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The capsule crashes to the Earth’s surface, landing on Ture National Park (AKA Ture Park), one of the most popular sites on earth known for vacationing, fishing, camping and more by the inhabitants. The capsule opens; Ki’ara crawls out, yelling, shrieking and bawling in excruciating pain as the contractions are striking her like Muay Thai kicks.
Weariness overcoming her, the crawling comes to a stop, and she gingerly turns over, laying on a land of grass near the lake, her eyes gradually closing after looking directly into the sky. Four hours later, she wakes up to large eggs sitting on the grass. She notices two are starting to hatch. The hunger pangs that were hitting her stomach earlier have gotten worse, and with both of her young getting ready to hatch, she must search for food forthwith.
Her prehensile tongue suddenly sifts through the air, detecting a scent. She sets her sights on a young couple, who seem to be out on a date, walking through the park, holding hands. Using stealth, she peeps and uses the trees as cover corners. Moving gently but steadily, she’s closing in on her targets. This couple has no idea what’s about to overtake them.
Just as the woman looks over her shoulder, Ki’ara’s already in a position to strike. She screams for Jason, the young man’s name, in an attempt to warn him, but it’s too late. Ki’ara’s Komodo claws are extended, and with a swift, sharp, horizontal slash, cuts open Jason’s stomach, spilling his guts. The young lady screams in terror. She tries to run, but to no avail.
Ki’ara turns invisible; jumping into a somersault, landing in front of the young lady, who has no idea Ki’ara is in her path. She unwittingly runs into Ki’ara’s suddenly extended claws, jamming into the woman’s stomach. Ki’ara removes the claws as the woman doubles over. Ki’ara re-appears and grabs the woman by her throat. Raising her claws, she slashes the woman’s throat.
***
Ki’ara returns to her young with grass-filled waste baskets filled with meat that she cut from her victims; she notices the two eggs have hatched. One is a male, the other a female; she names the male Komo, and the female Chamelea.
After they feast, Ki’ara summons two crocodiles to carry her remaining eggs while she hops aboard an alligator, carrying Komo and Chamelea in her arms. She starts nesting in an abandoned cabin just on the outskirts of the park, now making Ture her territory.
***
Cassandra Leif (pronounced “leaf”) makes her living as a reputable bounty huntress. Standing at 5–10, light-skinned and shapely, her size, athleticism and penchant for getting her target makes her well sought-after, although some may not always agree with her methods of capturing fugitives. She makes a selection from her iPod playlist she calls “OBG” (Oldies but Goodies). She starts putting in work on the pullup bar while Miki Howard’s Come Home to Me plays in the background. She showers after going hard for 90 minutes in her home gym. Afterward, she picks up the remote and turns on the TV.
She has her head down thumbing through her contacts. She presses on Edward’s name to send him a text. Edward is a colleague of hers, whom she seems to have a propensity to get under his skin.
Cassandra: Good morning.
Edward: Morning, Sandy.
Cassandra: What are you doing, today?
Edward: I have quite a few things on the agenda today. Just trying to decide what I want to start with.
Cassandra: I’m sure none of it involves a woman. LMAO.
Edward: Have a nice day, Cassandra.
She sits her phone on the coffee table; falls back on the couch, laughing heartily at getting on Edward’s nerves once again. A breaking news report stifles her laughter, quickly shifting her emotions to shock and concern. She picks up the phone; this time dialing up Edward.
“Now you’re calling me with the jokes, I guess texting wasn’t enough?” He presumptuously answers.
Cassandra rolls her eyes. “No, Edward. This is serious. Are you watching the news?”
“As a matter of fact, I just turned it on.”
“Did you see the part with that white couple that was mutilated?”
“Yeah. Crazy stuff, huh?”
“Who could’ve done that? Was he or she even human?”
“I’m not sure, but to say whoever this person is was having a bad day is an understatement.” He replies. “Do you think this will be a mere isolated incident?”
“I don’t know, but if it keeps up, I have a feeling I will be getting a call soon.”
“I have a feeling we both will.”
***
Ki’ara is giving Komo and Chamelea a bath in the pond. She senses that they’re hungry, and she could use a bite to eat herself. Her tongue picks up the scent of an incoming alligator. She gathers her children in her arms, swimming towards the edge of the land. She sets her children back on land before getting back on the grass herself.
As the alligator is approaching, she quickly grabs her battle vest. Sensing opportunity, the gator explodes out the water targeting Komo. It opens its jars and receives a mouthful of plasma from Ki’ara’s shoulder cannon. She gathers whatever she can of the remains and feeds her children. Meanwhile, more of her eggs are hatching, putting her in a dilemma to find more food.
Her dilemma quickly subsides when she picks up the scent of a woman jogging. Going back into the cabin with her children, she puts them in a spot to hide out, then goes through the closet and dons the rest of her battle gear. For the finishing touch, she grabs her rattlesnake whip. The snake slithers around her forearm, then finally around her waist, appearing as a belt or a sash.
***
Ki’ara silently storms through the trees, watching her prey from a distance. She spots the woman sitting on the bench taking a water break. The jogger hears her cell phone vibrating in her on the clip attached to the hip of her skirt, pulls out her phone and starts talking. As she’s conversing, she wanders into an isolated aisle of trees. Stopping by one of the trees, she turns around and leans against the tree while continuing her conversation.
Her ankle is struck from nowhere by a snake bite; she cusses as she drops her phone, going down to one knee, grabbing her ankle. The individual on the other end is trying to check and see if she’s okay, but it’s useless. Ki’ara turns invisible; runs up a tree, extends her snake whip downwards, coiling it around the woman’s neck.
Ki’ara aggressively pulls up the snake whip, putting the woman in a hangman position, snapping her neck. She cuts up the woman, then takes a mesh bag concealed in the back compartment of her armor to put the pieces in.
***
Making her way back to the cabin, Ki’ara spots intruders. There are gators on the outside eating her eggs. “Enjoy your last meal.” She mutters, firing plasma blasts, obliterating them. A sudden loud shriek from Chamelea calling for her causes her to make a dash inside and much to her dismay, she catches Komodo dragons attacking her unborn, and mostly, Komo in a standoff with a crocodile, holding a short silver spear, with Chamelea hiding behind him, crying.
Her eyes bulge in anger as she nails the crocodile with a plasma blast. Using explosive athleticism and agility, she makes work of the Komodos, slashing and slicing with her claws. After the area is secure, a crying Chamelea runs into the arms of Ki’ara. Letting go of Chamelea, she walks over to Komo.
“You did a good job defending your sister.” Ki’ara commends. “How did you know where my weapons were?”
“I saw you going to the closet while I was hiding.” Komo confesses.
She smirks and puts her hand on Komo’s shoulder. “I won’t punish you, but next time don’t go through my things,” She warns. “Times like this are an exception, but — I’ll tell you what, do you want to start training?”
“Yes.”
Ki’ara nods. “Okay. You’re young; I’ll start you off slowly, then we’ll work your way up.”
“Yes mom.” Komo replies. “When do I start?”
Ki’ara smiles. “You’re so ambitious. I’ll let you know. Right now, work on getting physically fit, okay?”
“Okay.”
***
Cassandra gets on the internet to check her email. She’s about to click on the app that takes her to her Yahoo mail when a headline on her news feed that reads: ANOTHER WOMAN FOUND DEAD; MUTILATED AT TURE PARK catches her attention. “Oh my…again?” She mutters. She clicks on the headline to read the article. While reading, she puts on her Bluetooth earphones to contact Edward.
“Yep, I saw it.” He answers. “He, she, it, whoever or whatever struck again.”
“It says here that the police investigating the scene found trails of blood and intestines in the bushes.”
“Wow.”
“What’s going on?”
Edward sighs. “I have my theories, but people usually don’t believe me.”
“Cause you’re always on that outer space shit.”
Edward chuckles. “Well, I guess it makes no sense to explain my theory to you.”
Cassandra smiles and rolls her eyes. “Humor me, Edward.”
“I’ve been doing some research on this alien race called the Keratinians.” He begins. “They seem to have some physical human characteristics, but their nature is reptilian.”
“Meaning?”
“They stand upright like us, well, most of them. Some could even pass for humans except for one thing?”
“And that is?”
“Their skin is of green hue; some lighter, some darker. Some might be multi-colored.”
“Oookay, so, if this species exists, they should be easy to identify?”
“Ummm, not necessarily. You see, they change can forms. Blend in, look like one of us.”
“Oh wow. So this is what you spend your time doing?”
“Yeah. I’m not a strong, strapping Amazon such as yourself, so lifting things such as diesel trucks is beyond my ability. So yes, I spend more time studying people like you.”
“Edward.”
“Cassandra.”
Cassandra gets a call on the other end. “You better be thankful I have to take this call. I’ll call you back; we’re gonna discuss this.”
“Girl answer the phone. Nobody’s worried you.”
“Alright, we’ll see.”
Cassandra’s smiling as she gets off the phone with Edward and connects with the other line.
***
Ki’ara starts Komo’s training with some agility drills, and she’s working with Chamelea on her shape shifting. “Concentrate. Concentrate.” She tells Chamelea. Chamelea is putting forth the effort; her transformation takes some form, but she struggles to complete the transformation.
“You’re thinking too much.” Ki’ara concludes.
“I’m trying, mom.” Chamelea says.
“I know, but don’t try so hard. Just relax…concentrate.”
Following her mother’s instructions, Chamelea’s able to complete the transformation, but only for a brief amount of time. “I did it! I did it!” She says proudly, hugging Ki’ara.
“Yes, you did. I’m proud of you. You still have a way to go, but you did well.”
“Okay mom. Thanks.”
Ki’ara walks over to Komo, who just finished his agility training, bouncing from one tree branch to another, along with tree climbing. “How’s it going?” She asks.
“Great, mom,” he responds. “Anything else you want me to do?”
“No honey, that’s it for today. Wow, you two are growing so fast, but you’re still young, so I have to take things slowly with you both.” She touches Komo’s face. “You’re so strong; you remind me of your father when I first met him.”
There’s a moment of silence. Komo looks Ki’ara squarely in the eyes. “Mom, where’s my father?”
Ki’ara sighs. “I’ll explain everything later. You’re too young to understand.”
“Am I really?”
She touches his face again. “In time, I will explain everything, I promise. Right now, get cleaned up while I go find dinner. Watch out for your sister.”
Kids, they grow up so fast. She’s thinking as she’s walking back to the cabin to gather her battle gear. Going into the closet, she dons her customary armor with concealed weapons, along with her 28 inch blade that’s crafted with holes in them and without a guard for a faster slash.
***
Making her way into the park, Ki’ara unexpectedly encounters a cop, who is patrolling the area with his team. Both are slightly startled upon seeing each other.
“What the hell?!” The officer utters.
As he reaches for his .45, she spits venom in his eyes, forcing him to drop his gun. Making quick work of him, she extends the snake whip; the snake bites his face. She extends her claws, slashing his neck. He clutches his throat; falling to ground as he bleeds to death. As she’s trying to dispose the body in the bushes, her ears detect incoming footsteps and her tongue picks up their scents.
She turns invisible just before the fallen officer’s team arrives. She makes waste of the three officers; two men, one woman. She blows holes in the torsos of the men with her shoulder cannon. The remaining officer pulls out her .45 frantically looking around for a presence she can’t see.
Realizing her invisibility is waning, Ki’ara pulls out her blade and with a quick dash decapitates the woman.
***
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