Confiding in Friends

Kendra went up to her room and got her packed pack ready for her night observing outside in the mountain area. They were watching one spot in particular as there had been movement spotted by a few locals but not by any on their team.

"Hey, you seem distracted." Kendra turned around and saw Derrick there. She frowned at him.

"What do you mean?" She said it wasn't like she'd been around him today or even said anything at all.

"You always hear the people that are passing by. You didn't even look up when I stopped in your doorway. It means that you are lost in thought on something." She felt a kinship toward him, that he would notice something like that. He was watching her and that same look in his eye told her he was thinking something else as well. Still nothing, just a good friend.

"Derrick do you ever wonder if maybe… the things we hunt should really be caught or killed?" She asked sitting down on the bed. He moved into her room and shut the door sitting down.

"Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. There are a lot of dangerous things out there and they hurt others." Derrick answered truthfully.

"So does any human with a gun, or one that is angry enough."

"These creatures kill us because we are food to them." `

"Not all of them kill when they feed, and we kill them just as readily, and for them, it is for food, not greed. What makes humans better?"

"You're using the terms human a bit more. Separating you from us, did something happen? I heard that the old man in that shop was a dud. Did he say something to you?" Kendra appreciated that he would believe her and that seemed genuine. It took her a moment but she confided in him.

"I don't think he was. He said things to me that they didn't hear, he knew what I was. He also said that perhaps I was on the wrong side." She shared because she trusted him.

"What side is that the one trying to stay alive?'

"Isn't that both sides?" She asked him and he was quiet, sitting there and really thinking. He gave a sigh.

"Truthfully when I see these animals or human-like things, I can't help but think what if that was me? I'm not military, I'm just a doctor that goes along and helps take care of the patients. I don't see them as things, because when I was doing normal vet practice, I never saw the animals as items. I took an oath to do no harm, and I do find it hard some days. When I'm asked to step aside or stop. Just so you know." Derrick stated. He did, but what were you going to do when the ones with you held the power?

"I'm glad to hear it, and humans would kill them if they knew. It would be an all-out war, I don't think that they should be destroyed but humans have ingenuity and numbers. Maybe a few psychics and even they are shunned by the normal people."

"Why this sudden depressive thinking?"

"Because I'm one of the freaks, the rest are used to me, but if push came to shove they'd rather it be my life on the line. I'm an it, I heal faster than the rest and I am completely alone. I have no one of my species to even be with."

"You have me," Derrick said seriously and she moved forward giving him a hug. It hurt her a bit when he said it and knew she couldn't feel that way. That he meant it as more, but she did not.

"I know, and I wish that I could feel that way but I don't. I thank you for being my friend and for sitting and talking with me. If I had a family I'd want you to be the one I brought home or were a part of it. I know it isn't what you want to hear, but I can only see you as I would a brother." She wanted to make sure that they were on the same page.

"I know." He said and she saw the hurt and felt horrible for it. He seemed to see it there as well and so he gave a bit of a smile.

"It always hurts to be rejected, but I'm glad you would come to me. Truth be told I can't talk to these military people. They just aren't my style, and I want you to know that I really would stand by you, I'll take a brother over nothing."

"Thanks." She said giving him a brief kiss on the cheek she knew that maybe it wasn't a great idea but did it anyways. She stood grabbing her bag to go.

"If you don't want to catch them anymore, why do you come?" He asked her.

"So I can leave my gilded cage. When the rich and powerful come to see these creatures we catch, I'm still on display when I'm there." He felt for her, he did. He wouldn't know what it was like to be in her shoes.

"Make sure the others don't get hypothermia. I hate to treat them because they were stupid and Conroy has his head so buried in papers he wouldn't notice an explosion." She smiled

"Will do." She grabbed her coat and put it on moving down the stairs and shouldered her pack and meeting the others at the door. She slipped on her gloves and hat as they were debriefed about what and where as the location had changed.

"Ready for the hike?" Bryce asked.

"Overjoyed," Lee said and the other man on their team. Kipper laughed. He was a medium-built man and had dead aim with a weapon. He was an excellent marksman and their sniper.

"Kendra, glad you're coming, Lee isn't much to look at." Lee punched him in the side and Kendra gave a light smile.

"I wish I had something to look at too." Lee laughed and gave her a knuckle pound as they went out the door and then turned going behind it and heading off into the forested area. A short way in the world seemed to change and it grew silent. The trees closing in and making the rest of the world disappear.

She could see how in the past humans would have feared places like this, they were unknown and wild and hid things that could kill you. Yet there was a beauty to it, the draw to stand and soak it in. A bit of a breeze blew and the trees creaked somewhat. She took a deep breath of the cleaner air coming off the mountain.

It grew very dark in the forest but she could see just fine and was the one that led the team after a while so they wouldn't have to use anything and give away their location. After all, there was more than just the being they were looking for here. Plus they were still on Yeti watch, which most of the team laughed about.

After a couple of hours hike and going up some steep terrain they neared where the couple others were sitting in the mouth of a shallow cave. It was a beautiful view of the valley below and the mountains above. You could see a lot of the area and as they got there the other team looked ready to leave. Cryptid watching was pretty boring most of the time.

"Nothing, there was a big cat of some kind down there earlier, a few deer-like animals and birds. Other than that, nothing. Have fun." Kendel said.

"That area there, and this one over here," Marcus said, one of the extras sent in. "Are the areas where they saw something big flying around? Here's to hoping they weren't just drunk."

"Okay," Bryce said and put his stuff in the mouth of the cave and the others moved to set up shop. The two others left, there were four of them because things seemed to go horribly bad at night, and they were going to be sleeping out here, no one was coming to relieve them for the next day.

"Now we wait," Kipper said picking a comfortable spot and giving a sigh.

"Looks like a storm brewing up on the mountain," Kendra said pointing to the clouds that were starting to build.

"Ho-rah," Lee remarked and the four of them sat there to wait. And wait they did.