I dedicate this story to all the other writers that have posted on this blog. I have been greatly inspired by your stories. Thank you. I dedicate this to you all
To say she was getting a taste of what hell would be like, was an understatement. Little Joey was trying hard to get to the monster standing near the south west corner of the barn. And that would not do. Her mother had made her promise to look after the dog. She was willing to bet that the 110 pound German shepherd underneath her was held to the same promise -by her mother-. She would take a bullet for the dog and the dog would take a bullet for her. Funny but true.
On some lonely night with nothing good on T.V.; she had wondered what a scenario like that would look like: Her and the dog running in front of one another trying to protect the each other. On those night the scenario had played like a silly comedy skit. Her and Little Joey doing the little "BOB and WEAVE" protection dance.
Now in the cold crisp air of early Saturday morning, the scenario was playing to a completely different tune.
She had woken up with a feeling of urgency, a need to be somewhere or do something. She would only wake up like that on mornings of presentation and big reports. On weekends she would sleep like a log. Little Joey's whimpers of boredom, the only sounds capable of waking her up on weekends. Today was different though. She had woken up with a jolt, asked the room what time it was, jumped out of the cold bed and ran for her computer screen to check for time and date. Click and there it was Saturday December 29th.
Elation followed shortly by annoyance. Time was 4:50 in the morning, a very cold morning. And now she was wild awake, still 3 hours away from little Joey's toilet and play break and she was awake!
It took 20 minutes of cussing and another 20 minutes of chanting to bring her back down to a good mood. Little Joey was up and ready by then and so was she; decked in her olive jeggings, white tank, brown combat boots, warm over-sized two tone brown coat that she had picked from men's section and her pink scarf. The scarf was more for the show. The coat was sufficient enough for warmth. And to match she had put on the brown collar on little joey
They had ran down the apartment stairs, jumped into her 16 year old Buick car and drove to the outskirt of city. Time was 6:00 am and the highways clear of cars. She was heading toward north east of the city. A route she didn't really take. Not much was there but barns and land and farms and more barns. With the current economy, many of the small farmers living on the outskirt of the industrialized city, had been forced out of their lands. In truth they had sold the lands for very little market value and moved away. Original plan was to divide up the farms and build businesses. But then city went bankrupt. So there it sat to the north west of town, a graveyard of small house farms and stable. Every once in a while a homeless tent town would go up only to be tore down by the authorities.
And today was the first time that she was heading up there.
By 7:30 am they had driven past 5 medium size farms and were nearing the end of the dirt road. On google map this place seemed to be the most isolated section of the entire area. From the end of the dirt road there was a 10 minute trek to the east followed by a sharp turn around a small hill that would open into a big empty farm with few structures. She like that. Open space for little Joey to run in and for her to be able to see him without having to keep up.
It wasn't until after the 90 degree turn around the hill that she realized something was wrong. The air was too quiet. Before she could process the observation, little joey ran for the barn. And she sprang into action. Little Joey was going after something, a source of danger and he was running for the kill. She was following fast behind, yelling for the dog to stop. To no avail.
She reached the barn about 20 seconds later than the dog. He was still barking but every once in a while there was a yelp. So she ran into the barn ready to attach whatever that was scaring joey.
Instead she froze. There was a green man thing at the corner of the barn. And he was staring back at them through his metal mask. So still that after a few second she assumed it was a statue. A good scary joke done by a prankster. So she went to the dog at the other corner of the barn. Talking in baby voice trying to calm him down.
And then came a flashing light and the wall behind her and the dog was gone replaced by a wall of smoke. And boy did the Chips fell into place. All she could do was to throw herself on the terrified barking dog and look back again at the monster. His head now tilted to his right but still staring. She was shaking and scared. One wrong move and they could be dead. And that would not do.
Jis'kar'maho was never a fan of humans or any other pray species for that matter. He was a strong and cunning predator. A fine example of yaujta. Paya had blessed him with a strong mind and even a stronger body. With a blood line of finest hunters and fairest arbitrators coursing through his veins he was destined to shine and nothing else. When it came to his Chiva he was ready, not for death but for victory. Better yet, in life he was ready for victory. The walls of his ships and his house were soon filled with skulls and the mark of female's claws. He had spawned more offspring's than he could remember. The Females wanted his seeds and he wanted them so it had worked for the best. But 25 cycles of nothing but success had become boring. So came the call to be an arbitrator like his sire and bearer before him. But he had refused, using his young age as an excuse. The council had agreed so he was spared 2 cycles to think and to grow.
Before the transmission was even completed, Jis'kar'maho was on his ship heading out of the orbit of his planet. 2 cycles would never be enough but until his time was up he would explore the universe.
Why he had picked planet "Abokah" he was not sure. He was not a fan of Pyode Amedha. They were just far too weak. When growing up he had looked forward to hunting the legendary Pyode Amedha. Through stories told in the classes they seemed to be more cunning and agile than the Kiande Amedha. On his third hunt he was given the chance to hunt the soft meat. He could not be more disappointed. The ones he and his brothers were hunting were trained soldiers acting like pups in the moment of battle. Not cunning nor agile. He had killed 7 out of the 12. And of the 7 skulls he only took one back with him to prove he had hunted them. But he would be damned to waste his walls on such fake and weak creatures.
Today things were different. He had landed near a city, hiding his ship in between the large building to the north east of the town. Then he had become busy with the structure. Too busy to notice the scent of the Pyode and her beast.
When the beast appeared in front of him he was unsure what to do. The creature was scared but was trying to stand his ground. Perhaps it was his territory. He didn't want to fight just yet. So he decided to leave the structure. That is until the Pyode ran in.
Meanings;
Abokah= Earth
Pyode Amedha= Humans- Soft meat
Kiande Amedha- Aliens-Soft meat
Jis'kar'maho = Child of sun and moon