2199 Extinction
Let's Track Them

After a few hours of careful searching, we are led to believe that everyone did indeed survive the crash. Either that or they didn’t make it to the safety zone. But with the doors found wide open, I must believe that some of them actually made it out of there, alive. I also must believe that one of them was mother. Until we replace them, I won’t know anything for sure.

“How do we replace them, now?” I ask, walking back to the door.

“We track them the old-fashioned, nontechnological way.” She responds, walking outside and looking down.

“Which is?”

“Footprints.” She answers, pointing down. “The ground is wet, so tracking them will be easy. Besides, they aren’t counting on being followed, so I doubt they try to hide their tracks.”

Footprints. Of course. One of the most basic things you learn in the Copaie military is tracking. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. We follow their footprints for a while, until we replace ourselves in a swamp. It’s as if someone flipped a switch and turned on a fan. The fog is a lot thinner here, more like a mist. I am able to make out pools of water, everywhere, like early morning back home. Though, something tells me whatever lays in the depths of these pools, isn’t cute little frogs. I’m not sure why, but I get the feeling below the water’s surface is a whole other world. A world I would not survive, if I fell in.

Hm. I wonder. I think I’m going to test that theory. See if it’s really dangerous or if it’s just me being paranoid. Of course, the life underwater, if there is any, could be intelligent and not easily goaded to show itself. I’ll just have to hope whatever lives down there is stupid. Because I’m becoming more and more convinced that something does live down there. All of these animal sounds that surround me, and yet, I don’t see of them going near the water.

I don’t even see any aquatic life breaking the water’s surface. It’s all just too, I don’t know, peaceful? I scout around for just the right thing. I bend over, picking things up and dropping them back down again. Stick? No. Leaf? No. Vine? No. Rock? Yes, that might work. I pick up a stone the size of my fist and try to judge it’s weight. Yeah, this should be heavy enough to do the trick.

“Vos? What are you doing?” Amancia asks.

“I have a feeling, and I want to see if I’m right.” I say, throwing the rock into the large nearby pool of water.

No sooner has the rock touched the surface of the water, when I see a large mouth full of teeth. The mouth swallows the rock and disappears again, so fast that I can’t make out much about it. I can tell that it’s large, it has sharp teeth, and seems to eat anything that touches the surface of the water. Other than that I’m out; I can’t even tell if it had scales, skin, or fur.

“Thirsty?” Amancia asks, from right beside me.

“Not funny, Amancia.” I say, shifting the weight of the backpack.

“We each have two gallons of water, in our packs. We are good. Now come on. I want to catch up with them, before something catches up with us.” She says, turning and walking away.

We walk a few more hours and then I stop. “Did you hear that?” I ask.

“Hear what? I didn’t hear anything other than the same noises we have heard since we entered the swamp. The same bird calls, the same animal howls.” Amancia says.

“It sounded like…I don’t know. Some kind of creature shrieking. And then I swear I heard screaming. Listen.”

Amancia stops and listens, after a few moments she shakes her head and starts walking again. “I still don’t hear anything.”

“I don’t hear anything now, but I swear that I did a few moments ago.” I say, pausing a moment longer before following behind her.

It doesn’t take long for us to replace out that I was right, there was screaming. Had to have been screaming. Although I don’t hear the screaming anymore, I have to shove my fist in my mouth to prevent myself from screaming. I don’t want to draw any unwanted attention. And right now, all attention from the local wildlife is unwanted. Ahead of us is a clearing. Well, what used to be a clearing.Now it’s a mess of paper, blood, and body parts.

Five, giant, winged bodies lie scattered across the clearing. Five giant heads lay separated from those bodies. It looks like some kind of fight broke out. Either the Talfarians stumbled onto these creatures, or the creatures stumbled onto them. There is a lot of carnage, but not enough to cover these large beasts. The blood must be from the Talfarians.

My face must pale because Amancia speaks up. “I doubt it’s from your mother. Knowing the Talfarians, the people circled around her, to keep her safe. The blood probably belongs to them.”

“I hope so.” I whisper. I know it sounds awful, but I really hope the blood belongs to one of the others. I wouldn’t wish this kind of mess on anyone, not even Malum. But I don’t want mother to be the injured one. I walk over to the nearest head and lightly kick it with my foot. Small horns, the size of my smallest finger, line the top of the creature’s head.Sharp teeth fill a beak like mouth that is opened in an eternal shriek. Six eyes glare back at me. Technically they are staring into nothingness, but even in death the eyes scare me. I thought Copaie were tough, but man, I’ve seen so many scary things in the past twenty years.

“You know, I don’t know what’s worse, these things or the Furbos.”

“I don’t know, either. Maybe the Furbos. Fear of the unknown is scarier to me than what I can see. But don’t tell anyone I was afraid.” Amancia says.

“Yeah, same for me.”

“Come on, let’s get out of here before any more of these things show up.” Amancia says, kicking the head away from us.

This breaks the eerie fascination it held for me, and nausea washes over me, like a wave crashing against a rocky shoreline. I bend over and throw up the entire contents of my stomach, until nothing but bile comes up. Amancia walks over to me and rubs my back. I straighten up and she hands me a bottle of water.

“My legs feel shaky.” I say.

“Just stand still a minute and we will move on.”

“Okay, I’m good now.” I say after a few minutes.

“Good. I’m ready to get out of here. I feel like we are being watched.”

“Yeah, I get the same feeling. Like something is trying to decide if we would be better as dinner or as a snack.”

“Stop. That’s seriously creeping me out.” Amancia says.

It’s well after nightfall before I feel solid ground underneath our feet. Thankfully, we didn’t meet up with any more of the local wildlife.

“Do you see that, up ahead?” Amancia asks.

“Looks like a large fire.” I say, squinting into the darkness.

“I think we finally caught up with the Talfarians. Come on, let’s go get the princess.” Amancia breaks out in a run.

“Wait. We don’t know what we are getting into.” I hiss, picking up my own pace.

When we get closer, I see I was right about the waiting. In front of us, the mouth of a cave, stretches open like the mouth of some giant beast. Stalactites are barely visible in the shifting firelight, giving the illusion of teeth. A large fire burns in front of the mouth of the cave, completely blocking access. We stop behind a tree, just out of reach of the firelight, and take a look.

The Talfarians are all laying down with the exception one or two, I’m guessing they are supposed to be the guards. I quickly scan the crowd, looking for my mother. I replace her in the center of the Talfarians stroking something small and white. At this distance I can’t really tell what it is. We duck back behind the tree, before anyone sees us.

“Not much we can do, right now. We can try to snatch her once everyone falls asleep, but I’m not sure how well that will work.” Amancia says.

“Lets just go to sleep. We can take turns keeping watch.” I say, yawning.

“Okay, you sleep first. I can tell your exhausted.”

“I defiantly am.” I say, leaning back against the tree.

​“Vos?”

​“Yes?”

​“Are you pregnant?”

​“There was a time I would have denied it. But since I have seen the future, the answer is yes. It’s Amlican’s baby. A boy.” I say, as I shut my eyes. ​

“I thought so.” She says. She says something else as I drift off, I’m not quite sure what exactly, but it sounded something like, “sorry for drugging you.” ​

I awake to the sound of my mother’s voice echoing through the cave. Something about teeth and meat. I look over and see Amancia, sound asleep. Apparently, it was my turn to guard. Can’t believe I fell asleep! How stupid! I hear the snapping of a branch and jerk my head to the side. What was that? My heart is pounding in my chest, as I imagine those large bird creatures roaming the woods. I squint into darkness but don’t see anything.

After a few minutes of silence, my heart rate returns to normal. As far as I can tell, nothing moves in the darkness. So, I drag myself to my feet and chance a quick look, behind the tree, into the cave. The fire has died down, to a few red-hot coals. I spot my mother disappearing into the back of the cave, alone. Where the heck are her guards?! I glance over the Talfarians and see that they are all asleep. Great. Just great. She’s wandering off and no one is doing their job!

At least following her will be easy. ​I quickly and quietly walk past Amancia and to the cave. I step over the hot coals and tip toe through the sleeping people. At one point, the toe of my boot, barely touches someone’s arm. I freeze as the male mumbles in his sleep, rolls over, and grabs my left leg with both arms. Now what do I do? I try to gently ease my leg out of his grasp but that only makes him tighten his grip and mumble something else. I’m trapped in the middle of a people who hate me, because I am trying to kidnap their princess to prevent her from marrying one of their own.

This is definitely not looking good for me. Wait a minute, I have an idea. I bend over and gently tickle the Talfarian’s nose. He crinkles it up but doesn’t loosen his grip. I try again, and this time he loosens his grip enough for me to pull my leg away. ​I hold my breath as I make it through the rest of the group, not daring to sigh in relief until I am out of sight.

It’s dark, this far back, only a faint blueish glow lights my path. Up ahead, two lanterns sit on the rocky floor, giving more light. And then I see my mother, with a strange white, fanged creature, on her shoulders. My heart sinks when I realize she is with Malum. I hide in the shadows, curious to see what they are talking about.

​“I mean it!” he says, raising his voice. He looks around as if checking to see if anyone else heard, and then in a calmer voice continues, “Creatures called Katara live here. They are lab born hybrids, they are extremely dangerous. They are intelligent, fast moving, and hunt in a small pack. I’ve seen them lay a trap and then take down a full grown Loftin male. Which is not an easy task.”

​ ​“What do they look like?” mother asks.

“They are approximately eight feet tall, walk on two legs, have razor sharp claws and teeth, long tails, four ears, long snout and short tattered wings. The leader of this hunting pack is just called Alpha.”

“Alpha? That’s a little bit plain.”

“They were science experiments, not pets. Naming was far down the list of important things to do. He is easy to identify, he is the one with a half circle scar on his chest. Each one of them has different scars carved into their backs or chest. That’s how they identify one another.”

“How do you know all this information?”

“Because, I have been here before.” He replies. “It was about one hundred years ago, but not much has changed.”

​He’s been here before? Well, that explains a lot! I wonder if he was part of the multicultural team that caused this planet to exist? ​I pull myself out of my musings in time to watch him lead mother by the hand, further into the tunnel. What is he doing? I follow them at a distance, making sure to stay hidden.

​“Do you see this blue algae, here?” he asks, holding his lantern up.

“Yes. It’s very pretty.” she says, reaching out and running her right hand along the algae. It must feel good because she holds both arms to it.

“It’s bioluminescent algae, a special kind that was engineered on this planet. As you just found out, it somehow has medicinal properties. It was then placed in this cave to help the scientists navigate their way through.

This cave is the most direct route from the marsh to the grasslands. It takes approximately twelve hours to go from one end of the cave to the other. That’s assuming that you know which paths to take and don’t get lost along the way. If you don’t use this cave system, you are looking at an additional three to four days.”

“Why did you place the algae here, in this part of the cave, of all places?” she asks.

“Because this cave system is so large, you can easily get lost and never replace your way out. The algae will lead you out of here. It will take you to the grasslands, from there it’s another day’s journey until you reach the abandoned scientific outpost. The algae lights the path out, remember that.”

“Okay, thanks.” Mother says, turning to leave.

“Nova.” Malum says, catching her by the arm, spinning her back around, and pulling her to his chest. She looks up into his eyes, as he lowers his lips to hers. The kiss seems to last forever, before they finally break apart. “Look out for Alpha. He despises anything that isn’t a Katara. And whatever you do, don’t have a weapon on you when you meet him. I’ll see you again, soon.”

I watch as he walks her back to the others and then as he disappears the opposite direction. My blood boils to the point that I feel myself loosing control of all thoughts. How dare he kiss her! I cannot let this happen! I slap my jacket arm and punch in the appropriate coordinates and timeframe. And before I can calm myself down, I feel the familiar fire in my bones, and the accompanying darkness.