Chapter Eight

(I wish George and Martha hadn't tagged along,) Jason said.

We were all in Deinonychus morphs, save Muk-Luk. The trenches were dug, and the fire was blazing quite nicely. The One ship was due to crash at any moment. Oh…And we still hadn't found Melissa.

(We suited up as Deinonychus,) I said. (To them, that's the signal that we're going hunting.)

(Yeah,) Jason said, sounding nervous. (If something happens to them because of this, though…)

It was kind of cute, how much Jason had grown to care about our 'pet' Deinonychuses.

The five of us were crouched down low…Looking for all the world like a real pack of Deinonychus.

We had even caught the scent markers that we were in the territory of a rival pack. It had caused some minor alarm, but the pack itself had clearly not been in this part of the territory for some time.

This piece was set to crash very close to our dome home, so we had chosen to morph Deinonychus, and walk to the site. Muk-Luk had spent the week carving up the trenches.

Our conversation was interrupted by the One ship piece slamming into the ground less than a 100 feet from us. It was a smaller chunk than the others that had crashed, maybe the size of a house, as opposed to the Empire State Building.

Menderash chirped nearby, anxiously, as several of the One infected creatures staggered out. There was another one of the familiar bipedal leonine shapes. Something that looked vaguely like a crab, and four creatures that I couldn't even begin to describe.

The fire hadn't quite reached them yet, so they backed away from the flames. A breeze wafted by and my nose got a blast of One-infected scent.

(Ugh,) I said.

(I know, right,) Jason said. (Something about that smell really disturbs my Deinonychus mind. T-rex too, actually.)

Wait, what? I thought. Something about that was seriously off. But sure enough…George and Martha were looking suddenly very uneasy. As if they were being disturbed at their core.

(Jason,) I said.

(Yeah, Em?) He responded.

(I need to check something…Gotta go do a quick double morph,) I said.

(Why?) Jason asked.

(I don't know…Something's bugging me,) I said. (I need to check on it…Maybe I'm wrong, but I've got to check.)

(We'll hold the fort,) Jason said. (Fire's almost to the One anyway.)

(Why are they just standing there, like that?) Menderash wondered.

It was true…The infected creatures were all just standing there, staring at the flames, they weren't moving, weren't taking any actions to get away…Just standing there.

(Creepy,) I said, turned and darted off into the forest.

I didn't go far. Maybe a few hundred feet. But I had to know…I had to check something…And my Deinonychus morph was not going to give me the answers I needed.

I demorphed as quickly as I could…resuming human form. Then, I focused my mind on the Wolf DNA inside me.

Technically, the wolf morph wasn't a 'pure' wolf. She was 1/16th Husky. And I definitely could feel that doggy joy whenever I assumed the morph. But she was still a wolf. Still a predator. The forest was her element.

I felt my fur and fangs take hold, my canines extending into sharp teeth. My tail sprouting out.

I finished morphing as quickly as I could, and my sense of smell came online. I could smell the burning forest…But I also caught another whiff of the scent of the infected One hosts.

And to my wolf mind…They smelled good.

That's what I thought, I thought.

Being a predator is not easy. It's hard. The things you need to eat, don't particularly want to be eaten, and will fight you tooth and claw to survive. That's why a predator naturally goes for an easy meal. The old. The young. The injured. And the sick.

A sick animal should smell tempting, not disturbing. It should smell like easy prey. Not like something that bothers the predator on a core level.

To my wolf nose, the One smelled like easy prey. Easy dinner. So why then, did the One's scent disturb our predatory dinosaur morphs. It was a mystery that I was certain the answer to was right there in front of me. Just out of reach.

(Muk-Luk,) I heard Jason say in thought-speech. (What are they doing?)

I bounded through the forest to where the others were in Deinonychus morph.

The various One host bodies had linked arms. And their skin was starting to bubble.

(They are accessing the DNA of the collective,) Muk-Luk said. (Calling upon some genetic factor or ability that is not currently present among these contaminated creatures.)

(I don't like the sound of that—,) Jason started to say, when suddenly, their skin burst apart, and every single tainted creature suddenly looked like a giant green blob of goo. They melted together, rapidly forming into a gigantic super-blob.

(What the hell?) Jason said, backing away.

(Oh dear,) Muk-Luk said. (The Kelberiad informs me that last night, the One attacked the aquatic moon of Ixxix Prime. A planet noted for gigantic single-celled organisms called Forlon Navere. The Forlon Navere can absorb any sort of vegetative matter and add it to themselves to increase their mass.)

And it was true…The One was sucking up grass, flowers, dead tree branches, and even living trees. Sucking them up and growing…

(It's still vulnerable to the flames, see!) Jason said, as a corner of the blob came close to the fires and visibly burned on contact.

(Vulnerable, yes,) Menderash said. (But one-celled organisms possess no nervous system, they cannot feel pain…And if that thing absorbs enough vegetation then it need not fear the flames…It will simply smother them.)

(The One infected an entire moon,) Jason said (Just to screw with our plan?)

(It is known to be quite petty,) Muk-Luk admitted.

Suddenly, a whip like tentacle launched out of the blob and wrapped around Muk-Luk.

The blob suddenly split down the middle, horizontally, and formed a massive red mouth.

"I will absorb you all," it said, simply. More tentacles lashed out, and one snagged Jason.

(Jason!) I yelled, and lunged at it with my wolf jaws, but the whip was too fast.

Immediately, sensing that their pack-mate was in danger, George and Martha launched themselves at the One. Only to be snatched out of the air by lightning fast whip-like tentacles.

(Emily! Menderash!) Jason yelled, snarling and attempting to use his sickle-claw on his captor. (RUN!)

(I will not abandon you!) Menderash yelled. (Not again!)

The Andalite crouched and launched itself at the One.

(Wait!) I started to yell, but it was too late. The One Blob snatched Menderash out of the air as well.

"I will infect all of you," The One said, a large infection spike forming out of the blob's mass. "Except the Kelbrid…It I shall simply absorb into the mass of this body."

(Emily,) Jason said, his Deinonychus eyes looking directly at my wolf form.

(Run. Don't argue. Just run.)

In that moment, I considered telling Jason. Telling him exactly how I felt…Spilling my guts to him…But before I could, another tentacle launched towards me.

My hesitation vanished…And just as Jason asked…I ran. I ran like the hounds of hell were on my tail.

I ran like a coward.