Chapter Text
There are things in this world that don’t want to be known. Things that will run, hide, chase, or kill. The supernatural does not often entertain the curious without consequence.
This concept had been beaten into Soap's head the second he had been able to find fear in what hid under his bed at night. That sirens and selkies roamed the water. Dragons, griffins, and other winged assortments dominated the skies. Weres stalked in the forests while ogres lumbered and centaurs hunted. And that shifters lived among humans, blending in seamlessly.
There was plenty in the world that would not give you a second chance.
Which was why Soap had his gun drawn the instant he saw the milky white eyes peering at him from the darkness.
Soap and the others had heard the growls and whines of wildlife as they dragged Hassan out into the middle of nowhere to try and pry any information out of him. General Shepherd and Laswell were online calling shots when they first heard it.
A screaming cut through the rest of the already unsettling wildlife noises. But it wasn’t a human scream. No, it was something twisted and morphed. It just nearly resembled a human. The rest was pure hungry animal.
Everyone had given pause as the thing in the darkness scream its head off for several seconds before cutting off just as suddenly as it started.
Soap had asked Alejandro how far away the earlier Chupacabra sightings were. The Colonel only looked pale and said, “Nowhere close.”
But they couldn’t worry about that. There was a supposed terrorist in custody and the clock was ticking on getting any useful information out of him. So a few of Grave’s shadows watched the perimeter as the interrogation continued.
But Soap wasn’t capable of focusing on that no matter how hard he tried. The hair on his neck was standing up and his skin was tingling. He knew whatever it was that was making that sound wasn’t going to stay away for long.
From the corner of his eye, Soap had seen Ghost watching him no matter how inconspicuous his lieutenant tried to be.
Soap listened with one ear as Hassan strung together pretty innocent words while the other was straining for all the surroundings.
How he hated that his nervousness was well founded.
The thing was just out of eyesight. Most wouldn’t be able to even see it if they didn’t know what they were looking for. Soap didn’t have personal experience, but he was no stranger to looking for the unnatural.
He ignored the shouts of alarm as he raise his gun and aimed. Yet the beast only regarded him with cold curiosity, if they even had that high of an intelligence. It stalked closer.
The yelling had ceased as more guns were drawn and aimed at the encroaching creature.
As it stalked into the light, Soap could see a clear image of it. Its eye’s looked almost silver in the low light. Its skin was grey and leathery with spikes poking out along the back where the spine was. Saliva dripped down between the two rows of razor-sharp and crocked teeth it bared.
But as it was fully illuminated Soap found himself hesitantly lowering his weapon. It was outfitted in a bulletproof vest and its limbs were covered in similar padding.
“Cards, tell your breast to stand down.” Shepherd's voice echoed through the uneasy silence with the confidence of someone who was in absolutely no danger of the creature standing before them.
Cards. Soap remembered the name from the briefing with Laswell. A high-level operator under the command of a different branch entirely who functioned as a Beast Tamer. A queller of the supernatural. Not much information was given to either Soap or Ghost about this individual. Only that they could be additional backup if needed. They had already been stationed near Los Almas due to the Chupacabra sightings and attacks. Clearly, they had solved that problem.
The grey-skinned beast, a Chupacabra no doubt, simply snarled a few seconds after Shepherd had given his ultimatum but did change course. Instead, it now circled the camp. Like a giant mutated steroid jumped up junkyard dog.
Soap would’ve found it funny if he hadn’t been so preoccupied with trying not to shit himself. The fact that it reached up to his abdomen while on all four was not soothing. Though some of his fear was alleviated as the thing slunk out of sight behind one of the cars.
He risked a glance at Ghost who made eye contact back. He seemed unconcerned though his shoulders seemed to be drawn just a tad tighter.
Soap could hear the faint clicking of claws on the ground. But he pushed his uneasiness aside in favor of listening to Graves interrogating Hassan.
“So you do have a Beast Tamer,” Hassan seared.
Graves frowned back. “It’s none of your business. Now, where are the missiles?”
It had been an expectation that they would not see the Beast Tamer. Not without a call to action at least. Why the Chupacabra was here now was confusing.
“We would never bind a creature to our bidding,” Hassan stated ignoring Graves.
“Yeah well, it certainly isn’t bound to me. Now you can either become part of the food chain or you can start talking.”
Soap watched Alejandro's hand tighten on Hassan. The Colonel didn’t look behind him but it seemed to be a near thing.
It was understandable as Soap looked back to Ghost who had become as stiff as a board. The beast was rubbing its side against the Brit’s legs, making its way closer and closer to Hassan. It was low and predatory, eyes a sickly yellow in the glow of the headlights.
If Hassan was nervous he didn’t let it show. “I’m a hostage here. This is illegal.”
“You’re a prisoner of war,” Alejandro all but growled.
“Iran is not at-“ Hassan had a noticeable pause as he turned his head, coming near face to face with the Chupacabra who had stalked up real close. Its back was arched up like a displeased house cat as it bared its fangs. With Hassan on his knees, it was almost at eye level with it. Still, Hassan swallowed but continued. “At war with Mexico. I’ve broken no laws.”
Hassan refused to maintain eye contact with the beast any longer, opting to instead look anywhere but. “These men and their commanders are the lawbreakers.”
The statement irked Soap. “You and you beloved General Ghorbrani broke every-“
“DO NOT SPEAK HIS NAME!” Hassan snapped back, rising on his knees. At the same time, the Chupacabra snapped its salivating jaws and placed itself between Hassan and Soap growling.
Hassan’s eyes nearly flickered to it before deciding to yell some more. “You executed him and you will pay for your crimes.”
Hassan then switched languages but Soap wasn’t much concerned with what he or any of the others were saying. Pale cloudy eyes were boring into his very soul. If Soap didn’t know any better, he would assume the Chupacabra before him was sentient. Clearly, it didn’t care much for Hassan now.
Soap watched curiously tense as it approached him and wrapped itself around his legs, brushing up against his side holster and belt. He was aware of Ghost’s eyes on him.
Graves had moved the streaming laptop away from them and was speaking with Laswell and Shepherd personally.
“Actual, let me finish this,” Graves said.
Shepherd replied deadly cold. “There is nothing I would like more. And to have Cards sick their beast on him would be perfect. But Laswell’s right. Without proof, we need to turn him loose. See where he leads us.”
Soap stepped forward away from the seemingly over-affectionate supernatural creature. “He’s right here. You can’t be serious.”
“I’m afraid I am, son,” came Shepherd's curt reply.
Soap huffed out a breath of air and ran a hand through his mohawk. Hassan laughing behind him made Soap want to strangle the man, orders be damned. But hearing a watery rough growl made his mode lighten just a little.
“Did we get anything from his phone?” Ghost asked.
“Affirmative. We got a hit,” Laswell replied sounding a bit relieved. Soap was too. Even if they had to turn Hassan loose, hopefully now it wasn’t for nothing.
Shepherd seemed just as pleased. “Good. Now take him back and let him go.”
Soap watched as Alejandro put the hood back on Hassan and near dragged him to one of the trucks. Soap then shut the laptop.
His insides were still boiling with the thought of letting Hassan walk free. Shepherd was right. It would be incredibly easy to just feed his body to the Chupacabra and be done with him. But whatever plan Hassan had would still most likely move forward. There were more missiles out there and they needed to be found.
The site was cleared quickly which left Soap to look around and see where the beast had gone off to.
Soap had expected it to leave. To be recalled by Cards or just somewhere else. But rather it seemed to have stuck around. And by stuck around, it was currently almost winding itself between Ghost's legs like a damn housecat, leaving drool marks along Ghost's pants. If Ghost was annoyed, he was hiding it well.
“Make a new friend Lt.?” Soap quipped as the beast stopped circling to look at Soap. The sergeant suppressed a shiver at those eyes.
Ghost simply rolled his eyes. “Better company than you.”
Soap fake pouted. “Aw, Lt. Ya wound me.”
He almost missed the way the beast seemed to huff out a laugh of its own. Though maybe it was meant to be a softer growl. Either way, soap turned his attention to it. “You coming in the trucks with us.”
It paid Soap no mind as it unwound itself from Ghost's legs and walked down the track path that the trucks had made getting to the remote location. It craned its head over its shoulder before turning back around and bolting off into the night.
Soap looked to Ghost who only shrugged in response.
The ride back to base was long, especially with them first having to offload Hassan. Though for the first part of the journey, Soap could have sworn he saw the Chupacabra keeping pace with the vehicles just barely out of sight. Every once in a while coming close enough to be slightly seen.
No one else had commented on the strange sightings and Soap really didn’t feel like bringing it up.
After they dropped off Hassan, Soap didn’t see it anymore.
They were halfway back to base before the comms crackled to life.
“Cards to Convoy. Target has been collected by cartel.”
The voice was gravely and almost seemed modulated.
“Copy that Cards. Are you tailing,” Ghost gruffed out.
“Negative.”
There was a pregnant pause as everyone waited for the Beast tame to say more. More never came. “Are you coming to base,” Ghost tried.
“Negative.”
“Location?”
“Classified.”
“Any useful information ye’d like to share?” Soap tried failing to keep all of the annoyance out of his voice.
“Thanks for not shooting Daisy. She seems to like you lot. Out here.”
Soap sat quizzically while he processed the information. “Did they really name the Chupacabra Daisy?”
Ghost just hummed with narrow eyes.
Soap looked more closely. “Something botherin’ ya Lt.?”
Ghost snapped his eyes to the sergeant. “We know nothing about this Beast Tamer, yet they appear to be tracking our every move.”
Soap tried to shrug it off. “Different division. Most of the shit they do’s probably classified.”
“To the general public. Shouldn’t be to comrades.”
“Maybe they’re shy,” Soap grinned. “Like you Lt.”
Ghost gave Soap a looked that Soap had come to identify as ‘really?’ But didn’t say more on the matter.
Meanwhile, Soap tried to push the notion of the Chupacabra out of his mind. It was weird trusting a creature more than its handler. Especially since the handler was probably the sole reason why him and the others weren’t leaving with a few more scars.
But ‘Daisy’ was tangible. Seen. Soap could identify it. She?
Soap shook his head. No use dwelling on someone who really wasn’t a problem. At least not yet. Soap could only hope they stayed that way. Out of the way.
The rest of the ride back to base was uneventful.
But later that night when Soap woke up in a cold sweat, he could have sworn he saw cloudy eyes peering in at him through the window.