She ran.
She ran, like you run in a nightmare. Too slow and never getting where you're trying to go. And just like in a nightmare, she was chased by a monster.
Nora, however, couldn't comfort herself with such thoughts, as waking up just before the monster would catch her. Unlike in nightmares, reality had no rule of pinching yourself to get away.
Not that she hadn't tried it.
That night hadn't differed in anyway from her normal weekly routines. She had participated in a self-defense course, which she had started a month ago, the same time she had also started jogging and otherwise taking care of herself. The things you start doing after turning 25 and having an age crisis.
She had left the gym and was walking home when for the first time she noticed the feeling that had no reason and that was more familiar in movies.
"Someone is watching me."
Nora laughed at herself. She had to say it aloud, it sounded so ridiculous. She had nevertheless, stopped, and was looking around and enjoying the warm summer night. The whole week the weather had been hot and it didn't get much cooler after the sunset. She liked the heat and enjoyed basking in the sun, that's why she had only worn jean-shorts, reaching halfway to her thighs, and a dark brown top. It was really sweltering outside and her muscles were still warm from the exercises.
She didn't give the strange feeling another thought. There were other people on the streets and she wasn't planning on wandering to any dark alleys or parks. She didn't trust her skills in self-defense enough yet, though her teacher had said she'd improved well.
Walking and pondering these she happened to glance at a nearby side street where the streetlights had gone out, and to her surprise, she thought she saw something move for a second before disappearing. She immediately gave herself a mental slap on the forehead and looked away. This was always her problem, she was getting paranoid for thinking too much when she wasn't supposed to.
Nora continued on her way home with a calmer mind until a sound caught her attention. She turned to look back to the dark street, certain that it had come from there. A metallic sound she couldn't identify. This time she gave in to her paranoia and started walking faster.
She started feeling better after going around the corner. There were still other people not too far away and best of all, there was a police car parked by the street. She was going to pass it by at first, but then thought about it again.
"Excuse me", she waved her arm and walked beside the car. A young police rolled down the window and greeted her. Nora looked at him, thinking about what to say. "This might sound stupid", she started hesitantly, but when the policeman just smiled politely, she continued. "There's this side street where the lights have gone out. I thought I saw something move there and heard a weird sound, so I thought that… maybe there is someone… you know… suspicious."
Nora was sure she sounded ridiculous, but the young policeman just nodded, still smiling. "I understand. Would it calm your mind if I went to take a look?"
"Yes, thank you."
The young man got out of the car. He was tall and fit and appeared confident in his uniform. "No trouble at all. It's just part of the job."
Nora led the way and took them to the dark, narrow street. They could see that not only one, but all the lights were out.
"Someone sure has been here", the man stated and pointed at the nearest streetlight which was shattered. He walked further down the street, looking at the other lights, all broken by some unknown vandal.
Nora stood still, watching the policeman, half waiting for a gang of thugs to jump out of the dumpsters or the sewers. She was being crazy, it was as likely that four mutant ninja turtles would jump out from the sewers, but she was getting the strange feeling again and she didn't like it.
Suddenly the policeman got down on one knee and took something from the ground. He turned to Nora, holding something that looked like a knife. "Whoever was here, wasn't a regular guy. I have never seen metal like this."
"Metal?" Nora remembered the sound she had heard. Had someone been here just now and dropped the knife?
From there, her nightmare began.
As Nora was watching, somebody appeared behind the man. And when she said appeared, she didn't mean ran behind him from somewhere, but literally appeared from nowhere.
And when she said somebody…
The creature standing behind the young man was considerably bigger than him and certainly not human. Nora was too surprised to utter a single word, her brains were desperately trying to explain what she was seeing.
The young policeman had no idea of what was waiting behind him, despite it's enormous size, the creature was completely silent. He saw the look on the woman's face change and the next thing he knew, he was being lifted off of his feet and thrown against a brick wall with stunning force.
Nora was aware that she was holding her breath. She was also aware that the sight of the creature swinging its arm and slamming the man effortlessly into the wall had paralyzed her. The young man fell to the ground, it was impossible to say if he was dead or only unconscious.
Now Nora could see the creature properly. It moved silently next to the man and picked up the knife he had dropped. Then it turned to look at her.
Even without the lights Nora could see that the creature wasn't only tall, it was extremely muscular, which was not so surprising after seeing how easily it had gotten rid of the young policeman. Its physique was similar to human's and she couldn't see its face behind a metal mask it was wearing, but she could sense it was far from human. Behind the mask, long, tube-like appendages swung as the creature moved, and it was wearing different pieces of armor.
For a moment, Nora watched, unable to move from her spot, as the creature put the knife in place on its belt, also looking at her. Finally the lack of oxygen forced the woman to suddenly draw breath, which caused the creature to react with strange clicking sounds. It stood in its full over 7 feet height and lifted its other arm in front of itself. Nora's breath quickened when she heard a swish and saw a pair of long blades shooting out of a device on its wrist.
They sure as hell hadn't practiced for this kind of a situation in the self-defense course.
Icy fear squeezed Nora's stomach, making it even harder to think clearly, but the second the creature took a step in her direction, her mind was filled with only one thought.
Run.
She did just that, forgetting the injured police and running faster she had ever run. She ran away from the dark street without looking back, fearing that if she would, she would see the horrible blades in front of her, ready to strike.
People were looking at her, but Nora didn't care. She wanted only to get away, out of sight, to find a hiding place.
Ahead of her, a group of people were flowing out of a door and into the street, and without hesitation, Nora dashed into the middle of those people and through the door. Some complained when she pushed them aside, but no-one stayed to argue with her.
On the inside, Nora finally stopped to catch her breath, people still walking past her to the door. It didn't take long for her to notice that she was in a movie theatre and the movie had just ended. At first she felt relieved that the door she had come through would lock after closing and could only be opened from the inside. She gave way to the people and walked to the back row, sitting down to a soft seat and pressing her head into her hands.
What had just happened?
Unlike a moment ago, now her thoughts were running wild as she went through every little detail. Her common sense was fighting not to admit the truth, but it couldn't give her any other explanations either. She had faced some kind of a monster or a demon and it had most likely intended to kill her.
After Nora had accepted this, she started thinking what to do next. She would have to call help for the injured policeman. At least she hoped, he was merely injured and not dead.
Slowly the still shocked woman lifted her head and watched as the last people walked to the door. Totally oblivious to the danger lurking in the street.
Nora took her cell phone from her pocket, she hadn't taken her bag that night, but luckily her phone at least. She dialed the emergency number and waited for an answer.
"You have dialed 911, please tell your name, whereabouts and what has happened."
Nora nearly let out a sigh of relief. "My name is Nora Middleton and…" For a while she thought how long it would take until someone came to take her to the madhouse if she told now what really happened. "A policeman has been attacked in a nearby alley, I don't know the street name, but I'm at the movie theatre in…"
The sentence was left unfinished when Nora started to stare at the door. Everyone had left, but the door still remained open. She couldn't see anyone there, but it didn't comfort her. She froze to her seat and waited for something to happen.
Nothing happened.
Could the door be stuck? Nora jumped up and muttered something to the phone about waiting. She rushed to close the door, but halfway down, she stopped. The air in the doorway had rippled strangely. She didn't know what it was, but she was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to do so.
Proving her suspicions right, she saw it again and this time it appeared.
Just like in the street, where there was supposed to be only air, there suddenly was a gigantic monster.
It had followed her.
Nora took a step back, ready to run to the upper door, if the creature would make any sudden moves. If her life would be at stake, she would not give up this easily. She wasn't just scared anymore, she was also getting angry. Why was it following her? What did it want from her?
Anger helped her, not to get rid of her fears, but to clarify her mind. She could still hear a faint voice calling her from the speaker of her phone, but she knew better than to answer. No-one could come in time to help her now. She pushed the red button.
The monstrous being that seemed to be hunting her, didn't have its twin blades extended, which wasn't that great of a comfort, considering how quickly they had appeared last time. Nora rolled her hands into fists, trying to at least appear braver, hoping that her voice wouldn't reveal her real feelings.
"What… do you want from me? What are you?"
The creature tilted its head and again Nora heard the clicking sounds. If that was its way of talking, she guessed there would be no negotiations.
It didn't continue talking, instead it started fiddling with a device on its other wrist, not the one where the blades were, Nora noticed. Then voices began echoing from the device, in clear English. She recognized those voices. They were her friends from the self-defense course. She still remembered the conversation she was now hearing. So it had been watching them earlier. Nora shook her head, not knowing what to make of it.
"I don't know what's going on, but you can shove it, 'cause I'm going to get the hell out of here now."
The woman muttered the words half aloud, taking another step back and glancing behind to see how far the door was.
She was flat on her back faster than she could realize that the creature had moved and struck her down. Nora's instincts told her to get up, but the world was going nauseatingly around in her eyes and she couldn't focus on anything. She managed to support herself on her elbow, holding her aching head with her free hand.
Nora had to forget her head though, for the creature was already approaching, reaching her with a few, long steps. She started to panic, trying to get to her feet, but had no time. The massive creature was already looming above her and brought its foot on top of her, pressing her tightly against the stairs.
Nora struggled futilely to remove the weight from her chest. From this distance she could see that the creature's yellowish skin was covered by a thin net of some sort. When she pushed at the foot, she could feel heat emanating from it. She couldn't help, but ponder why it needed that when they had had a heat wave all week.
Nora's cell phone had dropped somewhere, not that she could've used it as a weapon. She turned her head to the side, looking for anything she could use. Unfortunately she happened to be in a movie theatre, and those usually didn't happen to have hidden guns or knifes under the seats. The only thing at her reach, was a half-full cup of soda somebody had left on the floor.
Odd that she could still think positively in this situation.
Thinking about knifes made Nora remember something. She looked at the hunter standing above her. And more precisely at its belt that still held the knife it had put there earlier.
Then she looked again at the soda on the floor.
She was sure there was a light bulb lighting above her head.
Nora had no time to think if her idea was any good, for next she knew that the weight was gone from her chest as the creature moved and crouched closer. It raised its hand towards the woman's neck without paying attention to what her arm was doing, clearly thinking she wasn't a threat.
As soon as Nora got a hold of the cup, she threw its contents on to the creature's metallic mask. She had intended to distract it and grab its knife, but it seemed that she had done something else too.
The sugary liquid splashed also on the creature's wrist device, causing electric outbursts, and for a moment there, Nora saw it disappearing and then reappearing again. This obviously caught the large hunter by surprise, since it stopped to look at its shortcutting device.
Nora didn't think what could happen next. If she had hesitated even the slightest bit, she wouldn't have been able to go through with her plan. She grabbed the knife from the creature's belt and drove it with all her strength into its thigh.
The roar that came deep from the creature's throat was very close to taking away the courage, Nora had managed to muster.
Close, but not enough to beat a human's survival instinct.
After her surprise attack, Nora brought her legs up and kicked the creature in its abdomen. She didn't know how similar its anatomy was to a human's, but she had also briefly thought about kicking it a little lower. Considering that the creature had been just stabbed and that it was crouching in a bad position to begin with, it wasn't so much a wonder that her kick caused it to lose its balance and fall over.
Nora couldn't believe she had pulled it off. She was going to make it. She stumbled to her feet and ran to the door, yanking it hastily open. She didn't think the creature would follow her into the middle of a crowd, she was pretty sure it didn't want to be seen. So far it had moved with its invisibility device on, and it had probably broken when she had thrown the soda on it.
She knew she was guessing a lot.
Nora was only inches away from safety, so she dared to glance back.
She stopped in her tracks.
The creature had taken its mask off and she could see its face for the first time. If she had had doubts whether it was a human or not, now her questions would have been answered. The dominant feature on its face was definitely its mouth. Four finger-like mandibles, two up and two down, ended in sharp fangs. At the moment, they were spread and revealed the creatures mouth in the middle.
Even if this was shocking to Nora, it didn't compare to what she saw in its eyes. They were bright yellow, otherwise human.
And the look in them was pure rage.
Right then Nora couldn't remember why she had thought she would be safe. Those eyes promised pain and death. It might have hunted her or followed her for some other reason before, but now it was all about payback.
Nora turned around and ran through the door. It was a miracle no-one had come in to check what the horrendous roar had been, especially when a poster on the wall said that they had been playing a romantic drama. She ran further from the door, behind a corner and waited to see if the creature was angry enough to follow.
It didn't, but Nora knew it wasn't about to give up.
She stayed there, leaning against the wall, not knowing what to do. People walked by her and she couldn't ask anyone for help. She took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind and think of her options.
She was safe for now, at least until they would close the theatre in a few hours. Then she would be forced to go to the dangerous streets. The creature could be hiding anywhere, waiting until she was alone. The thought made her teary. She didn't want to face that thing anymore. She could still see the jagged blades and the furious look in its eyes. She didn't want to die.
The police would probably be there soon. They would just have to check who wasn't answering to their car radio and where was the closest movie theatre to that. She couldn't go with them, she didn't think for a minute that they could keep her safe. And telling them the truth of what had happened was not an option anyway.
She didn't have much choice. She could go out and wait for the enraged creature to find her. In other words, she could go out and die. Oh shit, she wouldn't stand a chance against something that big and fast. A better option, though, would probably be to try to sneak out from one of the backdoors and hope that she wouldn't be seen.
She didn't like her options, but the last was undeniably the best. She hadn't been to this theatre that often, but she knew that there was an underground parking hall. Maybe if she moved fast enough, the creature would have no time to recover and find a good spot where to look for her. The more she thought about it, the more she liked it. She would just have to be very fast.
Nora was on the move immediately, barely controlling her urge to run, until she got to the staircase which had no people in it. She couldn't have gotten down faster otherwise than flying. The exit sign waiting for her downstairs made Nora feel like this was going to succeed and everything would soon be normal again.
The parking hall was dimly lit and that seemed to encourage her too. As if it had been on her side, helping her to sneak out unnoticed. There were only a few cars and an eerie silence. She couldn't hear anything from the outside. There were no windows, so Nora didn't bother to hide. She soon reached the exit ramp and stopped to gather her nerves.
She didn't dare to stay there for too long, giving the hunter more time to find her. She peeked out in to the streets as inconspicuously as she could, trying to catch a glimpse of the creature in the shadows, but with no success.
Thinking about the creature as a hunter had somewhere along the way stuck to her mind. People were always so sure they were on top of the food chain and that nothing could threaten them. Now she, however, felt that she was prey and the creature she had pissed off was a predator. A new step in the food chain.
Nora put these thoughts aside, they were of no use right then, and she always had a habit of thinking too much when she shouldn't have. What was important, was the fact that the streets were empty and she should have been hurrying.
Nora forced herself to move out of her hiding place. Straight ahead of her was a street going under a large stone arch where she could go pretty much unnoticed. She would just have to cross the street first. Since it was such a short distance, she decided to just run. Last glimpse made sure no monstrous hunters were waiting for her in the street.
Nora ran.
In the middle of the road she felt a shooting pain. She stopped surprised and spun around on her heels, clutching her now bleeding side.
What…?
There was no-one behind her. Nora looked back to the direction she had been going to and saw a metallic spike sticking out of the asphalt. It had her blood on it. Her top had been torn and she had a long cut on her side, where the spike had gone, but it didn't seem to be too deep. What caught her attention was the fact that it had clearly come from somewhere above her.
She turned to look back again, this time raising her eyes. She quickly found out that everything had gone wrong.
It hadn't even crossed her mind that the creature would go to the roof where it could see in every direction. Nevertheless, there it stood, one foot on the edge, taking its time and watching her.
Waiting to see what she would do, Nora was sure.
It might've been pissed off, but it sure wasn't going to let that stop it from making calculated moves. Nora stood there, waiting in a terrified trance for something to happen. If it started climbing down, she would run, no matter where, but hopefully somewhere with lots of people. Maybe she still could lose it.
It didn't come down. It did something, but at first Nora didn't see what. Then it raised its arm towards her and the realization hit her. She turned and ran, before another spike would hit her. She headed for a small, cobbled street in front of her. If she had been able to think rationally, she probably wouldn't have gone there, but the situation was what it was. She had a feeling, the first spike was just to draw her attention. To frighten her.
It hadn't been necessary. Nora kept running away from the nightmare that was after her, her only plan to hope the creature would tire of chasing her. The end of the street brought no hope. She was in a plaza, surrounded by buildings and locked doors. A sign on one of the walls announced that she was in an old museum district. Nora regretted immediately that she had never been there. If she had, she might have known it was a dead end.
No door would be open after closing time, that Nora knew. Her shoulders slumped as she was left standing with nowhere to go. She didn't want to turn around.
She felt it very soon. The feeling that she was being watched again. She knew the hunter was behind her. She knew she would die soon.
Nora had never been so scared in her life. She had in her mind to just give up and let panic take over, but some part of her still resisted. She wanted to do something, fight for her life. Nora bit her lip and waited.
She couldn't hear the footsteps, but soon a familiar clicking sound behind her revealed the hunter's presence. Nora took a quivering breath and turned around.
The creature was towering over Nora, it was so much bigger than her. She had to turn her head to be able to look it in the eyes. She could see all of it now, the skulls it was wearing like a necklace, the little decorative pieces it had in its dreadlocks and the dark spots covering its yellowish skin.
She could see how puny she was compared to this creature, its arms were easily thicker than her thighs. Nora met the yellow eyes and their gaze that was burrowing into her with its intensity. The hunter was, without a doubt, still angry. In addition it seemed to be enjoying her fear. That explained why it hadn't attacked her straight away.
Nora was thinking franticly while trying to mask her fear with anger. "W-why are you doing this? What reason did you have to come after me?"
The hunter stretched its mandibles and grunted. Nora continued building up her anger. "What did I do to you in that alley? This isn't fair, why won't you leave me be?"
Nora shouted the rest, seeing the look on the creature's face change into a confused one. It, of course, had no idea what she was saying.
" Hey! Is everything okay in there?"
The unexpected voice of a man calling out somewhere from the street made the hunter turn its head towards the sound and growl ominously. Nora took the anger she had built up and did what her instincts told her to do. Fought for her life.
Acting quickly before the creature would concentrate on her again, Nora ran next to it and kicked it hard to the back of its knee She was aiming to make it drop on one knee where she could perhaps give it another kick to the head before running. The creature did lose its balance, but it didn't fall down. Nora imagined the clicks it was uttering to be curses. She took her chances while the creature was still slightly bent over and went for a high kick.
Nora learned then the hard way what an advantage the large hunter had, when it ignored her kick and grabbed her leg, trapping her standing on one foot. Nora felt the sharp, black claws digging into her leg so hard she couldn't stop a cry of pain.
The creature clicked its mandibles, obviously content and threw the woman several feet further to the ground. Nora held the pain inside, she didn't want to make another sound to please the hunter. Laying there her head spinning, she wasn't sure, but she thought she could hear a man shouting something again.
Suddenly her arm was gripped not too gently and she was lifted up. And not just to her feet, the creature flung her over its shoulder where she was left humiliated, kicking and scratching helplessly. She heard voices again, there were now more than two men judging from the sounds, and they were coming. Nora was sure they would be seen in a few seconds, there was no way even a creature with super strength could get out of sight so…
Every thought Nora had in her head was wiped away as the hunter leaped in to the air and the ground vanished somewhere far, far below them. She would have screamed if she had had any air in her lungs right then.
Then they landed, not on the ground, but in the middle of a nearby building's wall. Nora had a front row seat on the creature's shoulder, but this was a view she would have preferred not to see. Ever since the whole nightmare had begun, she had been scared, but now the fear of being dropped from so high was different, paralyzing.
The hunter had one arm holding her by her legs and she couldn't help, but wonder how it was hanging on the wall with only one arm. It wasn't fair. One being with so many skills and advantages. One would have thought that its size would have limited its movement somewhat, but she had never seen anything move so quickly and fluently. And it wasn't even a simple beast acting on instincts, it was intelligent, planning ahead. She probably shouldn't even have thought about it as an 'it'.
That didn't matter right then, though. The creature jumped again and Nora closed her eyes not to see how high they would go this time. The tube-like dreadlocks flapped against her back for a short while, then they landed again, this time with a loud thump. When Nora opened her eyes, she noticed they were in the roof of the building. Away from prying eyes.
The creature dropped her crudely and Nora felt every bruise she had gotten that night. The play was nearing its end. There was nowhere to run anymore. And even if there were, how could she run from something that could jump half a building in one leap?
Nora sat up as the creature approached her slowly. She stumbled back to her feet, backing away from the hunter's reach, both of them knowing she wasn't going anywhere. Nora looked at the wound on the creature's leg that was slowly dripping green blood and pondered if she could snatch its weapon again.
She didn't get any more time to think as her back hit a wall. She turned to look back and cursed the irony. Next to her was a door that would have led off the roof, but of course it was locked. Apparently she was, in addition to time, running out of luck also.
The approaching hunter's face might've been strange to her, but she still knew a victorious look when she saw one. Nora couldn't stand it. She tried another fast kick to the creature's knee, but this time it was ready for her attack, using its sheer mass to ram her against the wall.
The impact made Nora almost pass out. She lost all air from her lungs and her feet went limp, not to mention how much it hurt. She would have fallen over if the hunter hadn't kept her pressed against the wall with its forearm.
Nora had trouble drawing breath and more trouble forming coherent thoughts. An enormous hand grabbed her chin and lifted her head up. Nora had no choice, but to look into the yellow eyes that were taking their time examining her, like the creature had all the time in the world to play with her. It wiped a finger across her lips and Nora realized just then that she had bitten her lower lip and it was bleeding.
The creature brought its hand in front of its face and even though Nora couldn't see any part she would have clearly identified as a nose, she got the feeling that it was inhaling the scent of her blood. She wondered how fast she would die, if she just stopped resisting. She had a feeling the hunter wasn't going to hurry with that. Almost every part of her was now hurting and she knew there was no escaping, but if she was going to die, she still wanted this creature to suffer with her.
She took one of the first things she had learned in the self-defense course and used it against the creature, kicking it with all her strength where, at least with men, it hurt the most.
Apparently 'it' was a 'he' after all, since the creature let go of her immediately and dropped on its knees, roaring. Nora didn't try to run, it would've been futile anyway. Besides, her legs could barely support her. The tackle from the massive creature had done its job. That kick had been all she had left and soon she would pay for it.
Nora was too tired to care as she watched the enraged hunter get up. A new flash of pain as she was struck in the head and fell on her side. She stayed down, feeling a trickle of blood on the side of her head. She wondered hazily if she had broken some bones, since it hurt so bad everywhere. She wished she wouldn't have to move anymore, but the creature walking around her didn't care about her wishes.
She was picked up, this time by her throat and flung against the wall painfully one more time. She heard a sound she knew she had heard before, but couldn't remember it at first. Not until the creature raised its arm and she saw the jagged twin blades extended and ready to strike.
The hunter drew back its arm to run her through with the cruel looking blades.
Nora couldn't turn her eyes away. The creature's arm stayed in the air for what felt like an eternity as she waited to feel the sting that never came.
The creature turned to look at its hand and it looked like it was trying to move it, but couldn't. The air started rippling for a second, then another creature like the first one emerged.
Or not quite like the first one. This one was bigger and somehow different. It was wearing a red cape and several, horrible looking scars all over its body. It didn't have its mask on and Nora could see that it had a fierce look on its face.
The first creature seemed to think so too, since it freed her at once. Nora swayed there for a moment, before sliding down, sitting with her back leaning against the wall. A heated conversation began between the two hunters and Nora could only guess what they were arguing about. She was sure that this caped creature was older, maybe the other one's father or leader or something. Whatever the situation, it was clearly speaking harshly to the other one. The younger hunter said something, pointing at her, and earned a brutal slap on its face from the elder.
Whining pathetically the youngling lowered its head and fell silent. The elder said something and gestured it to leave. Nora watched as the younger creature ran to the edge of the roof and jumped with little effort to the building next to theirs, soon disappearing on the way to its unknown destination.
The older hunter turned its attention to the silently observing woman and Nora tensed, waiting what would be her fate. It stepped in front of her, getting down on one knee, measuring her. Nora wasn't sure how to react. She felt uncomfortable under the piercing, yellow eyes, but she had already been through so much, she wanted to stay defiant to whatever end. So she kept staring back into the creature's eyes.
That seemed to please the older hunter as its expression got a little more relaxed, maybe with a hint of amusement. Nora, on the other hand, was tired, hurt and confused.
"Why?" She asked to herself. A futile question, she knew it wouldn't be answered…
"The youngbloods… are… impatient."
Nora was stunned. She hadn't imagined it. The creature had spoken plain English. It had sounded gruff and barely human, but she had understood it.
"What do you mean?" She asked carefully, thinking that if it was bothering to talk to her, perhaps it wasn't going to kill her.
The hunter searched a moment for the right words. "Younglings… are… not… allowed… to… hunt… humans."
Nora realized that this hunter was allowed and most likely had already done so many times. She decided not to ask about that.
"He… was… supposed… to… observe… only."
Nora snorted and rubbed her head where the blood had started to coagulate. "Yeah, well someone should explain i… umm, him the rules better."
The hunter's gaze traveled to the numerous cuts and bruises the woman had. "You… fought… back."
"I don't think you could call that fighting", the woman admitted smiling at the thought. "But at least he now has a couple of sore places and I'm still alive, which I guess, is what counts."
"Humans… are… resourceful…" The older hunter stated. "The hunts… need… to… have… challenge. Normally… we… don't… hunt… child… bearers."
"Just my luck to be the exception."
Nora was starting to feel worse. She tried to get up, but every move sent a new wave of pain through her body. The hunter watched her efforts.
"You… need… medical… treatment."
Before Nora had a chance to answer, the hunter wrapped one arm behind her back and the other under her feet and lifted her up, like she had weighed nothing. She gasped sharply from the sudden pain and surprise. This was the last thing she would have expected to happen, being rescued and carried away by one of the creatures.
They were soon at the edge of the building, and having learned from her previous experience, Nora shut her eyes tightly and gripped the edge of the hunter's chest armor. After a few jumps and the sickening feeling of free fall, they were back on firm ground and Nora dared to open her eyes.
The hunter took her as close to other humans as he could without being seen and put her carefully down. Nora leaned against a wall for support, but for now, her feet were again carrying her. She turned to look at the hunter, wanting to say something, but not knowing what.
"Thank you."
The older hunter nodded and without any further ceremonies, turned and activated his cloaking device. The woman didn't hear him leave.
Nora left too, one shaky step after another, heading back to the movie theater, where the police no doubt already were. Maybe if she faked amnesia, she wouldn't have to answer any questions she knew she couldn't answer…