The Hawaiian Special Forces

Chapter 47

They stayed off the grid for a month. Keaka and Hanale both grew the traditional orange and black spotted pattern, with white fur on their chest and stomach. The four of them developed effective group tactics for taking down capybara and various other game. Keaka developed a fondness for sloth, which were easy to catch if you were willing to climb after them.

Hanale stopped fighting for dominance after Aoloa broke both his arms and took a bite out of one of them. Keaka learned the hard way that Hokulani could use their comms units against her. The result was Hokulani, despite her size, ended up deferring only to Aoloa, and then only sometimes.

The four of them spread out in the dim light of evening, listening to the sounds of a large hog in the underbrush. They all had their HUDs synchronized. Aoloa dive-bombed it from above, digging his claws into the thick hide, causing it to squeal in pain and anger.

As the hog charged blindly, trying to dislodge its assailant, Hanale dropped down on its haunches, clawing at its legs to cripple them. When they finally collapsed, Keaka and Hokulani charged in, biting its front legs, maiming them. During all this, Aoloa started ripping at hide and muscle, weakening it.

Finally, the females slashed its throat, allowing the beast to bleed out and expire. Their nanites started healing injuries as they gorged on feral hog. Once their bellies were full, they started grooming each other, eventually mating.

Aoloa eyed Hokulani as they dozed. ::How do you want to start tracking him again?::

She opened one eye and gazed at him. ::We start with passive strategies. Look for reports of anomalous wildlife behavior. We're having an impact on the wild hog population around us. Surely six of us would find a favorite animal to hunt that would get noticed.::

::Won't that be a tip off to the UPS, as well?::

::Yeah, they'll be looking for it, but we cover a pretty large territory. They haven't trained their squads for extended tracking missions. They find a target, and only then do they send in the troops. Plus, the last few times they've tangled with us, things didn't go well. They're going to be cautious.::

Aoloa nodded slightly, eyes heavily lidded. ::Let's start visiting towns to find wifi access, then.::

---

They were piggy-backing off Hokulani's connection the next night. It wasn't a good connection, in general, but it was adequate. They scoured the English version of various newspapers, looking for any reports about unusual predator activity. Unfortunately, they barely found anything that would point to their own location, much less any other group.

Aoloa found there were enough large predators, feline and canine, to account for most any skeleton that people came across. By the time they'd finished eating a boar, the marks of the kill were obscured by the process of eating it. When they were done, other scavengers moved in to finish it off.

::Are you sure this is...::

::They're in Chile!:: she cut him off. Keaka and Hanale both perked up, watching her keenly. ::They moved out of the area after our encounter. I think I see where they are. The problem is, it might not be them, and if it is them, the UPS will get there first. Still, it's a place to go.::

::Did you let Sherpa know we're okay?::

::Yeah, but I didn't stick around to see a response. They'll be monitoring that. We have what we need, let's get moving.::