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CHAPTER EIGHT

North

Italked quietly to Hudson as the quadcopter flew toward St. Albans.

The splint I’d put on his arm and the painkillers I’d given them had done the trick. There was color back in his cheeks and he chatted non-stop. I even got him to laugh.

“I’ve never been on a Talon,” he said with awe.

“Cool, huh?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

I’d administered nano-meds. The tiny, medical machines were racing through Hudson’s small body. I was also carefully monitoring his vitals. I’d had nano-meds a few times myself, and I knew that sometimes they could go out of whack and attack things they shouldn’t. Doctors kept sharp eyes on patients while they had the treatment. It had only been in recent years that we’d been able to take nano-meds out in the field.

I ruffled the boy’s hair and felt a shot of warmth. He was alive.Thank God.

I looked up, and my gaze locked with Jess’ dark one.

Then Jameson sat down beside her, and I looked away, but I listened to them talk.

“What do you think about the cocoons we found?” Jameson asked her.

“Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it,” she replied. “It seems strange that the monster hadn’t killed…” she glanced at Hudson “…its prey.”

“Perhaps it was saving…the prey for later?” Jameson said.

“The woman was dead. She hadn’t been eaten.”

I frowned down at the floor. All of this left us with more questions than answers.

“You got enough pictures?” Jameson asked. “Of the cocoons and the woman?”

Jess nodded. “I’ll run analysis on the cocoon substance and check my database for anything similar.”

“I’ll ask the leader of St. Albans if anyone is missing who matches her description.”

“It’s all very strange, Jameson. Monsters usually hunt when they need to feed, or they just attack for fun and leave the remains. It’s a lot of trouble to take live prey.” She frowned. “I haven’t seen anything like this back home. And those monsters on the beach, they were definitely communicating and working together. Much more so than my studies on pack monsters in North America.”

Jameson crossed his arms, his face tense. “So you think something’s going on with our monsters here?”

“It looks that way, but I need more data.”

“Well, we have no shortage of monsters. We’ll get more data, whether we want it or not.”

That was the truth. I hoped to hell Jess could find out what was going on.

Soon, the Talon came into land at St. Albans. As soon as we touched down, I saw Hudson’s mother running toward us.

I lifted the boy and carried him out of the quadcopter.

“Huddy!” The woman was crying as her gaze locked on her son. Garth, the head of security, walked with her. Zeke and Marc stood nearby.

“Mom!”

“His arm is broken.” I carefully handed him over to Garth. “He’s had a dose of nano-meds. He’s going to be fine.”

“Thank you.” Hudson’s mom smiled through her tears. She clutched Hudson’s hand. “Thank you, all of you.”