Authors Note: Well, here it is, my first ever attempt at writing anything Alien or Predator related, even though I have been a fan since the very beginning. I grew up on these movies! Enjoy.

Warriors

Chapter One: The End

Life used to be good for me. 'Used to' being the key words in this sentence. I remember what life was like before it happened. I hadn't expected to be asked to lead an expedition into the Antarctic, to find an ancient temple that for all intents and purposes, should not have existed at all. The expedition should not have gone on at all either. I knew it before I got into it- that the people I was expected to lead were not ready for what they were getting into- and that was when I still thought everything was normal about the situation. I couldn't have been more wrong.

I hadn't been ready for a fight for survival underneath tons of snow and ice and inside an Aztec temple. I hadn't wanted to be the one who had to survive long enough to watch all of her friends be murdered before her eyes. I hadn't wanted to be the one who had to fight her way along with some creature as my only hope for survival, when he might have turned on me whenever he wanted to. But in the fight for survival, sacrifices must be made, and dangerous moves must be made. I understood that now.

As I watched the giant one, 'The Queen', I guess she could be called, tumbling down off the edge of the cliff, into the dark waters of the Antarctic, I felt relief. A silent laugh of triumph build up inside me as I watched her, flailing helplessly on the surface of the waters for a few moments, until the weight of the water tower pulled her down, her hand reaching upwards, as a last plea for help. Her reign had ended before it had begun, her kingdom fallen.

I should have been happy. But my mind returned to my helper- the Predator. I had no clue if that was really what they were called, but that was what Sebastian had dubbed them as, so I went along with it. I forced my feet to turn, and to look away from the waters. My eyes scanned the frozen tundra before me, looking for the Predator. I found him a moment later, lying on his back in the snow. My heart thumped a little bit harder in my chest as I approached his body.

Not really sure of what I felt towards the creature that had saved my life more then once, I knelt down next to his dying body. The scar on my face still burned, but it served as a reminder to what we had been through, and that I was- for a time- looked upon as an equal in his eyes. I felt like crying. I wasn't sure if I actually was at the time, but my eyes burned like I was. Those Serpents, those Aliens, had killed every friend I had made here in this place. And I was left wondering how exactly was I supposed to go on living with the knowledge I now had.

Lights blared suddenly down upon me- just as the Predator's head fell, finally breathing his last, blinding me for a moment- until my eyes adjusted to the light. I looked upwards and gasped suddenly, as I watched half a dozen more of the Predators appearing out of thin air as they powered down their invisibility shields.

Fear pulsed through me again, and I wished my fri- the Predator, was alive again, here to tell them all we had been through. To come this far, and survive it all, just to be murdered while I was almost home free. Then I remembered- the markings the Predator had burned into my skin with the alien blood.

I turned my head slowly, exposing my cheek to the tall creature, which seemed to be the leader. He held a lethal looking staff in his hand and his leathery dreadlocks hung down over a cloak. I tried not to look in his direction too often, not wanting to anger him any more then I might already have. He growled in my direction and nodded to his comrades, who had moved forward and were collecting the body of the Predator. Then, he held out the spear towards me.

'Here it comes.' I thought to myself, just waiting for the moment that the blades would slip through me like I was butter, cutting me through and spilling my blood onto the snow. But the moment didn't come. The Predator pressed a button on his staff, and I watched the blades retract into it quickly. I jumped on instinct, my adrenaline racing as the Predator handed me the weapon.

Nodding in understanding, I reached out a gloved hand and took it willingly. I understood that the brand that had been placed upon me set me apart now. I had become a hunter, in the hunters' eyes. Watching with wonder in my eyes, I observed the Spaceship taking off, slowly lifting off from the ground and swerving above my head before lifting off into the upper atmosphere. Left alone in the arctic tundra, I finally took the time to observe my surroundings a bit more.

In the battle against the Queen, everything had been a blur, a rush of adrenaline and blood traveling to my brain. It was a battle to survive, done without much thinking, at least up until the very end. The word 'run' had been the only one to travel through my mind for the most part, filling me with a primal, animal like fear. So now, I finally had the time to actually look around me, and take in what was left of the Whaling Station that we had arrived at before our exploration.

There wasn't much left, that's for sure. Cliffs had formed everywhere around me, a result of the explosion I had survived through, where the snow and ice had fallen into the sea. But to my left, was some sort of truck that sat in the midst of a battle zone left alone and with its lights on. Lights on, meant that the keys were still in the ignition, which also meant a way out of this frozen wasteland without freezing off a few toes in the process. My hope was renewed.

Immediately I started towards it, keeping a calm and cool pace as I stepped towards the vehical. Until I heard it.

Thump.

The sound was hollow and somewhat metallic and scared me more then anything else that day had, simply because I hadn't been expecting it at all. A gasp rolled across my tongue and chocked against my lips as I stopped my approach suddenly. My grip tightened on the weapon in my hand, and I found myself wishing that the Great Predator had showed me how to use it before whisking themselves out of our galaxy.

Thump. Thump.

My head snapped back up towards the truck again, and located the source of the noise. It was coming from the opposite side. Sparing a glance at my weapon, which looked highly un-volatile, with the blades retracted like they were. But I could use it as a club if worse came to worse. It was now or never. Forcing myself to move, I slid my feet across the snow covered ground slowly, my hand desperately searching for some sort of button, or latch, or release- something to get the weapon back into working mode. I had made it towards the closest side of the truck now, which was when a new noise startled me.

Bang!

Whir.

The first noise had again come from the other side of the truck, while the second had come from my weapon, the blades flying outwards from each end, becoming more spear like, and taking on a much more dangerous quality. Feeling slightly more confidently, I eased my way around the corner of the truck, and face to face with another nightmare.

Black exoskeleton, laced with yellow gridlines and a broken scorpion-like tail stood there, feasting on the flesh and bones of one of the men who were supposed to have been working on digging the hole down to the pyramid. His stomach was split open, with the cut precise, and something at the back of my mind told me that he had been dead for some time- murdered by something with more advanced methods of killing. A Predator. The Alien, however it had escaped from it's doom as its queen had done, must have happened upon the corpse, and stopped for a meal to pick up its strength.

"Hey!" I shouted at it, raising my voice and holding my weapon out in front of me. I was a warrior now, and as much as I really didn't want to have to fight anymore, I did purely because of the fact that I had no idea how those creatures multiplied, and I didn't want to let it go now- to have to face twice as many in the future. "You want your meal?" I asked it as it turned to face me, blood and saliva dripping from its gaping maws. "You're going to have to work for it."

With a snarl the creature lunged at me, and I rolled sideways on instinct, out of the way, my shoulder hitting the ground and being jolted rather painfully on a rock. I groaned and looked back up, to see the alien moving closer again, it's tail- no longer bleeding- swinging behind it in long, slow swipes. I held up my weapon again, as I got back to my feet. Swinging the spear at it I missed the first time, almost losing my footing with the force of the blow. Trying once more, with a more controlled attack, just as the alien lunged again, I swiped off one of its front claws.

The acid spilt all over the ground, spreading in a circular motion for a moment, until smoke began to rise and the snow began to melt away with lightning speed, swallowing the claw up and creating yet another crevice for me to avoid during the battle. The alien with the gridlines etched into its flesh began to screech loudly, piercing the cold and silent night air with a scream of pain. I cringed and backed away from the crevice, edging my way around it to sturdier ground.

The break in battle didn't last long, when the alien's screeches became a hiss, and it stared up at me with hollow eyes- deciding just how to kill me. I could see its inner jaws moving with anticipation, sliding down an inch, and back into its mouth, just waiting for the chance to pierce my flesh.

"Come on!" I shouted at it, shaking my weapon in front of me. "Lets go!" I called out, just as it pounced again. Its movements were refined, graceful and catlike- Pouncing the same way a tiger does in the jungle while chasing his prey. I found myself screaming as I held my ground, holding my weapon out in front of me, and impaling the monster on the three blades on the far end. The weight of the creature pressed down on me, pressing himself further down on the blades.

His free claw swiped at me and tore into my left shoulder, deep enough to make me lose my grip and watch my arm dangle helplessly at my side for a moment, as I lost my footing again and fell backwards. The other of the blade sliced my right side, only deep enough to draw blood. I cried out in pain, tears rolling down my cheeks as the alien in front of me began to die, the acid burning away the snow around it. It's inner jaws snapped helplessly in my direction, but it was too far away from me now to do any damage.

With the last of my strength, I pulled upwards on the weapon, ripping through flesh and bone, before pulling the weapon out quickly. In pain, and on the verge of consciousness, I watched as the carcass of the alien began to sink, slowly but surely, into it's own grave in the artic snow. With one last sigh of relief, I sighed and closed my eyes, slipping into unconsciousness, my wounds getting the best of me. I was sure that my time was over, and that I was doomed to my own grave out here in the Antarctic- but had I stayed awake a few moments longer- I would have seen a ship reentering the atmosphere- and coming directly towards me.

Authors Note: Well, there we go. End of Chapter One. Hope you liked it. And just for all you people who are currently wondering how the heck the grid alien survived, this is the realm of fan fiction- Anything can happen, and that's my explanation. Please tell me what you thought about the chapter.

The next update will probably be at the end of the week, as I do have schoolwork to keep up with too!