Siblings of Sol: Destruction of a Planet

Chapter 15

The Shrils step into the cell and direct the males to form a single line. We line up before following the first Shril out of the cell and down the corridor as the rest take up position along the side of the line, with their prods level with the floor and ready for anything. They are led back to the large hanger that Adam had arrived in the afternoon before. This time though, they are herded into a large enclosed craft by the back opening, which is nothing more than the sloped floor or wall of the ship that has lowered to allow entry into the hold of the craft.

Inside, there are benches set against the wall. Two of the Shrils take six of the men and seat them against one side as the other two Shrils take the group that Adam and Tar are in. Adam steps in and quickly sits in the center, beside Tar, and does up the seat belt smoothly, because they are almost exactly the same as the ones he is familiar with on Earth, as the rest of the Moles must be shown how to do it by the Shrils. Tar watches him clip the two sides together and does the same, before leaning in towards him. "There is more to you than I thought. The only question I have is why are you here with us?"

Adam turns to him and whispers, "I wish I knew."

The craft lifts slightly and moves down the entryway to the opening at the end. It had lifted so smoothly that if not for Adam looking out the window on the other side of the hold and the wall of the hanger moving down from his perspective, he would not have known it had. Then, as soon as they are clear of the opening, the craft tilts up at the front and they shoot up into the air. There is no sensation of movement, but the rest of the Moles stare wide eyed and fight back the nausea that is threatening to erupt out of their mouths. The man who had his face punched in, fails, and loses all his meal onto the floor in front of him violently.

The rest of the males turn away, quickly trying to stop their own stomachs from doing the same. Adam smiles as he thinks. "They should try being shot off the end of an Aircraft Carrier and climbing into the air at enough force to pin them to their seats."

He looks out the far window to see if he can tell how fast they are going. He can't feel any movement in the hold of the craft, not even the slight vibration of the engines, which is always there on any commercial plane on Earth, but judging by how fast the clouds are slipping past, they are easily exceeding the sound barrier.

The other males along the wall are either more sensitive to movement, or it is just the strangeness of the situation, but they all look as if at any moment they too are going to lose their breakfast. Unfortunately that would just add to the smell of the already partially digested food all over the floor of the hold.

The front of the ship drops suddenly, and another of the males does spew the contents of his stomach out in front of him, as they slow down and drop to ground level. The ship comes to a rest and the Shrils get up from their individual seats at the front and back of the craft. The males are shown how to open the seat belts by pulling up on the top portion of the clipping mechanism.

Adam, of course, is already getting ready to stand as the rest disengage themselves from their seats. The Shrils then herd the males to the back of the ship in the same order as when they entered. Adam immediately feels the heat of the air outside the plane, as they move down the ramp onto a white sandy beach. The Shrils have lowered the dark visors from their helmets to protect their eyes, before exiting in front of and to each side of the males. The Shril at the back keeps pushing the last male with his inactivated prod.

Adam has seen the effects of the prod and knows that the last man does not want to feel the debilitating charge from the red point at the end. Tar nudges Adam and points to the edge of the trees along the wide beach. "That is where they are taking us. We will have about a turn to run and hide before the young Shrils will be released to hunt us down. When that happens, it is every man for himself, with only one possible winner."

Adam looks to the water and the stillness of it before turning back to Tar. "Are there any dangerous creatures in the water?"

Tar smiles at him knowingly. "There are, but not this close to shore, and the Shrils don't like water unless it is hot enough to scald the skin on our bodies, but the ultimate relaxation for them and those thick scales of theirs.

We enter the trees and the closeness of the vegetation drives up the humidity of the air. Adam and the other males start sweating right away. The Shrils that are herding them start slipping their forked tongues out and moving them around to savor the smell of our bodies and the fear underlying it. "So, that is how the young ones track the moles around the island."

They don't go very far before they come to an opening in the trees. The space is circular and there are eleven obviously young Shrils, both male and female, judging by the shape of the head and the smaller line of bone ridges that run from their forehead over the top of their skull and down their backs. Each one of the eleven is standing beside a wooden box that looks suspiciously like a coffin, with the lid opened, ready to accept a body. The implication of the boxes is not lost on the Moles as they stare at the young Shrils that are moving around, anxious to get started. Their tongues are sticking out and moving from side to side rapidly, gathering the scent of the males, for when they are released and ready to be hunted.

The head Shril from the plane steps up to the line of Moles and swings his hand out around him in a broad arch, and only utters one word, "Run!".

The Moles don't have to be told twice and scatter into the trees in all directions. Adam looks around for a moment, considering which way the rest have gone, so he can plan his next move. The young Shrils were staring at him before the head Shril signaled the beginning of the hunt, but now they are looking at him hungrily, with their mouths open slightly, showing their double rows of sharp almost needle like teeth. Adam smiles at them calmly and turns back the way they had came from the plane and moves into the trees.

Adam returns to the beach a short way down the white sand from the plane that had brought them. He walks to the water and kneels at the edge, dipping his hands in to scoop some up into his cupped palms. He brings it to his mouth and takes a tentative sip of the liquid, which is just as he had suspected, very salty. He looks out over the surface but does not see any ripples to indicate a creature under the surface. He walks out a short distance till the water is at his knees, thinking that if there was anything big enough to seriously damage him, it would have to be bigger and would need deeper water.

The water is cool compared to the heat of the jungle on the other side of the sandy beach, and he finds it refreshing. He reaches down and splashes some of the salty water over his body to take away some of the sweat that the Young Shrils use to track their prey. In moments, he feels clean and is deciding his next move when a scream from the trees breaks the silence of the shoreline.

"It has begun," he thinks and walks out of the water to move farther down the shore from the plane. He catches movement out of the corner of his eye and looks back to the plane to see a young male Shril dragging his coffin like box with the lid closed now and red blood all around his gaping mouth.

Adam keeps close to the water and away from the line of trees where the young Shrils could easily step out and grab him. He wants to be far enough away from the small clearing in the trees by the plane, hoping that the males did not get too far into the dense bush before the Shrils started looking for them.

His theory seems to be right as he continues to hear the screams of the other males and the high-pitched squeals of the Shrils in their feeding frenzy, as they catch their prey. Adam moves steadily along as he keeps track of the screams and the noises of the Shrils, so he can keep tell how many of them are left, and by his calculations, there should only be two of them left. Himself and one other male. He slows as he waits for the last scream of a male or the screech of the Shril.

Adam turns to the line of trees as he hears the swish of branches being pushed to the side in a hurry in order to move through them, and a second noise just a little farther back into the trees, which is much louder and moving faster. He steps back towards the water, just as a male explodes from the dense foliage. It is Tar, who runs for the water beside him, and just touches the water as a Young female Shril shoves aside two massive branches, and stops at the edge of the trees, opening her mouth and screaming her anger at them from the shade of the trees.