Chapter 16

Master of Disguise

Was brutal the right word to use when a fake human was nonchalantly ripping his own skin off. It used its…hands? Claws? Whatever that was to pull apart the skin while it grew and grew till the skin couldn’t stretch any further that it tore itself when the being doubled in size within a blink of an eyes and revealing its true hideous form. If Reid wasn’t in awe from the monster’s arrival years ago, he certainly was now at their ability he unexpectedly expected. 

“So, they can…disguise themselves into one of us…I wonder if anyone else knew about it…I doubt so though because if they did, they would have spread the news to all hunters and agencies. No one bothered to look or study these monsters in depth other than making their skin and bones into weapons? I guess the originals just love an offense to offense.” Reid thought as he observed. “Now I wonder how I do…how do we spill this news to the others. Of course, evidenced will be needed but the last thing we need is panic.” 

He hurriedly recorded what he can when the being was busy ripping apart its skin, placing the camera down and angling it to take the best shots for clearer reference and evidence when he needs to test them further…that is if he was able to,

One, kill the monster and drag it back to the lab…however Reid would prefer if it was alive or at least barely alive. Which comes to his next point which is, two, negotiate with this monster to follow him to the lab and het him tested out. At the same time, he could test the theory on their language barrier. It would be horrifyingly amazing if the monster was able to understand what was being said to them even though they may not be able to respond verbally. 

The monster may be larger than a school bus but in the hunter’s dictionary, it was a reasonable size to overcome without needing a full team. Unless its two untrained and beginner hunters then that was a different scenario, as Reid here was confident with his and Vanessa’s ability including his strategy if she doesn’t act out of line from his plans. They watched until the monster was finally off from any leftover fake skin…fake human skin that was left on the ground. With the environment in the alleyway, monster was cornered. There was no way to escape unless it passes Reid and Vanessa. Looking at its structure, Reid doubts it could climb over the buildings and from its size, it would take some time for it to dig which would still result in sufficient time for him and Vanessa to either take him down or drag him back to a lab. 

Vanessa noticed the chance that the monster was in its most vulnerable environment and state, so she clenched his fist and stepped forward, ready to fight it off. Her body tensed in preparation to dash towards the monster, Reid put out his hand to stop her. Vanessa could have easily pushed him aside. However, since he was a teammate and technically her team leader, she held her strength and frustration to trust, or give a tint of trust to Reid since he looked like he knew what he was doing, and she hoped whatever he planned to do wouldn’t be as foolish as she anticipated. A silent scoff escaped her lips, pointing to the monster with her eyes before retreated a little backwards behind Reid once again. If…if he does attempt anything foolish then she would back him up despite not fully enjoying his presence. She didn’t need another death in front of her no matter who was with her. 

When Vanessa softened, Reid let out an invisible sigh of relief before mouth a thank you at her. He wasn’t expecting anything more than a glare, but it was reasonable enough since what he was about to do…may not fall into a full instant agreement with her. Reid glanced at the monster that was still at the corner, unmoving and probably either disgusting its meal from earlier or planning its way out. His hand reached for his gun, but he didn’t pull it out yet to not scare the monster when he carefully stepped away from their little hiding spot to approach the monster. There was still a distance between them, and Reid had his arm slightly out as if he was taming a wild dog. 

One step closer,

Then another,

And another,

Until the monster heard the final and snapped his direction at Reid without moving from its place. Reid flinched slightly at its sudden movement. Neither of them moved. Reid thought that perhaps the monster was already full of its earlier meal, hence it didn’t immediately attempt to pounce onto him. 

Through his peripheral vision, Vanessa’s face scrunched like a drying towel, and he knew she was internally questioning, no not questioning, she was internally yelling and demanding to know what in the craziest idea was he about attempt but pull back that action to not have the monster on its toes. He noticed how Vanessa was causing a small dent on the trashcan that she gripped for support…possibly an emotional support. At least now he’s at a better eased state knowing she could fling the trashcan at the monster if need be. 

Back to the monster, it was growling lowly at Reid. It made no attempt to move yet its stance was stiff. It was prepared to attack at any given time, so Reid had to act fast and smart if he wanted his plan to succeed. Even if it didn’t it was no harm to try. 

“No harm if I made through this alive.”

Reid gathered all the energy he had to not shiver every time he stepped closer to the monster. He licked his lips that was becoming dry and deep, slow breaths while constantly reminding himself that this was what he always wanted to do to defeat and vanquish them. The monster seems comfortable at the distance so when else would be the perfect chance for Reid to try this out if not now.

“Hey…” Reid began, and he could feel the groan resisted by Vanessa. “You seem calm…you’re much calmer than the others…and you must be full of your meal. Even though we wished you hadn’t but it’s fine now, what’s done is done.” He ensured that his voice was as soft and as gentle as possible, almost as if he was talking to an infant or a young animal. Who knows if this monster could be one of the younger ones, hence there wasn’t any attempt to attack Reid, because most of the previous monsters that he came across to would instantly attack any human within sight…

Or did it attack simply because they, the hunters attacked them first?

Since the monster was still staring at Reid, unmoving other than its faint growls, Reid too the time to study the monster. This was the closest he could observe while it was alive, and he was right. Studying the monster alive was better than it being dead. He watched how it breathed, the way its eyes moved, and its claws twitched. This was only its external and when it’s still. Reid wanted to study how it lives, how it sleeps, how it moves without having any hunt in mind. Every little detail should not be left out if they wanted even the slimmest chance of returning their world as it once was. 

“Would you…like to come with us? Come with me to some place? To a nice lab perhaps? There can be better food for you, and you won’t need to tirelessly hunt or disguise yourself to hide from the monsters. We are, the people are hiding from you too, so we understand each other’s situation, don’t we?” 

The monster stared at Reid with a low growl. Not a breath of response or reaction was reciprocated to Reid. 

“Of course, it doesn’t understand me…but it wouldn’t hurt to try again and, and maybe I can use a little more smaller actions and hopefully that would get his attention…I hope.” Reid thought, trying to dig out every small strategy to drag this monster back without hurting it or causing a heavy commotion. Even though his heart was racing, Reid felt a minor load lifted off him. This was the one and only true way to defeat them. 

Watching Reid, Vanessa was internally questioning if she was working with an experienced hunter or a mad scientist who recently escaped the asylum. Despite desperately wanting to attack and finish off that monster to seek justice for herself and the two unfortunate teenagers, she reluctantly managed to hold herself back. He could have at least discussed with her first…though again, the situation wasn’t that welcoming to have even the quietest and shortest discussions without throwing the monster off. She noticed when Reid glanced at her and quickly gave him a signal to carry on as no matter what she thought about him now, her role was to both support and protect. 

“Fine, fine, I’ll let you do your little thing. I’d be amazed if both of us survive…”

Having a little conformation that she wouldn’t interfere yet, Reid continued and pleaded. “Hey…little…or big buddy? It’s okay…we won’t hurt you… I just need some samples from you and well… to see what you can or can’t do.” 

Once again there was neither a response nor reaction, so Reid had to take the next step…literally.

Reid wanted to stretch out his arms to calm the monster, but that would be too risky if the monster changed its mind and decided to detach his arm from his body. Hence, he next bests thing he could do was to crouch slightly to hopefully send the message that he meant no harm. 

The first time is where most mistakes happen.

This event was no excuse for the matter.  

The distance between Reid and the monster was too close for the monster that it finally roared and lashed itself towards Reid who was startled by its sudden aggressiveness. Reid shoved himself back but missed his balance that caused him to stumble on the ground and using the hand that was meant to grab his gun to hold his balance before his body could make any harsh contact with the ground. His vulnerable state allowed the monster to lash it’s claw against Reid’s and managed to rip through the chest of his shirt and leaving the scraped on his bare chest. Reid used his arms to shield himself and pressed his lips to prevent any wince of pain from energizing the monster, especially when it raised its claws to strike him once more. Reid closed his eyes in an unfortunate instinct to brace the sudden impact when a loud thud was heard, and the attack didn’t fall upon him. 

If the monster’s first roar wasn’t the signal and opportunity for Vanessa, then she didn’t know when else without Reid being on the brink of death. She used the trash can as a boost to push herself forwards with her fist clenched tightly, gathering all the strength she needed before throwing a solid robust punch towards the monster before it could rip out Reid’s organs instead of his shirt. Now, apart from the monster’s grows and the alleyway’s silence, it was mixed with Vanessa’s soft grunts of frustrations along with loud clashes of heavy objects thrown onto the monster and some were flicked away, mimicking a minor tornado attack that Reid had to take shelter from.

“Go, get yourself back unless you wish to become its next meal!” Vanessa yelled at Reid who pushed himself slightly further while trying to pull himself together. Once he was at a better distance, Vanessa charged at the monster. 

“Watch yourself too!”

“I will if you can keep yourself at bay and away! Get your weapons or something!” Vanessa was close to snapping at Reid for his little stunt. Oh, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t when she kills the monster.

Not if.

When.

If she knew it would feel this good, she would have done this a long time ago instead of drinking…scratch that she needed the drinks nonetheless, but it was far better than internally beating herself for what happened. 

The rush of excitement when she managed a hit. A hit with her fist and not a weapon. The desire knowing, she had the strength to throw them off with a punch, the desire knowing she could destroy them for what happened that night with a satisfying closure once these ends.

The monster lunged itself at Vanessa, widening its jaw to bite her head off. Vanessa narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth at its speed and with only one goal in mind; finish off this monster, she slid herself forward to avoid the bite and punched its lower jaw hard that the monster flipped forward and harshly landed on its back, causing the rough road on the alleyways to crack. With another roar escaping its snout, the monster jumped on its feet with an attempt to smash Vanessa like a pancake. Noticing its intentions, she threw herself back and grabbed the monster’s claw, pulling it forward and threw another hard punch before it was able to snap on her fist. The monster was thrown back with a screech. As expected, it shook its head while scrambling to get on its feet. During its struggle, it was the best time for another defensive attack, so Vanessa sprinted for another punch, avoiding the monster’s harsh kicks but missed its other claw and it managed to smack her across the alley that she was nearly slammed into a wall if it wasn’t for her strength when she dug hard into the ground to create some frictions. 

The monster noticed Vanessa’s vulnerable stance when she didn’t have her fist out and she was trying to regain her balance and biting her lip to tone down to ignore any pain she felt. She didn’t have any moment to spare to check for injuries or bruises when there was a monster aiming for Reid’s and her head. The monster let out another roar and it was about to dash to Vanessa once again, till a rock was thrown at it. 

“Hey! You were supposed to be the calmer monster and you ruined it yourself!” Reid screamed while waving his arms and jumping. The rock throw didn’t stop there as Reid picked up more items along with his knife to throw at it, hoping the knife would cause a small damage to anger the monster. By angering the monster, he could lead it into an overstimulated response to the point its mind would be clouded, and it couldn’t make any planned actions. Reid wasn’t one to underestimate these creatures. Today alone was proof that their brain functions were not of a regular animal who was merely in a survival mode.

Reid urged to discover more, unfortunately it wasn’t the right night. He knew they still had so much to prepare and plan before they can successfully apprehend a monster and bring it back alive to a lab.

Back to Vanessa, while the monster was distracted and snarling at Reid, she scurried behind the monster, using the damaged trash can as a leverage to throw her up in a jump. Once she was inches from the monster’s neck, she grabbed it with all her might and using her free hand to grab its head and pull it back. 

CRACK.

Letting go of the monster, Vanessa caught herself on the ground while it vibrated when the monster’s limp body pummeled on the ground with its eyes left open and jaw hanging. Not a single breath of air escaped its snout or nostrils.

Vanessa’s heart was still racing and so was her blood. She was heaving after finally getting a break, letting out a small groan to ease the pain and ache in her body from being tossed around. She glanced at the monster and lightly kicked it with her foot. It was heavy for a normal human but with her ability, she nudged it like it was a regular dead cat. Its head moved along her nudge and not even a faint growl was heard. She knew it was dead, nothing could survive from a snapped neck, but she wouldn’t be surprised if they evolved to prevent that from happening so the more, they had to hurry and extinguish all these creatures. Vanessa closed her eyes and took a deep breath to compose herself…soon the effort going to waste the instant Reid opened his mouth again. 

“Would you look at that. That was epic for someone who haven’t encounter one for a while.” Reid mumbled as he crouched to have a closer look at the monster. “Glad you’re alright, I’m fine too in case you’re worried its nothing more than a small…well minor scratch that won’t affect my movement, but we need to get to my car quickly after this.” He would admit that his heart too, raced and his skin tingled. He was nearly sliced in half by one who wished was tame. Even though he was prepared, it still caught him off guard when it strikes. Especially when the monster was close to snapping or biting Vanessa in half if he hadn’t distracted it. He didn’t underestimate her strength of course; he knew she could handle this alone, but they were a team now. So, he had to get used to working with her and she needed to get used to trusting her team even though this little event wasn’t the best example. 

“Do you think it got mad because I-,” Reid looked up at Vanessa, pausing on his words instantly and swallowed his tongue back when Vanessa was sending a death glare that could annihilate him on the spot.