13

"Hey, watch it!" Usiko exclaimed, then: "Ow!!" Usiko opened his sleep-crusted eyes and wiped them clear, glaring blearily at the person that had waken him up. It had been done in the form of a hard wooden billy club type thing poked roughly at him through the bars. He growled when Ze'ev yelped in surprise at getting the same treatment. "What's the big idea?"

"Shut up, fleabag," the human said to him. Kraig Lechlan. He should have known. It was the day after they had seen the fight between him and Kamata. The pair had not known anything more about her after she was taken to the hospital. "It's almost opening time, people don't want to see a sleeping exhibit. So get up!"

Usiko growled at him. Even the hunter had let them sleep as long as they wanted to. "What do you care? That blasted hunter let us sleep and his attendance was just fine. So bug off." Usiko frowned and lay back down as if to go back to sleep, something he fully intended to do.

"You miserable Thunderian. I'm sick of your mouth!" Kraig struck Usiko in the side with the wooden baton, only hard enough to cause some pain. He didn't want to bother with a medical bill. He'd kill him for his skin before he did that.

While Ze'ev looked on fearfully, Usiko yelled in pained surprise and sat up fully. Kraig had made a mistake. He had gotten too close to the cage. Usiko reached through the bars and grabbed his lapel. "You miserable, sadistic bastard!" he snarled, glad Ze'ev could not hear the foul steam of curses he was about to hurl. "You're nothing but a cowardly, bullying, asinine..." He cursed the surprised handler for a few minutes, until the human finally squirmed to get away. Usiko lost his grip on him, but quickly regained it on his arm, sinking his claws into the flesh. Kraig let out a scream of anger and pain. "All of us, even the feral exhibits, are sick of your bullying, you freak! How do you like it!? Huh?" He gave the man a shake.

Kraig wasn't a weakling, but he was human. Even a small Thunderian is often bigger than an average human, as they did evolve from a larger species, and the adrenaline was flowing. Kraig's panicked attempts to free himself failed, and he finally blurted a desperate call into his radio. Usiko was too late in seeing and couldn't stop him. He did take the radio and dash it to pieces on the other side of the cage. "Yeah that's right, call your buddies, you coward! Can't fight your own fights?"

Kraig hated animals. The only reason he put up with them was because the pay was good, and he hated the intelligent ones They were bigger, stronger, and often smarter than he was, and to someone that considered them merely animals, that was a severe blow to his pride.

Kraig had no time to respond before three of the workers busted into Usiko's cage and grabbed his arms. The third tossed Ze'ev casually to the other side of the cage, where he only curled up and watched. He was used to that kind of treatment, though he was scared and worried for his new friend.

"Let go of me, you apes!" Usiko growled. He fought, but even a Thunderian, an average Thunderian, can't fight off three humans. They pinned him painfully against the bars of the cage where he muttered a few choice Thunderian epithets.

Kraig was panting from the encounter. He was not a physically fit man, the victory over Kamata had been bad luck and bad timing , and even then he'd had to use a weapon. He considered her out for the count, and he did not expect to see Safari Joe again, either. So he was in charge. Narrowing his eyes at the growling Thunderian, he said in a low, barely restrained voice, "You just made a mistake, wretch. No one does that to me and gets away with it. I don't dote on you Thunderians like that bald excuse for a hunter." He turned his eyes to the three workers in the cage, one of whom was keeping an eye on the little Mutant cub. "Take him to the holding cage. I'll get the tanner in here."

"Tanner?! Wait a minute!" Usiko protested, but Kraig was leaving.. The two handlers that had a hold of him dragged him, fighting, out of the cage, whole Ze'ev asked in his timid, usually frightened voice where they were taking him.

After a minute, Kraig turned around. "You might as well take that little rat of a scavenger too," he said. "Miserable little fleabag's not worth keeping."

"Wait!!" Usiko yelled, fighting harder. The handlers had a harder time restraining him. "Wait no, leave him alone, he's just a child!" As the third handler nodded and grasped the child carefully by the scruff of his neck so he didn't get bitten, and other two finally used the stunner on Usiko. They hadn't wanted to before, because their job training taught them not to unless it was necessary. Though it usually didn't happen, there was a chance of damaging the exhibits. Usiko slumped, unconscious.

Ze'ev went along meekly, keeping his eye on his feline friend.

Both were thrown into a small cage, one too small to stand in, and Ze'ev worriedly went over to Usiko and tried to wake him up. After not succeeding, he sniffed, wiped his eyes, and lay down to rest his head against Usiko's chest. He curled up and waited.

**

Kairo Zarack's cruel, amused laughter sounded in his office as he watched the hunter. He knew who he was up against now, didn't he? This was too good. Just like his father, too...well maybe not just like him, but close enough. Kairo no longer was interested in the reputation of being the best hunter in the galaxy, as his hunting days were for the most part behind him. He still did it for recreation, but his main income was shipping. He had not hunted in almost two years. Well today he would again. Perhaps he was not interested in his reputation, at least not too much, but in this case, it was almost a duty. He had left the child alive on that jungle moon only because he posed no challenge to the young hunter who had killed the boy's father, and now he would be a challenge. He intended to put Safari Joe Gregor's head on the wall, right next to his father's. It usually hung in his office, wherever that might have been at the time, but he had not wanted Joe to see it so soon, and had relegated it to the storage room in the hopes that he would stumble on it. And he did.

As Safari Joe still stared in helpless, childish rage as his father's dead eyes, Kairo Zarack, smirked. He had been known in his youth as Orion Abziehen, Orion meaning hunter, and Abziehen meaning pelt in one of the old human languages. Hunter of pelts. Zarack chuckled. It almost sounded silly to him now, as he donned his hunting gear, but then it was quite a name in hunting circles, even before he took down Joe's father.

His old hunting outfit still fit him perfectly. He had kept in shape as he approached middle age, and his reflexes, though slower than they ha been for lack of practice, were still sharp enough. He took a rifle from the wall. Now the real hunt began.

**

Finally. Finally, after almost fifteen minutes, Joe was able to turn his head and squeeze his eyes shut. He felt the sting of tears he had not felt in over twenty years, and was ashamed of them. Even now he could not bear to cry in front of his father.

After several minutes of grief, Safari Joe felt a slow, intense burn of fury and rage. He knew what he had changed his name to now. Oh, yes he did.

The hunter left the room and slammed the door behind him. He couldn't bear to be in that room anymore, he had to concentrate. He would come back later. He would take his father's head form the wall. He would bury it in the ground of the jungle moon where he had been killed, and where Joe had spent many happy times there with his father. His body was buried on his home world, but he couldn't go into the cemetery and just dig him up to put the head there. Besides, he thought with a great sadness, but also a small tug of affection, his father would have liked being in two places at once. He once told Joe when he was around eight that if he ever died, he wanted to be chopped up and buried across the galaxy. Joe had thought he was kidding at the time, and maybe he was. But then again it was the kind of thing his father would have wanted.

Joe shook his head hard and thought. He tried to dash away the rage, tried to bury himself in a cold box of rational thought. He'd die otherwise.

He thought about the whole compound. He'd been throughout the whole building, there had to be hunting weapons somewhere. There had only been the one rifle in Kairo's office, and most hunters had at least three different weapons, and the serious ones had more. But he'd been everywhere!

Wait...not everywhere. He thought back to the lasers he'd had to dodge. That must be it! There was something there that Kairo didn't want him to see.

Joe ran.

He ran to a room he had seen before, the loading bay with the large, roll up doors. There was a large assortment of junk, and some building materials. He knew exactly where the lasers were, and he knew how he could destroy them, or at least knock them aside or damage them so they couldn't fire. He stooped and picked up a long, heavy metal rod and grinned humorlessly. He was about to even the odds. "I'm coming for you, you bastard," he muttered.

**

Kairo could have waited. He could have stayed in his safe office and watched, and ambushed the hunter when he was least expecting it, or even waited until he came to the office, as he would surely have done eventually, but what was the challenge in that? That wasn't sporting, now was it?

Kairo prowled the halls. No, this was not a steamy jungle, or the cold mountains, or the scorching desert, but it was a hunting ground just the same. He was the hunter, and that snotbag Joe was his prey. He clicked the safety off his rifle and continued.

**

Laser! Zap! "Auuugh!" Retreat! Safari Joe had estimated wrong the location of one laser. He had bashed most of the others in with the metal rod without more than a few singes on the shirt or even the skin. They were easily ignored. But this one had nailed him a good one, right in the arm. With a hiss of pain, Joe looked down to the deeply seared flesh and clenched his teeth. "Blast it!" He knew where the infernal bastardly thing was now! He raised the bar, darted in, and smashed it.

The other three or so he had no problems with, but his arm was throbbing. Great, he thought. Just perfect.

There was an electronic lock on the door. He did not know how to pick a lock. So he simply smashed it. A loud electronic shriek resounded throughout the place; an alarm. He had guessed there would be one, but he didn't care. Ahhh, but he had been right. This was the armory. He grinned as he chose a weapon from the wall. Kairo's lock had not been all that strong, as he had many security features, but they didn't work too well in this case. Kairo knewthere was an intruder in the place, and he did not have the time to go and tell the computer that. Both hunters would have to put up with it until the automatic shutoff stopped it in a half hour.

Now Safari Joe was ready. He had a rifle almost exactly like the all purpose one he usually used, and had loaded it with energy charges and a few rocket cuffs. He started off.
*
**

Kairo jumped at the siren and growled. That particular one meant Joe had gotten into the armory. He would have to be more careful now. He hadn't thought the miserable bald-headed brat could get in there. He had underestimated him. It had been too long since he had hunted.

**

For forty-five minutes they skulked in the passageways of the large compound, looking for each other. Joe passed the open office after the siren had stopped. He could have left via the exit Kairo had in there, but he didn't want to. He wanted to hunt him down and make him pay for killing his father in cold blood, and keeping his head as a trophy. His father, who had done nothing to hurt the bastard. His only crime was taking his son on a hunting trip.

Joe heard a noise. His ears still rang from the siren, but he heard it in the darkened halls. He quickly went over strengths and weaknesses. Joe was injured, that would be bad. they were probably equally armed, but Kairo had not hunted in a long time. His instincts, though always there, would be slower and out of practice. Joe's were honed to a sharp, keen edge. That would be his greatest advantage. That and the adrenaline that coursed throughout his body.

Even as this ran through his mind, he was spinning around. A footfall. Perfectly silent, Joe stepped around the corner, keeping low. Aha! He narrowed his eyes and crouched low. Kairo's back was turned. Big mistake, you miserable blighter, he thought, and fired at the older man.

But Joe had also underestimated Kairo. His reflexes were slow, but his instincts were sharp. He sensed the action and the presence, and spun. He dived in time to avoid the shot, and rolled away, firing back as he did. While Joe's style was a ruthless, calculated hunt, with thought and research, Kairo's style had always been a more roguish, space pirate type of hunting. He liked the action, rarely researched. He lived on the thrill of the unknown. That also had helped him in avoiding this shot.

Now that they knew they were within each other's range, both ran to regroup. Now all senses were on alert. Joe pressed up against the wall around the corner, listening desperately for a sign of attack, or a sign of retreat. He heard none. Kairo had taken off his shoes and was sneaking up on his other side.

For a long time this went on, neither gaining ground. Finally Kairo caught the exhausted Joe unprepared. He nailed him in the arm, his injured arm, when he was looking in a room for his adversary. Joe had been unwise in turning hi back to the corridors.

With a howl of pain, Joe dropped the rifle, and under fire, ran. He ran for the armory.

Anticipating this move, Kairo headed that way also, taking a different route.

Part 12

Part 14

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