"Please tell me what happened," I say. Somehow I'm not too surprised that this mess was caused by humans.
The Wyrm dives down into the ground. I can "feel" him circling around beneath me. I wait and finally he returns.
Your kind came. They killed our home with metal and fire. He dives down again and circles some more.
Slash and burn. That's what he's probably talking about. He resurfaces a few moments later. This time the fringe around his head is lying flat against his neck.
We mate once every one hundred years. Our young are few and far in between.
He disappears again. He doesn't resurface for several minutes. When he does, he's so close to me I could reach out and touch him.
Our youngest was playing near the surface. His parents were feeding near by. He wandered off. He emerged in the middle of the fire.
He dives down again. I have a sinking feeling I know what's coming next. He comes up right next to me.
His parents brought him to the coldest place they could reach to cool the burn. But it doesn't help. He's dying.
Suddenly, he shoots straight up, knocking me down. He towers over me, fringe out and glaring at me.
And now more of us are injured. Again, because of your kind.
Once more, he disappears into the earth, but this time he returns to the tangle. So bullets do have an effect on them. It's just not instantaneous. Great. So somewhere in the middle of that tangle of Wyrms is a dying baby Wyrm and several injured Wyrms.
I hear yelling and running feet. I look and see several agents running toward me with Hellboy and Abe leading the way. I stand up and dust myself off. By the time I'm done, Abe is there, grabbing me and holding me tightly.
"Not that I don't like you holding me, Abe," I say with only half a mouth since my face is squished into his chest. "But I do enjoy breathing."
He lets go of me and holds me at arms length. His fingers cut into my upper arm despite the heavy jacket I'm wearing. I guess it's a good thing that the more fish aspects of his being give him only limited facial movements. Otherwise, I have a feeling he would be scowling at me.
"What the hell do you think you were doing!?" yells Hellboy. I'm actually kind of glad that he's the one yelling and not Abe. I don't think I could take it if Abe yelled at me.
"Getting information," I tell him calmly. I turn back to Abe. "Abe, please, you're hurting me."
He lets go and wraps me in his arms once more. This time he's gentler. I bring my arms up and around him as the blood starts to return to my fingers. I lean my head against his chest and listen to his heart beat. It's beating very rapidly. I continue to listen with my eyes shut as it returns to a normal speed.
"So what did you learn?" asks Manning.
Opening my eyes, I look at Manning who's now standing right next to us. I sigh and pull away from Abe. Abe doesn't completely let go of me, which I don't really mind at this moment. I proceed to tell everyone about what the Wyrm told me.
"So, if the parents brought the baby up here, why did the rest of these things show up?" Manning asks.
"I don't know," I answer. "I've heard of entire pods of whales beaching themselves when one of them is dying. It could be something like that."
"So, now what do we do?" Manning inquires.
"Now, I see if there's something I can do to help," I reply. I feel Abe's grip tightening on me.
"What would happen if we left them alone?" asks Liz.
"I'm not sure, but there's no food up here for them," I answer. "Sooner or later, they're all going to die, if they stay up here."
"What would happen if we did just let them all die?" asks John.
"Besides the mess of some sixty plus creatures lying dead in the sun, the rain forest that they live under would die" I reply.
"That would be bad," says Manning.
"You think?" I retort. I turn and look at the tangle of Wyrms. Some are moving around again, but several are watching us, including the large male I was talking to earlier. "Dr. Manning, I want you to take your men back to the trucks and wait for us. Hellboy, Abe, Liz and I will stay here and see if we can help."
"I'm in charge here," he says, getting huffy.
"People with guns injured several of these creatures," I say turning back to him. "I don't think it would be wise to keep your men too close in case they decide to take revenge on the nearest human with a gun."
"I don't like this," he responds.
"I know, but humans caused this problem, and it's up to us to fix it," I tell him.
He finally concedes and starts to order his men back to the trucks.
"Wait!" I say suddenly. "Hellboy, give John the Samaritan."
"What? No way," he yells at me.
"It's not going to do you any good here," I tell him. "And it's more likely to cause problems."
Hellboy glares at me for a good minute before he finally unstraps his gun belt, and hands it and the Samaritan to John.
After Manning and his men are gone, I turn back to the tangle. Abe still hasn't let go of me, but that's ok for now. I send another tendril of energy through the ground in hopes of attracting one of them back to me. This time a female responds. Like the one before her, she leaps out of the ground in front of us and dives back down behind us. She's probably close to thirty feet long. Hellboy starts getting a bit jumpy.
"Hold still," I tell him. "She's just trying to see if she can spook us."
"How do you know it's a she?" asks Liz as the Wyrm makes another pass.
"The fringe around the back of the head is larger on males," I answer.
A good ten minutes later, the Wyrm is satisfied that we're not going to take off running, and only partially emerges from the ground a couple of yards away from us. Like the male, her fringe is up. Her hide is also a mottled brown, but it's a bit darker and it seems to have a reddish tint to it.
What do you want? She asks.
"We want to help," I answer.
There is nothing you can do.
"How do you know if you won't let us try?" I ask her. She pulls herself further out of the ground and comes so close that I could easily reach out and touch her. I feel Abe's grip tighten even more. She stares into my eyes. I can feel my eyes drying out as I try not to blink.
What do you suggest?
"Bring us one of the ones that were injured after they arrived here," I tell her. "Let us see if we can help that one."
She looks at me for a moment more and then shoots up into the air, arching over backwards. She disappears back into the ground and I can "feel" her returning to the tangle.
"What was that all about?" ask Hellboy gruffly. I turn and look at him.
"Didn't you hear what she was saying?" I ask in return. He just shakes his head. I turn and look at Liz and she shakes her head as well. Finally, I turn to Abe. Surprisingly, he also shakes his head.
"Oh," is all that I can think to say. "Did you at least hear what I was saying?"
They all nod.
"Well, if this works out," I tell them, "she's going to bring one of the injured Wyrms to us. Hopefully, we'll be able to help it."
A couple of minutes later, I "feel" two Wyrms headed our way.
"Here they come," I warn.
The others tense up, but a moment later, the Wyrms emerge a few feet in front of us without the same display as before. I guess they've finally figured out that we're not going to run. It's the same female again, but this time she's accompanied by a smaller male.
This one is willing to let you try, she says.
"May we approach you?" I ask him.
Yes, he says. I can hear the pain in his "voice."
I start to walk forward only to be pulled back by Abe.
"Abe, we can't help him from way over here," I say as I turn to him. "He's given us permission to approach him."
Abe loosens his grip and I turn back toward the Wyrms. I start walking toward them again, this time with the others following. This male may be the smallest one I've seen yet, but he's still at least twenty-five feet long.
"Where are you hurt?" I ask the male.
He rolls onto his side and exposes his belly to us. I can see two small holes oozing some sort of clear liquid. Abe takes one of his gloves off and starts to reach for the Wyrm. I grab his wrist before he can make contact.
"May we touch you?" I ask the Wyrm.
Yes.
I let go of Abe's wrist and nod. Abe touches him.
"The bullets aren't deep," he says. "But the wounds can't heal with them in there."
I put my hand over one of the holes and "pull" the bullet toward me. A moment later, I'm holding it in my hand. I do the same with the other hole. The entire time the Wyrm remains completely still. Unfortunately, there's now more liquid coming out of the holes. Abe's hand is still on the Wyrm.
"I think it would be best if we cauterized the wound somehow," he says quietly. I turn to Liz.
"Liz, do you think you could do that?" I ask her.
"I can try," she answers.
She puts her finger up to the hole and sends a tendril of flame into the wound. The Wyrm instantly reacts to the fire. He moves out of reach and lets out a shriek that sends me to my knees. Since I'm the only one can hear it, I seem to be the only one affected by it. The female is suddenly is between us and the male.
What did you do to him? She demands.
Shaking the ringing out of my head, I stand up and face her.
"We need to cauterize the wound, or it won't stop bleeding," I tell her. I can tell I'm going to have a throbbing headache by the end of the day.
You hurt him!
"I know, and I'm sorry," I respond. "But it's necessary."
A moment later, the male returns pushing the female out of the way.
Please make the other one stop bleeding, he says in a pleading tone.
I can see the spot that Liz sealed. It looks a lot better, but the other hole is still oozing. I approach him.
"Are you sure about this?" I ask him.
No, he says. But the wound that wasn't burned, hurts more than the one that was.
"Liz, he wants you to cauterize the other wound," I say without taking my eyes off of the Wyrm.
Liz approaches him. While the rest of him pretty much remains still, the spot that's hurt is jumping around, making it impossible for Liz to get a clear shot. He's anticipating the fire. I have to get his mind off of it, but I don't know how. I look around for something and my eyes finally land on Hellboy.
"Hellboy, I can I ask a very big favor of you?" I ask.
"What?" he responds.
"Would you mind letting the Wyrm bite your right hand while Liz cauterizes the wound?"
"What!?" he yells. "Are you out of your mind, woman?"
"He needs something to distract him," I tell him. "Maybe getting him to bite something will allow him to hold still long enough to let Liz to do her job."
He stares at me with those baleful yellow eyes of his. Finally, he sighs and walks toward the head of the Wyrm. I follow him.
"Bite his hand," I tell the Wyrm. The Wyrm looks at me.
I'll hurt him.
"Not likely," I respond. "Bite the stone hand. Nothing has ever been able to damage it before."
The Wyrm looks at me for a moment more and then opens his mouth. His teeth are huge. It actually looks like a very large version of a horse's mouth. The Wyrm gently bites down on Hellboy's right hand, carefully placing it where the canine teeth would be if it had any. Once he has a firm grip on Hellboy, I turn to Liz and nod. Liz cauterizes the wound and the Wyrm bites down hard onto Hellbox's hand. When it's over, there's no shriek from the Wyrm and Hellboy's hand is undamaged.
"Abe, are there any more bullets?" I ask.
Abe places his hand back on the side of the Wyrm and then shakes his head after a few seconds. The Wyrm turns and looks us.
Thank you.
"You're welcome," I tell him. A moment later, he's headed back to the tangle.
"Well, that went rather well," says Abe.
"Says you," growls Hellboy. "You didn't have to play chew toy to a giant worm."
"Uh oh," I say.
"Uh oh?" asks Hellboy. "What do you mean by 'Uh oh'?"
"I mean that one wasn't the only one hurt," I answer. "And it seems the rest are headed this way."
Sure enough, several Wyrms emerge right in front of us, each one trying to jockey for a position close to us. The unwounded female appears behind us.
You have healed that one. Are you willing to heal the rest? She asks.
"She wants to know if we're willing to heal the rest of the Wyrms," I tell the others.
Abe and Liz are more than willing, but Hellboy is a bit more reluctant. I can understand why, but we're finally able to talk him into it. I tell the female yes, and then turn back to the mass of moving bodies in front of us.
The unwounded female appears between us and them. She starts bullying them back. She finally allows one to pass. This one emerges in front of us and exposes her wounds to us. We go to work.
Several hours later, the last Wyrm returns to the tangle healed. We've treated more than a dozen Wyrms and removed over thirty bullets. We return to the trucks exhausted and hungry.