Nature of Predators: Death of a Monster

FINAL: The Death of a Monster

Memory transcription subject: Estala, Human Methods Advisor to the Exterminators.

Date [standardised human time]: Feb 1st, 2137

I came clean after that.

I showed Joseph everything: the cameras, my setup, the dead man switch. Every plan, every reason for what I did. I even showed him the files on my exterminator account, the plans I made to rise up against humanity when they 'inevitably enacted their evil predatory plan'. For an hour I did nothing but lay all my secrets bare for the human to see, to judge. I don't know what I expected. Anger? For him to hate me? For him to attack me? I know I would have deserved it. I would never have guessed his actual response however.

He laughed.

A deep uncontrollable sound, rising up from his belly in a cascade of noise.

"Oh my god, so that's what you were doing!" The laughter continued as Joseph tried to speak through his mocking joy. "I knew something was up, but I would never have guessed that! I thought it was either curiosity or a sex thing. But trying to be eaten?"

The human launched into more laughter, leaving me feeling confused.

"So you're not angry? You're not upset? I thought if you knew you'd never want to see me again."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm slightly annoyed at you breaching my privacy, which we will talk about later. But... It's hard to be mad at a reason that is this dumb!"

Joseph continued the bouts of laughter, doubling over once again, the sound echoing around my apartment. I briefly wondered what the neighbours would think, before realising I frankly didn't care.

"This explains so much. Day one I was just glad you weren't there to kill me, as I suddenly realised how dumb wandering around an alien forest on my own was. But after that..."

Joseph continued his mirthful realisation, a smile plastered over his face.

"The way you kept edging closer while looking terrified, or how you kept mentioning how alone we were. Or that way you kept thrusting your chest out occasionally. You must have been so annoyed with me. 'why does this predator not desire the taste of my flesh'!"

Fear of losing Joseph had given away now to the feeling of embarrassment, as I mumbled a small counter to his mocking.

"I thought it was a good idea at the time..."

"What was the next stage of this plan? Was I going to arrive at our meeting one day to find you all like 'Oh no, I seem to have gotten stuck in this bucket of 11 secret herbs and spices. Help me step-predator!'"

I could feel my skin turning purple with embarrassment under my feathers as Joseph once again doubled over with loud bellows of laughter. Still, I was glad that not only did the human not hate me for my deception, but seeing him so happy was nice. Ever since he had gotten the terrible news something had been missing from Joseph, that inherent joy and enthusiasm.

Things moved quickly after that. I had demanded that Joseph stay with me, to move out of the shelter. I had seen the PSA's and various warnings of what a human in despair could do to themselves. Prey disease they were calling it. When a human found themselves without a herd there had been reports of self harm, the gouging and removal of the teeth and eyes, and in some circumstances... worse.

This had required me to officially sign up for the exchange program, which had forced me to go up against something more terrible and terrifying than a million predators hunting me with piercing eyes and blood covered fangs: bureaucracy.

It turns out my legal situation is... weird. Technically I am not a citizen of Venlil Prime, but instead a member of the federation, the same one they were at war with. In addition there had been a grand total of zero Krakotl who had tried to sign up to the exchange program, my job made this application even more 'suspicious'. Nobody knew what to do with such a request.

I didn't give up however, eventually getting the necessary paperwork and support, although it did involve certain actions on my part. I would never admit it, but some may say there had been screaming and shouting at the poor Venlil government employee. Some rumours would call such actions downright predatory.

There had been a memorial service for Joseph's family, a group service for the latest batch of confirmed casualties. It was estimated that these would be running on Venlil prime for years as death's of loved ones were officially confirmed. Too many services for too many deaths.

Joseph had wanted me to come, an invitation I had declined. I gathered that showing up at such an event would be... inconsiderate of the situation. When he made his way back however we spent the rest of the paw just talking. The human telling tale after tale about his family, of the exceptional and the mundane, of memories fondly held.

Some paws were better than others, sometimes the Joseph I knew would be almost there, excitedly babbling on about some piece of human history or watching with glee some part of Venlil Prime I showed him. Others he barely moved, every piece of joy gone, replaced with empty grief. Still, as time heals all wounds, the good days begin to outnumber the bad.

My own guilt was still there, although that had been pushed aside. Partly because wallowing in my own self created misery seemed selfish when Joseph was hurting as he did. I had chosen to take the actions I did, while the human had done nothing more than just want to make friends in a universe that hated him.

Dr Landers was the other reason for that. While originally supplied for Joseph in the wake of his families deaths, I had been invited to attend the human concept of 'therapy'. The job role didn't really translate, the closest that existed was an assessor: someone who was trained to recognise predator disease. This human however just talked with me, about what I had done, about what I felt, completely free of the judgement I deserved. Somehow doing this just... made it all better.

Which is why I eventually went back to work, much to the exterminator guild's surprise when I just walked back in one paw. They had been happy to have me back, considering the reduction in workforce the guild had suffered. My job was basically the same, but instead of teaching them about federation standards, I now taught them about human ones.

The human study of investigation was overwhelming, with major branches of science and study being dedicated to the craft. I have no idea how I ever considered the federation to be superior to the "primitive predators". Trying to convince some of the exterminators was an uphill battle, which was kind of ironic. Those I had thought of as my most trusted trainees, those who I would have to lead once humans "removed their mask", were now some of my biggest problems.

On the other hand, the human exterminators I had once been so terrified of and reluctant to hire were now my biggest forces for change. An idea had started to form in splitting up the exterminators into two groups. As Joseph had so bluntly told me "Maybe the jobs of pest control and murder investigator should be two different things?"

Well there was one thing that had remained a constant: Treven was still a spehing idiot. Somehow he'd become even more stupid and drug addled during my sabatical.

All of this had led to Joseph making a suggestion. What if we released the video I had recorded? Would an honest conversation with a "predator" that didn't know he was being recorded change even one person's mind?

My human had suggested giving the videos a shocking title and descriptions, as if my original dead man's switch was triggered. Clickbait he called it. Of course that's what he called it, humans couldn't help but to use predatory terms for the simplest of things.

But it was this suggestion that saw me rewatching that original footage, that first meeting we had had so long ago. It was strange seeing myself in such a way, almost like I was watching someone else. So distrusting, with stupid terrible ideas filling her stupid bird brain. That Krakotl also was not as smooth at hiding her emotions as she thought she was.

It was a person that didn't exist anymore, a monster formed of federation propaganda, guilt and ignorance.

A monster that I was very glad to declare as dead.