Chapter 1 Not quite what I was expecting
The wind raced past the human's face, catching at her hair and flinging it wildly about her, as she tore on through the dimly lit woods. The morning sun, newborn and still cold, crept through the foliage layers attempting to lighten the path before the inexhaustible chase.
Heart beating hard and tight within her chest, blood roaring panicked urges to spur her further, the woman took an imprudent glance over her shoulder. The movement of branches bending and parting, apparently without help, reaffirmed the fear that death was still firmly on her heels.
Spinning her head about, an unwelcome tree trunk came into view, just in time to advert a near fatal disaster. Using her elbow, the human woman, pushed her weight around the tree before using the firm base to slingshot herself upwards onto a deviously slippery mud slope.
Her feet gave way beneath her, a number of times, as the mud squelched and pushed away from the force she exerted against it. An annoyed sounding growl, below the woman, informed her ears she was not the only one having difficulty with the morning dew moistened dirt.
As the top of the slope came into easy reach the thud, creak and swish of an enlarged form landing firmly on a now bobbing branch, directly above the sprawling human, ignited some hidden energy she thought non-existent. However, a great many things she thought non-existent were proving their weight in reality this morning.
Throwing herself onwards she got to her feet in one quick motion and propelled through the tree's like her life depended on it. Dead and dying autumn bushes flashed past her speeding form, the muscles in her already tired legs screaming surrender she could not accept, clumsily darting between trees and using her free hand to align her direction against the hefty barked giants. The shotgun clutched greedily in her opposite hand, now smothered in drying mud and tethered dying leaves, slipping and catching at undergrowth to slow her escape.
It wasn't long until that blind panic that fuelled her fleeing legs reached its demise as her left foot, too tired to rise to the jump required to clear a fallen log, now caught it surrendered its weight to the ground but not without one last fight. Letting loose the shotgun the human woman threw her hands forward, forcing her lifeless muscles back into animation, tumbling head over heels colliding her back against the nearest tree.
A squealing shudder of pain broke her lips as the agony her entire body felt ripped its way to the surface, half blinding her with the pain, but not enough to stop a trembling hand darting to the side and gaining hold of the but of her shotgun.
The branches in the tree above the woman shuddered, as the invisible form pushed past them, a flow of relaxed clicking noises growing louder before silence descended suddenly like an end to the world. The wind even ceased its relentless game of taming the trees, waiting in bated breath, as the world watched the hunter land casually before the wide-eyed human woman and de-cloak to demonstrate a form as fearful as the devil himself.
The woman gasped at air that was no longer in the atmosphere, her lips shuddering violently as words tried to escape the grasp he held over her.
"WHAT ARE YOU?!" She screamed like a challenge, a roar of anticipated excitement from the humanoid her only response, before she raised the shotgun in her shaking hands and fired a shot into the creature's bare chest.
The predator wailed, flinging his head from side to side in a swirl of beaded dreadlocks, sliding a disc shaped object expertly from his hip and tossing it firmly at its target knocking the woman's head clean from her body before the splatter of his blood could adorn her fallen form.
The hunter roared again, loud and ferociously in victory, as the disembodied head rebounded against the root-meshed floor. The creatures oddly glowing green blood becoming tainted with the flow of red that raced from the woman's open neck.
Moving forward the hunter, apparently unaware of the bloody mess his bullet ridden chest now demonstrated, now crouched beside the empty corpse claiming his prize with a smouldering of clicks beneath the mask that adorned his face. Rising on his feet, back to full height, the proud warrior placed his trophy delicately into a net that rested heavily on one hip filled with similar rewards.
It was then that the great warrior hovered, disinterestedly over the fallen corpse, and tugged at the circular disk embedded in the tree trunk just above the steaming neck wound. Just as he was to pull the weapon loose, from its deep cradle, a sound he had not expected suddenly made him jump backwards keen as a cat caught unawares.
The muffled sound continued weakly, stirring the hunter's curiosity, as he tilted his head from side to side and watched the lifeless body of his prey with keen interest. Moving his clawed hand toward the panel on his opposite arm the creature flexed his fingers before taping a button, to change the view of his visor, closing in on the stationary body in front of him. Watching the heat evaporate slowly from the dying body, under infrared viewing, the hunter finally spotted his target. Its heat source was remarkably colder than he would of expected, blending in perfectly with the cooling corpse, initiating what sounded like growls of curse behind the creature's mask.
Hopping defiantly into the nearest tree, the great warrior made for escape of his own, only to have the muffled sound grow in volume assaulting his sensitive ears. He paused suddenly, thoughts of honour pummelling his desire to flee, feeling his mind beginning to submit the body-following suit.
Dropping back to the ground the hunter edged closer to the corpse, wary of his surroundings, before kneeling lower and peeling the ravelling's of clothing from the woman's body with great care. The sound he was drawn toward was no longer muffled by the heavy fabrics but bleating loudly into his face as he cut away at the straps that held the child tight to its mother.
He cringed his head backwards from the sound as he held the delicate creature at arms length and chirped reassuring sounds to the frightened young. Slowly, the crying eased into a hiccup of sniffles before falling quiet as the two stared at one another. The child seemed small, runty, something was obviously unwell about it to have such a low body temperature, but its eyes held a fierce defiance he recognised well within his own race.
Today, this would be the hunter's greatest prize, he decided, tucking the child carefully underarm before opening his net and releasing the woman's head back to her body.
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I read too much predator fan fiction. What can I say? Predator 2 is my number one favourite movie ever. I just thought I ought to write this so I did and here it is. I might ponder adding a couple of extra chapters if anybody is actually interested. If you're not I won't and just keep my imagination to myself. Actually, saying that I'll probably change my mind and subject you to it anyway.