The Alpha

***

It was sometime after breakfast now. And Daniels had been summoned to headquarters, possibly a mission of some sort. He walked into headquarters and Mikels was there waiting for him. Daniels called out a greeting and saluted him. He told him to stand easy and he awaited his orders.

"Daniels, how have you been?" He asked.

"Very well sir, still stifling my loss." Daniels told him.

"Ahh yes we lost one this morning as well. It was Talons, who got dragged off the wall." Mikels said sadly.

"Yes I heard about it from Zane." Daniels informed him.

"Anyways, onto the matter I called you here for. I need you to take your squad with Zane out for a patrol. The Pales this morning were very aggressive and their den needs to be found."

"Yes, sir!" Daniels said.

"You're dismissed." He informed me. Daniels saluted and left out the doors.

Daniels looked at his watch and it said it was 07:18. He figured if the boys were still sleeping and he would let them sleep in a little more. He would need to inform them of the patrol that was to take place. Daniels also figured no one could sleep through all the racket from this morning. So he set out to knock on all their doors.

It was 10:00 now and all the boys including Zane were gathered around the Humvees. Most of the Humvees were gone on patrol today. They were all geared up with vests, rifles, and radios. Zane had his blades and sidearm but no rifle. Daniels started to speak to them about their mission:

"Ladies, today as you know Pales are in town! It's our job to look for the den. Any uncovered manholes spotted let me know. Any blood trails, let me know. Any recently busted down doors, LET ME KNOW." Daniels really put emphasis on letting him know to get his point across. "Any questions, ladies?" Daniels asked.

Nobody said a word, so he told them to mount up. We all got into the Humvees. Daniels pulled down the visor, got the keys and put them in the ignition. The engine roared to life and they set out. They got past the checkpoint and out the gate. Daniels noticed the dead Pales rapidly decomposing outside the wall on the way out.

Daniels and his squad left the street and started to traverse the open roads of the city. About an hour into their patrol, they still hadn't found traces of the den yet. Daniels was getting frustrated and they were nearing the mall.

"These bastards are hiding well." Daniels said angrily.

"Well they probably don't want to be found." Zane said from the passenger's seat. His eyes were looking out the window, searching for any sign of a den.

They were coming onto the road that would take us to the mall, when a loud, low guttural shriek, deeper than any he's heard before was heard. All of a sudden a loud crash rang out and the Humvee was sent sliding to the edge of the road into the pushed aside vehicles! His head was ringing and against the steering wheel. Daniels pulled his head up and looked out his window. What he saw terrified him. There was a Pale's face in Daniels' window and it was huge, its head was bigger than most Pale's. Its teeth were bared and it let out a roar.

Daniels didn't move or make a sound, he just stared terrified of this behemoth right in front of him. It snarled and turned away. It was about ten feet tall. On its back were four large spikes. It had a thin tail at the base of its back as well.

The tail was about 5 feet long with a sharp blade-like tip. Then Daniels knew what this was. It was an alpha! It began to run towards the mall on all fours. It was fast. He figured that's where the den was. But this was a problem.

"What the fuck was that thing! What the FUCK was that!?" Zane yelled. He was freaking out and babbling. A first encounter with an alpha is terrifying. This was Daniels' first encounter as well. He had heard stories but never experienced it. Daniels could understand his panic. He was feeling it as well.

"Shut up! Shut up!" Daniels yelled. "I need to contact HQ!" Zane shut up and Daniels radioed headquarters.

"HQ I believe we found the den. Over." Daniels reported.

"Roger that, sergeant, where is it? Over." Headquarters asked over the radio.

"South shore plaza near the Braintree split interchange, off the I-93. But HQ there's a problem. Over." His voice was tense as he prepared to tell them what Daniels saw.

"What is it, sergeant? Over." Headquarters inquired.

"There's an alpha HQ and it's terrifying. Over." Daniels reported.

There was a pause where headquarters was silent for a minute. Then the radio cackled again they told him:

"Okay sergeant I want you to take yourself and your men and come back to base. DO NOT go near the mall! Over." The dispatcher told Daniels this very slowly and seriously.

"Roger that HQ. Over." Daniels said.

With that he radioed Richards and told him we were going back to base. Richards mentioned how terrifying that alpha was over the radio. Daniels didn't have an answer for him, so he didn't radio back. With shaky hands Daniels pulled the Humvee away from the vehicles, made a U-turn and started the drive back to base.

"Hey, explain to me what that thing was!" Zane demanded.

"Well for every one-thousand Pales born there is one alpha." Daniels started to explain. "Alphas are smarter, faster, bigger and stronger than an average Pale. An alpha can stand in UV light. It's believed they are a more pure version of Pales. They have tails too."

"They use those offensively and are very dangerous. They reserve the rights to mate with alpha females. Pales that branch off from these stronger Pales are normally outcasts and the ones you would normally see. But alphas control a large brood of pales. Sometimes over one-thousand. So if I had to guess, the den is very large and we will have a hard time exterminating it." Daniels was very shaky at this point. They hadn't seen this in a long time.

"What. The. Fuck." Zane said very slowly and very starstruck.

It was around 12:00 now and they were approaching the base. Daniels' shakes had settled down by this point but he was still afraid. He radioed Headquarters to let them know we were back and to open the gates. The gates opened up and we drove to the checkpoint. He brought out and swiped his gatekey and the checkpoint gate slid open.

They drove past the checkpoint and into the parking lots. He parked his Humvee and Richards did the same. Daniels pulled the key out of the ignition and slipped it behind the visor again. He got out of the Humvee and took a look at it. There was a very large dent in the center of the driver's door.

"WHAT DID THAT THING DO TO MY BABY!?" Daniels yelled as Richards was walking up to him.

"Hey bro, chill man." Richards said to me.

"No way man, there's no buffer shop here! My baby is gonna be dented forever!" Daniels was devastated.

"Take a few deep breaths man." Zane told me.

Daniels took a few deep breaths and calmed himself. He dismissed everyone and started the walk to headquarters for my debriefing. Daniels was frightened and angry but he had other things to worry about.