Evil Rises- Chapter Fourteen
#16 of Evil Rises
Chapter Fourteen
"Cub Hunting"
By
Furry Sith Lord
The sun was setting as the hunters gathered around with Maxx and BH. The campfire was larger this evening after BH had told the hunters he had a meeting planned. He had spent the day back in the city recharging his phone and batteries.
"Ok guys, the reason I called this meeting is that I need two volunteers to..." BH started but immediately the hands of all 4 hunters rose. "Wait guys let me finish! I need two hunters to come with me on another hunt and the remaining needs to take our prisoner back home and keep him safe. Remember he is NOT food!"
"Food?! Seriously? Oh my paws, what kinda savages are you?!" Maxx replied as he started to freak out at the thought that the hairless apes might actually eat him.
"What's this new hunt?" Rowlf asked. The hunters lowered their hands but still anxiously waited to agree to accompany BH.
"The cub of my sworn enemy. I need him in order to get his father to do me a favor for our people. We take the cub in the same way we took Maxx and safely bring him to our home then I speak to his father and make our people stronger." BH explained.
"If he is your enemy then he is our enemy!" Dabid exclaimed and the others nodded in agreement.
"We will not fail you!" Jayson said.
"Rowlf, I'd like you to be my voice and be one of the hunters to take Maxx back to our home. You will tell my wishes to Hueman and the rest that he is to be kept safe while you wait for my return and that he is not to be eaten by the others." BH explained and a sad look crossed Rowlf's face but he nodded solemnly.
"I think Dabid and Paul are the best choices to go with you, Woof Woof." Jayson said.
"It makes sense, one is the best at hiding and the other is the best at tracking." Rowlf agreed.
"OK, then in the morning Rowlf and Jayson take Maxx back home. Now remember to stay away from cities because of the dangers of being seen. You two will take Maxx to our home and Rowlf you will be my voice to them. Explain what I have told you and then above all keep Maxx safe.
Paul and Dabid will accompany me while we hunt the son our my... our enemy. We will capture him as we did Maxx and bring him to our camp while I wait to make a bargain with his father." BH summarized.
"We will not fail you!!!" All 4 hunters replied in unison.
"Um...yeah..." Maxx replied weakly.
I was called to Uncle Jon's office and was pretty sure I knew why. I sat outside waiting until I was finally called inside. He was sitting at his desk and he looked at me like he was ready to give me a timeout for being bad in class.
"Tyger, good to see you." He said gruffly for some reason.
"Mr. Jon?"
"I apologize for my demeanor. I received some bad news today that has left me in ill spirits."
"May I ask what happened?" I asked softly as I saw the tears in his eyes.
"Something personal, I'd rather not get into right now. Don't worry about it. We have other matters to discuss right now." Uncle Jon replied.
"If you need me, I'm always available." I said and he smiled as he nodded.
"Back to the matter at hand. Your father has sent a large sum of money to you. There was a note about it being payment for a job you completed?!"
"Yes he asked me to help him with a project and offered to pay me because it would take up a large amount of time."
"I have the check in my possession. If you'd like I'll cash it and once the transaction clears I'll give you the money."
"Actually, could you help me? I'd like you to use the money to buy the tickets and everything I need." I asked and he looked at me and nodded as if expecting me to do this.
"Sure, I'd be glad to help you. Now that you have the money you need, does that mean you are giving up on tutoring?" Uncle Jon asked.
"No, the ones that have come to us need our help so we are gonna keep our word and help them as much as we can." I replied.
"Good man, always keep your word!" Uncle Jon exclaimed.
"How soon can we get the tickets?" I asked.
"I might be gone for a few days," Lou said as he and Leggo sat eating their dinners. Lou had a bowl of cold potato soup while Leggo ate a bowl of hearty beef stew. Leggo had his face buried in the bowl and he used his tongue to lap up the stew while Lou used a spoon to delicately eat his portion.
Leggo immediately stopped eating and he raised his head to look at his husband as the stew was dripping from his maw. Lou sighed and handed a cloth napkin to Leggo and the wolf used it to wipe his face after he completely buried his face in it and shook his head to wipe the excess stew away. Lou covered his eyes to avoid the embarrassment of watching his husband.
"Why?" Leggo finally asked as he finished wiping his mouth as well as the rest of his face.
"A team went out in search of the hairless apes and have not returned. I'm not sure if anyone survived but I want to send in a team to search around and see what we can learn."
"Why do you have to? Can't the government species do that?" Leggo asked in an annoyed manner.
"Because BH is involved and I think he may be up to something. If he is, I want to put a stop to it." Lou replied dryly.
"Who's BH again?"
"A white wolf that lived in The White Citadel, he was a temporary guardian of Tyger and made Tyger call him 'Papa." Lou sighed then tried to explain.
"Oh yeah, that asshole, Now I remember." Leggo said and Lou stared at him.
"Anyway... I'll be gone as I lead the team." Lou continued.
"Why can't I come?" Leggo asked as his ears lowered. Lou hated when he made a pouting face and looked at him.
"Stop acting like a puppy! If anything happens to me then I need you to get in contact with Tyger. He'll devise a rescue operation, that you can be in charge of, and bring me home safely."
"But it would be safer if I came with you." Leggo countered.
"True but again, if anything happened who would rescue us?" Lou countered.
"As you already said, Tyger would. We can leave instructions if he doesn't hear from you in a couple of days to launch a rescue attempt." Leggo replied.
"We could both be killed and leave our cubs as orphans?!"
"If it's that dangerous then you are NOT going!" Leggo shouted. The maid entered carrying what was left of her broom. She had used it so much on Leggo recently that it was starting to look like only a staff now. She entered and stared at the wolf before she finally turned her gaze at Lou.
"Am I hearing this right? This fool of a wolf is running off by his-self and possibly gonna be captured by C.I.Z.A. again?" She stated as her piercing eyes turned back on Leggo.
"No ma'am, I'm going on an expedition and he's complaining I'm leaving him here instead of bringing him with me." Lou explained as Leggo snuggly looked at her expecting her to yell at Lou just as he had.
"That makes sense," she replied and Leggo's expression fell as he listened to her in disbelief. "You wouldn't want that fool of a wolf messing things up for you."
"How can you just agree with him?!" Leggo yelled at her and her stern gaze seemed to look right through him.
"Don't you raise your voice at me, little wolf pup." She said
"He wants to wander out into a forest filled with hairless apes and possibly get himself killed!" Leggo continued. Sher looked at Leggo in a confused manner before laughing out loud and causing Leggo's cheeks to redden.
"Hairless apes?! Will you listen to him? Believing in fairy tales." She laughed.
"But they're real! There was a whole news story about them not being legends!" Leggo exclaimed. Lou's face turned red as she burst out into even more laughter and he was surprised by her reaction.
"Can't believe he believes everything he sees on TV." She mocked.
"You don't believe the news stories about the hairless ape found?" Lou asked incredulously.
"Just a story to stir up species and get them hooked on watching the news. A regular publicity stunt. Probably had a regular ape shave themselves then they're trying to pass it off as a real extinct hairless ape. Poppycock, if you ask me." She replied.
"Interesting," Lou replied. Leggo scratched his head then shrugged. She went away feeling she had once again solved the situation as they both sat there dumbfounded.
Evening had set in as BH sat next to a car with a lock pick in his paw as he tried to unlock the door. Paul and Dabid stood next to him looking around to make sure no one was watching. The two hairless apes kept muttering to themselves and it was seriously starting to piss BH off. They kept wishing they had Maxx because they believed his lies and because BH wasn't able to do what the pretend Maxx could do, they grumbled.
"Maxx would have already unlocked it." Paul remarked quietly to Dabid as BH rolled his eyes.
"Maxx says it takes less than a minute to unlock a door." Dabid replied.
"Guys!" BH whisper screamed to them as he was finally fed up with their comments.
"Are you gonna hotwire it? Maxx also hotwires cars." Paul said. BH bared his fangs as he glared at them and they looked away silently. He was itching to tell them the truth that Maxx was lying to them but he also didn't want to break their spirits.
He finally unlocked the door and climbed inside and then opened the other doors so the hunters could enter. Both hunters bounced like little kids as they explored what the car was like. BH checked his phone to sites teaching him how to hotwire cars.
He had to force himself to ignore the hunters but he finally managed to get the car started.
"Fuck you coppers!!!" Dabid shouted as he and Paul high fived each other. BH rolled his eyes again then shifted the car and drove off. They quickly sped off as BH was trying to minimize the time it would take to reach Bearly Academy.
He waited until he was out of the city in order to speed on the highway. He went over an escape plan with the hunters in case the police try to pull them over. He was sure they'd be looking for them once the car is reported stolen. That should give them a few hours head start so he had to make every minute count. Plus he would need to get as far as possible with the gas they had in the car's tank. He had no means to buy more without revealing his identity and having the police looking for him specifically once they find out he was buying gas for the stolen cars.
The hunters kept quoting Maxx as he berated the cops by saying lame TV show quotes but if they ran up against the real police then the hunters would begin to learn that Maxx was a liar.
I was on my computer checking out some anime on a streaming site a few days before the end of the semester. Father and dad had called to make plans for when they pick us up in a couple of days. Lyon, Ben, and I had already packed up the main stuff, we just had a few essentials out we'd need over the next few days while we waited.
Evening had set in and with Hooper being gone since his finals were over before the rest of us. He had moved out and went back home while the three of us waited for father and dad to come get us. Tonight we were each busy doing our own thing.
The break only gave us a month off but in two weeks the Power Fur Ranger conference would begin and we waited to see the look on father's face when we presented him with a ticket to join us.
My thoughts kept drifting to the phone call because father's voice seemed a bit on edge and even dad had a case of the grumps. I had the feeling that they had gotten into an argument and had yet to resolve it. The argument dids so much bother me because this happens a lot between them, but the real issue was: what was the argument about?
"Warning C-A-H-K," My computer said and the screen changed to the video feed outside of our dorm room. "Warning C-A-H-K." The computer kept repeating. Lyon and Ben ran into the main living area with the look of panic making me jump up to join them and try and relax them.
The C-A-H-K was an early warning system my father had created to warn us of danger. He devicede this system after our supposed cubnapping last year to try and prevent it from really happening. C.A.H.K was also my fathers twisted sense of humor that only I picked up on.
My father set the acronym to mean: Caution Attack Heightened Knowledge (C.A.H.K) but I figured out when you actually tried to say the word it sounded like cock. I had to give the old man props because it was a clever idea. The problem was that this system was also going to feed the alert to him and his security.
Not that they could do much being so far away but they would be keeping an eyes on the species intruding outside. He had a couple of his extra security slaves monitoring the cameras outside our dorm from a long distance connection. If they observed anything suspicious then they'd activate the C.A.H.K. to warn us.
Figures it would trigger while I was trying to watch one of my favorite animes. Species Hero Academia was one of my latest favorites based on a manga b y the same name. I was trying to get caught up as the latest season ended and I prefer to binge watch rather than keep postponing as I had to wait for the new episodes to be released.
"What's going on?" Lyon asked. He was dressed in only his boxers, ones that had his and dad's favorite sports team logo on them. He was also covered in sweat so I guessed he had been weight lifting to help him keep in shape.
Ben wore only his pajama pants and he had been playing video games. I had thought of joining him but I wasn't in the mood tonight. Even as I was in my Power Fur Ranger pajama pants and a sleeveless t-shirt I was just too preoccupied thinking about father and dad to really do much.
I was a little jealous of Lyon because I had put my dumbbells away for the move but like him I enjoyed lifting in order to blow off some steam when I got upset. I wasn't as active with it as I was when I was younger but looking at my brother covered in sweat as he was showing off his bod, I wanted to get back into lifting again like I used to.
"Father's early warning, his guys see something funny going on outside." I replied and they followed me back to my room to see the footage. The cameras showed a white colored fur and two hairless species that seemed hard to identify. The distance made it difficult to see things clearly plus the size of the screen on my laptop.
"Looks like we have intruders," Ben remarked. I tried using the controls to see if I could zoom in or try to get a better angle.
"I'll alert campus security," Lyon remarked and he ran to get his cell phone.
"Wait," I said and Lyon stopped in his tracks. "I wanna see what they're up to." The hairless species were definitely strange because they carried spears and it looked like they had animal hair on their hairless bodies.
"Are those... hairless apes?" Ben asked and I nodded.
"Lemme see," Lyon whined and I got up so he could sit and watch the screen. He stared in fascination as he looked at the two creatures. My phone began to ring and Ben reached then handed it to me.
"Hello?" I said weakly knowing that it was father contacting us about the alarm.
"Do you see that?" Father asked.
"Yeah, I bet that white fur is BH and he has a couple of the hairless ones with him." I replied. Lyon leaned in close so he could hear the conversation over the cell phone. I gave him a look but let him, not wanting to cause trouble between us.
"You got the transmitters in case you two are taken?" Father asked as I rolled my eyes.
"Yerah, but these losers are no threat. Ben can handle them single pawed." I replied and I snapped my fingers as Lyon ran to put on his transmitter device.
"I can?" Ben asked and I glared at him then he raised his paws in surrender. He went and grabbed the transmitter my father had made just for him.
The transmitters looked like gold necklaces we put on and the charm at the end that looked like it had our name in gold was where the transmitter was stored. This way if we were captured father could send in a rescue tweak to retrieve us.
"I'm sending a team your way anyway so make sure you're safe above all else." Father replied and I nodded then felt foolish because I then remembered he couldn't see me.
"You want..." I started to say then he quickly interrupted me.
"NO!!!!"
"...OK." I replied after the brief pause I took.
"I know what you were planning and the answer is no," Father reinstated.
"Wait, how do you..." I tried, then he cut me off again.
"Because you take after me and I know how I would react. The answer is still no."
"Alright," I replied and Lyon handed me my tracker and I slipped it on.
"So what do we do?" Lyon asked and Ben shrugged as they bot looked at me for direction.
"Lyon, call the campus PD to get over here. Ben I need you to go through our stuff to find anything to reinforce the door. We need to buy time until my father's security force gets here." I instructed.
"How long will that be?" Ben asked.
"By tomorrow morning."
BH and the hunters crept alongside the building and the hunters stalked behind him silently. Once they got to the school and BH had explained that their target was here they began to act more professional as hunters.
They suggested using night to try and hide their presents and BH figured the video cameras wouldn't pick them up until after the cubs were taken. Even if security was watching they would ignore everything until an alarm was raised. If they could keep that from happening then they had a chance to get away.
"Cops," Dabid said and all three hid in some bushes while BH watched a campus police car slowly driving by flashing a bright flashlight around. They held their breath as they waited for the campus officers to leave and after they were satisfied that there was no one stalking around, they drove off.
"Screw you, coppers!" Both hunters whispered to each other as they high fived each other. BH shook his head but at least they managed to sneak by. The campus cops searching where they were had him worried that they had been spotted by someone.
"We gotta hurry... if the cops are looking, then someone must have seen us. The mission will fail if we don't hurry." BH said.
"Lead on," Paul said as the two hunters now hung closer to the wolf and he continued to creep towards the entrance. When they neared the entrance BH stopped and waited to see how students entered the dorm. He wanted to see if they had any security protocols that they had to watch out for. It was still early enough that students were slowly making their way back to their rooms.
He saw a couple of female students enter the building after they scanned their IDs in order to get the door to open.
"That's it! We needs IDs to enter so the next young one that try to enter the building we have to capture in order to steal their IDs." BH instructed. The hunters nodded as all three watched and waited for some new students getting ready to enter.
"Oooh baby, I love the way you... move." A male feline housecat that was black and had a few white spots on one of his eyes and his paws and chest. A female feline smiled and she was a grey tabby with black stripes on her and bright green eyes. She smiled and leaned in as they began to kiss. BH watched and signaled as the hunters crept forward and snuck up behind them.
"What?!" They cried as the hunters grabbed them and pulled them to where BH was hiding. The hunters used their hands to silence the felines as the two students watched as the white wolf rose from his hiding place.
"Your IDs, if you please." BH ordered and the male took his ID out and gave it to him. He mumbled something unintelligible because of the handgag on him.
"Thank you kindly," BH replied then gestured to the hunters as they led the two captives away and knocked them out then hid their bodies.
"Shit, they figured out how tro get inside the building." I exclaimed as I watched the two hairless ones stash the bodies of the two students they captured. I then saw BH holding something and I figured it must be an ID. We then made ourselves ready because they were coming to get us next.
To Be Continued...