Author's note: This chapter may wind up being revised so more detail can be
added. And for those of you who have been reading Aliens vs. Predator vs.
Metroid, this may slow down my work a tad, but maybe not. Sorry if it does,
and I hope you enjoy.
Predator: He Who Hunts The Hunter
All Joe Tyler wanted was a simple life after leaving the Wichita police department. Sure, people think "Hey, it's Kansas. What's going to happen?" But just like any large city, it has its share of crime. And Joe witnessed a good deal of it. From simple robberies to the most gruesome murders, he decided it was too much. So when his parents died, he decided to pack up and take over the family farm. It was a quiet town, where his parents lived, and had little in the way of crime. There was about one or two drug busts a year, a lot of drunk drivers though. Most of those were just guys that lived right down the street from the local bar, and didn't tend to be a major threat. It was one of those towns where gossip spread fast and there was a police scanner in every bedroom in order to "be warned of emergencies". Downtown consisted of a block of rundown stores. There was no Wal-Mart; the closest one was about thirty-five miles away. The same went for McDonald's too. There was a Burger King and there was a Wal-Mart imitation store, but that was the closest things were. The town was small enough that there only needed to be one high school and one middle school and one elementary. Churches were everywhere. And about sixty percent of the population was over sixty-five. So, when the mayor asked Tyler to take over the sheriff's office, he didn't see the point in turning it down. It was a small enough town. There would never be the excitement that there was in Wichita. So, he took the job. And his life was barely anymore hectic than it was before the job was offered. Only at harvest did it get strenuous. But lately things had been different, a lot different.
Chapter I
It all started with a phone call.
"Sheriff," said an old voice.
"Yeah Pete? What is it?" asked Tyler.
"I, ah, I found something when I was fishing. I think you better come down and see this," Pete replied.
"Well, what is it?" inquired the sheriff.
"Bones, Joe. Bones," Pete replied.
Now Tyler's interest was peaked. "Where is it Pete?"
"I was near the old Broughton Bridge. I'll drive up to the office and take you down."
Tyler was in the driver's seat of the extended cab Dodge Ram with the town coroner, James Larry, and Pete Jacobson in the back with the sheriff's deputy, Carl Willis, in the passenger's seat. They turned onto a dirt road and went past a wheat field. They came up onto a thick line of cotton, oak, and maple trees and went past that to the part of the river that Pete had pointed out. The whole truck rocked and shook as they went over the bumpy gravel road and which turned into the bumpy dirt road, which turned into the muddy road that led to the riverbank. They all bailed out of the truck and followed Pete over to the point where his fishing poles had been standing.
"Looks like Old Thumper got your poles, Pete," joked Willis. Old Thumper was the giant catfish of local legend. He gained the name because he would make a thumping noise on the top of the water before taking your hook and the pole with it.
"Probably just a couple of punk teenagers," replied the old man. His long white hair hung to the shoulders of his red and black flannel shirt. Tyler and Willis had always joked about how much Pete looked like Willie Nelson. He continued on to lead the group on to where he had found the bones. "I was digging for some worms and I hit something hard," I pointed over to a large hole. Tyler and James made their way to the hole where the old man had been digging. There was obviously several bones lying around and jutting out of the ground. Tyler knew they weren't freshly dead, so he didn't figure he'd have a murder investigation on their hands. The coroner approached the bones and picked up one of them. He examined it and got a puzzled look on his face.
"Well, these are definitely not fresh dead or anywhere near fresh dead," said Larry. He knelt down again and picked up a fragment of what looked like a jar. "Looks like we found a burial site," James said, "Better call up the archeology department over at Kansas State. We should find out what these guys belongs to." He paused, "There's something weird about these bones," said the coroner. His dark African face cringed and stared at what looked to be half a bone.
"What's the matter with them James?" asked Deputy Willis.
"Well, as you can probably see," he started, "Some of these bones are severed."
"Yeah, what about it?" asked Tyler.
"Well, the cuts," he paused, "They're so," another pause, "So clean," James said, "Way to clean a cut to be an animal or weapon."
Tyler looked harder at the bones and saw that James was right. He had seen bones cut with modern surgical tools, and this seemed like it was even more precise. It was like something out of one of his son's science fiction movies. It looked as though someone had taken a laser and just hack it right off.
"Well, I'm sure you can figure it out James," said Pete.
* * *
Tyler arrived at the scene the next day with James in the truck along with a Sac and Fox elder and the team from K-State following in a small caravan of cars and trucks behind them.
They found they're way to the burial site and the team began looking around. The elder paced about the site and chanting some ritual blessing and Tyler had no idea what it was about. He figured there was some curse involved with digging up burial sites, so he guessed that the elder was just being safe.
Over the day several skeletons were discovered. All of them were missing they're skulls and several of them had the same kind of cuts on their bones that the first one did. The team found a few other things around the site. Traditional items. Arrowheads, jars, and the like were all discovered. But one pot seemed to stump all of the researchers. One of them finally asked the elder about some inscriptions on it. Tyler saw a fearful reaction from the old man.
"It has a warning on it," the old man began, "It says to be wary. The hunter demon from the skies may come. He claimed all these people, and by opening this site, he may come for you."
* * *
That night, Blake Cooper found the second dead cow in his stock. Both had been cut open with surgical quality. Several organs looked to have been removed from each without a trace of any left lying around. There was no blood either, which was very odd to him. He was no doctor, but the rancher knew that there probably wasn't anyway to remove organs without there being some blood.
"Oh crap," started Cooper's wife, Mary. Her brown eyes had a cold look in them as if they wanted to tear something apart. He held her hand on her thick hip and scowled. "We loose another one?"
Cooper nodded, "Yeah, call up the sheriff, there's no way any animal could have done this."
* * *
Tyler picked up the phone in his house. "Tyler residence," he began, "This is Joe."
"Sheriff," started the voice of Mary Cooper, "We need you to come down here and take a look at something. And you might want to bring down Dr. Peterson."
"All right, but what do you need the vet there for?" asked Tyler.
"We've found a couple of our cattle dead, and we know there's no way an animal could have done it."
"How do you know that?"
"I think you should just come down and see for yourself."
* * *
Tyler and the local vet, Dr. May Peterson, arrived at the Cooper ranch at about ten that night. Blake and Mary Cooper were both waiting on the front porch for them.
"Thank you both for coming out here on such short notice," said Mary.
"Follow me," started Blake, "I'll show you what's going on." All four trailed over to a nearby grazing field, where to carcasses were lying in the dirt. He pointed to the one on the right, "I found this one last night," he started and point to the other one, "And then this one tonight."
May Peterson knelt down next to one of the cows and examined its wounds. Her delicate figure seemed to just float above the dead carcass and her blue eyes were affixed upon it. She gained an immediate puzzled face and her eyes widened. "What the hell?" she muttered.
"What is it?" Tyler asked.
"These incisions, I've never seen anything like it before," replied the veterinarian
"Maybe it's the demon hunter from the skies," Tyler joked to himself.
Predator: He Who Hunts The Hunter
All Joe Tyler wanted was a simple life after leaving the Wichita police department. Sure, people think "Hey, it's Kansas. What's going to happen?" But just like any large city, it has its share of crime. And Joe witnessed a good deal of it. From simple robberies to the most gruesome murders, he decided it was too much. So when his parents died, he decided to pack up and take over the family farm. It was a quiet town, where his parents lived, and had little in the way of crime. There was about one or two drug busts a year, a lot of drunk drivers though. Most of those were just guys that lived right down the street from the local bar, and didn't tend to be a major threat. It was one of those towns where gossip spread fast and there was a police scanner in every bedroom in order to "be warned of emergencies". Downtown consisted of a block of rundown stores. There was no Wal-Mart; the closest one was about thirty-five miles away. The same went for McDonald's too. There was a Burger King and there was a Wal-Mart imitation store, but that was the closest things were. The town was small enough that there only needed to be one high school and one middle school and one elementary. Churches were everywhere. And about sixty percent of the population was over sixty-five. So, when the mayor asked Tyler to take over the sheriff's office, he didn't see the point in turning it down. It was a small enough town. There would never be the excitement that there was in Wichita. So, he took the job. And his life was barely anymore hectic than it was before the job was offered. Only at harvest did it get strenuous. But lately things had been different, a lot different.
Chapter I
It all started with a phone call.
"Sheriff," said an old voice.
"Yeah Pete? What is it?" asked Tyler.
"I, ah, I found something when I was fishing. I think you better come down and see this," Pete replied.
"Well, what is it?" inquired the sheriff.
"Bones, Joe. Bones," Pete replied.
Now Tyler's interest was peaked. "Where is it Pete?"
"I was near the old Broughton Bridge. I'll drive up to the office and take you down."
Tyler was in the driver's seat of the extended cab Dodge Ram with the town coroner, James Larry, and Pete Jacobson in the back with the sheriff's deputy, Carl Willis, in the passenger's seat. They turned onto a dirt road and went past a wheat field. They came up onto a thick line of cotton, oak, and maple trees and went past that to the part of the river that Pete had pointed out. The whole truck rocked and shook as they went over the bumpy gravel road and which turned into the bumpy dirt road, which turned into the muddy road that led to the riverbank. They all bailed out of the truck and followed Pete over to the point where his fishing poles had been standing.
"Looks like Old Thumper got your poles, Pete," joked Willis. Old Thumper was the giant catfish of local legend. He gained the name because he would make a thumping noise on the top of the water before taking your hook and the pole with it.
"Probably just a couple of punk teenagers," replied the old man. His long white hair hung to the shoulders of his red and black flannel shirt. Tyler and Willis had always joked about how much Pete looked like Willie Nelson. He continued on to lead the group on to where he had found the bones. "I was digging for some worms and I hit something hard," I pointed over to a large hole. Tyler and James made their way to the hole where the old man had been digging. There was obviously several bones lying around and jutting out of the ground. Tyler knew they weren't freshly dead, so he didn't figure he'd have a murder investigation on their hands. The coroner approached the bones and picked up one of them. He examined it and got a puzzled look on his face.
"Well, these are definitely not fresh dead or anywhere near fresh dead," said Larry. He knelt down again and picked up a fragment of what looked like a jar. "Looks like we found a burial site," James said, "Better call up the archeology department over at Kansas State. We should find out what these guys belongs to." He paused, "There's something weird about these bones," said the coroner. His dark African face cringed and stared at what looked to be half a bone.
"What's the matter with them James?" asked Deputy Willis.
"Well, as you can probably see," he started, "Some of these bones are severed."
"Yeah, what about it?" asked Tyler.
"Well, the cuts," he paused, "They're so," another pause, "So clean," James said, "Way to clean a cut to be an animal or weapon."
Tyler looked harder at the bones and saw that James was right. He had seen bones cut with modern surgical tools, and this seemed like it was even more precise. It was like something out of one of his son's science fiction movies. It looked as though someone had taken a laser and just hack it right off.
"Well, I'm sure you can figure it out James," said Pete.
* * *
Tyler arrived at the scene the next day with James in the truck along with a Sac and Fox elder and the team from K-State following in a small caravan of cars and trucks behind them.
They found they're way to the burial site and the team began looking around. The elder paced about the site and chanting some ritual blessing and Tyler had no idea what it was about. He figured there was some curse involved with digging up burial sites, so he guessed that the elder was just being safe.
Over the day several skeletons were discovered. All of them were missing they're skulls and several of them had the same kind of cuts on their bones that the first one did. The team found a few other things around the site. Traditional items. Arrowheads, jars, and the like were all discovered. But one pot seemed to stump all of the researchers. One of them finally asked the elder about some inscriptions on it. Tyler saw a fearful reaction from the old man.
"It has a warning on it," the old man began, "It says to be wary. The hunter demon from the skies may come. He claimed all these people, and by opening this site, he may come for you."
* * *
That night, Blake Cooper found the second dead cow in his stock. Both had been cut open with surgical quality. Several organs looked to have been removed from each without a trace of any left lying around. There was no blood either, which was very odd to him. He was no doctor, but the rancher knew that there probably wasn't anyway to remove organs without there being some blood.
"Oh crap," started Cooper's wife, Mary. Her brown eyes had a cold look in them as if they wanted to tear something apart. He held her hand on her thick hip and scowled. "We loose another one?"
Cooper nodded, "Yeah, call up the sheriff, there's no way any animal could have done this."
* * *
Tyler picked up the phone in his house. "Tyler residence," he began, "This is Joe."
"Sheriff," started the voice of Mary Cooper, "We need you to come down here and take a look at something. And you might want to bring down Dr. Peterson."
"All right, but what do you need the vet there for?" asked Tyler.
"We've found a couple of our cattle dead, and we know there's no way an animal could have done it."
"How do you know that?"
"I think you should just come down and see for yourself."
* * *
Tyler and the local vet, Dr. May Peterson, arrived at the Cooper ranch at about ten that night. Blake and Mary Cooper were both waiting on the front porch for them.
"Thank you both for coming out here on such short notice," said Mary.
"Follow me," started Blake, "I'll show you what's going on." All four trailed over to a nearby grazing field, where to carcasses were lying in the dirt. He pointed to the one on the right, "I found this one last night," he started and point to the other one, "And then this one tonight."
May Peterson knelt down next to one of the cows and examined its wounds. Her delicate figure seemed to just float above the dead carcass and her blue eyes were affixed upon it. She gained an immediate puzzled face and her eyes widened. "What the hell?" she muttered.
"What is it?" Tyler asked.
"These incisions, I've never seen anything like it before," replied the veterinarian
"Maybe it's the demon hunter from the skies," Tyler joked to himself.