One
There was a drift of wind that sounded almost like the cry of a baby. Almost but somewhat . . . unnatural. The call came up again for anyone around to hear. It echoed down the alley, misplaced, foreboding. Calling and pushing away simultaneously. The pack was hungry. Old Father was getting impatient but his family would abide by anything he said.
There was a soft grunt from second male. He had pups to feed and Old Father knew that. He couldn't let another pair of pups die and deteriorate the pack. A stable Family meant at least five mating pairs and all he had now were two mating pair excluding himself and Old Mother. Those two pups were the Family's future.
Second female whined and tapped her claws impatiently. The sun would rise in a few hours and not one poisoned soul had been found as of yet. The Family had traveled west to find out that there were none of their kind that had traveled this far. Old Father wanted a good city to live on and this one seemed good enough. Those wolves out near the mountains were just too pesky. They asked too many questions and in such an annoying and primitive way. Besides, the forest didn't have much in the way of food for them. Too much was being gambled out there. Here there was no line between territories.
Old Father nodded. He decided to quit for the night and go get the pups from the barn. Get them and bring them into the city. He slunk away down the street. Each shadow hid him and his Family perfectly. Everything was too busy for them to be noticed anyway.
Cassie walked downstairs in the dark, the slits of moonlight coming through the windows was the only light seen. She was restless and like always she went to the barn when she was like this. She slipped on some sandals and tied her robe tighter when she opened the door. She strode across the gravel driveway and was only seen by the stars and moon above, or that's what she hoped.
There was a ruffle in the brush near the fence row. She looked over, startled.
"Ax? Is that you?" she whispered.
There was no response. She thought it was maybe a raccoon or something in that way. They were always getting into her trash cans at night along with the skunks. She walked on to the barn and clicked on the single lightbulb above here. It swung back and forth slowly, revealing half the room at one time that the other half at another time. Shadow, light. Shadow, light.
She slowly walked further, running her hand on the side of the wall feeling for the next light switch. When she found the old black toggle switch she clicked it down-it had been placed in upside down by her dad accidentally. Three larger lights overhead flicked on one at a time. The very end one flickering insanely from a bulb almost gone out.
Half of the animals woke up and she noticed the wolves behind the barred pens were pacing back and forth, whining and sniffing, never noticing her arrival. They were at the end near the horror picturesque light. She looked behind her and grappled for the twenty-two rifle her father kept just in case.
She held it casually in one hand, by her side, finger on the trigger. She slowly walked to the end. The two wolves finally noticed her arrival and seemed to beckon her closer. A few yards away from the end of the barn the bulb started to flickered so rapidly it seemed as if it wasn't almost dead but instead in a brownout.
There was a whining from something other than the wolves. An unnatural sound but also young and so vulnerable. Something that seemed like it needed help so she walked faster and knelt down to look at two small animals.
They looked like wolf pups with cinnamon colored coats. The strange thing-the unnatural thing-was that they had a slight rise on their heads to make a forehead, their mouths had a small press that could had looked like stretched-out lips. When she picked up one, it laid perfectly still. Cassie held its small paw between her index and thumb and spread them. They had stubby fingers--not toes on paws but fingers--and if she could only had seen better she would have noticed fingerprints. It had two hands and two feet,-feet not exactly human looking feet--not four feet like you would classify a regular animal.
She picked up the other pup and cradled it in her other arm after tucking the rifle under her arm. She would put them in a cage for protection for the night then she would show her dad in the morning.
A horse whinnied softly and pawed the ground. Another horse tossed her head and pawed her feet.
There was a growl behind her. She spun around and slowly put down the two pups. They lolloped over to the bigger one hidden in the dark. A second after that the light flickered out after a flash of ultraviolet blue. All she saw now were two eyes shimmering gold and a soft silhouette of the animal moving out. She watched the eyes move as it came closer and stopped. It blinked. There was a clanking behind her but she didn't look back. She stared at the thing in front of her.
The horses became all too restless.
There was and electric zzztt behind her as the wires were yanked out and the other two lights went black, leaving Cassie feeling all alone except for her twenty-two. And of course, the animals. She raised the gun to her shoulder and watched the eyes back away. The only light now was coming from Tobias' usual perch in the rafters and the one dim lightbulb at the entrance. That light showed farther behind her.
A tight knot of fear bunched in her throat. Her breath became quick along with her rapid beating heart. Sweat started its bead on her forehead and the back of her neck. A tear of pure panic ran down her cheek.
She looked behind her but kept the rifle aimed in front of her. Two more pairs of golden eyes were staring at her, one from a high spot in the hayloft, the other to the side where the light switch was at. Sparks were sizzling next to the second, briefly showing the side of its face. The brown fur and solemn look it had sitting there. The flash from illuminating gold to the regular brown of regular wolf. But different. Different with intelligence.
A brown body seemed to flow over the square patch of blue-white light in front of her and then disappear. Right next to that spot it sat down and opened its eyes, the gold in its eyes reflecting from what little light was there.
Not thinking, Cassie swung the rifle over to face the more numerous crowd. Another pair of eyes sidled next to the first in the hayloft. Heart pounding. The first thought that crossed her mind was the Yeerks and a new host. The second thought was death.
WHAM! A large weight collided into her back. Teeth snapped dangerously close to hairs on her neck. Its claws dug into the flesh of her back. She screamed and as she fell the rifle shot off with no aim at all.
BAM! BAM! BAM! chinkchinkchink! The brass clattered on the floor.
There was chaos in the barn. Animals going haywire and a few escaping. The horses whinnied and bucked in their little space. The wolves and one coyote growled, barked, and howled.
She screamed and rolled over. Started beating the thing that jumped on her with her fists. Beat the thing that had already ripped her flesh once and was preparing to do it again. She felt more furry masses come in closer. None attacking, just watching. One jumped off of a watching perch near the entrance, knocking against the single light bulb.
The chain clinked against the glass as it swung back and forth. Each time slowing.
Shadowlight, shadowlight. Shadow, light, shadow, light.
Shadow. Light. Shadow. Light.
Shadow.
Cassie's cries were muffled.
Light.
Shadow . . .
Light . . .
A growl.
Light.
Zztt!
Black . . .
Ax was close to Cassie's barn. Close enough to hear her first cries and the gunshots. He ran to the edge of the forest, mind in a panic, hearts racing. He heard Cassie's mother scream and the beam of a flashlight washed across the walls. He saw two masses race pass a window.
Ax couldn't go up there to see what was going on because of his form so he sat there and watched in a tight knot of terror.
A light flicked on and he heard a clatter in side. A human whimper. And then a yell of furry.
The back door burst open and Cassie's father walked out with a shotgun in his grip. His grip covers in a thin bit of blood. He walked out casually, looking from side to side cautiously.
"Call an ambulance!" he yelled. After an unheard protest he yelled in a stricter tone, "GET INSIDE AND ON THE PHONE!"
Ax knew better than to stay around. He could just imagine being shot. Feel the hot shrapnel burst into his skin and burst out the other side. He shivered at the thought and trotted away. He would go get Tobias and they would tell everyone what went wrong. Tell them that Cassie was probably dead.
A ruffle in the bush.
He stopped dead in his tracks. He was far enough away from Cassie that it couldn't be her father.
Another rush from the opposite side.
Ax's stalk eyes swivelled around restlessly searching for where that sound came from. His tail blade rose high. He hadn't thought of whyCassie had been attacked and surely it was an attack. It couldn't be anything else other than that. He thought the Yeerks. That was the absolute first that popped into his mind.
A broken twig. The scary idea: an intentional break.
Six bodies lurked out of the bushes. They had circled him without him even noticing. The canopy hid their looks but didn't hide the recollection that they were there. They actually were there. A few showed a hint of eyes with a golden reflect in them. Other than that, Ax didn't see anything.
His prey impulses that were buried deep inside him bubbled up in his mind. His eyes slowly went wide, his stalk eyes moving everywhere, tail rose and blade twitched.
There was an intensional growl behind him, a single thought from Ax, all growled--
An insane rush!
They had speed that matched his tail. A pound against his feet. One after another. BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! Each one as dizzying as the other. None exactly knocking him down but stumbling him. Each one below him where his tail couldn't go without cutting himself.
A nip at his leg. Another and another. Each one gaining courage. All the while Ax was in an insane panic. If he reared up he was surely fall over. If he ran they would catch him and knock him down. If he morphed he would die within seconds.
It-this animal-was not any alien he had ever seen or heard of. It had to be Earthly. And what an incredible thing!
A bite! A painful, shearing feeling of teeth through flesh. A crunch of bone. Ax snapped out of it with the fear and pain. So disturbing. So gut wrenching. So-
He ran. Ax ran on what legs he had left, tail slashing back and forth behind him. Panting behind him. Growls behind him.
He knew he was going to die.
Two
There was the scream of an ambulance barrel down the street. Jake woke up from a light sleep and looked out the window. He watched it flash by and a truck follow close behind. That was strange. Usually nothing came from the east side with two exceptions. Twice it had come from out near the county line. One was a farming accident where a guy got his foot lopped off by a bush hog. The second was a four-wheeler incident where a kid got third degree burns by the motor and a broken leg.
He didn't really give it a second thought. He went back to the bed and laid down. He would try and get back to sleep but he didn't really look forward to the dreams.
Marco rode his skateboard down the street. Yeah. New hobby. He thought it might calm things a bit. He adjusted the headphone to his SONYWalkman and turned up the volume. It was an old rock station. Jake would say "What's with you, man? Slim Shady is just the bomb, okay? You don't listen to old guys strumming acoustics." Shit, Jake. Screw that. Who wants to listen to a white boy spitting out rap? Why not?! Why not, Jakey boy? It's just not natural that's it. Not freakin' natural.
He leaned his heal on the back of the board, raising the front and flipping the board around with ease. He turned up the volume and jammed with QUEEN. He was heading to the mall for a quick shake and a look around. The Yeerks were going low for a while. Erek couldn't get to any information and the only special things in The Sharing lately were a few BBQ parties and a highway clean up. It was just a bit weird if he said so himself.
He flipped the board again, came to a good point in the song and couldn't quit help himself. He air guitared because that was the psychotic he was. He had gone to a few extremes in his life and now. . . . Now it was just him, his skateboard, and QUEEN going down the street. Ignoring that curb and jumping over it. Ignoring the pole and swerving around it. Ignoring the construction site and listening to the now blaring Doobie Brothers.
He stopped at a hill. In front of him was the parking lot to the mall after crossing a street filled with cars in the middle of rush hour.
It's all downhill from here, he thought. My life, my friends, my future, my sanity. Nothing special. Nothing new.
Kansas played as he raced down that street and would attempt to weave through all those cars to the mall. He needed a rush. He thought that maybe if he survived this he may survive whatever else he may go through in the future. Yep. He was going out there. Waaay out there. This stunt was a bit over his head.
His heart pounded and the wind whipped through his hair. And he laughed to himself.
"I'd bet you would be just perfect for that," Rachel stated, pointing to an outfit in a shop window.
"No thank," Tobias said. "I don't think I'm up to it. Beside, your credit card is probably melted by now."
"I guess you're right," she said. She felt the three large bags in her hand, some bags with small bags in them.
Rachel and Tobias had gone shopping together. Just a little quality time for them because they didn't get many breaks in their lives as saviors to the world. They didn't think much about the war when they were like this. They just thought about each other and how great it was that they were actually still alive to enjoy each other's company.
Tobias looked up and scanned the faces of the crowd. He recognized one as Marco. He had a Dairy Queen cup close to his face and a skateboard tucked under one arm. He was looking in one of the Brookstone widows. Tobias pointed him out and they walked in to stand one on either side of him.
"You know, that hammock would be good between the two trees in my backyard," Marco pointed out, not looking up to actually identify them as friends.
"Yeah," Rachel said with a nod, "I guess it would. You know, it is a tad bit expensive."
"I know. That really bites. The metal frame has a price, the overhang has a separate price, the hammock, pillow, and blanket have themselves a different price," Marco said. He mad a long whistle. "Over priced by far."
"C'mon, Marco," Tobias said, putting an arm around his shoulder. "Don't tempt yourself."
"But I want that vibrator slash heater slash cooler slash nature makings sounds thing!" Marco protested, his head twisting over his shoulder to look at a man sitting in it.
Tobias silently laughed to himself.
"Too bad Ax isn't here. I'd have a good laugh seeing him try to get in that thing," Marco said.
"That's mean," Rachel defended.
"Sorry. So have you seen Ax lately?" Marco asked.
"No. Not lately," Tobias answered.
Jake picked up the phone and heard his brother talking on another line by accident.
"Yeah," Tom's voice said, "that would be great to have."
"Yeah. I was thinking little field trip to the Gardens would be nice for the Graders. The people at the Gardens said they would do it free," a less audible voice said.
"Hey, prick, get off the phone," Jake said jokingly into the phone.
"Got to let you go, Claire. My little brother wants on the phone. You know them . . ." Tom said to this Claire person.
"Yeah I do, well bye," Claire said.
"C'mon, lover boy. End the chitchat. I have an important call to make," Jake protested.
There was a click. "Alright, take it!" Tom yelled, agitated, on the phone and Jake heard another click.
"Good," Jake mumbled. He hung up the phone and picked it up again to get the dial tone.
Cassie didn't get to school that day and it worried Jake. Usually she called him when she had sick days just so he could know and not worry. No matter how sick she was feeling she would call him. This morning she didn't call and there was no word from the teacher when he asked(her parents always called in the school to tell them she was out sick when she was).
Jake dialed her number and put it up to his ear. After it rang a few times it clicked over to the answering machine. He hung up before the beep and stood there looking at the phone for a second. Then he picked it up and dialed again, this time a bit more worried.
The answering machine picked up again and he hung up. Something was wrong. That never happened.
He grabbed his backpack and started out the door to go over to her house. When his hand reached the doorknob-
BRRIIIIIINNNGGG!!
BRRIII-
"Hello? Hello?" Jake rambled. "Cassie?"
"Close," a hurt voice said. The connection was a bit scratchy like he was talking on a cell phone but he knew the voice clearly of Cassie's father, John.
"Something's wrong, isn't it?" Jake said, sweat beading on his forehead and his throat knotting up slightly.
"Yeah, I'm sorry to say," John answered. "Cassie was attacked last night. We don't know by what but she was rushed to the hospital. . . ." his voice died down toward the end of the sentence.
Jake fell against the wall and just couldn't contemplate it. "Is she alright?"
"We . . . we don't know yet. She's been in and out of surgery since very early this morning. I knew she would," John paused, "that she would have wanted me to call you . . . so I . . ."
"Yes, yes. I under . . . stand," Jake said with nods to himself for just a bit of reassurance. "I'll be over there right away."
". . . okay . . ." John said.
They hung up and Jake speed walked past the kitchen counter, grabbed some car keys, walked to the living room, and tossed them in Tom's lap. He was munching on Cheetos and watching something in the recliner. He looked up.
"What?" Tom asked.
"Your taking me somewhere now," Jake said strictly that reminded him how he ordered some of his friends around.
"And why?" Tom asked.
"Get your lousy ass off that chair! It happens that I have a friend in critical care at the Med and you're going to drive me there because I can't drive," Jake said pointing to his brother, the Controller, after mentioning Tom and then to himself.
Tom hadn't really seen a side of his brother like this and stared there for a moment in disbelief.
"Come ON!" Jake yelled.
"Okay, okay." Tom staggered out of his chair and grabbed the keys that dropped to the floor. "Let me get my shoes on."
Jake hurriedly wrote a note and stuck it on the refrigerator with a Bug Bunny magnet.
Jake half jogged, half ran down the hall of the hospitals. Hospitals. They just reeked of death. The smell of the hopefully-we-covered-up-the-carnage disinfectant. And they were always cold. Cold as death. One time in a hospital was just one time too many. To the right was a man lain up with a broken leg. To the left a man dying of cancer. Never a happy scene. They always made sure the equipment was out in the hall to just provoke you. An ER table here, an IV stand there.
He came to the right spot. Fifth floor, to your left, down the hall to your first right. A tight knot of fear was just grinding at his throat. The feeling of cold metal rolling in his stomach grew stronger and stronger with each jolt of a foot step. It seemed as if the hall were getting longer and longer with each one of those steps.
At the end of the hall were two aluminum doors. Leaning against one wall were Cassie's parents. Jake walked up to them.
"We can't go visit her yet. It's five minutes every hour and only five people in at a time," Cassie's mother, Alisha, said. She looked down at the floor and was lost in some distant thought. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen from tears. John was close to the same.
"Do you still have the cell phone with you?" Jake asked.
"Yes," John answered.
"Mind if I call some friends?" Jake asked.
Cassie's father reached to his back pocket and pulled out the small NEC phone. He handed it to Jake.
"Go ahead. It won't hurt anything," John said. "Wait. I forgot. You have to go outside to work one of those. They don't allow them on in hospitals."
"Why?" Jake looked up at John.
"I don't know. Something about messing with pacemakers. Use--"
There was a mechanical sound as the two doors jerked and then opened. A doctor walked out with a clipboard and looked at his watch casually. His eyes were bloodshot from hardly any rest. He had made two deliveries, one surgery, and had five patients in the Intensive Care Unit. Thirty-two hours he had been completely awake, dragged away from his wife on the last night of their honeymoon and placed in a place of screaming, dying, and sick people. He was taking a coffee break and no one was going to stop him.
Jake forgot about the calls and watched Alisha walk up to him. He stopped and looked at her as if saying "Please woman. I've had enough today."
"Dr. Peterson? Is there any good news about my daughter yet?" she asked.
Who? he thought. Oh, yes. That little black girl with the animal attack.
"She has no rabies from the attack and we were able to stitch her up. The rest is up to her now," Dr. Peterson answered and then he walked away without a "good bye" or "good luck." He just wanted to leave.
After that Jake watched six people wheel a person down to ICU. He was out cold with tubes galore inserted into him. Behind him was a group of five people, presumably his family.
Before they made it down the hall the man woke up in a complete daze. He looked around and saw the IV in his arm, felt the oxygen tube in his nose. In seconds he was screaming and struggling.
"Let me go! You don't understand! They're out there!" he yelled. "These g-g-green things wi-with big ol' blades 'n-n-n-n--"
"Son!" a woman yelled to Jake who was all to familiar with this scene. It made a tear come to his eye to see this man rant and rave. And then Cassie. "Son! Push that button there!" She signaled to the palm sized chrome button next to him.
He slammed his fist into it, felt the shearing pain from the punch he gave to get some of his anger out. The door jerked and then slid open.
"Give him a Valium a-sap!" the woman yelled. "Twenty cc's--"
She was cut off when the doors swung shut.
Three
Marco rode on his skateboard in the dark down the almost deserted sidewalk. He reached for the Walkman and turned up the radio to one of the all time best songs in the world.
Free Bird.
No, no. Not a song that you slow dance to. Way beyond that. You just don't dance to this song. It'd be an insult. Yeah, it may start out slow but you get to the dramatic end and you'll think otherwise. Hopefully or you're just stupid, he thought. Way stupid.
He flipped the board around. He was getting close to the construction site. The place a dying Andalite gave them the burden of saving an entire world. Gave them the curse that would one day totally rue their lives in one giant roller coaster plunge in the Chaos Theory.
He couldn't believe he actually believed in that but mathematicians could be damn smart sometimes. One moment he could seem so safe and the next WHOOOOSH! Straight down in the gutter.
He slid to a stop where the edge of the construction site began. He would go around. Of course he would go around. It would be insane to actually go back into that place. But he couldn't help but stare at that place. Just like some rock star would do when he came to the very spot he was discovered and most-when in the right mind-think man, where would I be right now if that hadn't happened? What would I be right now?
He pushed off on the board. Going faster and faster with every push as if trying to run away from his present. Do something impossible. But it helped. Feeling this rush and then thinking of something else helped a lot.
Fortunately he bought a cassette tape of Lynyrd Skynyrd so he pressed rewind and in that deathly silence of nothing and the darkness all around him except for the streetlight up ahead, he became scared. Terrified. He was alone. Totally alone.
Yeah, of course Cassie had Jake. Jake had Cassie. Rachel had Tobias and the other way around but what about him? He had no one to lean on when troubles got tough. Well, Jake was there. He was a best bud. But . . . but you can't be comforted by a guy. Sure if you're a girl. A guy can comfort a girl and the other way around but a guy comforting a guy? That just seemed gross to him. The only person he felt like he could cry with would be alone or with a highly trusted girl. Not a guy.
pop! It was totally rewound so he clicked play, wasn't satisfied with the song so he fast forwarded it to "Free Bird" again. Just a powerful song. He could forget then.
He past the orange tented streetlight and rode along the old boarded fence that separated the construction site from the street in most parts. Soon his speed increased and he didn't care about a thing. Just that he was alive and soon he doubted he wanted to be alive.
The music was blaring and he was paying attention to nothing. He closed his eyes and trusted to straight sidewalk.
FFWACK! Marco hit something and he flew off the board and tumbled over on the sidewalk. His chin, palms, and knees burned with a wild fire from the impact with the sidewalk. He cursed and whipped his hand over to grab the board.
Instead his hand slapped against something else. It touched coarse, warm fur and he freaked. His gazed snapped over a second after his hand hit and a second after his hand hit-he screamed as teeth sunk into flesh and intelligent brown eyes stared at him. All that was three seconds at maximum. Maximum. But that last second seemed for ever. The pain just stopped for that whole second and so did his brain.
In that one second he saw the mixture of blue and red on the muzzle. Red of human blood and blue of-blue of alien blood. And that was all he saw and that second passed.
"So how is she doing?" John asked the nurse.
Cassie was there in the large ICU room. Surrounding her were others close to death. The only thing that may separate any of them was a blue curtain. Just a small blue curtain that only blurs the vision. It doesn't hide the beeps of the heart monitors, the hoarse breathing of half corpses, the coughs, the moans, the flat lines, the ravings, the risk of staph, the risk of pneumonia in the lungs, the thought of death. The stench of death.
There was an IV attached to her arm feeding her morphine and then another feeding her blood. The blood transfusion wouldn't take too long and after that was done a bag of IV fluid would replace it. A hose blew pure oxygen in her nose. A bandage speckled in blood that had seeped through was wrapped around her neck. The others, unable to be seen at that moment, were wrapped around her stomach to cover the stitches on her back, around one shoulder and her chest, and then around her whole right arm.
Her breathing was slow and ragged and Jake watched her hang on to a very thin thread. He let a few tears run down his cheeks but only a few. He couldn't break down now. He had to be the leader-the warrior-he was and hang on until the right time.
"She lost half of the blood in her body and she's very lucky to have made it this far. We put stitches on her throat, back, shoulder, and arm," the nurse said, checking a few things on her chart and looking up at the rapid beeping heart monitor. "Luckily the punchers in the throat weren't too deep. They hit no main arteries but it still did some life threatening damage. What exactly attacked her?" the nurse asked.
"We don't know," Alisha answered.
"You run a Wildlife Rehab?" the nurse asked.
"Yes," Cassie's parents said simultaneously.
"Probably an escaped animal. Do you have any dangerous animals in there?" she asked.
"The only dangerous animals were two wolves and there was a coyote there but they don't attack humans," John answered. "And there was a lynx there too," he added.
"The report says a few animals escaped during this?" the nurse asked, looking at the police record of the scene that came with the chart.
"Yes," John answered. "A horse, a few of the birds-raptors and farm birds-, a wolf, and the lynx."
The nurse nodded and wrote on the chart. "The lynx," she said. "It was probably that, but there will be a detective come in with an animal expert to check on the wounds."
Tobias swooped down to his field. It was night, the moon was out with the stars shining. He had had a pretty good time with Rachel. The times he had to try on a few of the clothes weren't as enjoyable but they weren't horrible.
When he landed he heard the ruffled of feathers next to him. He jumped and fluttered to the end of the branch before looking over. When he did he saw an owl perched there next to the trunk. It was looking intently out at the field. It looked over Tobias with those large, expressionless, yellow eyes.
< They're out there. Some where. They're out there . . . > Ax's voice quavered.
< How long have you been in that morph Ax? > Tobias asked softly to his freaked friend.
< I can see everything from up here. They won't come after me again. > Ax looked to the field. < They're fast. Incredible. I couldn't run away. I couldn't fight. But they're down there somewhere. I'm safe up here. I'm safe. >
< Ax? Ax-man? What's wrong? > Tobias asked, voice rising and quickening with fear. < What happened? >
< They came after me . . . > Ax whispered, horrified. < I could have died. > He looked over at Tobias. < I almost died. >
< What?! Ax, Ax, tell me what happened? > Tobias screeched.
< They chased me. They circled me, They-they-they took my leg. They took my leg! > he yelled and then repeated everything he had been saying.
Tobias fluttered down to the ground while Ax rambled off thing quickly, quavery, and in a low whisper like he was talking to himself.
< Too fast, too fast. . . . Incredible. The teeth. Th-th-the eyes. Those eyes! Nonononono. . . . Couldn't be. Couldn't be. You couldn't believe it. Couldn't just believe it. Too many of them. Too fast. Too smart. . . . >
Ax noticed Tobias on the ground and morphing and he freaked.
< Tobias! NO! Nonono! Don't! > Ax yelled. < They'll get you! They hunt you and eat you down! Tobias! NO! >
Tobias didn't listen. He didn't want to morph Ax but he did. It was probably the only capable morph of handling such an animal that attacked Ax.
< No! Tobias, no! They'll get you just like they got Cassie! > Ax screeched.
Tobias was startled by the statement and his changing stopped in mid-morph. He looked behind him to Ax.
< What? > he whispered.
< Th-th-th-they'll get you just like ttthhhey got Cassie! Your blood will go everywhere and her dad will come out here and shoot me down because he'll think it's me. He had blood on his hands and he was going to hunt them down. > Ax rambled.
Ax was getting thoughts confused with reality with what he had just experienced a day earlier. The thought of being hunt down like a wild animal was much worse than fighting Visser Three. Visser Three didn't literally eat you alive. He didn't hunt you down to where you're panting and looking for a place to hide. But you couldn't hide from these. They could smell you. Smell your fear and your sweat. They were killers! Murderers! They teased you by just trotting behind you while you ran. By every once in a while running in front of your path and then going behind you. They did that for fun! It was fun! You don't hunt for fun! Not like that. Not like that. . . .
The Howlers weren't even that way. They used guns and they ran after you. They didn't stalk you like these-these things did. To know you were going to die by tooth and claw. Not a gun or a knife. Not for revenge or because they were your made enemy. Because you were food. You were a tasty looking piece of fresh, warm, steaming meat on legs that they thought belonged in their gullet. You were just a piece of meat. Not a hostage when they caught you. Not a quick death by Dracon beam or bullet. But a slow one. They wanted you alive and kicking. Alive and fresh when they would rip open your guts and feed on your intestines or liver or stomach. Live until you couldn't be alive any longer. He was going to watch himself get eaten alive. He was going to watch his shorm get eaten alive!
< Tobias don't!! Please don't!! They kill you and eat you! Then they will wait on me to come down . . . they'll wait for me and I'll stay up here and starve before they move! > Ax pleaded, screamed, begged.
Tobias' morph was complete and he looked around with those for eyes. There was nothing. No sound. No movement.
< Ax. There is nothing down here. > he said.
< No. That's what they want you to think. That's what they all want you to think. > Ax answered.
< How long have you been in that morph, Ax? > Tobias asked.
< Th-th-thirty-thrity minutes. > Ax stuttered.
< Okay. Let's fly over to Rachel's. It's safe over there. Don't worry. She won't harm you. > Tobias assured as he started to demorph.
< That's right. They can't fly. They can't fly. > Ax said.
Marco gasped and staggered down the street holding his hand tightly. His blood seeped through his fingers and seeped through his shirt where he got cut on the arm. He had to find a good place to morph and demorph.
In that one second an idea popped in his head that probably is what saved his life. He acquired the mangy dog-what he thought was a mangy dog-and it went into that trance. As long as his hand stayed on the dog would stay still. He had placed his other hand on the head of the dog and slowly pulled his other hand free. When he let go he ran and it seems as if it didn't chase him. Now all he needed was a safe place to morph and demorph so the wound would heal.
Old Father found an old broken sewer grate inside of an old abandoned building. It seems the sewer system was rerouted and it was bone dry in the place. The pups were placed in there and the second mating pair, the parents, took care of digging out a hollow. They were still working on it that night. The pups were gnawing on a bone with bits of blue flesh still attached. The black hoof had white tooth mark running all over it.
These pups would be the third mating pair's but for some reason the female was infertile so the second mating pair had to continue the line yet again. They pitied their son and daughter for not having pups and the pair pitied themselves with not being able to have pups either.
Third mating pair and Old Mother were sleeping in a corner in hollowed out ground. Old Father was studying the ground. It was at a slant and they would have to build some kind of barricade around the entrance or they would be paw deep in water when it rained.
The crumbling cement floor would be good. They didn't like that hard man made rock anyway. He soon started on the crescent shaped barricade around the entrance. First thing was first: get a comfortable living. It was best to have someplace to live when you have no food then have no food and no where to live.
Old Father was troubled though. That Youth that they attacked the day before was only to protect the pups. She was taking them away and second male got angry. An uncontrollable anger that would have started a fight if Old Father got involved. The Youth would surely die though with how second male tore her up. A "surely" turned into a "hopefully."
He wondered what that thing was in the forest. It looked like a man riding one of the human pachyderms from far away. When he came closer the form changed to some different creature. Second male was still angry and he wished to get that anger out. Old Father let him and thought that maybe this thing would bring good food if it was brought down but they weren't going to waist too much time on it because the pups were with them. The chase was soon abandoned after the thing started running too far.
Old Father rubbed the back of his paw over his muzzle to see if he could flake off some of the blood. Such a human action. All his thoughts had such a human quality, or such a sentient quality, that it scared the humans his Old Father was discovered by. Hopefully no human would discover their presence and he could build a nice prosperous Family like his Old Father had planned on doing.
That's all he wanted. Was to live. Such times as now humans noticed when someone was missing if they caught the wrong meal. Many, many years ago humans just didn't care all that much. Only a certain few would. Now there were harder times.
Four
It had been a week. Cassie was taken out of Intensive Care and put into a regular room. Her father left once every day to take care of the animals but he would not let any knew patients into the clinic until Cassie was home and that would be a while.
John was gone for the hour and all of the Animorphs were in for a visit. Cassie was still in her coma she had been going in and out of for the week. Ax was still shaken and Marco had told no one of his encounter because he thought it was only a dog. He wanted to keep thinking it was a dog too. Jake was sitting next to Cassie's bed and so was Rachel on the other side. Tobias, Marco, and Ax were close but they weren't sitting down.
"Let me get this straight," it was the first time Jake was calm enough to get Ax's story. "You were attacked by the same thing, Ax?"
"Yes, Prince Jake," Ax stepped closer so he could say anything else in a lower tone.
"What was it?"
"I do not know. It was so dark," Ax answered, "so dark" was said in a whisper and quavery.
"Tell me what you think it was," Jake said.
"It was extremely fast. It matched my tail blade. It's jaws were very powerful and its body very large. Other than that I have no clue as to what it could be," Ax said.
"How large?" Jake's eyes never wandered away from Cassie.
"Almost twice the size of a wolf. Although it was not a wolf."
"How many?"
"I-I-I do not recollect that detail, Prince Jake. It was a scene that I wish not to remember. It was a time that those details were not conclusive."
Jake sighed and sat there for a moment thinking of nothing but staring at Cassie. It was unbearable seeing her this way. Being so fragile and weak He had cried already with the help of Rachel. Cassie would be out of the Yeerk fighting for a very long while. She would have to heal naturally so there would be no suspicions from anyone. But he shouldn't be thinking about the Yeerks now. This was more important than the Yeerks.
"Maybe another Yeerk host of some kind," Rachel murmured.
"Maybe," Marco agreed. "Maybe."
"If it is, it is of a planet I do not now of," Ax said.
Rachel looked up at Ax but before she could say anything Cassie started to stir. She looked back to Cassie right when she opened her eyes at a squint.
"Cassie?" Jake said.
"What?" she answered hoarsely and then she touched her head.
Jake made a small smile.
"Did they . . . catch it?" Cassie asked in a low tone.
"Catch what?" Rachel asked softly.
"The animal? That . . . thing," Cassie answered.
"No," Jake answered.
"Well, if they do tell them not to kill it," Cassie said.
"What?" Rachel screeched. "It almost killed you!"
"It was only protecting the . . ." Cassie closed her eyes from the pounding in her head. " . . . the pups."
"Bull shit," Rachel hissed. "Was it an Earthly animal?"
"No. Nothing I have ever seen," Cassie said, her eyes were starting to open wider.
"Then that protects children is bull shit. It has to be the Yeerks. It's the only way," Rachel concluded.
"Then why didn't it attack all of us then?" Marco asked. "If they knew Cassie was a part of it then they would probably know we were all a part of it."
Ax nodded in agreement.
"This is just too weird," Tobias said.
"We've seen stranger things," Jake stated.
To him, this just didn't make sense at all. It seemed like just a regular animal attack but it just wasn't. The way they describe this thing-this attacker-was in a way that said it was something they had never seen before. Not even Ax--not assuming he was an all knowing being but as the smartest one in the whole group. This thing was something to ponder over and watch out for in the future but not something to hunt down. That would be impossible to hunt this thing down.
It had been a few weeks after Cassie was moved into a regular room. She was finally home but was off her feet most of the time. The attack was far from forgotten by Cassie and Ax. Cassie was now greatly disturbed when left alone in the dark and Ax would jump at any sound. He even moved his scoop closer to Tobias' tree thinking that if he was attacked again Tobias would know soon enough and come to his rescue.
Marco was continually going over his encounter with the dog. Each time he thought that maybe it was what attacked Cassie and Ax yet, each time he doubted it stronger at the end because he was afraid that it was true. He considered morphing this thing once or twice but each time he backed out. He was afraid of the truth. He was afraid that he had actually brushed that close to death and hadn't even realized it.
One night Jake went over to Cassie's. He stayed up with her that night and watched the Midnight Matinee movie along with the Late, Late, Late Movie. They ranked up with Ed Wood movies but it was fun to criticize them. It wasn't much in showing "I love you" but it was pretty much all poor Jake could muster. Cassie didn't push it either. He was there, she was there and that's all that mattered.
The Animorphs were settling back into their old routine again. The attack was never forgotten but just like everything else it was put away in a safe spot. A spot in the ninety percent of the human brain that's not ever used.
He nursed some Jack Daniels whisky wrapped in a paper sack. Thanks to a donator he was able to buy this body warmer for the night. "He" being an old broken down war veteran that was "down on his luck" as he heard Humphrey Bogart say once. He remembered all the good times he had with his wife, kids, that secretary . . .
Darkness blanketed the whole area and it was quiet. Dead still. Incredibly spooky. He squeezed himself in the corner of a broken down building. There were a few specks of blue/white moonlight peaking through few holes in the crumbling ceiling. And then there were holes in the walls big enough to where he could crawl through. Wasn't a very secure place, that's for sure.
He took a swig of the liquor and then laid it by his side, felt the potency with the dying brain cells and the way it made his body feel all warm inside.
Well, he thought, this is no way to live, really. I mean, get one meal a day if I'm lucky, get drunk every night that I have the stuff. Have this shit hole to live in. No family, house, HMO. Nothing. Totally nothing.
He pitied himself a lot. I mean, what else is there to do anyway? He had explained these things at least a dozen times to himself in a matter of minutes. Thought of his failures. Thought of his pain. His agony. And yet while he thought everything he could possibly imagine he didn't get off his ass and do something. He didn't try to get a job or go to a home for a while until he got back on his feet.
He slowly slid to his back to go to sleep after sipping another bit of whisky. He looked over.
Four spots of moonlight went black and then appeared again. He tensed. The same four spots went black once again. It did this one more time. He held his breath. What was going on?
The corner across from him was pitch black. He noticed that and he focused his sight on that spot thinking that whatever it was was going to come from there. When nothing happened a few moments after he relaxed. Half a second later when he was fully relaxed a pair of eyes reflected off of the moonlight. They were like golden pearls floating there in the dark.
Air suddenly sucked itself into his mouth and he laid there without one movement. His paralysis was setting in from this sudden change. The eyes swayed slightly back and forth as it moved closer to him. His mind was stricken in fear. In a frozen panic that wouldn't let go. He could do absolutely nothing.
The eyes stopped and raised up a notch as if the thing was raising its head. The eyes blinked, disappearing for only a second. He could now feel the presence of this thing in the room even though he couldn't see it. To the right of this thing a head emerged into one of the spots of light, underside of the head black, upperside a blue shade. The eyes reflected gold but the sockets were rimmed with black because his precious light was not there. The light that would have showed him these things was gone.
After this new one came from the shadows he suddenly was able to hear the breath coming from other bodies. He heard a few scrapings from paws and rocks being pushed aside. The head washed in light swung its head over to look to its left and then to its right. The head bent low and menacingly. It showed wicked teeth and then it lunged swiftly and silently.
And this homeless man died without one noise. He uttered no cry. He felt no pain. But he died and that little circle of life continued.
The attacker ripped open the man from navel to neck after getting past the jacket and shirt. He removed the unhealthy parts, the parts unfit to eat. The liver, one lung, and most of the intestinal track had to be tossed aside. Other than that this man was fit for eating.
The attacker ate first along with a female companion. Second in line were two youngsters. Third was all the rest of the pack, four others. After the meal, the strange pack stayed near the ripped open and more than halfway eaten corpse. They slept while moonlight flooded through the few holes in the crumbling roof. While dust continuously settled outside, all of it never really on the ground at the same time. While just a few yards away a few crack dealers were counting their money. While in an alley between the building they were in and another a bonfire was built and two other homeless people were staying for the night. And no one ever knew.
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