Reeker
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| Classification | |
|---|---|
| Structure | Field |
| Origin | Derived (Branch parasite) |
| Class | Primitive; Adapted |
| Characteristics | |
| Length | 1.5–2 m |
| Mass | 60–100 kg |
| First recorded | 2023 |
The Reeker is a fast, venomous branch parasite, a field organism of Derived origin. It closes distance quickly, climbs walls and drops onto positions from above, and attacks defenders who rely on range and fortification. It is named for its smell, which is strong enough to be noticed before the animal is seen.
Description
A Reeker is 1.5 to 2 metres long and weighs 60 to 100 kg. It has a narrow, low body on six limbs ending in hooked claws, and grips brick, concrete and tree bark well enough to climb vertical surfaces. It sprints at up to about 60 km/h over short distances. Its membrane is thinner than that of the larger branch parasites, and a Reeker can be killed with sustained small-arms fire, though rarely before it closes the distance.
Glands along its flanks give off an aerosol of ammonia and amines, the same compounds that give infested ground its smell, in far higher concentration. At close range the smell causes coughing and streaming eyes.
Venom
A Reeker's bite and the spines on its forelimbs inject a venom that destroys tissue around the wound and causes rapid swelling, falling blood pressure and shock. Untreated, a serious envenomation can kill within hours. The venom acts on the blood vessels and the tissue around the wound, and survivors of severe bites are often left with damaged muscle and nerve in the bitten limb, and sometimes lose it.
Envenomation is a common trigger of rapid COTH activation in carriers. Patients who survive the venom are tested for active COTH before discharge.
An antivenom raised in horses has been issued to Federation units since 2025. It reduces the tissue damage and the shock, and has no effect on COTH. It is made in Lyon from venom collected from captured Reekers, and since its introduction the death rate among soldiers treated within an hour of a bite has fallen from about a quarter to under one in twenty. Before 2025 envenomation was treated with fluids, pressure dressings and drugs to support the blood pressure.
Behaviour
Reekers hunt in groups of three to eight, in support of other organisms. They cross open ground faster than defenders can engage them, climb the walls of buildings and the sides of trenches, and drop onto positions from roofs, trees and overhangs. Fortified positions with open fields of fire, which hold against slower organisms, are their main target.
Forms
The Adapted form, recorded from 2024, has a stronger venom, a longer sprint and short tendrils along the forelimbs, which it uses to hold on to a person while it bites. It attacks in larger groups than the Primitive form, and more often at night.
Genome variants
Sinic Reekers, in East Asia, are faster over short distances than others. Humic Reekers, in the Amazon, are the largest, up to about 2.5 m long, and climb into the forest canopy to drop onto people below. Boreic Reekers remain fully active through the Siberian winter, and their smell carries further in cold air.
Countermeasures
Positions in infested areas are covered from above as well as in front, with roofs or netting over trenches and firing points. Troops carry antivenom autoinjectors, and gas masks protect against the aerosol. Sentries are trained to report the smell, which on still days can be noticed a hundred metres or more from a Reeker group, as an alarm in its own right. Fire, area weapons and RTG rounds are used against Reeker groups.
History
The Reeker was first recorded in 2023, with the other branch parasites. The name came from soldiers' reports of the smell, and was in official use by the end of that year. Its attacks on fortified positions led to the European Defence Force's order of 2023 that firing positions near infested ground be roofed or netted.