Blue squatted low and sniffed the air. It was thick with humidity…the sky was clear and the night was welcoming. Bugs flitted about in the forests of the Appalachian mountains. This was their hunting ground…this was their training field. Her eyes peered through the thick foliage, searching for their target.

“All units, check in…what’s your status?”

“This is Delta. I’ve got nothing here, Blue.”

“Echo here. Sorry, Blue…no target.”

“Hi! Charlie here! I’m drawing a blank too…sorry.”

“Regroup.” Blue instructed, speaking clearly into her microphone and lowering her stance a bit. She waited only 3 minutes before the three girls ran to her side from their positions. Blue sighed in disbelief and rubbed the back of her head. All of them were decked out in their camo body armor and their combat tools. “Damn it, girls…we have exactly 40 minutes before time runs out and we lose!”

“Why’d that asshole have to hide the damn target so well this time!?” Delta snapped.

“LOCK IT UP!” Blue snarled. “Don’t talk about our Alpha that way.”

“Sorry…” Delta groaned.

“It wouldn’t be a game if it was easy.” Charlie pointed out, tugging on her pig tails. Blue nodded her agreement.

“Hide and Seek is more than a game, Charlie…it’s a test.”

Hide and Seek was a game that Owen played with the girls every month or so. The Navy would rent a small portion of land or preserve available to the public and, for 24 hours, set an animal loose in the area. Before the game begins, Owen would give Blue a sample of the animals hair or tissue for them to smell and study. Then, using their training, their predator senses, and their instincts, would have until midnight to hunt the animal and kill it. Usually, they excelled at this game. Today, a wild boar had been released…but for some reason the girls had lost its trail in the hills of the area. Now they were lost and getting nowhere.

“Blue, do you still have the piece of it’s flesh?” Delta asked. “Let’s get another wiff.” Blue nodded and reached into her survival pack to pull out the small, bloody clump of meat. Delta and Charlie both leaned in and sniffed it, taking in its scent. Blue and Echo did the same and then, Blue quickly put it away again so it wouldn’t distract them from their search. They sniffed the air and the trees, sensing…hoping to pick up something…anything.

“Damn, why’d it have to be a pig? I’m getting hungry now!” Delta grumbled.

“Stop thinking with your stomach, Delta.” Blue growled.

“You can’t think with your stomach. Your brain is in your head, Blue.” Charlie pointed out, proud of her own intelligence.

“I know that, Charlie.” Blue laughed. “It’s a figure of speech.”

“I knew that!” Charlie scoffed, trying to hide her blush.

“That reminds me…Echo, what was it that Alpha wanted to talk to you about the other day after Hoshkins left?” Delta asked. “You looked pretty upset, but then were smiling when you were done.”

“It was…nothing.” Echo whispered. “Alpha was just…giving me advice.”

“What kind of advice?” Blue asked.

“Alpha gives GREAT advice.” Charlie added, giggling. “I remember when he told me I could eat better if I cut up my food first.”

“I don’t think he was giving you advice, I think he just didn’t want to be sick, watching you try to scarf down everything whole.” Delta cackled.

“You’re no better!” Charlie shouted defensively. “He’s had to correct you on your eating too!”

“Yeah, but the difference is I don’t care.” Delta shrugged. “He can command me in the field, not at the dinner table.”

“You’re so cool, Delta.” Charlie sighed.

“Or maybe she’s just stubborn.” Blue hissed.

“Why don’t YOU lock it up, Blue?” Delta teased.

“Hey…” Echo whispered, silencing them. “…do you smell that?” The girls all stopped bickering and began sniffing the air again. Unlike before, something familiar waifed past their noses…a strange sensation of recognition. Mouths watered and eyes snapped open at the realization.

“Pig!” Delta gasped.

“I smell it too!” Charlie squealed.

“Alright girls, seek and destroy! Delta, you take right! Echo, behind! Charlie, to my left. We’ve only got a few minutes to eliminate the target!” Blue ordered. The girls didn’t hesitate. Despite their earlier bickering, when it was time for action, they worked like a well oiled machine. The four sprinted through the dense forest and through the mountains, following the smell. Their legs, powerful like the predatory beasts they emulated, were capable of carrying them through any terrain at break neck speed. Currently, Blue was the fastest of the four, but all were able to reach speeds of nearly 50 miles per hour. To increase speed, the girls would lean their upper torso forward to angle their body, and at times would let their arms pump closer to their sides, or merely let them hang back so that they didn’t interfere with them. With time being of the essence, the girls were running low and hard, their feet kicking up leaves and debris with tremendous force.

65 million years ago, the raptor was one of the apex predators of the ancient world…instincts like wild dogs, and senses to match. Speed to rival a cheetah and ferocious powerful killing urges. It was in these instincts and natural urges that surged them forward. Their eyes flashed with hungry intensity and their claws dug through the soil with harsh resolve. They were hunters. They were killers. They were raptors.

“Target is 1000 meters and closing!” Delta hissed.

“Charlies, spread out, you’re getting too close.” Blue instructed.

“Right!” Charlie pulled off a little giving Echo room to move up. With their high speed running, Echo’s hair was flying free, showing her scar…but also her cunning sneer. Blue smiled to herself. It’d been a long time since she’d seen Echo make that face. It was good to have her back…even if only for a while.

“THROUGH THE TREES!” Charlie shouted. The four girls looked up ahead and, sure enough, there was a faint light through the trees…and the smell was resonating from there.

“ENGAGE!” Blue barked. The three girls let out a loud animal cry like a real pack of raptors and all turned sharply, lunging through the trees, as a aloud terrified squeal filled the air.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

The four girls froze in shock at the large bonfire they’d nearly crashed into. The pig they hunted was held over it on a spit. Surrounding the fire were 12 young boys, all wearing Cub Scout uniforms and hats, with neckerchiefs on their sweaty necks. They stared up at the girls openmouthed and in terror as their councilor threw himself inbetween the girls and the boys, trying to shield them with his body. The boys screamed in fear and several jumped up and began running away as Blue, blushing deeply relaxed her stance and looked to her sisters, who were all blushing rather heavily too. Echo was hiding her scar with her hair and Charlie was waving sheepishly as Delta tried to pull her hood over her head and not admit that they’d just busted in on a campsite.

“Um…sorry?” Blue grumbled.

“Are you serious?” Owen grumbled over the phone as he listened to Blue’s entire report on the events.

“Alpha, I am…so so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Blue….it’s mine. I got the dates mixed up. It’s on me.” Owen sighed. “I forgot that we’d rented the campgrounds for next weekend…not this one.”

“Still, we should’ve recognized the smell of those children…we were so caught up in the hunt that we-”

“Enough. There’s no point making excuses. How’re the others?”

“Well, Echo hasn’t said a word since the incident…I think she’s mortified she let others see her scar. Delta’s sulking in the woods…I think her pride is a bit hurt, but she’ll get over it. And Charlie? Well, she’s become fast friends with the kids.”

“Really?”

“Affirmative. I’ve told her to stop bothering them, but the kids constantly want her to play with them. I don’t know how to make them stop. Orders?”

“Let her have her fun for now. It’s not every day children get to play with a raptor girl. As long as no one gets hurt, I think it’s fine.” Owen answered with an embarrassed chuckle. “I’ll be there to pick you up tonight.”

“What about Echo and Delta?”

“I don’t even know where to begin with that. Just make sure you four are at the entrance to the camp and I’ll be there at 530 hours.”

“Yes sir…and…again, I am truly sorry, Alph…I mean…Owen.” Owen smiled, glad that she was finally starting to call him Owen instead of just Alpha.

“It happens. Just hang tight.” Owen hung up the phone and rose to get the car started. It would take about 3 hours to get there…he had a long way to go. As he threw on his boots, his phone vibrated again and he laughed. Blue must’ve wanted something else. Pulling the phone out of his pocket, he placed it next o his ear and leaned into it to rest in on his shoulder while he tied his boot.

“Blue, just let it wait until I get there.”

“Wrong person, Lieutenant.” Owen’s eyes widened and his hands topped tying. He grabbed the phone, ready to hang up and walk out the door.

“What the hell do you want with me, Hoshkins?”

“Happy to hear you too, friend.” Hoshkins chuckled. “Look, believe it or not, I’m not calling about my project. You told me to let you know if there was another case that needed your girls. Well we got a situation.”

“Alright, what’ve you got?” Owen asked, making his way out the door to go get the girls. As he listened to Hoshkins, he silently thought about only one thing: how much he genuinely didn’t want anything to do with this man. He didn’t even brush his teeth without an agenda…so one could only wonder what strings were attached to this proposal.

“Alright girls! Alpha will be here in 3 hours. Let’s get our gear squared away and move to the front of the camp.” Blue shouted. Echo was sitting by the wall of the activity cabin near the large lake. She looked up, her face still red with embarrassment, but she didn’t seem as traumatized as she was.

“He’s not upset is he?” Echo asked.

“No…though I expect we’re going to hear about this little incident for a while.” Blue grumbled. “Where’s Charlie?” Echo pointed past Blue to the other side of the activity building where Charlie was playing a game of hand ball with the boys who were now fully awake. Despite it being only 2:30 AM, the surprise of meeting a real raptor girl must’ve been like a huge dose of caffeine for these children. They squealed and laughed and hollered, as Charlie ran around, swatting a tennis ball back and forth with the boys. Blue shook her head.

“Charlie, we should get going!” Blue called.

“Just 10 more minutes! You DID say that Alpha wouldn’t get here for three hours! We can play a little longer!”

“Don’t you think the kids need sleep?” Blue asked.

“But we’re not tired!” One boy called.

“Yeah! We wanna play with Charlie.” Another agreed. All the boys started jumping up and down excitedly, tugging on Charlie’s hands to get her to keep playing. Blue sighed and placed her hands on her hips.

“Forget it…just make sure you’re ready to go in three hours. If not, you’re running laps all day tomorrow.”

“YAY!” Charlie shouted running off with the tireless children to continue their games. The councilors were either watching through tired, blinking eyes, or asleep on the wooden floor themselves. Blue looked back at Echo and smiled sadly.

“I sometimes wonder if she still respects my authority.”

“She does…but she’s also still a child herself. Fun is always going to trump orders for her.” Echo explained.

“Regardless, we need to get Delta. I’ll be back.”

“No, let me go get her, Blue.” Echo offered. “I think it’d…probably be better if you…um…”

“What?”

“…I think you need some rest.” Echo finally whimpered, shyly.

“Excuse me?” Blue asked, surprised.

“Ever since we ran in on that bonfire, you’ve been beating yourself up and worrying about if we’d get in trouble. Now that we know it’s going to be okay…you should rest a while.”

“Thanks, but I really don’t need to sleep right now.” Blue growled.

“No, but…can’t you just…sit down for a bit? Relax some?” Echo asked, fearfully. Blue couldn’t help but look at her with disappointment. The fire in her eyes during the chase was all but gone. She was back to being scared of her own shadow. It made her pity Echo…and she hated to pity her sister like this.

“…Alright, go get Delta if you want…but make sure you hurry back, alright?” Blue finally conceded, not wanting to hear Echo whimper like this anymore.

“Affirmative!” Echo ran out of the cabin towards the forest, leaving Blue to sit on the floor and watch the handball game that Charlie was clearly winning. As she watched, Blue’s eyes began to get heavy from fatigue.

It didn’t take Echo long to find Delta. She was standing just 100 meters into the woods, next to a tall waterfall that lead to the creek beyond the camp. Delta had her hands in her pockets and her hood pulled back, letting her hair out for once.

“Delta?” Echo called. “Blue says Alpha is on his way to pick us up. We should get back to camp.”

“Is Alpha angry?” Delta asked.

“No. Blue says he’s okay.”

“…Bet that makes her happy.” Delta growled.

“Huh?” Echo asked. “What do you mean?”

“Oh c’mon Echo! You can’t tell me you don’t see it! Blue sucks up to Alpha all the time! She eats out of the palm of his hand!”

“He’s Alpha though. He’s in charge.”

“He doesn’t deserve to be.” Delta snapped. “Blue led us just fine before we met him. Now she does whatever he asks like a good lap dog. Didn’t you feel it earlier, Echo? I saw it in your eyes!”

“Saw what?”

“Your instincts!” Delta answered, turning to face Echo, her face smiling and her eyes flashing excitedly. “It was exhilarating. We felt…FREE! Like real wild beasts! No Alpha…no humans…no cities…no facility. Just US! The four of us! We were unstoppable! We were killers! Why do we need Alpha anyway?”

“Stop it, Delta.” Echo insisted. “Alpha is our leader.” Delta shook her head.

“I know he is but…I just….Echo what is missing!?” She cried, slamming her fist against a tree painfully. “I know we need Alpha…I know he’s a good leader…but…but I just want…I want to be free again. I don’t want to feel like we did back then…not back when we were….”

“We won’t.” Echo answered. “We’re not there anymore, Delta. We’re free of that place.”

“…But not of the memories. And when Hoshkins showed up to see us at the steakhouse…I remembered those days…when we were kids…when we were…”

“Stop it! Stop it Delta please!” Echo pleaded, hugging herself fearfully. “Don’t talk about then…please.” Delta blinked and ran to Echo, hugging her tightly.

“I’m sorry….I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…remind you.”

“It’s okay I just…Delta, we’re not there anymore. We left and Alpha took us in. He won’t let us go back.”

“…Are you sure?”

“That’s why Blue trusts him, right?” Echo asked. “She knows he won’t…and…and I believe her.” Delta looked down with uncertainty, but then let out a long sigh, smiling apologetically.

“Maybe you’re right…he’s a human but…yeah, he hasn’t hurt us yet I guess…”

“Right.” Echo nodded.

“But I still won’t go easy on him!” Delta snapped, waving a finger at Echo. “ I gotta make sure he never does!”

“Hehe…I feel safer already.” Echo giggled.

“You should.” Delta nodded firmly.

“Now, Blue’s waiting on us.” Echo whispered, nodding towards the camp. “Think we should go back?”

“…Yeah, better get back to it. Charlie isn’t still messing around with those kids, is she?”

“She is…”

“She’s impossible.” Delta groaned.

“She’s a kid.” Echo laughed.

“She’s also a raptor…we all are. I wonder if these humans still remember that?” Delta sighed. Echo didn’t answer that. Deep in her heart, she was trying not to think about the horrifying nightmares they’d endured in their childhood. And she also contemplated what Delta said. They were raptors…and when they’d picked up the scent of the pig, she had felt it…for the briefest of moments, she felt that instinct inside her. They were apex predators…they were raptors. They could be enforcers easily…but could they really integrate with humans? Charlie and Blue seemed to think so….but Delta? She was still on the fence.

“I think Alpha remembers it…” Echo finally whispered.

“Yeah…I think he does.”