Manhunter Revelations (29 page)

About this time Yessal was screaming like a
wild woman as she released her blasts.

“As you all said, you will not be able to
keep this up much longer”

A few more seconds passed, when Fee said,

“What is your plan? Receiving a dark look
from Doeeal.

“Give me a few seconds to retreat and flank
her over there” I said pointing to Carol’s left indicating a good
size granite boulder that hadn’t as yet been hit.

“Okay go” yelled Sessa

“When I’m in position and signal cut loose
with everything you got”

I moved swiftly back into the woods and when
I couldn’t see them, I circled around to my position. Twice flying
debris almost hit me from the multitude of blasts. When I finally
got to my position I looked out to see the ladies had stopped
blasting but was maintaining their shield. Carol sensing them
weakening was moving closer and intensifying her attacks. None of
the ladies would look my way. I needed them to see me and know I am
ready. Finally Fee quickly glanced my way. I didn’t get to signal
her, probably because they couldn’t wait any longer. All of a
sudden there was a bright glow from them and then a blast of
monumental proportions was unleashed on Carol.

I couldn’t even see the individual beams they
were so bright and powerful. The blast hit Carol shield and the
release of all that power hitting the shield caused a mini sun to
blossom and explode. The blast leveled everything that was still
standing for a hundred yards around. I had to duck behind the
boulder the energy release was so great. The boulder shuddered and
for a second I thought it was going to blow back on me. After a
second the mini sun went out. Rising with spots flickering in my
eyes, I looked at Carol. Clearly the combined blast had stunned
her. The ladies was down on the ground their energy depleted. Carol
saw that also and raised her hands for the kills. Bringing my
.44C

up fast I emptied the magazine. Nine 330gr
Armor High Explosive rounds flew her way.

Just then Carol cut loose on the Ladies. Out
of the corner of my eye I saw Fee stand and erect a shield, but it
didn’t have the power it needed. Carol’s blast hit the shield and
Fee went flying. At the same time there were rapid mini explosion
after explosion near Carol’s head. When it was over Carol was still
floating but was not blasting anymore. Glancing at the Ladies I saw
them gathering around Fee fallen body. Looking back at Carol I saw
her fall to the ground, landing and then falling to her knees. I
could see what looked like some dark ooze running down her
shoulder. I then saw that part of the back of her head was missing.
She stayed that way for a few seconds before slowly turning to
me.

“I could have made you and me happy. What did
these bitc..bi...” She stopped talking and then fell over hard.
Rising and reloading fast I advanced on her ready to shoot again.
As I reached her, her body was doing the same thing the creature's
did. It seemed to be shrinking up on her frame. One of my rounds
had took off the left side to back of her skull. Checking to make
sure she was dead, I rushed over to the Ladies.

“Are you all okay”

I could see Fee was injured. The front of her
leather shirt was a smoking mess. There was an armored under shirt
underneath, but it was badly blackened. Sessa and Doeeal was
working on her trying to remove the shirt.

“Fee is badly injured. None of us is strong
enough yet to open a portal. We are going to have to try and
stabilize her here. Is she dead?”

“Yes. She’s gone”

After that they said nothing as they worked
on her. About twenty minutes later they sat back.

“We have done all we could. She must hold on
until we get her back to Muraii. We need at least another half hour
or more to get our strength back to take her through a portal”

“Will she be alright”

“We don’t know”

I stood there as we all looked at Fee,
praying for the best. A few minutes later I heard a hum and then
right in the clearing a large portal opened up. Immediately out of
it came two of the giants and following them were two men and a
woman who it could be seen were Sakquains. The man in the middle
stepped forward looked around and was about to shout when Sessa
beat him to it.

“Over here Loyis”

Spotting us they rushed over. We didn’t have
to say anything about Fee. Seeing her condition, the one named
Loyis told the other man,

“Get Fee to the Healers”

He stepped forward, crotched down and placed
his hands on Fee and a portal opened in front of them. He picked
her up and they were gone.

“Looking at the other ladies, he asked,

“Are you all well?”

“Yes, thank you. How did you know where to
find us.?”

“When Tessia brought Serona back to Muraii
injured, she reported on the woman creature escape. When the Ladies
had the man Hennings fly them to follow the path the she creature
took and then portaling off the craft. They knew the general
direction.

“As soon as we arrived, we were given the
coordinates. Seeing this clearing on their map,

I portaled us here hoping to be in your
general area. I see we got closer than that. Where is the
creatures?

Pointing to the other side of the clearing,
he saw the body

“Dead?”

“As dead as her bilty”

“Her what”

“The other creature”

“Job well done Ladies. The Elders will be
proud”

“Conrad here is the one who took both
creatures down”

“The Ladies took the she creature down. I
just placed the lucky shot”

“Yes but the Bond Beast you took down
alone”

Looking at me in surprise, Loyis stepped
closer placed a hand on my shoulder and said

“Well done human, well done”

Chapter Twelve: Final Briefing

It was now two days since both creatures had
been killed. Ten minutes after the Muraiins had arrived on site,
Hennings and a heavy contingent of his men arrived. Things got a
little tense as both parties wanted to claim the bodies for
research. Finally Command commed Hennings and told him to release
the bodies to the Muraiins since they had more knowledge as to what
they were, but only after getting confirmation from them that
whatever they found would be shared with the USOA. Yesterday Sessa
had come and told me Fee would be okay, but she would need some
time to heal. In fact all the ladies had been ordered back to
Muraii for healing. They all had sustained some injuries in the
battle. Yours truly had received some military medical wonder care
when I got back to the village, and was just taking it easy letting
my body heal. Drinking a lot of the Elixir Ale while I was doing so
helped. Hennings had traveled to HQ yesterday for a full debriefing
and had just gotten back late this morning. He had called me and
ask that I join him later that afternoon. He didn’t say why, in
fact he was quite tight lipped about it, so I knew it had to be
important. I arrived on time and met him in his office. We were the
only ones there, which made it more ominous. Sitting down, he
poured us both a drink from an unlabeled bottle. Taking mine I
raised my eyebrows as to what it is.

“Whiskey. The real good stuff. It is from an
old whiskey company, which used to be located in the mid Southeast
sector before the plague. On the market it cost $600 MU’s. That got
my attention. Toasting we both took a drink, and he was right. It
was excellent whiskey, better than any I had drunk to date. But
then I am not a real whiskey drinker, but after tasting this I just
might convert. After a few minutes savoring the flavor Hennings
started.

“The report on the two creatures came
back"

"Anything useful?"

"It has been confirmed both from the Muraiins
and our scientists that both creatures are not of this earth. Their
internal makeup, blood and DNA tests done by our scientists as well
as the tests conducted on the bodies by the Muraiins healers both
confirmed that fact. The tests also showed they were related DNA
wise, but how we do not know. As for them coming from another
dimension, well only the Muraiins are convinced of that. In any
event we have been ordered to follow the Muraiins lead in any
further research on the bodies"

"Did you review the comm vid of the
battle?"

"Yes. Command did not inform the Muraiins
that we had a vid of the battle"

"Why"

"The same reason you are thinking now"

I poured us both another glass of the whiskey
and settled back in my chair.

"Those women were throwing around firepower
on a class with some battle vehicles. Fee's power could possibly
rival that of a battle tank. If any of The Xantu has powers like
that we could find ourselves outgunned. We need a whole hell of a
lot more info on them if we are to prepare to fight them"

"Command thinks the same thing and is in
discussion with the Muraiins right now on just that subject"

"Advise Command to stay on this. We both know
the Muraiins like to keep secrets but info of this type cannot be
one"

I sat there in deep thought for a few
seconds.

“What's on your mind”

I took a few seconds to gather my
thoughts.

“I have always had what I thought was a sharp
mind. It allowed me to survive in a market where the life
expectancy is rather short. Yet throughout this little adventure of
ours my mind has felt as if it was in a daze of some sort, but only
when I had questions about the Ladies. There were times I knew I
was missing something important, but I couldn’t pin it down, and
then I just dismissed it”

Hennings sat up at that.

“Now that is interesting”

“How so?”

“A week or so after we first got here
Stallings brought up the fact that every time we questioned the
Ladies on matters pertaining to them or their reason for being
here, we were sort of brushed off and we didn’t press the matter.
He felt the Ladies were doing something to cloud our thoughts when
we had questions in those areas”.

“So I wasn’t imagining it”.

“No I don’t believe you were. We brought this
matter up to Command, but they instructed us to continue to follow
the Ladies instructions. Believe me, we did not like being in the
dark like that especially when there may have been some type of
mind manipulation going on. Now that the case is over, I have my
own sources I intend to check with on this.

Saying that he pulled a vial out of his
pocket. There was blood in it.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a sample of Fee’s blood we extracted
from the battle site. Discreetly of course. I intend to find out as
much as I can about them. If I have to work with them again, me and
my guys are going to need more info than we have been getting”

“Good luck. If you find out anything
interesting though, please let me know”

“Oh I intend to especially since I may need
to call you up and press you into service”

“What?”

Hennings handed me a sealed document. Opening
it I read its contents. After reading it I looked over at
Hennings.

“Is this legal?

“I don’t know. Yet as you can see it is an
Emergency Command Order. A well paid order at that”

The document I had just read was an order
from Hennings USMF Command recruiting me for any duty they felt
required my services in confrontations with The Xantu. It had two
general’s signatures on it. One each from the Warriors and
Intelligence Commands.

It also outlined I would be paid twice my
normal fee for each call up to duty.

“You know I have to check the legality of
this order”

“Of course. By now Yolanda should have also
received a copy of these orders at your office”

I sat back and took another drink.

"So what are your plans now. Surely going
back to catching criminals would seem boring after this"

"Believe it or not, I am looking forward to
doing just that. I have a lot to absorb. My father's is the king of
monsters, which I now know exist and have to adjust to that,
especially the part I have killed two. On top of all of that, I
have been given a weapon I don't understand, but which I now know
is effecting me in some manner"

"How that?" asked Hennings alarmed

"When Sessa and I was fighting the creature,
I noticed my reflexes were off, my speed was seriously impaired. I
didn't say anything to Sessa because I didn't want her worrying
about me. With everything that was going on at the time I don't
think she noticed. The thing is that I knew my impairment was due
to the mace I was carrying. One of the first things I intend to do
when I get back is try and find out exactly what Tessia saddled me
with"

"She couldn't give you anymore info on it.
What it does, anything?"

"No. Basically their mage Merlinus died after
finishing it and before he could give them all the info on it. By
the way, thanks for not reporting it to Command"

"No problem. I have learned to trust my
judgment and instinct. Some things Command just does not need to
know. Plus they would commandeer it and put it in a lab somewhere
trying to figure how it works. A plan I figured you would not agree
with. So when do you leave?"

"I'm leaving in the morning. The sooner I get
back to normal, the sooner I can start to figure out everything
that's happened"

"Keep in touch. You have my personal comm
number. If I find out anything new I will get the info to you. With
those orders, I won't be breaking any rules doing so.

"First Tessia and Serona and now Command.
What is it everyone thinks I can bring to the fight that makes me
so special?"

"I don't know, but you know what? Bring
it!"

With that he started laughing with me soon
joining in.

We spent another couple of hours drinking and
discussing future possibilities on the unknown war that was coming.
Finally we shook hands and I said my goodbye. I was back in my
cottage for a while when there was a knock on the door. Opening it
I found Sessa standing there wearing a different but equally
alluring gown smiling at me wickedly.