Crave - 15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

“Shit,” Merrick swore out loud, leaning back in his chair. “Are you sure? I don’t think anyone has seen a flauros in the flesh for hundreds of years.”

“I’m positive,” Jenson said, rubbing his temples. This mission had just become far more complicated than he’d ever anticipated. “What do you know about flauros?” he asked, leaning his forearms on the table in front of him.

“I know they came from the planet Ecera, and were said to be highly intelligent creatures, but extremely vicious when they kill. If I remember correctly, the name ‘flauros’ was given to them by the vampire elders, after a demon from human theology?”

“That’s correct,” the vampire acknowledged as he picked up his comm pad and handed it over to Merrick. “This contains all the information I have on them. You may want to read my notes, and pass the information on to the security team here and on the ship. I’ve never encountered one personally, but I have met vampires who have. I’ve also spoken to other species who‘ve encountered them. They are solitary hunters, but have been known to move in packs. They’re extremely territorial, and are relentless and cunning hunters.”

“They were used by some armies as weapons, from what I recall,” Merrick said, looking up at the vampire.

“Yes, they were,” Jenson agreed. “Not always successfully. Since they’re not particularly loyal, they would often turn on their handlers.”

Merrick whistled softly as he turned to a picture of a flauros. “Dangerous looking bastards,” he said, showing the picture to the vampire.

“Very dangerous,” Jenson replied.

“I thought they were extinct?” Merrick asked, looking down at the picture again. “In my father’s history lessons, he told me about a war between the Pellteks and the Zherians. The Zherians were losing badly, so they brought in a pack of flauros to cull the Pelltek forces. He said so many Pellteks were killed that when the war finally ended, they nearly destroyed Ecera to exterminate the entire species.”

“That’s true.” Jenson sighed. “Apparently a few survived.”

“Ok,” Merrick said, putting down the comm pad. “Let’s say we do have a flauros on our hands. How did it get on Alect-3?”

“It would have had to be brought here.”

“Do you think it’s alone?” Merrick asked, appearing deep in thought.

“No.” Needing to move, the vampire stood and started to pace. “The symbols in the trees were a signal of some sort. I’ve sent an image to someone I know who is probably one of the few experts on the species. He can at least tell us what the markings mean.”

“We need to take extra precautions to ensure everyone’s safety,” Merrick said as he touched his earpiece to call everyone, except the guards on patrol, to the office. After sending out the summons, he turned to the monitor beside him. “I’m video conferencing the crew on the ship,” he said without looking up from the screen. “You’ll need to tell everyone what you told me.”

Jenson moved restlessly in the cramped space as he waited for everyone to arrive. When both groups were settled, he took the comm pad from the table and projected the image of the flauros on to the monitors. Several people blanched when they saw the picture, including his sister. He wasn’t surprised, since her mentor was probably one of the last vampires to see a flauros in the flesh. From the stories Audra had been told, he was very lucky to have walked away with his life.

Merrick stood in front of the group and briefed them about the tracks he’d found, before turning the floor over to Jenson.

“I don’t know how much any of you know about flauros, so I’ll give you a brief rundown. Flauros are a highly intelligent, bipedal, feline-like creature from the planet Ecera . As you can see from the picture on the monitor, they have razor sharp and extremely deadly clawed hands and feet. They also have prehensile tails, which can be used to help them climb obstacles and grasp prey. They have a highly developed sense of smell, and have been known to track their targets from great distances. Although they are generally solitary hunters, they do also co-operate in groups. These animals aren’t native to Alect-3, so if a flauros is on this planet, they were transported here. By whom and for what purpose, we don’t know at this time.” Jenson stopped to let this information sink in for a moment. The vampire scientist raised his hand. “Yes, Dr. Julien?”

“I thought the flauros died out centuries ago?”

“That was the general assumption,” Jenson said, leaning against the table. “It appears some survived.”

“How big are these things?” Dr. Lewes asked, clearly agitated.

“The one we tracked is estimated to be 200 cm tall and over 95 kilograms,” Merrick answered.

“What does this mean for us… for this mission?” Audra asked, looking more determined than afraid.

“No one goes anywhere alone. We have motion sensing, night vision cameras placed all around the base, and the perimeter of the clearing. We also have drones augmenting the patrols. If anything moves out there, we’ll see it. They’ll be doing the same around the ship. I think we all have our suspicions about who brought these creatures here, but we don’t know their numbers at this point. Everyone needs to stay sharp and not take any unnecessary risks,” Merrick said before dismissing the shaken-up group of people.

“I’m going to message my father,” Jenson said to Merrick as soon as they were alone. “You should contact Perrault and Akachi so they know what they might be facing out there.”

Merrick agreed and exited the office, leaving Jenson alone to contact Connor Shey. Jenson explained the situation to him, and after some initial resistance to his children continuing the mission, the senior Shey agreed to call a meeting of council immediately. He promised to arrange for more security officers and supplies, although they would take a week to arrive.

The entire camp was tense for the rest of the day. The scientists were told they could run their water and soil testing, but the collection of core samples would have to wait until the additional security arrived. Short scouting missions would still be carried out, accompanied by an armed guard. The new arrangements meant some delays, but no one complained.

Jenson was assigned to bunk with Merrick, Audra, and Dr. Lewes, the older human scientist. The doctor had tried to protest the arrangement, but Audra quickly shot down his arguments, stating that she was used to having to share accommodations with her crew. Dr. Forbes also appeared unhappy with the arrangement, but he stayed wisely silent.

Everyone, with the exception of the three scientists, was added to the watch schedule. Jenson was scheduled for 0400, so he turned in early for the night. It took the vampire a long time to fall asleep. The scent of Merrick’s blood drifted across the room to him. The sweet and spicy aroma made his whole body ache with need. He’d never wanted anyone as badly as he wanted Merrick… not even Kel. As he listened to the slow and steady breathing of his sleeping bunkmates, his mind wandered back to the conversation he had with his sister earlier in the evening.

“I don’t understand, Jens,” she said quietly, picking up a sparkling pebble and throwing it into the water. “He loves you… and I know you love him. Why do you keep pushing him away?”

“It’s not that simple, Audra,” he said defensively. They had walked along the lakeshore until they were out of range to be overheard by anyone in the camp. “You know how I felt about Kel….”

“I know, Jens,” she said softly, putting her hand on his arm. “But he wasn’t your Kel for a long time. I know you loved him, but can you honestly say you were still in love with him?”

Jenson felt the sting of tears forming in his eyes. “I…,” he couldn’t get the words past the lump in his throat.

“It would be understandable if you weren’t, Jenson.” Audra squeezed his arm gently and pulled him down to sit with her. “Do you think Kel would’ve wanted you to punish yourself for this long?”

Jenson stared at the water, thinking back to the happy, smiling face of his lover. Kel had always been so vibrant and full of life.

“You weren’t to blame for what happened, Jenson.” Audra’s voice was strained with emotion.

“It was MY blood that destroyed him, Audra! Mine.” Jenson only just managed to keep his voice down to an angry whisper.

“You didn’t know what was going to happen.” Audra put her hands on either side of his face, making him look her in the eye. “How could you have known? It. Was. Not. Your. Fault.”

“I should have….”

“No, Jenson,” Audra said, cutting him off with a snarl. “There was no way you could have known how your blood would react with Kel’s. No one did. Even the doctors took years to figure out why it happened. You have to stop hiding behind this guilt. You’re not being fair to Kel by using his memory to keep yourself from living. He would never have wanted that, Jens. You knew him better than anyone. Would he have wanted you to be alone?”

“No,” Jenson said quietly. He turned and looked towards the camp as Merrick walked out of the office building. As if sensing someone watching him, the younger man turned and looked directly at Jenson, raising his hand in a wave. “No, he wouldn’t.”

Jenson suppressed a sigh, and tried to find a comfortable position in his bunk. He knew Audra was right; Kel would have been the first person to kick his ass if he saw him now. He knew it was time to start letting go… except he wasn’t sure how. As he felt the pull of sleep finally dragging him down, his last thoughts were of Merrick… his Merrick.

He had no idea how long he slept before he was startled awake by the sound of the perimeter alarms. Leaping out of his bunk, he quickly pulled on his clothes, seeing Audra and Merrick doing the same out of the corner of his eye. The doctor sat in his bunk looking disoriented.

“What’s going on?” The man’s voice sounded shaky with fear.

“Perimeter alarm,” Merrick answered before rushing out of the tent with Jenson and Audra right behind him.

“What’s the situation?” Merrick demanded as he approached Officer Perreault.

“Something set off the perimeter alarm in the southeast quadrant,” the man said, turning to walk beside them.

“Could it be something local?” Jenson asked, pulling on his earpiece. Immediately the chatter of the guards sounded in his ear.

“No, it was something larger than the….” Before he finished speaking the perimeter alarms sounded again.

“We have movement in the northwest quadrant,” a voice said over the earpiece.

On Merrick’s orders, Perrault and Akachi headed south, their weapons ready as they ran. After telling Audra to stay and guard the base in case anything made it through, Jenson and Merrick stopped long enough to grab weapons out of the supply truck before heading north. As they ran, Merrick called for situation updates.

“We’re on its trail,” Akachi answered. “It’s heading towards a ravine.” Another burst of gunfire could be heard over the comms.

“I have one in the trees just past the perimeter, sir,” Harwick whispered.

“Harwick, we’re on our way to you.”

“Copy that,” he said, before swearing. “Shit, it’s on the move again.”

When they finally caught up to Lieutenant Harwick, a large form rushed past them, several metres ahead. They immediately set off in pursuit. Jenson heard rustling in the branches to his left and altered his course, telling Merrick and Harwick to stay with their target. He followed the sounds of creaking branches and shaking leaves for a few minutes before the noise stopped completely. The fleshy leaves were hard to see through during daylight hours, and the darkness of night made the task nearly impossible. Even the light clipped to his gun wouldn’t penetrate the foliage. The only sounds he could hear were his own breathing and the distant sound of Merrick and Harwick to his right. He searched the area for several minutes, stopping often to listen for sounds of movement.

“This one managed to give me the slip,” he said quietly into his mic. “What’s your status?”

“We tracked it approximately one kilometer north of the lake,” Merrick answered. “It’s too dark to see anything in this damned forest. I think we should… motherfucker!”

A blood-curdling scream tore through the night before it was cut off abruptly. Gunfire erupted to Jenson’s right. He immediately turned north, trying to raise Merrick on the comm. His heart was thundering in his chest. As quickly as it started, the shooting stopped. The vampire approached cautiously, turning off his light, so he could approach under the cover of darkness. The trees thinned ahead of him, and he saw a figure crouched over something lying on the ground. The figure moved so Jenson could see his profile… Merrick. Thank the Lord. Jenson broke cover and hurried over to the younger man.

“Merrick,” he whispered as he approached. The younger man turned to him. He was covered in blood. “Are you ok?” Looking down he saw Harwick. The young officer was eviscerated from his lower abdomen to his neck. “Fuck. What the hell happened?”

“The fucker came out of the trees, right on top of us. I got a couple of shots off before it took off back into the woods. I’m pretty sure I hit it.” Merrick’s voice was hard and angry.

“Are you ok?” Jenson reached up and touched the blood on Merrick’s cheek.

“I’m fine. It’s not mine,” Merrick said, wiping off the blood with his sleeve. “It took off before it could touch me.”

Jenson stood and turned on his light so he could examine the ground in the immediate area. He stopped when the light caught something on the ground. Kneeling to get a closer look, he saw a pool of bright green fluid dampening the soil. “I think you’re right,” he said, calling Merrick over. “You hit it.”

“Commander Weir? Envoy Shey?” Jenson’s comm crackled to life.

“Weir here,” Merrick answered. “What have you got?”

“We’ve neutralized the target in the ravine,” Akachi said, sounding out of breathe. “We’re bringing it back to base.”

“Copy that,” Merrick said, before looking back to where Harwick lay in an expanding pool of his own blood. “We have one man down. Have Lieutenant Jones head out with the hover board.”

“Should I send him with the med kit?”

“That won’t be necessary.” Merrick sighed.

“Yes, sir,” the officer said quietly before signing off.

“We didn’t even see the fucker,” Merrick said in a growl as he picked up the dead officer’s gun and put it in his thigh holster. “It just dropped out of the trees and tore into Harwick. He was dead before I got a shot off. We’re going to need a hell of a lot more than motion sensing cameras against these bastards.”

“What are you thinking?” Jenson asked, holstering his gun and picking up Harwick’s body. The trees were too dense in the forest, so the officer would have to be carried out. It was dark, but the vampire had removed the light from his gun so he could illuminate the path ahead of him. Merrick took up a position behind the older man, guarding his back.

“I need to know what kind of weapons your sister has on her ship. I don’t want anyone unarmed... even the docs. And we need to know how many of these fuckers are out there,” he said as he scanned the forest. “I don’t want to lose anyone else.”

Jenson agreed, but when he looked down at the bloodied face of the young man in his arms, the only thing he felt was relief that he wasn’t carrying Merrick’s body instead.