First i have to say: thanks to everyone who read the prologue and maybe even liked it. I didn't expect to receive any comments, so i was really surprised. :) And again, sorry for the possibly bad english. I may have invented new frases and words since my dictionary really isn't that helpful.
Complete silence was a welcome change to the constant noises of the metropolis. Only the echo of Lex's footsteps surrounded her in the dark. Turning the flashlight on, she for a fleeting moment expected to see a facehugger flying towards her or even a drooling alien lurking in the shadows. The cave in front of her was, however, empty. Apparently she had a pretty wild imagination.
The dark-skinned woman took a deep breath to chase the old demons away. As if such monsters were waiting behind every rock. Decisively, she turned her forehead-light on too and prepared to explore rest of the maze-like cave.
Alexa Woods had always been independent and kept her feet on the ground. Figuratively speaking of course; she did spend most of her time climbing mountains or going through the caves beneath them. She wouldn't let mere memories get the best of her. With the help of her wrist-compass Lex moved forward, watching out for treacherous chasms that could easily sweep careless adventurers away into unknown depths. She was an experienced guide, though, and knew exactly what to do in different environments. That's the reason she was selected to participate in Weyland's expedition in the first place.
So far the cave had been sloping steadily, but now Lex was facing a very long and steep fall. The light from her flashlight didn't even reach the bottom. Anyone else would have turned back and looked for another route, but this woman had adventure in her blood. So she put the flashlight away from her hand and started descending, knowing well that slipping now could mean serious injuries. A seven feet tall, strong predator would have been a great companion at the moment. Waiting at the bottom, ready to catch her in case she would fall. Lex scolded herself for letting her thoughts stray in such a risky situation. Still, she couldn't help, but to grin trying to imagine the enormous hunter balancing in narrow and slippery caves. And acting chivalrously to boot.
"Damned! Damn this planet! Damn human beings and especially these miniscule caves!" A long litany of worsening curses kept coming as Scar was letting off steam with clicks and roars typical to his native tongue. His comrade tried his best to keep a straight face when the raging warrior hit his head on one of the stalactites.
Again.
The predator, whose name roughly translated in English would have been Stealth, truly lived up to his name. Even though the two hunters were about the same size, there was a world of difference between their movements. Scar was the type to just walk in the middle of the action and start smashing heads, as for Stealth it was quite the opposite. Usually his prey never got to know what had hit them. He knew how to take his enemies by surprise and nothing escaped his sharp eyes. Especially not the fact that right now Scar wasn't exactly in his element.
"Why did we have to come to these lousy caverns?" Slightly calmed down predator demanded.
Stealth wisely made sure that he didn't sound amused when answering.
"Here it is most unlikely that humans would come and accidentally find us. And even if someone came here, we could hear them from afar".
Scar had no choice, but to give up. Somewhat older and more experienced hunter was automatically in charge. He still couldn't understand, though, why any sane being would want to come there. Of course he didn't have a clue that at the same time Lex was eagerly descending to the depths of some other cave. These caves, however, didn't have anything that would have interested him. Luckily, they didn't have to come there often. Only to rest occasionally and to clean up the skulls they've acquired.
A couple of weeks earlier they had landed in the middle of a vast and uninhabited forest. The first thought for both of the predators was that they probably would have to hike to the nearest town to find something to hunt. But it seemed that luck was on their side after all. Right on the first day they had come across with a small group of five people.
Armed people.
The invisible observers had followed this group that seemed to be tracking some large, furry creature with sharp claws. They were clearly hunters.
Unfortunately for them, they had become the hunted.
Some other groups had come too, but few were even worth the effort. If this continued, they would have to search from further off after all.
Descending deeper into the cave had definitely been worth it. This was just what Lex had needed. Amazing rock formations that couldn't be found above ground, an underground stream that led to an entire lake, and bats.
Lots of bats.
She didn't care for them much, though.
Nevertheless, Lex kept on going, ignoring the fact that she was most likely covered with bat dropping. The place was simply too fascinating to be thinking such things. For example, the lake that she was now standing by. With a little luck, she might even get a glimpse of one of those eyeless cave fishes that she knew were living in such conditions.
Apparently her luck had run out, since the next thing Lex knew was that she had lost her footing and was sliding right into the lake. The freezing water was absorbed by her clothes in an instant. But to look on the bright side, she had managed to land on her feet. And the water was only up to her waist.
What luck!
To top it off, the rock Lex had fallen off from was too steep to climb up so she had to walk around the lake until she found a better one. The weight of the water in her pants and the fact that she was numb with cold made moving difficult. She would have to return to the surface. The flashlight was nowhere to be found so Lex assumed it had fallen into the lake when she had slipped. Quickly she shook some of the water off from her clothes and boots and headed back.
Climbing down there had been pretty hard, but it was nothing compared to climbing up with numb fingers and feet. Persistently fighting, she kept on pushing forward, sometimes stumbling, but always hanging on. After what seemed like an eternity, she made it to the upper part of the cave. Exhausted, Lex couldn't wait to get out of there, straight to home and into a hot bath, where she would spend the rest of the week. With that in mind, she took the last few steps out of the cave.
And faced an unexpected sight.
"Alexa Woods! You're just the person I was looking for!"
Outside, a welcoming campfire was waiting, and by its side, sat a familiar-looking man with a wide smile on his face.
"A-Antonio!" Lex stuttered, not believing her eyes. What were the chances that she had just bumped into her old high school-boyfriend in the middle of nowhere? In daylight Lex also got a better look of herself. As she had guessed, the bats had really bombarded her. On top of that, she was sweaty, her pants were dripping water and she was pretty sure she had caught a fish in her pocket.
How was that for a first impression?