The Game

[Scoinwolf]

Chapter IX
“I can’t help it – I’m still worried about him. Seth, Jacob. Could you two go out and look for Dark?” Maddie asked the two boys. She trusted them not to fool around and to just complete their assigned task without too much of a hassle.
Seth nodded. “Yeah, we’ll go find him. If we aren’t back by sundown then either we’ve gone too far to get back in time, or we got lost. In either case, just keep moving. We’ll head for the finish line if that happens and maybe we can meet up at some other point in the Game.”
Jacob punched Cassidy lightly on the shoulder. “See ya.” He grinned at her and walked off into the west, knowing that was the direction Dark had gone off in when the boy had left earlier. Seth tagged along at once, humming to himself.
The girls watched the two go off before turning to assess the remainder of their small group. “Well then, I suppose we best keep going in the same general direction we have been.” Maddie announced while clapping her hands together once.
Trevor stared off in the direction his friends had gone in in worry. He had a feeling that something had happened to Dark, something bad, and that the other two were heading into trouble. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling and he spooked himself when he accidentally stepped on a stick, breaking it in two with a loud snap. His cheeks staining red with embarrassment, the young teen hurried after the others.
-
Dark froze where he was, positive he had heard footsteps behind himself. But he couldn’t pick out any stray sounds so he moved forwards again. Several steps later and he froze once more. There it was again – that odd sound. It was almost like an echo, like someone was trying to move at the same time he was in order that they might hide the sound of their footfalls within his own. Maybe not someone though. Maybe it was something. Dark had no illusions about this place. The government was always messing around with genetic experimentation. Who knows what they could possibly have come up with to send after the contestants to make the Game more interesting?
At least that was his father’s theory. Peter was huge into conspiracy theories, especially when those theories were about the government and GMOs. Dark made fun of most of the theories, but there were still some that he found to be believable.
It was as if the forest was holding in its breath with him. Dark scarcely took in any air in an effort to keep completely quiet so that he might hear even a little bit better. He could just be going crazy. He was alone in a strange place after all. That was more than enough to send his already active imagination into overdrive.
Suddenly there was an explosion of sound from the direction Dark had been heading in. He turned his head quickly, knife raised to deflect any potential attack on himself – and stopped short as he saw Jacob lying flat on his face. “Jake?”
“You sound startled.” Jacob groaned and pushed himself up into a sitting position. “I keep tripping all over this place. Why’d you have to travel through so much undergrowth? There are plenty of open areas.” He complained.
It was the complaining that assured Dark that the other boy was alright. He cast a glance back over his shoulder but the feeling that something was behind him was gone. That didn’t stop him from thinking that something had indeed been there, after all the noise caused by Jacob had been from the wrong direction, but now that the presence was gone he wasn’t too worried.
The boy offered his hand to Jacob, who allowed Dark to pull him up. “Thanks.”
“No problem. Did you come alone?”
“Nah, Seth’s with me.” Jacob frowned. “I coulda swore he was right behind me…” Both looked back in the direction Jacob had come from. “Seth?” Jake shouted, expecting a reply.
But there was none.
“Seth, come on man. This ain’t funny!” Jacob continued, looking more concerned than annoyed. He went crashing back through the bushes with Dark close behind. When Jacob stopped suddenly Dark walked right into him. Jacob turned back to look at Dark. But before he could say anything a yelp stole whatever words he might have said away.
The boys took off running. That short cry of pain had sounded an awful lot like when Seth had stubbed his toe on a rock the other day.
Jacob was in front of Dark by a several meters so, when the boy suddenly vanished, Dark managed to skid to a stop. He looked down in horror to find he had almost run right off the side of the gorge.

[Scoinwolf]

Chapter X
With the earth crumbling under his feet, Dark backed away quickly. When it was clear he was in no immediate danger of falling, he leaned forwards to see if he could spot his friends. “Y’all alright down there?”
There was a groan. “I think I’m fine… Seth’s out cold though.” Jacob’s voice sounded far off.
Dark looked around to see if there was an easy path down to the bottom but from what he could see there wasn’t. He would have made the jump - only he didn’t feel like breaking any bones at the moment. The gorge was just under a quarter mile deep.
It looked like Jacob and Seth had both landed on the same narrow ledge that ran along this side. They were about a hundred fifty meters down. Dark wasn’t sure he could risk the drop as he wasn’t certain he could stop in time to grab onto the ledge. Jacob was obviously thinking along the same lines as he called up to Dark.
“Do you think you can find some way down to the bottom? Seth and I can’t climb up, the ground’s too soft to support us, but if we head down maybe we can walk to the end of this.”
“Yeah, I’ll meet you down there.”
The suggestion made sense. While Dark probably shouldn’t head down unless they knew for sure that the gorge had an end nearby, he also shouldn’t remain on his own. Something had forced Seth over the edge - that much was clear since neither boy had been anywhere close to the edge when they were searching for Dark. So being off by himself was a bad idea.
With that thought in mind, Dark headed off to his right while Jacob tried waking Seth. The boy was not having much success with this. Seth was out for sure and didn’t look like he would wake anytime soon.
Jacob sat back on his heels with a sigh of frustration. The sun was coming down harshly and he shielded his eyes with one hand as he examined the problem. Well, to start, he was stuck on a narrow ledge along the side of a gorge. Seth was unconscious and half hanging off the edge. Jacob frowned.
A deep series of gashes ran across Seth’s back from the top of his left shoulder down a 45 degree angle to his spine. These marks looked not unlike those from a beast with claws. Large claws, as the cuts were rather deep. Jacob was no medical expert but even he could tell that the wound needed to be bound before the boy lost too much blood. Infection could be a problem as well.
Jacob did a quick search through Seth’s pack but to his disappointment found it was the same type as his own. He had been hoping Seth would have been given one of the medical sets. Instead he removed Seth’s spare shirt and tore it into long strips of fabric. He used some of these to pack the gashes and tied the remainder tightly around the other boy’s upper torso to keep pressure on the wounds as well as keep the first strips in place.
He chewed his lower lip as he leaned back to take a look at his work. He had little knowledge whatsoever in bandaging a wound but knew it was best to keep pressure on it to prevent it from bleeding out, and that clean materials were optimal. They’d have to boil some water when they could to clean the fabric with.
For now this was all he could do. Maybe Dark would know something he didn’t or maybe Dark would have a medical pack. No, scratch that last part. Jacob knew Dark had the same materials in his backpack as they did.
The remaining problem was how he was going to get Seth down to the bottom of the gorge. Seth was too heavy for Jacob to safely carry as he slid down to the bottom. Even sliding down to the bottom posed a risk. While the sides of the gorge were no longer a straight drop after the ledge, they were still such a steep angle that he wouldn’t want to take that fall at this distance.
They’d have to wait until Seth awoke then.
Jacob wasn’t thrilled with this option but, as he had no other alternative at the moment, he prepared to wait.

[Scoinwolf]

Chapter XI
The office was in an uproar when the latest video feed came in. Papers were being passed around and accusations were being flung.
The beast is experimental! Who released it into the Game?
If those children die we are so screwed… their parents will kill us!
Does anyone know who stole my lunch from the fridge?
And so on. Personally, Kevin thought the chaos was unjustified. So maybe the beast got a little out of hand. But the only ones who had access to it were the high level staff members. So if Gavin, for example, wanted to release a terrible hybrid of unknown proportions upon already lost children then who was he to question it? Gavin was a scary guy and Kevin had no intention of messing with his boss.
But the fact that the beast was on the loose meant that the government was ready to take their next step with this whole operation. Most of the staff here didn’t know it, but the government had been conducting genetic experiments with some of the beasts they had found. Unfortunately, Kevin was one of the boss’s favorites, and so knew a lot that he shouldn’t.
The deep forest of the upper half of their continent had never been explored thoroughly. Most of the settlers preferred not to get lost for the remainder of their lives and so avoided the tangled maze that called itself the woods. As a result no one really knew what was in there.
The government had sent a team into the unexplored place under the pretense of mapping it out. At least, that’s what the public was told. In reality they were sent out to capture any creature they could. Three beasts were brought in that day and two of the team was left behind in order to accomplish this.

These three were crossbred and experimented on. The results of those tests were unknown to Kevin and he had no desire to find out more than he was told. But Gavin had felt the need recently to show the host one of the end products. This beast was a cross between one of the cougars from Earth and the third beast that had been caught. The two shared enough DNA percentage to successfully have a child so the procedure had worked.
Kevin had the feeling there had been some magic involved as well. The government had found a way recently to transfer the raw power of abhumans and daemons into other beings and to channel that raw power in a way that they could manipulate the outcome. And Gavin was totally an abhuman. Not that Kevin knew that for sure, of course. He never even thought to look at his boss in that way. No one ever asked about the boss’s heritage. No one was even supposed to know if any coworkers had daemon blood running through their veins. But Gavin was totally an abhuman.
The host scrawled through the tape once more as he made notes about which cuts they should use. When he got to the part where Seth was attacked he decided that the audience had no need to see it. The suspense would be enough to hold them for now. Besides, he doubted Gavin would want the beast shown to the public.
Not that one could see the hybrid clearly anyways. It had a habit of blending in with the undergrowth and shadows so that its shape wasn’t clear at all. The best shot was of it lunging at Seth. Kevin winced as he reviewed that section again. “Poor kid.” He muttered as he tapped his pen against his right cheek. First he gets stalked by an unknown beast, then he’s attacked, and finally falls over the edge of the gorge. Seth hadn’t screamed in fear until the fall though, which was impressive in a way. The kid could keep real calm in a bad situation. Though it was probably Seth’s downfall in the end since his friends had no clue he was in danger.
Kevin reclined in his chair and placed his boots up on the desk, now chewing on the pen. What to do…
Gavin would be wanting a full report on the beast. Whether it was the boss who had released it or not, he would still have to provide a report on how it had performed - which was going to be difficult as the beast had stayed hidden so well. But if this creature was going to be put into use, either for future versions of the Game that would be more violent or for battle, the government would need to be informed about how it operated and acted in general.
He sighed with the realization that he’d be up most of the night working on this. On top of that, he’d also probably be chosen, once again, to be the one to announce the ‘official statement’ on what had happened to the panicking staff. So he’d have to prepare a script for that too once Gavin called to give him more information. That wasn’t going to be fun…

[Scoinwolf]

Chapter XII
Macey switched on the t.v. and the first thing she saw was her brother's face. It was a close up of him at the gorge; the strong wind messing up his dark hair gave him the appearance of being younger than he really was. She watched in complete silence, wondering what was happening, and turned up the volume several notches.
"- and has gone off on his own path as a result." Macey recognized the host's voice as the re-cap was playing. Usually she caught every word Kevin said but realized too late that she missed the first half of his explanation. Kevin continued uninterrupted as she paid closer attention. "It looks like most viewers have already cast in their votes about this sidetrack from the previews last episode. Ten percent thinks he finds his friends but is unable to reconnect to the main group. Thirty percent think his search is in vain and that he'll return without success. The rest of you think the three of them will go missing for good!" Macey's blood froze and she paled. "But you'll all be surprised by this episode of the Game." Kevin's voice lowered in tone by that last part and Macey was more terrified than comforted that none of those viewer suggestions were true. What was going to happen to her brother?
Commercials.
They couldn't end fast enough as she waited for the next glimpse of Dark. But the episode started by following the main group and she almost screamed. She didn't care about the others! They were not going to leave her on a cliffhanger in the first few minutes. All she wanted was to know Dark was safe.
The main group had finished constructing the makeshift zip-line and prepared to fire it across the narrowest part. Trevor was given the harpoon gun and he aimed carefully before firing.
Commercial break.
Finally, it was back to Dark. The camera crew kept it real time and her brother was already halfway down the gorge. Macey let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. He was doing fine and reached the bottom in almost no time at all. That was nice editing on the production team's part.
Dark was turning to his left when suddenly the screen turned black. Macey froze. No. No, no, no, no, no! What was wrong? Was there a power outage? She scrambled to hit the switch to turn on the living room lights but the bulb flickered once and died. She felt like screaming. What was going on?
All at once she froze, closing her eyes and forcing herself to find her center. She needed to calm down. This electrical freak out could have been caused by her for all she knew. Dark was always saying that her powers were influenced strongly by her emotions, so if she had been getting too worked up about his safety then maybe she had lashed out without realizing it. It was a possibility but not a very calming one.
Macey shivered in the sudden cold, confused since this had been an uncommonly warm day for the time of year. She stood up from where she sat on the floor in front of the t.v. and moved to stand by the window. She brushed back her long hair out of her face and drew her jacket closer around her shoulders. Lifting one curtain slowly, she peaked out of the glass plane and drew back at once. Something was out there. Something big, something that was cold. She had seen a flicker of movement and a puff of frozen breath, the way breath looks in the twenty below range.
It scared her. Whatever it was out there scared her greatly. Macey slowly stepped back away from the window and moved to the front door. It had been closed to keep the warm air out before, but now she locked it as well. She had to tell her parents, had to warn them. Yet as she reached for the phone she remembered that the power connection was still out. The phones they had were connected to the house’s power source and so wouldn’t work under these conditions.
She held back an involuntary cry of fear by shoving her fist against her mouth and biting down on her knuckles, which left deep marks. This couldn’t be happening. She didn’t dare leave the house with whatever was outside but she couldn’t warn her parents not to come back from town while she was inside.
A sudden thought came to mind but Macey pushed it back down. She hated the cramped darkness of the tunnels. Besides, she’d have to go down into the basement and her father always reminded her that she and Dark were not to go down there unless he had given them specific permission. He wasn’t here though. Would he have given permission in this situation?

[Scoinwolf]

Chapter XIII
Kevin groaned and ran a hand through his hair as he slumped down further in his chair. Gavin had decided recently that he should be the one to handle any reports of the genetically modified beasts that came in – even though that was in no way related to his job description. But whatever.
The GMB lab had had a breakout recently and citizens were calling in all the time now with questions.
What are these creatures that’re roaming through the streets?
Why is there a //insert hybrid here// in my lawn?
What is that thing that just stole my cheeseburger?
And so on. But then, then that wasn’t even all that was happening. Apparently the forest beasts were finding these GM ones to be extremely interesting and their curiosity was bringing them out from the depths of wherever they were living. So far the reports that were coming in were only from the very edges of the districts, only the people living more than a mile from a town had called in. That was good.
The GMBs were trained to not hurt the general population of humans. After all, their handlers needed to be able to form bonds with them and the beasts needed to be able to trust their handlers completely. With the possible exception of the one that had found its way into the Game course, that training proved to work just fine.
Unfortunately, the forest beasts were downright vicious. They had no fear of humans and so didn’t care if they hurt any of the population, accidentally or not. Kevin wondered how the Daemonis dealt with these creatures but he knew it would be a bad idea to ask his superiors if he could get ahold of some of the Daemon records. He’d have to solve this problem on his own.
Just then an assistant came in and tapped on the wall next to the open door. “Sir, we need you to record the new episode that’s supposed to air tonight.” He announced nervously.
Kevin sighed. “Alright. Thanks Marxus.” He took the script that the assistant offered him, happy to have an excuse to take his mind off of the GMB problem. After a quick scan of the papers he waved Marxus away and turned on the recording mic.
-
Kevin sat back in his seat after his narration was completed for the day. He rubbed his jaw, remembering that he should have shaved that morning as he did so. Then he was reminded of why he hadn’t shaved as his thumb made contact with the cut that extended from just under his right eye to the edge of his jaw. It stung and he quickly withdrew his hand.
The clipboard caught his attention as he went to get up and the man grabbed it on his way out the door.
It was this clipboard that he had been handed back at the end of the first episode. He had glanced at it and wasn’t entirely pleased by what he had seen. Since then it had laid abandoned on his desk. Until now that is. The show host slipped it into his laptop bag and slung that over one shoulder.
He walked through the building without being held back by anyone. Most people just waved or called out his name and were satisfied when he smiled and waved back. Kevin had a sense of being out of place for the first time. He felt like he wasn’t supposed to be there and dreaded being stopped by anyone who wanted to check in with him.
He shook off the feeling. Of course he was supposed to be there, this was where he worked. He had checked in with the receptionist right after leaving the recording studios and was now free to do whatever for the evening.
A sudden realization hit him like a blow to the stomach when he glanced at his watch and saw the date. Damn, he had to go to the staff dinner tonight. They’d be sure to question him about the paperwork he had been asked to look at. The paperwork that had lay on his desk as he ignored it this past week because of all the extra tasks he had been assigned.
Kevin sighed as he turned the key in the lock on his door and entered his room. After he pulled the clipboard out of his bag he dropped it onto the desk to his left. The bag was hung over the back of his chair before he sat down to study the papers in front of himself.
-
“So, Kevin.” Gavin set down his fork and raised his gaze to the man sitting directly across the table. “I was wondering if you had found the time to look at the folder I had Martha bring you.”
Folder? Kevin was momentarily confused before his expression cleared. He must be talking about the clipboard. “Yes, of course I’ve had time to look that over. I’ll admit I’m less than thrilled about what was suggested, as I don’t have the best of relations with the warden in charge, but if you wish for me to travel to the prison I’ll do so.”
Gavin smiled but it wasn’t a pleasant one. “Good. I knew you’d be up for the task.”
Brayden broke into their conversation at that point. “Forgive me for speaking out of turn, but I believe I ask the question on everyone’s mind when I inquire – what prison?”
“Carceris One.” Gavin replied as he turned his head to look at Brayden now. “Perhaps you’d like to accompany Kevin there? He may need a bit of… help."
Both Kevin and Brayden looked away in embarrassment. Kevin didn’t like way Gavin had found the jibe funny and Brayden didn’t like how he had been involuntarily volunteered like that.
“Are you suggesting that Kevin needs a bodyguard?” Martha cut in, not sounding all that happy about it. Gavin may be the boss of them all, but Kevin was in the group under her supervision and she was a little insulted that he apparently had so little faith in the man they had assigned for this task.
“Yes.” Gavin shot back and she winced. Then the man rolled his eyes. “I can hardly just send Kevin in all alone; of course he’s going to need a companion. It may as well be Brayden.”
Martha hesitated. “Will you at least tell Brayden what it is he’ll be heading into?”
Gavin smiled again and once more no one found any comfort in it. “Brayden, you and Kevin will be going in to talk to the Warden about one of the creatures kept there. Originally we wanted to bring it in for a future season of the Game but, as it’s a particularly vicious beast, we want to bring out to track down and get rid of all the escaped experiments. You two are two are to bring it to the Alpine region first once you convince the warden to let it go.”
Brayden cleared his throat. “Isn’t that… illegal? Bringing in an unstable, experimental being and placing it within short traveling distance of a village?”
“We’re the government, Brayden. Nothing we do is illegal.”

[Scoinwolf]

Chapter XIV
Dark was running and he wasn’t quite sure what he was running from. He could feel his clothes tear and his skin rip as he smashed through the undergrowth and bushes but he paid no mind.
The scratches that pierced his right shoulder were likewise ignored.
His breathing was heavy and the air he took in was rough on his lungs. Dark was used to breathing in smoke from the forge back home, but this muggy atmosphere was playing havoc on his ability to get enough oxygen.
Blind panic wasn’t usually something the boy was susceptible to and he wasn’t sure he liked the feeling. It wasn’t terrible exactly… no, yeah it was terrible. He hated every moment he spent in that state of mind and wanted to become calm again as soon as possible.
“Agh.” Dark grunted in pain as he tripped over a tree root and face-planted on the ground. He got up slowly from where he was sprawled out and grabbed a nearby tree for support. The bushes several meters away rustled from some unseen force for there was no wind in this dense part of the woods.
What little of a head start he had had was now gone. The boy groaned and turned to face his pursuer. If he was going down he wasn’t going without being able to see what had done him in.
-
Jacob was awoken from his uneasy slumber by the motion caused by Seth stretching his arms up above his head.
“Ow.” Seth mumbled and quickly dropped his hands down, clutching at his left shoulder in pain.
“You really shouldn’t be moving around right now.” Jacob scolded his pal. “You’ll just hurt yourself even more.”
Seth grunted in response but the warning didn’t stop him from pulling his tee-shirt off and examining the rough bandage that Jacob had applied. “Did you do this?” He questioned. The boy didn’t need a response though because he knew it could only have been Jacob that had done it.
“We can get Trevor to look at it once we get back to the main group. Stop touching that.” Jacob slapped Seth’s hand away from the bandage. Seth rolled his eyes but did as he was told. “Dark will be over here soon – if he can find an easy path down.” Jake continued.
The other boy eyed him in alarm. “Dark’s up there? All by himself?”
“Yeah. We got lucky when we fell, since we landed on this ledge here, but Dark didn’t think he could make the jump and not pass us by accident. He went off to the right to try and climb down himself.” Jacob frowned. “Why?”
The alarm was even clearer now. “N-No. There’s this beast up there – I’ve never seen anything like it before and I live by the forests. That’s what hit me. That’s why I fell. It just came out of nowhere and attacked. I swear I had no idea it was tracking us when it was. Well, not exactly tracking us. It came from the front so I think it was originally following Dark around. Jake, we need to warn Dark.” The boy was rambling at the end and it was clear he was worried. “Whatever it is, it isn’t natural.”
Jacob held up his palms to stop the flow of words pouring from his pal. “Whoa, back up. There’s a beast up there? One that’s unnatural?”
“I assume it’s unnatural.” Seth looked a little doubtful now. “I won’t claim to be an expert or anything, but I’ve seen my fair share of the creatures living on this planet. They all have a pattern to them – no matter how slight that pattern may be showing. Each of them clearly belong right here on Nova Terra, ya know? Like, they all look like they’re from the same world. This one though, this one looked like a hybrid. Not just a hybrid from this planet’s species, but a cross-planet hybrid.”
Jacob narrowed his eyes. “What? Dude, that’s crazy. Not even the government would be that messed up… right?” He knew his voice sounded like even he didn’t believe that last part.
Seth didn’t catch that. “I dunno man; the gov.’s been messed up since the New Ages. I wouldn’t put it past them.”
And awkward silence fell over the two then. Several minutes passed before Seth cleared his throat loudly. “Well, that’s enough of that. You said Dark was trying to come find us? I feel rather safe up here on this little ledge of ours, but it would be polite to try and climb down now so that he doesn’t have to wait for us too long down at the bottom by himself. After all, we’ve had all this time already and haven’t done much.”
“Are you sure you can make the climb?” Jacob was referring to Seth’s wounds.
“It’ll be painful, sure, but I think I’ll be alright.”

[Scoinwolf]

Chapter XV
Seth felt a muscle in his shoulder twitch one moment, then the next he was free-falling the last several meters to the bottom of the canyon.
“I got ya.” Dark grunted as he caught Seth, staggering under the weight of the other boy but not falling down himself. His own shoulder protested at the catch but, thankfully, it didn’t give out as well. Dark put Seth down carefully and straightened up to greet Jacob as the third teen dropped off the ledge he was sitting on and slid down to the ground. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Jacob returned the greeting. “You made it down alright then? Seth was worried you would run into the beast that got him earlier.” He explained while dusting off his shorts and the back of his shirt. It was then that he noticed Dark’s bloody shirt and swore.
Both the other two winced at the profane word. The editors would have to either cut this scene or beep out that bit.
Jacob didn’t appear to care as he spun Dark around so that he and Seth could get a better look at the large wounds on the boy’s shoulder, the smaller marks didn’t escape their attention though. “What by the gods came across you?” Jake demanded.
Dark had used the time gained by their examination to dig around in his backpack to find his spare tee-shirt. Once he had retrieved the black fabric he spoke. “Help me get this ruined shirt off? I can’t raise my arm very far before it just won’t.” He wasn’t avoiding the question exactly. He was trying to buy time to find a way to word his answer.
The other two swapped glances before Jacob stepped forwards to help. “It’ll be painful.”
“I don’t care.” Dark had never been overly bothered by pain in the past. He saw no reason why this should be different. But he surprised himself when his jaw clenched and his breath hissed out between shut teeth. Whatever the beast had done to his shoulder, it had really left a mark.
Jacob tossed the spare shirt down into the still open pack. He took the spare that Dark was holding and helped the other teen into the shirt while Seth warily scanned the top of the gorge just in case the beast tried coming down after them while they were distracted.
“Thanks pal.” Dark grunted in pain as he tried to move his shoulder and failed.
“So? What happened?” Seth pressed as soon as he judged they were in relative safety.
“Right. It’s, ah, it’s a funny story. Not funny like it’s hilarious – but funny as in odd.” Dark stumbled through that opening statement. “So I’m walking down the cliff edge, trying to find a way down, when out of nowhere this thing lunges at me. I had no idea it had been right there next to me and I still have no clue just how long it had been.” He paused to tap two puncture marks on the side of his neck. “It caught me around the shoulder with one of its paws while its jaws closed around my throat. At first I thought it was trying to kill me, so I shoved my thumb in its right eye.” He demonstrated with short motions. “That did nothing to make it let go. Instead it dragged me back, away from the cliff edge, and tried to adjust its grip on me. When it let go I pushed away from it and ran. Its claws caught on my shoulder and tore it.”
Seth glanced at Jacob, confirming that the beast had caught him in a similar manner to what Dark was describing.
But the abhuman wasn’t finished with his narration. “I was freaked out so I ran for it. Whenever I got too close to the cliff edge it would snarl at me, so I’d back away. At first I thought that it was trying to prevent me from getting back together with you guys, and honestly I was certain it was going to kill me. And then I tripped.” He swallowed. “I tripped and fell down. It caught up to me at that point and I got the feeling that this would be it for me. It grabbed the left backpack strap and led me over to the cliff edge – which was odd because it had been avoiding that area. Once there it let go and just watched me. I climbed down and made my way back to find y’all.”
“Hold up. It just dropped you off at a good place to climb down and then ditched the murder attempt?” Seth frowned. “I got knocked over the side!”
Dark shrugged and then suddenly hissed in pain. “Yeah, that’s basically it.”
“Could it have been trying to lead you to a safe place to go over the edge? As Seth and I demonstrated, this gorge doesn’t exactly have the most stable of ground near the top. It probably can’t communicate with us so it did the only thing it could think of quickly to get Dark to safety.” Jacob spoke slowly at first but he gained momentum as he pieced together his theory. “Seth was probably knocked over by accident when he struggled.”
Seth was frowning still. “But none of that explains why it’s here. Why was it following Dark around in the first place, ‘cause we think it was, and then why help him out? If it’s a genetic experiment then it shouldn't have turned against its handlers just like all the native beasts do. The fact that it's loose implies it had to be one of the more unstable ones.” He had experience in the field due to a couple internships he had served out with different scientists. Both his friends already knew this and accepted what he said without question.
“Did they ever bother you?” Jacob asked quickly.
“Well, no, but I wasn’t allowed near the real nasty ones.” Seth went to shrug and experienced the same reaction that Dark had had.
“Then maybe they don’t mind the gifted so much. We share blood with the Daemons and the Daemons are natives here. It’s just the full humans that stand out as unnatural.” Jacob launched into the next stage of his theory. “It took special interest in Dark because he’s abhuman – the only one out here. He has a higher concentration of Daemon genetics than we would.”
Dark glanced around and hoped no cameras had overheard that. He’d told only Jacob and Seth about his heritage.
“Yeah, yeah I guess that would make sense.” Seth agreed. “Dr. Johnson and I were the only two there that were gifted. The doctor never spent much time near the beasts though. He only needed to collect the various vaccinations that the scientists came up with.”
“This is the Dr. Johnson who works at the doctor’s office, right? Not your current boss?” Jacob double checked.
“Huh? Oh, yeah.” The doctor and Seth’s boss were twins so they often needed to clarify which one they were talking about. “My boss is allergic to cats and they’ve been crossing some of the big ones from Earth with similar ones here. So he stays away from the lab and just does computer work for them.”
“What do you mean by that?” Dark wasn’t thrilled to hear about this. “They’re doing cross planet hybrids now?”
“Yeah. The native DNA is laced with unusual properties and so is compatible for the most part with certain creatures from Earth.” Seth nodded as he confirmed Dark’s question.
“That’s some dangerous territory they’re going into.” Dark shook his head. “They better be careful.”
“It’s the government, Dark. When are they ever careful?”

[Scoinwolf]

Chapter XVI
Her breathing filled up the empty space more than anything. Not the dust kicked up with every step. Not the rank odor of the damp walls left too long in the cold. Not even the darkness that oppressed all else.
Macey stumbled along the narrow pathway, crawling at times, thanking any gods that would listen that she wasn't claustrophobic like her brother.
She had decided to risk her father's anger at her using the passageway out over staying a moment longer in the house, where she would have been trapped by the massive Ice Beast outside. It was comforting to know that even if the thing was waiting for her at the other end it would be unable to fit within the tunnel.
Funny how something that had once scared her so much became a place of safety.

-

At last, a light up ahead. Macey squinted and paused to let her eyes adjust. It was just a faint glow trickling in from where the edges on the hatch didn't quite line up with the concrete around it, but that was more than enough to throw her off balance.
The young girl released a long breath and tugged down the bandana from where it covered up both her nose and mouth. She had borrowed it from Dark's room before she'd left the house. He wouldn't miss the scrap of red cloth - he had so many bandanas that she doubted he'd even notice its absence.
She cautiously climbed the first few rungs of the ladder set into the side of the wall so that she'd be tall enough to reach the hatch and push it open. It was noticeably colder the higher she got, but Macey's only thoughts were of the fresh air above now.
Even still, she did take care only to lift the stone entryway’s cover a few inches instead of flinging it all the way open. It was a good thing she had as well. The ground around here was covered in a thick layer of frost. She was hit with a blast of freezing air and instantly regretted not taking a sweatshirt with her. Macey had anticipated being struck by the heat of the day when she got out of the tunnel - not the frigidness that indicated a winter's evening.
A gleaming white eye suddenly filled her vision as whatever had been standing above the entryway leaned down to look at her. Macey was embarrassed by the squeal that tore from her throat as she slammed the hatch back down and slid to the bottom of the ladder. She curled up with her back against the wall and jammed her fist against her mouth to block any more sounds from coming out.
The beast was there. It had been waiting for her.
Or was it just a coincidence?
The young girl frowned and considered that last thought. Maybe the Ice Beast had lost interest in the house and had started to wander off. Maybe this had nothing to do with her.
The thing was pawing at the hatch. She could hear it splintering and tearing under its claws, groaning under the immense weight. She could hear a high pitched whining coming from above too.
Whining?
Cautiously Macey stood and peered up at the ceiling. The way it was trying to dig down to her sounded desperate - the sound it made even more so. But it wasn’t a threatening gesture. It seemed more scared.
Slowly she climbed back up the ladder. When it stopped trying to rip the door off and she could make out the sound of pacing, Macey reached up and opened the hatch fully. She swung it up and over in a 180 degree arc so that it hit the frozen ground with a thunk.
The beast noticed it at once. This time though it took its time approaching her. It crawled over, trying to make itself as small as possible as it lay on its belly, and stared into her eyes.
The young abhuman reached out hesitantly and let it sniff her open palm. The beast whined again and stretched its neck out to get a few inches closer.
She’d never been this close to an Ice Beast, or any beast really. Macey rested her hand on its jaw for a brief moment before quickly withdrawing her touch. The beast looked confused but even that short contact had chilled the girl to the bone.
The abhuman child drew herself up onto the full ground and shut the trapdoor. She examined the still laying creature before her. It was massive compared to her but looked out of proportion to itself. It was a little one, she realized. A child like herself, lost, separated from its family. So it had latched onto the first living thing it could find for comfort.
Her fear forgotten for the moment, Macey looked around. Nothing. There was no sign of anything else there.
The beast was sniffing at her arm. A quick glance down showed a deep gash there. She must have gotten it back in the tunnel and not noticed. Macey sighed. Her favorite jacket - ruined.
A pure white eye fixed on her for a moment before the beast flicked out its tongue and licked her wound.
Macey yelped and fell back. She was cold, colder than she’d ever been. The cold was so intense that it burned. She felt like she was on fire. The girl opened her mouth to scream when the beast snorted, wordlessly saying that she was overreacting. Well now, it had probably never felt true cold in its life. Macey opened her mouth to snap at it when she realized all of a sudden that she was fine. She was warm.
The girl tore off her jacket in her rush to examine her arm. The flesh was smooth, save for a faint silvery line that marked where the cut had been. “What by the Otherworld?” She whispered and stared at the creature before her. She wasn’t cold. Her arm had healed. Did that thing have magic spit?
The beast gave her no time to consider what had just happened. It smiles awkwardly and pressed its neck against her side.
Macey gently wrapped her arms over the top of its crest of ice, trying to mimic a hug but being unable to actually wrap her arms around the massive girth of its neck, when the beast began to rise up. The girl gasped and clung tightly to it out of reflex. The beast didn’t seem to mind. It reached its full height and Macey was faced with a view of the hilltop that she had never seen before. Then she slipped.

[Scoinwolf]

Chapter XVII
A hiss of pain escaped between her clenched teeth as Macey set her left foot on the ground. The beast sniffed at the swollen ankle and offered its neck again but the girl pushed the creature away with a scowl. “This is all your fault.” She reminded it.
The creature snorted and Macey could have sworn it was giving her attitude. That was just great. Out of all the Ice Beasts she could have been stuck with, she got the sassy one.
It kept trying to get her to take hold of its neck again. Macey got the idea that it was offering to carry her as she was so much slower than it even if she were to run. Not that she could run even if she tried. Her foot could hardly take any weight at all after that fall. Which, she reminded herself, was completely not her fault. The beast should have given her more warning after all. How was she supposed to react to suddenly finding herself several meters up in the air without a proper handhold?
Then again, the Ice Beast was still just a young one. And it wasn’t like they had a perfect way of communicating with each other. Maybe she should cut it some slack. It had been trying to help her out.
Macey glanced up at the sun, then at her watch. It was almost 19:00 - the sun would be going down soon and she didn’t fancy the idea of being outside in the dark. Not with all these beast sightings. The Ice Beast provided some safety during the day but it was at night that the real predators came out.
As if it had read her thoughts, the creature nudged her in the back again as it presented its neck once more. Macey sighed. “Only because this time I have to.” She decided and reached up. This time she wrapped her arms around one of the larger spikes of ice. It wasn’t slippery and she managed to get a better grip.
This time though the beast raised its head up far slower than before. It seemed to know where it was going so Macey let it do its thing as she did her best to stay on. Not that she could have steered it even if she had tried. To keep her injured foot elevated, Macey bent her knees back so that her feet almost touched her rear.
At one point along the way back she even felt comfortable enough to release her death-grip and just hang there, swaying gently to the motion of the beast walking.

[Scoinwolf]

Chapter XVIII
As they pulled up to the security gate Brayden took a moment to take in the monstrosity that was Carceris One. He glanced to his companion but Kevin wasn’t in nearly as much awe that he was. Brayden shook his head, disappointed.
“What?” Kevin questioned as he climbed back up into the truck. He had been talking with the guard at the gate and passed over a visitor’s pass to the driver before reaching across to place a parking sticker on the lower left corner of the front windshield.
Brayden could have drawn back to give Kevin more space, but he didn’t. “It’s nothing. Did you get directions?”
The show host grunted to show that he had indeed. “Take a left here, then your first right.” He mumbled as he drew his seat belt across his chest and locked it in place. “I’ll give more info from there.”
Once they had parked the car in the small visitor’s lot they left in search of the warden’s office. Kevin got them lost three times in the mess of hallways and they ended up being fifteen minutes late despite getting there half an hour early. The warden had laughed it off. “This place is confusing on purpose - everyone gets lost their first time. Though I had greater expectations from you, brother.”
Kevin had scowled at him. “Screw you, Gordon. I haven’t been back here in ten years - of course my memory is going to be rusty.”
“I’m sure it is.” Warden Gordon drawled. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of getting to see my little brother again? Your boss wasn’t very specific over the phone when he called me last week.” He sounded quite mocking.
Brayden didn’t like the tone that the man used when addressing Kevin. “This.” The broad man growled and placed the file he had carried with them on the table in front of the warden.
Gordon frowned as he scanned the first page and lifted the front piece of paper to reveal the cause of visitation. At once he ditched the mocking tone and switched into a serious one that couldn’t hide all of his worry. “I… What? Are you guys crazy?” He whispered fiercely, struggling to force words out. “Kev, you can’t be serious. This is a joke.” Their expressions said otherwise. Gordon leaned back in his chair and ran his hands through his dark brown hair. He eyed his brother. “Your boss is insane.”
“Gavin’s sanity is not something we can openly discuss.” Kevin chose his words carefully. “Gordon, we need that beast and we need it today.”
Gordon was scowling and Brayden noted that the older man looked extremely similar to Kevin when the show host pulled that same face. “I’m not going to sign your death sentence, Kev. Even if we aren’t on the best of terms we’re still brothers. I can do that to you.”
“Can’t or won’t?” Kevin shot back.
“I dunno, either? The point is, you two aren’t going to walk out of here with something you’ll never be able to handle.”
“Gavin was going to send just Kevin at first.” Brayden interrupted. “If he thought that one man would be enough then the two of us can handle it just fine.” There was no way by the Underneath that he would have actually wanted to transport the beast, but Gordon’s refusal to hand it over activated the stubborn part of Brayden’s mind.
“No one can handle it just fine.” Gordon’s voice became guarded. “Look, if you guys are deadset on doing this, then I’ll take you to see it. You’ll probably change your minds once you have.”
They stood and the warden lead the way through even more of the hallways, seemingly backtracking or going in circles at times, before they made it to the dead center of the prison compound. The room was barely lit, almost too much so to even see, and Gordon silently passed out thermal goggles. In the center of the room there was thick glass walls. Brayden judged the thickness to be two or three meters but despite the great depth it was surprisingly clear. Inside was what appeared to be a pile of rocks scattered over uneven cement. Every now and then there would be gouges in the boulders but Brayden couldn’t fathom what purpose there could be for such deep marks.
One moment they were looking at nothing and the next a hideous creature materialized, seemingly out of nowhere. It had one side of its face pressed against the glass and peered through at its visitors with a sickening grin. Yes - grin. The damn thing was smiling at them, Brayden realized in horror. It was actually smiling.
Well, the dark gaze had switched from encompassing all of the men standing before it to just Kevin, who had fallen back onto the ground from the surprise he had gotten when it was suddenly just there.
“You still want it?” Gordon sounded like he doubted they did.
Kevin swallowed to wet his dry throat. “We’ll take it.” Despite his position on the ground he still sounded confident and strong.
Gordon sighed. “And there’s no way I can persuade you otherwise?”
“Not a chance.”
Next came the issue of transportation. Brayden wanted to load it into a trailer. Gordon had shook his head and replied that they didn’t have a trailer strong enough to hold the thing. Brayden really didn’t want to have it in the truck for the world to see. Besides, it might break the bonds and jump off at any point on the highway. But the truck was the only thing that could take the weight without being scratched by the sharpened claws. Brayden had figured out that that was what had made those deep marks in the boulders.
“Alright, alright. It’s fine - we’ll take it.” Kevin held his hands up in mock surrender after a particularly lengthy stretch of silence. “Only you have to be the one to load it onto the truck.”