Chapter 7: Numuntaille
The scientists set up the radar dish. The camp was small, barely enough to accommodate the five of them. They were stationed far north of jump city. They were planning to set up a research grounds for the wildlife in the woods. They went as far as they could go while trying to stay close to urbanization. There were about seven in all, seven scientists, half of which didn't even want to be there. Joseph sat on a large boulder, the team's rifle in his arms. He stared intently into the bush, he had just seen something large off in the bush, and he was trying to find it again, hoping that he would sight it again.
"Hey, Joe! Could use a hand here!" Bruce yelled as he tried to single-handedly raise a large main tent.
Joe sighed and left the boulder to help his friend.
He never saw the eyes boring into his back as he left.
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Blaise had just finished his walk and was now snoozing on his cot. Cujo was snoring at his feet. Blaise had just finished making two more weapons for his use. One was a metal baseball bat that he had welded some spikes onto; the other was something like a foot long heavy metal spike, attached on the blunt end by a long length of rope. Blaise could throw the spike easily over a hundred feet. It was at its most accurate at fifty feet. Blaise never really slept, he just took naps at three hour intervals in the day, so he could be up all night on watch duty.
He awoke with a start, he swore that he heard something else in the room, but a quick glance and a silent moment to hear told him otherwise, he was very alone in his room. He tried to get back to his heavy doze, but his mind just refused to shut down.
"Oh, to hell with it, I'm getting up" He muttered as he sat up and climbed out of the cot. He put on the chain mail shirt that he always wore now, and put on some socks so he could slip on the steel toed boots that had replaced the moose hide moccasins. (Just for a note; He sleeps with his jeans on. so do I, come to think about it)
He shouldered the quiver harness and left for the roof, muttering a tired hello to his teammates as he passed them in the common area. Once on the open roof, he stared out to watch the sun as it began to finish its journey across the orange sky. He went into a handstand, his back to the stairs. His eyes closed and his mind went blank. When he meditated, it wasn't the same as everyone thought meditating was, with the crossed legs and all. His hands went from open to closed, and he was standing on the knuckles of his fists. Then his fingers curled out from the fist, and then he stood on both index fingers. Then one hand moved behind his back. The arrows fell out of the quiver, as did the bow from the case, and the black knives from the sheaths, but even he could not change gravity. His shoulder length blond hair fell in front of his eyes, and he seemed unattached from the world for a while.
At least until his finger gave out twenty minutes later and he fell painfully onto the concrete.
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Joe looked at the camp, it looked pretty decent. They had all just finished their dinner (canned beans and some wild meat) and were about to retire. Joe was just about to step into the tent when the bushes to his right started crashing and something very large was heard sprinting towards the tent. Joe panicked and ran away from the tent, forgetting that his friends were inside. Seconds later he heard tearing canvas, and, coming right after, sudden screams of agony that were almost instantly silenced. Then a new tearing sound came from what remained of the tent. Joe knew it was tearing flesh.
He stumbled and he tripped, hitting his head on the radio. H grabbed it and turned onto the first frequency that had something on the other side. Whatever it was out there had finished ripping the tent and the remains of the people inside it and was running towards him. He couldn't see it in the inky darkness, but he sure as hell heard it. And it was fucking close.
"HELP!" He screamed into the receiver before something grabbed him by the ankle and started to pull him back towards the dead fire and the thrashed tent.
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Blaise was sitting at the desk in front of the computer, he was just about to dose off (he didn't get that long of a nap) when the radio crackled to life.
"HELP!" The radio shouted into his face before falling deathly silent.
"Fuck sleep, I'm wide awake now" He said as he began to trace the call
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"Are you sure you know where the call came from, Brian?" Robin asked Blaise ten minutes later
"Hey, if you don't believe me, check the computer" he answered as he headed towards his room
Five minutes later, Blaise was ready to leave, as was robin and raven.
"You sure those three can handle charge of this place?" Blaise said as he climbed into the left wing compartment.
"Yes, they won't freak out, nor will they throw a party, I hope"
"Okay, just checking" Blaise said as he adjusted his hand and a half sword on his belt
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"Not a pretty way to go" Blaise said, looking at the wreckage of the camp. Using a small penlight, he inspected a severed limb, focusing on the bloody end. "Hey, Rob, this wasn't cut, this leg was ripped right off"
Robin walked to where Blaise was squatting. "What the hell could do this? Bear?"
Blaise shook his head. "No, take a look at this, this was grabbed and pulled apart. See the ends? They're thinner and longer than the rest of the appendage, this was grabbed on both ends and pulled apart. Bears would have cut with their claws, besides, they usually disembowel the body before they go for appendages, and this torso is nearly untouched. No, whatever did this is a lot larger than a bear, and a lot stronger. And a lot smarter."
"Well, this is the shits, lets get back and wait until morning, and then we can do a proper investigation." Raven said from behind them.
"Not possible. By the time morning comes, the scavengers will have made off with just about everything. Making investigation impossible" Robin told her.
Blaise tossed the severed forearm away from him. "There isn't much to investigate, it's just an animal atta-"
"What? Brian? Hello? HEY!" Robin said as Blaise stared off towards a distant low, lone mountain that had appeared as the clouds had lifted in the night, leaving a silhouette in the night sky.
"WHAT?"
Blaise started backing away from the entire scene, his eyes never leaving the mountain. "W-w-w-w-w-we have t-to go n-n—now" he stammered as he backed away from the camp towards the ship.
"Why do we have to leave?" Robin said, not budging from his spot.
Blaise responded by drawing his longbow and nocking an arrow, he looked around frantically.
"I think he's finally lost it" Robin muttered to Raven.
"Things……..things live here, they should not exist, but they are here. They will kill you, just like they did to these men, here" Blaise said as he raised the bow to a far off crash.
"Brian……………what things?"
"Bad things, Numuntaille. They live here. We have to leave, now, right now."
A closer crash came from their right. Blaise raised the bow to the sound and drew the arrow to his chin. "Just take my word for it. We have to go"
" not until you explain what you're talking about, what is 'Numuntaille'?"
"By the time the words left my lips, we would be dead. Just follow me and GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" He yelled as something large burst out of the bush, headed straight for the ship. Headed straight for Blaise.
A whistle sounded as the arrow was released and Blaise sprinted off into the night.
Whatever had burst out of the bush clutched its shoulder and ran straight to the ship. The ship was reduced to a few splinters of metal in a few seconds. Raven and Robin stood there in shock. It wasn't till thy saw the creature turn to them and they saw the ruby red eyes glowing that they knew they had to move.
Needless to say, they ran.
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Blaise was crouched in a tree, clutching the rifle that was found at the site, it had a scope and a full magazine of ammunition. It was a powerful hunting rifle. He squinted through the scope. He saw his two friends running through the bush, and the Numuntaille running after them. The barrel rose up and began taking a bead on the large bulk of the huge creature. The barrel of the .306 finally came to a stop. Several seconds passed before the shot rang out.
Hello. Very sorry about how long this took. I'm kind of in a funk at the moment, so forgive me. But I do promise that I will publish a chapter eight and nine
CLB