Unforgettable
Nubian Dragon © 12/2009 (11/2012revised)
-o-o-o-o-Chapter 1-o-o-o-o-
The Enemy of My Enemy
Alive, dead.
Dream, reality.
She could not decide which.
Dread surrounded her.
Lex was terrified. She was in a nightmare or at least she hoped she was in a nightmare because the things that had happened the last nine hours didn't seem real to her, could not be real, yet she knew that they were because she was the only person left from her party. One-by-one, they had been picked off as if they were ducks being hunted. She watched as the men she was supposed to be guiding thought the pyramid and back to the surface, be takened. They were taken or killed by either kind of the two different beings they were trapped between.
Remembering him, she wanted to cry out in despair, but she could not, would not, because it would not bring him back. It wouldn't bring any of them back and now she was alone.
In their last moments, Sebastian was so close she could feel his hand graze her; then he was drug away from her screaming. In horrid silence she clung to the damaged ledge unable to help the man being taken and unable to help herself. The scene played itself over and over in her head like a looped animated pic with no beginning and no end. The black serpent was there and neither of them had known. Looking just above his head and past his desperate face she had seen the black eyeless face behind Sebastian. For a brief moment she thought she recognized the black alien, but she couldn't have. She'd never seen the creatures before entering the pyramid. The elongated head had appeared in silence. In silence, the black serpent had seized Sebastian. Grabbed the last living member of her team and left her on her own.
Alone.
She didn't know how to get out of the hellish prison and she didn't know if she would ever get out of the primordial labyrinth alive. She had to try. Her spirit told her she had to try, but her mind told her it was futile.
Despair had seized her.
She had wanted to scream, scream and accept the same fate that the rest of her team. Scream and feel death's pain, but no sound would come out. The only thing she could feel were the tears streaming down her brown cheeks and her vision beginning to blur.
She didn't remembered how she pulled herself from the damaged ledge that wouldn't give her an opportunity to get a solid grip, but she had. She had survived and she didn't know which way to go.
Without consulting her brain, her feet began to move and in her fogged mind she ambled unaware. She walked not knowing how long she had been moving or where she was going.
Now she was walking down an ominously dark quiet corridor that led to who knows where in the pyramid. Tears continued to stream down her cheeks she didn't know where she was going or where to go, her wrist compass was smashed which compounded her problem of finding a way out of the pyramid. Slowly she continued to walk and listen. Not knowing if she would come across the serpent-like creatures or the large predators, she tried to keep her mind clear. All she could do was run from them and hoped that the serpents didn't sneak up on her first.
Just before she reached the fork in the tunnel, she paused trying to decide which way she would go. The tunnel was dark and cool, she was glad that she wore her layers even though she had lost her gloves and her hat. Gently she rubbed her hands together to warm them as she looked at her two choices.
Which way, she thought to herself and she tried to get a sense of direction.
It was hard to judge because she was 2000 feet underground. She didn't have the stars or the wind to give her any hints. She was starting to get frustrated and paranoid standing in one place. To ease the stress she took her hair and started to make two braids. Braiding her hair usually helped her think straight and she needed to think clearly. By the time she had finished her second and last braid, she had decided which tunnel she was going to take.
When she took her first step towards the direction, she heard a deep guttural grumble. Lex froze in mid-step and the tears that she thought she had squelched returned and began to stream heavily down her cheeks.
O my God, I'm dead, she thought.
Knowing what was behind her, she didn't want to face the truth. She wanted her death to be swift and sure sparing her as much pain as possible. Squeezing her eyes shut, she waited, but nothing happened. Opening her eyes she decided to face her death with all the bravery she could muster. As she turned to see the predator that stood almost eight feet tall standing behind her with a spear in its hand, her heart sank. Again, she wanted to scream, but all she could do was cry and shake, no sound came out of her.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Quietly he tracked the ooman; it walked as if it was confused. It smelled of fear. Smaller than the rest of its pack, Jaque'Su Knau could see that it had no weapon, just his weapon that it carried on its back.
Such a stupid creature, he thought …an easy kill, not worthy of being my trophy. He continued to think as he tracked the ooman. I will kill it and I will get my caster back, and then go after more challenging prey.
He continued to follow the ooman to see what it would do. He sighed in disgust, the scene was pathetic and the stench of its fear filled his scent glands even more; it walked with too much timidity and not knowing which direction to go made it a spectacle to watch, but even that bored him quickly.
"Time to die weak ooman," Jaque'Su Knau said in a low deep voice.
The ooman heard him speak and turned to face him. The horror that shown on its face was priceless. Jaque'Su Knau waited for it to scream, but it didn't. Only liquid flowed from its eyes and he could see that it was shaking; from fear, no doubt. Drawing back his throwing arm, Jaque'Su Knau heard the ooman speak.
"No! Stop! Please…" the ooman said and Jaque'Su Knau stopped to see what the ooman do.
A challenge, he thought.
It would challenge him?
This would give him some satisfaction, but not much. If the pathetic creature would fight him, he would kill it even though there would not be much of a fight. He would kill the ooman quickly showing mercy and he might take its skull. This would be the first ooman skull in his collection, but it would not have been the clash he was expecting from an ooman. Oomans were prey to be respected, but the small one that was challenging him insulted him with the menial challenge.
Tricky creatures, he thought to himself as he maintained his vigilance while facing the small creature.
He watched as the ooman reached to the sling that was on its back.
"It's going to use my own weapon on me," Jaque'Su Knau said and he drew back once more to throw his combistick.
"No… no… Wait… Stop… Stop… Please" the ooman said waving its hands in front of it and crouching low in a position of submission.
Next it began chanting.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The enemy of my enemy is my friend…." It continued to chant as it slowly reached to its back with its head down to remove a type of satchel from its back.
Watching and listening to the ooman repeat the strange words over and over, Jaque'Su Knau waited to see what it would do. He knew he was the stronger of the two being far superior in strength and skill, but the ooman was known to be a cunning creature with little to no honor. They could not be trusted and he did not trust the small one that was kneeling before him.
Being cautious, Jaque'Su Knau watched and readied himself to make the killing blow if the small ooman tried to move against him first. He waited and the ooman continued to chant as it removed the satchel from its back and began pushing it across the floor towards him.
It's giving me back my weapon, Jaque'Su Knau thought to himself as he allowed the ooman to return his weapon unimpeded. The weak pathetic creature is also a'ka-ad, stupid.
With a split second of warning, Jaque'Su Knau turned in the direction of the sound hearing the shrill hiss of the kiande amedha.
The thing had crept up on him quietly and had gotten close enough to him to hit him and make him drop his combistick, before he could react. Jaque'Su Knau cursed himself for being single-minded. Carelessly he had only focused on the threat that was before him, a threat which was no threat. For a moment he had forgotten about the true dangers of the temple during şukỷ-kirr, chiva, and was caught completely off guard.
Roughly the kiande amedha slammed Jaque'Su Knau into the wall molding his body print into it before he could push the creature off him. The indentation of his body print in the wall gripped him as he allowed his recoil momentum to release him causing him ram the kiande amedha into the adjacent wall.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~
In horror, Lex watched as the two titans battled. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was like a scene out of one of those old Japanese Godzilla flicks. Screeching and roaring, punching and kicking, big battles big and she couldn't understand a word of what was being said. All she knew was that someone would lose and someone would win. Either titan winning was bad news to her, but she preferred the lesser of the two evils to be the victor.
Escape came to her mind.
The desire to run was in her head, but her body was paralyzed to do anything. Instinct told her to move as far away as she could from the battling pair. When her back hit the solidness of the stone wall and she realized she could go no further, she prayed to God that she would become invisible and neither would notice her.
Alien growls and aliens shrills fill the corridor where they were and Lex sat in terror on the floor waiting for the brawl to finish. She watched as the two very different creatures punched and slammed each other into the walls.
The black serpent looked as if it had the upper hand when it rammed into the hunter and knocked its spear from its clawed hand.
Hearing metal scrape dangerously across stone, Lex looked to her right to see the spear that the big alien was going to kill her with come to a rest several inches away from her.
In an instant she heard it and involuntarily, she reacted.
A dangerous hiss sounded and she looked up in time to see the sleek black alien charge at her as it continued to hiss and shriek. It had decided that she was an easier target than the predator. Without thinking, she did what was natural, she grabbed the alien spear and stuck it out in front of her and closed her eyes.
Lex wept.
She knew she was dead.
She waited, but nothing happed so she opened her eyes. Tears of dread and fear continued to slide down her brown cheeks. Death was toying with her and she wanted all to be over. She wanted to be dead, but she wasn't.
She was alive and her instinct to preserve her life was greater than the emotional desire for death and to be out of the nightmare she thought she was in.
Her hands had a death grip on the alien spear and now she could feel that it was weighted.
There was a weight at the other end of the spear where the black serpent impaled itself. Lex could feel her heart pounding in her chest and the pressure thumping in her head, she thought both her head and her heart would burst at any moment. She looked at the black serpent up close, wanting to get a better look at the eyeless black monster that had dragged Sebastian away and possibly to his death. The black creature was hideous looking like something found in a nightmare.
I am in a nightmare, she thought to herself as she trembled and the tears continued to stream down her cheeks.
In a nightmare with a black monster inches away from my face. Death why torture me this way, she continued to think wanting to die even more. The tears continued to flow.
Just when she thought the thing was dead, it screeched.
A high pitched sound that reminded her of a predatory bird signaling its make on its next kill. The mouth of the eyeless black alien opened so fast releasing what looked like a thick serrated metal hose with a set of incredible razor sharp spike shaped metal looking teeth at the end of it. There was no time to consciously react, all Lex could do was turn her head to the side and hope she didn't die.
Gripping the spear until her brown knuckles turned a lighter shade of brown; Lex wept and shook once more in terror. The inner mouth attacked her a second time and then the black serpent went limp. Lex could feel the full weight of the creature, it was dead.
Summoning her strength she didn't realize she had, Lex pushed the dead alien to the side and it crashed to the ground with a loud thump. Looking at the dead creature in disbelief, all she could do was cry silently and shake while her mind thought over and over; this is not happening to me, this is not happening to me.
Again the corridor was silent except for the heavy breathing that Lex knew was coming from her. Looking up, she saw the huge alien standing in front of her. Some way it had retrieved its weapon and had affixed it to its shoulder and now the thing was pointed at her.
Oh god, it's going to kill me, she thought.
She could see that there was a red beam and it was aimed at her face. Her face contorted in fear at the thought of death.
Not like this, she pleaded to her higher power, not like this.
The quietness was broke by a series of shrill screams and screeches. Instantly, the big alien turned its attention away from Lex and to the new threat. Immediately the red beam from the mask tracked its new targets and the weapon began to fire. One, by one, the weapon blasted the serpent aliens from the sides and the ceiling of the corridor destroying alien flesh and stone wall and ceiling in the process.
The more black serpents that were blasted the more that seemed to replace the fallen dead. Everything was happening so fast. Lex dared not move, just cried silently and watched. It had ended minutes after it started. The short lived attack halted when a resonating series of shrill screams and screeches where heard as they made their way from somewhere in the bowels of the pyramid. The black aliens, in the corridor ahead of the predator, gave off their own responsive screams and screeches as they receded into the dark recesses of the corridor.
Again the corridor went quiet.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Jaque'Su Knau cursed himself for being caught off guard; he was looking to the ooman one moment and the next he felt his side crash into the wall. He was under attack; his warrior instincts heightened and he did what came natural to him; he pushed back and hard. His combistick was knocked out of his hand and all he could think about was getting the hardmeat off him and getting his weapon back so he could kill the thing.
Once the kiande amedha was slammed into the wall Jaque'Su Knau looked around for his combistick, but instead found his plasmacaster. He let out a deep guttural roar of approval as he retrieved the weapon. He was surprised that the hardmeat had not made a second attack. When he looked up at the commotion several yards in front of him, he saw why the hardmeat had not attacked; it had found easier prey.
The drone will kill the ooman, he thought as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. I'll let the hardmeat kill the ooman, then I will kill the hardmeat, he continued to think as he retrieved his plasmacaster and attached it to its holder on his shoulder.
The encounter took a little longer than he had anticipated. He thought that the kiande amedha would kill the weak ooman in one attempt, but the ooman had proved to be resourceful even though it was overcome with fear.
Jaque'Su Knau watched as the hardmeat attacked the small ooman that was sitting against the wall and thought that the kiande amedha was doing him a service by killing the softmeat. At least he wouldn't have to do the job and then he could continue with his hunt uninterrupted. The ooman was weak and the skull wound not be worth the trouble, but the kiande amedha's skull would be a welcome addition to his fledging trophy collection. So he would wait for the hardmeat to kill the ooman.
Surprised by the sudden turn of events, he watched as the ooman impaled the hardmeat on his combistick. The ooman trembled under the weight of the hardmeat, but Jaque'Su Knau saw how it kept its composure. Watching the inner jaws of the hardmeat attack in its death throw Jaque'Su Knau nodded in approval thinking that both would die at the same time. Surprised, he raised a brow when he saw the softmeat push the dead hardmeat to the side as it continued to tremble in fear.
If he had not seen it for himself, he would not have believed it. The ooman was the victor.
"I'm impressed," said to himself, releasing a low growl of approval.
This softmeat is quite cunning, even in fear; nevertheless, I will still kill it, he thought as he aimed the laser beam at the ooman's forehead. Three red dots pyramided at the center of the dark forehead.
A shrill scream erupted from behind Jaque'Su Knau; he turned in the direction of the sound…
"Kiande amedha," he growled dangerously as he took his battle stance.
Immediately the red beam from the mask tracked its targets and the weapon began to fire. One, by one, the weapon blasted the kiande amedha from the sides and the ceiling of the corridor. First he would use his plasmacaster, and next he would combat those that escaped the caster. The more that were blasted the more that seemed to replace the fallen dead. The serpent-like aliens exploded as the plasma tore through their bodies spewing acid blood and gore over the wall, floor and ceiling. A dangerous growl resonated deep within Jaque'Su Knau's chest he was hungry for the kill.
The short lived attack halted when a resounding series of shrill screams and screeches where heard as they made their way from somewhere in the bowels of the pyramid. The black aliens, in the corridor in front of the hunter, gave off their own responsive screams and screeches as they receded into the dark recesses of the corridor.
The queen, Jaque'Su Knau thought to himself.
His desire for the head of the gargantuan was strong, but he wasn't stupid enough to think he could take a queen down by himself.
Jaque'Su Knau watched as the kiande amedha departed knowing that he would see them again and he hoped that it would be soon. Turning around, he saw the small frightened ooman still sitting on the ground where he had last saw it; by now he thought the weak creature would have gotten up and run away, but it hadn't.
An unworthy trophy, Jaque'Su Knau thought to himself as he watched the water flow from the ooman's eyes. It welcomed death in a most disgraceful way, but he could smell the craving to live also on the ooman.
Disgusted that the ooman had dishonored its kill by leaking water from its eyes, Jaque'Su Knau walked over to the impaled kiande amedha to retrieve his combistick. Timidly the ooman watched and cautiously stood up making sure to keep its distance from Jaque'Su Knau. It was curious, but it was also afraid, it shook in dread as it watched him.
"Don't worry," he growled threateningly, "…my blades will not touch one as unworthy as you." He finished as he ignored the ooman.
He had wasted enough time with the ooman and he had taken no trophies. He had no trophies and the ooman was still alive. He had to admit, all was not lost; a good had come from the chance meeting. The only good thing he could say that had come from the encounter was the fact he had retrieved his plasmacaster.
Time to go, he thought to himself.
Pressing a small button with his index finger, the dangerous spear collapsed in on itself in Jaque'Su Knau's hand. Retrieving his weapon from the dead hardmeat, he thought about where in the temple he would go to continue his hunt.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~
It's going to kill me; Lex thought …it's going to kill me! She thought as her eyes began to dart back and forth wildly looking for a place to run, but there was none.
If she ran, there was no doubt the hunter would catch her and kill her where she stood, if it gave her the opportunity to run.
What am I going to do? She pressed her body up against the wall shrinking away from the huge alien.
In distress, she watched and the creature ignored her as it bent down to retrieve its weapon.
Oh god… Don't let it kill me, she prayed …don't let it kill me. She continued horrified as she watched the alien stand to tower over her, then it turned its back to her and began to walk away.
What? Was the only word that came to her head?
It's leaving? It's leaving me, she thought and she wondered why the thing was ignoring her.
She was glad that it hadn't killed her, but now she wondered why it didn't. Twice within the last fifteen minutes it had tried to kill her, but it hadn't. Now it was walking away from her.
I'm alive, she thought in delight. It's not going to kill me. She was relieved for a moment and overjoyed at the prospects, and then it finally dawned on her that the huge alien was leaving her, leaving her alone.
She panicked.
I can't defend myself against those black things. I can't stay here! I have to leave, then she looked up watching the huge creature walk away.
"Hey!" she screamed, but the big alien kept walking.
He really was ignoring her.
"Hey, you big jerk I know you hear me!" Lex continued to scream at the big alien as she started to walk behind him.
Determined to get his attention, she yelled even louder. She was not going to be left behind.
"Don't you leave me! I know you hear me… I'm talking to you, you idiot!" she said and the alien turned on her with a growl and walked towards her.
That had gotten the hunter's attention. Now she had its full attention and it was walking towards her. She wasn't sure what she should do.
"Don't you leave me… I'm going with you," Lex's voice said as it trailed off and the alien come to stand right in front of her and looked down at her.
She was scared but she wasn't going to back down, her life depended on it. "I'm going with you," Lex repeated with a little more strength in her voice.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~
As he walked away, Jaque'Su Knau heard the ooman talking, yelling, to be exact, yelling at him. He just ignored the human, he had a hunt to do and he hadn't collected one trophy. The only trophy that was worth collecting was the trophy that the ooman had earned, but he doubted that softmeat would collect it so it would stay with the rest of the dead drone.
The kiande amedha that he had killed were a hot acidy gore that was eating away at the sides, ceiling and floor of the temple, nothing that could be salvaged. He didn't want to salvage anything, he wanted clean kills. He continued to walk.
"Hey!" he heard the ooman say, but he kept walking.
It was starting to annoy him. He wanted no part of it, but it kept talking.
"Hey, you big jerk I know you hear me!" the ooman screamed again.
Now Jaque'Su Knau was past annoyed, he was sure the ooman had affronted him and he could smell rudeness in the ooman's scent.
Did that pitiful thing just insult me? Jaque'Su Knau thought to himself, couldn't be, and he continued to walk. His hearing perked when he heard soft footsteps behind him.
Insult and a challenge, Jaque'Su Knau thought and he stopped.
"Don't you leave me! I know you hear me… I'm talking to you, you idiot!" the ooman shouted and this time Jaque'Su Knau, was sure his ears weren't playing tricks on him.
The boldness of the pathetic creature, the hunter continued to think. Boldness or foolishness, then he turned to face the small challenger.
"Nobody calls me an idiot," he growled as he turned on the ooman and walked towards it.
His patience was worn and it was time to end farce and move on.
"Time to die you fool," he growled in a threatening manner and he approached the small ooman, in three strides.
"Don't you leave me… I'm going with you," he heard the ooman say as its voice trailed off. He stood right in front of the ooman glaring down at it through his mask and he cocked his head to the side.
"What?" he growled to himself surprised.
He could smell all about the smaller creature, it was trying to hide it with its body language, but he could see it in the ooman's eyes, sincerity.
There was fear and it did not want him to leave it alone.
"I'm going with you," the ooman repeated with a little more strength in its voice.
He couldn't help himself, Jaque'Su Knau let out a rumble of laughter.
Was this tiny thing demanding that I take it me, he thought.
He watched the ooman as it placed its hands on its small but ample hips in defiance and it was at that point that he realized that the ooman was female.
Oh Paya, he thought to himself, not on the hunt… he groaned.
Of all the things to encounter during şukỷ-kirr and he had stumbled upon a female ooman. This was a very rare occurrence. Almost never did hunters encounter female oomans and in no way did they hunt them, hunting lou-dte kalei was forbidden.
"Do you understand me?" the female continued, "… you look like you understand me. I'm going with you. I'm going with you," she continued and it sounded more like an order than a request, as she took a challenging step towards him.
Jaque'Su Knau, growled low and the female and she backed away in caution.
I can't leave the female here for the hardmeat, even though she is none of my concern, but to do so would be dishonorable and I am not a dishonorable hunter. Looking at the dead hardmeat on the ground, he thought.
She had proved herself.
Jaque'Su Knau decided to give the female weapons so she could defend herself. He didn't think that she could protect herself, but some chance was better than no chance and he wasn't going to be a caregiver for the ooman.
Quickly he began to scalp the kiande amedha so the ooman could use the elongated skull as a shield. Being focused on the task at hand he worked using what was available to make her what she needed to protect herself.
Quietly the female watched with great curiosity as Jaque'Su Knau used this big knife to separate the sleek black skull plate from the kiande amedha's body. This didn't take long because his knife was razor sharp and he knew exactly where to make incisions to cause a clean separation.
Cautiously, she peeked over at what he was doing without saying a word. Jaque'Su Knau didn't say anything, just continued to slice and peel. Once he had removed the metallic skull, he noticed that the female's curiosity was heightened as she looked at the kiande amedha's brain matter. For a good laugh, he stabbed the part of the hard meat's brain that controlled the inner jaws. Without warning the inner jaws shot out dangerously and the female let out a very loud gasp in horror. He could see she thought that the hardmeat come from the dead to get her.
Letting out a rumbled chuckle at the female in good humor, Jaque'Su Knau looked up in time to see her suck her blunt teeth and rolled her eyes at him.
Realizing he was making jest at her, the ooman let go of her scent of fear and continued to watch with the curiosity of a young pup as he fashioned her shield and spear.
"What is that for her heard her say?" He sighed knowing that her ignorance would get her killed sooner rather than later.
It was of no consequence to him, if she lived or died. Her life was in her own hands; he would do the honorable thing to arm her. Arm her and let her know what she had as weapons and show her how to use them. He would give her the basics, but it was her responsibility to keep herself alive. It was a hunt, not some social gathering and he would not cater to her ooman foolishness.
Dripping the hard meat's blood on its skull and then on the floor of the temple he saw the female nod slowly as if she understood what the skull was for. Once he had finished the making a spear out of the tail, the small female tested it with several jabs to the air in front of her as if she knew how to handle a spear. Nodding in approval, Jaque'Su Knau looked at the female, thinking that she might keep herself alive for a little while.
"Let's go," he growled at the female, and then he trotted down the hall. She was keeping up at his side satisfied; now he was ready to hunt some kiande amedha.
oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo
GIVE a shout out to the Characters with your review.
oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo
Vocabulary/translation
(Have fun with these words and translations… I did… feel free to use them)
a'ka-ad idiot, stupid
caster (plasma) a shoulder mounted weapon used by alien hunters
kiande amedha hard meat; xenomorph
lou-dte kalei "child maker"; slang for female
ooman human
Paya the feminine Yautja god
plasmacaster a weapon; same as caster
softmeat another word for human
şukỷ-kirr chiva
oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo
Please review this chapter. I would love to get your feedback.
I look forward to hearing from you!
From The Author