The creature emitted yet another sound, only this time more angry, and Aleks just now noticed it. Whatever it was, now it wasn't moving forward anymore, only eyeing the boys, clearly unhappy another one showed up. Finally it started to back away, and suddenly ran into another part of the forest.
"You okay?" Aleks asked, helping Jamon get up on his feet
"Yeah... yeah, I think I am fine... thanks."
"What on earth was it?"
"I have no idea."
Jamon directed his flashlight back towards where the creature was standing, as he heard another strange noise.
"Sergeant LeBlanc" he sighed, relieved
"What are you two doing here?" The man asked surprised "You were supposed to stay on top of the hill."
"We..." Aleks looked at Jamon, searching for help "We were trying to find a store."
"In the middle of a forest?" The man asked, looking at them with suspicion. "Tell me the truth."
The two boys did not have a choice, mostly because of mud on Jamon's face, and explained what happened a few moments earlier. To their surprise, the French sergeant did not appear angry after they finished. He appeared rather understanding.
"We found the dog." He muttered "Or rather, what once was a dog... you did not brainwash that woman?"
"Um... no, actually, sir...we don't have the equipment."
"We will have to notify the scientific wing and they'll find her then. All right, you boys get out of here... before Hussein sees you here. By the way, please find a trash can and throw this in." The man handed them over some wires and spikes. Jamon put them in his pocket.
"What exactly is this?" Aleks asked.
"Some junk we found in the forest. I hate when people do that. Now, go. I think your father is coming.
Both Aleksander and Jamon nodded and quickly left the forest the same way they came in. The dog's owner was nowhere to be seen.
Meanwhile David, Dagmar and Bianca finished up setting the equipment in the forest, and decided to also place some more cameras around the house located on top of the hill - specifically above southern and northern windows and one above the door. Finally, they sat by a dirty table in what probably used to be kitchen. While David and Bianca rested after completing the task, Dagmar was busy sketching in her notebook.
"What are you doing?" The boy asked, looking from behind her shoulder.
"This is how Fluffy described the creature."
"Fluffy?" Bianka tried her best not to laugh.
"The Bear!" The other girl was visibly irritated. "Anyway, take a look at this."
The Sketch showed a strange looking, furred creature. It was rather small, but had spiky ears which made it look bigger. It's face was unlike any animal the group ever saw - it looked like a perfect square with two big yellow eyes and a mouth which did not look like it could be in any way naturally closed. The creature also had unnaturally slim body, perhaps this was why it appeared to lean forward on it's feet.
"Perhaps this will do for Aruta?" Bianka wondered
"I don't think so." David replied "She specifically asked us to catch the creature on tape. We will have to make some photos, at the very least."
"Oh, by the way, how are we supposed to keep track of what's going on? I understand the cameras, but the motion and temperature sensors..."
"I got them hooked up to my computer." The boy replied, an after seeing his friends' expression he added: "wirelessly"
"Shhh... you hear that?" Dagmar suddenly asked
"Hear what?"
"Shhhh!"
Something was clapping and knocking on the floor innthe corridor, clearly moving towards where they have been located. It did not take long for the group to realize that those noses were in fact...
"Footsteps." David Whispered.
Finally, after few more seconds, a person appeared, dressed in filthy clothes and unshaved. The man noticed them and turned pale.
"Who are you?" He asked "What are you doing in my house?"
"This is your house?" Bianca looked around surprised.
"Yes!" The man answered a bit too quickly and too loudly
"No it is not." Dagmar looked at him carefully. "You are homeless, aren't you?"
The man first paled even more, and then his face slowly has gotten more and more red.
"How dare you!" He screamed and neared in. He threw his half-empty beer bottle onto the wall, and it shattered into pieces "You... just... Get out of here! Get out I said!"
"Calm down, sir!" David said sternly and stood up.
"You kids think you can just come to my house and tell me what to do? Do you even know how hard it is to life here after..."
"After the attacks started, yes?" Bianca finished.
"I don't know what you are talking about, young lady." The man suddenly was calm, perhaps even scared.
"You don't know? Strange, it is the main subject of conversation lately."
"Not here."
"Do you know what keeps attacking those animals?"
"No! Get out right now, or..." the man stopped as suddenly a meow-like sound, only harsher, emitted seemingly from beneath the floor. "It's just... my cat."
"Your cat?" David asked, not believing the old man
"Yes!"
"You keep him under the floor?"
"That's it!" The homeless looked like he was going to hit the boy "Either you leave, or I will make you go away!"
David, Bianca and Dagmar looked at each other and shrug their shoulder. They picked themselves up, packed their stuff and silently left the house. After he made sure they are nowhere in view, the homeless man kneeled and knocked the floor a few times.
"Be quiet, be quiet now... Only a few hours left and you shall feed again."
At the same time as the group left the place, Jamon and Aleks (after cleaning themselves up at least a bit) found a store, which was actually surprisingly big for a small village. It was definitely not the size of wall-mart or other huge superstores, but it had few different alleys, so the selection of products was decent enough. The boys were now browsing through different beverages.
"Actually, why are we even thinking about what to buy?" Jamon asked, and Aleksander looked at him "I mean, we won't have pay for anything. The PISF will pay for everything."
"I don't think mrs. Aruta will be happy when she notices we've spend a hundred or more dollars for snacks and drinks."
"Yeah, well... maybe David can hack into another banking system. He is our IT kind of guy."
"So, wait. David is an <<IT kind of guy>>, Dagmar can comunicate with Animals, Bianca is generally physically and tactically skilled... what do you do?"
"Oh, look what do we have here?" The Middle Eastern boy suddenly got very interested in an expetition of pots and jugs.
"What? This are just pots?"
"Just pots?" Jamon picked one up "I'll have you know this one is just for $5.99 each!"
"So?"
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"
Both the boys quickly turned around and saw a middle aged woman scream continuosly and point at them from an neighbouring alley.
"AAAH! SECURITY!"
"What the..." Jamon started.
The middle eastern boy cut in mid sentence and started to put the pieces together. First, he noticed the pot he was carrying did not have an lid. Secondly, he realized his clothes were still filthy from the mud he fell in to. Finally he also saw wires given to him by sergeant LeBlanc were now visibly sticking out from his pocket. Lastly, he also noticed a rather big and muscular man was coming towards them with surprising speed. He looked at Aleksander, who was now facepalming.
"Uh-oh."
*****
"Look, officer McHarness" Hussein Abedi desperately tried to calm down "I am telling you once again, that my son is not a terrorist and he was not carrying a bomb!"
"That's not what the evidence is pointing to." The balding male was calmly wiggling in his chair.
"But I really..."
"Shut up!" The older Abedi hushed his son, while sergeant LeBlanc, Aleksander and the two other men were standing quietly behind them. All of them were now facepalming.
"I am sorry, but I think we will have to arrest your son. And put him in Guantanamo."
"What!?" Jamon, Aleks and Hussein asked simultaneusly.
"Sorry, this is the rule of law."
"Screw this!" The older Abedi reached to his pocket and picked a small piece of plastic, that looked like a small I.D "You want some rule of law? How about this!?"
Officer McHarness paled drastically when he saw whatever was written on the plastic. He tried to speak, but apparently the shock and fear made him incapable to.
"Well?" Hussein demanded
"Th-The... FBI..." the cop looked like he was about to pray towards the general.
"What do you say!?"
"I am sorry!"
"My lord and master."
"Yes! Yes, I am sorry my lord and master!" The police officer now looked like he was about to break into tears
"That's better. Now will you please uncuff my son?"
"Yes! Yes, of course!"
The police officer quickly got up and ran towards Jamon. He tried to uncuff Jamon, but his hands were shaking heavily and all he achieved was dropping the keys a few times.
"Oh, give me that!"
The general picked up te keys and himself freed his son.
"Thanks, dad." The boy got up
"We'll just go now." Sergeant LeBlanc opened the door and simply left, leaving the cop astounded. The rest of the group followed him quickly.
"Son, you disappointed me." Hussein said sternly, not even looking at the boy.
"What? But i did not do..."
"Enough. If not for Aruta, I would send you back right now. But since she desperately wants to prove you kids are worth anything, I will deal with you later."
"Well, excuse me, sir, but your son did not do anything wrong!" Aleksander started irritated "It is not his fault that..."
"I thought I told you not to follow us, did not I?" The older Abedi once again did not look at the boy.
"Hussein-"
"Don't start, LeBlanc. It's not one of your buissness anyway. For now let's just focus on those attacks."
"His next strike is coming." The group turned around and noticed an old man sitting on a bench in the waiting room. "The Fallen shall hunt again when the next six-hour will begin."
"You mean the monster who attacks the animals?" Aleksander Asked
"The Twelfth Hour is almost here."
"What do you mean?" Sergeant LeBlanc asked
"I think it is obvious what he means" Aleksander pointed at a small wooden clock above the recepcionist's desk. "It is 11:29 PM. The Twelfth hour will strike in... exactly half an hour now."
"LeBlanc, Rodriguez, Chase, on positions." General Abedi ordered.
"The new six-hour... the monster attacks every six hours, doesn't it?"Aleksander continued and the man nodded his head silently.
"Enough! I will interrogate this man, and you two will return to the hilltop right now!"
"But, dad, we want to help too!"
"You two have <<helped>> enough, I'd say. Get out now. And tell the rest to hide themselves in the house on top of the hill."
Jamon looked like he was about to protest, but he noticed his father's angry expression and decided not to irritate him anymore. He silently left the small police station, and the other boy quickly followed him. The Middle Eastern boy angrily clenched his fists.
"Why the hell was he angry at us?" Aleks also was visibly irritated
"I don't know."
"It's like he was thinking he is better than everybody else."
"No, he doesn't!" Jamon turned around rapidly "Shut up!"
"Oh, come on!" Aleksander crossed his hands "You are going to defend him after all this? Are you blind? You really can't see what sort of person he is!?"
"Don't. Talk. About. My. Father. Like that!" Jamon was now shaking, repeatedly clenching and releasing his fist.
"Or what?"
"You think you know everything? You just came here, straight from your amazing life in Canada, where your biggest problem was probably having a standard PS4 instead of the enhanced version, a few days ago you had no idea about what we do, yet you somehow think you are qualified enough to cricitize my father? You don't know anything about him!"
"You think I want to be here!?" Aleksander neared towards the other boy and desperately fought the urge to hit him "The only reason I am here is because, thanks to you guys, I don't have a family anymore! Do you even know how it is to lose the only person who cared about you!?"
"YES, I DO!" Jamon screamed in his face "If you want to know, it just so happens that I lost my mother when she tried to save a civilian from an Shadow Contour attack when one of the investigations has gone wrong. It completely sucked her soul. THAT'S when my father started acting like he does now, and THAT'S why he cries everytime someone mentions her name!
Aleksander suddenly felt all his anger leaving him
"Jamon, I... I didn't know."
"Well, now you do. Hopefully you are happy with yourself."
"I..."
"Come on. The hill is not far."
For the rest of the way, the boys did not speak to each other again.
David and Bianca meanwhile were sitting in front of the laptop and analyzing what the cameras have recorded so far.
"I can't understand what you find fascinating in this." The girl yawned
"This is why I am the computer guy around here" David smiled
"It's a good thing you changed the wallpaper, though." Dagmar said sarcatically, while sketching again.
"What wallpaper?" The other girl looked interested.
"Not important." David replied quickly. "Hey, look here! Camera 5!"
"I put it above doors in the house at top of the hill. What about it?"
"Can't you see it? Look, it's that homeless guy. What is he doing?"
"Looks like he is carrying something to the house... wait, is that...?"
"A dead animal." David answered slowly.
"What?" Dagmar was terrified.
"Come on, let's go." David quickly packed his backpack
"Where?"
"He may have thrown us out of <<his house>>, but carrying dead animals is enough at least to threaten him with police. And " David pointed at the sky "looks like a thunderstorm is coming."
The two girls looked at him, still not really understanding. They did not ask any further questions,however, and followed David to the top of the hill. As soon as they reached the house, the boy knocked at the door rather agressively.
"What the..." the homeless man opened the door and noticed the group. "It's you kids again!? I told you to go away!"
"Sir, what do you know about the recent attacks?" David asked harshly
"I already told you! I don't know anything!"
"I don't believe you are telling the truth."
"That's not my problem." The man tried to close the door, but David stopped him.
"We know about the dead animals."
"What!?" The man was visibly surprised "How?"
"We put some cameras around your house." Dagmar explained
"How... dare you!?" The man yelled "This is my property! I will call the police!"
"Ah, cut it!" The boy replied "We all know that you are lying. About the police - please, by all means. They will be rather interested in all those killed animals"
"I... what do you want!?"
"You know what we want. We want to know what do you know about the recent attacks."
The man sighed and opened the door.
"All right. All right, I will tell you everything. Just promise you won't hurt him."
"Hurt whom?" Dagmar asked as the group came inside
"It's over." The man knocked a particular fragment of the floor a few times "I'm sorry."
As soon as he stepped back, the fragment of the floor he knocked at suddenly moved a bit, and then was pushed up. Finally it revealed a small hole, out of which two grey furred hands and a square-shaped head were now sticking through. Soon, the creature got out and hid, evidently scared behind the man, which patted it's head carrefully. It was a rather weird sight, as it's body was extremely slim and short , yet it's spiky ears and open mouth made him look much more puissant.
"OK. what the hell is going on?" Bianca asked confused.
"This is Meow." The homeless man replied, petting the creature.
"Meow?" The girl asked with disbelief
"Meow."
"I found him where this... thing crashed, you see. There were two more, much bigger than he is, but they were dead. Meow was the only one that was left, and he looked so helpless and alone. I could not leave him there ... He was also wounded. But I took him home, I cared for him, and somehow he survived." The man said. He picked up a dead squirrel and the creature opened his mouth even wider.
"Is it Meow that killed all those animals?" Asked Dagmar
"He is just a baby, he needs to feed... Meat is all he wants to eat, too. Sometimes i bring him dead animals I find in the forest. But he needs fresh air too, so I let him run free once in a while. But I can't control what he does."
"And he keeps finding food on his own." David finished.
"He is just a child, he doesn't know any better!"
"I understand." Dagmar said, trying to comfort the man "But, if it's him... We will have to take Meow away."
"No!" The man reacted "You promised you won't hurt him!"
"We won't." Bianca replied "We'll send very specialized people who will take very good care of Meow"
"Okay. Okay, let me just..." the man vanished in another room for a moment before returning with another dead squirrel. He came near the creature and it seemed like he wanted to feed it again. Suddenly, he pushed the back door open and threw the dead animal "Meow, RUN!"
The creature instantly escaped the open door, meow-ing histerically, and quickly vanished in the forest.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
