The Queen's Pain

Chapter 2-3

After a trip to the grocery to pick up spices, fresh fruit, other food, and, yes, paper towels, the two stopped for a nice leisurely lunch at a Chinese restaurant. It was a rare opportunity to have piles of delicious-yet-unhealthy food. They ordered four entrees to share and some wonton soup. They drank hot tea and soda. They read their fortunes and laughed. In other words, the two had a good time.

Ken barely noticed that they were the only ones in the dining room or that the one server walked with a heavy limp. This meal was about pretending. Letting themselves be happy. The eatery probably wouldn’t be here next month. But they didn’t have to think about that. Dakota discussed the leftover food and wondered whether or not they should share any of it or keep it to themselves. Maybe give Jaden some, they decided. She probably never had it before.

Once their bellies were full of lo mein, orange chicken, and other delectables, the pair waddled back to her truck, which was just as packed with supplies for the town. She looked at the haul with pride. They’d arrived with more than a thousand bucks in cash burning holes in their back pockets. She had no idea how much they spent, but the truck bed was completely full. Taking a moment to make sure everything was properly tied down, Kenna ran her hand over the provisions.

“We did good this time around,” Dakota said absently, climbing into the vehicle.

“Definitely.”

They slowly left Carbondale and began the trip home. It was uneventful—not even another car on the road—until about one-third of the way.

Ken spied a group of hunters, decked out in full camouflage with orange vests and hats, standing around in a half-circle near the side of the road. They carried rifles and outnumbered the Crossleys three times over. Not too surprising, though. One did not simply leave the safety of wherever this group came from to get killed alone in the woods. No deer was worth that. People traveled in groups for a reason.

She stepped on the gas with the hope of passing them by without incident.

But as they drew closer, Ken saw that something was very wrong. One of the men sustained serious injuries to his left arm. It hung limp at his side. Though someone had done basic field triage to stop him from bleeding to death, the whole sleeve looked soaked in red. And his skin appeared completely pallid. He might live. He might not, she thought silently. Not much she could do to help at this point. A cluster of nearby vehicles showed that they were fully capable of leaving for medical aid. And yet? They hadn’t.

They were too concerned with their apparent quarry, a mass of fur, flesh, and blood at the center of their impromptu conference.

Too big for a deer. Too weird for a bear. Before she knew it, Ken’s foot had slipped entirely off the pedal, and her overloaded truck gradually rolled to a stop. Dakota glanced at the men, but his attention soon fell entirely to her. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t—something about them—I don’t like it.”

“We should get out of here,” he warned with a shaky voice. His calm and contentment disappeared completely as he identified the hunters as a possible threat. “Whatever it is, it’s not our problem.”

But she shook her head. “Stay in the car.” Switching on the hazard lights and putting on the emergency brake, Ken quickly got out before he could stop her. She strode directly toward the gang of strangers.

Dakota rolled down the driver’s side window and peered out. “Hey!” he half-whispered.

She ignored him. When two of the men turned, Ken saw what occupied their attention. At first glance, it looked somewhat like an elk with an impressive crown of velvet-covered antlers. But under the blood and matted fur lay unnatural features in patterns Ken wished she didn’t recognize. Long spines protruded from around its neck. The teeth were overgrown, like a boar’s. The one visible eye socket looked oversized. And the whole carcass seemed gorged with uneven muscle, just under its skin.

“What the hell is that thing?” Ken called out to them with her best backwoods impression.

One of the men spit on the ground and kicked the animal. “Don’t you know?”

“Hell nahh. I ain’t never seen anything like that,” she lied for her own safety. If they thought she had something to do with a mutation—”What is it?”

“Damned if we can guess. Figured since you was goin’ down to that weird place you might know. s**t. You sure you ain’t got no idea? We could use knowin’ if the fuckin’ thing is edible or not. There’s f**k all in these woods anymore. We’re hungry. Our whole families are hungry.”

She gulped but kept her face a mask of curiosity and caution. “You’re tellin’ me that there’s something livin’ around here that’s not supposed to be here? Some kind of new species?”

Another guy let out a scoff. “More than one!”

“And we’re guessin’ it’s no accident, you know?” said the first. “You seen the news, right? We think this baby is the product of some of that ungodly s**t people been doin’. Either it f****d up the animals here or it made them or something, but it can’t be a coincidence that this bastard is here now and all the game’s gone missin’. It ran them off, I bet.”

“Or ate them!” added his friend.

She took a tentative step closer under the guise of wanting a better view. “Did that—did that thing chew you up?” Ken addressed the bleeding man directly, who looked like he might faint at any time. “You don’t look so good.”

The hunter shook his head before reaching out to steady himself. His good arm wrapped around a tree branch like a tropical snake, but she worried he might still fall to the ground. He needed a minute before he could speak. “No, no. There’s something else. A whole pack of them. They—they look kinda like dogs or wolves, but with scales. I can’t make heads or tails of it, but I swear on my kids’ heads that that’s what they were. Fuckin’ monsters. That’s why there ain’t no deer or even rabbits. Them things are eatin’ everything in sight. Tried to get me.” He let out a breath. “Almost did.”

“We figure this thing was too big for them to take down, even in a pack like that,” provided the first man. “It woulda fought back with them teeth. And s**t, the hind quarters could belong to a donkey or a really big horse. If they’re anything like wild dogs, they wouldn’t risk it unless they were starvin’.”

“Like we are,” said the second.

Ken nodded slowly. “If these things are survivin’ all on their own, I bet at least parts of ‘em you can eat. I’d say, cut it open, and if anything looks familiar, take it home and cook it real well.” She backed up. “But get your friend some help. They still got doctors up north. Unless you don’t give a s**t if he dies. In that case, at least put him out of his misery.”

She heard swearing as the men finally acknowledged how bad the condition of their colleague really was. One of them motioned for him to head toward a vehicle while mumbling something about everybody getting an equal share of the meat. It seemed like the group would honor the deal, but it really wasn’t Kenna’s concern if they did or not. She’d helped enough by insisting they take the wounded guy for medical attention. It wouldn’t be wise to spend any more time with these men. They seemed safe enough, all things considered, but desperate people weren’t exactly the most trustworthy type. Not with families on the line.

“Good luck,” she offered, entirely to seem cordial. Ken would make certain that the people of New Somerset heard all about this. They would more than likely hunt down some of the creatures, not for food, but protection. Leave the carcasses around this locale for hungry outsiders to find. Another minor act of charity.

Kenna and Darrin would have to seriously consider extending the fences into the surrounding wilderness. The idea had come up multiple times, but there was never an excellent reason to spend the resources on it. Mutated apex predators, no matter the amount, would certainly ruffle feathers, especially among TFIs. Never mind that there were apparently hunters with guns roaming all over the area. Who knew how much land they’d covered? At least from Buck Mesa to Muddy Creek, she thought. Too close for comfort.

She hurried to the truck and got in. Locking the doors, “We have a new problem.” Then, after a moment to think it over, “We have a bunch of new problems.”

“Let’s address it back inside our borders, huh? Let’s just get out of here first.”