The hunter moved onto the path and looked around for the human. The human was no where to be seen, but the hunter spotted a corpse of a man on top of a hill. A quick scan confirmed that the man was an infected. His organism slowly dieing. The hunter ran past and down the path. Stealth was a priority, but the hunter wanted to remain near the human with the handgun. No doubt the majority of infected would focus on him and allow the hunter his pick of prey. Normally the hunter would never dare to use such a cowardly ploy, but he needed to capture his prey alive. He ran past a small cabin and another corpse. The man with the handgun was efficient. A worthy hunt after the hunter had captured what he needed. His left gauntlet beeped as the Sat-Com in his ship intercepted a human communication and relayed it to him.

A woman's voice. "Leon. How ya holding up?"

The man with the handgun. "Bad question, Hunningan."

"Sorry to hear that...I'm sending you some information. Hope you find it useful.

"I'll take a look at it. Thanks."

The communication ended. The hunter was pleased with this new information. His worthy prey had a name. Leon! Now he would be able to properly label his trophy after he had captured it. He had barely gone any farther, when another communication was relayed to him.

A man's voice. "So I see you've managed to arrive in the village on time."

A woman's voice. "Yes, but nobody remembered to roll out my red carpet."

"The villagers are all being controlled. They automatically attack any intruders. Ring the church bell, that should quiet them down for a while."

"Hmmm... sounds like they're good obedient boys and girls."

"Unfortunately, time is not a luxury we have... Gather as much information as you can about the parasites and finish off this little tour."

The hunter was again pleased. The woman who had made the early reports was in the area. The hunter would make sure to capture and extract any information she might have about the organization that she worked for. The hunter's long time of waiting and stalking would soon pay off. He charged past another corpse with renewed vigor. He came to a large gate with an insignia on it. He simply jumped over it and landed on the path. He looked ahead and spotted the prey now known as Leon moving through the village. It wasn't long for him to be spotted and the many villagers began to pursue. The hunter spotted a large barn in front of him and he leapt on top of it. He watched as Leon entered a two story building and barricade himself in. The villagers responded by getting ladders and one very large man with a sack over his head walked out of a house and started up a chainsaw. Things were going well. The hunter bent down low and scanned the villagers. All were infected and the large man with the chainsaw's organism seemed more developed than the others. The hunter would have preferred to capture him, but too many villagers were in the way. Their threat was minimal, but he still needed to remain in the shadows. He turned from the house and spotted a trio of villagers guarding a door on the far side of the village. No others were in sight. The hunter jumped down and ran at them. The group at the two story house didn't even to bother to turn toward the sound of a large creature landing on the ground. He readied his gun and loaded three spikes. The first two were lethal, the last was the tranquilizer. His helmet linked to his gun and a small target reticule appeared on his visor. He fires all three nearly at once. The lethal two impale the first two humans through their chest cavity and pierced the organisms inside of them. Death was instant. The last spike was smaller and impacted the stomach of the third human. He started to yell, but fell over out cold. The hunter bent down and scanned the organism. The tranquilizer had little effect on it. The hunter looked around. No other humans were present. He lifted the human and threw him over his shoulders. He could call his ship to him, but he feared to arouse any suspicion. He would have to run back to his ship and pray he wasn't spotted. His cloak was more or less useless with the human on his shoulder. He heard a church bell in the distance. The sound of the crowd had stopped. He leapt onto the roof of a small building and watched as the group of humans exited the village through a door with a red insignia on it. Leon stepped out of the two story house and watched the door close.

"Where's everyone going? Bingo?"

The hunter was curious about this as well. But he had other matters at the moment. He leapt off the house and ran into the woods.


The hunter waited as his ship scanned every cell of the organism. So far, the ship only confirmed what he had already known. He resisted the urge to tare apart the sleeping human. He took out his frustration on a section of the wall. The dark metal bent under his blows. This organism, no this parasite did little but make the humans more controllable. Granted they were more resistant to injury and felt no pain, but it did little to improve the hunt. While still capable of thought, their minds were simplified. The hunter hated the thought that all of his work had been a waste. He had risked all of his honor for nothing. He was jarred out of his thoughts by another communication.

Man's voice "We have an irregularity. The researcher we hired has been discovered by the Illuminados.

The woman's voice. "You must be talking about that vaguely Spaniard... So where is he now?"

"He's been held captive in an abandoned house located in the north-east of the village. Until he recovers the sample, we can't let him die."

"You don't need to remind me."

The hunter sneered at the Sat-Com. It was no wonder the humans wanted these parasites so badly. The ability to control the masses was always a human goal. The hunter grabbed the human and dragged him outside. He tossed him to the ground. His wrist blades activated and he sliced the human's head off. A quick check of his scanners confirmed the parasite had died as well. The hunter turned back to his ship, but a bubbling sound pulled his attention back to the body. It was decomposing right before his eyes. The hunter starred at the spot where the body had decomposed and vanished. He thought there might be more to this than he originally believed. He looked into the forest. The hunt was not yet over. The human, Leon would be taken as a trophy. But maybe a little more research about this parasite would be useful before cutting his losses. Confident in his decision to press on, he cloaked and returned to the hunt.


The hunter moved through the village with all haste as he was determined to catch up with Leon. He had shifted his focus from the parasites to acquiring Leon's skull and spine. He followed the trail to a farm. The usual assortment of animals were around, but not a sign of human life. The hunter knew Leon had come through and switched his scanner to high mode. His visor scanned the area more thoroughly than normal, but it required the hunter to move his head slowly. He spotted a small heat signature in the form of a hand on a far metal gate. He ran and leapt over it. He found himself on a stone path that curved downward. He detected no humans and sprinted down it. After running down a tunnel, he came to a pair of houses. He jumped up and landed on the nearest one. The second house was further away. He froze when its door opened and a large man exited. He scanned as the warmest human the hunter had ever seen. His body temperature was closer to a tiger or similar furred beast. His height was over seven feet and from the shape of the frame, the hunter figured he was capable of great strength. He switched to his X-ray mode. The scanner couldn't penetrate the humans skin, but it did show some cell structure similar to the parasites. The hunter joy was renewed. His long time at research and waiting was seemingly proving worth while. Perhaps a mutation period was required. More information was needed. Behind the large human were two smaller ones. Each carried a man across their shoulders. The hunter didn't recognize one of them, but the other was Leon. Did the large human defeat Leon? The hunter had to find out before collecting his trophy. He turns his head and sees a woman in a red dress watching the two be carried off. She waits for a minute and runs off into the woods. She must have been the one from the organization. The hunter weighs his two options. Follow Leon or the woman. Since Leon was still one of his prey and the woman was good about transmitting information for the hunter to collect, he decided to follow Leon and see if his new theory about the parasites were correct. The hunt continued.


The two humans were dumped into a house at the edge of a large valley. The hunter found a perch on the mountain wall just above it. The chief and the two villagers left the house. The hunter decided to wait for a moment and see why the two humans had been left here instead of being killed. An infected man dragging a very large axe was approaching the house. The hunter jumped and landed on the roof. He put his helmet to the roof and activated his voice recorder.

"What, are you supposed to be a cop or something? Nah, you don't look the type." It was a man's voice with a Spanish accent.

"Maybe." It was Leon.

"Okay, Let me guess. She's the President's daughter?"

"That's too good for a guess. Want to start explaining?"

"Psychic powers. Nah, just kidding with you, amigo. I overheard one of the villagers talking something about the President's daughter in the church."

"And who might you be?"

"Me llamo Luis Sera. I used to be a cop in Madrid. Now I'm just a good-for-nothing guy, who happens to be quite the ladies' man."

The hunter head jerked up as he heard the man with the axe entering the house. He wasn't sure if he should stop the man, or wait to see if Leon could save himself. His answer was given to him.

Sera yelled. "Do something, cop!"

"After you! Now!"

A loud clang sound followed by something impacting the wall and then silence. The hunter ran over to the roof over the door and sees Luis Sera running out of it. The human scrambles down the cliff face at the edge of the house. The hunter nods his approval as his Sat-Com picks up a communications from the house.

"It's Leon. Sorry I couldn't get in touch sooner but I was a bit tied up."

"You're okay, right?" It was the woman, Hunnigan.

"I'm fine. There was a male civilian held captive. According to him, Ashley's in a church somewhere."

"What happened to him?"

"He managed to escape."

"Do you have a fix on the location of that church?"

"No, but apparently, there's a secret passage in the village that leads there. I'm heading back to the village."

The communication ended. The hunter decided to move on ahead and see if the large man was guarding the church. He figured Leon was strong and cleaver enough to make it there on his own. The hunter jumped and climbed up the mountain side. He turned back to see Leon talking to a man dressed in a dark hood. Next to the man was a blue flame on top of a pole. The light was giving off a strange heat signature. The hunter scanned and stored the information for later. He had other things to hunt at the moment.