"I can't believe you actually killed a queen!" Sin whispered before turning excitedly to her mother. "Mommy she killed a Queen Kainde Amedha! Just like you did!"

Chapter 2

"I heard and it really is amazing." Amy replied. "The Xeno Queens are very hard to defeat Lex. You were very smart and brave to have killed it. To bad you couldn't get that trophy."

"Kainde Amedha? Xeno? What are you talking about Amy?" Lex asked confused.

"Those aliens you fought alongside Scar. That s their Yautja name. Oh sorry I'm confusing you aren't I?" Amy asked.

"Just a little. How did you know my story wasn't just a story? How do you know about the aliens?" Lex asked her.

"I've met them." Amy told her.

"And I'm part Yautja!" Sin exclaimed proudly. "Mommy tell her about when you fought the Queen with Daddy."

"What?" Lex shook her head before looking back at the two before her. "You fought the aliens, the xeno's, alongside a...Yautja, I think you called it that, and killed one of those monster...um...queen xeno's? And Sin's father was that same Yautja?"

"Well yes. See about 10 years ago I was volunteering in impoverished Peruvian villages. A few of my colleagues and I decided to make a week long camping trip to a nearby isolated pyramid. We were told we couldn't get into or really near the Pyramid but if we stood on a nearby hill with binoculars we could see it. What we didn't know was that some Bad Bloods had decided to hold their own hunt their."

"Bad Bloods?" Lex asked.

"Oh um outlaws of the Yautja. Yautja warriors who are dishonorable. Hunting the defenseless, killing children, going against the laws of their clan." Amy quickly explained. "These Bad Bloods kidnapped and killed nearby villagers using them as hosts for the Kainde Amedha. I guess there weren't enough people or xeno's to hunt so when our group came into their radar they kidnapped us and brought us to the pyramid. I escaped from them injuring one and taking a few of his weapons. Now most people think that being a doctor, geneticist and archeologist would mean I was a wussy. But my father is a retired general/doctor, my mother a martial arts instructor/archeologist and I had 3 older brothers."

Lex laughed at this. "So I suppose your father taught you the military fighting style, your mother taught you martial arts and I'm assuming weapons and you got to practice them on your brothers."

"You'd be right. Anyways after I escaped the Bad Bloods I ran down the corridors and almost got killed. A huge black hostile creature had almost impaled me with its tail. Using a knife I had stolen from the Bad Blood I ran at it and slammed the knife through its skull. I didn't realize until the blade had melted away that these monsters blood was acidic. Now I'll admit that at this point I freaked out. Before the Xeno had even fallen to the floor I was off again and just my luck I ran straight into an egg chamber. I could see a couple dozen people hung on the walls. Some were already dead with their chests busted open, some had face huggers lying in front of them or still wrapped around them but a few looked to be fine. I think it was the military training my father instilled but I did the most horrible thing I d ever had to in my life."

"You killed them?" Lex asked softly.

"Yes." Amy slightly hung her head. "I had assessed the situation and realized that the face huggers were implanting something in the peoples chest that would burst out of them. Probably becoming a monster like I had seen before. Using the spear I stabbed each person I knew to have a monster inside them. First I crushed their skulls then ripped open their chests to kill the embryo. Then I ran into a problem. I had killed all the baby beasts and hosts that either had a face hugger on them or on the ground in front of them."

"You weren't sure about the others. If they were infected or not." Lex guessed.

"You're right and I couldn't even use the amount of eggs versus face huggers because there were more face huggers then eggs in the room. Then I realized I had completely ignored the eggs and started destroying them. Slicing them to pieces. This took my mind off the other people in the room but when I was done I was back at square one."

"So what did you do?"

"I was momentarily saved from making that decision by a new arrival."

"What happened?"

"Daddy arrived." Sin said excitedly.

"Yes Lash arrived. Oh that s what I call him. I looked up when I heard a sound and saw a monster standing in the shadows watching me. I got into a defensive position but he just laughed at me. I thought he was there to kill me and as he stepped forward prepared myself to fight. He noticed this and stopped moving. For a moment we just stared at each other, of course I was looking at a mask so I can only assume. Then he spoke and almost dropped my spear.

'I am not here to kill you ooman. But I will if you attack me.' Then he seemed to brush me off and take in the room."

"He spoke? In English? They can do that." Lex asked in disbelief.

"Yes he spoke to me in English. He travels to earth often in his life so he learned to speak it." Amy told her. "Anyways back to my story.

'Then why are you here?' I asked catching him by surprise. Of course he didn't answer my question right away just asked one of his own.

'Why did you kill your fellow oomans? And why only a portion of them?'

I stared at him for a second. He must know why! If he knew what these things were, which I was sure he did, then he should know why. But I told him anyway. 'I killed these because of those face hugging monsters. I am positive they were infected and would die like those humans when the monsters inside burst out. These all had the face huggers on them or in front of them. These others just look knocked out. I can't be sure if they are infected or not. I can't kill them if they aren't infected.' I cocked my head at him, which was kinda hard since he's like 2 ft taller then me, and glared. 'I've answered your questions now answer mine. Why are you here? And can you tell if they are infected?'

He laughed at me again. Then patted my head like I was a child. 'I am here to kill the Kainde Amedha and the Bad Bloods that brought them here.' He turned and stared at the others still hanging on the wall. He seemed to look at them for a moment before moving on to the next. Without warning he used a weapon to kill all but 3 of them, first cutting off their heads then stabbing their chests. In another swipe her cut the remaining 3 from the wall before turning to face me. 'You did well ooman. Most of your kind would have either run or tried to save them all. You should try to escape while you still can.'

'What do you mean while I still can? And what the hell are Bad Bloods?' I asked him but he just turned his back on me and stalked away. I was very tempted to run after him and make him tell me but I heard noises behind me."

"Was it a monster?" Sin asked, which made Amy laugh.

"Sin you've heard this story a million times. You know the answer to that."

"I'm just asking what Lex was going to ask." Sin said making Lex nod and laugh in agreement.

"Well to answer your question no it wasn't a monster. Then people were beginning to wake up and freak out. They were some of the local villagers and the first thing they saw was bloody bodies, the alienish surroundings and me. Covered in blood holding a bloody weapon. They ran screaming down the hallways. I chased after them trying to talk to them but I was too late. They ran into a fierce battle between 4 Xeno's and the Yautja Lash. This is actually where I named him that because the weapon he seemed to favor was a metal tipped lash. The first villager was impaled on the tail of a Xeno while the other two were slammed against the wall by another Xeno. I was going to go help them but my movement caused the Xeno with the villager on its tail to come after me. It actually threw the villager at me before trying to slam me into the wall. I just barely avoided it and sliced my spear's blade through the Xeno's arm cutting it off. It screamed and thrashed and I had to dance to avoid the acidic blood. That scream drew another xeno to us and now I had to fight off two. I really don't know how I did it. The next few minutes were a blur of pain, xeno screams, flying acidic blood and black. But in the end I stood over two dead monstrous bodies.

That's when I heard the Lash's roar. I looked over at him and saw he had been victorious as well. He seemed to be congratulating me on my victory so I roared back to do the same. I laughed then remembered why I was even in the chamber. Looking around I saw the bloody remains of the villagers I had tried to save. There was nothing more I could do for them so I turned back to Lash who seemed to be pulling something from the creatures bodies. I was curious so I walked over and saw him take items from the beasts.

'What are you doing?' I asked him.

'Gathering a few trophies. Aren't you going to take any?' he asked me.

'The only thing I would want are a few of its teeth, but they don't look like they'll come out easy. Could you show me?' Yeah I know I'm weird. I should have been freaked out, disgusted and here I was thinking I would like a necklace of teeth from the monsters i had killed.

Lash laughed at me but got up from his kills and walked over to mine. Examining them a minute he placed his hand over mine on the spear and showed me how to shorten and lengthen it. With it shortened he guided me towards the first kill. 'Here. Shove up hard here and... here then cut across. See.' He handed me a row of the silver teeth and stepped back. I made sure to note where he had done it and then he watched as I did the same to the other alien. I now had two rows of alien teeth in my hand and no where to put them. That s when Lash tossed something at my back, causing me to hiss in pain. Bending over I grabbed the bag and put my trophies inside but when I moved to stand up Lash was there. 'You're hurt!'

'No shit.' I said before turning to face him and seeing the large gash on his arm. 'So are you!'

'No problem for me. It'll heal.' He said.

'Mine too.' I stared at him confused for a second. 'Why does it matter if I'm hurt? Why are you even talking to me or helping me?'

'You amuse me. You are small but you fought and won a fight with a Yautja warrior while also managing to escape with 3 of his weapons. You killed a hard meat that should have killed you. You are smart and figured out what the face huggers did and didn't hesitate to kill the hosts. You showed them mercy by first crushing their skulls instead of just stabbing their chests which would have made them suffer. You destroyed the eggs then faced me bravely. You weren't afraid to die nor were you resigned to the fact. You were going to fight me if you had to. Once you realized I wasn't the threat you showed spirit when talking to me. Then you were trying to protect the other oomans from danger and fought off two hard meats at the same time. When the threat was over you ignored your pain and approached me again. You did not shy from the trophy taking and even asked for help and knowledge on how to collect your own. You amuse me.'

I wasn't sure if I should be proud, mortified, or disgusted by what he said about me. But I was annoyed that he had watched me for longer then I thought. Brushing this all aside I stood up again and asked another question that was sure to amuse him. 'Do you want help killing the Bad Bloods who kidnapped my friends and the monsters they've unleashed? Oh and what s a Bad Blood?'

He actually sized me up, walking around me and looking me over before coming back to face me. 'I will accept your assistance if you let me mark you as a warrior of my clan. I can only hunt these Bad Bloods, you oomans might call them criminals, with a member of my clan.'

I thought it over for a few seconds and agreed. He was going to mark my cheek but I had him mark my neck instead. He was hesitant at first but agreed. See."

Amy lifted her hair to show the actually beautiful scar on the back of her neck.

"Hey that looks like mine! Almost. I don't have that crescent moon above mine." Lex remarked.

"Where is yours? Can I see?" Sin asked. "I can't wait to get mine. But it won't be for many years."

Lex grabbed some water and a rag and began carefully wiping the makeup from her cheek. "I had to hide my scar after the failed expedition. It raised too many questions."

"Well it looks like Scar and Lash are from the same clan. I'll have to ask Lash when he comes back in a few months."

"When he comes back? How do you know he's coming back?" Lex asked.

"He's coming back for my 10th birthday well around then. He sent her a message about 2 years ago. Saying he would be back to see her and she told him she had a big surprise for him." Sin said jumping around. "I'm the surprise get it."

"Ok ok settle down Sin. Do you want to hear the rest of the story?" Amy asked them both. When they nodded their heads, Amy continued. "Where was I....Oh my mark. Lash leaned over and breaking off the finger of one of the xeno's dipped it in the acid blood while I was busy putting my hair into a pony tail with a braid. He seemed to be almost wary of giving me the mark so I turned to him over my shoulder.

'Will you quit stalling? We are in a pyramid with criminals and monsters! No time to waste.' He kinda growled/laughed at me and twisted my head back. At first all I felt was a small sting but then I felt the full sting. Holy hell that hurt. My entire body tensed up but I didn't say a word or move. When it was over I felt something wet and semi cooling on the burns. Before he could stop me I reached back and touched it. Pulling back my hand I saw it was his blood. I starred at him and he just shrugged.

'My blood with make sure it doesn't get infected or burn too deep. Bad spot for a mark ooman.'

I was kinda getting pissed at him calling me ooman so I snapped. 'My name is Amethyst. But call me Amy, everyone does.' I waited for a moment for him to say something. 'Well does tall dark and scary have a name?' I waited again and he still didn't speak. 'Fine since you wont provide a name I'll call you Lash.'

'Lash? Why Lash?' He asked puzzled and curious.

'Because of your weapon. The metal tipped lash thingy. You used it a lot against those beasts.'

'We should get going, Amy.' We gathered our things and began through the maze of tunnels in the pyramid.

For nearly 3 hours we hunted and killed the xeno's and face huggers that crossed our path. Soon there were more face huggers then xeno's. I was curious about this and asked Lash a question.

'Are they running out of hosts? Is that why we aren't seeing any more beasts.' I knew he was about to answer me but there was a beeping on his wrist. He opened it and I heard a series of clicks and grunts and noises. He began speaking back in the same series of sounds and flipped it closed. 'What was that?' I asked curious.

'The Bad Bloods are asking for help.'

'Help with what? Why are we helping them?'

'They are just young ones following an teacher of theirs.' Lash tried to explain. 'They thought this was a true hunt or so they say. But what matters is there was a Queen born from the first eggs and they are not able to stop it.'

'So this could be a trap?' Lash nodded. 'Just how big is a Queen beast?'

'4 times the size of a regular beast.'

'And these....young... will be punished for killing the villagers and my team?' Again he nodded. 'What about this teacher of theirs? Where is he?'

'They said he left them behind taking their ship but that they saw it crash into the trees. Across the ravine.'

'Ok let's go save the kiddies. We've wasted enough time just standing here talking.' He laughed at me and led the way through the maze of tunnels."

"Oh I love this part. With the saving and killing and....and....and," Sin rambled excitedly.

"Can I finish telling it then?" Amy laughed at her daughter who nodded wildly. "As we got closer to the Queen's Chamber we could hear the roars of the monster and the yelps of the young Yautja. Lash wasn't lying about the size of the Queen, she was huge. I took a moment to survey the scene. All over the wall and floor was the neon blood of the Yautja young and a few sizzling spots. They were fighting hard but these young were losing. One came to a crashing halt beside me covered in blood and cuts. I grabbed the lash/whip from him and pushed him into the hallway. Turning back to the battle I saw another young one about to be speared by the Queen's tail a few yards to my right. I sprinted to his side knocking him down as we both barely missed being hit by the tail. I kicked him towards the door and again turned to face the Queen.

Across the room Lash was throwing the last two young into the hallway but was also the sole focus of the angry Queen. I knew he could get hurt if she wasn't distracted to using some old basic gymnastics moves and the whip I swung myself up onto the Queen's back and using my full weight slammed my spear into her neck before jumping off. Now I was down to one weapon, the Shuriken. I had trained with these, well something like these, with my mother but I knew that if I didn't catch it right I wouldn't have much of a hand left. I aimed for my spear just as Lash did the same with his Shuriken. The Queen's neck was thick and if it had been only my weapon or only Lash's slicing through the fight would have continued on. But our blades seemed to work perfectly mine cutting away the top half of the flesh while his severed the bottom. And just like that the Queen xeno was dead. Lash took her head and I took her tail."

"WOW!" Lex said. "But wait what happened with the young Yautja and the Bad Blood teacher who tricked them."

"That is a whole different story." Amy laughed. "Aren't we supposed to be getting up in a few hours to finish climbing this mountain?"

"You're right! Bed time!" Lex called out.

"Aww do we have ta." Sin whined.

"To bed Sin!" Amy ordered. "Tomorrow we climb a rock face and we need our rest."

"And I want the rest of the story tomorrow evening." Lex said. "Sin you are in charge of the fire and water tomorrow morning, Amy you cook the food and I'll pack up the camp. We should be on the trail by 7:30am. That way we'll have the best light for the rock climb. Goodnight."

Lex went to bed feeling great. She hadn't felt this at home and at peace around her fellow humans in nearly a decade. It had taken a few months after the Antarctica trip to realize she didn't feel close to anyone anymore. No one could know what she had been through. And nothing could compare to her experience. Yes it was a bloody, horrifying experience but also the most exciting, amazing, and enlightening experience of her life. It had awakened a very primal part of her being and nothing but hunting and highly dangerous trips had come even close. But now here was Amy and Sin and Lex felt a bond with them. She could tell them the truth of her experience and not write it off as a good story. She could feel their need to hunt and for adventure as well. She may just have to go with them, if they'd have her.

Morning came sooner then any of them had wanted it too. All three stumbled around for the first few minutes before getting to work. Breakfast was quick and as soon as the campfire was out they were on their way. The hike was wonderful and their excitement grew as they could see the huge rock face growing in front of them. It took them 3 hours to reach the bottom of the rock face but they didn't care. It was a challenge, an adventure, a dangerous one. One false move and they could be dead or broken at the bottom. What was more exciting is that they knew they'd have to climb back down it the next day just to get back to civilization.

It was a break taking view from the top of the cliff face. The air was cooler and they could see for miles. But the view wasn't the reason they had braved the climb. There was an ancient temple nestled up here and could only be reached by climbing that rock face. Sin, Amy and Lex trekked through the thick tree that stopped barely 4 ft from the cliff face. Following a long forgotten path that s stones were barely seen through the underbrush, grass and roots. Another hour of cutting through the trees and they were there. It was beautiful even in its semi-ruined state. They spent the afternoon there. Sin ran around looking at everything exploring each corner while Lex stayed with Amy while she studied the history of the place. It was wondrous and had called to the archeologist in Amy when she had heard about it.

They set up camp near the temple that night and after a good campfire dinner Sin reminded Amy she had a new story to tell.

"Yes what happened with Lash, the Bad Blood and the young Yautja's?" Lex asked.