Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves (15 page)

It had a beak of a sort,
but it seemed undersized and limp, and was as saggy as its
“so-called” feathers. Where its’ eyes should have been, protruded
thick, fleshy stalks. They stuck three inches from its’ head,
angled toward the front, strange, aberrant. Each ended in what
looked like large, globular orbs. They roved over the countryside
without pause, ardent in their search for the next meal.

It swooped
closer.

That’s when Sophie saw
its’ chest. Her heart leaped into her throat.

Its’ chest oozed some sort
of muciferous substance. It seemed to collect over time to form a
bulbous mound that quivered and hung as it flew.

At that moment, it was
right overhead and Sophie ducked out of its' way as it passed above
her. She worried some of the goo would break off and fall on her,
but it did not. Still, it was grotesque.

“
I saw such a creature the
other night.”

They all jumped. It was
like a ghost had spoken. None of them had heard the great feline
approach. “That one was much smaller, though.”

“
What is it?” asked Elena,
looking exactly like Sophie felt, grossed out and wary.

“
I don’t know what to call
it, but in my mind I have termed it a bird-slug,” replied the
feline. He was somehow able to show his distaste for the creature
through his animal-like veneer. “It flies like a bird and eats like
a slug.”

“
How do you know how it
eats?” blurted out Louis ever curious about strange topics. His
eyes were as big as saucers as he stared up at the thing in the sky
above. There was nothing but avid interest in his
expression.

Garfield glanced over at
the rosy-cheeked boy and then nodded toward the flying creature.
“Do you see the sticky mess on its chest?”

More than one of them
answered the cat in the affirmative, too rapt to realize the
question had been for the boy.

“
That gooey mound serves
as its mouth. It eats from its’ chest by engulfing its prey within
this chest cavity. I assume it liquefies it at leisure, making it
more suitable for consumption much like a spider would via acidic
venom.”

“
Eeew!” exclaimed Mikalah.
“That’s so gross!”

“
Yes it is, Miki-girl. Be
hopeful, you will never have to hear the fell creature eat as it
sucks and gurgles at its quarry. They are quite loud, and, if I
might add, quite nauseating.” Garfield’s disgust was
profuse.

“
Is that why its’ beak
looks so fragile, because it doesn’t use it to eat?” calculated
Louis, surprising Sophie that he could be so intuitive.

“
I assume so,” retorted
Garfield, his eyes squinting, a speculative frown upon his brow as
if he had not thought of it before either.

Joaquin walked up with the
others. “Oh,” he began, “a Gürkk, and a baby one at that.” He
grunted, derisive. “You wouldn’t want to mess with a full grown
one, especially a male. They are mega-mean and hard to
kill.”

“
How big do they get?”
asked Andrew, his forehead wrinkled as he gazed up into the
brightness of the day.

“
Big… I don’t know, maybe
twice the size of a horse,” replied Joaquin, thinking as he
spoke.

“
Wow!” said
Jason.

Sophie reached out and
clasped one of Anthony’s hands, feeling the need for a little
reassurance.

They all continued to
watch the beast circle over them, riding the thermals.

“
Well, whatever it does or
however it eats, I think what Garfield named it seems right on the
money. Good call, Cat Face,” concluded Anthony as he motioned for
them to continue

Within a few heartbeats,
they were all moving. More than a few of them did turn back though
to watch the Gürkk or bird-slug (or whatever in hell it
was).

It ignored them as it
continued to search for food above the treetops.

They walked from the
“basin” and began to ascend the small ridge on the opposite side.
They reached the summit without incident.

By then, even Sophie could
not resist the urge to glance back on occasion at the flying
thing.

Oblivious, it continued to
fly in the air behind them.

Relief flooded through her
when she realized it was not following them. The longer she looked
at it the more it made her want to puke.

She recognized the lay of
the land as they came over the ridge. It was still nothing but
trees, boulders and bushes of varying sorts but it was somewhat
familiar in a vague sense. It was easier when she imagined how it
would look back home minus all the buildings.

They walked through a
small u-shaped valley, opening once they began to make their way
down the ridge. The narrow dirt road descended through this large
depression in the earth. From there, it turned to the left in long
lazy curve that stretched three-quarters the length of a football
field.

Garfield ranged down the
slope and out of sight again, only to come trotting back within
moments. His body language relaxed as he looped over the trail
without regard for anything in particular.

The girl knew for the most
part it was a farce. Garfield never let down his guard, it might
appear that way, but he missed nothing. She was willing to put her
life on it.
Garfield might forever be in a
bad mood, but he was one hell of a good scout
, she was thinking, and then came up short.

Mr. Patas had raised his
hand in the air, making a fist.

The pre-emptory discussion
they’d had back in the cave paid off in an instant. In a flash of
his gesture, they had all stopped - frozen in place.

It was the age-old
military gesture. It meant there was something was of the ordinary,
hostilities eminent.

The rabbit-man motioned
toward Sophie’s left, away from the Colorado trail.

Her gaze followed up into
the cluster of small hillocks standing on that side of the
pathway.
Oh god, what now?

Without making a sound, he
informed them what he’d heard had come from that
direction.

To Sophie’s surprise,
Garfield had vanished, again not having made a single
sound.

Kenai and Kodiak shed the
nylon ropes lashing them to the shopping carts. Somehow silent,
they moved closer. They placed themselves between the would-be
intruder and the rest of the group.

The boys moved with zeal
to stand behind the bear-dogs, leaving Sophie and the three little
ones at the rear of their party.

Mr. Patas was the only one
who did not move a muscle. He was too intent upon
listening.

Mugzy took up his
customary position at Elena’s side, helping Sophie gather the
children into a tighter pack.

“
Patas, pray tell, what do
you see?” implored the man-dog, his voice low, just above a
whisper.

Mr. Patas took a few steps
toward them. “It is strange. It sounds like a pig, a large pig, but
yet, it does not sound like a pig at all,” he whispered in his
high-pitched, singsong voice.

“
Would it be safe to say
it does not come from our world?” questioned Mugzy, letting his
claws extend beyond their protective sheaths.

Sophie saw Elena’s eyes
widen at the sight of the two and a half inch nails, dark as
obsidian, sharp as razors.

Mr. Patas nodded. “You
have most likely presumed correct.”

“
Bugger me!” mumbled Mugzy
under his breath, though loud enough that those closest to him
heard.

Sophie chanced a quick
glance in his direction, frowning with concern, wondering what he
meant.

Elena, though she did not
look at him, stood stunned; staring off in the direction Mr. Patas
said the creature was coming. Her eyes were wide.

Sophie guessed it was the
first time the little girl had heard her former pet curse. She
remained silent.

Through the bodies
blocking her view, Sophie craned her neck. She wanted to see. But,
she could not discern anything more than rocks and trees. These, of
course, commingled with the odd Spindle Down and strange, wild
looking bushes that strewn the ground. This was in evidence as the
elevation rose the farther it stretched away from her and into the
forest.

The moment they readjusted
their positions, they stopped moving. An unsettling silence grew.
The surrounding forest itself seemed quiet, as if commanded to
hush.

With an eerie feeling, she
looked heavenward to see if the bird-slug was still visible, but it
was not. The skies were empty for the moment.

“
Do you see anything,
Sophie?” chirped Louis at her side, his voice made higher by the
worry enshrouding his every move.

She could feel his small,
chubby hand gripping the corner of her pink jacket. “No, I don’t,
Lou. If there’s something out there I can’t tell what it is.” She
looked down the boy with a half-smile.

She glanced up when she
felt Anthony’s gaze fall upon her and she was about to broaden her
smile when she saw it.

She could just make it out
over Anthony’s half-turned shoulder. It was coming down the slope
of the hill at a tremendous speed, about thirty yards distant. It
was so strange. It was bewildering to gaze upon. Her smile froze on
her face, awkward because she could not grasp what she was seeing.
She could only look back and do no more. With half a mind, she was
aware Anthony’s expression changing the moment he saw her own
countenance falter. She did not see him turn to follow her gaze,
because her eyes were stuck on the creature hurtling toward them
with reckless abandon.

It was large, about the
size of a prized hog seen at your typical county fair. Its’ body
was long and thick, but stout with short, well-muscled legs. Even
at a distance, Sophie could tell it weighed close to three hundred
pounds, maybe even more. Yet, unlike a prized hog, this creature
had a long tail bristling with the coarsest hair she had ever seen
before. It had a squirrel-like head, ending with a pair of long
fangs. It trailed long runnels of what she assumed was slathering
spit. Its’ coat was just as coarse and thorny as its tail. It was a
dark chestnut color speckled with black. If there had been less
snow on the ground, it might have served as good camouflage against
the greens, browns and yellows of a forest in spring or
summer.

She heard both of the
bear-dogs growl and snarl, jaws agape. She watched, from the corner
of her eye, as they braced for impact.

Even so, the squirrel-ish
pig did not seem to notice them. It did not even glance in their
direction. It came on, its’ beady eyes focused on those
behind
Kodiak and her
daughter.

In that split-second,
Sophie swore the horrid thing bounding toward her was staring right
into her eyes. It wanted nothing more than to taste
her
flesh and
drink
her
blood.
She almost peed on her pants when the fear struck her - vice-like
and profound.

Then, an orange blur
streaked from the forest at a thirty-degree angle relative to the
creature. It charged so fast; she had no idea what it could
be.

A second later, she
realized it was Garfield.

An eye-blink later, the
mighty cat took the squirrel-pig by the neck with his powerful
jaws. His long claws pierced the beast at the shoulder, as deep as
they could go. She watched the feline bite down. Then came the
disquieting sound of the disintegration of the creature’s neck
bones.

A great splat of blood
sluiced upon the ground.

Then, Garfield and the
creature both tumbled from view. The bushes beyond swallowed them
and they sent huge swaths of snow and other debris in every
direction. There was no squeal or howl or any noise issued from the
squirrel-pig.

Garfield had been too fast
and too lethal.

Sophie only heard a loud
tearing sound as if someone was ripping a phone book in
half.

A few seconds later,
Garfield emerged from the bushes alone. The entire front section if
his body covered with thick, crimson blood.

“
The way is –,” began the
great cat when an ululating cry sounded to Sophie’s
right.

She turned on a dime.
Another squirrel-pig slammed hard into Mugzy, knocking him
sideways.

Elena, who had been at his
side, cringed at the last moment. The sudden noise fired her
instincts, her body away moved from the commotion on automatic.
Yet, even that was not fast enough. She went hard to the ground at
Mikalah feet. If there’d been no snow upon the ground, she might
have broken her arm or dislocated her shoulder. But, the snow was
there. It did arrest her vicious tumble, cushioning the impact and
saving her from serious injury.

Sophie raced toward the
sprawled girl. Her mind was ringing with an incredible clear and
coherent thought.

Get Elena out of the way!
NOW!!!

The little girl was
blinking in shock. She did not understand what was happening. Her
eyes large and unfocused as she struggled to right herself, her
movements were uncoordinated, too slow, and not normal.