The Guardsman typed his passcode into the computer and opened the video file. With a click, the video began to play, and noise and pale grey light flooded the tiny room. Hunter squinted at the grainy battle images that appeared on the screen. He watched as the clone - now his prey - slit the Terramorph from top to bottom with an angry cry. Heaving, the clone stepped back and observed her work. The green blood of the monster had splattered across her face, and she now wiped it off with a tiny clean portion of her shirt. Then, grinning, she looked back down at her kill.
In an instant, her face changed. The corners of her mouth fell, and her brow furrowed, and even through the grainy image, Hunter could see the conflict in her eyes. The tip of her blade, for just a split second, found her chest, as though she was preparing to take her own life. But Hunter was not fooled, because he knew what came next.
The clone's hands went from shaking to steady, and her blade flashed as she swung it away from her and into the stomach of another clone. Frenzied and screaming at the top of her lungs, the clone slashed and stabbed until she stood in a ring of dead clones, their thick red blood mixing with that of the Terramorphs and soaking into the soil. Her fit suddenly over, the clone dropped her blade, took two slow steps backward, and turned out of the view of the camera.
"And then she runs... east," the Guardsman said, referring to another series of videos from the closed-circuit cameras near the battle that day. Hunter saw her running across vast expanses of dirt until she came to a rocky area and disappeared into a makeshift cave. "We lost her after she found shelter. We suspect she travels only at night now, and unfortunately our outlying cameras have not been equipped with the night vision technology we have outside in the immediate area."
"Hunter," the Scientist who had hired him finally spoke, "I cannot stress how important it is that you bring her back to us alive. Is that understood?"
"You got it, boss." Hunter grinned. Getting her back alive would be easy, the simplest - and, quite frankly, most boring - part of the job. The more complicated and more exhilirating part would be what came first: the hunt.
Hunter swung the strap of his bag over his shoulder and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "See ya, gents." He nodded towards the Guardsman, the two silent Soldiers, and the Scientist. The Guardsman cracked a smile, but only for a moment, because the Scientist was not smiling at all, and if the Scientist wasn't smiling, well, it wasn't funny. With a shrug and a lazy salute, Hunter sauntered out the door.
When he heard the click that meant the door was completely closed, Hunter's lax posture stiffened into something more rigid and reserved. His back straightened, he crossed his arms over his chest, and he walked swiftly and confidently toward his shuttle out of the city pod. He kept his head down the whole time, until finally he was buckled in the shuttle with two Soldiers and nobody else. It was then that he reached into his pack, took out the portable information assistant, and, for the fourth time, read through his information on the clone he had been assigned to hunt.
BATCH: 31 of 50
NUMBER: 13 of 15
IDENTIFICATION CODE: B3113
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Five feet, six inches tall. Green eyes. Dark brown hair. Stage 4 of 15 in the Skin Graft process.
YEARS OF TRAINING: 5
YEARS IN FIELD: 0
LAST SEEN: Hiding in an outcropping of rocks located east of the city pod.
SPECIAL SKILLS: Taught basic camouflage. No other survival skills or fighting abilities outside of the clone standard.
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS: Take her alive.
Hunter had it entirely memorized. And, really, it was not helpful information. Most of it could have been - and probably was - gathered simply from the still frame of the clone in the middle of her killing spree that accompanied the file. Hunter slid the tiny screen back into his pack and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. He tapped his foot anxiously, anticipating the start of his hunt. He could see himself tracking her footsteps, her scent, and the telltale signs of life she would no doubt leave behind. He itched for the excitement of getting closer and closer to her, but slowly, because that excitement was his second favorite part.
His most favorite part was what happened when he found his prey. He snuck up first, and then leaped and attacked all at once, catching his prey off guard. He relished in the way the prey always fought back, always struggled in a hopeless situation. He drunk up the fear in the prey's eyes, exhilarated by its realization that all hope was lost.
If he put his mind to it, Hunter could already imagine that look in B3113's eyes. He grinned. Yes, this would be quite the hunt.
Hello everyone! This is a rough, more conceptual first chapter for a novel I will be doing for this year's National Novel Writing Month! It is a genderbent retelling of Beauty and the Beast, in which Belle is the one who is the monster. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and expect to see more in November!