SNAFU: Hunters

They peered through the hanging foliage. Across the flowing water, the river extended into a large cove of placid water. The bay was roughly circular, dotted here and there with large boulders that were blanketed with water moss.

“He’s in that bay?”

“Here, Billy, Billy, Billy,” Leon called out, then laughed awkwardly at his own joke.

“So what now?”

“Dolphin whistle.” Deacon pointed to a toggle-switch on the tracking device. “Emits a high frequency sound. They’re trained to come when they hear it.”

“Hold on,” Nathan said. “What if those things can hear it, too?”

Deacon shrugged. “There’s no reason to think they’re around. Besides, what other choice do we have?”

“What other choice?” Leon glared. “We could turn around and get the fuck out of here.”

They all looked to Nathan. “Okay,” he said. “Do it.”

“I got a real bad feelin’ about this,” Leon muttered.

Deacon flipped the toggle. “It’s transmitting now.”

“I don’t hear shit,” Leon said.

“You’re not supposed to. It’s inaudible high-frequency. Trust me, it’s working.”

In the bay across the river, the boulders shook, jostled in place, and something huge surged from the water. A giant centipede-like monstrosity, over a hundred meters long. It lifted itself on hundreds of legs, water pouring from between the segments of its body as it rose from the bay.

“Ngu’Tinh,” Hiro said.

The gigantic demon turned and snaked towards them through the water. Its legs were a flurry of motion pounding the water, the sound like approaching machine-gun fire.

Nathan froze as the demon charged, then instinct kicked in. “Grenades, rapid,” he shouted.

Donaldson threw a grenade; Leon blasted a steady stream with his Stoner. Nathan and Deacon fired high-explosive canisters then emptied their mags into the approaching monster. Three successive explosions rocked the river, sending up towers of water and clouds of vapour. When the mist cleared, the creature was gone, the river silent.

“Holy fuck,” Leon shouted. “What was that thing?”

“Where’d it go?” Donaldson said. “Downriver?”

“Hey, guys,” Deacon pointed to the tracking device. “Billy’s on the move.”

They watched the red blip on the screen. It moved perpendicular to them across the river, on to the land, then curved through the forest.

“It’s on land,” Deacon said.

“That’s not Billy,” Nathan said. “If one of those things ate the tracker, would it still work?”

“Yeah.” Deacon’s face fell. “It probably would.”

“Weapons ready,” Nathan ordered.

There were clicks and shuffling sounds as they reloaded. Deacon placed the tracker on the ground so he could ready his weapon.

“Where is it?” Leon said.

Deacon motioned with the barrel of his M79. “It’s closing, slowly. Thirty meters.” He read the distance from the device at his feet. “Twenty meters. Ten.” He steadied his rifle. “Wait. It stopped.”

“Where is it?” Donaldson whispered. “I don’t see it.”

“What’re we waitin’ for?” Leon growled.

“For visual.” Nathan scanned the canopy. “I think it’s in the trees.”

The squad was silent, frozen in anticipation. The thing was out there, just ten meters away. They searched, but saw nothing but forest, heard nothing but whispering wind, breeze-blown leaves. The red blip on the tracker was motionless.

Leon screamed.

Nathan swivelled in time to see Leon dragged along the forest floor by one of the mantis-things. It moved so fast it looked like they were flying, and in a split second they were two dozen paces into the brush.

Concealed by the vegetation, Nathan couldn’t see Leon, but he could hear the furious slashing of the demon. A few shots rang out, then a scream.

Nathan fired his 40mm. THUNK. BOOM. The brush exploded. Nathan was hit in the chest by a chunk of the creature; the rest of the squad knocked over by the shock wave. Nathan landed on his back, ears ringing.

Nathan, Deacon, Donaldson, and Hiro pushed to their feet, shook themselves. They were lightly painted with a mixture of red and green from the casualties.

“Fucking Christ,” Nathan said.

“How’d it get over there without us seeing it move?” Donaldson asked, a tremble in his voice.

“It didn’t. They’re hunting in pairs.” Deacon motioned to the tracker. “The other one’s still there.” The red dot was motionless. Then it darted suddenly.

“It’s on the move,” Deacon said, glancing between the tracker and the water.

Nathan scanned the water. “Where?”

“The river.”

There was a splash, and a faint ripple in the water moving towards the opposite bank. Donaldson fired a few shots of his M1, but the target had vanished.

“Shit. What do we do?”

“I don’t know.” Nathan bent to pick up the tracker. The red dot had moved fifty meters towards the bay.

Hiro grabbed Nathan by the shoulder, pointed to the exploded bodies of Leon and the second mantis creature, then pointed to his bag of supplies.

“Yeah.” Nathan nodded. “Go ahead.”

Hiro retrieved the iron knife from the bag then ran to the bodies.

“C’mon,” Nathan said to Donaldson and Deacon. The three of them followed Hiro to where a small crater had been blasted into the ground, ringed with the carnage.