Predator: The Pride.
Prologue.
Xenomorphs were one thing, a nuke down a bug hole was easy, wiped out a hive in a nano second. Even with a team of Elites with anti-acid battle armour and Gamma guns and a whole horde of them would be taken out in seconds, but what the fuck was it that had wiped out the entire team of Marines, it was not that easy to take out the best and this thing did it in minutes, in one swoop. Aliens I can deal with, but demons, not fucking demons. What was it? Thoughts hitting him hard as he ran through the jungle, his blood pouring from gashes on his body, he could feel that he was going to pass out but he kept going, he had to keep going. The team were dead, all of them dead. Willis, Dante, Michaels, Sanders, fuck, even Guy, what the hell was it. Yet he kept his feet moving him ahead, away from the camp.
Not knowing what it was that had killed his friends he did not care at that point, all he knew was that he was headed towards the Psytonus and he would be out of there. Demons were haunting him, hunting him. It moved around him, the damn thing was on his tail, moving around him with great speed and damn it, it could just kill him whenever it felt like it, why was the damn thing playing with him, it was torturing him without even touching him. Trying to get a clear picture of it, a ghost, a demon, it was like water and air, invisible. But that can't be right, it was something, big, bigger than Willis and that man was big.
Its eyes, the damn things eyes piecing through him, stabbing at him, attacking him with fear and all he could do was run, knowing that the demon knew where he was going, the ship was only a few clicks away and it knew, it was headed there itself, probably to be at the door laughing. Monsters and demons always laughed at you just before you died, to get that last smirk in before the lights go out. Not this thing, it was smart, it had followed the team for days, and had not attacked them until the camp, when they rested and were unaware, the demon was hunting them, 'Oh god its eyes, its green eyes'.
The jungle was not a place for resting, the hourly rainfalls would drown you if you looked up, that is what Sanders would always say with a smile, always trying to make you feel better. It was not the rain or the jungle itself, the damn heat would knock you down, hit you hard. With every breath you took you would suck in a little heat, hotter than the breath before, making you gasp, gag for cool air, but in the jungle, even in the shade, no coolness would comfort the burning body of the jungle man. Every step closer towards the Psytonus would grow heavier, slowing him down, the loss of blood no longer bothered him, that he could cope with, but the slowing down. Demons do not slow down, they are always there, fast or slow. Damn it was hot, getting hotter, he thought he was seeing things now.
Not that far now, it was getting closer, minutes away and now he was hoping, he was smiling as he ran through the world of green. His body heavy and soaking with his own sweat, more than the humidity that was causing him to drip, to spray. No longer caring about how he was, he only cared about surviving, he was almost there now and he had not felt any presence of any demons, he was safe, maybe it had let him go, probably not, but as long as he was at the ship he could get the hell away from whatever demons had killed everyone.
Falling to his knees before the ship, he had made it, he had made it to safety, he had survived. No demon could stop him, he was a damn hero, he had fought and lived through the odds that were piling up against him, nothing could take that feeling of happiness away from him. Apart from the clicking, the silent breathing, the footsteps. His heart beating faster than when he was running away from the camp of death, the demon had followed him, it had given him the hope of survival, it was close. Still on his knee he turned his head to look around, but nothing, this demon kept itself from being seen, coward.
"Fucking coward!" Pain shot through his body as he stood up, his legs ready to snap, his muscles already tearing as he straightened his stance to look around, and still nothing, but the sound of its presence. Still smiling, almost breaking into an hysterical laughter he saw it in the corner of his eye, its shape moving in the clearing, the waves of its body flowing in the sunlight. Having no weapon to protect himself with, he thought to himself that he actually had not held a gun yet on this planet, the laughter began to leave his mouth. He had survived without even a stick to swing around, the painful irony thinking to himself that he was just the coms-guy, the man with the phone, and he survived, barely as he stood before the demon.
"You are going to kill an unarmed man are you?" The demon began to move towards him, its strides seemed to be amazingly long, a mans jump in comparison. Looking at the watering cloud move closer, suddenly a few flickers of electricity and the demon stood before him, a form of a man, its dirty silver mask with the glowing green eyes. The demons hair almost dreadlocks covering his shoulders, damn this thing was tall, a warrior, a hunter. He stood still looking upon the demon, as it reached behind its back to reveal the remaining half of, Oh Shit! Willis. His dead friend only his upper half remained, still holding his sidearm.
The demon lifted Willis and took the sidearm from the dead brittle fingers of the once tough marine, then threw him aside and took a single step towards him, almost hearing the laughter of the demon behind its mask. It threw the gun at the man, who caught it without hesitation, but knowing that it would be empty, no demon would leave the gun with rounds in it, finally he was holding a weapon, empty but still a weapon. Then the demon laughed and removed its mask which took a few seconds, damn it was ugly, and scary.
"Shit happens." The only words from the demon as it step up to the man.