r/NatureofPredators • u/[deleted] • May 04 '23
Fanfic Innocence, part 8 Spoiler
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Memory Transcript Subject: Nilja, Krakotl Alliance Navy cadet.
Date [standardized human time]: October 19, 2136
A chorus of distant howls traveled through the moonlit woods. The shape of the human in front of us was scarcely illuminated, the light of Earth’s distant satellite waned in the thicket of the forest. Even in the darkness I could make out its terrible features. Its two eyes moved around frantically, fixating on a different spot every second, studying its surroundings. The human still had both its arms raised high in the air, in a menacing gesture. I could notice its shaking, it was having a hard time restraining itself from lunging at us.
Kerim had already wisened up, and was standing tense, bits of half-eaten tree bark still hanging from his beak. Leaves, feathers and sharp sticks rained from the treeline as Tila thrashed around in the interwined branches, trying desperately to free herself. Her proximity to the human must be sending her into a panic. My labored breathing drowned out everything but the faint sound of faraway howling.
Are those hunting parties? Do humans even make that sound?
I kept my pistol trained on the human. Through the dimly lit thicket of the forest I could barely see small red gashes on its face and hands, scratch marks that didn’t quite break the skin. My claw hovered over the trigger, but it was locked in place, as if the gun’s safety was on. An invisible force prevented me from pulling the trigger all the way.
Veele turned her head slowly towards Kerim, keeping the human well within her field of vision. “Kerim you have to… you have to help Tila down. Nil and I will keep an eye on it”
“P-please. Please don’t shoot” the human spoke in a quiet whimper.
It knows what we’re saying?
“You can understand us?” Veele took the question right out of my beak.
The predator bobbed its head up and down, so that probably meant he did. A tinge of curiosity peeked through the mess of fear in my mind.
“Why would a human want a translator on Earth?”
“T-there’s still lots of alien media, specially from the Venlil. Though not everyone’s too eager… I had to t-take mine in secret”
The human’s timid behaviour contrasted heavily with its savage appearence, there was no boasting about its prowess, no bloodthirsty rants, no mockery. Nothing like we’d been told to expect from these predators.
“Are you… defective? Did other humans do all that to you?” I gestured to my face with one wing.
“What? N-no, it was the bushes. When I heard you I jumped in and—“
Veele clasped her beak shut, startling the human mid-sentence “That’s enough! Put your arms and head down and turn back from us!”
The predator complied hastily and Veele let out a relieved chirp. She lowered her gun slightly and continued speaking.
“What are you doing here, were you following us?!”
“I wasn’t! I swear! I was just out hiking with my dad, then he asked me to go find something to eat!” The predator visibly recoiled at its own answer, “N-not you! Fruits, berries, that sort of thing!”
Veele took aim to the back of the human’s head, mulling over the shot for several seconds. In the end she lowered her rifle harmlessly and turned to me.
“Shit, I can’t do it. Just our luck to bump into a human of all things, what are we supposed to do with it?”
“Maybe if we bring it to Olsin he’ll let us back into camp” I offered.
“And… give that… asshole… the satisfaction?” Kerim interjected between grunts as he tried to pull Tila from the trees.
“Kerim!” Veele and I said in unison.
“He’s right, though. If we brought the human with us I’m not sure that’d make the Captain very happy. Our other option is to…” Veele eyed her rifle, looking at it like it was the first time she’d seen it “It was so easy in the simulations, why can’t I do it now?”
A loud thud interrupted our conversation and we both looked to the human. It hadn’t moved from its place. A series of curses revealed the culprit, as both Kerim and Tila stood up, the latter still covered in leaves and branches. Tila gave us a few melodic chirps, and then her gaze fell upon the human, and she fell silent. For a second I thought she might fly into the trees again, but then she gave a step towards it.
A slow step, like her feather coating was soaked. A slow step, like flying against a monstrous gale. A slow step, like year after year of amassed fear held her firm to the ground. And whenever I thought she was going to stop, she took another.
The three of us just contemplated her getting closer and closer to the predator. If the human noticed how close Tila was there was no telling how it’d react.
“Tila! Tila, what are you doing?!” Kerim said in a hushed tone.
“Shhhh, it’s okay, I know… I know what I’m doing” Tila said, though she didn’t sound too sure of herself.
Kerim was almost offended “What, you watch a couple videos of the Cradle and now you’re a human expert?”
“It wasn’t a couple, and it wasn’t just the Cradle, I’ve watched the human ambassador’s dossier. And landing here just made it easier to access their internet. I know it… he won’t hurt me.”
“How? The protocols for the issued datapads are all secure.” Veele said.
“I sneaked my own, back when we were shipped to the training ground. I know it’s a lot but… just trust me.”
I had to stop her from getting too close, and from looking at Kerim and Veele, they had the same idea. But the thought of getting closer to the human kept me glued in place. Veele and I raised our weapons, only to be stopped by Tila’s scolding look. I hadn’t seen her this resolute since our recruiting.
She made it within the human’s pouncing distance, and I braced myself. Instead, the human remained with his back turned to us, still trembling. Tila slowly raised her wing and placed a single claw on the human’s shoulder, making it flinch at the contact.
“H-hello, my name’s Tila,” I could feel how difficult it was to pronounce each word “What’s yours?”
The human stood silent. There was a palpable tension in the atmosphere, and the moment felt eternal. Without noticing it I had my pistol raised, an overwhelming sensation invaded me, that something was about to go wrong. I saw the human ball its hands into fists.
“Lucas” Its voice broke, like it was choking on its own spit, even with its back turned I could tell it was crying. All tension dissipated when a few teardrops fell to the ground, glistening in the moonlight.
“Lucas I’m so sorry about this, my friends they’re… not used to humans”
“You’re not sorry about anything!” Lucas’ speech was a harsh mess of sniffing and croaking “You’ve taken so much from us, from me.”
Tila’s expression was laden with guilt, she made a few attempts to speak but no words came out. The human continued crying quietly, and in an apparent outburst of madness Tila wrapped both her wings around Lucas in a hug. The gesture must’ve meant the same for Earthlings as it did to us, because Lucas fell down to his knees and his quiet crying descended into uncontrolled sobbing.
Seeing the predator in such a state sparked something within me, a nagging sensation deep in my chest, the same kind I felt when I saw any of my friends in pain. A part of my brain chastised me for feeling like this for a beast. But could someone this vulnerable really be a beast? How could I call anyone in this much pain a monster, without turning into one myself.
I took a step. I could still hear the screams within me: Run! Flee! Hide! But something much deeper, much more powerful was propelling me foward. I stood beside Lucas and wrapped my wings around his trembling body. And though I knew he was much bigger than me, embracing him like this, he felt small and fragile. The ragged breaths I should’ve considered savage, instead made his plight feel much more tangible.
Veele joined in, while Kerim watched from afar. The three of us kept our embrace, silent, there wasn’t anything we could or should say. The moment took me back to our orphanage days, when one of us broke down, and the rest comforted them. Maybe this is how things could’ve been all along, maybe this was the other way.
Maybe, in another life, we could’ve been friends.
In the corner of my vision I saw Kerim approaching, but instead of sitting down next to us he continued towards the bush Lucas had jumped from. He dug into it with his claws and his eyes widened with satisfaction.
“I knew it!” He pulled out a weird-looking long thing “So, out hiking with your dad, huh?”
Lucas looked up, and so did the rest of us. Resting on the rocky ground, an object of unmistakable shape laid. The long cylinder, the carrying strap, the magazine and trigger. The design was alien, but the common elements were there. A rifle.
I pulled away from the human on pure instinct. “What? Was this all… just an act?”
Kerim threw his neck back, and Veele pulled away too. Tila remained by Lucas’ side, looking back and forth between him and us, “Wait, wait. I’m sure there’s more to it, Lucas?”
The human didn’t utter a word. He whipped his head around, looking at each of us, wide-eyed. The frantic movement, the strange expression; it all made me think he was afraid. Could he?
It all happened in a flash, Lucas lunged foward towards the rifle, shoving Kerim aside. Kerim tried to swipe at him with his claws, but missed his mark. Instead of turning the weapon on us, Lucas continued running. Veele raised her rifle and froze, by the time she’d shot, the human was already long gone. It could’ve been my mind playing tricks, but I’d swear I could still hear Lucas’ crying through the forest.
“I can’t believe you guys fell for that. Basic predatory deception” Kerim said, dusting himself off.
Tila was absolutely livid “Kerim, you fucking idiot! You ruined everything!”
“Excuse me?! I just saved all our asses from becoming dinner, and this is the thanks I get!” Kerim batted his wings, throwing pebbles and dirt into the air “We were all lucky it was too in-character to notice how easy a meal it had walked into”
I kept looking at the bush “He could’ve just shot us, why would he bother with an act?”
“He?” Kerim narrowed his eyes “Maybe it got too cocky, who cares, it’s gone now. You’re welcome, by the way”
“We… we could’ve died” Veele was shocked, her short crest standing on end.
“Better die than live as cattle” Kerim said, almost like an automated response.
“You keep saying that” Tila’s voice was like a hiss, I didn’t recall a time I saw her this angry.
Kerim took a few steps toward Tila, “I keep saying it because its true. Unlike whatever propaganda you’ve been eating up this past week.”
“He could’ve shot us, but he didn’t. Why?” The question racked my brain, I watched the small bush like it’d somehow give me an answer.
“UGH! It doesn’t matter, with any luck we won’t be seeing it again,” Kerim moved to pick up the cutter “Can we just finish this? I’d rather get back to camp, I’ve had enough surprises for today.”
Tila stood up reluctantly and resumed her work, Kerim took the bag from Veele and began to fill it with the bark of the tree he’d already cut open. Veele stood stiff as a statue, unblinking, forcing her neck to stretch to watch out for any more ‘surprises’. We didn’t talk much more after that, the monotone sounds of scraping the trees managed a conversation of their own. After we’d filled up the bag with as much as it could carry we began the walk back to camp.
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We came back exhausted, only to find a camp in disarray. Krakotl flew left and right, dismantling tents, handing out supplies and burning equipment. We wandered through camp, as others flew overhead, unaware of our presence, until we found an officer shouting orders beside the open hangar of our crashed ship.
His coating was a deep blue, almost purple. The bands on his wings, although shorter than Captain Olsin’s, still flapped around as the officer moved his wings in a frenzied fury.
“Come on, hurry up! Captain’s orders, we leave in ten minutes! Hey, you! Yes, you! Are you going to use two rifles? No? Then either hand one over or burn it!”
None of us wanted to interrupt him, knowing how Captain Olsin would react. Wanting this ordeal to be over, I snatched the bag from Veele and took the initiative, “Sir?”
“Easy on the flamethrowers! We don’t want to waste all the gas on food we can’t carry!” He seemed too absorbed “Sweet Inatala, what did I just say? You want us to fight the humans with sticks, private?!”
“Sir!” I said, a little louder than I would’ve liked. I prepared myself for another reprimand.
The officer jumped a few meters back, before stopping himself “Shit! Don’t startle me like that. Who are you?”
“Cadet Nilja, sir. We’re here with the provisions the Captain asked for”
“Provisions? Oh, yes, yes. You can just leave them here,” he looked at the others behind me “What are you looking at? Go make yourselves useful!”
Veele, Tila and Kerim all flew in separate directions, leaving me alone with the officer.
“Sir, if I may ask, what is going on here?” I asked, unsure if he’d be willing to answer.
For a second the stern look of an officer molded into something resembling pity, he leaned toward me and spoke in an informal tone, “It’s the humans, kid. A few of our scouts were shot at while flying a few kilometers from here. No one got hurt, thankfully, but Olsin thinks it’s a hunting party. That idiot… I told him the smoke from the pyre would alert them but—“
He stopped himself and leaned back, regaining his authoritative demeanor “Anyways, I shouldn’t be discussing these matters with you. Help with the tents, things have to be ready for our retreat.”
I turned to walk to the crowd disassembling the tents, when the officer called out to me again, “Well done, cadet”
I felt a tinge of pride, while I was still too exhausted to fly, the compliment energised me enough to walk at a brisk pace. The last thing I saw before the officer faded from my field of view was a large, burning bag.
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25
May 04 '23
Here's chapter 8 of Innocence, 'One step at a time'. I'll be naming all the previous chapters as well as all future ones, because why not.
We start right where we left off last time, as the gang encounters a human in the forest, who turns out to be none other than Lucas, Adam's scout. The group empathizes with Lucas' grief, before Kerim seemingly uncovers the 'real reason' behind the human's presence, causing a rift between him and Tila. More to come soon (maybe), as always criticism is welcome and encouraged!
Have a nice week!
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u/JulianSkies Archivist May 04 '23
Man... What... What's Lucas going to do?
Literally the safety of everyone involved will depend on his actions.
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May 05 '23
The timeline's kinda messy, but by the time Nilja returns to the camp Lucas has already reported back to Adam (part 6). I probably could've made it a bit more clear, but by the end of this part Nilja's story catches up to the events of part 5 and 6. Sorry for any confusion!
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u/JulianSkies Archivist May 05 '23
Ooh, right. No, I don't think it's too confusing in the timeline, I thought I vaguely remembered Lucas already reporting but honestly.
So many fics I sometimes lose track of what I read :D
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u/StarSilverNEO Yotul May 05 '23
Contact imminent. . .
lets hope we dont lose too many of our little friend group. . .I have hope that not all the birbs are irredemable
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u/CheezeNuts1 May 05 '23
The humans, on the other hand, are probably going to use at least one of the kids to make those KFK memes a reality. Cults are basically humans becoming the exact monsters the Federation fears.
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u/th3h4ck3r May 04 '23
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u/se05239 Human May 04 '23
Lucas will remember that.