Chapter 10

REID:
I bend over to take a look at the slimy-looking substance on the pavement. It looked strange and possibly with no viable explanation of what it is by merely looking at it.
“You said you saw what it looked like, right?” I say as I stand up to my feet and then turn around. Standing there was Hunter and Ryu, the pack head warrior that had put a link through to me during my visit to the Elder.
The statement I made now was directed to him because he had been the one to inform me about the second wipeout of a household in the pack. And that is what I am trying to investigate with him.
“Yes,” he responds with a nod.
Briefly, I stare at the substance again on the pavement and then back at Ryu. “So what has it got to do with this?”
“I think it has a lot to do with this. Because this is the only evidence that something actually happened in here. More like a remain,”
“This looks like some kid made a mess of things and not like an evidence that something happened,” I say, proceeding to process the thoughts in my head. “Did their neighbors mention anything about something out of the ordinary happening around here?”
“None,” Ryu says.
“Then this can’t be evidence!” I snap as I start to walk out on them, frustrated.
I get outside where I see some of the warriors gathered around the premises. They were brought here because we cannot totally say it is safe to be around where another disappearance occurred.
I can’t help but start to run my hand through my hair. It was tiring to know that things like this were beyond my understanding. And I never liked to find myself in such situations.
“We cannot rule out the possibility of that being evidence,” Hunter says from behind me but I do not bother to turn to look at him. I just watch things unfolding from down below the balcony.
“And why would you say that?” I ask.
“We didn’t find what we are seeing here in the first apartment where a disappearance occurred. So we cannot say entirely that is not evidence. What we need to do is study what this is and maybe it could give us an idea or two about what we are dealing with,”
That makes sense. And perhaps I should follow up on that. I’m just too frustrated to even establish a valid point in my head which is causing my reactions.
So I turn to look back at the two men with me. Ryu, the head warrior, is a baldy who had to shave his hair off after he found out he was suffering from cancer. Fortunately for him, it was discovered early which was why he was able to get it treated in no time.
“So, what did you see?” I choose to ask Ryu after remembering that I do not even have an idea what he said he saw. I could get into the whole thing when he describes it to me.
“That might be a problem. Because I did not get to genuinely see what it was. When the whole showdown began, a warrior on standby around here alerted me and I came running down here because I was fortunately somewhere in the region. According to him, there was no noise coming from the occupants of the quarters asides from the constant noises of a possible rough handling.”
“Then what makes you believe that you saw something?”
“Because I did,” Ryu says, “and it felt more like a hallucination than it being real. At first, I thought it was an enormous beast, but then I realized it was changing shape right in my eyes. And all that happened in the shadows,”
Something tugs in my mind. The shadows. Yes, the shadows. Am I supposed to link it to something I had gone through already? This is just so confusing.
‘Ask him what shape the supposed beast turned into,’ a voice in my head instructs me and I decided to do as told.
The response I get from Ryu is, “To be honest, it looked like it was amoebic in shape. Like it had no definite shape that I could pinpoint it to. But I know I saw it. And if you need more clarity, Alpha, you could ask the warrior that was with me. He saw what I saw...”
The last instruction I leave for him before leaving was to pack up that slimy thing in a paper bag or something so they could look into it for substantial evidence. I also instructed the warriors around there to stay around... at least until tomorrow. We never know what could happen around here again, especially with how sneaky people can be to find information.
With that, Hunter and I leave the premises. I needed to get back to the main quarters. And as for Hunter, I have no idea where he intends to go. But I have no reason to want to know where he is headed because I’ve got a lot on my mind.
There was something I noticed about the two disappearances. They both took place in households that were way inside the territory. Is that something I should look into? Like could it be something that I have to put up a meeting on?
Pretty sure whatever was doing this didn’t want to attract any attention, especially now that we have realized that it is an attack from an entity. But whatever it is, how capable is it of taking a number of people without leaving a piece of solid evidence behind? Could it be taking them captive or something? Because I have no reason to believe that it would kill them right on the spot. This is sickening.
“Are you okay?” I hear Hunter ask me. He is right beside me and all along I had no idea because of how preoccupied my mind was. Guess I need to take care a little before I do something hurtful to my mental state.
“Yes,” I say after coming around.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, why?” I look at him, trying to fathom where he is coming from by trying to know my well-being.
“Well, ever since we came back from the Elder’s yesterday, you haven’t been your usual self. Is there something you want to talk about?”
I peel my eyes off from him and try to focus on the road ahead. Well, am I too obvious? Probably yes.
“Not really,” is what I tell him.
The problem now is that I do not see myself wanting to talk about the issue I am going through. But if I really want to get it off my chest, then maybe I should. Besides Hunter makes a good listener which is why having him around me was great.
“Maybe I do have something to talk about,” I suddenly speak up which grabs Hunter’s attention.
“And what is it?”
“We need to talk about the visit to the Elder and everything we observed from being there. And firstly, I’ll go with what he means by the prophecy that he didn’t let us into,”
Hunter nods in supposed agreement on what I want to discuss with him. He then follows it up by saying, “I have no idea what he meant. But I think he knows what is going on in our pack,”
“He sure does, because when he started blabbering away was when Ryu reached out to me about the second disappearance,” and then I stop. “Something tells me there is more to the Elder telling me that. I have a strong conviction that he is in line with what is happening in the pack presently,”
“Can you elaborate on that, please,”
“The shadows. If you remember that it was something that Ryu made mention of about the mystery creature he thought he saw. Now, tell me, how does the Red Legion perform? I’m sure you guessed it right that it’s through the shadows. This brings us to the possibility of the Red Legion having something to do with this,”
Hunter looks skeptical after I put my speculations across to him. ”I understand what you are saying, but why the Red Legion? Yes, they are some secret type of organization even though a lot of us know about them, but I have doubts — strong doubts — that they would have anything to do with the mysterious disappearances,”
I do not respond immediately as I start to walk away from there with Hunter following suit. It wasn’t until when I have gotten a distance away from where we were initially standing did I decide to speak.
“You know nothing about the Red Legion, Hunter. We are talking about a group that can blend with the shadows, which means there is a lot they can do which we do not know of.”
“I know a lot about the Red Legion. At least more than you do. And I know for sure that they have nothing to do with what is on ground. Why would I take you to the base of the enemy if that is the case?”
“It doesn’t change a thing. You could be oblivious of their activities and which is why you innocently took me there. But I’m certain the moon goddess wanted me to find things out myself which is why she made you take me there,”
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Hunter counters.
“I know,” I tell him. “And until I get to the root of all of these, I would still hold the Red Legion against this. But that doesn’t mean I would wage war against them or something because I sure know that we do not stand a chance against them.”
I put my hands behind me, intertwining my fingers as I continue to walk. No other word is exchanged between Hunter and me until we get to the main quarters which takes us less than ten minutes.
Upon our arrival, I notice there was something different... from the extra automobiles to the increase in guards. Instantly I find out the reason for the change which was actually unexpected to the core.
“Father...” I whisper.