To all,
Due to the interest in this series, here is part 5. This chapter is back to the action of previous chapters.
Any aliens, real or imagined in this story are purely a construct of my twisted and warped mind. My attempts to enter a realm (writing), that has always eluded me, has been exciting. I hope you enjoy my continued tale of Drew Jr.
*****
Part 5
Drew could feel the calming effect of the forest as he sat beside the main house and sipped his tea while the morning dawned.
Then the morning shattered.
He felt a scream but did not hear it, then others followed ringing in his head. He knew immediately where the screams came from and who they belonged to. It was one of the littler youngling groups out hunting for paparazzi. They were in trouble. Their calls for help were quickly cut short, normally this would be by death. But it was not death, he could still "feel" them but somehow their 'voices' could not be heard.
Before he could get out of his chair, he was met with the feral growls of several of the female warriors. They acme to his side, armed and ready for battle. Tiffany was up, dressed, and armed when she joined him. Meme was only a few seconds behind.
He knew that the Pride was ready for conflict, they had been training for it since they arrived on Earth. Through all the emotions flooding him, Drew paused.
He needed to think like a human again, but a human with no honor.
He again, was on that field of battle covered in the entrails of others.
He again was in space battling Roaches, facing overwhelming odds.
And, just like those times, he paused to gain clarity.
He pulled Meme and Tiffany to the side, "Get everyone, Pride, and friends into the main house and lock it down. Prepare for battle. Bring the corvette over and station it over the lodge. This could be only a diversionary tactic to get to the rest of Pride. Protect the Pride." Drew paused, no one was arguing so he knew he was on the right track.
"I am going to take Thing One and Two and I want Alexander as scout. We are going to find out what happened to the younglings. Any questions?"
Meme spoke up briefly, "Alexander is the oldest of the younglings and oldest of the Lords lineage, but not yet a warrior. Why not another warrior?"
"Yes, agreed, but he is the best at woodsman ship and tracking. This is his chance to earn some scars. Things One and Two can kill anything that walks, slithers, or skitters. Let them work together so we can go in and get out quietly." Drew ended with finality.
There was no more discussion. Alexander was called and came prepared. The four moved out with Drew being the slowest.
***
Drew had to admire Alexander. While the two were not close, Drew had admired the natural leadership ability of the young male. He had shown that leadership on the Pride's escape from the roaches. Drew knew that one day he would be handing the Pride over to this young male if he could prove his bravery as well as his calm leadership.
While he had been in the woods strolling and even participated in several tactical training exercises, he was in awe of how the Cats moved in the forest, silent. He felt like he was tromping through the trail, banging pot and pans together compared to the Cat warriors.
It took them over a half an hour to quietly approach the spot of disappearance. Drew froze, there were other entities close by and they were curious. He also knew and could "feel' they were hunting his team.
He held up his hand in a fist while also sending out the mental command to stop and form a protective circle. Each of the team was several meters apart to allow fighting distance if it became hand to hand, weapons were pointed out, each protecting each other back.
They all froze, crouching, waiting on the attack to come.
Drew was trying to figure out what he was feeling and seeing in his mind. They were not human. They were not Cat and they were not any known alien species that he had felt before. He spread his mind out and found 6 entities, to his team of 4.
He told his team mentally where they were placed, very strategic, in a circle surrounding their circle. He reached out to the 'brightest' of them. The one he sent a mental message to, was surprised by the contact, and moved very slowly and silently in front of Drew. He could not understand the emanations he felt from the entity, but it was raw and simplistic in nature.
He sent out one simple feeling "peace' and waiting for any sudden aggressive movement.
Movement came, a large grey white timber wolf stepped out partially from a tree. He felt the others edge forward and then one stepped out in front of Alexander and growled bearing its fangs. Alexander growled back making the other wolfs hair stand up and it take a more offensive stance.
Drew 'yelled' at Alexander to "knock it off" and turned his head to make sure he understood. Alexander slowly complied. Surprisingly, the Alpha did his own version of a chastising growl at the younger wolf. The beta lowered his muzzle and moved back in the shadows.
Since the Cat's arrival, there had been a general standoff between the cats and wolves. The youngling groups had tangled with the wolves on several occasions and had each earned their scars. The wolves were not used to having to share their domain with an equally dominate species, so the boundary of the property became the untold demarcation for unspoken territory. No lives had been taken on either side, but even a smaller youngling was an easy match for a timber wolf one on one.
The Alpha stared at Drew and Drew stared back. Drew again reached out to try and have him understand looking for packmates. The Alpha swung his muzzle to look towards the glade they were heading to and Drew gave out and affirmative.
Drew asked something stupid of the Alpha "Touch" and then went down on one knee. The Alpha stared for a moment and crept closer. Drew put out his hand, palm up towards the Alpha and he could hear growls from the other wolves spaced around the Cat team. The Cat team could hear and feel Drew, so they stayed silent.
The Alpha did one curt growl and the rest became silent.
Drew was no longer a small man. He was just short of two meters and his broad shoulders would make a football linebacker proud. But he felt small, in a way, when the Alpha stepped up to him nose to nose. His palm contacted the broad chest of the Alpha and visions came to his mind. This startled the Alpha and he jumped back slightly causing more growling from the betas. The same process of growling to shut them up began but it was unsettling to Drew because he was inches from the large muzzle.
The Alpha sniffed at Drews face and again stepped forward. Contact was made and the visions flowed. Mental flashes of a shuttle coming down a few miles away and black suited humans moving towards the boundary. Movement seen over the boundary and then the younglings being taken.
Drew could only try and send back images of family and being grateful. The Alpha sent one last group of images, feelings and of all things, smells before disconnecting. His images, smells and anger were of two dead wolves laying in the forest, images of the black suited humans and the feelings of prey and kill.
The Alpha stepped back and turned and disappeared into the forest. Drew could track them and understood. The mercenaries had killed two of the pack and the Alpha wanted revenge.
There was a pause by the Team, the whole episode had only taken 10 to 15 minutes, but Drew was a bit shaken. It turned out so were the others. Drew unknowingly had transmitted it all to the team. After a deep breath and knowledge that there was no further danger they moved out.
They entered the clearing and could smell the smell of one of the humans that had attacked the Younglings. There was blood on the ground and a human body lay in the middle of the clearing. Thing Two ran forward to check the body and Drew screamed "NO!" as she reached for the body. Drew waived for everyone to freeze and slowly crept forward and found a trip wire that luckily Thing Two had leapt over. He traced the wire to an adjacent tree and found a claymore. That alone would have killed all living things in the clearing.
"It's a Kill zone," he called out. "Look for more wires and do not come near the clearing." He slid the pin back in the claymore triggering device and cut the wire. He then took the claymore and put it in his bag. He motioned Thing One and Alexander to sweep their areas. Thing One found another Claymore and disabled it and bagged it too.
Drew very carefully created a cleared path to the human body and Thing Two. As he cleared the forest floor, he found a pressure pad of unknown use. He decided he did not want to know what it was about for now, he just wanted Thing Two out the kill zone.
The whole time Drew was path clearing, Thing Two was mumbling verbally and in her mind about cowards and the cowardly way of a non-warrior. Drew reached her and the dead body. He looked underneath the cooling human body looking for traps or trigger wires. He found what he had feared, a grenade trap. Anyone moving the body would trigger the trap and be killed when the grenade went off.
Drew examined the dead body and found the cause of death, his throat had been slashed out, the wolves. They had decided to leave their dead comrade for bait, either for them or the wolves.
Drew had neither the time or patience to try and disarm the grenade, so he called out to see if anyone brought rope. Alexander tossed him a coil. While Thing Two made her way back along the cleared path, Drew carefully tied one end of the rope to the arm of the dead enemy. Drew then slid backwards until he could find cover behind a tree out of the clearing. He motioned the others to do the same.
When all was as safe as it could be, he heaved on the rope and flipped the body over. The resulting explosion was louder and more violent that Drew remembered from training. There was a deep crater and the body had been thrown a couple of feet.
"Shit, what were they trying to kill, the whole Pride? Two claymores and whatever that thing was." He did not realize he was speaking out loud until Alexander sent him a message "?"
He sent a message back "explain soon" and saw a nod of his head.
Drew became curious and waived for everyone to take cover farther back. He braced himself on the adjacent tree and began to hall what was left of the body towards him. About halfway to Drews cover, the pressure pad waited. As the body made contact, Drew and the other could hear a chuff noise of expanding air and then the sound of something buzzing and arching towards them.
"Incoming," screamed Drew, and while they did not understand the phrase, they understood as Drew dropped prone and covered his head. The first explosion would have been spectacular if they were not been so close to Drews position. The second and third explosion created additional damage and shrapnel sizzled in the air.
