The Elder
He was old now, graduated to official Elder status. He savored the perks that came with it. The realization from other Hunters how dangerous he must be to have survived this long in their deadly world. The hard won experience, the huge trophy rack, the authority, even the boredom that was starting to creep into the hunt. Something he would have never believed as a young one.
He knows this hunting moon, used to train the most promising young males to their full potential. He considers it in a secret way, his, although in truth the council he was part of shared the responsibility in organizing its hunts.
He knows every inch of the hunting ground, having fought and survived there himself as a youth. He knew about the many animals that were regularly imported, their size strength, speed, where they were from. He was an excellent tracker, had a full trophy collection on the home world and a legion of offspring. Many a hunter had survived on his advice, his knowledge and genes would surely be passed down for many a generation.
He knew now of a fearsome animal that lurked in the hunting preserve, this particular game had survived a season, which was rare, but he did so with a particular style he couldn't help admire. There were others, he knew of one who had been recently caught and killed, but they usually hid, stayed bellow the tracker, scavenged and did not come out. This one was bold, he could hide of course, and do it well, but he was much more open. He challenged hunters, made kills. He showed bravado and a flare for killing that started to get him talked about, which wasn't good for an animal in the preserve. He did not seem to care however, he continued killing openly, leaving mutilated bodies, even making trophies of other aliens. Their aliens.
Hunters began to take a mandible to embellishing his reputation, and he became Wanted, which was not good for him. Every hunter began dreaming of his skull on their rack, the Elder even took an interest. He was a bit too old now for The Hunt, but he began commandeering new shipment, dropping them for the wanted one's benefit. To see if he would rise to the challenge.
He preformed beautifully.
One day, near the start of his species next season, he sent a whole load of intelligent pack hunters, recently discovered. They reminded him of their pack animals that were used to flush out prey, except vastly more intelligent, sentient almost. The lowly ones, workers, loaded the snarling beasts into a crate, preparing them for the drop. He wondered how the lone survivor would deal with multiple mind-coordinated assailants.
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The Man didn't know much about Semtex, he admitted to himself, but it was pretty safe to handle, as far as explosives went. He did come across a cache of ancient TNT, which he didn't dare touch. It had been sweating nitroglycerin in this jungle heat for God knows how long.
There were odd caches of weapons stored here and there, some recent, some very old. He suspected the Demented Survivor and several of his predecessors had set up weapons stores like squirrels caching acorns for the start of the next season. The source probably coming form their shorter-lived companions.
He carefully added the Semtex (no doubt brought by some long dead soldier/demolitions expert) to his store. He rationed out a small bit, estimating how much he would need for the job. He set the charges, waited.
The crate was not long in coming down, he watched it land, caught a glimpse of the strange animals about to rush out and devour anything in their way. He casually pressed the charge button.
0o0o0o0o0o0o
The Elder cursed in shock.
He had been watching, anticipating. He had commandeered a hunting drone for the purpose-another perk of his position. He wanted to see how the creature would do.
He found him sitting -almost casually, drinking clean river water with his hand. He was absolutely calm and collected, almost waiting for something, which should have given the Elder some kind of clue. The creature did not run or even stand up at the sight of the crate parachuting in. He seemed almost-bored. The Elder hunter wondered at his attitude, but he wanted to see how he and the new animals would perform.
They were just about to burst out of their crate when the Creature casually raised a hand and pushed a button. The new vicious animals had disappeared in an explosion of dust and debris, never having gotten even a chance to hunt, or to square off fairly with the wanted being.
It went against every law of the hunt.
Of course he wasn't a Hunter, just a wild animal, they did everything they could to survive, especially his species. Still it was a great and annoying surprise.
Another Elder has been watching. To his further annoyance he clicked his mandibles in laughter.
"It's like untying a knot but cutting it in half, isn't it?"
The Elder hunter snorted contemptuously. "There's no honor in hunting in such a fashion."
Now it was his companion's turn to be contemptuous, "Since when do they have any honor?"
The Elder clicked his mandibles thoughtfully, "True, still they have an infinite capacity to surprise."
"Which is why we hunt them." His companion agreed then changed the subject. "A group of three wants to go down and hunt this one."
"Now? There's been no authorization to do so, although this one is stirring up a lot of talk"
"Yes, this lot has been bothering me for authorization to go hunt him, but I do not know even if I should bother bringing it up before the rest of the council, his kind's season has not even started yet. And they are stupid young males" He added, making it clear that "stupid" and "young male" were synonymous in his lexicon.
"But he is becoming an annoyance." The Elder mused. "He has almost escaped once." From his companion's look of surprise it was clear he had not heard of this. The Elder spread his mandibles open wide in a grin. "There was a false-hunter hunt not too long ago. He was already captured and bound to the totem when this one came along to set him free. Apparently they formed an alliance of sorts; he was given access to the ship."
Now his companions shock turned to outrage. "False-hunters are even worse, they have even less honor than a wild animal."
The Elder grunted in agreement. "He almost escaped the moon, but the Prime hunter of the three on the moon stopped the ship, apparently he got off in time." He paused and considered "He was of my seed. This creature killed him."
He did not get sympathy, or expect it. His companion stated ritualistically: "Such is the path."
"Yes, he died with honor, and managed to sire a few of his own before death claimed him."
The subject of their conversation was checking to make sure each of his targets was completely dead. Satisfied he turned as if to head off into the jungle but stopped turned his head and stared directly at the drone's camera. He held their gaze for a second then, slowly, almost insolently, headed off into the forest. As if he were saying "I knew you were there all along."
There was a fraction of time spent in silence then The Elder said. "I will bring it the proposal to the council."
0o0o0o0o0o0
The Man knew they were coming for him, he felt it in his gut long before the drone came to watch him. That's why he took out the latest prey so easily; he couldn't be bothered with them now. He rationed his explosives, his weapons. He was becoming a threat to them. He knew he should have not been so obvious, that he should have been like the madman and stay hidden, but that was just not his style. He did not fear death. If they came for him they came for him.
Let the bastards come for him.
A/N: It's always hard not to humanize an alien species, especially Predators, but I still felt I had to write this chapter mostly from their POV, and I think I did alright.
I mostly used the culture and views established by the AVP series written by the Perrys, which I know some fans don't like, but I think are good enough, and I sure as hell aren't going to take the time make my own up.
The only thing that is mine is how the "Super Predators" from the movie refer to "Classic" ones. Most human tribes refer to themselves in a term that can be translated to "The People" "Real People" or "True Humans" implicitly degrading everyone else (just another pleasant aspect of humanity) so I figured that the word for themselves would be 'Hunter' and in contrast to the classics they'd refer to themselves as True or Genuine Hunter, and denigrate the classics as "False" hunters. Just in case you were confused.
Reviews will be appreciated, thank you to those who have already reviewed.