Disclaimer: I do not own predators... BUT DAMMIT! I wish I did because it's an awesome idea! Instead I have allowed my creative brain to leech off the predator universe to create my own story. With characters and plot lines of my own thinking. So enjoy but remember the disclaimer please
Chapter Two
Trinity contemplated killing the child, with a crack of her whip she could silence the child's sounds by severing her head. But alas, Trinity wrapped the whip up and placed it back on her side.
During her thoughts of what to do with the child, the young girl had frozen stiff, terrified tears fell down her cheeks silently. The child knew she was a yaujti. All humans knew how to identify a yaujti, since they were the new owners of Earth.
Trinity snuffed at the child's silliness and walked over rubbing her chin. Maybe if she scared the child in a different direction. Trinity bent to the child's face and roared with all her might.
The child stayed frozen in place. Trinity snuffed again. Well that didn't work. Might as well start reasoning with it. "What is your name?"
Although the child was still stiff with fear, her eyes slightly softened with confusion and questions. Looking into the child's eyes Trinity realised she had spoken in Yaujti. She sighed, trying again in English. "What is your name child?"
"E-emily." The child stuttered.
"How old are you?"
"Mommy told me not to talk with strangers." Trinity knelt down, not before rolling her eyes again. This was why she never wanted pups. So annoying.
"Well you're a stranger to me as well... If you like I could leave you here?" Trinity had already worked out that she would have to take the child back to the village nearby.
The child realised that Trinity was her only hope of getting back to the village safely. The fear that stiffened the child's bones and muscles seemed to disappear as the little girl relaxed into the conversation. Trinity saw the child relax, noticing she was either very brave or very foolish. So naive and trusting for a... Trinity scanned the child... maybe eight... could be nine.
"I'm seven years old this year."
Trinity nodded, holding out her hand. "You're very brave. My name is Trinity and I am thirty years old." Emily grabbed her hand and shook. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice- " Before Emily could finish a loud horn blew through the jungle. Trinity's hearing put it at the village Emily lived in. Fear shimmered back into Emily's eyes as she realised what the sound would mean.
It was the registration horn. All females had to report to the nearest town all before the second blowing of the horn every day. It was a tight control, but it worked. The Yautja could track where every female lived on the planet.
The major reason why it worked so well is if the women of the family did not register consistently they would be denied the basics such as food and water. It was genius. Purely for the reason Yautja didn't have to waste their resources to hunt down women who disappeared. The families of the women did it for them in order to survive.
"I take it you need to go register for today?" Trinity cocked an eye at the girl.
Emily nodded in reply, her head hung with dismay.
"I'm sure if you tell them you got lost, they would understand. You're only seven." Trinity put her hands on her hip.
Emily shook her head, her blond curls flying all over the place. "There is no young or old, no rich or poor, no sick or health." Trinity looked down at the child as she seemed to be droning out a sentence she had been made to repeat on countless occasions. "There is only male and female."
Well that's something Trinity couldn't fault the Yaujta for. They had destroyed the human race's illusion of separation. The Yaujta were survivalists. All they cared about was surviving, and human females were at the heart of their survival.
Trinity rubbed her chin, remembering the horn that blasted not five minutes ago. "Ok." Trinity jumped with excitement. Hunting jaguars did have its' adrenaline rush. But getting Emily back before the second horn created the challenge of not getting caught. Trinity accepted the challenge as she huddled Emily closer. "Here's what we're going to do..."
Twenty-three minutes later Trinity was holding onto the branches of brazil nut tree, cloaked using her device waiting and watching on the outskirts of Emily's tribal village. It had taken more time than Trinity had originally thought to get here. Her hearing placed the horn at thirty kilometres away from her camp, it had been at least thirty-eight.
As Emily ran towards the town centre, Trinity's mask allowed her to follow Emily as she passed behind buildings.
With only having a few minutes remaining to register in, Trinity wanted to stay to make sure Emily would register without any issues. Without a Matriarch, there's no telling how Yautja society was running these days.
With Emily running further and further away, Trinity made sure she stayed close, hopping from tree top to tree top. If there was a commotion, Trinity would be able to react within seconds. And in order to do that she would have to stay close to minimise seconds wasted covering ground to get to Emily. Finally within shooting range of the registration table Trinity crouched on her current branch.
Monkey screams to the right, alerted her to a predator entering the clearing. But unlike the monkeys, the humans didn't react as a Yautja stepped through the brush to walk through the village. Trinity studied him as she waited for Emily to register.
As soon as Trinity had placed Emily on the ground she made a run for it. She had always been a runner, but with two minutes to spare dread filled Emily's heart as she made her way to the registration table. She passed multiple girls and women who had made their ways there and were now returning to their families with food and water stamps.
Skidding into the laneway that led to the town centre, Emily gained a clear sight of the town mayor sitting at the table. Fifteen seconds left. Emily pumped her arms harder. Ten seconds left. The major looked up to see a little girl running to the desk. Tears and sweat streaming from her face. He hoped the girl would make it in time, but rules are rules. When the second horn blew she was not allowed to register. He looked at his watch.
Five seconds to go. The mayor put his pen down and stood up, preparing to close his book. But he didn't just in case she made it in time.
With ten meters to go, Emily knew she wasn't going to make it. Instead she put both hands to her mouth and drew in enough breath to scream her name. "EM -"
The horn blew with a fierceness stopped Emily in her tracks. At the same time the town mayor closed his eyes trying to block out the girls' look of hopelessness. He closed the book and turned to leave. His exit was blocked by a chest covered in body armour with a string of small skulls hanging across it. He looked up to find the unflinching mask of a Yautja looking down at him.
He bowed his head, knowing that staring into the eyes of a Yautja meant certain death. "Sire?"
The mask looked up and beyond the mayor to the little girl. "Who is that?" The Yautja asked in rough English, ending the question in a click.
The mayor turned to look at the girl. "Emily Santos." She was his brother's daughter.
The gleaming eyes of the mask reflected his face as the Yautja looked down at the mayor once again. "She is part of your clan. Your name is Santos as well."
The mayor nodded. The Yautja huffed behind his mask. "You knew her name yet you didn't register her." The mayor nodded once again. He had scars running down his back from a whip, reminding him of the day he registered his daughter without her being present. His daughter was also taken from him. He never saw her again after that day. The mayor knew he was a broken man, there was no fight left in him.
The Yaujta that looked down at him knew as well. Stepping past him to walk towards the unregistered female. Seeing she was a little girl he tried to make himself less intimidating as he walked towards her.
But every step he took, she shrank in size. She was going to run from him. Wa'kin would let her, he hadn't had a chance to hunt in a while. Maybe this little girl would provide him with a bit of a chase. His mandibles clicked together to stir the young ooman female into running.
He watched as she froze at the sound of the click, jolting fear through her body. He knew her instinct was telling her to run. And then she did what he had been waiting for her to do. She ran.
Emily ran just as fast as before. Before she had been running for food and water. Now she was running for her life, goaded on by her instincts. Her vision was hazing over but that didn't stop her from seeing the rest of the village watching from the windows of their shops and houses along the main laneway.
Emily couldn't help but cry out when a battle roar went up behind her. The last time she had heard that, the men in the village had rebelled against the live in Yautja. All the first born males in the village had been purged that night. Emily knew death neared, the silence enfolding her as she ran told her that much.
Her people had a saying for the Yautja, the silent death. Because even when you knew you were about to die by their hand. It always hit you in ways you couldn't imagine.
Wa'kin had to admit, being this long on a defeated planet with no true game or worthwhile hunts had made him lazy. He pulled his shuriken from his waste, flicked the blades out and threw it at Emily.
The shuriken gained on Emily, and just as it was about to reach the right hand in which he had aimed to cut off, the shuriken was deflected into the opposite direction. Wa'kin was dazed to see the shuriken hit to the ground.
Before he knew it a throwing knife lodged itself into his thigh, right above his knee. He howled in pain, pulling it out, ignoring the green blood that oozed from the freshly made hole.
He growled to his invisible enemy, he finally knew what it was like to not see the threat in front of him. His mask clicked through different vision types, working to find the threat. The red locating laser searched the area around Emily.
By the third click a figure resembling a Yautja appeared. "I see you, there is no need to hide." Wa'kin clicked to his opponent.
Trinity pressed her cloaking device off. As she appeared Wa'kin threw the throwing knife at her. She dodged to the right, dropping to the ground to pick up the shuriken she had deflected.
Before the locating laser could centre on her Trinity flicked the blades of the shuriken out and threw it at the male Yautja. There was an audible gasp from the surrounding villagers as it sunk into the neck of the Yautja.
Wa'kin fell to the floor coughing up his blood. His neck protection had stop the shuriken from severing his head completely. But the shuriken had lodged far enough into his neck to rip his artery in half.
He would die soon. He knew it, the village knew it and Trinity snuffed in victory as his dying scent brought her the knowledge of it as well.
She wouldn't relish in her victory just yet. She turned to Emily. "Are you alright?"
Emily nodded. Suddenly a woman broke from one of the side shops and ran towards them. Trinity quickly faced the woman and raised her spiked mace, warning the woman off. The woman stopped and raised her hands in surrender.
"Please!" She begged, "I'm her mother."
Trinity nodded and stepped aside so Emily could be reunited with her mother. "Mommy!" Emily whimpered as she was embraced.
Trinity didn't bother watching the reuniting between mother and child. She had seen it enough times. And besides, it brought back unwanted memories of pups before the bad bloods had come. That's why she had killed Wa'kin. He was about to harm a defenceless female child. He had brought dishonour to the Yautja species and therefore deserved death.
Wa'kin was still coughing up blood as Trinity came to stand over him. Through the death haze that was taking his vision he saw that his killer was not entirely Yautja. Not only that her chest was protruding outwards as if they were milk glands. His eyes widen in realisation at what had defeated him.
Trinity saw him dying at her feet. She knew she should have left him there to die. But she had to much anger and rage towards bad bloods she could not walk that more honourable path. Instead she bent down and grabbed the males black tube like hair.
He hissed in pain, clicking furiously. Trinity spoke low in his language. "Before you leave this life, you will know pain. Bad Blood."
Bad blood? No he was not a bad blood. He was an honourable warrior. Before Wa'kin's thought could finish, Trinity brought down her mace on his groin. A roar erupted through the village, causing the fragile humans to flinch.
With her spiked mace lodged into his groin Trinity pulled out her skinning knife, showing it off in the light of the morning sun. With it's gleam Wa'kin's eyes widen. His whimpering became louder and louder as she brought the knife closer and closer.
By the time she had finished sawing off his left mandible tusk he was dead. Tying the tusk to her belt she saw the male she identified as the mayor approach her slowly. She motioned him to come quicker, "You may approach me Ooman."
She looked around and noticed Emily had disappeared with her mother, along with the rest of the village people. "W-who are you?" the mayor asked, keeping his eyes low.
Trinity shrugged and huffed, "No one to remember, only to forget." She motioned to the bad blood at her feet. "Would you like his skin?" She asked, being polite.
The mayor shook his head no. Trinity shrugged and put her skinning knife back into its sheath. She only took small trophies, she didn't get too caught up in the whole, my trophies bigger than yours.
"W-why did you kill him?" Trinity turned her head on the side, regarding the mayor's question with a twitch of her nose.
"Why didn't you?"
A horrified look fell upon his face. "I am too weak."
Trinity looked around to locate a platform of some kind so she could showcase her kill to the village and all that entered it. Finding the perfect location she grabbed the whip from her side and wrapped it around the bad bloods' neck. Before she walked away from the mayor she turned, her eyes gleaming with distaste.
"What is a man who won't protect and die for the things he values most in the world?"
The mayor watched, frozen by her words, as she hauled Wa'kin up the steps of the town hall. And it was definitely a she he noted. Her figure was different from the Yautja he saw come and go through the village. If anything, her figure reminded him of a woman, shapely and curvy. And if the curves didn't signal to the person she was a female. Her breasts would. Although she had fur covering them, it was thin and her nipples stuck out from the chill of the wind.
Finishing pulling the bad blood onto the all seeing platform of the town hall Trinity dislodged the shuriken and her mace from his disgusting body. She huffed the disgust she felt at his dead form as she replaced all her weapons back on her body.
Looking back at the mayor who had stayed in the same place Trinity had left him, she remembered she needed to request something. She sighed as she noted the sun was high in the sky. She would have to hunt on her way back to her camp. With a pucker of her lips she also noted she was dehydrated.
The mayor visually stiffened as Trinity stopped in front of him. "Do you have water?" She asked. "I'm a bit thirsty. Bad bloods do take it out of a girl."
The mayor gapped at her request and nodded none the less. He pointed to a barrel to his right. Trinity got the hint, but remained staring at the mayor. He started to fidget with his pant leg. "Can I help you with anything else?" He squeaked.
"Put Emily Santos into the book. It will save you a little hassle when the Yautja come back to this village."
The mayor bowed his head to her. Trinity took it as a yes and left for some water. By the time the mayor looked up she was no longer visible. A fern to his left was disturbed and then he knew she was gone.
The mayor knew a Yautja could smell a lie and so instead of speaking he had lowered his head. Not in agreement, but in shame. Shame that the fact was, he couldn't put Emily Santos into the book now.
Because a camera had captured everything that had unfolded here this morning. And now with the female Yautja gone he turned to the camera, it's red blinking light telling him that someone had seen this morning's events. And now...
Now their village would burn to the ground.
