Blood Moon

Chapter 23 - They're here

Chapter 23

They’re here

  Under the bathing glow of red moonlight, the arid landscape is still.

  No scurry of tiny feet, no wind lashing at the ground, everything is cold, quiet, but not empty.  There is something in the air, something felt, tasted then ignored.

  With stealthy confidence in groups of two they come, creeping across the moon lit mound, quietly. These are seasoned veterans; the migratory hunting patterns of their kind have gone back generations. There is no fear in there approach, but out of habit they creep.

   Up the hidden trail worn smooth by their feet, through the pillared rocks still warm from the suns heat, to the circle of blue light. And the mound of bodies left within.

Fallon’s POV

  “What the sheol is this supposed to be?” I can’t help my outburst, I know the rules but what the hell are these savages up to now?

   A mountain of bodies were pilled in the center of the room, the jars look empty still stacked against the far wall, what was going on?

  “What is it Daemon?” Doctor Reedman asks stepping forward.

   “Stay back, I think it’s a trap.” I raise my arm to halt his progress only to be ignored.

   “What’s all this then?” He bends down to start examining the bodies.

   “I told you this would be a bad night Captain, it’s the moon, bad thing happen when the moon is out.” Lacey skitters across till she is safely hidden within the pillars shadow.

    I never have understood why she keeps volunteering for these missions, if the moon freaks her out so much why would she keep exposing herself to this one?

   “I told you before Lace, you should have stayed on the ship.”

   “My place is by your side Captain.” This is the same answer she always gives.

   “Are there any infants?” Amelia asks, stepping forward.

   “Don’t any of you ever listen to me?” I demand in exasperation, throwing my hands in the air.

   I have inherited both the mission and the crew, with the exception of Lacey, from my father when he had died last fall.  This is not my first run either, I have been doing them for the last five years, but I still can’t get them to treat me with the same respect they did him.

  “For years we have come here, the jars are on the alter, the babies are in the jars. Nice clean, simple. Tonight the jars are against the wall, there are no babies and oh yes, lets not forget, the great big pile of dead bodies on the floor! What part of this screams ‘welcome everyone come in’, to any of you?”

  “Heavy on the sarcasm, much?” My little sister Katerina calls, she is now sixteen and this is only her second run.

   “Sure, come on in, join the party. The more the merrier,” Turning round I give up.

   “Seriously bro, what can these savages do to us anyway? They still carry swords around for gravity’s sake.” With that she perched herself on the altar and begins swinging her legs.

   “That’s Captain Bro to you.”

  She raises her hand and gives me a mocking salute.

   “They don’t smell dead.” Lacey states stepping closer to get a better whiff, then retreats back into the shadows.