Shadows of the Desert by J Albert Walters

Author:J Albert Walters [Walters, J Albert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-09T22:00:00+00:00

V

Shadow tended to the wound on his cheek, where Jason had spit on him. He managed to conceal his pain and the wound from Jason but was disturbed by the very fact he had been injured in the first place. This little man was proving to be a bit more tenacious than Shadow had anticipated. Other humans had surprised him before, and they had in general paid a quick and terminal price. There had been a child molester on the lamb from the law, in the forests of South Carolina, who had spotted this physical weakness in Shadow. The fugitive in South Carolina had been so wrought with guilt, Shadow had known suicide was inevitable. He had stalked his prey for two days but was burned when a tree limb, laden with dew, shook above and the fugitive had seen it happen. Shadow came to him a few hours later and was attacked with water from a canteen. His prey sought to become predator but found Shadow was not as helpless as previous victims. The water had been meant to burn Shadows face and eyes, but instincts honed over many hunts and perhaps centuries, (he did not really know or remember) allowed him the reaction time to cover up. Shadow suffered burns on his arms which had taken years to heal. He ripped the fugitive apart and left an area of spattered blood, guts and shattered bone in a twenty-foot radius.

It seemed that only water in its purest form was completely toxic to Shadow. Human blood, while mostly water, caused only minor irritation to his flesh. On a planet that is mostly water though, this weakness was a serious consideration and icy climates were primarily off limits. Mountains and tundra rather frequently would have provided him with victims but ice and water, much to his consternation, prohibited free hunting.

The earliest memories he could glean from this planet were in the desert. He had lived in other times and in other places (he thought), but the desert was his earliest recollection from earth. There were great expanses of desert all over the planet, on every continent it had hunted in them and knew them implicitly. There was no better setting for tormenting and stalking prey. Over the centuries (centuries?) the deserts played host to desperate measures, desperate men and oh yes, wars. He had participated in many wars fought in the sands of planet earth, many battles undocumented and long forgotten had fed him well. There was no risk associated for him in the desert. Never had he considered himself at true risk in the places he felt most at home, and none of the very few disappointments and defeats Shadow had suffered took place near a desert.

Shadow chewed on his memories, a bit. How long had he been alive? How old? He did not know. He was convinced he was not conceived of this miserable little planet, that he had come here from somewhere else. He did not know why he believed this; he had no memory of anywhere else, but he was convinced.

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