The Nature of Predators - Human Exterminators (5/9)

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Memory transcription subject: William Kane, Human Refugee

Date [standardized human time]: November 3, 2136

According to my own assumptions, there were two prime suspects to eliminate first. After hearing that Kalsim was involved with this case, I rushed to disband the meeting. Luala made herself scarce with haste, and even Fyron didn’t want to interact with the volatile human. Poor Volek lingered, placing herself in the firing line once again.

The Venlil receptionist cleared her throat. “William…I’d like to assign you solely to this case. If you have additional time, please review other predator attacks and…see if they match with murder criteria. It was your idea to go over them.”

You’d be better off hiring a proper crime scene technician, I wanted to say. There needs to be a full team of specialists on this.

“Will do, boss, but there’s a catch. Whatever I ask for, you’re going to give it to me,” I responded.

“I will screen your requests on an individual basis. Judging by the look in your eyes, your demands may include ditching Rauln and mauling Luala. Remember why you were hired.”

“One of those two probably fucking did it. I want the personnel file of every exterminator here. I’m going to take this case, and nail them to it.”

“Nail…do you ever think about the mental imagery your words evoke?”

“Nope, and neither should you. Personnel files—my desk, tomorrow morning.”

“I’m not letting you pin a heinous crime on Rauln or Luala just because you want them fired. You do not give me orders either; that’s your only warning on that.”

“Volek, whoever did this knew about exterminator calls. I realized it could be an inside job the second I knew that all the evidence had been torched. Rauln found the body, and Luala conveniently transferred from Nishtal to Venlil Prime around the time of the murder. The files. Please.”

After a moment’s hesitation, the Venlil’s expression slackened. “Fine, but I want to be apprised of everything you find. Don’t select certain bits just to fit your narrative.”

“Hilarious! That’s what you do. Decide something, and ignore all evidence to the contrary.”

I pushed my way past Volek, clipping my shoulder against her arm. The Venlil receptionist hissed, and slapped her tail against my calves. Her feistiness made me snicker; it was a refreshing change from her species’ usual cowardice. She truly wasn’t afraid of me at all, even when I was up in her face. By contrast, a typical xeno treated us like eldritch horrors.

The name Kalsim was still ringing in my ears, reminding me how much I hated these aliens. My species was a blight on the universe to them, and yet they still were afforded the protections of the Geneva Conventions. Why did Luala get to walk around free, possibly after gutting innocent civilians, while my family was nothing but ashes? How was that fair?

Coming to terms with my own, undeserved survival was another matter. When I’d heard the news, the broadcasters had depicted it as the United Nations having slim chances of averting disaster. I was afraid. This was the genuine end of humanity, and one that wasn’t of our own making. Self-centered panic brought me to this tidally-locked hellhole, without the forethought to contact a soul.

What kind of person does that? I am the worst kind of coward.

I strolled over to my desk, noting how the exterminators shot me looks of loathing. Perhaps there was some truth to Volek’s accusation, that I wanted the perpetrator to be Luala. I wanted to wring my hands around that birdbrain’s neck. Fortunately for her, it was the end of my shift, and I was supposed to return to the refugee housing.

That thought put a damper on any optimistic whims. I could taste the strong alcohol in my mouth; mental numbness was my heart’s desire. How was I going to stay on the wagon, with no friends to kill the long, lonely hours?

A lightbulb went off in my head, and I grabbed my things with haste. Putting my amateur sleuthing skills to the test would lend a distraction; I must succeed where Kalsim had failed. The investigation could continue while I was off the clock, and I didn’t have to wait for Volek to retrieve the files to start digging. I knew the cliché from television: shadowing a subject to uncover their hidden life.

Maybe a “predator” like myself could sneak after “prey”: Rauln. I had to spot that bastard before he was out the door. For all I knew, he could be disposing of the murder weapon on the way home.

“Bye Fyron!” I waved to my Farsul friend, who was sitting shell-shocked at her desk. “Make sure to vote me for Employee of the Month.”

She observed me within her periphery. “Sure, after you remember not to be a prick.”

Other exterminators glared at us, perhaps fantasizing about how I would scream as my nerves were toasted. Becoming a human kebab wasn’t my goal today, so I picked up the pace. Volek claimed to have terminated her anti-us employees, but it didn’t seem like it. Having me on their payroll wasn’t a popular move. Then again, I didn’t particularly want to work for this agency myself; it was a byproduct of necessity.

I hustled out the front door, breezing by Volek’s empty desk in the lobby. My shoes scuffed the sidewalk, as I burst into the fresh air. Rauln could only have just left the building, so I should be able to spot him walking home. My pupils scanned the passersby, and picked up fur the color of smoke a block away. I stuck out like a sore thumb, being the lone human in sight.

Maybe I should’ve gotten a disguise, or a newspaper to hold in front of my face. Then again, any Terran tailing him would draw attention…

Gray clouds threatened to spill precipitation once more, a side effect of Venlil Prime’s short rainy season. I sprinted after Rauln, stopping a few paces back. The Venlil exterminator turned to cross the street, and I dove behind a trash can. The herbivores’ peripheral vision had staggering range, so I needed his back to me. I fell back even further, and stayed on the opposite side of the street.

“What am I going to do if he just goes home?” I muttered to myself. “Peek through his windows? Come back later and break in?”

Rauln was meandering toward the outer bands of Venlil Prime, and taking ample breaks due to his meager endurance. Tailing him had already begun to bore me, just watching him rest on benches and check holopad messages. The exterminator was heading toward the residential districts of the capital, which were the larger, outer bands. The human refugee housing was kept close to the centralized hospitals, for “Venlil peace of mind.”

A polite way of saying away from their living areas, and close to a doctor in case we attack someone in our “territory.” Everyone knows how predators get around their lairs, after all!

My interest was piqued once more, as Rauln veered off toward an isolated plot of grassland. It was guarded by iron gates, and it looked like a series of flowering bushes in rows. The Venlil entered through the gates, as my suspicious gaze tracked him. He stopped by one particular bush, and dusted off a plaque with a paw.

I dropped down to a crouch, and hid behind a bush two rows back. I could see him through the branches; I was going to figure out what this rotten bastard was up to. When Volek learned that I’d uncovered his entire plot, perhaps she would commend my intuition. Rauln stared at the plaque for a long moment, before curling up in a fetal position.

“Why did you leave me, Mother?” he wailed. “I’ve tried so hard to avenge you. I just want to bring you back! And now, I am powerless…and persecuted. Should I quit? What would you want me to do?”

My brain connected the dots, as the Venlil sobbed inconsolably. This was a Venlil graveyard, a place where they laid their fallen to rest. It made me wish that I had a place to bury my loved ones, so that I could visit them like this. I wasn’t a believer in the afterlife, but a wistful part of me hoped they could still hear me. The stark reality was, there were no bodies to be buried. They couldn’t be laid to rest, because they’d been disintegrated by xenos.

Salty tears blossomed from my own glands. There had only been mass funerals on Earth, and the impromptu memorials set up on UN grounds. The Venlil hugged his hindlegs and tail against his chest, and water cascaded from his amber eyes. Rauln didn’t look like the brash asshole, who’d threatened and accused me at every turn. He was broken and pained to the core. I’d seen that glassiness in my own irises, when I felt like I couldn’t go on anymore.

“Maybe he’s just acting piteous, while he’s in public,” I whispered to myself.

Rauln drew a shuddering breath. “They assigned me to work with a human. I can’t do it. I was so scared of it, but I didn’t let it see that. W-when you made yourself look smaller, the predator pounced. I remembered.”

Of course, the exterminator started to complain about me to his dead mother. Pity evaporated, and I hardened myself against the unwanted empathy. The video Volek showed me, of an obvious prey animal goring a Venlil, was brutal. However, on Earth, we would’ve called her actions a Darwin Award. My parents were both killed, through no fault of their own, and Rauln would likely applaud it.

Rain pelted me from above, coming down with sudden intensity. It masked the tears dripping across my cheeks, and it might encourage the Venlil to wrap up his business. Perhaps he could condense his verbal essay to the departed about how awful I was.

“Its name was William. It knew so much about killing, like it had studied it!” Rauln’s fur was turning black, as precipitation drenched him. “The worst part is, it probably helped us by mastering death. It took pictures of the body without feeling a thing…”

Not true. I was about to hurl; he just couldn’t tell through the damn firesuit.

“Then, it pinned those pictures up…like the ones I have of you at my desk. It needed to snack just from looking at the corpse. It doesn’t feel anything. How do you work with something like that?” the Venlil hissed.

Rauln dusted himself off, and I ensured that my extremities were hidden behind the bush. It felt wrong, now that I knew I was hiding by a grave. Superstitious or not, there was no reason to get on the wrong side of alien spirits. Either the rain was freezing me to the bone, or the cemetery was giving me the creeps.

“I just thought you should know. I…I didn’t want you looking down, and thinking I betrayed you. Please watch over me. Please give me strength,” he whispered gently.

The Venlil plodded away with a downcast expression; his tail was drooping between his legs. His wiry frame quivered, with water assaulting his fur. I studied my own white shirt, which had turned transparent as it absorbed rain. So much for the nice, spiffy outfit that would transform me into a better William Kane.

I didn’t like Rauln, but I didn’t want to be the reason he was sobbing at his mother’s grave. Those were his unfiltered thoughts on me: that I was callous, unfeeling, and dangerous. He wasn’t fully wrong, either. The right thing to do might be to ask Volek to reassign me, for his mental health.

My steps were half-hearted, as I trailed his slow walk toward nearby apartments. This entire shadowing mission had been a massive overreach, a fool’s errand. However, at this point, I was committed to seeing this through. Rauln slunk up to a first-floor dwelling, and fished a set of keys from his belt.

My fists clenched with frustration, realizing I was no closer to solving this case. Rauln didn’t seem like a cold-blooded killer. He was a hate-filled young man with family baggage, projecting strength so that he wouldn’t get hurt. It sounded like a familiar persona to me. I pressed up against a car in the visitor’s lot, and smacked my head on the bumper.

Back to square one. I should’ve checked Luala first; she is the office Krakotl.

Rauln was fitting his key into the lock, when his pinned ears shot up. I might’ve smacked my skull against the metal a little too hard; the Venlil’s pupils darted to the car I was huddled against. He bent over on his knees, squinting with sideways eyes. The exterminator’s gaze widened with outrage, and he sprinted at the vehicle.

Realizing that I’d been caught, I popped up to my feet. Rauln had cleared the distance in a rage, and his teeth were bared like a wild animal. I could see the yellowed molars on full display; his amber eyes were wild. My hands shot up, and a rush of adrenaline surged in my blood. He stopped short, chucking the keys at my face, which I batted away.

“What the fuck?” the Venlil snarled. “You…fucking tracked me! You’re hunting me!”

I took hurried steps back. “No, um, I can explain—”

“How long have you been following me? Were you at the cemetery?”

“I…I was investigating you.”

“You what?! You have no right! I should put you down right now, you ugly fucking beast.”

A current of anger bubbled in my chest. “You have no right, to assume what I feel. To call me names, and antagonize me.”

“You feel hunger and anger. I know what you are, predator. I know you have no clue what it’s like to care about anyone. Where is your family, anyways?”

“Dead, asshole! Los Angeles is a fucking crater.”

“You seem real torn up about it. Bombs falling on Earth, and you don’t fucking bring them with you?”

My eyes bulged, and I gave Rauln a shove in the chest. The Venlil landed on his rump, scrabbling backward on the wet pavement. Indignation glowed in his eyes, but I wasn’t finished with him. This jackass had no right to claim I didn’t care about my family. I thought about them every day; I couldn’t live with myself!

“You know, I saw how your mother died. That animal was a fucking herbivore; it stamped its foot in warning!” I spat. “You fucking cornered it, because to them, you are loud and scary predators. You don’t approach a wild fucking animal. So cry me a river; she brought it on herself.”

Rauln shrieked in fury, and sprang to his feet. He lunged at me, driving his head into my gut with his full 90-pound weight. It was like getting bodied by a sack of potatoes; the crazed attack took me by surprise. The wind was knocked out of my lungs, compounded by a rough tumble to the pavement.

I spasmed like a fish out of water, unable to breathe. Rauln finished his tackle, and my forearms shot up to shield my sensitive binocular gaze. His dull claws glanced my skin, drawing blood through my soaked shirtsleeves. Unable to claw my eyes out, the Venlil tried a more effective tactic; smashing a curled paw into my jaw. He pinned me down, unrelenting as he whaled on me.

Thank heavens, he doesn’t have a nose, so he’s unaware of the effectiveness of punching that cartilage. Those jabs are still packing enough force to rack up damage.

My lower gumline throbbed, and I could taste blood on my teeth. Adrenaline and raw emotion lent me the strength to move. I grappled with Rauln, using my greater weight to roll myself atop him. My fist arced back, before nailing him in the same spot he’d hit me. My knuckles burned, but I wasn’t slowing down.

The punches felt sluggish in the higher gravity, but it was enough to draw Rauln’s orange blood. The Venlil screeched, and thrashed around in a panic. I jammed my knee into his stomach, trying to daze him. His hindlegs shot up, nailing me below the armpit. The kick knocked me off him, and I hugged my side in pain.

I languished on the pavement, like I was posing for my own chalk outline. Everything hurt. I was done with this skirmish; the aggression had fled my system. It wasn’t like I wanted to bludgeon a Venlil to death, regardless of my temper flare-ups. Still, it was gratifying to see Rauln a little banged up, and to know it was my handiwork.

“I’m bleeding. Shit, shit, shit!” the exterminator mewled.

Of course, he thinks I can’t resist eating him.

Rauln’s eyes were wide with panic, as blood smeared his snout. I managed to roll over onto all fours, and drew my own gasps. Rain was still pummeling us, mixing with my scarlet fluids. My fingers poked at my lip; I spit the blood out of my mouth weakly. It was coating my teeth past split lips, infusing my saliva with a salty taste.

The Venlil was heaving panicked gasps, and nursing injuries of his own. He seemed tuckered out, lacking the energy to flee. I struggled to my feet, before walking over to him. Rauln squeaked in terror, shielding his throat. My hand wrapped around his wrist, and I pulled him upright.

“You’re right. I left my family to die.” I propped the Venlil up, and hobbled to the door. I was going to be black and blue all over tomorrow. “I panicked, I fucking gunned it for the spaceport, and I live with that decision every day. I miss them so much, but I just feel cold and hopeless. I wish I could trade places with them. I wish they could be happy here, and that your bombs could end my suffering.”

I dropped Rauln at his front door, and staggered off to retrieve the keys he’d thrown at me. I fished the key ring off the ground, and dangled them from my fingertips upon my return. The Venlil hesitated, before extending his paw. I deposited the metal objects into his grasp. He stood, using the door for support, and unlocked it.

“L-let’s go inside,” the exterminator decided. “We should talk.”

Rauln limped into his apartment, still ailing from the hindleg kicks he doled out. I considered my options for a moment, before deciding that he was no serial killer. I’d listened to his pleas when he thought he was alone, and seen the pained rage when I brought up his mother’s death. There was too much we had in common; I recognized myself in him. He would hate to hear me admit that aloud.

With my aggression expended, I swiped blood from my rain-soaked face, and crossed the threshold into Rauln’s home. His hospitality might leave something to be desired, since I was the first human guest he’d ever entertained. Something told me he wasn’t into preparing platters of meats and cheeses. Whatever the Venlil wished to discuss, I hoped we could put our feud to rest.

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A/N - Part 5 of the exterminators! Will shadows Rauln, watching him visit his mother's grave and spill his true feelings. However, our human narrator blows his own stealth mission, and ends up in a sparring contest with the Venlil. What will Rauln wish to speak about? Do you agree with Will on his innocence?

As always, thank you for reading and supporting!