Animorphs: Hunting Game
4: Memories and Choices
Cassie's barn: 30 minutes after the battle
The Animorphs, minus Jake and Tobias, staggered into the barn. They put Ryan down gently in a corner and then they collapsed. They felt like walking corpses. The combination of the battle, multiple morphs, the extreme heat and carrying Ryan all the way from school back to Cassie's farm had drained them. They managed to get on their feet again about twenty minutes later.
"We need to let our parents know we're ok," Cassie said. "They'll be going crazy once they hear about the school."
"Yeah, but what do we tell them?" Marco asked.
"Only that we're still alive, that we ran out the back and brought him with us," Rachel said, jerking her head in Ryan's direction. "It's close enough to the truth isn't it?"
"I suppose so," Cassie sighed.
"Still worried about Jake?" Marco asked.
"Aren't you?" Cassie snapped. "Am I the only one worried that Jake could be hanging on that thing's wall right now?" She was almost sobbing as she said this.
Do not worry, Cassie. I for one believe that Prince Jake is still alive Ax had demorphed to Andalite form again. There is little we can do except recover our strength and search for them later
"He's right, Cassie," Rachel added. "Let's go make our calls. Ax, you stay here and guard our guest. Knock him down and sit on him if you have to but don't let him leave."
As she said that Tobias landed outside.
No luck. I lost them soon after I left the school
"Shit! I just hope Jake's ok," Marco said.
I'll fly out and look again. I'll be back soon
With that, Tobias flew into the air to search again and the others went to Cassie's house to make their calls.
Just outside Cassie's barn
Jake and Dutch arrived back at Cassie's barn ten minutes later. They weren't in good shape either. Jake still had a crippling headache from his encounter with the lockers and he was still half-naked and covered in mud. Since Jake was barefoot for morphing Dutch had had to carry him for most of the way. Dutch still carried the shotgun on his back and had been throwing questions at Jake all the way back, like why had that thing been trying to kill him and where did the animals back at the school come from?
Jake kept giving him the same answer: "I'll tell you when we get back to the barn and talk with the others."
"What barn? What others? What the hell is going on?" Dutch whined. He hated being left in the dark, especially when it came to dealing with Predators.
"You're about to find out," Jake replied as they arrived at Cassie's barn.
With that, they entered the barn and were met by Ax who was still in Andalite form. Dutch's eyes went wide when he saw Ax. He pulled the shotgun from his back but Ax's tail-blade was at his throat before he could raise it.
Who is this?! Ax demanded furiously. He was glad to see Jake alive but was not so pleased to see another uninvited guest, especially one that pointed a gun at him.
"He's a friend, Ax! He saved my butt!" Jake tried to insert himself between the two of them before Dutch literally lost his head.
Yes, I remember now Ax said, although he sounded far from sure. All right human, if that is really what you are, drop that weapon!
"The name's Dutch, horse-boy, not human. If you want the gun you can have it, just point that thing someplace else!" Dutch offered Ax the gun, holding it by the barrel.
Just then the others returned to the barn. Marco was complaining again.
"Man, what a day! We get our butts handed to us, then we get seen and Jake's…"
"…right here!" Cassie finished, grinning from ear to ear. She ran to Jake and was about to pull him into a hug when she actually noticed the state he was in. "Whoa, what happened to you?"
"Don't ask," Jake sighed.
"Man, it's good to see you're still in one piece," Marco said, "but who's this and what is he doing in here with Ax?"
"The name's Dutch, ex-Special Forces, can you tell horse-boy here to back off!?" Ax still held his tail at Dutch's throat.
"Ease off, Ax. He's ok," Jake said.
Are you certain he's not a controller? Ax asked in private thought-speak.
"If he was, do you think he'd bother saving me? And wouldn't he have known what you were?" Jake shot back.
Ax sighed. Very well, Prince Jake. He lowered his tail and tossed the shotgun back to Dutch.
"Prince Jake?" Dutch asked curiously. Jake rolled his eyes.
"Long story." He then noticed Ryan for the first time. "What the…who's he and what's doing here?"
"It's Ryan, the new kid," Rachel said, "he saw Ax unmorphed back at the school."
"Oh great!" Jake muttered, his headache suddenly getting worse. "What did we do to deserve this?"
Dutch had had enough. "Could someone tell me what the hell is going on? I've had more than I bargained for today already!"
"Ok, have a seat," Jake pointed to the hay in the corner, "This is going to take some time."
The Animorphs told Dutch everything. Their meeting with Prince Elfangor at the construction site, Visser 3, finding Ax and all the battles they'd been in. Dutch was incredulous. These kids had been at war with these Yeerks for over a year with no back up?
"So those animals back at the school were… you?" Dutch finally managed to say.
"Allow me," Marco smiled and morphed into his gorilla form.
"Jesus Christ, now I've seen everything," Dutch grinned. His face suddenly went more serious. "So that's why he's hunting you, right?"
Jake looked at him in surprise. "You know that thing?"
"All too well. Another one tried to kill me twelve years ago."
"What happened?" Rachel asked gently.
Dutch didn't look comfortable with the subject but he told them anyway. His encounter with the Predator race had been in Central America. He and his Special Forces team had been brought in to rescue a local cabinet minister from guerrilla forces or so he'd believed. It wasn't until his team had stormed the guerrilla camp that he'd found out the truth: his mission had been a put-up job, the real intent was merely to destroy the guerrilla camp and their forces before they could launch a major invasion. The CIA had used them to do its dirty work for them. Dutch had, understandably, been furious. He'd known something was wrong when he discovered the previous team that had been sent: a team of Green Berets headed by an old friend. Or rather he'd found what was left of them. They had been strung up from the trees and skinned alive. He'd thought the guerrillas had done it at first and had gone on to complete the mission. It was only later, when the team was making their way home, that they met the real culprit: a Predator. In the terrible hours that followed it butchered every member of his team as if they were cattle. He'd thrown everything he'd had at it: bullets, grenades, explosive arrows and spears. He finally defeated it by bringing a tree trunk down on its head; even that didn't kill it. The Predator had then committed suicide by blowing itself up with a nuclear device that destroyed 300 city blocks of rainforest along with it. Dutch had only cheated death through sheer luck by finding a hole and diving into it at the last minute before the blast. He was then picked up and flown home, the sole survivor of his team. The only other survivor was a guerrilla girl who they'd taken prisoner at the camp. All in all, it was a complete disaster.
The Animorphs were stunned by Dutch's experience.
"What happened after that?" Jake finally asked.
"I was debriefed by just about everyone and everything in the government. They pulled every trick in the book to try to get me to stay in the army. They promoted me, made all sorts of offers. None of it meant jack shit to me though; my team was dead and I hadn't the heart to try and build a new one. So I just quit. I retired and moved down here to get some peace, until today that is. Once I got news of the killings around here I knew another one had come."
"That's why you came to the school, wasn't it?" Cassie said.
"Yeah. I saw a news flash on the TV saying that there was a 'disturbance' at the school. I just grabbed my gun and headed down there, didn't even stop to think. Good job I didn't as it turned out." He looked at Jake as he said this.
"Thanks man," Jake said weakly. He felt humiliated. The 'great leader' of the Animorphs had to be rescued and his friends had nearly all been wiped out. This was not a battle he was proud of.
"Don't mention it," Dutch replied, knowing what Jake was feeling. At least his team's still breathing, he thought bitterly.
"Man, what do we do now?" Marco asked, "We've never been up against
this much power before, not in one guy or thing."
Except Visser 3 Ax put in.
"Yeah. I'm almost starting to wish he'd come back!" Marco quipped. "What did I do wrong to deserve this?"
"You were born, maybe?" Rachel sneered.
"Thanks Xena," Marco snapped back.
"Ok, ok," Jake cut in. "What do we do now?" he asked Dutch almost despairingly.
"We're going to have to face him again," Dutch said grimly, "he won't just give up because I wounded him. If anything we've probably just pissed him off, but if we work as a team…"
"We?" asked Rachel.
"You don't think I'm going to run out and let you face him alone, do you?" Dutch said.
"You don't have to do this Dutch," Cassie said, almost pleadingly.
"Oh yes I do Cassie. I'm involved whether you like it or not. I'm just as much a target as you are now. I shot him five times, made him bleed, and stole his trophies. Do you think he's going to forget that?" Dutch shot back.
"Ok, if you're sure," Jake finally said.
"I'm sure," Dutch replied. "You'd have to kill me to keep me out now."
His tone left everyone in no doubt that he was serious.
"Well that takes care of one problem, what about the other one?" Rachel asked, jerking her head in Ryan's direction.
"Why don't you ask the 'other one' first?" came an indignant voice from behind them.
They all looked round and saw Ryan, fully awake and staring at them all, especially Ax.
"How much did you hear?" Marco asked suspiciously.
"Enough to know I'm not dreaming and that me and everyone else on this planet is in deep shit," Ryan shot back.
"Oh great, busted again!" Marco moaned.
"Ryan, you can't tell anyone about this," Jake warned. "Your life and freedom depend on it, not to mention ours and everyone else's."
"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone. I mean who'd believe me?"
"The wrong people," Rachel said coldly.
I hate to ask this Ax suddenly butted in, making Ryan jump slightly, but what do we do now? He knows all of our secrets
"Yeah, he's right, if the Yeerks get him anytime it's game over for us," Marco said. "That is, if that thing out there lets us live that long."
"There's only one way I can think of," Cassie said.
"What's that?" Marco asked, half-expecting and dreading the answer.
"He could join us," Cassie replied.
"Are you INSANE?!" Marco screamed. "After what happened last time? Have you forgotten that?"
"No I haven't, Marco. But do you have a better idea?" Cassie asked.
"Don't I get any say in this?" Ryan whined. "It is me we're talking about here!"
"We all need a little time to think things over," Jake interceded.
"You can't take too long. Don't forget we're still being hunted," Dutch said urgently.
"All right. Ryan, come back here in 2 hours, we'll explain everything then, if you're up to it."
"Ok," Ryan said, sounding far from sure.
"We'll all meet back here in 2 hours then," Jake said.
It would be best if we morphed Ax put in. Just in case
"Mind if I stay here, Cassie? I can't morph and I'd prefer to stick around until we figure out what to do." Dutch asked. "Don't worry, I won't be seen. Camouflage is something I'm pretty good at!" he added with a grin.
"Ok, fine" Cassie sighed. "But what do we tell our parents? They'll probably want to ground us for our own safety."
"That can't happen," Dutch said. "I don't care what you have to do just don't let that happen. You wouldn't be safe. The moment you're alone that thing will get its chance! I should know," he said sadly.
They all nodded grimly. Cassie then opened the door and the others morphed to birds and flew out. The sight stunned Dutch and Ryan.
"Relax guys, you'll get used to it," Cassie grinned as she left for her house.
The Predator's base: in the mountains
It was fortunate that no one was thinking of hiking into the mountains of late. If they had they might have discovered the smoking crater where the Predator's pod had landed and met its occupant. The Predator was not in a good mood. He had bested his prey in combat and then they had eluded him, all he had to show for his efforts were five bullet wounds. He had healed them using his medical gear, pulling out the bullets and boiling the wounds shut (which had been extremely painful). When he was done with that, he reloaded his net launcher and readied his weapons again.
This time, he promised himself, they will not be so fortunate.
He walked through the glowing orange-gold corridors until he reached the exit door. He activated his cloaking device and went out.
The hunt was on again…
TO BE CONTINUED…