Chapter 52 #2
He first checked to make sure the area just outside the crevice was still empty.
It wasn’t a clearing, there were trees and fronds, but they weren’t so deep or thick that the rock wall was hidden.
Only once he was sure there was no one around did he emerge.
Slowly. Carefully. Crouching down so that he was hidden under the fronds – skin changing from gray to green.
There was no convenient rock to cover the crevice, but he could, and did, adjust the vegetation so that it concealed the crack. Not perfectly, but it would have to do. Alanna remained in the back of the little hole, smiling at him from the darkness.
He tore his eyes from her and forced himself to slink off into the jungle.
And this forest didn’t have trees for him to climb, but his body camouflaged into it perfectly.
Even in daylight, he could perfectly disappear.
As Alanna suggested, he took off the shiny, annoyingly loud swim trunks and hid them in the dirt, under the fronds of a plant far from Alanna’s hiding spot.
His cock swung free in the air, but he didn’t have the time or inclination to craft something to hide his nudity.
And there was no point. He’d camouflage easier like this anyway.
Since it was a place to start, he worked his way around first towards the house. Staying clear of the trails, his ears moving to track any unnatural sounds. The rancid smell of burnt wood and plastic hit his nose before the loud human males alerted his ears.
Under one of the fronds of a large plant, he peeked out of the trees towards the smoking, black remains of the once beautiful house – now a blight upon the ash-stained beach.
The charred, skeletal remains stuck in the sand like the corpse of a giant, felled beast. The comm wouldn’t have survived a fire – it was designed to be easily destroyed in case it was taken from them.
And even if it possibly still worked, he had no way of getting to it.
The human males that had attacked them had set up a base camp on the beach, right at the bottom of the burned stairs that once led to the second-floor balcony.
There was a tarp creating a shaded area over their supplies.
Underneath were a couple of boxes that were all closed and what appeared to be a table taken from the house’s balcony with a crude map spread across it.
There were four males under the tarp. They were talking, but Survii wasn’t able to understand more than a few disjointed words. Nothing that would help him figure out what they were saying.
But he got enough context from their motions.
One of the males was gesturing at the map.
It was marked up in a few areas. He was pointing to the others and various regions of the paper.
It was a search effort. Survii wasn’t sure exactly where Alanna was on the map, but he could guess, and it didn’t appear that region had been searched yet.
They might have had to give up last night, knowing they couldn’t find them in the dark.
But it had clearly restarted.
As Survii watched them, two more males emerged from the trees. They said something, pointing backwards with their thumbs. They didn’t seem excited though. So, either they were talking about finding nothing or indicating that there were more males in the trees.
At least six humans then. All still wearing black, so at least they’d be easy to find. He could avoid them easily enough in the wild. But where was their boat…?
He scanned the water but didn’t find it immediately. He had to move from his spot, making his way around to the other side of the remains of the house before he spotted it.
Just as Alanna predicted, they had pulled it up close – much closer than they would have been able to get it with the engine on.
It wasn’t at the docks but was instead anchored near the shallows, bobbing in the waves.
A seventh human was on board, talking into what appeared to be a primitive communication device.
He wasn’t wearing his black gear, just a pair of black shorts.
He was dripping wet, confirming he had been forced to swim to the boat.
Seven humans at least, maybe more. But the boat was easy enough to find. Unfortunately, it was near their base camp and would be guarded. And they had guns. Big ones. The two that emerged from the trees had them on their bodies. The others had them propped up nearby.
Pulling back, Survii moved through the forest again. Not trying to return to Alanna, but instead searching for any signs of more humans.
They were easy to find as they were making no attempts whatsoever to be quiet. They had brought huge knives and one was cutting his way through the vegetation while the other swung his large weapon around, searching for them.
Nine humans then. The boat didn’t look capable of carrying much more – especially not with the boxes of weapons and gasoline they had brought.
The two males were yelling something into the trees.
He recognized Alanna’s name, but the rest was all gibberish.
He really should have put more time into learning English instead of relying on everyone else to translate for him.
He just didn’t see the point when creating a language imprint would be one of the first things done and he could just learn it all at once later.
A foolish oversight on his part. Though it didn’t really matter. He didn’t care what these humans had to say.
Their death was assured no matter what they said.
The one cutting his way through the underbrush was focused on his task. A loud and messy and laborious one. So much so, he didn’t hear the slight commotion when Survii leapt onto the other from behind and ripped out his throat before he could scream.
He yanked the gun away and tossed it into the grass as the male’s body fell. That finally caught his attention and he turned.
Survii was already leaping upon him, shoving the knife out of the way with one hand, the other grabbing him by the hair and jerking back. Exposing his neck. Survii’s feet landed on his hips, toe claws digging into his flesh, anchoring himself in place, as he struck his neck fangs first.
Female humans tasted divine. Like liquid sex and pleasure. Tasting Alanna warmed his belly and heated his blood. It was incredible.
Male humans, however, were vile.
The moment the blood touched his tongue, Survii wanted to gag. He yanked his head back without opening his teeth, ripping out his throat. Blood splashed over him as he jumped off his falling body, quickly swiping at his tongue.
The slightly metallic taste of blood was the same but nothing else was similar and it didn’t affect him like females did.
If anything, it was like a deterrent. A poison.
Domini were a blood drinking species. There were very few animals they could not feed on in this way.
But this blood he had to spit into the dirt, not willing to risk swallowing the foul liquid.
Not for the first time, he was struck dumb. What even were humans? How could the female species be so drastically different from the male? One was poison, the other was a drug.
Thinking about it that way, maybe they weren’t that different after all.
Shaking off the philosophical thoughts, Survii grabbed the large guns and disappeared with them into the jungle. They both found new homes in the ocean when he tossed them from the top of a small drop on the far side of the island.
Two down. Seven to go.
Turning, he jogged back into the green.
A quick check of the beach near the house proved that the number of humans there was back down to five. The one from the boat had returned and was getting dressed. The two that had originally emerged from the trees were still there, but two others had gone inside in their place.
If they kept doing this, maybe he could pick them off two at a time. Solve the problem completely and take Alanna to the boat without issue.
With that thought, he pulled back and began his search for the next pair of humans.
These two were at least smarter than the others.
They weren’t cutting through the trees, but that was because they had chosen to go in a direction that didn’t require it.
Neither was yelling loudly, they were attempting to keep themselves quiet, and both were using their weapons.
Staying nearly back-to-back as they swept their eyes across the area.
Thorough and not unskilled.
But still human.
One of them scanned right past him – twice – and didn’t see him either time. Humans must not have as highly adapted eyesight as the domini. Which made sense. They only had two eyes and they couldn’t camouflage.
It made it that much easier for him to sneak around them. Unseen. Undetected.
He picked up a rock and tossed it. Both of them turned when it clattered – for just a second, putting their backs to him.
It was all he needed.
Leaping out, he grabbed their necks from behind. One in each hand. He ripped their throats out and ducked between them as one collapsed and the other reflexively turned and shot. He didn’t last long before he, too, hit the ground.
Survii pulled their guns away and took off into the trees. The gunshots had been loud. The others would have heard it.
Those guns joined the others in the ocean before he disappeared back into the trees.
He didn’t have to check the beach. He already knew they were in the trees. He could hear them crashing through the underbrush. Calling out. Demanding answers from the missing males that would never get the chance to speak again.
Survii stayed close. Hiding in the ferns. Far enough away that he only got glimpses of the males every so often, but it seemed that three of the five left on the beach had come this way. Another person to watch their back, but still two able to guard their base.
In which case, it would be easier for him to go after the other two.
So, he did just that. Right around the time that he caught the scent of blood. The males’ voices changed as they found the bodies of his first prey.
He left them behind and worked his way back towards the beach. There were two males still there. Both had their weapons up, aimed at the forest. Ocean at their back. Protecting their weapons and gear. Not protecting their boat.
He was tempted, for a moment, to get the boat now. But where would he go? He couldn’t leave Alanna behind, and the humans would hear the boat moving. He wouldn’t be able to hide it. He couldn’t leave with it.
So, he ignored it for now. If he could deal with the males, it wouldn’t be a problem at all.
He moved to the other side of the house and snuck by its ashen corpse – his skin darkening as he did so.
Past that, he slipped into the water – his skin turning a silvery blue.
He swam around to the broken deck. Under the splintered remains.
Out of sight. Silently cutting through the water as he approached the open backs of the two men. So focused only on the land.
They didn’t consider the predator that rose with the rushing waves.
He charged across the sand right as one of the other males came through the trees. Their eyes locked and he cried out.
Too late.
Survii ripped out the throat of one. Then turned and leapt on the back of the other. He caught his hips with his feet, trapped his arms with his own, and sank his fangs into his neck. The reflexive hunting position was easy and familiar to perform.
The acrid taste of male blood flooded his tongue. He didn’t swallow as he ripped with his fangs until the artery burst over his face.
Distantly, he heard the rapid gunfire from the man that had come from the trees. Survii felt the heated bite of a bullet in his arm, but most of them harmlessly pierced the body in front of him. The human he held died quickly.
The other human realized what he had done and stopped shooting. He ran forward with a bellow that Survii didn’t understand.
Survii jumped off the body and kicked the corpse towards him, interrupting his rush.
As the living human was falling, he grabbed the gun and used his claws to cut through the strap, ripping it free with a crack of breaking fingers. He brought it back then shoved it forward, slamming it against his nose with yet another crack and a burst of blood.
He fell back, crying in pain as Survii turned and threw the gun into the water.
He turned back, ready to run-
-but froze.
The remaining humans had caught up to them. They were now all three standing in the tree line, two pointing their weapons at him, one holding his broken nose. Hatred in their eyes.
Survii waited for them to shoot, but they did not. One of them barked something at him and he realized that they weren’t trying to kill him. Not yet, anyway.
Survii stared back at them and slowly raised his arms. Admitting his defeat.
The three males came forward. Flanking him. Keeping their sights up.
He let them yank his arms behind him, something tight and plastic zipped shut to keep them crossed and harmless. But they seemed to forget his tail as he wrapped it around his own leg, out of their sight and out of their mind.
He didn’t fight as two males pushed him forward, the third still training his gun on him.