Strange Hunters

49.

"We always burn them, I like to think of it as a way of warning the rest." Gilbert had piled both of the corpses on a small pyre in the back. Clarissa hadn't slept very well, her dreams were all about those empty eyed creatures. Gilbert assured her the dreams would go away, that it was an after effect of the poison they use, but she wasn't sure, she worried the dreams wouldn't ever go away.

"Do we really want to warn the rest of these things?"

"Hell yes I do, they attacked me at my home Clarissa, they came after you and me that wasn't no accident, I want them terrified of what I'll do to them." Gilbert had slept on it and knew something was up, the strangers would never come attack him on their own, someone guided them to him, and he worried it wasn't just him.

"What are we going to do to them?"

"Kill them all we're exterminators and they very much need to be exterminated, but first I need to make some calls, check in with some other guys." Gilbert went into the house and Clarissa followed after, the smell of the burning strangers was starting to make her nauseous.

****

"Gilbert? The man Dunkley himself! I saw what you did up in Olympia, quality shit." Gregg Roberts was an exterminator Gilbert knew from the service, he worked a different division than Gilbert had, but they both went private around the same time. He always liked Gregg even if he had a very course way of talking.

"Gregg I'm going to get right to the point, have you seen any strangers?" The line went quiet for a moment, the jovial voice Gregg started with disappeared.

"No, but I've been getting that feeling they are around, you know that fucking uneasy settling in your stomach, I thought maybe I ate some bad meat, you seen some?"

"Two, came to my house Gregg."

"Shit, well you made it out ok, but you don't think it was isolated, you called Rick, Bob and Dale yet?" The five of them had banded up once to wipe out an overly large group of strangers in Bismark North Dakota years back, it had weighed on Gilbert's mind when they showed up at the house.

"You were my first call Gregg."

"I'm touched Gilbert, tell you what I'll make it easy on you and call Rick, you call Bob and Dale, then we can coordinate from there, if they are back I figure it'll be some empty place again, maybe back in North Dakota?"

"Thanks Gregg." Gilbert hung up and was happy Gregg was willing to talk to Rick Baker. Rick was a good exterminator, but an absolutely horrible person to get stuck on the phone with, especially with other people to call, Bob Wright and Dale Withers were men who didn't talk much.

Gilbert got to the calls while Clarissa gathered up some traveling supplies, he already called Doris to explain the situation. She was on board with wiping out the Strangers, saying no more than they deserve no sympathy. Both Bob and Dale did not answer, and Gilbert felt that fear feeling sinking into his stomach. It was possible they were busy, it was also possible they were dead and he couldn't be sure either way.

"Yeah I couldn't get a hold of Rick either." Gregg sounded worried too.

"How about you check in on Rick, I see if Dale is still alive, and then we meet at Bob's for beers." Gilbert tried to add levity to it, but he and Gregg both were into it.

"As long as you bring the beers, Bob only buys coors light and I'd rather drink water." Gilbert hung up and Clarissa had gathered all the supplies and then some. He was very proud of her in that moment, she was recovering well from her interaction with the strangers.

"We ready to go?" She sounded almost happy.

"Yeah just have to swing in to the store and pick up a sixer of beer."

"Do I want to know?"

"Nope, just roll with it." It was the first and last time Gilbert would laugh on the rest of the trip.