Myths & Rejections

Chapter 24 - More Questions

Word Count: 5974

They quickly dragged the bodies of the dead tritons closer to the house and wrapped them in tarps to get them ready for disposal in the morning. There were no serious injuries to any of the wolves, only a few superficial claw marks that would heal within a day.

Ara and Sagan arrived too late to be part of the battle, but they did report that they had caught a few more triton scents a little to the south of the island, but no other sightings from any of the other wolf patrols were reported and nothing else was seen on any of the cameras.

"I think I may know why, or at least have a theory, of why they are coming here," Harper mused as they all sat around the house making plans for the next day.

Everyone stopped their conversations and turned to her.

"We've talked about how sirens have hunted down and tried to wipe out tritons for centuries, and that their population is dwindling. What if this is their attempt to fight back against the sirens?" Harper said. "Sirens out in the ocean might not be easy to find, but Mattie lives here, his scent is all around this island, what if they came here to hunt him specifically because he's in one place and they know where he is."

Everyone stared at Harper for several minutes before Eden spoke.

"That would explain why they are focusing on this island instead of coming onshore anywhere else." Eden said. "If they have evolved to the point they are working together, it would make sense they have identified sirens as a threat and would try to eliminate them whenever they could. Matt staying here gives them a stationary target."

"If that is the case we need to contact every siren family living on land and let them know that they need to start watching out for triton attacks at their homes." Matt said.

"We're playing right into their hands too, by calling reinforcements in, we are bringing more targets here, to a location they are aware of," Ara said. "We need to warn any sirens coming into the area, the tritons may shift their focus from targeting the island itself to targeting lone sirens answering the call."

"I thought you said these creatures weren't smart enough for this kind of thing?" Alpha Michael said.

"We never said they weren't smart, they are." Harper replied. "They just have no society or language. Which made it hard for them to communicate with each other and work together, but in the face of extinction, a species will develop rapidly, and that may be what they're doing."

"Adapt or die," Matt said. "What would you do?"

"The first step would be to come together in groups, then try and eliminate the threat, then increase the population by breeding more." Alpha Alexander said. "Protecting the females and young."

"They have to have come up with some means of communicating with each other, so they are probably developing some form of rudimentary language." Sagan said. "Now that I think of it, I have not heard of as many attacks on humans as I have in the past. Perhaps they have figured out their attacks on humans draw sirens to them?"

"Yes, we have not seen nearly as many attacks in the past several years, nor have I found as many hunting near the islands, which is why I was so surprised when they started showing up this year." Matt said.

"We must speak with the elders of our kind," Ara said. "We must let our people know what we suspect."

"What will you do if they are evolving?" Reese asked. "If they are becoming civilized and they stop hunting humans, will you stop hunting them?"

"That is not for us alone to decide," Matt said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "But I doubt that will happen, even if they stopped hunting humans, I doubt they will stop hunting us. They will likely continue seeking to wipe us out as we have sought to wipe them out."