Hunter Adapts - EBV3 Excerpt

Unfortunately, there were some spoilers right before this part, so I had to cut the stuff before this out. It was really good though!

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Hunter had not taken Keel’s possessive inflection askance and presently he made a face at it. His poor brother; surrounded by people who thought that he was livestock. It was disgusting. Hunter had to rescue him somehow. He had no idea how he could ever accomplish that, but he would rather his brother be treated like a person, not like a cow. Grouchy from his empty stomach and Keel’s natterings, Hunter started tromping back to the cave, shoving aside ferns from his path with careless vendetta. Nothing was good in Sloveniska, not for him or Ki. He had hoped the place would be an improvement for his brother, but thus far it seemed more like Ki was being held captive, for all that he was apparently a prince.

“Sloveniska, you’re a horrible place.” growled Hunter, then he questioned why he was talking to a country. Water dripped constantly on his head, dribbling down his greasy hair into the prodigious new beard that he had been unwillingly growing. Hunter didn’t like the beard, it was too itchy, but his knife was too scarily sharp for him to risk shaving it off. He thought he might cut himself bad enough to bleed to death, knowing his luck. Hunter slipped a little, as if to prove his ill luck. Yes, his luck was horrible. Just the fact that he was wintering in the world’s wettest environ was proof of that. His socks had not been dry or clean for a month and if he could have gotten new ones, he would have burned the ones he had. Within those dreadful socks his feet were always waterlogged, like overcooked vegetables. It was horrible. Sometimes he sniffed his feet and thought they smelled bad enough to provoke fainting.

“Hensynaik!” cursed Hunter as he stumbled over a root. His day wasn’t going well. That he was stumbling proved that. Hunter resisted the urge to kick vindictively at the root and stepped over it, then in a whirl of confusing green, painfully found himself on a smarting rump, his metal shod heel having slipped in the soft loam. Swearing liberally, he struggled up using his spear, rubbing his muddy posterior and wincing, not really noticing around the sound of his own cursing that the forest had gone unexpectedly silent. The animals had gotten used to his harmless passage through this area and usually ignored him, whereas they squealed bloody murder for Keel. But Keel wasn’t with Hunter, he was back at the cave, so the forest should not of gone silent, yet it had, as unnervingly silent as the nerveless silence that proceeds the knowledge that somebody you know is dead.

“Stupid root!” snarled Hunter, turning and whacking at the invisible annoyance with the butt of his spear through the covering veil of leaves. “Flaming thing! Stay out of my w…”

Hunter’s anger turned to fear in an instant. Something didn’t feel right; something was horribly wrong. Something big, that made him feel like perhaps he should run. He couldn’t place what it was. There was no obvious cause for the feeling; it made the back of his neck prickle. Hunter took a firmer hold of the spear in both hands and whirled around, looking in all directions, half expecting to see Keel, but Keel wasn’t there. Nothing was. It was silent - too silent. Hunter realized that now with dread. Something very bad was very close by. Something watching him, its eyes burning into his head.

He looked around again, not just side to side and behind, but up and down, but nothing was there. Everything was telling him to run, yet all he had ever been taught about predators was telling him he should go up a tree. Most four-legged animals cannot climb, but it didn’t matter anyway, because all the trees around him were slick bark trees, the kind that Ki had once been caught in, the kind which was impossible to climb and which Keel favoured for his traps, even morbidly joking once that he would never catch anything as good as what the enemy Cyslo had caught that day in his when Ki had been trapped. Hunter looked up a nearby tree, hoping he could shimmy and thought better - no. No there was nothing really that he could do - besides pray.

Hunter started walking again. Maybe if he walked fast enough, he could avoid whatever was stalking him somehow. It was a struggle not to burst into a run; Hunter was too afraid to walk slowly, but he was also too afraid to bolt. His school teachers had all taught him that if he ran from a predator he would be dead. Running made a predatory animal want you more; it made them excited. He mustn’t run.

He stumbled and nearly had a heart attack, then he looked around in a shock of paranoia, but again nothing was there. Nothing was nearby, yet something was watching him. He couldn’t see it, but he could feel it like its teeth were already grasping his throat. Something was there. He started walking again, struggling even harder not to run. He was only about a kilometre from home, but that kilometre might be too far. He wasn’t sure if he could make it with the creature chasing him. His heart was flip-flopping, his stomach twisting with the knowledge that something unseen wanted to eat him. Something big. He wished he knew what it was.

Hunter froze as something rustled up ahead, then a familiar long black face nosed out from a patch of ferns into his path.

“Keel! Keel it’s you! Hensynaik, that almost killed me!” gasped Hunter in relief, running up to the drakoon and feeling like the sun had come out, for he was undoubtedly saved. What if it had been Keel stalking him all along? Hunter wouldn’t of been surprised. He laughed; he was okay now. The nightmare was over. “Keel, were you sneaking up on me? That’s a bad trick bo. Nearly scared me to death!”

Keel wasn’t looking at him for some reason. He was looking past Hunter, back the way Hunter had come and his tail was twitching, his focus on the trees from which Hunter had came, as deviously sharp as if he were shooting arrows with his eyes there. As Hunter passed him, looking back, Keel peeled back his lips and growled, narrowing his eyes.

“What is it?” asked Hunter, his heart pounding again. Whatever it was, it was still there and now that Keel was growling, Hunter knew it was real. Hunter gulped and levelled his spear, just as he had been taught, yelping as Keel started slowly stalking towards where the unseen monster was. Too scared to run home without the dragon, Hunter scurried after him, keeping his spear ready, his stance apart. Keel half spread his wings over his back as if to make himself look bigger, growling ever louder, stalking purposefully. Whatever something was there, it should be ready.

A monstrously shaggy head, yellowed white on top and black on the bottom, a huge muscled skull with short round ears pushed out of the leaves. To Hunter it almost looked like a doggish or Fallan creature, but for the fact that it was so big, as big nearly as Keel. The big stocky beast waded out of the brush on legs that seemed as thick as young trees, a long tail like a fern leaf fanning after it, bicolour like the rest of it. Hunter had never seen such long ugly claws on any animal, nor such long carnassials or fangs as the beast opened its mouth, roaring back at Keel. Its underside was muddy black, its top stained white, making it one of the strangest looking animals that Hunter had ever seen. The beast’s furry hackles stood up in a spiny looking ridge, seeming to make it twice as big as it really was and as Keel lifted a paw to step closer to it, Hunter felt a horrific sense of foreboding. This thing was almost as big as Keel; it was going to kill him if they fought, which Keel seemed to intend to do.

As the beast roared again, Keel answered back with a long, low keen, a shrilling sound that seemed more scared than brave, yet the monster seemed to pause at it and
Keel spread his wings higher, thrashing his deadly tail around their legs.

“Keel. Maybe we should go yes? Keel!” squeaked Hunter. The drakoon wasn’t listening. He snarled again, every single one of his teeth ferociously visible, lashing the air with his tongue, half crouching, legs apart. The beast flattened its ears and came closer, yowling furiously, shaking its head aggressively. It came so close that Hunter could see the whites of its menacing beady yellow eyes and then it paused, its lethal gaze shifting from Keel’s angry face, to Hunter’s and suddenly Hunter knew which of the two of them it was going to go for. Who would he have attacked, if he were a hungry predator?

Hunter just managed to get the point of his spear up at a proper angle before it charged, its claws ripping towards his arms. It tried to ducked under the swipe Hunter took at it and whirled as Keel charged in, snapping at its shaggy throat. The smell of the thing’s breath was ghastly on the air and Hunter scrambled out of the way, watching as the forest titan turned snarling upon Keel, their teeth slashing together, the pair of beasts grappling. For some reason, as Hunter watched, the animal trying again to go for Hunter, Keel instantly distracting it with a nip, it seemed to Hunter that he was supposed to do something. He had never been so dangerously close to such a vicious animal confrontation before and it was scaring the tar out of him, Keel’s furious shrills stinging his eardrums, the beast’s yowls echoing to terrifying effect all around them.

As the Keel forced the beast to back towards Hunter, Hunter suddenly knew exactly what he should do, which was surprising because he was so terrified. The big feathery tail hit him in the legs and with barely any hesitation, Hunter gritted his teeth, then drove his spear point down through the base of the monster’s tail with all of his strength, the beast screaming in pain. In a flash the animal was spinning around to get at him, but in that moment, that bizarre, shaken moment as Hunter stumbled back, falling on his rump again, drawing his pitiful little knife, Keel jumped onto the back of the beast before it could remember that it had a greater foe. Hunter just managed to get up as Keel grappled the screaming beast that vainly tried to throw him off, Keel’s hooked claws loosing rivulets of scarlet across the beast’s thick disgusting fur. Snarling, the animal tried to get him off, but it couldn’t with its tail stuck; it couldn’t even buck. It screamed and moaned, the cries of its pain the worst sound that Hunter had ever heard.

Then Keel got his jaws clasped around the back of the beast’s head and with a violent jerk punctuated by a crackling of snapping vertebrae, the animal collapsed, a limp mountain of hair. Hunter stared at it, shocked that anything so horrifically animated, so real, could suddenly look almost fake. Keel bent around its throat and almost casually bit its neck, making its blood flow in a sheet across the muddy, trampled forest floor, blood mixing in with the damp cake of the loam. Keel let go of the creature’s neck and looked up at Hunter, licking his chops.

“Gods.” intoned Hunter, this time in English, his knees shaking. He was so relieved. The thing was dead. Keel transformed and Hunter mutely watched him pull his spear out of the ground and the beast’s tail, making it bleed heavily again all over the prior drenched tail.

“Catch.” said Keel, tossing Hunter the spear. He barely caught it. The drakoon unsheathed the knife he had with the engravings on its blade and started butchering the carcass, skinning the hide off. “Good pelt. We didn’t ruin it too much. A few holes, but it’ll do for lining your cloak. Those can be patched.”

Hunter almost felt sick at the very mention. Why did Keel always have to make so much morbid sense about things like this? Why was he obsessed with Hunter using hides for things? They worked; they were very warm, but still… it was rather creepy. He had seen the animals who gave them die - he had eaten parts of them.

Yet back home he used leather all the time. That wasn’t any different, but it felt that way.

“W-what is it?” yelped Hunter weakly, relieved at least that Keel wasn’t making him skin the animal.

“Fugara. You should be grateful I came out looking for you, or you would be the one losing your hide now and getting eaten. Good job with the spear yes?” said Keel, hacking off a chunk of flesh, then tearing it with his teeth. He ate it, blood dripping down his chin and Hunter flinched. Keel grinned at Hunter, a horrible red smile that made him sick. “Did you have any luck with the foraging?”

“No.” said Hunter. Keel snickered.

“Ready to stop starving yet human, or do you actually want to die? I heard your species has a perchant for suicide. It makes me wonder, what kind of species would evolve an ability to be self destructive? What a flaw in evolution.” mocked Keel, hacking off another piece of meat and gobbling it. Hunter grimaced, yet his stomach growled. Even raw meat looked good now. Keel smirked and cut out a piece. “Want some human? You helped kill it. You should have some. It’s better than starving yes? Better than eating plants!”

“Mystaya wouldn’t agree.” said Hunter weakly.

“Mistaya’s a horse idiot. Mystaya will never agree.” said Keel, eating another piece. “But you Hunter - you’re an omnivore. You have a choice yes? Be smart. You’ll die if you refuse to eat.”

“In my society, meat is for dogs.” said Hunter. Keel snorted and cackled at him.

“Meat is for dogs? Perfect! Here Dog - eat some! It’s disrespectful to the animal if you don’t!”

Hunter walked a few steps closer and stopped. “That thing was stalking me.”
Keel smirked. “That’s the best part isn’t it? It wanted to eat you, but now you will eat it. Come here Dog-human. Live. Vininiska would eat it.”

Hunter wrinkled his nose. “Not after he’d seen that.”

“Yes he would.” said Keel nonchalantly.

“You don’t know him.” said Hunter, grimly taking the grisly piece of muscle meat, his stomach heaving at the sight of it.

“No, not yet.” agreed Keel, some of his bravado fading away. “Let’s not talk about Vininiska.”

Hunter closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then put the end of the meat in his mouth, biting down hard in order to tear off a piece of it. The meat was extremely bloody and tough and he had to chew it repeatedly to make it go down, his gag reflex making him ill. But he survived that first horrible piece of meat. When he opened his eyes, Keel was holding out another one to him.

“Here human. Eat more.” ordered Keel. Hunter did, staring at the ground this time, sitting in the drenched ferns beside the corpse. It was disgusting if he thought about the body being a corpse, but that was what it was. He chewed and Keel had another piece for him.

“N-no. I’m full.” lied Hunter, not wanting any more to do with the ordeal.

“Here Hunter. Eat.” said Keel, as if he hadn’t heard. The drakoon leaned closer, smiling putridly into Hunter’s face. “Eat or I’ll make you Dog-human. Don’t forget what I was willing to do with Vininiska.”

The memory of seeing Keel’s arm buried in Ki’s mouth made Hunter choke and so he kept eating, thinking that his throat probably would not handle such a happening. He ate, grinding at the meat with his teeth until his jaw ached, then and only then did Keel let him go, piling the raw pelt around his shoulders.

“Aren’t you coming?” Hunter had fearfully asked.

“No. I’ll be eating the rest now.” said Keel. Hunter stared at him.

“The rest? You can’t possibly eat that entire fugara.”

“Maybe not all at once, but there won’t be much left, Dog-human. Go home. I’ll bring some more for you later.” said Keel.

Hunter did not think he could ever eat any more of the gristly fugara meat, but he nodded and went, preparing the pelt as he got home, then stoking the fire up to try to warm up the cave while he washed the fur along with his clothes. Wrapped in furs and shivering he laid visual to the slight twisted pain in his stomach, knowing that it was probably food poisoning from the meat. He wanted to be ill, but he was scared Keel would find out and there was nothing else to eat, besides the meat. He tried to make himself feel better with water and bundled himself in hides beside the fire, watching it flicker, thinking about life. He did not think that he was doing very well. It had been a long time since he had been dry or full or since he had enjoyed his food. Keel wouldn’t help him. Keel was trying to force him to live the way he lived, but from Hunter’s aching stomach, he knew that way of living was impossible for him. A human could not eat raw meat like a carnivore. He had heard it said that carnivores could eat carrion because the hydrochloric acid in their stomach was strong enough to burn through nearly anything. Humans had hydrochloric acid in their stomachs too, but it was weak, water compared to what predators had in theirs, acid capable of killing all but the strongest of bacterium that entered their digestive tracts.

He had to find a way to live. He had to find a way to live that pleased Keel, but which wouldn’t kill him. Hunter gritted his teeth; there had to be a way to do it. A way to soldier on and make the best of what was around him better. His eyes fell on the spear, fugara blood staining its wood.

“I can make this life better. I’m a human - I can do this.” said Hunter firmly, bolstering himself. “Humans can do anything - I’m here on Rimer aren’t I? Humans didn’t come from here! They came from Gaia! I’m living with an alien shape shifter thing and his alien horse. He’s right - I can do this. I can adapt!”

Hunter looked out side and scowled at the rain. “Do you hear me rain? I CAN ADAPT!”

In the distance, there was a thunder rumble.

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Actually Hunter, considering Big Hairy and Ugly only JUST died, you're probably safe from the food poisoning this time, though I do question what kind of residue might be on Keel's gloves when he handed you that meat!

The upset stomach Hunter has is from his vegetarianism; his stomach is shocked by the meat. Escavians, like I said, only rarely eat meat, though in Hunter's area they do have some fish, so he's not completely new to this animal flesh thing.

Also, coincidentally did you know that most deaths by choking result from choking on meat and that most people who are choking are found dead in the bathroom, because for some reason they're too embarrassed to admit that they're choking, so they go hide and then nobody is there to help them, so they die? Yep. Great fact for you.

Keel's so hilariously snobby and racist to Hunter in Emperor's Blood. I love writing him. He's definitely got a 'higher than thou' complex going on. Luckily he's got a lot of redeeming qualities or he'd be one gigantic asshole.

I hope you guys enjoyed this sequence from Hunter and Keel's side of the story!