The Hunter

Chapter Eight

"Hunger, love, pain, fear are some of those inner forces which rule the individual's instinct for self preservation." - Albert Einstein

My alarm goes off and I reach up to shut it off. I open my eyes and check the time, 5:30. I sit up and rub my face with my hands. It’s going to be a long day. I get up and gather my laundry. I throw in a load and lay back down for another forty five minutes.

When I hear the washer beep, signaling it’s finished, I get up to switch over the laundry to the dryer. I transfer the damp clothes as quickly as I can manage in my semi conscience state. I even manage to toss in a dryer sheet. I twist the knob and push the button to start, then I shlump back into bed and fall asleep again for another hour. The dryer buzzes, startling me awake. I yawn and stretch trying to gather the courage to say goodbye to sleep and hello to the day ahead of me. When I succeed I hop in the shower quickly and then get ready to leave. When I’m all dressed I call my dad. He’s on his way to get me right now. I rush to get my bag packed in time. I pack the essentials and a few items from the dryer. I zip up my bag and hear my dad honking outside.

Perfect. I made it just in time.

I walk out to the car making sure to lock my door on the way out. And then we head off to Cape May. It’s quite a distance so I spend the car ride explaining to my father the many possibilities this thing could be, including the aliens. Interestingly enough my father didn’t seem so surprised at that being a possibility. It makes me question again..

Are aliens actually real?

We drive all day, only stopping for gas and food. Finally as night falls we reach Cape May. We pull up to a motel and check in. Another motel, another night of planning. I get settled in the room and pull out the file ready to figure out our plan of action. But to my surprise, my father is quiet.

“What did you find out?” I ask him.

“Not much son. As a matter of fact I think I’m going to go to bed. Tomorrow we will speak with the person who called this disturbance in. Do some interviews, you know the whole shebang.” And just like that, he gets into bed. I guess the drive was pretty long. I get dressed and go to bed too.

The next morning we head out into town, and pull up to the first potential interviewee. We knock on the door but no one answers.

“No one’s home.” We hear a voice behind us. We turn and see an older woman with her white hair in bun and thick lensed, black framed glasses.

“Good morning ma’am. We are from the guild. We were sent here to investigate a claim from a ‘Ms. Lisa Braeden’ from this address. Do you know when she will be back?” My father asks the woman.

“Oh dear. Unfortunately Lisa had an accident. She fell down her steps, and.. she didn’t make it.” The old woman says.

“That’s awful, was anyone home with her at the time?” I ask.

“Just her son. The poor thing found her. It was terrible.”

“We offer our sincerest condolences..” I say.

“Ma’am have there been any other accidents around the neighborhood?”

“Well, actually yes. There were two other accidental deaths recently. A string of bad luck around here I’m afraid.”

“Please, tell us about the others.”

“Well Kevin Dickson fell of his ladder the other day. He passed at the hospital. Then there was Austin Hammond, he drowned in a pool. Which was weird since he was a pretty decent swimmer.” The older woman says. My father pulls out the map and the woman points to the homes where the accidents occurred.

“Just avoid this street. They were doing construction, but for some reason it’s on hold. So that entire street is blocked off.”

“Thank you for your help.” I say and we get back into the car. We drive to the closest accident site and knock on the door. I turn around and see a park across the street. There are parents chatting on the bench and children running around playing and laughing. I smile at the joyful sight. But my smile quickly fades when I see four children standing still just staring at me.

The door opens and a woman in a robe answers. She looks like hell.

“Ms. Dickson?” My father asks.

“Yes?”

“My name is Rod I’m with the guild. We heard about the accident of your husband and wanted to know if we could ask you a few questions?” She looks exhausted just from listening to him.

“Honestly, now isn’t a good time.”

“Mommy who’s at the door?” A little girl appears behind her and the woman turns her head. At the back of her neck is a circular red mark with teeth marks around it. I look at my father and he glances at me.

“Don’t worry about it, just go ahead and play.”

“Don’t worry ma’am. If you could just tell us where the accident occurred...”

“The backyard.” She says.

“We’ll just take a look and be out of your hair.” She smiles faintly and closes the door. I turn back to the park, the staring children are gone.

Well that’s unsettling.

“This place gives me the creeps.” I admit to my father as we make our way around. We walk to the backyard and see the ladder still leaning up against the house. Why would she leave it there? Then suddenly I notice the little girl watching us from the window. She’s just staring as us.

“Creepy.” My father says.

“Let’s go back to the car.” I suggest. We get into the car and shut the doors.

“Were those bite marks on the mother’s neck?” I ask.

“I think that was where it was feeding on her. Let me see that list you made.” I hand him my phone.

“I think I know what we’re dealing with.” He says

“Changelings.” I answer. My father nods his head and smile’s approvingly.

“Well from what I can tell, I think it’s the kids, they must’ve snuck in and replaced the real children, now they’re feeding on the parents.” I say. My father grunts.

“I agree. It says here that fire will kill them.”

“What about the real kids?” I ask, “Where do you think they could be?”

“They might still be alive, it says here changelings prefer to remain undetected, and they never stay in one place for very long. They must be keeping them somewhere, to switch them back when they’re ready to leave... But where?”

We both think for a moment, then as if the thought occurred to us at the same time we both say.

“The construction site!”

“We’ll search the area and see if we find anything, then we’ll go after the beasts.” My father says.

“Sounds like a plan! Let’s go!”

We drive to the construction site and park the car. Two homes are in the process of being built.

“Let’s take a look inside.” I say.

“Wait.” My father goes to the trunk and pulls out a flame thrower.

He seriously has everything in that trunk.

We walk quietly into the first house. We separate and I search upstairs while he takes downstairs. I look through every room but don’t see anything. I meet my father at the bottom of the stairs.

“Let’s check the next house.” We walk over to the second house to search it over. I notice a door to the basement and head down, my father follows behind me. There we find two cages with six small children inside.

“Help us! Please!” The kids cry out.

“I’ll release the kids, you keep a look out.” I say. I find a brick nearby and slam it into the lock, breaking it open. I move to the next one.

“What do you think you are doing?” We hear a mature feminine voice call out. I turn to see a woman running full speed towards my father.

“There’s a mother!” My father shouts. I’m working on my last lock and smash it. I help the kids out of the cages and see a window.

“Here.” I open the window and help the kids crawl out. I hear the sounds of my father losing the fight, but I have to get these kids out first. Once the last one is out I turn to help him.

“The flame thrower.” He shouts. I look around the floor and find it, but it’s close to the mother changeling. I dive for the gun, but she kicks me right in the side. It hurt, she’s stronger than I anticipated. My father jumps on her from behind and I get the gun.

“Dad now!” I shout and light her up. He jumps out of the way, and just like that, she’s dust. We are both panting and breathing heavy.

“Good job son.” My father says, as he turns to head up the stairs. “But we’re not finished yet..”