Episode Seventeen - Jealousy and Cowardice (Part 1)

Chapter Song Suggestion "Reach by Unfound"

*note : all dialogues like so {example} are spoken from the predator's perspective

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THE PAST | Lars

He raced up the frost covered steps, excited to share the good news of his recruitment results with his parents. Instead of celebrating with his friends, he couldn't wait to see the proud sparkle in his father's eyes. It was his lifelong dream to become an outstanding law enforcer like his old man. The familiar brown roof of their modest home came into view, and he stomped the snow off his boots before pushing the door wide open.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" he exclaimed, tossing his coat and scarf into the living room.

There was no answer. How weird. His parents would usually be home at this hour. He ran into the kitchen. The stove was bubbling but there was no sign of his mother. He dashed to the garage, but his father wasn't there. Perhaps they were in the basement. His footsteps thumped on the rickety stairs as he descended to the basement. "Mom! Dad! Where is everyone?"

His mother's muffled squeal stopped him in dead his tracks. He couldn't believe his eyes, his mind blanking out. Tied up on the ground were his parents, their mouths taped as they watched him in sheer horror. That's when he noticed a group of uniformed soldiers surrounding them. Before he could draw in a breath –

Pop! Pop!

His mother screamed beneath the tape. Two bullet holes appeared in his father's head, those smiling eyes drained of life.

"No!" He lurched forward, denial heavy in his gut. His father couldn't be dead! A beefy arm hooked around his waist, wrenching him off the ground. "Let me go!"

"Kill her."

"No!" he shouted, his eyes clasping with his mother's.

Pop! Pop!

Her lifeless body slumped next to his father's.

"Take the boy with us. We're getting out of here."

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PRESENT DAY

"Won't you stay a little longer?" Izel asked with heavy reluctance. "I can help you find the Qeath tribe if that is what you wish."

Slowly she shook her head. "I'm not ready to face Kulan, not until I kill the predator who stole our parents' lives. Besides," her eyes fleeted to Lars. "There's someone I want to be close with."

Izel couldn't help following her gaze to the busy Captain. "He must be an amazing man for you to look at no one else." Resignation settled over him. Izel acknowledged that Lars Verhelst was an incomparable man – one you didn't want as your enemy. "You'll tell me if you ever need my help." He wasn't giving her an option. If he couldn't have Eira, then he at least wanted to be useful.

She beamed affectionately. Meeting Izel after all these years made her feel as if she had restored a missing piece of her old self. It was comforting. "I will. Thank you, Izel and I'm sorry for any trouble we've caused."

His lips compressed at the Xaosose's inevitable circumstance. "My uncle knew the risks when he decided to betray and manipulate the tribe. Our condition has been stagnant ever since he succeeded my father's position. And now we know why." A dark look befell his face. "I hope that I'll be able to restore the Xaosose honour and help my people flourish. Tribes were born from our ancestors' will to survive and for a place to belong — never for greed. We deserve more than this."

"I have no doubt that you will," she championed his ambition, smiling confidently. "It's reassuring to see the reliable man I've always known you would become. It makes me happy that you're still the same — on the inside."

Under normal circumstances, Izel would have been over the moon by her compliment but, he couldn't ignore the lurking sadness in her eyes. Hand on her shoulder, he asked grimly. "If I may ask, where have you been all these years?"

"It's complicated," she plainly evaded, not quite meeting his gaze. "All I can say is...this was never the future I imagined when I was still with the Qeathans." Her smile turned heart-breaking. "I can't say that I regret it. I've met many kinds of people — people we would never meet in the tribe."

His brows pulled together. Did she realize that she was dissociating herself from her family? What had happened during those years? What motivated her to become a kill hunter — was it her parents' death? But the Eira he knew would have just taken revenge with her own bare hands. There was more to her story than she was willing to divulge. Izel couldn't blame her. Just because they were once friends, it didn't give him the right to pry. They were adults now, no longer children with trusting hearts.

"Oh, but I did meet Kalina in Ataxia," Eira suddenly mentioned. "She's doing well in case you were wondering."

"Kalina...," he murmured. There wasn't a hint to what he was thinking. "She left the tribe not long after you disappeared. She's no longer a Xaosose but a tarkkani — a deserter."

Emerald eyes looked shocked. "Was she banished?"

"No, she willingly chose to leave. That woman always believed she was destined for greater things and blamed us for holding her back. Her family was heartbroken but, no one speaks of Kalina anymore. She has been forgotten and her parents died a few years back — a mandrillus attack."

Eira had no idea. "I'm sorry to hear that." For the tribespeople, their family and friends were all they knew, and not many dared to revoke their way of life for the unknown. Only the bravest or the most foolish would renounce their tribe. Eira had been forced to leave, still a captive of Ataxia but Kalina wasn't.

Conversations became stilted when a huge shadow flew across the village, an armoured Gryphon landing beside the Captain. The warriors were ready to attack but Eira was already running ahead, waving her arms. "Aeolus!" Her exuberance overwhelmed their rampant fear, replaced by stupefaction when the woman threw her arms around the predator.

{I am happy to see you too, human.}

Izel gawked at the unusual scene. Predators were to be killed on sight but Eira was fearlessly embracing one. If he needed evidence to prove that she had changed — this, was it.

"Izel!" she called to him. "Come and meet Aeolus. He's our magnificent Gryphon."

"Keep praising him and you'll be joined at the hip," Lars warned, reconciled with Eira's uncommon affinity with his predator partner.

{She gives me affection and cuddles. Master doesn't.}

Eira half-laughed at the Gryphon's words. "Aeolus says you're not showing him enough love." She stroke the predator's feathery chest. "Don't worry, Aeolus. We're working on it."

"H-how is this possible?" Izel stood an arm's length away, apprehension locked into every muscle of his body. His instincts yelled for him to kill the giant predator that could easily destroy his village.

"Not all predators are bad, Izel," she said meaningfully, reading the foregone conclusion on his troubled face. "Some are even more preferable than humans."

"Captain, we've secured the prisoner," Florian marched forward. "We're ready to depart."

"Alright, let's move out. I'll meet you and Koga back at the base." Securing his boot on the stirrup, Lars hefted himself onto Aeolus's saddled back, extending a hand to Eira. "We have to go."

"It's wonderful seeing you again, Izel. I promise to visit when I have the time." She grabbed Lars's hand and he easily hauled her to sit snugly between his thighs. "Czava, Keq Izel. Goodbye, Chief Izel."

"Back to base, Aeolus," Lars instructed the Gryphon. "Thank you for your cooperation, Chief Izel. Until we meet again."

Wings spanning graciously, the Gryphon took off with a spring in its step, giving the villagers a remarkable show.

"Show-off," Lars gently accused. Aeolus responded with a rumbling gurgle.

Eira's childlike laughter saturated the air, the wind whipping through loose strands of pink. "This feels amazing! It's different than flying on Xue Long."

The Gryphon dipped playfully, showing off its aeronautic skills.

Lars was content to bask in their happiness. Eira startled him when she tilted her head backwards and beckoned. "Come closer, there's something I want to tell you."

Amused but wary, Lars indulged her. He didn't expect her to imprison his cheeks and kiss him upside down, the warmth of her lips a sharp contrast from the cool wind. "I don't care if you reject me a hundred times. I can be as stubborn and tell you everyday that I want to be with you. I don't know if it's love but, I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Green eyes twinkled mischievously. "Don't say you weren't warned, Lars Verhelst."

"Eira –"

"It's no use. Unless you can convince me that you don't feel the same, then I won't stop."

Fuck me, Lars thought distractedly.

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The team assembled in Anaelle's lab after handing Borjan over to the Ataxian authorities to deal with, though Lars put in a special request to personally interrogate him.

"Great, you're all back." Anaelle removed her protective glasses and grabbed her tablet. Activating the hologram projector, she pulled up the information she had discovered about the Oasis corpses. "Have a seat. I found something interesting from the post-mortem examination."

"What do you have for us?" Lars's mood was overshadowed by his troubled thoughts, one of them being Eira's lingering words.

"The two corpses were killed at different intervals, meaning they were two different batches of experimentations. I've extracted their tissue samples and blood work, finding traces of a chemical compound similar to Cell II, yet entirely different. It doesn't take a genius to figure out someone's attempting to create a potentially enhanced version of Cell II by human experimentation."

Anaelle's brows slanted deeper. "The reason for the lack of blood is most likely caused by cellular cannibalism. My guess is whatever was introduced into the subject cannibalised their blood within minutes." Her voice turned meticulously grim. "It's the most excruciating pain akin to dying alive with your insides being torn apart. Whoever did this is inhumane."

"What do you suppose is our killer's motive?" Florian questioned ambiguously.

"I assume it's to create an undefeatable army of advanced killers," Anaelle responded, pulling up diagrams onto the screen. "Take a look at Cell and Cell II's structure. The third one is what I found from the corpses."

Eira studied the distorted cell – it was bigger and a rich red, incomparably healthier.

"Unmistakably, this is an engineered cell. It's not one hundred percent organic. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to deconstructing its genetic structure but, whatever this is…it's dangerous enough to kill any living thing." She then added morbidly. "It's instant death for normal humans."

It didn't make sense for an intelligent being to condone senseless mass murder. There had to be a reason — an explanation. "What if this person's trying to find a compatible host? It happened the same way for Cell II when the government didn't hold back on introducing the serum to the public. And majority protested against it," Eira simply remarked, reflecting on the past incidents. "All the corpses we've found were commoners. What if this new cell is introduced to a kill force hunter?"

A calculative spark gleamed in Anaelle's blue eyes. "The success rate might actually be higher."

"But there's no certainty," Lars commented. "It could even cannibalize the existing Cell II in our bodies."

Seemingly quiet, Koga asked. "Then how do you explain the zombies?"

"For discussion sake, let's call it Cell III. What I can surmise is that Cell III cannibalizes its living host when it's incompatible. The deciding factors are currently unknown but, I have a theory," Anaelle suggested. "I believe Cell III is very much alive. After killing its human host, it controls the corpse, explaining how the body is able to move. As for the attack, we can assume that it either thrives on blood, or it was still attempting to find a compatible host."

Koga shuddered in disgust. "That's nasty. It sounds like a parasite."

"Maybe that's what it is," Eira insisted. "The origins of Cell in predators started off as parasitic."

Anaelle's hardened gaze fell on the Captain. "Whatever this person's up to, Captain, it's not good. Should we report our findings to the Colonel?"

He gave a curt nod. "I'll do it. Send me the reports and continue your research on this artificial cell. I want detailed information on this case, as soon as possible." Sweeping a final glance over exhausted faces, he said. "Until further instructions are issued, we'll be on standby. For now, you're all dismissed. Get an early rest."

Lars was relieved when Florian roped Eira into accompanying him for dinner. She stole a longing glance over her shoulder at him as they left. He took the opportunity to retreat to his quarters and lock the door, plagued by tumultuous thoughts. Eira's confession had left him shaken and familiar fear snaked its way around his heart. As attracted as he was to her, he couldn't risk anything that might upset his precarious equilibrium.

He needed her to stop.

And then, an idea formed in his head.

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It had been two weeks since Lars started avoiding her. When she approached him to help her with training, he stealthily deflected with an excuse or made himself scarce.

When she invited him for a meal, he respectfully declined with a tone that would have frozen Skocia. When she knocked on his quarters, he wouldn't answer or maybe he wasn't home. When she wanted to make small talk, he would shut her down immediately or replied her with a one-or two-word answer.

She wasn't the only one who noticed the Captain's deliberate cold shoulder. Florian's scowl was now a permanent fixture on his face, especially when he caught Eira's pain-filled eyes when she thought no one was looking.

The situation worsened when Lars spent most of his time with Kalina, inviting the woman to his quarters almost every other night. Eira wondered if she had pushed him too far. Was this his way of neutralizing her approach? It hurt…but she wouldn't be deterred by such an obvious tactic.

The final straw came when she walked into the training den's locker rooms and was greeted by a woman's distinct, loud moans bouncing off the walls. Her steps faltered; a sense of dread running down her spine. Who would dare to have sex in public? Her instincts warned her not to look, but she had to know.