Chapter 2
As the Three of them were walking toward their motorcycles, Tabitha asked Robert "What was that you were saying about Cochise Stronghold?" He replied with "I was saying it might be another option for introducing Jan to Hiking" Jan piped up at the mention of her name "Why are you two so serious about getting me into hiking?" "Because it's fun and exciting! Besides, You don't want Rob to steal me away from you on one of our hiking trips, Do you?" Tabitha Teased. Jan slipped on her White AGV AX-8 Helmet and mounted her blue Yamaha R6, A trustworthy bike for beginners with enough power to let you get away from crazy drivers on the highway without launching you up to 100 Mph every time you twist the throttle, The bike was a hand-me-down from Tabitha from when she got her R1. Tabitha quickly pulled her Scorpion Exo-R710 Illuminati Helmet on over her head as if she was an impatient child and nearly jumped on her neon green Yamaha R1, While Robert took his time with putting on his Speed & Strength SS1600 helmet and sliding onto his red ZX14R. The three of them pulled out of the driveway and made their way to highway 10.
They were Heading into Phoenix when Jan spoke up through their sena headsets "Hey guys I'm running a little low on gas, Could we pull off somewhere to top it off?" Robert replied with "Yeah, I'm running a little low as well, We can pull into the gas station on the corner of 24th and Washington"
"Alright ya slowpokes, Next time, top off in Tucson" Tabitha replies. The three of them pulled into the gas station. While Jan and Robert pulled up to the gas pumps, Tabitha pulled into one of the parking spaces so she could go inside and use the Restroom. As they were topping off, Robert overheard two hunters recalling their recent trip up to the Cochise Stronghold, One of the hunters said "No way those scars were from a mountain lion, Lions have 5 claws and they're close together, Those scars only showed 2 claw marks and they must have been 4 to 5 inches apart" "Well what else could it be besides a lion? Maybe it had an accident when it was young and lost 3 of it's toes, Who knows" Retorts the other hunter. "Will you two knock it off? The thing was already dead and we didn't even get a Javelina out of this trip, it was a waste of damn time!" Fires off the third hunter, who just came out of the gas station. A few moments after the 3 hunters drove off, Tabitha came out of the store and returned to her bike as Robert and Jan were getting on their bikes after fueling up, The trio prepared to make the return trip to Tucson and it all went smoothly. Jan and Tabitha broke off from Robert after saying their goodbyes and returned to their house, Giving Robert plenty of time mull over what he heard the 3 hunters talking about on his return trip to sierra vista.
Once Robert returned home, it was about 9:30 PM and he was ready to sleep. As soon as he stripped off his gear and got down to his underwear, he toppled over onto the bed and slipped off into slumber. While he was sleeping, he had a nightmare, the kind of nightmare that makes you wake up in a cold sweat. All the he remembered from it was a guttural Roar, like an alligator, a Lion, and a Plane engine were all having a yelling contest, It was the kind of sound that would make the strongest of men feel like mice. He couldn't sleep after that so he decided to make a pot of coffee and do a little research in the local hunter forums to see if anyone else had encountered what those hunters at the gas station encountered, Sure Enough, There are People recalling tales of finding dead animals with strange scars and hearing roars unlike any animal on earth, But these tales are coming from all over the world, but nothing more than dead carcasses and strange sounds, that's all the evidence available. He did come across a pictures of a large grizzly bear covered in scars and missing it's head, like some of the other animals mentioned in the forums. By the time the sun rose, Robert had already come to the conclusion that the world is far from normal, or at least not what he considers to be normal. He dressed in his regular mechanics overalls and headed out to his jeep, Being a diesel mechanic is a tiring job but it pays him enough to enjoy his hobbys.
As Robert was driving to the Mechanics shop that he works at, he got a text from Tabitha that said "Jan finaly agreed to go hikng wit us next weeknd, but she sed she wil only hike tha little dragoons, so yay I gues?" Robert chuckled at her horrendous grammar and tossed the phone in the passenger seat deciding that he would reply to her when he got to his work place. As he was pulling in, he saw a Ford Raptor on the lift, it looked like it had been in a war zone with a giant hole going through both sides of the bed and burn marks surrounding the punctures, Tandem gash's were running all around the truck and the passenger door was missing, Robert got out of his Jeep and walked over to Woodrow, His boss "What happened to the ford?" he said while still staring at it, "Guy came in saying his son encountered some kinda monster while driving with his girlfriend or something" Woodrow answers "He said that he want's all the damaged pieces to be replaced and he wants a new paint job as well as a lift kit, an off road suspension, tires with a more aggressive tread, and tougher bumpers, he went home to do some research to find out exactly what he wants" Woodrow Continues "So we got a hell of a lot of work to do?" Asks Robert, Woodrow nods his head and sighs. The day continues on as would any other, Replacing tires, Changing oil, And dealing with idiots that think their truck is invincible. The week passes relatively quickly as Robert thanks God for the weekends much appreciated arrival. Robert is loading his Jeep Wrangler 4x4 up with hiking gear, Water, Beef jerky, The essentials, When he gets a call from Tabitha, "Hey we're getting our stuff ready, are you up yet?" "I'm about ready to start heading that way Tabby" He Replies "Great! We'll be ready to go as soon as you get here" "Alright" He says ending the conversation, Shortly after wards, he starts his journey to their house. When he arrives, He sees Tabitha twirling in the front yard while Jan watches her while sitting in front of the front door, He honks the horn to get their attention and Tabitha suddenly darts to the front passenger seat shouting "Shotgun!" Robert mutters under his breath "Child", Jan stands up annoyed and grabs their backpacks and tosses them in the back of the topless jeep and limbs into the back seat. Soon they are on their way to the small town of Dragoon, Just south east of Benson.
It was about 7:45 PM when they arrived in Dragoon and after taking a back road up part of the mountain, they decided that it was about time to get out and hike the rest of the way up. They reached the top of the peak at about 9:30 PM and it was about 30 minutes after that when they reached Cochise Stronghold, They were taking a break when Tabitha spoke up "I heard a rumor that there was some kinda monster lurking about up here, Hey maybe it will pay us a visit tonight?" From what I've heard, it would be preferable if it stayed very far away from us" Replied Robert, "You guys are just trying to scare me on my first hiking trip" Said Jan. Robert was about to say something when a horrendous sound rose to their attention at a deafening volume, Tabitha quickly sounded off what everyone was thinking "What the fuck was that?!" "I have no clue" Replied Robert as he pulled his Taurus Judge out of his backpack and brandishing it in a professional manner with both hands gripping it, he then stood up and turned his back to Jan and Tabitha, Preparing for whatever monster was about rear it's ugly head at him, what he didn't expect was for a cloud of dust to plume right in front of him and to hear a sudden thud, what was even more unexpected was for a giant to appear out of thin air right in front of him. The large creature shot its arm up suddenly and lopped Roberts left arm clean off the bone, as the disembodied limb fell to the ground, the creature then drew his leg up and kicked Robert Sparta style and launched him a few yards causing him to tumble and drop down the Stronghold only to be caught by an outcropping of rocks promptly knocking the wind out of his lunges. Shock wrapped it's cold hands around his mind and the last thing he remembers is a scream and he fell into a deathly slumber.
After seeing Robert launched of the ridge line by this monsters kick, Tabitha was stewing in the emotions of Anger, Fear, and Sadness. As Jan screamed out in terror, Tabitha jumped up to try and stab the monster with the knife that she had brandished when Robert had pulled out his gun, but she was only met with a monstrous hand around her throat strangling the life out of her. She met relief when the creature dropped her where she fell into a pile while trying to regain her breath, she then heard a series of guttural clicks and growls, this is when she realized that Jan had gone quiet, she turned her head to try and get a glimpse of her friend, only to see another creature supporting the girl while she was slumped over in sleep, Tabitha tried to get up when the first creature drove its foot into her back pushing her to the ground "No ooman, No resist" Says the creature above her in a barely understood, guttural voice before he pressed something to the nape of her neck sending her into a forced sleep,
Robert awoke in white, glowing, bright, white, it felt as if he was floating in water but he was dry. A strange mass of black slowly grew in front of him, Bearing 4 arms and easily standing at 14'0". The creature was completely black save for two glowing yellow rings roughly where the head would be. "You….Will Fight….You….Will Die….You….Will Fight….Again….You….Will Live" At the mention of life, Robert felt as if he was pushed off a cliff again only to fall on a cold metal table. Robert jolted up from the table in shock, panting, sweating, and feeling like death itself, "Are you awake now?" Came a voice from the darkest part of the strange room he was in, "Wha..Wha.. Where am I?" Was the first thing Robert blurted out, "You are on my ship" Said the creature as it stepped out of the shadows, Standing at a massive 8'4" the creature had red skin mottled with dull yellow spots save for it's stomach which was a pinkish white, It was absolutely covered in scars making it all the much more intimidating, and the slate gray mask it was wearing didn't help to sooth Robert, The mask was almost skeletal in it's build with sunken looking cheeks and a triangular respirator port? Where the mouth would be, and dark sunken eyes under an oval like forehead extending a good 2 feet back and up at an angle with a smooth rim around the sides extending in 2-3 inches from the edge then dropping to form ribbing in the style of 4 downward pointing Vs, The mask had a strange symbol etched onto the rim on the left side, it looked like 5 hashes in a formation resembling a half circle with all of the marks pointing inwards, The creature also had white dreadlocks that mad him look as if he was 100 years old. The creature finally broke Robert from his observation when he spoke "My name is Ka'Torag-na R'Ka, though to make it easier for you to remember, just call me Torag, you Oomans always have trouble with pronouncing my full name" Robert absently nodded his head in response as the memories slowly started to return to him. He suddenly jerked his head down to look at his left arm Only to see nothing there, "Sadly by the time I found you, your arm was already starting to rot and I could not re-attach it, Thankfully I got to you before Cetanu or the vultures found you" Torag said as he started to walk around the metal bed, "infection had already set in when I found you and the 12 discs in the thoracic region of your spine had all been shattered, most likely from a fall? Perhaps? Thankfully for you, due to the technology at my disposal and the knowledge of human biology I have gained from my expansive collection of books, I was able to repair most of the damage done to you" Torag rattled off as if to toot his own horn, "What are you" Robert asked out of the blue "What am I? I am a Monster, A Hunter, A Predator, A Nightmare, you oomans could make many names to describe what I am, But we call ourselves Yautja" Replied Torag "But for now you need to rest" Robert laid back down on the steel table without resistance, still dazed and confused and he slipped off to sleep.
[Hello again, If you are reading this then you will realize that this is the second day in a row that I have uploaded a chapter, do not expect this to always be the case, Though in light of yesterdays very short introduction chapter I have made this a little over twice as long Hopefully this will appease you]
[Because I suck at putting detailed descriptions of characters within the story, I am going to put a description of all the characters here at the bottom of the page, I will try to do this for all of the chapters but the list will only consist of characters acting as parts of the chapter, if their name is only mentioned then I will not put the description in here]
Robert Kaiser
Height: 6'7"
Weight: 259 lbs
Eye Color: Steel Blue
Hair Color: Dirty Blonde
Hair Length: Shoulder Length
Shoulder Width: 1'9"
Body Build: Muscular, Swole
Skin Tone: Fair
Tabitha M. Morales
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 186 lbs
Eye Color: Jade Green
Hair Color: Blue fading into Purple
Hair Length: Mid Back
Shoulder Width: 1'5"
Body Build: Fit, Athletic
Skin Tone: Tanned
Jan F. Elaine
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 190 lbs
Eye Color: Hazel
Hair Color: Dark Drown
Hair Length: High Back
Shoulder Width: 1'4"
Body Build: Soft, Skinny
Skin Tone: Olive
Ka'Torag-na R'Ka
Height: 8'4"
Weight 478 lbs
Eye Color: Green
Hair Color: White
Hair Length: Mid Back
Shoulder Width: 3'4"
Body Build: Muscular, Toned
Skin Tone: Red, Mottled Yellow, Pinkish white chest stomach and inner thighs