Manhunter Revelations (22 page)

"It's gone"

The other three giants walked up all of them
staring at the ground around for a few seconds more and then they
all went back to their guard posts around the main building as if
nothing had happened. Hennings immediately dispatched search teams
to see if the creature could be located. They were given strict
orders not to engage the creature, just to report its location.
Security and Med teams went into the building to check on the women
and the injured soldiers that were still inside. Looking over to
the Ladies I could see that even they were somewhat surprised as to
the power of the giants. Walking over to them I asked

"It looks as if all of you are as surprised
as the rest of us as to what the giants were able to do.

"Giants?" asked Doeeal

"It's what the soldiers has started calling
them" I said as I pointed over to them.

"We have heard about their battle powers but
we personally have never seen them in real battle"

"Doeeal, Go to Muraii and inform them of the
creature's attack and it's outcome. instructed Sessa

Nodding, Doeeal took off towards Matriarch
Hall. I gather they didn't want the locals seeing how they
traveled.

"Any word from Tessia and Serona" I asked

"Not yet"

"You seemed worried"

"Concerned that the creature may attack
again"

"I think not. Not after the ass whipping it
just received" stated Hennings as he walked up.

"It hasn't been spotted anywhere, but
considering what just happened it could be anywhere"

"Well we just saw a new previously unknown
ability it has. It just melted into the ground and did so quickly.
That is why your men were unable to track or catch it. It probably
just melted into the ground and escaped that way"

"Yes. And that would explain how it got into
the village pass my men and was able to attack the women"

Looking over to Sessa and the other two
Ladies I asked

"Is anything about what has just happened
familiar to any of you?"

Sessa and Yessal both shook their heads no.
Fee on the other hand I noticed looked pissed. I mean really
pissed. She just looked at me turned and walked away.

"Something I said?"

"No. Fee is a warrior born. More so than any
of the rest of us. My order to not engage the creature did not sit
well with her"

About that time Danvers commed Hennings with
a status report. Excusing himself he left. Sessa signaled me to
follow her. We walked off a ways.

"Fee's powers and abilities is not like the
rest of us. As I explained to you before, Muraiin babies are born
with little to no ability to harness their power. Only as they age
do they slowly learn to do so. That was not the case with Fee. At
birth, she had the power level of a young child and even though she
didn't know how to harness it, it manifested itself in unusual,
sometimes dangerous ways. From the time she was a year old to age
four she had two powerful Sakquain trainers with her at all times
trying to teach her how to control her powers. At age five she had
more power than a teen Sakquain and her power level was a six . Her
power level was astounding. By the time she was nine years old she
had control over her powers to a degree only reached by much older
experienced Sakquain warriors and her power level was a seven. To
date no healer has ever been able to explain how or why she was
gifted with so much power. She was assigned to our family clan for
training at the age of eleven because we were the strongest more
highly skilled trainees at that time and we were also rated levels
six to seven although we were at least six years older. We were
considered exceptional trainees at that time and having Fee train
with us it was felt would benefit us all. We have all been together
since. Right now Yessal and I are rated level eights, Doeeal a
level seven. For our ages this is exceptional. Fee's at this time
has no power level. She has surpassed all of us including the
Elders. She has temporarily been assigned a power rating of eleven
to twelve but this is speculative. At this time her power level is
almost as much as Doeeal, Yessal and myself put together"

This was a surprising amount of
information.

"Would her power have been enough to kill the
creature?"

"Probably, but we do not know. We suspect
that the creature would regenerate after her attack. Now you know
why she is so upset. She wants to go up against this creature. Our
fear is the unleashing of her powers to destroy the creature would
cause serious collateral damage around her."

"Is that why she never smiles?'

"That is why she never does or engage into
anything not combat related. All Muraiins love to engage in sex,
music and the arts, especially those associated with nature. We all
have interest in other things or activities. Fee has none of these
interests or desires. She is twenty nine years old and has never
had a sexual partner"

Okay that explained her sour mood and looks.
Just then Yessal approaches us.

"Sessa you are needed back at Matriach's
Hall"

"Has Tessia and Serona returned? I asked

"No, not yet"

"Is everything alright"

"Yes, everything is fine. I will see you
later" answered Sessa before Yessal could answer.

I watched quietly as they both walked towards
the Hall. About this time it was early evening, and I was surprised
to realized I was tired. Remembering Carol, I decided I did not
need the drama and for some reason did not want to upset Sessa,
although I could not believe having dinner with Carol would do so.
Yet the back of my mind was screaming I was missing something
important. I think meeting these unusual women was upsetting my
equilibrium and affecting my ability to think clearly. I have been
around many beautiful and exciting woman in my life. In fact while
in college, there was a standing joke on campus to the female
students to avoid me at all costs. It was rumored I would break
their hearts, and would not commit to anyone. That didn't stop the
ladies though. It only increased their trips to my dorm room. I
admit it. In college I was a cad. I am sure there were other more
descriptive names I was called, but that was college. Part of
getting a good education was enjoying life along the way, and
believe me I did. Am I still like that today? No. Since I have been
in the manhunter business I have settled down quite a lot because
those distractions could get you killed, but there were on
ocassions some distractions. I would have to do something about my
situation now if I wanted to survive this particular mess. The
monster that is, not the women. My mood was such I would make a
poor dinner partner tonight. It was time to comm Carol.

"Hello honey. I was expecting your call right
about now"

"How did you know I was going to call.

"I knew"

"Did you hear about the attack at the main
hall?"

"Yes. The soldiers have rounded us all up and
put us up in the main hall and the adjacent buildings while they
try to speed up the evacuations. I don't suppose we can still have
dinner"

"I'm afraid not. I have to be ready in case
the creature returns"

"No problem. Promise me when this is all over
we will have our dinner"

"It's a date"

"Fine then. Go attend to your duties. I will
think of you. In my own way"

She disconnected and I regretted not being
able to have dinner with her. In fact I found that I missed her
company. Yet it was time to get back to business. I went to find
Hennings.

Chapter Nine: New Plan Of Action

The woman, sheriff, his deputy and the
soldiers who were all injured in the attack were going to be
alright. Bruised and battered, the soldiers took the worse of the
attack but all would make a full recovery. The female deputy
however had some serious injuries. She was the first to try and
stop the creature and had took a massive blow to her neck and
shoulders. I had briefly met her during one of Hennings briefings
and found out she was Sheriff Connelly's last surviving deputy. The
other four had been killed in previous hunting trips after the
creature. The rest of the day passed with no further incidents. The
next day we were all busy getting the women on land transports
which was taking them around sixty miles south to a very large
clearing where the Verti-Max transports were landing and taking one
hundred or more woman at a time to Pacifica. It took the USOA
Police HQ almost a full day to get enough of the Verti-Max and Land
Buses together to get all of the woman loaded up and flown to
safety. Already a good size group of the women were already safely
at Pacifica, and the loading would continue nonstop. After the last
attack we weren't taking any more chances with the women lives.
Throughout the day I saw very little of the Ladies, but didn't
think much on it because we were also busy with the extra
preparations we were setting up in case the creature decided to try
it's luck again. We did not know if it was aware that we were
evacuating all of the woman and might decide to make a desperation
move. Hennings had a full company of soldiers flown in to reinforce
his men. The new plan was simple. Since no equipment we had could
detect the creature, soldiers was flooded among the woman in the
buildings and the woman was instructed that if the creature
appeared from anywhere, they were all to drop to the floor. The
soldiers would create a killing field and hit the creature with
everything they had. We were able to communicate with the giants
and they could not confirm if they would be able to detect the
creature’s presence if it tried to sneak in again. We got them to
agree to not charge in if the soldiers had the creature in a
killing field. Only if it managed to escape the killing field would
they attack. It wasn't much, but considering how difficult this
creature was proving to be to kill, we were frankly out of options.
Options that is that didn't harm the village and woods around it.
Hennings had told me that the brass higher up was considering
sterilization of the area. The ladies hadn't been told of this yet,
and we both knew they would not take such action lightly. It was
almost evening and I still had not seen the Ladies. I went over to
Matriarch Hall to see Sessa and get an update on Tessia or Serona.
Only Doeeal came to the door and said there had been no word yet
from them and that Sessa and the other Ladies were engaged in a
research project sent to them from The Elders, but would not
elaborate further. I got the distinct impression my visit was a
disruption to whatever they were doing. I told her to ask Sessa
when she could, to come and see me. It was late evening and I was
taking a break sitting out in front of my cottage when I saw her
approaching the central building. Spotting me she detoured in my
direction. As she came up to me she looked worried.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes. Tessia has sent word she and Serona
will be back sometime late tonight"

"Did they find out anything that would tell
us how to kill this creature?"

"I don't know. Her message was short and
brief"

"Are you okay?"

My question startled her.

"Why do you ask that?

"You look worried"

"It is nothing. Do not concern yourself"

"But I am concerned. I care about you and
want to make sure you are okay"

My statement had an unexpected effect. Her
face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"You care about me. Why?"

"Because I do that's why. Surely by now you
must know I care about you"

"And Carol?"

Oh oh, here it comes. This was the last thing
I expected to come out of this conversation, although I should have
seen it coming.

"What about Carol?"

"You did meet her at the History Center did
you not?

"Yes I did. She helped me with my research,
which proved fruitless, but that was it"

She gave me the most intense and penetrating
stare I had ever been subjected to.

"Did you not find her extremely attractive.
Did you not want to make love to her.

Did she not invite you to be with her"

Talk about blunt questions and to the point.
I figured it would be best to be completely honest with her on this
matter.

"Yes I did find her to be extremely
attractive, and yes she did ask me to have dinner with her, but
that was all. And I declined"

"Why?"

She asked that question with an intensity
that surprised me. So much so, it suddenly became clear to me why I
was hesitant on going to dinner with Carol.

"Because the only woman I am really
interested in having dinner with is you"

Her face lit up again. If she kept this up I
was going to need some sunshades and sunscreen. Watching her
reaction was like watching a child opening its gifts at
Christmas.

"So you are not interested in her? You only
want me?"

They were simple questions, but they pointed
to what I now realized was the truth.

"Yes I only want you"

She actually squealed before jumping into my
arms. The chair I was sitting in tipped over and we both fell to
the porch. Laughing, she breathed in my ear,

"Let's go inside"

"Sessa I can't. I am still helping out with
the watch"

She surprised me by pulling out a comm unit.
Up until now I had never seen any of the Ladies use any tech
equipment. She commed Hennings.

"Major, do you need Conrad for anything right
now?'

I could hear the bastard snickering in the
background.

"No. Everything is still quiet, and I have
more then enough men on watch at this time. He is all yours"

I was glad he didn't need me, but he would
pay for giving me up so easily.

"Thank you major" and then she disconnected
and looked at me like a cat looks at a mouse it has cornered. Damn
this woman could be predatory as hell when she wanted to. Getting
up off the porch she led me back into my cottage, where everything
and anything that went on outside no longer mattered.