The Nature of Predators - Becoming a Predator (9/10)

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Memory transcription subject: Narlem, Krakotl Exterminator Fleet Comms Technician

Date [standardized human time]: October 17, 2136

The reality of being trapped underground with thousands of predators hadn’t settled in until I reached the cramped area. With that many humans packed together, tempers could flare and clashes for territory could arise. The number of binocular eyes proved overstimulating, despite having grown more accustomed to Terrans’ soul-draining visages. Out of so many beasts, there must be some capable of predatory behavior like in the vids. I’d wanted to back out and flee, once we stepped into the elevator; other Earthlings were crowding my personal space, and I could hardly move. Caleb helped to ground me, and sensing my rising panic, he found a quiet corner where we could keep away from everyone.

That had been days ago, and more predators had filtered into the shelter until it exceeded its official capacity. I remembered the scene aboveground, where actual members of the warrior guild were wearing camouflage pelts to stalk prey and weaklings without being seen. However, though they’d shown off assault weapons to flex their dominance over ordinary humans, no civilians were idiotic enough to disrespect the soldiers and get gunned down. Caleb’s arsenal of weaponry on the job was nothing compared to what they had, to keep the masses in line. They even had massive fanged carnivores on leads, weaponizing them! I supposed it took the threat of violence to impose order on human crowds this large. I really hoped that if a massacre broke out, it would stay up there.

“Nice and easy.” Caleb had pulled a headset out of his bag, and cued up his account to stream Red Dust, Red Fire. “Why don’t you finish your show, Nate? You’ll have lots of time.”

I had done exactly that, frightened to leave the corner just to use the waste facilities when it was necessary. I thought it would be difficult to binge-watch the show in the noisy bunker, but the auditory devices Caleb put into my ear canal blocked out other sounds. It seemed trivial to finish an entertainment program in my final days, but what else was I going to do: interact with unknown predators? Not drawing attention from chest-puffing humans was my main goal. When I had to recharge the headset, I avoided making direct eye contact with roving Terrans since it could be seen as a challenge.

Mealtime in public was another worrying item on the schedule. I did my best to shield the rations we were given from sight with my body, not wanting any hungry humans to get ideas. If worse came to worst, I knew I had to help Caleb guard what was ours, before some ravenous beast expanded their food supply off our weakness. After a few days below-ground, without being bothered by others, one Terran seemed to be approaching right toward us during dinner; its family was tailing after it. The two blasted cubs must be mewling for more food, but they weren’t getting my cold pizza. A growl rumbled in my throat, trying to shoot a nasty look at the incoming predators.

Caleb scowled at me. “Knock it off! Behave like a civilized person; we have to share the space.”

“Our food,” I hissed.

“Don’t you recognize Vinny and his family? For God’s sake, act normal. Convince him I brought you back down to Earth.”

When I looked closer, I recognized the police officer who’d interrogated me; he was eyeing me with wariness, perhaps checking if I was a threat to his children. Vinny didn’t look as certain of himself as he had during my arrest. His footsteps were heavy, though a snarl was forced on his face. The female, likely the “Charlene” spousal figure Caleb had sent well wishes to, was preventing the kids from running off. I quickened the bites of my pizza, as my brother lifted an open palm with friendly intent. In desperate times such as this, it was no time to be expanding our pack with more mouths to feed.

“I thought that was you two!” Vinny greeted us. “Mind if we grab a spot near you? You’re the only faces I’ve recognized.”

Caleb nodded with enthusiasm. “Of course. I owe you one, and us boys in blue have to stick together, huh? Nate, say hello.”

I groaned inwardly. “Hello. Um, I apologize for the incident at the police station. It’s embarrassing.”

“Water under the bridge. But you’re better now, right?” the interrogator asked, seeming to direct the question toward Caleb.

“I’ll conduct myself like a civilized pr…person, promise. My brother has helped remind me of Nathan’s past.”

Caleb pursed his lips. “Nate has been spending a lot of time watching Red Dust, Red Fire, and he’s come back into himself under my care. He’s not 100%, and some parts of his mind are a little funny, but I can vouch that he’s aware of basic human principles. He’s doing light-years better.”

“Well, at least he’s not going, ‘Oorah, human extermination’ anymore. Uh, girls, earmuffs.” Vinny took a seat next to Caleb, issuing a weary sigh once the children covered their round ears. “Fuck, it’s not even funny anymore. I don’t like our chances, how we stack up against all these xenos. I don’t know what happens to us next.”

“I don’t either, but we’ve been proactive…and our families are with us. If it comes to that, we’re all together. I’m not ready to die, but I’m grateful for the time I’ve been given with the people I love. I wouldn’t change any of what I’ve had for the world.”

Vinny’s eyes watered. “Me neither, but I want to see them grow up. Watch ‘em throw their caps in the air at their high school graduation. Walk ‘em down the aisle at their weddings. Grow old with Charlene and see their grandkids. They haven’t had the chance we had…”

“I know. We have to be strong for them, and think good thoughts.”

I had shoved the last of my pizza into my mouth, sitting with puffed out cheeks. When I finally dared to survey the predators packed in around us, they looked terrified and morose rather than violent. Their wicked eyes glistened with fright; it was if they saw no tangible hope of their survival. After standing on the bridge of the extermination fleet, and knowing what we had cast upon them, they were right to fear the worst eventuality for their city. Did a bunker on the fringes of the blast have the slightest possibility to hold up to antimatter?

My binocular eyes jerked over to the Terran children, whose gazes I could only describe as trusting. They trusted their parents to keep them safe in all situations, not understanding the adults to be fallible figures. There was nothing Vinny, Caleb, or I could do to shield these young creatures from harm. Extermination wasn’t a selective process; the entire human species was slated to be cleansed from existence. In my heart, I found myself unable to hate or condemn them as irredeemable terrors. There were enough positives for me to feel connections to the ones I knew, and empathize with their emotional state.

The thought of my brother dying continued to nag me, and I rued the certain ending of this skirmish. The fact was that I pitied humanity for the factors out of their control, rather than basking in their removal as a threat. Just maybe coexistence would’ve been possible; Caleb had morals, so surely he wouldn’t make Krakotl chili at his first chance…right? Terrans weren’t tempted by live animals or drawn to immoral violence—not all of them, anyway. Packed into a bunker with thousands of simians, I grasped the tragedy of the situation. Like Gavin had said, nobody tried to understand their kind, or to assess exactly how monstrous they were.

I felt like the villain, whenever my thoughts harkened back to my gleeful role on our ship’s bridge. How could I have known what they were truly like, with all the briefings I’d ever seen? Humans might be remarkably dangerous, but I wasn’t sure their disgusting diet made them deserve to be wiped from the universe. Heartbroken fathers like Vinny and Gavin didn’t deserve to suffer with the realization of their doom, as I’d wished upon them before. Selfless brothers like Caleb didn’t deserve to scrape for courage, accepting their final moments with poise. Maybe my death wasn’t merited just because I’d turned into carcass-eating filth.

I tilted my head with mixed emotions, as the children waved their tiny fingers at me. They weren’t trained in morality, yet they didn’t show aggression toward a stranger. It was curious. The Venlil seemed to believe friendship was possible, despite how offensive the idea of a predator race was to any normal sapient. Regardless of whether that was genius or folly, I found myself thinking of the number of feeling lives that would be gone in an instant. After living as one of them, and seeing humanity in much greater detail than I ever would’ve wished for, I couldn’t help but to assign some worth to each individual beating heart.

The guilt threatened to swallow me alive, once I allowed myself to consider humans genuine sapients. Regret wouldn’t stop the Krakotl extermination fleet’s march, though I wished there was some way to plead for our lives. If I thought there was a way for me to get in touch with them, I would’ve detailed everything I learned in my stint here; even if they (obviously) wouldn’t believe me, I felt compelled to reverse my past aid. Instead, I was forced to follow the Federation’s progress toward Earth on television screens in the bunker, as grim newscasters passed along developments. Kalsim’s forces had rushed past the asteroid belt half a day ago, but a Terran stunt delayed the inevitable. The last thing we heard was that Luna had exhausted its nuclear warheads, and that the defensive line was crumbling…before the feed went dead.

The muffled cries around me were despairing, causing my heart to feel heavy. There wasn’t much time left for us.

“Daddy, do something!” Lydia, the officer’s six-year-old daughter, wailed.

Vinny forced a smile, kneeling on the ground. “You’ll be fine, sweetheart. If you wrap your blanket really tight around yourself, nothing can hurt you. No fire, no debris will get through; it’s armor. You can do that, right? That’ll keep you nice and cozy, just like we planned—nothing can hurt you.”

“What?” I opened my mouth to call out his lies, before it occurred to me that he was giving false comfort to ease her final moments. “Oh, wow; that’s a special blanket! Besides, we’re really far underground, and anything bad will hit the surface, bounce right off. Your Daddy was smart, bringing you down here. These walls are very strong, like you.”

Vinny shot me a grateful smile, before turning his watering eyes away so the girls wouldn’t see. His wife squeezed his hand, wanting to be close to her beloved mate in their final moments. My mind was running wild with events that happened during my stay on Earth, and the myriad of evidence that humanity was no galactic cancer. I turned to face my brother, wishing that I could whisk him far away from here. Caleb searched my gaze, as if looking for answers, and seemed to sense my internal turmoil. He tilted his head in an inquisitive gesture, and patted my knee with a gentle hand. I hadn’t deserved his help or affection.

I spent half of the time in this bunker hiding from other humans by watching TV, rather than comforting him or enjoying our last moments together. If Caleb believed who I was, he’d hate me.

My brother’s lips quivered, as he tried to smile. “Something’s troubling you?”

“I…I’m sorry about all this. If you…believed that I was Narlem, what would you say?” I croaked.

“Well, I’d say none of this was your fault. Someone who was raised to hate from the time they were eight, young as those girls? Fuck, you never had a chance. Your people failed you.”

“I chose to be cruel all on my own. I hated you, I thought you were monsters and wished this and then some on you—”

“Since these could be the last words I ever say, I forgive Narlem. If it makes you feel any better, Nate, I don’t hate this new persona of yours. I just want you to be happy, but that wasn’t meant—”

A bone-rattling level of force rocked the ground we stood on, cutting Caleb’s words short. Wasn’t meant to be, I finished for him. There wasn’t any time to process the visual stimuli, other than the sudden movement of the roof crashing down on us, not remotely qualified to handle this level of force. Deafening screams pierced my eardrums, one of which was my own cry of instinctual terror. We hadn’t been vaporized in the blast, with our locale on the edge of its radius, but being buried alive was worse: a nightmare. Thousands of pounds clobbered me and the rest of my pack, throwing me around like a ragdoll. The world went dark as my body went into shock, perhaps a small mercy.

---

When I awoke from unconsciousness, whimpers and pleas for help met my ears, though they were few and far in between. Survivors! The fact that I was alive was no small surprise. I tried to wiggle my human fingers, which caused the sensations in my body to rush through my brain. A crushing weight was pressed atop my chest, puncturing my lung so blood pooled in it. My dominant arm seemed to be pulverized beneath a mound of debris, sending pure agony through my skeleton. All I could manage were the tiniest gasps, though my face was too caked in dust to inhale more than slight oxygen.

Every second felt like an eternity, struggling for the slightest breaths. My entire human form was transmitting signals of pain to my nerves, and I couldn’t move a muscle. There was no other sensory data to distract myself with, as I was unable to see a thing from beneath the rubble. This was a horrible way to die, trapped and consigned to a slow demise; I wanted to scream in anguish, but I lacked the capacity. Tears rolled down my face while I prayed to Inatala to put me out of my misery.

After what seemed like months of torment, I attempted to stop breathing, but the involuntary process kicked back in once my conscious mind started fading. My lungs felt saturated with fluids, but I couldn’t cough or adjust my position. By this point in time, my throat felt like it was made of sandpaper, begging for a drop of liquid.

By Maltos, I’m going to die of thirst, aren’t I? This is awful.

Completely defeated and in pure anguish, I wondered if I had deserved this curse. This was what it was like to be human: to die alone, powerless, and with my bodily processes breaking down. I had what felt like an eternity with nothing else to do but meditate upon my conversation with Gavin McLean, and the magnitude of what the Krakotl had done to this planet’s residents. Was Caleb suffering as I was? What about the children? My heart felt like it was about to give out from emotional distress, when there was a sudden creaking noise. The rubble atop me shifted away, sliding off of my fragile form. I sucked in a lungful of air, shooting upright on instinct.

Little pieces and dust had remained caked atop me, but the largest fragment had toppled away from where it was pinning me. I moved onto my knees, managing to wipe my binocular eyes off enough to open them. The usage of my left arm proved necessary, since my dominant limb was mangled; nausea rushed through my stomach, seeing it completely flattened and lifeless. I now knew what the inside of a human looked like, thanks to the bone fragments jutting up by my wrist. By some miracle of willpower, I hauled myself to my feet and tried to get my bearings. My muscles were shaking from exertion, leaving a permeating sense of weakness. Every part of me cried out to collapse.

“Caleb,” I croaked, ignoring the pain in my chest and throat. “CALEB!”

In certain parts of the bunker’s ruins, the metal and concrete pieces were steeped atop each other, likely having killed the people underneath in an instant. However, our area had gotten “lucky”, as a large chunk of the back wall stayed together enough to lean at just the right angle for form an overhang against a separate debris pile. I wasn’t sure I trusted it not to slip and crush us, so I needed to find my brother and try to climb out of this pit. There were only three other hominids I saw moving about the rubble, all of which seemed to be badly wounded. Vinny and his family weren’t among the active predators, but they weren’t my main concern. I scanned the sea of blood and bodies, looking for Caleb’s rich brown skin.

The narrow vision limited me to searching a small area at one time, slowing my progress. My bruised, dehydrated form felt light-headed, as I did a 180 to locate my brother. The large chunk that had buried me had moved in that direction, adding to a thicket of wires and construction materials. I could see the tips of shoes poking out beneath that mountain, and an instinctive part of my heart dropped. Adrenaline lent me strength; panic was my intuitive reaction, despite how contradictory that should be for a warlike ape witnessing death. I screamed for help, leading another survivor to come to my side. The two of us strained against the top piece rubble with our shoulders, moving it off of what I sensed was Caleb. I tugged at pieces with my one good arm, trying to free him. The other human aided, a dazed look in his eyes.

Enough of Caleb’s body was unearthed to identify him beyond a shadow of a doubt, but he wasn’t moving. There was no rise and fall of his chest, or response to me jostling his arm. Those hideous binocular eyes stayed sealed shut, locking the person I’d come to care about within their lifeless depths. My unharmed hand clenched into a fist, pounding at his chest with desperation. Tears gushed down my face, and I wailed as grief rocked me to my core. Why did my brother have to die, when I was the one who deserved that fate? He couldn’t just be…gone! This was the only person I had on this planet, someone who I’d shared a connection with and who helped me to survive.

The best of humanity. The closest thing to real family I’d ever had. Unmoving, never to utter another word or tell his story again.

“CALEB! Wake up,” I pleaded, cradling his head in my hands. His heavy skull offered no resistance, and felt cold to the touch. “It shouldn’t have been you. Don’t leave me. Come back…please!”

With my brother’s head in my grasp, I knelt weeping by his corpse until I had no more tears left to give. I could still hear his growling voice in my ears, telling me that he would’ve forgiven Narlem. My binocular eyes sealed shut with grief and shame, unable to find the will to get up. The overhead rubble groaned, threatening to cascade from its position…but I didn’t care. I refused to budge from my vigil.

Caleb didn’t deserve this. He was a kind, good-hearted person, not a mindless predator.

The debris of the back wall lurched downward, as its support gave out. Tremendous force rammed into the back of my skull, and I was conked deep into unconsciousness as the rubble buried me for good.

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A/N - Part 9! Narlem hides in the bunker with Caleb, and sees how the humans react to the prospect of their final moments. After coming to regret his part in the extermination fleet, and hearing his "brother" forgive him, the bombs strike Houston; Narlem sees firsthand what it's like to be buried alive, choking on his own blood, and then has to hold Caleb's cold, dead body as grief grips him. Did our narrator finally understand what it meant to be human? What will happen in the final episode?

As always, thank you for reading and supporting!