Corruption
Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the Predator franchise. It belongs to it's respective copyright holders. I am writing this story for fun, no other reason. Anyway, enjoy!
Chapter One
Weyland Industries Research lab, Amazon rain forest, 2020:
Hues leaned back in his chair and stretched with a loud yawn. Damn this post was boring, looking after the scientists at this dinky little research lab in the middle of a fucking jungle. In two weeks, the most exciting thing to happen was the little earth quake four nights before. It didn't even make a blip on the local news radar. Apparently, they were the only ones that felt it. "I got to get out of here." He groaned. With nothing to do but sit, eat and watch reruns of I love Lucy, he was getting fat. "I have to piss." Said the armed soldier, as he walked passed the two scientists on duty.
Ridges didn't look up from his tablet screen. He made a affirmative grunt, and went on staring at the latest data chart. The pretty blond woman, Sullivan, took her eyes off of her microscope for a few seconds to glance his way. "That's fine, Hues. Bring me back a water sample if you find some. It shouldn't be too hard in a rain forest."
"Will do." Hues sighed, waving at the two, before exiting the small lab, and entering the muggy Amazonian air. "I can't wait to get home." He muttered, as he trudged through the thick underbrush towards a suitable tree. "First thing I'm going to do, is hit a bar. This is a sad joke, having to baby sit." He stopped at the tree and began taking care of his business. He'd just begun to piss, when a shrill cry made him jump and wet his own boots. "What the hell was that?" He hissed, whipping his head around for any sign of a dieing animal. The crying began again, it was high pitched and raspy, a bit like a screeching bird. After he put himself away and cleaned pee off his boots, he followed the sound. It was so loud, it seemed to be very close, but it took him several minutes to find it's actual origin. Pulling back some tree limbs, he saw it, the thing making the terrible noise. Up, on a high tree limb, sat some kind of creature. It was impossibly large, with a big, bony head and mandibles tipped with sharp talons. It's skin looked like reptilian scales and was colored with a pattern of brown and ivory, speckled with black spots. Black tubes decorated it's head in almost a dreadlock like fashion, decorated with silver rings. From the neck down, the creature was almost human in build, and was obviously female. She wore a loin cloth and a piece of fabric draped over one breast, while the other was left bare, allowing easy access to the squirming miniature beast that was making the nauseating screeching.
"What is that thing?" Hues asked himself, hurriedly crouching down so that the creature wouldn't see him. In awe, he stared at the mother and baby thing, watching them. The mother was so large, Hues didn't know how the limb she sat on held her weight. She had to be nearing eight and a half feet tall. She shifted the infant around to her back and the thing grabbed a hold of her dreadlocks and climbed up her back. It nestled into the nest of locks, it's cries dieing away. The mother readjusted the fabric on her chest to cover her bare breast and crawled, nimbly, across the branch. It scanned the ground below, it's mandibles flaring with a purring clicking sound. It seemed to be looking for something. When it's eyes fell on where Hues was crouched, her mandibles flared as far out as they could go. She let loose a blood chilling roar and leapt down from the limb, landing almost silently on her feet.
"Shit!" Hues screamed, scrambling to get his rifle in position.
The mother lowered her body into a threatening half crouch and roared threateningly again. Hues fired a round at her. The bullet struck her shoulder. This only seemed to piss her off more. A rumbling growl reverberated through the jungle. She lunged towards Hues, her hands ready to tear him limb from limb. Screaming in fear, Hues shot off several more rounds. One hit the mother in the leg. Another hit her in the stomach and the last found it's mark between her eyes. She finally stopped, mere inches from Hues and fell with a heavy thud beside him. Bright green blood pooled around her body and splattered the back of her head. The baby still clung to it's mother's odd hair, miraculously untouched.
"Shit! Shit!" Hues gasped, breathing heavily. He edged slowly towards the fallen creature and nudged her with his boot. The mother didn't budge. She was just dead weight on the forest floor. He looked at the baby and groaned. "I'm sorry." He said, pointing his gun at it's tiny, yet over sized head. Before he could pull the trigger, it lifted up it's head, shakily, and chirped, it's mandibles, flaring to show a mouth full of gums. It's large, yellow eyes met Hues' blue ones. It chirped again, and reached a chubby arm towards him. He watched it's already sharp nailed hands open and close, searching for something to hold onto.
"Oh geeze." Hues grumble. He knelt down and picked up the baby. As soon as it was close to him, it wiggled out of his hands and latched onto his shirt. Like a monkey on steroids, it climbed quickly around his front to cling onto his back as it had it's mother. Hues was a little, uneasy, having a monster baby on his back, but he could feel it's heart fluttering ninety miles a minute, reverberating in his own body. He could feel it shaking, trembling like a leaf. It was helpless…or so it seemed. He looked down sadly at the dead mother. "I wish it hadn't come to this." He whispered. "I'll take care of your kid, make sure it's safe."
His radio blared to life. In the excitement, he'd forgotten he had brought it. Ridges' baritone blared over the com-waves. "Hues! Hues! You alive out there! Talk to me!"
Hues snatched his radio from his belt and held it to his lips. "Damn, Ridges, have I got a story for you."