The Hunt by Tannah Jo

Author:Tannah Jo [Jo, Tannah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

16:45:42 hours

“WHAT DO YOU mean there are no big snakes in this area?” Marcus frowned down at Aldin’s image in the small screen of the communicator in his hand. They’d set up a temporary camp within the mouth of the cave. Should it rain, it would keep them dry. Were they to be attacked, they would be able to move out without difficulty.

“Lieutenant, there are no giant snakes on Terrus,” Aldin said, his pale face set in a frown of confusion.

“Call me Marcus. Aldin, we checked the data Fulsam sent us. There is at least one snake on that list.”

“Lieu…Marcus, I’m sorry. Let me clarify myself. There are no longer any of those snakes on Terrus. The last of them were killed off two hundred years ago.”

“Well, thank you for the information.” His voice dripped with derision. “Look,” he continued, “we’re seeing signs of something huge in the area. My scouts found an opening in a hill and it’s deep and large. Correction, very large. It goes down to several hundred feet as far as our scanners can detect. Also, one of my scouts is very familiar with snakes and he says the bodies we found could only have been killed by a large mouth with razor-like teeth. The tracks show a large body crawled over the ground. That’s a snake.”

Aldin shook his head, “No, that’s impossible.”

“Well, here’s more impossible information for you. I sent my scouts into the cave and they came back with molted skin. Snakeskin. It was only part of a broken piece. You want to know how big this piece was? It took four of my men to hold it up. Four. Just what are you people hiding from us?”

“No, no, I swear Marcus. That’s impossible. Can you give me a few minutes? I’m going to my lord’s quarters, he needs to know about this.”

“You’d better not be lying to me, Aldin or I swear on the Goddess, if I lose any of my men because you’re withholding information from us, I’ll make sure you suffer.”

“Understood, Marcus,” Aldin said. The image on the screen shook and Marcus assumed he was walking. “I’m here, please be patient.” The screen shook some more and in the background, they heard three knocks on the door. “My Lord, I apologize for barging in on you, but Marcus is on the communicator and…please, My Lord. You need to talk to him.”

Marcus watched as the screen wobbled before Fulsam’s exhausted face came into view. Then his wheezing voice came over the speaker, “Marcus. Speak to me.”

Marcus repeated what they’d found out so far, not sparing the man from the details of the body parts they’d discovered, and the possibilities of how they’d gotten into that condition. “As I told Aldin earlier, there’s a very high probability this is a large snake we’re dealing with.”

Fulsam had stayed quiet the entire time while Marcus spoke, but the thinning of his lips and the fear in his eyes were enough to convince Marcus the man was just as confused as Aldin.

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