In a wild thrashing of tentacles, something dropped from the branches above and wrapped its flexing limbs around the cougar, pinning it helpless. The terrified animal struggled insanely, blind panic filling its eyes with madness, as the amorphous mutie sank the horned tips of its tentacles deep into the soft fur of both animals. The ropy lengths of the translucent limbs visibly began to pump warm red blood along their lengths.
Bleating in horror, the mutie deer pawed at the ground, again trying to crawl away as the cat fully extended its claws, desperately seeking a purchase to strike from. But both actions were to no avail; the terrible feasting went on and on.
A vibration grew in the soil and the air, startling, then frightening the three creatures, the noise rising to deafening levels, the whole forest shaking. Then the bushes fell over and a huge metal machine rolled over the hunters and hunted, crushing the creatures beneath its eight churning tires and mashing them into the soil. Only a little of the blood splashed upon the angular sides of the armored personnel carrier.
Rumbling onward, the APC moved toward a clearing, as another of the wheeled machines came in from a different angle, smashing aside small trees as the juggernauts headed for a low hill protruding from the Virginia landscape.
The black mouth of a cave yawned in the rocky face of the swelling, and an armed sec man in a clean blue shirt waved them closer. Even if they hadn’t been right on schedule, he would have recognized the transports a brace of mint-condition Bradley Fighting Vehicles, designation LAV 25, Piranha type, assault class, fully armed with a 7.62 mm machine gun and 25 mm rapid-fire cannon on the top turret.
The two machines parked some distance from each other, their turret cannons sweeping the area for possible hostiles. After a few minutes, the rear doors of the wags swung aside and disgorged sec men carrying AK-47 blasters. The last man out was a tall slim man in a starched blue uniform, a silver blaster in his hand.
“Spread out,” the sergeant ordered, gesturing to the troops. “Gerrold, take five men and secure the perimeter. O’Connor, start digging a fire pit and gathering wood for dinner. Hemeniez, get some water.”
The sec men moved quietly and quickly.
“Boil it first?” asked a private with a bucket.
“No need. The Shens are clean.”
“Which is why we’re here,” the lieutenant added, doffing his cloth cap. “Not going to build a forward base in the middle of a rad pit.”
The officer’s uniform was crisp and clean despite the long hours in the confines of the APC. His dark hair was combed flat, wings of silver at the temples. His dark eyes were quick and seemed to notice everything. “What do you think, Sarge?”
Resting the stock of his blaster on a hip, the big man studied the wooded glade. “It’ll do,” he conceded finally. “Good trees for the cover, we’re centrally located to all three of the villes and not a sting-wing in the area.”
Puzzled, the lieutenant looked around. “How the fuck do you know that?”
“Too many nests in the branches. Birds would build the homes inside hollow trees for protection if sting-wings were in the area.”
“Excellent. Tomorrow we start felling trees, one mile due south and east I want a log wall eight feet high and encompassing the entire area. Once up, we’ll top it with the concertina wire.”
“Nasty stuff.”
“Deadly stuff.”
“Does it have to be that large?”
“Going to be a lot larger before we’re done. Carry on, Sergeant.” Roistering his piece, the lieutenant walked to the men waiting patiently at the mouth of the cave.
“Freedom through duty!” they chorused, snapping a stiff-arm salute to the chest.
The officer returned the gesture with force. “We came as fast as possible. What is the emergency? Trouble with the locals?”
The interior of the limestone cave stretched back for a good hundred yards. The floor was smooth with ripples that resembled the surface of a pond. The broken butts of removed stalactites covered the irregular ceiling, and insulated power lines crawled along the moist rock with covered lightbulbs dangling at regular intervals. Far in the rear was a humming gasoline generator, perched safely on a pallet to keep it from ground seepage, and a shortwave radio on a nearby table crackled with static. Stacks of large boxes were arranged in rows, according to their contents. More than one hundred empty folding cots lined a rough wall.