of our undergraduate years.”
“Yes,” says Janice to Jay. “He’s painting a pretty picture I must say.”
“He’s a huge exaggerator, Honey,” says Jay to his wife Janice.
Linus goes to June who extends her left hand as he approaches. He kisses it and then bends down and kisses June’s lips. Her mood is visibly brighter. She’d been waiting for Linus.
“Hi, Darling,” says Linus. “I thought about you all through macro biological systems class today.”
He kisses her again. She smiles with infatuation. “Did you? You’d better be careful, Honey. I thought you could clear your mind whenever you wanted to.”
Linus smiles. “I’m okay. The professor here will let me know if my grades start slipping.” He stands up straight. “How’re the steaks coming?”
“Should be done soon,” says June.
Linus sets a couple of biology books on the table and walks over to the grill. He opens it and smells even though the air is heavily laden with the aroma of fine steaks. “That Arroyos is a pretty good guy. These steaks he sent us from Argentina must have cost him a fortune.”
“His way of thanking you for helping them get rid of two poco diablos,” June answers.
“I didn’t have much to do with him catching the second one.”
“Maybe not directly,” says Jay, “but the world learned a lot about the Maero thanks to you getting stabbed twice and living through it.”
“Happy to help,” says Linus wryly. “But it’s not so miraculous considering it didn’t stab me where it usually stabs its victims.”
“I thought that was why you tackled it the way you did,” replies Jay, “so you wouldn’t be stabbed in the lungs?”
Linus nods his head. “It’s something I wouldn’t have thought of had I not cleared my mind. And as soon as it occurred to me I had to dive at its ankles before it read my mind and figured out what I was doing. It all could have gone very wrong.”
Jay shakes his head, “Pretty brave to subject yourself to its lance like that when most people who do so die. You’re lucky that the toxin only activates in lung tissue.”
“Well, the terminator here was supposed to let the dog in,” Linus says, massaging June’s neck. “Lucky for me she stayed and killed the Maero before it found my lungs through my back.”
“I did it for purely selfish reasons, Señor Hather,” June says. “The point is, we wouldn’t have known about the poison coating its lance unless you’d been stabbed and lived.”
“I’d just as soon not go through the ordeal again. But these steaks are a nice reward.”
They all chuckle. Linus smiles and gives a friendly pat on his friend Jay’s back who is sitting next to Janice.
“Heck, I don’t need steaks. The best thing I got out of this whole Maero situation, my real reward, is the three of you, and especially my fiancé.”
A tear gathers in June’s eyes and rolls down her cheek and Jay replies, “Same for us buddy.”
Linus sits down next to June and holds her hands while looking into her eyes. “We’re going to have the best wedding you’ve ever had.”
June smiles and after a moment whacks him in the arm. “Heeyy! I haven’t had any weddings.”
Jay, Janice, and Linus laugh. “Oops, did I say ‘had’, I meant ‘seen’. The best you’ve ever seen.”
June smiles. “Whatever it looks like, wherever it is, as long as it’s you I’m marrying, it’ll be the best wedding and the best marriage.”
She grabs Linus in a bear hug and squeezes him from behind as they sit. Janice scoots closer to Jay and puts her head on his shoulder in response to Linus and June’s romantic display.
After a few moments, Jay gets up with a large plate and goes to retrieve the meat from the grill. Linus and June then kiss each other for a long moment and then Linus gets up to help his friend retrieve the meat from the barbecue. The dog walks over to June and gladly accepts some scratching behind his ears.
›
The light of predawn is starting to bathe an old Hindu temple in Bhopal, India in the first red rays of light. Something watches the temple from about one hundred feet away and from a position near the ground. The water of a nearby river laps against the shore. Up at the top of the many stone steps leading to the temple, a monk appears in the doorway. From this distance he appears to be drinking in the beauty of the day. He takes the first step down the long stairway.
The Maero takes a deep, calming breath and waits.
The End
END NOTE
The lemur in this story is portrayed in a fictional manner and in no way represents how a lemur might act in an actual human home. Besides being illegal to own in many states, they are a lot of trouble to own. I would suggest adopting a shelter cat or dog, which can be a very loving companion. At the very least, research the logistics of owning any animal before you buy or adopt one, especially an exotic animal.
Ring-tailed Lemur - Photo by Alex Dunkel
Midnight - photo by erin holmes
About the Author
Brian M. Holmes graduated from Northern Michigan University in the frigid Upper Peninsula of Michigan. That summer he began writing local sports for a penny shopper newspaper. Since then, Mr. Holmes has lived in New Jersey molding text as a proofreader, copy editor, editor, and educational and technical writer. He has worked on mass market fiction and nonfiction as well as technical and K-12 educational content. He also runs an editing and proofreading website called GradeAedits.com.
Holmes published a poetry journal called The New Jersey Review of Literature, acting as co-editor, publisher, marketer, and distributor. He and his wife, Min, also published two photo books, New Jersey 9/11 Memorials and The National 9/11 Memorials. He is an avid photographer, history buff, political observer, bowler, blogger, techie and Trekkie. He also enjoys reading on his Kindle Fire.
BrianMHolmes.com for more information.
@writebhback on Twitter.
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