Star Trek: Bendross
Blood Sports: Episode 38
By
Jay P. Hailey
And
The Bendross Players


The light, the noise. The ripping, the screams, and the smell of blood were all too much for the raptor. It knew raptors were dying from the smells and sounds and this upset it. Overloaded, the raptor's brain reached for it's basic response and enacted it, ignoring all else.

The Lemurite Hunter screamed much louder and more piercingly than Ass-Spear, but not for as long. The raptor lept upon him, disemboweling him with it's deadly claws and then biting fiercely. The Raptor's attack did not address hunger or any learned responses or any conceptualized tactic. It was just raw violence given form.

The raptor wound up spreading the blood soaked and gory remains of the hunter all over the grassy area. Little of the Hunter found its way into the Raptor's stomach. The Raptor was not killing to eat. It killed because that was its nature.

The ripping noise of tens of thousands of needles moving at hypersonic velocity tore into to the raptor, shredding it. Dead raptor bits flew weakly and landed among the dead remains of the Lemurite.

-*-

Finds-Rocks heard the ripping and the screaming. Again and again, the Star Hat Ripped. Finds Rocks saw a raptor come apart and scatter itself about in a gory show.

After a few moments of this, Finds-Rocks decided "Screw this," and ran, fleeing full speed for the tree-line.

Finds Rocks dropped his spear, and everything he held, it was in his way as he ran.

A Raptor hopped on him as he ran and began to messily devour him. Finds Rocks screamed and died in a desultory fashion, rescued, ex-post-facto by Hamilton's weapons fire.

Other Hunters kept going.

-*-

The Sunrise tribe had the best seats in the house to watch the carnage. Strong Voice clung to his branch, dead flat and watched the screaming and dying with his lips curled into a horrified grimace.

Someone a tree to his right was screaming at the top of their lungs, adding to sense of chaos. Strong-Voice didn't blame them. Not one bit.

Sees-Far slinked along the branch next to Strong Voice. "I can see the ripping death." Sees-Far said. "It seems to be controlled by the one who escorted Stares-Into-Night back into the trees this afternoon."

Strong-Voice managed to rasp "How is Stares-Into-Night?"

"He's in the middle, closest to the Star Hat with True-Spear. Strong-Voice, the Demon isn't shooting at the people, he seems to be shooting at raptors. It's remarkable. He can see them when they are hiding. His shots, even when they miss, cause a raptor to try to run, or attack mindlessly."

"So why the Screaming?" Strong Voice asked.

"Doesn't that thing scare you? We're not even attacking it, and I believe I'll have nightmares the rest of my life." Sees-Far said.

Strong-Voice thought about it. "Me, too."

"They're getting attacked by the Raptors, despite the Demon attack. So they just discovered how scary that thing is while they're attacking it, and getting ambushed by Raptors." Sees-Far pointed out.

Strong-Voice empathized with this. Then he carefully put his head over the edge of his branched and threw up.

"Me, too."

-*-

Except for the screaming it could have been an easy summer night's gunnery practice. Martin breathed deeply. Coloring the summer breeze was the smell of blood. No burning, that was different.

Martin looked at Michelle. The sounds were ripping her apart inside and it showed clearly on her face. She wiped tears out of her eyes and carefully kept watch anyway. Martin felt a mix of things all at once. Resentment at the Hunters for causing this situation. Terrible sadness. Martin had enough death and destruction. Wouldn't it ever end? More Sadness. Why did this experience have to happen and stain Michelle? A swell of Pride. It wouldn't take much training for Michelle to be able to keep the straightest face and most professional manner under fire. She was strong inside, where it really counted.

Martin looked at Linda. Her face was blank. She chewed gum, and her seemingly vacuous eyes scanned the grass line at the edge of the main pool of light. She looked blank and mentally absent. Perhaps she was. Martin knew she trusted her training and her instincts. She'd see a target and shoot a target and never flinch or think twice. It was survival mechanism. Like a video game. Vasquez was a killing machine forged in a handful of fronts of the last stages of the third world war.

Martin wondered how much of a person was left when the killing machine was turned off. That varied from person to person.

Martin could hear Hamilton grunting and cursing as he fought the gunnery blister. Martin thought it was traversing too fast and trying to engage too many targets, but the short, sharp, controlled bursts of fire meant that Hamilton was not out of control with thing.

"How are we doing, Ham?" Martin asked.

"Bad!" Hamilton grunted. "I've engaged seventeen targets with seventeen kills, but I've lost three hunters so far and I don't know how many are wounded. I need at least two more turrets for adequate coverage, Sir." With another sky tearing rip, Hamilton dispatched another target, "make that 18."

"The surviving hunters are bugging out." Hamilton reported. "We have five targets, including the one with our buddy, approaching, watch your left first."

Martin watched the leftward ware of his field of view. A Lemurite came barreling out of the grass with his spear held at his waist, all his leverage aligned for the strike. Martin noted idly that the creature was good, the spear would probably go right through a human being.

The Hunter was gray with a black fur-mask over his eyes and black-and-gray stripes up and down his tail. He wore a leather vest. He had a bag and some sort of jewlery/rigging. Martin noted his wrists were bound with leather thongs.

As the instant visual impression flashed across Martin's mind, Vasquez gun ripped. The Hunter splattered in half with a choked half gagging scream, and flopped on the ground dead, instantly.

"Jesus Christ!" Michelle yelled.

It didn't feel right to Martin either. "Sergent, Capture them."

"Aye, sir." Vasquez nodded absently.

True-Spear stepped into the circle of light with Stares-Into-Night he was nearly centered with the flank of Expedition one.

Vasquez covered him with a a careless looking motion. "Sir, at twelve o'clock, your problem."

-*-

What is it? What's happening?" Strong Voice hissed at Sees-Far

"Shh! I'm looking. The black long things they carry are smaller ripping deaths. The brown one with the black mane just cut down a hunter like nothing." Sees-Far said. "There, True-Spear has reached the Star-Hat."

"Oh, my creator, be with Stares-Into-Night." Strong-Voice whispered.

-*-

Stares-Into-Night looked at the ruins of Tracks-Far, one of the Rock Skins Tribe's best hunters. The world seemed to be spinning drunkenly around him.

"Tell them! Tell them I'll Kill them!" True Spear shreiked.

The Demons were pointing the small ripping deaths at them. The ports from which the ripping issued looked tiny, as small as a sewing needle from the finest bird's bone.

The huge monster hunter that hung out with True Spear broke through the grass line and rushed the Demons.

"NO!" True-Spear shreiked

It was too late. The one with brown all-over-clothing and black mane simply made a casual turn and fired its' ripping death and the big hunter. His feet liquidated under the impact of the Demon magic. He flopped onto his back screaming a horrifying scream, while blood spurted from his ripped stumps.

The one Stares-Into-Night knew as Mish-Ell turned and shrieked something at the killer in their alien language,

All at once, Stares-Into-Night knew what he had to do. Simply get out of the way. These people were demons. For whatever reason they deigned to talk to him, but when threatened by a person, they killed or crippled him so easily as to make it look effortless.

Stares-Into-Night crumpled to the ground.

True-Spear, over come with anger and fear went back for the throw, meaning to put his trade mark spear into Linda Vasquez.

As the throw came around true Spears Shoulder, The tall one's ripping death spoke. True Spear's right hand exploded, and a spray of blood, bone chips and shredded flesh accompanied the two halves of True-Spear's last throw well past Linda's left shoulder.

True Spear fell to the ground clutching the stump of his right arm to his chest and screaming.

"Hehehehehehe." Stares-Into-Night chuckled. Things went gray.

-*-

Stares-into-Night had a nightmare filled with vivid imaged of the dark demon doing things to him, and odd views of a room filled with the terribly bright lights that the Demons loved so. There was a lot of blood and screaming.

The next thing Stares-Into Night knew it was daylight. Early afternoon. His face felt hot and swollen. His joints ached. "I'll be paying for this one for a while," he thought. His jaw had a sharp almost burning pain along the right side. Cracked, maybe broken.

"oooo." He said. He looked around. They were near the treeline. About twice a good spear throw. Stares-Into-Night was lying on something. He tried to get up, only to find his middle in the same shape as his face, not terribly workable. He rolled halfway over to see the hunter called, what, something mean and stupid. Ass-Spear. Ass-Spear was just holding himself and shaking back and forth the way the mad do. He was covered in sticky dried blood and guts. His eyes were wide and sort of empty.

Ass-Spear caught Stares-Into-Night looking at him.

In spite of everything, Stares-Into-Night felt his Shaman nature come to the fore. He made his face and mouth work delicately, partially and mainly by force of will. "They didn't kill us." He reassured Ass-Spear. "Maybe we can go home today. Wouldn't that be nice?"

Ass-Spear understood. His face seemed to break into a million pieces. He started to cry, rocking back and forth harder.

Stares-into-Night forced himself into a sitting position. There was the big one, moaning. He said "it hurts, it hurts, it hurts."

Stares-into-Night couldn't think of anything constructive to say to him. From being powerful hunter he was now a helpless cripple, a drain on his tribe and family for as long as he lived. His stumps were covered with the most blindingly white bandages. It was really remarkable.

Mish-Ell came over to him. Stares-Into-Night looked into its eyes. He imagined he saw concern there, but chided himself. They'd inflicted a fate worse than death on at least two hunters. These people could be enormously cruel. Stares-Into-Night noted that it was smeared with blood. He sniffed. His nose didn't tell him anything. It must be damaged.

Mich-Ell made sure it had his attention and then gestured towards the trees. Then it made a spear-throwing motions and gestured back towards the trees, and then made a cupping motion with its hands. Then it gestured to all the wounded, and made the cupping motions and back towards the trees.

It took several tries for Stares-Into-Night to understand. It wanted him to summon his tribe to take possession of the wounded.

Stares-Into-night struggled to his feet. Mish-Ell helped him, which was surreal.

He went over to the big one. "Big One, What is your name? "

"It Hurts! It hurts! Oh, my feet, my feet are gone!" The Big one cried.

"If I can get back to my supplies I can make a potion to take the pain away." Stares-into-Night said.

The Big One wouldn't listen, he was too wrapped up in his misery.

True Spear was there. "True Spear. Call the Sunrise Tribe over." Stares-Into-Night said. "I can't carry all of us back to our encampment by myself."

True-Spear looked at him. "I hate you. And I hate your demons friends. You will pay for doing this to me."

The Emotion in True-Spear's face was hideous to behold. He was more insane than Ass-Spear.

"How odd," Stares-Into-Night found himself snarling clearly, despite the fact it hurt his face. "All you had to do to keep your hand was not beat me, and not attack the demons in a stupid and thoughtless way."

True-Spear's anger came to the fore then, "I'LL KILL YOU!!" he raged.

Mish-Ell used its massive size to block True-Spear's attack. Being injured and traumatized made True-Spear slow and ineffectual.

Mish-Ell managed to back the wounded Hunter off and then pointed sternly to the tree line and said one syllable. It was a forceful one. Again it Point to the tree line and spoke it's power syllable.

"I think it wants you to leave." Stares-Into-Night said. His voice sounded reedy and weak to his own ears.

Foiled by the Physical mass of the Demon, True Spear turned and walked towards the tree line, stiffly, with anger coloring every line of his body. He marched away.