Chapter 7
Lies All Around
Royce's POV
I closed my eyes when I heard the gunshot. She had the guts to do what the rest of us didn't. She shot her friend.
"We say nothing to her when she catches up."
"What's it matter to you?" Con asked.
"Yeah we all heard you say you were done with her."
"I know I did. But that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve a little respect for having the balls to do what none of us could. She shot a man, to save him from suffering. Someone she trusted."
"Oiye! Green Eyes!"
I sighed.
"What?"
"Oh don't sound so excited."
I growled at her.
"What?"
"Something's not right."
"A lot a fucking things aren't right around here babe."
I glared at the Con and then looked back at her.
"What do you mean?"
"After I….after I did what I had to, he called for help again. I shot him clear through the heart. If he wasn't dead before then he should have been after that. He still called for help."
That was worrisome. I looked back the way she'd come and wondered what the hell was going on.
"Keep moving, quickly."
For once she didn't argue with me. We kept going until I saw a dog track. I held up my hand to signal them to stop and knelt down.
"We should go to higher ground." I heard her say.
"We're on an alien hunting planet and your solution is to walk more?" Doc argued.
I was trying to put the pieces together. After a few seconds I realized,
"It wants us to run. That's how it hunts. This is it's jungle, it's game, its rules. If we run we die."
My Siren knelt down next to me and I looked at her.
"What do you propose?"
"We need to know who we're dealing with." I pointed to the tracks. "The dog tracks go that way…we go after it." I said.
She stood up and then walked off.
"What're you doing?"
She didn't look at me.
"I'm a hunter. I can get us there faster than you can. Besides, some of these tracks are not as visible and there are more of them." she looked over her shoulder. "If you want to find out who we're dealing with, you better follow me."
"I'm with her." said the Con.
"Yeah me too." agreed the Doc.
I growled but followed her.
She was right though. She got us there fast and she knew exactly which tracks to follow. When she stopped she took out a small pair of binoculars from her side bag. I moved closer so I was right next to her. I could still smell roses and I fought the urge to grab her. This had to stop.
"What do you see?"
She waited a minute before answering.
"Nada. No movement."
I forced myself move past her and into the camp. What I saw slightly disturbed me. There were…things hanging around the camp. Skinned things. The smell was terrible and it didn't feel right. What man could possibly do something like this? We moved through the camp until we came to a sort of totem. There was….something strung up to it.
Jasmina's POV
I didn't want to believe it. We all gathered in front of it. I couldn't see it's face and I was afraid to. I looked at the ground and away from the creature. I felt eyes on me and looked up. He was looking at me and I masked my fear with intolerance. Even then, he seemed to know exactly what I was feeling. Nikolai walked up to it and slowly pushed the barrel of his gun towards it. The slightest touch woke the thing up and my eyes went wide with terror.
"What the fuck is that thing!?"
"We have to leave! We have to leave now! Now!" I shouted.
"Hey, where's the tough guy?" asked the doctor.
I looked around and I felt fury in my heart.
"He left us here. Hijo de puta!"
The creature was still struggling and crying out.
"He is here."
I looked at the big man just in time to see him shot. My eyes went wide and I jumped back. Spear then shot from the ground and pierced his body. That was when I saw him. Green Eyes had never left, he used us as bait.
If we live through this, I'll kill you with my bare hands.
I already knew we stood no chance against these things.
"RUN!" he shouted.
I grabbed the doctor and pushed him away from the camp. I threw myself to the ground when a form of energy blast came my way. Yakuza picked me up and we kept running. I followed Green Eyes and he fell down a hill. I didn't stop in time and I fell too. I heard Green Eyes scream and I soon found out why. I fell off a cliff and down into a deep body of water. I hit the surface hard on my side, but I had to ignore the pain and keep going. The rest of them fell into the water and we swam as fast as we could. We found a place we could get out and I leaned against the rocks. My side was burning from the hard landing in the water. I saw Green Eyes stand up and I glared. I got up, went to him, looked him in the eyes and then punched him hard. He fell back down on his ass and then stood up angrily.
"You set us up! You led us into that camp and then left us like bait! And you hid like a cobarde. A coward." I snarled.
I could see the fury in his eyes and he didn't look away from me.
"I needed to know what we were up against. Now I do."
I looked at him in disgust and then looked away.
"A man is dead because of that." said the Scorpion.
"This morning you were ready to kill him."
"Yeah well it aint this fucking morning is it?!"
"Well at least he didn't die in vain." said Green Eyes.
"Why? To find out first hand to know what it feels like to have our asses kicked!?"
"No! We found out that there's more than one of them. That they use projectile and energy based weapons. That they have some sort of cloaking device! That they're bigger than us. Stronger! But also heavier."
I shook my head. How could I still desire and need this man so badly? Maybe it was just for his body and his rough handling. I turned and looked at him again. I got in his face and stared into his eyes.
"You put as it risk for your own purposes. You said you do better alone. So why don't you go? You know I'm done with you."
We just stared at each other.
"So is this the part where we get back in the water or go behind the waterfall so you two can have angry sex? Or is this just-"
"Silencio!" I snapped at the doctor.
He held up his hands and shut his mouth.
"Then why don't you tell them the truth?"
I was caught now.
"No sé a qué te refieres. Y no necesito hacerte ningún favor." (I don't know what you mean. And I don't need to do you any favors.)
"I don't speak Spanish!" he looked at the others. "She knows what that thing is." he looked at me again. "Don't you Siren?"
He smirked because he knew he'd caught me. For some reason it made me want to have my way with him. I sighed and sat down.
"There is no name for them. Eighty-seven Guatemala. A team went into the jungle. High end. Six men and a CIA lesion. Only one of them made it out, and also a girl. From what I heard, he said they came across something. He gave a very detailed description." I looked into those green eyes. "That thing on the totem. It wore some kind of camouflage that adjusted to ambient light. Making it nearly invisible to us. It could see our body heat, infrared. The man used mud to block his, and in doing so beat it. It hunted and killed his team. Picking them off one by one. Are you happy now pendejo? Hm?"
As I thought, he didn't say anything.
"Whatever it is, wherever they're from…we're gonna kill them all."
I almost laughed at him.
"We set up a defensive perimeter, make it look like we're holed up. That'll bring them to us. We force them into a choke point, we get them in overlapping fields of fire. It can be done."
I knew he was right. And I hated it.
"I can't do it alone."
I could feel his eyes on me. I sighed in frustration and looked at him.
"Fine."
He nodded and we moved on.
