The Token by Kevin Bird (the little red hen ebook .TXT) 📖

pen with us! They’d jumped over the fence and were leaping from one animal to the next. We were in shock and as soon as we tried to stab them with our pitchforks they…”
“Pitchforks!” Drake laughed. “Are you people really going after them at night with only your pitchforks?” He was being rhetorical and the others knew it and so ignored his question.
“Go on Kai.” Blake said with a sour look over at the pirate.
“As we got close enough to one it jumped onto the back of another animal. They just seemed to be jumping all over the place and before we knew it they leaped over the fence and were gone. It was weird! One second they were all over my blues and the next they left. All of them, at exactly the same moment as if someone had given them a signal or an order.” He waited for questions.
First to ask was Jacob; “Did everyone else have the same experience?
“Yes,” said Kai.
“How many animals were lost?” He was dreading the answer but had to ask.
“Jacob, you won’t believe this because I certainly don’t!” His wide eyes showed his disbelief. “I spoke to everyone and none of us lost even a small animal. None of them were injured so you would notice unless you looked really carefully. The only ones that escaped this attack, if that’s what it was, were the gravid ones we had in our barns. All the animals kept outside, and I mean every one of them, big and small, were scratched up and it seems those things had tried to bite their necks. But they didn’t even hurt them really, scared them bad, but physically it didn’t seem to bother the animals at all. Their wounds are already clotting over. To tell the truth if I hadn’t seen it all with my own eyes I’d have said it was a dream, but the marks prove it. Why they didn’t kill any I don’t know.” He looked puzzled and exhausted. “What was the point?”
“Drake, you said one of your men was in the initial party to destroy these things, can you ask him if this means anything to him?” Jacob asked.
“I’ll go talk with him now, but I don’t think it will. He told me everything he could recall and mentioned nothing about this. But, remember, they were here to kill, not study.” He pushed on to the next topic, “Kai, how many of these things do you think were in your pen, how many attacked the other farms and did it happen at the same time or one after the other?”
Kai thought about it for a second and answered him, “We think there might have been about ten or so in each of the farms and they all seemed to attack at the same time and leave at the same time.”
“So, that means only between sixty or seventy were out on this raid. That might mean something, it might not. Jacob, see to the food and then send the men up here to lead us to the farms. We obviously can’t waste any more time.” He turned and walked away.
“Kai, I want to go to your farm and see these animals for myself. Santor, Blake, why don’t you just go to your homes and eat? Try to get some sleep, too, as I think we’ll be having a few more long nights ahead of us before this is over.” No one seemed surprised at Jacob giving orders, and even if they did, none said anything about them or hesitated in following them. “On your way past my place tell Bella I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He walked off with Kai and inside he was feeling very scared. What were these things doing now? All he knew was that they were all heading for some kind of a showdown and he and his fellow non-techs were neither ready nor able to handle it. But what were the alternatives?

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The return to the home caves was a strange one. Everyone was excited, but we were also very sad. Our minds were full of the thrill of what we had just accomplished and the fact that none of us had been injured. This was especially amazing since we’d included all the able bodied young, some that had not even been on a hunt before, and they had shown us what they were capable of and we were all proud. But our minds were full of sadness, too.
We had all agreed that this was our last stand and that we might not survive even if some of us slept like we had done so recently. Now and then some of us would imagine this world with none of us alive and the land covered by two-legs, a horrid image we would rather not contemplate, but reality was forcing us. We had to find a way to deal with our situation. Tonight had been the beginning.
We all knew that we must go out the following night and carry on our work even if it was on an empty stomach and even if we were not so lucky this time and some of us were hurt or worse. We could not really last anyway so why not end our lives this way, helping the group so that maybe one day we would be free again. For now we would sleep away the daylight hours and save our energies for the next step in our attempt at freedom.


Fourteen

The container had been opened and the supplies inside checked and distributed by the time Drake reentered the Harpy. Marshall had done well. Everything they’d asked for was included. There was twenty of everything so each of his men would be as prepared as possible, at least physically. However, considering only one of their number had ever faced these creatures before, he was not as sure as he’d appeared to the farmers of the ease of this mission. His men were good fighters and he’d been in many tough spots with them before. Also, the payment would be well worth the extra risk this time around, even his men had agreed to accept this mission. A certain level of democracy still ruled among pirates wherever they were in the universe.
Each of them was able to don body armor that had been adapted specifically for Drake and his men from the ship armor manufactured by Marshall’s factories. Drake put his on and was impressed to find that the suit was fairly typical except for the area that really counted. The specially resistant material, lightweight and yet strong enough to stop all but an armor piercing shell, covered his back and neck carrying on upwards to wrap around the head creating a helmet.
Drake thought aloud, “Great, no gaps for one of them damn Hoppers to get at me!” The men around him, already dressed for action, nodded their agreement.
“Here sir,” said a man passing over a weapon. “These are amazing!”
The gun in Drake’s hand was light and obviously strong; he immediately recognized it as a fourth generation close-quarters frontline weapon. Once again, he thought aloud, “How on earth did Marshall get these? He must have friends in high places.” He was honestly impressed. When he’d asked Marshall for them he’d really expected as much resistance to the order as he’d received when asking for the armor plating for his ships. These were weapons only issued to top-notch troops at the front and were heavily guarded by the Suppliers from the manufacturing stage all the way through to the actual dispersal to the troops. Marshall was still capable of amazing Drake even after all these years frequently working together.
“Well, if these things don’t stop them I don’t know what will!” Drake spoke to his second-in-command, “Taren, take everyone outside, set up some targets and get some practice in. We’ll be leaving as soon as everyone’s eaten.” The other nodded and ordered the men to pick up their supplies and follow him. As they walked by he grabbed the arm of one man and pulled him aside, “Cale, I want you to go over everything with me again. We’ll be dealing with those Hoppers real soon and I need to make sure there’s nothing we’re missing. From what the farmers are saying it sounds to me like these things are more intelligent than you’d given them credit for. I don’t want to be surprised.”
Cale, was a big man and Drake could well understand how he had spent so long as a successful mercenary and bounty hunter under Supplier employ. He was clearly a man not to be underestimated, and Drake was very happy to have him working on his side now. It was expensive to keep him but well worth it. His leg had been severely damaged in a battle on some far off planet long before he hooked up with Drake. The handicap had never affected his ability to do his job so Drake ignored it as he did with the many other pirates under his command who had been wounded in their past. His own wounds, received in an onboard fire, had only increased his status in the ‘one of the gang’ mentality. It seemed war wounds were to be boasted about not hidden.
“I don’t think there’s much else I can add, Captain. But I’m happy to go over it again if you’d like.” Drake spent the next ten minutes listening to the man’s previous experiences with the creatures they were here to destroy.
“It seems like they’ve learned a lot since your visit here, Cale. These farmers’ve painted a picture of a thinking animal that’s clearly able to make plans and communicate them to each other. I’d like you to lead the men, I’ll tell Taren, and please don’t let them get carried away. They’ve the idea this is going to be some kind of fun trip wiping away some silly little bugs. You and I know differently! If you help me get this job finished quickly and cleanly there’ll be a nice bonus in it for you, OK?”
Cale nodded his agreement and walked quickly outside to join the others where Drake could now hear small explosions, and cheers and hoots of laughter. His conversation with Jacob and the others had shaken him a little. Much like his men, he had come here thinking this would be almost a big game. Oh, he’d paid attention to Cale’s descriptions of these Hoppers and what they could do but he had really felt he and his men wouldn’t have too much trouble. He certainly wasn’t as sure he believed that now.
By the time he went outside, he saw his men crowding around a table that had been set up to hold the food just brought up the hill by a young girl and woman standing back. They were both pretty, though in drab clothing, and clearly mother and daughter. Some of his men had also noticed the pretty faces and were making loud crude remarks that brought gales of laughter from those eating around them. The two women began to move away, back down the hill, but two of the men ran ahead to cut them off.
“Excuse us, ladies. Won’t you sit and eat with us?” One of the men reached out as if to grab the mother’s arm and lead her to the table. She pulled her arm away and looked around nervously.
“Leave us alone.” Bella kept her voice calm but was clearly worried and her face showed the lack of trust she had in these men.
Drake began to walk forward as the two men, malice in their eyes, moved in on the women. “No reason to be rude, lady. Here