The Nature of Predators

Memory transcription subject: Slanek, Venlil Space Corps

Date [standardized human time]: October 18, 2136

Marcel leaned over the destroyer’s railing, allowing the saltwater to splash his face. The predator’s eyes stared where the towering skyline of New York City had once been. His loved ones were in one of the nearby bunkers, perhaps buried beneath a mountain of rubble. The human resolved to search for Nulia and Lucy, but I feared his reaction if they weren’t found alive.

The American military sent most available service members to the remnants of its largest city, once the environment was deemed safe. Rescue prospects weren’t promising for the main hubs, so efforts would be focused on the city outskirts. With the traditional naval ports and space docking sites pulverized, the boat would allow alien visitors to touch down.

My skin crawled at the thought of the Arxur landing on Earth. I remembered what the grays had done on the bombed-out cradle; it terrified me that they might get a taste for human flesh. What if the survivors, like Marcel, were rounded up onto a cattle ship? The thought of him being caged or tortured again filled me with despair.

Minutes from now, those monsters were going to be walking onto this very deck. I couldn’t stop focusing on that image; every instinct compelled me to hurl myself overboard. The Terrans were in no condition to protect me. I didn’t believe for a second that those emotionless predators were genuinely here to help.

The red-haired human studied his reflection in the water. “Shit. Do you remember the first time we chatted online, Slanek?”

“You said, ‘Hello.’ I sat at my keyboard for two hours, trying to envision your true intent,” I muttered. “I was terrified to talk to a predator.”

“Wait, that’s why you didn’t answer right away? I mean, I was nervous too, but more about fucking up first contact.”

“Marc, all I could think was, what have I done? After several bouts of crying, multiple drafted messages to Republic emergency services to drop out of the program…”

“You asked me, with no context or greeting, what I saw when I looked in the mirror.”

Marcel didn’t finish the anecdote, instead tilting his head in consideration. At the time, the human answered, A mouth, a nose, two eyes and ears. I’d be concerned if that changed. The horrors of my imagination evaporated with laughter. I felt guilty that I had been so preoccupied with his appearance in the beginning.

The worry creases on his forehead aged him by a decade, as did the blemish of the scars on his cheek. By comparison, my friend’s paralyzing gaze had been full of life, with that snarl he couldn’t contain. I wanted to remember the humans as that optimistic race; affectionate and carefree. Whatever compromises our beloved predators had to make, I wouldn’t let them change my perspective.

“I see a survivor.” Swallowing my nerves, I propped myself over the railing. My gray fur was a matted mess, and my slender ears were pinned in terror. “T-two of them, actually. Please, don’t let the Arxur eat me.”

He ruffled the stray tuft on my head. “I’m scared too, buddy. I have nightmares about them eating that immobilized Gojid…then, eating you or Nulia. Is it wrong to admit that?”

“No. Your f-feelings are important too. You’re just really good at acting strong.”

“Key word, acting.”

An angular craft rocketed down from the cloud cover, and I squeezed my tail around the human’s wrist. The curvature of the ship’s belly suggested it was stocked with missiles; it was brimming with weaponry from every angle. The engine roared as it completed its atmospheric descent, following the Terran glide slope. The Arxur vessel slammed onto the open deck, and our personnel eyed it warily.

There’s a human sniper watching them from the mast. I wonder if the grays noticed…better hope my friends can react quicker than those demons can snap me in half.

Paralyzing terror coursed through my bloodstream, as dozens of Arxur lumbered out into the open. They lugged some supply crates onto the deck, and waved for the humans to collect them. Terran personnel scurried over to sort through the offerings. I could see in the primates’ eyes that they were concerned about opening up a cattle ‘gift.’

One Arxur was directing the others, with the cracked skin around its eyes suggesting its age. Its nostrils flared with obvious hunger, entranced by the whiff of Venlil in the breeze. Ghastly reptilian eyes snapped my way, and yellowed teeth flared in a ferocious snarl. Why had Marcel’s benign canines ever frightened me?

The enemy commander began ambling toward us. It leaned forward as it walked, poised to drop into a primal lunge in a heartbeat. Its pupils were darker than the frigid side of Venlil Prime, and its drab scales glistened like obsidian. I could see the saliva coagulating around its lips.

“It’s okay, Slanek. I’m right here,” Marcel growled.

My heart hammered so furiously that I swayed on my feet; the human caught me with steady hands. All thoughts were shutting down, like a hard reset to the noggin. Every conscious impulse screamed to propel myself into the ocean, but my brain signals weren’t registering.

I sank my claws into the human’s forearm, whimpering like wounded prey. Tears flowed down my face, dripping onto his pale skin. Marcel massaged my scruff, and tried to stop me from shaking uncontrollably. His gentle touch wasn’t enough to counter an Arxur, standing right across from me.

How could we have ever considered such an abomination sapient? It was the spitting image of death itself. Nothing motivated it, other than its appetite and its cruelty.

“Greetings. I’m going to assume you’re in charge, since you have a Venlil…attached.” The Arxur’s warm breath hit me on the cheek, as it spoke in a reverberating roar. “My name is Chief Hunter Isif. We understand this was the United Nations headquarters, so I decided to accompany this landing party.”

Marcel cleared his throat. “What can I do for you?”

A faint sliver of awareness crept back in. I didn’t understand why my human wouldn’t point this monster toward the actual officers…and far away from us. I wanted to study the vegetarian’s expression, but I couldn’t turn my eyes away from the Arxur. It hadn’t stopped staring at me from the moment it approached.

“Requesting permission to set up emergency housing. I can have structures and basic amenities organized in a day,” Isif barked.

“I don’t think that’ll be an issue,” the red-haired human said. “If you’re aiding search-and-rescue, would you come with me to a neighborhood called Midwood? The people in those bunkers are a UN priority.”

“Gladly. I’ll pick several of my finest to accompany you.”

“Oh, and tell your soldiers not to desecrate any human bodies.”

“Cut it out. We don’t eat each other, whatever the Federation told you. So why would any of us want to eat humans?”

The chief hunter’s eyes lingered on me, the actualization of every nightmare I ever had. My spine pressed back against Marcel’s chest, using his muscular form for support. Every muscle in my body felt weak as jelly, and my nerves were overstimulated beyond salvaging. I wanted to crawl under a rock, and never show my face again.

The Arxur sighed, slinking off with a swish of its tail. It conversed with some Terran personnel for a moment, then issued emphatic orders. Several grays filed into a human “helicopter”, a strange aircraft that had twin blades on its roof. The racket stung my ears, as the propeller revved to life.

“Okay. I don’t expect you to come with me, Slanek.” Marcel released a forceful exhale, and set me back on my paws. “But getting to my family can’t wait…I have to know.”

“So you’re hitching a ride with the child-eating predators?! What will Nulia think if she is alive?” I spat. “You just said you have nightmares about those things devouring her.”

“Using the Arxur will get me there quickest. I’m sorry. There’s no line I won’t cross…I have nothing to live for without them.”

“What about me? I care about you. After what we’ve been through together—”

“Don’t make this about you, buddy. I get why Sovlin losing his family broke him now. If they’re dead, so am I.”

“Marcel, p-please—”

“Go home, Slanek. I hope you succeed in all your future aspirations. Thank you for giving a predator like me a chance.”

The red-haired human shouldered his rifle and duffel bag, and limped over to the waiting helicopter. Those hazel eyes never so much as glanced back; his slender fingers were curled into a fist. Recollections of my predator, starving and beaten, darted through my mind. I could see those same hands pressed up against the glass, as he reached out with the last of his strength.

Marcel tried to protect me in his final moments too, through unimaginable pain. I can’t let him throw his life away.

I remembered how helpless I felt, watching the vegetarian held at gunpoint. The pain in his eyes had been like glass shards in my heart. The thought of never speaking to him again, and learning that the Arxur chopped him up into little pieces…it filled me with the same despair.

How did my Terran friend expect me to abandon him to a senseless fate? Riding along on this suicide misadventure was out of the question though. Marcel wasn’t engaged in proper thinking right now; he needed someone to drill some sense into him. Humans were significantly weaker than the Arxur, so he’d be helpless when they ambushed him.

“Damn you!” I scampered after the hobbling human, who was only a few paces from the chopper. “I nursed you back from death’s door, went with you to a Gojid warzone, and stayed here when we all thought your Earth was going to be glassed to the core!”

Marcel clambered up into the chopper. “You’ve done enough. Go away, Slanek; get lost.”

“And go home, like none of this happened? I’m telling you, as your friend, not to do this. I need you safe and alive, and I don’t care if that’s ‘making this about me.’”

I bounded the last several steps, and hurled myself at the human’s leg in desperation. My hindlegs scrabbled for traction on the floor; I struggled with all my might to pull the bulky predator off the helicopter. Marcel panted, and shook me off with a grunt. The Arxur passengers watched with amusement.

The human set his supplies on an empty seat, adjacent to the cockpit. Chief Hunter Isif was ordering the Terran pilot he’d borrowed to take off. I had to get my friend out of here now.

With panicked desperation, I yanked at his injured arm. Marcel could forgive me for the pain that caused later. It was the only way to mitigate his superior strength, and save him from his own recklessness.

“Shit!” he cursed. “Get the fuck off of me.”

The vegetarian’s eyes dilated with frustration, and his cheeks turned that flushed shade of red that unnerved me. His teeth bared with obvious hostility; that was no human smile causing his jaw to tremble. I wasn’t about to be scared away by growling, even if it made my throat go dry. He was never going to hurt me.

Marcel pried my claws off of him with predatory strength; his typical gentleness was gone. I mewled in protest, but the human clenched his fingers into my scruff. He carried me toward the exit in cold silence, and seemed ready to toss me outside. My legs flailed about in desperation, but the struggling didn’t have much effect.

The helicopter rose the first few feet off the ground. Chief Hunter Isif retreated from the cockpit, and darted between Marcel and the exit. The Arxur commander slid the door shut, sealing off the escape route for both of us. Its eyes widened in confusion, as it noticed me dangling like a pup from the human’s hands.

“Take a seat. There’s room for you and the animal,” it snarled. “Per the map overlay, this should be a short ride.”

The aircraft was ascending rapidly, now above the mast in altitude. My heart sank in my chest, compounded by sheer panic. Jumping from this height would be suicide, though it might be better than being turned into cattle. Not only had I failed to get Marcel away from these monsters, but I had ended up escapeless with him.

The red-haired human adjusted his grip, bringing me into the normal carrying position. I burrowed my head against his shirt, and he patted me with a sigh. Isif watched with keen interest, as the Terran settled in to his chosen seat. The vegetarian placed my shaking body on his lap, and turned my chin toward the window with a delicate push.

I was certain the other Arxur were gaping at us, and salivating at the flesh on my skeleton. My hope was that my presence would stop the grays from eating Marcel; Venlil were a juicier target, after all. That didn’t lessen the dread in my heart. There was nothing worse than being trapped, hundreds of feet above the ground, with feral carnivores.