Clue by Clue

Keeping up with Wolf was proving to be a bit difficult. Both Devon and I had already been going for quite some time and we were exhausted. Though I was pretty good at hiding my limp, it was only getting worse and worse the more I kept going.

"Wolf, which way's the town?" I called at him.

Wolf had stopped to inspect something, though I didn't know what; probably an invisible track only he could see. It never took him long to pick up the trail if we lost it.

He looked back at my beckon, then pointed in the direction we'd been walking for the past who knew how many hours. The sun had already started to rise, lighting the sky up in a dull gray color, a bit of pink bleeding into the horizon.

"The bugs are that way, too?"

He nodded.

"That's perfect," Devon snorted.

Standing, Wolf turned away with an idle growl and continued down the unbeaten path. Devon and I shared a significant look, then trudged after him, our feet dragging.

I wished one of us had thought to stock up on some water.

In order to take our minds off the long hike, I asked Devon, "Did Hassan message you back?"

With a shrug, Devon replied, "Service out here is pretty shitty, so I'm not sure. I know mine finally sent a bit ago, though, so maybe soon. He might have been sleeping."

"I suppose so, I hadn't thought about what time it was".

Devon sighed. "Yeah, the hours are all starting to blend together. Glad I took a nap on the plane."

"Lucky you," I muttered under my breath.

"If we need to take a break don't hesitate to say something," Devon said, frowning at me. "Grumpy over there will just have to go on without us or wait."

I shook my head. "I'm fine. I'm used to staying up late or just not sleeping."

"That does not make me feel better . . ."

Not knowing what he wanted me to say, I just kept silent and continued following Wolf, who was making a point of pretending he wasn't listening to our conversation.

When the sun was a bit higher in the sky, Devon grabbed me by the shoulder and brought me to a halt. I realized he looked as tired as I felt, with dark circles under his eyes and a pale complexion. We'd both need to eat and drink some water soon if we were to keep going.

"What is it?" I asked, not unkindly. I tried not to yawn.

"I just noticed this thing here, now that it's not so dark outside." He motioned to the blade on my back and the accompanying vest that held it in place rigged to my backpack.

"Oh. Wolf gave it to me."

"He just gave you a weapon?"

I opened my mouth to confirm, but then I thought better of it and said, "No, he didn't just give it to me. I earned this weapon. It was mine when I was seventeen and it's still mine now."

He blinked at me, then frowned. "So he held on to it for you even after all this time?"

"It would seem that way. I was surprised, too."

"Thing doesn't melt when you cut them with it?"

Shaking my head, I said, "Nope. It's made of some sort of tempered metal that isn't affected by their blood."

"Suppose that makes more sense than one that is."

I grinned and gave his shoulder a teasing push. "I'm sure you could earn one of these bad boys if you wanted to, too. Took me a bit, though. Don't think he trusted me with one at first."

"Oh yeah," Devon snorted. "Totally want one. How would I go about earning it?"

"Just kill a kiande amedha. I mean he gave this to me first because I wasn't armed at all, but he definitely wouldn't hate you so much if you killed one," I pointed out even though I knew he was being sarcastic.

Brows raised, he pointed to the spot where my scar was. "And how do I get me one of those weird scars you have?"

Lips pursed, I brushed my fingertips against the spot and said, "I'm not sure. He gave it to me after we'd killed the queen and escaped the ship when it fell. It makes me one of his clan, I think. Right, Wolf?"

Wolf stopped to look over at us, then rolled his shoulders and backtracked to where we were standing.

"I think that's a yes," I interpreted.

"Right, and I'm just a normal human."

"You sure are."

He pursed his lips into a thin line and said, "Oh, the humanity of it all."

"Hang in there," I said with mock sympathy.

Before I could say much else to him, Wolf was pulling me away from Devon and gestured that we needed to keep walking.

I sighed and relented. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Sorry, we're just tired. We're coming."

Nodding, Wolf chittered to himself and was on his way.

"I'm gonna go talk to him about something. Hang back a bit," I said to Devon, pulling on his arm as we started to go.

"Yup, I'll be back here, doing my best," he harrumphed.

Just barely, I heard him mutter, "Slowly dying of exhaustion," before I hobbled to catch up with Wolf. The big guy was like some sort of tireless machine, just marching on through without a care.

Wolf's head barely moved to acknowledge my arrival and he even slowed to match my pace some, but I was still pushing myself to go as fast as I could. He hadn't been going much faster than us, but there had been times when we had to hasten to not lose sight of him.

"Speaking of the crash," I began, carefully picking my way through the uneven terrain, "did you and Brutus ever find any more survivors?"

"Sei-i," he hissed. That was one of the first words I'd learned when we'd met—it meant yes.

Truly, I was relieved. Besides Brutus, we'd only seen one other survivor and he (or she, I still wasn't really sure) had been responsible for the ship crashing. They'd tried to get the ship working and it had slid down the mountain instead.

"I'm glad to hear that. Does that mean the clan's making a comeback?"

However, Wolf answered, "M'di," to my question—the other word I had to pick up quickly.

"No?" I repeated. "Were there not enough members?"

He nodded, but I couldn't tell if he was upset by it.

"Do you know what Brutus is up to? You didn't bring him, did you?" I asked, suddenly worried that big asshole was going to come lumbering around.

Wolf rumbled out a short laugh and shook his head.

"Thank god . . . He'd definitely kill Devon, wouldn't he?"

Another yes for an answer, followed by more 'chuckling'.

I glanced over my shoulder at Devon and sighed. Both of us were waiting on our second winds. The adrenaline from before had exhausted us even more. Once we were out of the woods, I'd try to find some time for us to take a break, even if only for a few minutes.

After another bout of silent walking during which I'd fallen away from Wolf and his undying pace, the path became a steep decline into a valley. Wolf dove right into it, but Devon and I had to adjust our centers of gravity by turning sideways—shuffling down the treacherous hillside.

If it had just been a grassy knoll, it wouldn't have been an issue, but it was steep and littered with runoff from the rainy season: rocks, branches, and other debris.

"Here, hold on," Devon offered, sliding on his ass to move in front of me so he could give me his hand.

Before I was able to take it, Wolf had already marched back up the hill, skirted around Devon, and proceeded to scoop me up and sling me over his shoulder.

"What the—"

The tail end of my declaration turned into a breathless grunt as I slumped over. By the time I was able to regain my bearings, Wolf was setting me up on my feet at the bottom of the hill, letting go only when it was clear that I wasn't going to fall.

Shortly after, Devon joined us. "That's one way to do it, I guess," he muttered incredulously, giving Wolf a disgruntled frown.

"I could have done it myself," I muttered.

Wolf snorted and put his hand on the top of my head, using his other to point at a formation of rocks. He was saying something, but I couldn't make it out.

"Go sit down," Devon provided.

I looked at him in incredulity and said, "You speak Wolf now or something?"

His expression was serious when he responded, "I don't need to be an expert linguist to know what he wants you to do. Your legs are shaking. Go sit down."

A protest died at the tip of my tongue. It was taking every ounce of strength I had to stay upright as it was. I pursed my lips and ducked my head, then did as I was told and walked over to where Wolf had indicated and sat down.

Devon also joined me, taking a seat on the second most comfortable rock next to mine. Wolf harrumphed, his shoulders squared, then turned to leave.

"Wait," I called, standing up too fast. My head swam, but I wasn't going to let him leave me behind. "Where are you going?"

Wolf relaxed a margin and lifted one hand over his head, rotating his index finger in the air.

Reconnaissance.

Relieved, I sat back down and closed my eyes, fighting the wave of dizziness threatening to consume me.

"You alright?" Devon asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "I just stood too fast."

When I opened my eyes again, Wolf was still standing there, watching me. I waved him off and said, "I'm fine. Go ahead. We'll be here."

He nodded, then used his gear to disappear. A set of leaves rustled on the trees nearby, but otherwise, there was no sign of where he went or where he was going to go. I had to assume he was just checking the perimeter.

"That guy doesn't stop," Devon huffed, leaning back as far as he could.

"Took the words right out of my mouth."

With the sun arching overhead, the mountainside warmed up by a few precious degrees. Taking the weight off my legs was a welcome feeling. The two of us sat in silence for the most part, trying to milk all we could out of the reprieve.

I wasn't sure how long Wolf was gone, but it felt like ages before he showed back up, his chittering waking me up. Devon and I had wound up propped up against each other, dozing off together.

Strangely embarrassed, I sat up and shook Devon awake. He snorted and woke with a jolt, looking around. I assured him everything was fine and stretched. I was still parched, but at least we had managed to get a little bit of rest.

Not enough, but it would have to do.

"Time to go?" I asked Wolf.

Wolf nodded.

Groaning, Devon stood and I did the same. We both took another few seconds to stretch, and then Wolf was ushering us onward, taking the lead yet again. If he felt any sort of way about how he found me and Devon, there were no outward signs.

I felt strangely compelled to tell him it was nothing, but I resisted the temptation.

"You okay to keep going?" Devon asked me.

Nodding, I said, "Yeah, my legs feel better. Good enough to walk for a bit longer, anyway."

"Need a walking stick?"

I gave him a withering, deadpan look.

"Just asking."

"Thanks, but I'll be okay."

Walking stick, cane . . . no fucking thanks. I'd had to use a cane for a little while during my physical therapy days and I refused to go back to that.

He shrugged and we fell back into silence. It was much easier to navigate our way with the sun up. It also made a lot of my anxiety go away—I still hated the dark. Having Wolf around had helped, but there was always that tight feeling in my gut, the heat in my chest that made everything worse.

Eventually, after what seemed like an age and a half, the woods gave way to a path of concrete and the ground opened up in front of us. The man-made tunnel reeked of waste and we paused at its mouth, grimacing into its gaping hole.

"We have to go inside that, don't we." It wasn't a question, more like a resigned statement.

Wolf grunted his response and forged onward.

Devon and I looked at each other and he said, "Guy has a better sense of smell than us, doesn't he?"

"I don't have any fucking idea, the mask does everything for him as far as I know," I said, waving my hand in exasperation. "I am not an expert on them, I just have experience."

"Alright, alright, sorry."

Though we both hesitated for another second or two, we both finally followed Wolf inside. The smell wasn't as bad as I'd expected. We were barely inside the beginning of the sewer when we came across a camp of tattered furniture and meager belongings.

Whoever lived there seemed to be absent, though, so we saw no harm in investigating a bit.

"Would a small town like Gunnison have a homeless problem?" Devon asked, toeing a few empty cans around the ground.

I clicked my tongue in thought. "Everywhere does."

"I guess. What do you think?"

I looked around without moving and tried to take everything in. There was a thin layer and grime everywhere—blankets, the moth-eaten couch, and a dog bed off to the side—but there didn't seem to be a sign of foul play so far.

"They might just not be home," I guessed.

I thought better about touching anything and kept my hands at my sides. Who knew what kind of bugs were crawling all over the stuff there. Maybe if I'd brought my gloves, but I hadn't thought I'd be doing any real investigating.

"The xenos like it humid and hot, but the sewer would be a bit too wet, I think . . . I'm not really sure though. It might be perfect. Kind of gross though." I added the last part more to myself.

Wolf was on the other side of the homeless person's den, examining some of the items.

"They could have started here, though," Devon pointed out. "There were people living here."

Just then, Wolf called out to us. Devon left the grocery cart he was sifting through and I headed over as well. I was about to ask Wolf what he had found, but it was hard to miss and my heart dropped into my shoes.

"Well. Shit," Devon said.

A homeless man was pinned to a support pillar, encased in the resin that those parasites secreted. He was already missing a chunk of his chest, his blood already dry and caked on the ground.

"They were definitely here," I agreed, even more downcast than before.

With a curious rattle, Wolf indicated farther down the landing to where the tunnel went deeper into the sewers. Another body was slumped over in that area—curious, indeed, as it wasn't in a cocoon.

"I'll go look," I told him, leaving his side momentarily to approach the corpse, still eager to prove my worth and usefulness.

When I was close enough to see it I let out a surprised, "What the fuck!" and scrambled back in shock. Gore didn't usually bother me—when I was expecting it.

This . . . I hadn't been expecting it at all.

Wolf was behind me in an instant; I bumped into him as I fled backward. He gently moved me aside and took up a position to inspect the source of my distress.

Devon put a hand on my shoulder and asked, "What? What happened?"

I indicated wildly at the body and declared, "This isn't how it works. Her wound—it's all wrong. An embryo didn't come out of her chest, it—there's something wrong here. She's not cocooned, nothing."

He held me steady at the elbow and craned his neck to look around Wolf at the body.

Words failed him, but he did let out a small gasp.

Even Wolf was grumbling to himself, gently probing the edges of the woman's devastated abdomen.

The wound was too low, leaving her chest mostly intact but her stomach and hips were ripped open, leaving little to the imagination. Blood was splattered all over, almost as if she'd exploded from the inside.

"Have you two ever seen anything like this?" Devon asked me, making no move to stand any closer to the corpse.

Wolf was the only one bothering to poke around inside her, but he eventually gave up and stood.

Shaking my head, I said, "It's always the chest. That's why I like to call them chestbursters. Wolf, is this something you've experienced before?"

He grunted in the negative.

Devon, looking a little green, asked me, "Well, what do you think it means?"

"I don't have any idea. I'd say maybe they just tore into her but looking at the wound . . ."

"It's outward, not inward," Devon finished.

"Yeah."

In the meantime, Wolf had pulled out his evidence-destroying syrup bottle and Devon jumped toward him, extending his hand but never quite gathering enough courage to actually touch the big guy.

"Wait, wait! What the fuck are you doing? We went over this!" he chided.

To my surprise, Wolf stopped just before pouring the liquid and ducked his head to glare at Devon, growling out a warning. I grabbed Devon's wrist to stop him from doing something stupid enough to make Wolf hurt him.

"I'll send the coordinates to my team again. They'll get this cleaned up. There's a chance local authorities haven't found this yet, so I'll give them a call, too," Devon huffed, already pulling his phone out.

With a scoff, Wolf put the bottle away.

Devon sighed. "Thanks. I have to step outside to get better service. Don't let him destroy anything."

I put my hands up. "I won't."

He glowered at both of us, then stepped out to make his calls and send his messages. He had a good point, but I just hoped that we could trust Gunnison's finest to secure the area without disturbing anything or poking around.

We didn't have the manpower to do it ourselves.

Turning to Wolf, I said, "Thank you for humoring us. It's important to us that people don't just go missing. I'm sorry if it's inconvenient for you. I promise our people will handle it with discretion."

Though he made an exasperated sound, he gave me another head pat and I smiled.

Since Devon was setting things up and Wolf was still examining trace evidence, I sat down on the old couch and put my feet up for a bit, hoping no one would begrudge me another break. We'd been going for hours now, and my phone said it was actually almost noon.

That was more than twelve hours since we joined the search party, and all the travel time before that as well. I'd need more than just a short nap soon. Devon and I both would.

Shortly after, Devon returned. I sat up and greeted him.

"How'd it go?"

He rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Fine. I sent the coordinates to Hassan and called Gunnison PD. They'll be up here shortly to cordon off this area and have assured us they won't go inside. We'll just have to trust them."

"They won't know what they're looking at, anyway," I sighed. "We just have to keep people out because those things could be crawling around down here."

"Exactly."

Wolf chose that moment to beckon us, chattering away in his language and motioning toward the back of the chamber, where the tunnel narrowed into the sewers proper. Without checking to see if we were following, he hopped down into the stagnant drainage water and marched onward.

Groaning, Devon said, "He's like the god damn energizer bunny, isn't he? We can't keep going at this pace without getting some food or a nap."

"We're gonna have to tough it out for a while longer. There are, what? At least five of those things out there? More? One of them is going to turn into a queen at some point and then shit is going to get real," I said.

He just groaned again. "I know, I know!"

"As long as they're still confined to this area, they'll be easy to track down and kill. Then we'll be good to go and the whole thing will be over," I pointed out, following after Wolf.

"Then you'll leave forever," Devon harrumphed.

I didn't respond, just dropped my gaze.

Whereas Wolf was perfectly happy to trudge through the questionable water, I saw nothing wrong with sticking to the walkway. It seemed to continue on for a while, but if I needed to cross the tunnel that would be a problem. The runoff went all the way up to the top of Wolf's shins.

"When this done, I'm gonna find an all-you-can-eat buffet and devour everything," Devon said after a moment.

"Sure thing, Devon," I sighed. If I didn't think about food, I wouldn't be hungry.

"I'm serious," he insisted. "An entire buffet."

"I know you are."

Up ahead, Wolf stopped to face us, squaring his shoulders and swelling his chest. He chittered out what sounded like a reprimand and I deflated.

"What? We can't have a conversation?" I scoffed.

When he hissed a commanding no, I relented and fell quiet. Devon mumbled something sarcastic under his breath, but I didn't quite make it out. I supposed he was leading this hunt, so there wasn't a point to going against him.

Soon, the only sound was that of the water sloshing around Wolf's legs. I could guess why he'd silenced our chatter, and I had to admit he was right. It would only distract us, and it would only draw trouble to us. It would be best if we didn't start ringing dinner bells.