Manhunter Revelations (16 page)

"Go on and get it out of your system before
your head explodes"

Laughing, Hennings remarked,

"I am surprised. I figured that I would
eventually have to send in a squad to forcibly remove you from
Sessa's arms. To be honest I intended to lead the team myself”

With that he broke out laughing again. I gave
him a few seconds to get himself together.

"All done? I would like to get on the road,
if you can bring yourself to show me where the MATV is”

Trying to get control of himself, he motioned
me to walk with him and we headed down the street towards the other
side of the pavilion hall extensive plaza.

"Are you sure you want to explore the
countryside alone. That creature has an uncanny way of sneaking up
on people and out there and alone you will have no one to cover
your back. Frankly, I am dead set against it. But Serona has asked
that we allow you full latitude as to what you do”

At this point he stopped walking and faced
me.

"I must insist however that you check in with
us every two hours on the hour”

‘Relax dad. I will be fine. I will know if
the creature is near. As Tessia has revealed, I am something of an
enigma. One of the benefits of that is that I somehow seem to know
if danger is near. Plus I will be primarily in the MATV so I should
be fine. Hennings looked at me intently, not sure what he should
do. Finally he relented and we continued to the parked vehicles.
The MATV is a amazing vehicle. MATV simply stood for Military All
Terrain Vehicle which is an under statement of the vehicle
capabilities. First off they were small tanks in their own right.
Built to withstand avalanches of stone, snow or mud, and if buried
by such could power it's way out from under ten tons of debris.
They were also equipped with two class five lasers as weapons or to
cut away any debris in its way. They were used for extended recon
by the military and could be away on patrol for two to three weeks
at a time. One of it’s most amazing attributes was it stealth
capability. The MATV’s are coated with a new type of paint which
looked basically matte black. When it is charged by a small
electrical current provided by circuits under the armor, the MATV
would camouflage itself to whatever terrain it was in. So effective
was this camouflage that twenty of these vehicle could be parked in
a forest near each other, and if you walked as close as ten feet
near them, you would not see them. Unless they were parked on a
hill or slope where their outline could be seen against the skyline
they were undetectable. So being able to hide myself in the woods
would be no problem. The vehicle wasn’t quiet, but they were a lot
less noisy then an average passenger vehicle on a highway, which
gave them good stealth ability in the woods. The interior of the
MATV provided all the needs a soldier would need to camp out. The
seats reclined to allow easy sleeping, and with the perimeter
defense sensors on, nothing could sneak up on them within a quarter
mile radius. Under combat or other harsh conditions limited
sanitary functions were also available. I had requested a single
man unit, which was remarkably small and slim. It was equipped with
eight small track wheels, which gave it exceptional traction along
with its independent suspension, which allowed them to grab onto
virtually any type of terrain. Yolanda had advised me to ask for
one to explore the area and told me they could climb a fifty-seven
degree vertical incline with no problem. Their top speed however
was a slow seventy-five miles an hour on a flat road. She told me
there have been rumors that these vehicles could climb a
seventy-degree vertical incline, but that has not been proven, and
the military did not seem to have a need to prove it one way or the
other. I was thoroughly checked out on the MATV's operational use
and it's equipment. Establishing my check-in times, I proceeded to
drive out of the village. As I turned onto the northward road out
of the village, Sessa and Fee were waiting for me. I pulled over to
the side and opened the view hatch.

"We would have preferred to accompanied you
on your scouting, but I see you only have room for one”

"I work faster and better alone"

Neither one of them looked happy, but
relented.

"Please be careful and keep us informed on
anything you find. Come back safe”

Fee meanwhile had just stood there and said
nothing. Yet Sessa last statement made her frown a little, but she
continued to remain quiet. Nodding to both of them I drove out of
the village.

The drive up into the forest was both
beautiful and relaxing. The forest was almost as magical as the
village I had just left. The assortment of birds and animal life
was truly fantastic. Fantastic and surprising. I had been in a lot
of forests in my pursuit of criminals, and all have been full of
animal and insect life. Yet none of them compared to the abundance
and variety of life I saw today. It was almost as if this part of
the forest north of the village had been specially seeded with life
and cared for. On the trip to Woodspirit, I saw a lot of animal
life, but nothing compared to what I was seeing now. All in all it
was wonderful, but strange. Looking at all the varied assortment of
animals I could not shake the feeling I was missing something. I
figured with all the life around here, the creature was undoubtedly
not in the area. I would drive for a while to see if the amount of
animal and insect life dropped down, probably indicating the
creature's was close by. My plan was to drive straight out about
twenty five miles or so northeast of Woodspirit and then do a one
hundred and eighty degree back and forth sweep search of the area
staying north of the village while progressively getting closer to
it as I searched. The reports I read showed most of the attacks on
the soldiers and deputies occurred about eight to fourteen miles
northeast of the village. I had not told Hennings or the Sakquains,
but I planned to be out here a few days if need be to conduct a
very through search. I would check in at a regular basis to keep
them informed, but any request or orders from them about me
returning to the village at the end of the day was not going to be
honored. I would tell them that this is my search, and I intend to
carry it out my way. After I reached my turning point I then headed
westward. I drove about dozen miles at a time, stopped and got out
of the vehicle and hiked a few miles in different directions to see
if I picked up any trace of the creature. All reports of the
creature during its retreat from the village had it heading north.
That was a good start, but a lot of predators when they know they
are being tracked will lead you astray from their true direction. I
had stopped several times but so far I had found no traces or signs
at all of the creature. I had reached the end of my initial one
hundred and eighty degree search westward. Getting back in I drove
south a few miles then headed east for the second leg of my search.
Most searches are carried out in some type of grid pattern to try
and ensure as much of the search area is covered as possible. My
search pattern however is completely different. I use regular
investigative techniques to locate where the person I am tracking
may be in. Once there I unconsciously rely on a type of instinct I
have to let me know which direction a perp is probably going. Don’t
ask me how it works because to be honest I don’t know. Using this
instinct and investigative techniques, I used it to track the perps
down. Right now I was using the data from all the reports I read on
the areas where the creature was sighted and where the soldiers and
sheriffs deputies were attacked in my search pattern. It was
looking more and more like I was going to be out here a few days.
Which for me was okay. The MATV was an excellent off terrain
vehicle. So much so, I planned to see if Yolanda had contacts
whereby we could get one for our use. Providing the price was
reasonable, which it probably wasn’t. After driving it and checking
out the capabilities this vehicle had, I was sure the price would
be way beyond what MU's I had much less what I could afford to
spend. Yet I now knew it's use would give me a chance to really get
to know the area, and help me track down the creature's
whereabouts. I had been driving and checking out the area for hours
now and decided to change the direction of my search more to the
south and proceed southward from there. I estimated I would need at
least two more days to cover the area I wanted to search. Making my
final check-in of the day, I camped for the night. A few hours into
the evening, Hennings had made numerous calls to convince me to
return to the village. Even Serona had tried. I finally convinced
them both that this is what I do. This is what they hired me for,
so they relented. I suspect Hennings was tracking the vehicle, but
I convinced him not to sent anyone out there to look for me or to
back me up, unless he didn't hear from me for a six-hour stretch. I
slept amazingly well in the MATV, although I woke up at least four
times during the night as something outside the MATV in the area
triggered my senses. The MATV was also set to trigger silent alarms
if any animals, or anything else larger than a small black bear
approached within fifty yards of the MATV. I was able to also sleep
more soundly as I believed the MATV would even withstand an attack
by the creature, but I still had my senses on full alert.

Resting through the rest of the night, I was
up and taking care of necessary morning duties before the sun had
fully arose. Eating a small meal I set out again on my search for
the creature continuing southwestward. Using the same search
procedure of driving a few miles, and then doing a search on foot
for a few miles, I had covered quite a few miles before I noticed
the landscape had started to change. I must admit I was so focused
on the search, that I missed the little changes in the landscape.
Stopping the MATV, I got out to fully see what the difference was.
Most people, except experienced trackers would not have seen the
difference. The trees and other plant life was basically the same
but there was a perceptible difference. The was also a decrease in
the amount of animal life around. More attentive now, I got back in
the MATV and drove slowly and for quite a ways, before the
difference in the landscape became noticeably different. There was
definitely something going on in this area. By now I figured I had
traveled just west of Woodspirit. Checking the GPS I found I was
twenty point two miles slightly northwest of Woodspirit. Securing
the MATV and equipping myself for an extended stay in the woods I
set out on a foot search of the area. After a few of hours of
searching I still hadn't found any traces of the creature, but the
landscape and animal life in the area had positively taken a turn
for the worse. The plant life had a somewhat unhealthy look to them
and it had been awhile since I had seen any animal life. Something
very unhealthy was going on in the area. Searching some more, I
found that the worse changes in the landscape appeared to be
heading northwestward. I checked the Nav-Comp Hennings had supplied
and saw that there was a cliff further southeast about four miles
with a river next to it. This river flowed southwest for another
seven miles before curving back towards Woodspirit. Continuing
northwestward I had been moving slowly as my senses were silently
screaming something was not right in the area, but I couldn't put
my finger on what it was. I was convinced however that whatever it
was had to be linked to the creature, so I proceeded with extreme
caution. I had traveled quite a few miles northward and noticed the
signs were now moving southwestward, and the evening was
approaching soon. I was starting to feel as if I was being led. I
had tracked a lot of criminals in the wood over the years, some in
more densely packed woods than these. Yet throughout all of those
hunts I never felt a fear of the woods. It was as if I was at peace
in them. The area I was in now was a completely different story. I
was feeling some trepidation and a great deal of unease now in
these woods. My senses was still screaming something was not right.
The closest way I can describe the feeling from these woods was as
if they were…hell, the woods felt haunted. That's right, haunted.
Now how the hell can a forest feel haunted. I don't know as I had
never encountered this condition before. The creature's presence
here certainly could affect the animal life in the area, but should
not affect the woods. Yet there was no denying the feeling.
Something a lot more was going on here, and somehow I felt the
Ladies knew more than they had told me, which was why I intended to
have another talk with them when I got back. My pace slowed
considerably as I somehow felt I would miss something critical if I
didn't slow down. I was now moving slowly a few hundred feet and
then stopping for five to ten minutes at a time as I scanned the
woods for signs of the creature. I was now convinced that it was
here somewhere and I was close. Unfortunately evening was now fast
approaching and searching at night even with my enhanced vision was
not a good idea, especially under the present circumstances. I
figured it was time to find a suitable campsite for the night. I
was checking out a large clearing about sixty yards around with a
quite a few tall and sturdy trees in it as my campsite for the
night. Since I didn't have the MATV with me I intended to sleep in
a tall tree with a three hundred and sixty degree view of the area
around it. If something approached in the night I wanted to see it
coming. The interlocking branches of the surrounding trees would
provide me with a possible escape route if I couldn't get out on
the ground, although I did not think escape through the trees would
be feasible. If the creature managed to sneak up on me while I was
sleeping in the tree, it would probably have no problem tracking me
if I tried to use the branches from tree to tree as an escape
route. This brought to mind a story I had heard once when I was
very small about some guy raised in the woods who used vines to
travel swiftly through the woods from tree to tree. Well there were
no vines here in these woods, and travel from tree to tree using
the branches would not be fast, if feasible at all. I would have
preferred a cliff face ledge around fifty feet off the ground as a
campsite with a backdoor if attacked, but there were none in this
area. Traveling back to the MATV would also take more time than I
now felt was safe to travel at night. The MATV would have been more
secure, but it would have been very slow going getting the MATV in
this area as the trees although unhealthy looking had grown very
thick in this area for miles. I had alerted Hennings about the area
of the woods I was in and my direction of travel since I was no
longer in the MATV.