Hunter Session 08

Previous: Hunter Session 07

In keeping with the just-reached agreement with Saigow, the group sent the box back to him and made sure that Arie wasn't going to do anything stupid and break the treaty (which stated that the hunters wouldn't attack the vampires except in self-defense, and vice versa; if either did, it could lead to war). (Summarizer's note: no, I don't think we ever did find out what the deal was with the box, or why Saigow killed a bunch of dudes at a Chinese buffet.) Afterwards, feeling pretty good about their current situation, the hunters decided the time had come to start looking for other things to focus their attention on besides their own problems. Will had heard about a series of murders and acts of vandalism going on at a small piece of land being occupied by a group of environmentalists, who were trying to keep from being paved over as part of a new highway. Will thought the violence at the protest site might be the work of monsters. Everyone else agreed and piled into their cars to go check it out.

At first, the site just looked like an unassuming woodsy area with a bunch of environmentalists camping out to defend it. No one there admitted to knowing anything about the murders. The only unusual thing the hunters found was a clump of rough brown fur stuck in a tree about eight feet off the ground. Since all the murders had taken place after dark, the group decided to come back that night and check it out again. However, things turned ugly on the way back when Will was pulled over by the cops and he, Melba, and Marta were taken into custody. (Arie got off scot-free thanks to not having been involved in the massacre at the restaurant. Luckily for him, the cops didn't search his car and find the pound of shrooms and the unlicensed Uzi it contained.)

Melba used her phone call to leave a message for Saigow telling him what had happened and politely asking him to hurry up with his end of the deal. The group only had to wait a few hours until sundown for him to swing into action and arrange for their release. Saigow personally came to the police station to pick the group up - with Haji driving, apparently as punishment for his rash actions the night before. The hunters asked to be dropped off in front of Chino Latino. As Melba walked past the driver's side door, she leaned in and said sweetly, "Thanks for the ride, Haji." To say he didn't take this very well would be an understatement. Haji ripped the door from its hinges, grew claws and fangs, and lunged at Melba before Saigow's people pulled him away. Saigow said he hoped the group could overlook what had just happened and that his nephew would be punished. They agreed, but everyone was rather shaken up, most of all Melba.

The next day, the story on the front page of the newspaper was a large article exonerating Kai, Marta, Melba, and Will of the murders at the restaurant and stating that the real culprits had not yet been found. The group was delighted but still somewhat wary, knowing that the stains the false accusation had put on their names would never fully be erased. Still, they concluded that their career as hunters was only beginning after everything they'd learned. That night, Arie and Melba went back to the protest site posing as activists, while Will worked on his gadgets and Marta tried without success to research the creatures who'd attacked the group at the Tarbol Mine.

At the protest site, Arie proved to be no help at all, since he was more interested in partying than in getting any work done. He brought a substantial supply of shrooms and pot brownies and delighted in passing them around. Soon, the environmentalists' vigil had degenerated into a drunken orgy and Arie was fooling around in Melba's tent with a girl named Dana (whose name he wouldn't be able to remember in the morning). Sexiled from the tent, Melba started wandering in the woods and came across a giant (and apparently supernatural) bear, accompanied by a few activists who weren't participating in the party. She watched as the bear tore apart Port-A-Potties and construction barriers, then quietly slipped away, planning to return another time with backup to further investigate the bear's doings.

Meanwhile, back at the apartment building, Will was drinking and inventing. He'd already built a flamethrower and a "battle chainsaw" and was working on modifying the telescoping metal pole he'd been stabbed with at the Tarbol Mine, planning to make it into a telescoping noose to capture and hold adversaries. (Marta's influence on the group was making his weapons progressively less lethal...) This meant Marta was on her own when, late that night, she received an email from Chet and Saria. They said they'd forgotten some items for their trip and asked her to meet them at the Mississippi River lock and dam. Not really sure what else to do, Marta gathered up the items and got on the bus, leaving Will a note letting him know what she was doing since he was too wrapped up in his work to notice her leaving. (Summarizer's note: if you're wondering why Marta is so gullible and trusting all the time, she had a flaw to that effect.)

At the lock and dam, Marta waited for almost an hour without Chet and Saria showing up. She was about to leave when she noticed a van parked nearby, with someone who looked vaguely like Chet standing next to it. The man called her by name and introduced himself as Cameron, a friend of Chet and Saria. He offered to take her to see them and deliver what they'd asked for. Marta thought this sounded suspicious but agreed, hoping that by going with Cameron she could finally figure out what was going on.

Cameron and Marta got in the van and drove to the parking lot of a Lunds grocery store on the other side of the city. During the drive, Marta turned on her second sight and noticed that Cameron had a crystal like Chet, Saria, and the people they'd fought at the Tarbol Mine, but that his was red. They waited in the parking lot for another hour, with nothing happening and with Marta feeling vaguely threatened the entire time. She was just about to tell Cameron she was leaving when she heard a noise from behind her and the van began to shake. Marta turned around to see that a giant creature had latched onto the van with its enormous claws and was crushing the back end of it, pulling it closer to its body. The creature looked like a cross between a lobster and a scorpion. It was the same creature she'd seen in her dream.

Cameron panicked and shouted, "Come on! We’ve got to get out of here!" He pulled Marta out of the van as the lobster-scorpion continued destroying it and dragged her through the parking lot and behind the grocery store. Leaning against the wall, she thought she was safe - until she looked up and saw the lobster-scorpion descending headfirst down the wall, apparently having gotten onto the roof. Marta stood frozen in fear as the creature scooped up Cameron and slammed him into the wall over and over, until Cameron fell to the ground and didn’t get up. Marta was half expecting it to do the same to her, but instead it simply stood there watching her. Terrified, Marta asked it, "Who are you? What do you want?" It made a motion indicating that it couldn’t speak. Then, it extended one claw toward her. She stepped forward and the creature lifted her up surprisingly gently. Then it carried her across the rooftops of the city and back to the apartment building. Marta thanked the creature, and it left just as mysteriously and suddenly as it had appeared.

The next morning, everyone told the stories of their respective evenings. Everyone agreed that the events at the protest site needed to be investigated further, but they were even more interested in Marta's experience. After reprimanding her for going with Cameron in the first place, they decided that understanding Cameron and the creature could help them unlock the mystery of Chet, Saria, and their "friends" at the Tarbol Mine. Marta returned to her research, and this time turned up some useful information. It seemed creatures such as the lobster-scorpion appeared in Middle Eastern mythology, where they often played the role of guardians for certain obscure tribes. While Marta worked, someone called the apartment claiming to be Chet, but Melba hung up on him when he seemed not to know crucial bits of information that made her think he was an imposter. Will also played a rather mean-spirited prank on Arie when, after discovering that Arie couldn’t read, he told him that the girl who'd given him her phone number the previous night was named Darla. Fortunately, when Dana came to visit Arie and he called her by the wrong name, she thought it was just an amusing result of too many drugs and told him to call her sometime. (He never did.)

At night, the entire group went back to the protest site. They saw it again, this time destroying heavy machinery and overturning the trailer where the administration for the construction project took place. Marta and Melba tried to talk to it, and Arie tried to shoot it, but neither option had much effect. Finally, they agreed to leave the bear alone after urging it not to harm any more humans as it settled its score with the construction company, realizing that if they tried to fight it they stood no chance. Then they left the site for good. Shortly thereafter, the newspapers reported that the construction project had been canceled and the woods saved.

Next: Hunter Session 09