I was working on. Isaac and Johan dashed around the corner towards the noise and Andy stayed with me. Moments later the two hunters came back.
“It was just an ore hauler who knocked over an unbalance ore cart,” said a clearly disappointed Johan.
I realized I was sweating profusely and was having trouble taking a deep breath. “Are you alright?” Andy asked me.
“I’m alright, I just don’t particularly want to be sliced up and eaten.”
“You won’t be completely eaten,” Isaac said with a laugh, “after a croc slices you up they only eat the soft tissue.”
Johan gave Isaac a sour look and then looked at me with a gentle smile, “We want to kill that croc, but keeping you safe is our first priority. We won’t let you get hurt.”
I looked at the three of them standing in front of me. They were a solid wall of confidence. I realized I felt much safer, still… “Johan, if something were to happen to me, I have a letter to my Uncle in my vest pocket. I would be very grateful if you would make certain it’s sent to him.”
“Nothing is going to happen to you while you’re with us. But if the impossible were to happen, I will personally make sure your Uncle gets that letter.”
“Thank you Johan, thank you all. If something were to happen to the three of you who would you like me to make certain is told?”
They all laughed. “We’ve hunted creatures far more dangerous than crocs. It’s just that no one will pay you anything worthwhile unless you kill gloride monsters,” said Isaac.
I looked at them carefully. “Still the impossible can happen.”
The three hunters looked at each other for a moment, and then Andy spoke for them all. “Our three families lived within a short walk of each other. We grew up together. We spent our school vacations on hunting planets. When we graduated mandatory we decided to become Ghoul Hunters. Our parents forbid us. My mother said she would never sleep again if she found out I had been killed and eaten by a gloride monster. Isaac’s and Johan’s mothers said pretty much the same thing.”
“When we earn enough money to retire and go back as wealthy men, they’ll take us back,” said Isaac.
“We had our travel papers and the tattoos on the bottom of our feet altered,” Johan said with a determined look on his face. “If the impossible happens and we are killed there won’t be any way to tell where we’re from.”
“If we are killed we would rather our parents spend the rest of their lives believing we are still out in the galaxy hunting and living the life we always wanted,” Andy said, again speaking for them all.
“We better get back to work,” Johan said, breaking the mood. The three hunters spread out forming a distant semi circle around me as I started to reassemble the atmosphere regulator I had dropped.
My potential licensed Ghoul Hunters turned out to be men with incredibly fast reflexes and were well trained with the particularly wicked looking ceramic weapons they carried. I had no doubt that if that gloride monster crossed our path, they would collect that bounty.
In the next week two more groups of miners were killed. One of those groups included another atmosphere technician. He was off duty and looking to earn some extra money. I had many a beer with the man and he had no more skill with weapons than I had. I suspected the others killed were no better. As panic set in, less than half the mining crews were reporting for their shifts. The company had assured everyone that a Ghoul Hunter Team had been hired and was on the way. It didn't help because no one believed them. Ghoul Hunter Teams were just not that easy to come by in the Market Sphere. Even among the miners who did show up, very little work was being done.
Even so, men have to breathe and I was very confident in the ability of the three hunters at my back. The day the croc showed up my three hunters gave out a roar of triumph. They had hunted many a large, vicious animal on the surface with these same weapons. The croc was as good as dead. Their only concern was that they kill the croc before it could get away.
They had the gloride monster cornered in a bend in the tunnel. The croc was about to be pierced by several razor sharp blades and the three hunters were finally going to qualify for their Ghoul Hunter license.
The croc appeared to be slow and shambling, but at the last moment a lightning fast claw knocked aside a spear and with the other claw Isaac’s head went flying. The other two spears slammed into the croc with all the force their owners could manage. They didn't penetrate. The two hunters dropped their spears as they backed away and pulled out a long needle sharp spike attached to a handle like a two handed sword. Again they charged the creature and again they didn't penetrate. A claw came down and shoulder to crotch separated Johan into two pieces. The last hunter turned to run as a claw cut him shoulder to waist. I saw the look in Andy's eyes as his head, left shoulder, and arm, slowly slid from the rest of his body.
The croc locked eyes with mine, screamed, and charged. The hammer, which I had been holding tightly, dropped from my suddenly nerveless hands. I was dead and I knew it. As the gloride monster closed with me something clicked in and my body began to move on its own. It was as if I were on a fun house ride. My body was moving, but I had absolutely no control over my movements.
The Ride was running at the croc as it raised its huge claw to cut me in half. At the last instant as the claw came down The Ride swiveled and the claw only brushed the edge of my shirt. The Ride used the force of the swivel as part of the energy used by the fist of my opposite hand as it slammed into the chest of the croc just at the full extension of my bodies arm, all the force and momentum of my entire body balanced on the one knuckle that perfectly hit the edge of one rib bone.
My fist bounced off, but not before I felt the bone break. The croc swiveled to swing its claw at me again, but The Ride swiveled with it. The claw missed and my body was able to strike the croc again, this time with the butt of the palm of my hand. My body pushed a piece of the broken bone deep into the croc's chest. The Ride used the force of the blow to push me back so my body could roll away and jump to its feet. The croc took a step towards me and fell down. Except for the trickle of blood coming out of the croc's mouth, it looked completely undamaged. The Ride was over. I could move myself again.
I ran to the nearest alarm and hit it as hard as I could. I looked at the three men. All three of them were beyond help. I found Isaac’s head and laid it by his body. One by one I closed their eyes and said goodbye. I lowered my chin to my chest and asked that the three men get their wish, that their parents spend the rest of their lives believing that their sons were happily hunting and living the life of their dreams. I hoped they were.
Moments later several hunter teams swarmed into the corridor. I told them that I hit the croc and it fell down and died. My words were ignored. My three guardian hunters, laying in pieces on the floor, were assumed to have inflicted mortal wounds in the creature that eventually killed the croc, but not before the croc killed them. The croc was rolled over and there were no signs of any wounds at all.
The croc must have died a natural death, just as it was about to kill me. A heart attack, a brain aneurysm, some vital organ of the croc must have failed just as it was about to kill me. I was the luckiest man ever born. That I might have had anything to do with the croc’s death was totally discounted. And I believed them. It was coincidence that the croc had died just as I was pummeling it with my fists. I was on the razors edge of death and I was the luckiest man alive, but I was on the razors edge of death and I badly needed a drink. I collected some friends and went down to the lounge
