Authors note: I will be realizing anew chapter every Monday if you all haven't noticed. Enjoy xx r&r
Sain'ii didn't have to wait too much longer, the humans were there an hour after she settled into her spot. She heard their vehicles as soon as they left the ship they came from. The humans stopped their vehicles up on the ridge, above Razorback, looking down over. The wind picked up and snow started coming down harder. The storm was here.
Shouts rang out for the vehicles to keep running.
Sain'ii then heard a gunshot, and the village lit up with a white glow.
"Its an abandoned whaling station," a feminine voice informed the rest, "According to your satellite imagery Mr. Weyland, "the pyramid is located directly beneath it."
The temple, Sain'ii thought to herself.
The humans got back into their rumbling vehicles and made their way down to the village. Bright fluorescent lights assaulted the village, seeping in through every crack that the buildings had. The sound was overwhelming for her. Sain'ii pupils contracted as the bright lights burnt her eyes,
"Alright spread out, we will use this place as a base camp!" A deeper male voice called out, "Mr. Quinn, begin drilling operations as soon as you can."
"I'm on it," a gruffer male voice replied, "Okay guys let's move out."
Sain'ii lifted up into a crouch on the rafters, peering through one of the cracks in the building. She felt more than she saw, hard to make out their bodies in the starting blizzard. So much warmth was radiating from the vehicles that she couldn't tell how many humans there were from just sensing their body heat.
She then heard a crackle near her building, shifting her position she saw three humans, one was holding a glowing red stick, illuminating the buildings around them in an eerie red light.
The two in front, one that was holding the red stick and the other just kept walking when the third stopped. She watched him reach into his jacket for a red stick of his own, pulling the top from it he jumped when it lit up as well. He started to walk around behind the kitchen of the mess hall she was hiding in, creeping across the rafters she followed him from inside the building. She put all her focus onto him, curious as to why he would wander off from the group. Maybe she approaches him, maybe she should just kill him.
"What are these?" Sebastian asked,
"They're whale bones," Lex replied, "This station was abandoned in 1904, everyone just disappeared overnight. It was a big mystery back then. Even now there are rumors that say this island is haunted, and even more than say one woman was the cause."
"A woman?" Sebastian raised an eyebrow at her,
"Back then, the last ship to sail to this island was hired by this woman. So she had no name but was one of the tallest people that the dock master ever saw. She had long black wavy hair and a scar that ran down from her lip to underneath her dress." Lex started to explain, "The story goes, that she paid over a thousand of their dollars just to get a ship to leave immediately to head here. But when the ship was due back, they started to get worried. So they sent another ship here to see what happened. Only to find all the buildings were empty and no bodies were ever found. They say she's still on this island, waiting for someone to find her."
"There's no way that can be true.." He started, "Right Lex?"
"Who knows." She shrugged with a smile, she turned to the cliff and fired her flare gun over the frozen water.
Sain'ii was sitting in the rafter above the metal door, when the lone man slid it open, loudly. He grunted with exertion as it opened fully, dropping the red stick outside he pulled out a black stick from his jacket and twisted it. This time a blinding white light came out, just like the ones on their vehicles. Sain'ii had to resist from hissing in contempt at the man.
He started shining it around the room, looking at all the things frozen in time. She shifted along the rafters following behind him slowly. He was covered with so many layers of clothes that she was so glad that she was immune to the cold, it would be near impossible to be agile in them. He spotted the frozen table and started towards it with a smile, reaching for a teacup. He grabbed the handle and tried to pick it up. The handle snapped off and made the loudest noise in the quiet room. Sain'ii jumped slightly not expecting him to be that stupid. He then pulls out a silver box and set it up on the beam across from him. On it a red light was flashing, she crouched down low to the rafter and watched it out of pure curiosity. He was standing below her at this point, walking away from this silver box. Then a bright white flash blinded her, she sat straight up and tried rubbing her eyes only to push some of the snow on the beam down behind him. White globes dotted her visions as she slid back along the rafter until she sensed the wall being nearby. Trying to blink away the dots she shrunk into the corner.
The man had spun around at the sound of the snow dropping from the rafters, he was shining his light everywhere but up. Then another noise came like someone had dropped a cooking utensil. Sain'ii still had some dots across her vision, she heard him gasp. Taking a breath in through her nose, he reeked of fear, it exhilarated her that he was scared. Another scent came to her nose, it was that of penguins. He back into hanging pots and clattered then together, the sudden noise scaring Sain'ii, Maybe I should just kill him, he's just a klutz, she thought to herself. Gritting her teeth together so she wouldn't growl, she started creeping across the rafters again towards him.
The skittering of penguins causes him to turn around, absolutely reeking of fear. He shined his light to where it came from. Little did he know the darker female came in behind him, completely silent. Sain'ii keeps herself lowered on the rafters, having lost her chance to make him disappear. He had started backing up away from the penguins when she tapped him on the shoulder.
"AHH!" He yelled, " Oh it's just you Lex."
"No one goes anywhere alone." She strictly told him,
"Sssshh," he gestured with a hand to his mouth, "There's something down there listen, listen." His voice quivered.
The penguin came out from around the bench and started to call, the humans giggled at it.
"Careful they bite," Lex said playfully to the man,
The penguin ran off further into the building. The two humans went to make their way back outside.
"Oh," he said, "Almost forgot my camera."
Turning around her went and got the camera from the beam he sat it on. He flipped it and looked at the photo it took. He smiled to himself as he looked at it, then the smile dropped.
"Graeme." Lex started as she turned to look at him, horror was etched onto his face, "Graeme what is it?" Lex walked over to him and looked at the photo he had taken.
Above him, you could see a figure pressed against the rafters their eyes glowing from the flash. Lex turned her head up to look at the rafters but nothing was there.
"What. Is. That?!" he whimpered,
Lex looked back at him, "Maybe it was just a trick of the light ya know? Dust in the air could have reflected like that." She denied,
"Y-yeah," Graeme stammered, "J-just a trick o-of the light." Quick to reassure himself that nothing besides the penguin was in here with him.
Sain'ii had moved back her back before they had checked the camera. Now she was sure these humans were lured here. No humans would willingly sacrifice themselves anymore for the Yautja.
"Hey guys!" a male had yelled not that far away, judging from the distance, Sain'ii guessed they found the tunnel. Smiling to herself she double checked her bag was well hidden. She then dropped down silently as Lex and Graeme left the building. "Over here!" the man yelled again,
She heard multiple footsteps rushing to the origin of his voice. Sain'ii steeled herself out of the building she was in the climbed up to the roof and started creeping across it. Making her way down the row of buildings she reached where she could overwatch their discovery of the hole easily.
"What is it?" one of the men running up said,
"Can you believe that?" The other man had practically whispered.
As everyone started making their way there, many believed that someone had gotten here before them.
The man that was first to arrive after being called set up a stand in front of the hole, then he grabbed a red stick out of his jacket and rolled the top off then threw it into the tunnel. Sain'ii heard the stick slide all the way down to the bottom.
"Its drilled at a perfect 30° angle," Quinn said,
"How far does it go down?" Lex asked him,
All the way down to the temple, Sain'ii answered in her head,
"All the way to the pyramid." The older man stated, then he started showing them images of the station, explaining that the hole got there overnight.
"How was it done?" Graeme asked Quinn,
"Thermal equipment of some kind surely." He answered,
Oh if you only knew, Sain'ii added in her head,
"Like yours?" The older man retorted,
"More advanced," Quinn started saying as he turned and look at the buildings in front of the hole, the one Sain'ii was sitting on was. She stayed as still as a statue and hoped that the humans' eyes weren't too good to discern her from the roof in this blizzard. "Incredibly powerful" she felt the light go over her, and she willed to be one with the snow, luckily her pale skin blended well and her hair was underneath her body.
"I've never seen anything like it," Quinn stated as he turned to the older man, "I'm telling you there's no team and no machine in the world that could cut to this depth in twenty-four hours."
"Well, the only way we are gonna know for sure," the elder took a breathe, "is to get down there and find out."
Sain'ii smiled to herself, it wouldn't be too long before they were seeded. Then her and whoever Chiva this is can hunt.
She felt the hair on her arms rise, she felt like she was being stared at. Turning to move over the peak of the house and on to the back, she looked up at the sky and smiled. She knew Yeyinde was there, she couldn't see him, couldn't feel him. But she just knew he was there watching the humans and in turn watching her.
The humans were running around trying to get their equipment sorted as she just lounged on the roof, waiting for her opportunity to go into the temple.
"Okay guys, what's taking so long?" Quinn yelled, "There's a storm coming."
The storm is already here.
Turning her head when she heard the older man coughing,
"There's no room for sick men on this expedition," Lex told him,
"My doctors tell me the worst is behind me." He informed her,
"You're not a very good liar, Mr. Weyland." Lex assured him, "Just stay in the ship and we will let you know what's happening."
"You know when you get sick," Weyland started, " You think about your life and you're going to be remembered."
Sain'ii didn't realize that she was leaning in to listen to his thoughts about dying, she never realized how much it affected humans. Their fear of death.
"You know what I realized what would happen when I died?" he continued, "Ten percent fall in share prices. Maybe twelve. That's it."
Lex sighed, "I've heard this speech before." She took a breath, "My dad broke his leg several hundred feet from the summit of Mount Rainier. He was a lot like you, he refused to go back or let us stop. When we reached the top, he popped open a bottle of champagne. I had my first taste of alcohol with my dad at 14,400ft." She laughed to herself, "On the way down, he developed a clot in his leg that had traveled to his lung. Suffering for four hours before dying twenty minutes from base." Sain'ii heard Lex's voice quiver in sadness,
"You think that's the last thing he remembers?" Weyland questioned her, "The pain? Or drinking with his daughter 14000ft in the air?" he smiled to her, "I need this Lex. This is my champagne."
Sain'ii could smell the frustration from Lex, she should understand that this is the equivalent to his final hunt. He doesn't care if he dies here.
As they were talking the other humans were setting up a series of cables going down the hole. She couldn't help but admire their advancement in technology since she went to sleep. Everything seemed to be metal now instead of wood or fiber. She remembers the beginning of motor carriages but they weren't very popular. Everyone still had their trusty horse-drawn. Even then she still didn't fully understand how the times had changed.
The storm started picking up as about a dozen of the humans went down the tunnel on the cables. Tarps and boxes were threatening to go flying. That's when she felt the air pressure change, she knew a dropship was flying over the top of them right now, Sain'ii looked up and saw the sleek black vessel pass over the top. Her heart sang, they were so close yet so far. She knew the ship won't land until the chiva is finished. She watched it go into the distance a bit more, before the drop pods launched from beneath it, plummeting to the earth.
Sain'ii decided to go down into the tunnel before the young hunters reached Razorback. As the wind was tearing a tarp from a stack of cases, she dipped off the side of the roof and snagged it before it could go any further. The man Quinn had been panicking about where it went but brushed it off as divine intervention. Meanwhile, Sain'ii had curled up on the roof, waiting for her moment to jump down the tunnel, she had grabbed the tarp as a means to slide down without cutting up her feet. She didn't need that pain just yet.
The machine at the mouth of the tunnel had stopped whirring, she assumed that that meant they were at the bottom. Smiling to herself, she gave them a few more minutes, so they could move away from the entrance. The wind suddenly changed directed, she caught the scent of one of the young hunters. The scent of vanilla and rain was heavy on the air, it smelt so intoxicating that she knew she had to get out of there. Otherwise, her instincts would go haywire. Another scent caught, one of wood burning, she knew none of the buildings were on fire, so she concluded that this was one of the young hunters. He smelt so familiar, like the one hunt brother of Yeyindes that she didn't meet. Maybe it was his son.
Shaking her head clear of the scents she looked down at the tunnel, nowhere nearby this end, and she could hear the ones down the bottom move away. Standing up and walking across the rooftop she jumped down on the side closer to the entrance of the tunnel. That was when she heard it, the cocking of a gun. Kicking herself mentally for not scenting him or hearing him earlier, she had been too focused the young hunters' scents.
"Hold it right there," Quinn said, "Who the fuck are you?"
Sain'ii turned, smiled a toothy grin, "Someone who's having fun."
She rushed forward and kicked the gun out of his hand, "Don't start a fight you can't finish." Sain'ii made her voice as sultry as possible, whilst grasping his chin with her clawed finger. She bared her sharp teeth and nipped at him. Giggling she threw his head back enough to make him fall over. She then jumps up to the tunnel and put the tarp under her feet, and holding the rest bunched up in her hand. Leaning forward she slid the whole way down, about half way she heard the tarp tearing at the friction. Some spots of her feet ended up being torn, but at least it wasn't her whole foot.
Looking around she saw that they had set up artificial light, her eyes burnt whenever she looked at them. Sain'ii looked ahead, seeing them ascend the stairs of the temple, she wasn't too far behind. She thought about just tailing them till they activated the temple.
Deciding just to follow them, she made her way to the steps of the temple, ascending past the statues of her people. Remembering what her Mother taught her about the temples they would use for the hunt, she knew that there would be motion sensors all over, specifically to track the hunters and the host creature.
That's when Sain'ii heard the gunfire from the surface, and the screams of men dying. She knew wasn't too dark ahead of the young hunters.
After passing the main doors, she climbed up the statues and followed the humans as best she could via the high ground. When she had to drop down, she made sure none were near. As much as she was following them, she admired the temple more than anything, all the statues all the murals. Never had she seen such beauty. Sain'ii was much like the humans in this aspect, pure wonder.
The screeching of the queen never stopped, calling for her unborn children. Set Sain'ii on edge. She couldn't wait for the hunt to begin.
Meanwhile, on the surface, Aja had just finished slaughtering all the oomans in the galley, where the females' scent was lingering the most. Their hunt master had informed them of such a female, that had waited here for 33 of their cycles, these hunt brothers on their chiva only just achieved 25 cycles. Earning their right to attend their chiva, hoping to do their sires' bloodline honor.
He retrieved his combi-stick from the male he just impaled. Then he started to hone in on the females' scent in the room, look up he saw an old cloth bag, reaching up to grab it he heard another human outside.
"Mikkel!" the male called,
Turning around Aja readies his combi-stick lobbing it at the man as he was closing the door, Aja growled as it merely grazed him.
He turned back to the bag, knowing the female wasn't there, he huffed and started after the male.
His hunt brother Lar'ja was standing on the roof, watching the male get away, he was tapping his mandibles in laughter.
"Come on Aja, you can do better than that!" he said over his comms,
"Silence Lar'ja." A growl came through from Aja,
He watched the human run into all his pack, that was dead and strung upside down in display. Then man now panicking sees the nearby weapon. Aja was coming up behind him as he reached for the weapon, the man could see the shimmer of his cloak nearing where he was. Firing off a few rounds from the pistol, only one hit Aja, on his awu'asa. Deciding to drop his cloak, the man stumbled backward. Aja walked up to him and planted a foot center on the man's chest and kicked him down the tunnel.
"Pauk'de ooman." Aja spat,
"Bottle c'ntlip that it's still alive." Lar'ja dropped down beside him,
"You're on." Aja calmly said,
"Have you smelt the female yet?" Lar'ja asked,
"Of course," Aja barked, "Only an imbecile wouldn't smell her. Her scent is everywhere around here. And it seems she's gone down to the temple." Aja indicated with his hand towards the tunnel,
"Thwei'ja!" Lar'ja called into his comm, "You coming to join us anytime soon?"
"Of course," Thwei'ja answered, "just finishing up."
They waited for Thwei'ja to arrive before descending down the tunnel themselves.
Sain'ii followed the humans for a while until they stopped at one of the entrance central chambers. From what she remembered this was either the sacrificial chamber or the weapons vault.
"There's Mayan here," the male next to Sebastian said, "and the second one is Egyptian."
"Can you translate it?" Weyland asked,
Only the chosen ones may enter. Sain'ii translated in her mind,
"This one, this one says 'choose'." The man said, " 'You may choose to enter.'"
"Who taught you to translate?" Sebastian chided,
"Funny, he looked exactly like you."
"Well, it's not 'choose'," Sebastian explained, "Its 'chosen'. 'Only the chosen ones may enter.'"
Everyone had a solemn look on their faces as Sebastian turned from the glyphs on the wall and kept walking. Into the chamber itself, the rest of the humans followed shortly afterward.
They entered the sacrificial chamber, their bright lights illuminating the darkness. After the last human entered, Sain'ii followed quietly. Keeping to the edge of the room and in the shadows, she made her way in a trophy room. Human skulls littered the place, mounted and some were on the floor in disarray. She climbed through and made her way down the hall, heading to where the weapons vault was. She would wait down there for either the hunters to find her first or the humans. She would have some fun with humans before they signed their death sentence. She knew their greed and curiosity will make them want to take the weapons for their own.
The queens cries echoed through her head, it was the loudest thing in this place. How haven't the humans heard her yet? She thought to herself. Forgetting that humans hearing isn't as good as hers.
She was using the tunnels that were built for the hard meat, she moved quickly and quietly, even though they hadn't been seeded yet, she was fully prepared to see a drone or a runner around every corner. She wasn't scared, she was exhilarated, waiting for the hunt to begin. There would at least be six hosts in the initial infection. Enough for two to each hunter. She was being selfish in wanting at least one.
Settling in in the corner of the weapons vault she wasn't prepared for an oddly green glow stick to be dropped down. She was too in her head to hear the humans talking above her.
"What have you found Max?" Weyland asked,
"Its a shaft, presumably to another level." Max answered, "It looks like there is another room down there."
Seems like the humans will make it to the weapons vault before the hunters, she hadn't caught their scent since she was outside.
"Max, let's move to that lower room," Weyland commanded,
"Come on everyone, we're moving on." Max called out to the room, "Ms. Woods." He nodded to Lex, "You. Stay here. Rousseau, you stay here with him, keep a team with you. Document everything." He told two of them, "Professor." He nodded to Sebastian also.
Turning and leaving them in the sacrificial chamber, they made their way to the weapons vault.
Sain'ii crouched below the shaft, listening to what they were saying. She grabbed the green glow stick, reminding her of Yautja blood, gave it a shake and put it back down a few feet away from the shaft.
She heard the humans make their way to the hall outside of the vault. She moved quickly and silently to the shadows next to the entrance. Sain'ii was going to wait there until they all came in, she knew once they had started to remove the weapons the temple would start changing, and she wasn't going to be staying in the room with them. She was going to hunt the hard meat, find the hunters and get out of here. She would finally be able to leave the planet and be with her people.
Lex was the first to walk in with her white light, she shone it around the room then looked down at her watch, "This should be right below the sacrificial chamber." Lex stated.
The others walked in further, Max bent down and looked at the glow stick he dropped, then looked up at the shaft.
"This was moved before we got here." He calmly said,
"What do you mean moved?" Lex asked,
"I mean I dropped this straight the shaft, it landed, didn't move. And in the time we came down here not only has it moved a few feet away, but there's also blood on the floor next to it." Max stated,
Fuck. Sain'ii cursed to herself, she had forgotten her feet had been partially cut up.
Max looked down at the blood and shined his light following the trail directly to her. Sain'ii had to move quickly before they spotted her, it wasn't time yet for them to know she was her. Sain'ii crouched down looked at the wall above her, thank full that the shadows were thick and the light hadn't yet reached her, she launched herself silently at the drone hole above, careful not to put her feet on the wall she pulled herself in. Retreating further back into the hole, as she waited for them to not be looking for her.
"Sebastian, look." Lex pointed to the weapons vault,
"Its a sarcophagus." He informed her as he blew off the dust, "Its the long count," he bleeds off some more, "This is the Aztec calendar. And this is some kind of combination lock." Placing his fingers on the turning locks.
"The date was set for a hundred years ago," Sebastian said, looking at Lex,
"You don't think this has to do with that woman do you?" Lex asked playfully,
"I'm starting to think it is, I think this place is certainly haunted now." Sebastian breathed,
"How could it possibly have to do with her?"
"What about those bloody footprints," he pointed towards where they were,
Sain'ii smiled to herself, they knew about her. Not in the way she would've thought.
"You really think she's alive after a century?" Lex tried to put logic into the argument,
"With what we used to worship? More than likely." Sebastian argued, "I'm going to set it to today's date. To see what happens."
As he was doing that, Max was still investigating Sain'ii's bloody footprints. Even though they were partial, he knew they were footprints none the less.
The sarcophagus slid open once Sebastian put the right dates in. The chamber filled with fog, dissipating to reveal the Yautja weaponry.
"Look at this!" Sebastian exclaimed,
Max lifted his attention from Sain'ii's footprints and walked over to the sarcophagus.
"Are these weapons?" Max asked,
"I don't know but they seem to be," Sebastian said,
"Alright, I think we should head back to the surface now and make camp." Lex started, "We can come back tomorrow."
Max ignored her and kept looking at the weapons,
"Weyland, you wanted to be the first one here, you are. I'm in charge of the safety of our group, and I say we head back to the surface."
"Listen to her," Weyland rasped,
"What about these sir?" Max asked, referring to the weapons in the sarcophagus,
"Take them, we can analyze them on the surface."
That's when Sain'ii decided to jump down from when she was hiding.
"I wouldn't do that if I was you." She said in a sing-song voice,
"Who's there!" Max spun around, pulling his gun from his case, "Show yourself."
Sain'ii stepped into their lights, revealing herself. Her scars shone in the light, after only having a loincloth and a halter on, all of her scars showed. Her black hair cascaded down her back, and her eyes shone mischievously.
"T-that's h-her." Sebastian stammered, "A-aren't y-you?"
"I only just woke up today," she giggles, "I never thought I would become a legend."
"Why did you kill everyone here one hundred years ago," Lex spoke loudly, trying to hide her fear, but Sain'ii could smell it,
"I had to protect my people." She stated clearly, "These people here, were trying to kill him. So in turn, I tore their throats out." She smiled a toothy grin, showing off her sharp teeth, "To be honest I didn't really want to kill them, but they threatened him and me. They were being very rude."
"What do you mean be woke up?" Sebastian ventured,
"I hibernated for the past century." Sain'ii again giggled, "I've been waiting for my people to come back for me."
"Why are you answering all of our questions?" Weyland demanded,
"Oh that's easy," she put her hands behind her back, rocking on the balls of her feet, she smiled, "Because you're all going to die."
At that moment Max had lifted the last weapon from its slot, Sain'ii danced back to the door and slid underneath it, "Make sure to thank 'Max'" She slurred his name, "he just made sure you all will never see the surface again."
At that moment screams could be heard from the shaft above them.
"Bye-bye!" She had stopped the door from closing, its immense weight was making her strain, "Let the hunt begin." She giggled as she stepped back and let the door drop.
She backed away as she heard their yells, her body falling straight back to her instincts. Sain'ii's pupils fully dilated, letting her see in the complete darkness, her body was fully prepared for anything. She started stalking the hallways, waiting for anything, from hare meat, to face huggers, to humans.
The hunters just entered the temple, when the oomans had removed their weapons. Aja was looking at the 3d map that his wrist computer provided, he could see the heat signatures of the oomans in the vault and in the sacrificial chamber. Another being portrayed as white, the sensors recognized as Yautja.
"That must be the female," he pointed out to his hunt brothers.
They both grunted it in acknowledgment.
"Hunt Master Yeyinde said to retrieve her as part of our chiva, as well as the normal requirements." Aja recited, reminding his hunt brothers about their chiva.
He cloaked himself and lead the way into the maze, going after the female first, she looked like she was tailing the humans with weapons anyway.
Flicking through the sights on his bio mask, he looked down and saw the bloody remnants of her footprints earlier. Bending down and opening his mouth, breathing in the scent. Certainly, it wasn't human, but it wasn't quite Yautja.
"The females bleeding." Aja indicated to the ground,
"We can use this to track her." Lar'ja stated,
Aja smeared a bit of the blood onto his finger, it wasn't completely dry yet. He made note of it, using his bio mask he scanned the stains and started to track them, high lighting them in his view.
Nodding to his brother, they again set off to go into the temple.
Sain'ii was sitting in the alcove above the humans, Lex's merry band. She wanted to drop down on them, they had the weapons. She knew the young hunters weren't too far behind.
Shifting up next to one of the many statues, she looked down on them. She noticed that there was something moving in the tunnels down the end of the room. She scented the air, and I was a scent she did not recognize. Sain'ii could feel her heart beat in her ears, this was hard meat.
She started scanning the area, looking down at the oblivious humans, they were walking right at it. Still looking around she saw the shimmer, across from her, she scented the air again and the smell of steel and snow invaded her senses. It was so rich it sent her head spinning. It was one of the young hunters. He hadn't seen her yet, may have scented her, but he made no indication that he was aware of her. Even though he was cloaked she could see him 'clearly'. She leaped across the gap silently and walked up near. Sain'ii saw him tense as she heard him huffing.
"Hello." She said gently in their language, "I'm Sain'ii, what's your name?"
He turned to her and shook her shoulder, "I am Aja. The leader of our chiva."
She bowed her head in respect and reached to his shoulder and shook it. Now she noticed he wasn't that much taller than her, showing her that he was young, although she already knew he was only 25 cycles. Sain'ii only came up to his chest, he would've only been 8-9 feet tall.
"Have you scented the hard meat in this room?" she asked him, knowing that her smell was more acute than a Yautja.
"No?" He answered with a head tilt,
"Look, you can almost see it." She passed by him and pointed to one of the drone tunnels, she could see it clearly, its scent was acrid to her nose, "Are you sure you cant smell it? It's burning my nose." She sniffed rubbing her nose,
Aja flicked through the views on his bio mask, indeed there was a hard meat over there. But for the life of him, he couldn't scent it. He looked down at the small female rubbing her nose, that's when he truly noticed what she looked like. All the scars on her body told a story.
"Maybe you should warn your hunt brother before he places himself directly in front of it." She indicated with her head in the hard meats direction, and true to that, Lar'ja was nearby. Watching the oomans intently, wanting to get his plasmacaster before engaging with hard meat.
The oomans had been talking about stuff, she wasn't paying attention to them she was paying attention to the other Yautja across the room. She would have to reprimand him for not being aware of his surroundings if he survived this. The hard meat was crawling along the wall towards him.
"Where's your third." She asked Aja quietly,
"He's nearby, not entirely sure where," Aja answered honestly.
Only then had he noticed how she was moving, preparing herself at a moments notice to launch into battle. He looked in the direction she was looking and saw the hard meat making it's way to Lar'ja. He looked back down at the female, only to see that she had gone. She had moved along the alcove onto the top of one of the statues, she hadn't taken her eyes off of the hard meat. He watched her coil her body down, she sprung silently to the other side again whilst watching the hard meat. Her toes gripping the statue keep her perfectly on it without slipping. Lar'ja had jumped down and engaged the humans in an attempt to get his plasmacaster back. He killed the one called Stone, alerting the humans that he was there, he jumped down and kicked Lex to the ground, then went to shoot his net at Max when he suddenly got hit by a body.
Sain'ii had launched herself at Lar'ja just as he was about to be impaled by the bladed tail of the hard meat. She instead took it to the shoulder.
Sain'ii howled in pain as Lar'ja got up, recognizing her scent from the blood trail, even more so now that she was bleeding. She grabbed the hard meats tail and growled a deep and menacing growl. Pulling it down from the wall, its claws scraping all the way down the old stone.
"What the fuck is that?!" Lex yelled in terror as she scrambled away from the creature that Sain'ii was currently engaged with,
"I believe that is what they came here to hunt," Graeme answered before Sebastian could.
Sain'ii had brought the creature smashing down onto the ground, it let out a cry of pain before getting up on its feet and hissing at her. She still had a hike of its tail, letting it stay embedded in her body. Giving her the advantage of being able to pull it close and not letting it get away.
She bared her fangs in return to the hard meat, she could feel the pull in her right shoulder, it was trying to pull its tail back but she wouldn't let it. Pulling the tail she launched herself forward feet first, the hard meat stumbled and tried to dodge her attack but couldn't cause it was still attached, it tried flicking its tail and that errant a squeal from Sain'ii. She landed her attack wonky because of its attempt to detach itself from her. The oomans had scattered themselves away from the fight, watching her brawl with the creature hand to hand.
Sain'ii clawed at the hard meat, taking across its chest drawing blood. Gaining a screech from it she bared her teeth again, went to make another slash with her other hand. The hard meat took the opportunity to whip its tail back, ripping it from her body. She yelled as she propelled forward from the yank, grappling the hard meat back down to the ground. She started tearing at it with her teeth. Getting blood all over herself and the ground, her clothes had started to sizzle off from the acid, and the splotches on the ground were eating through it. She didn't stop tearing into it, it was still thrashing against her body. Completely ignoring everything around her, falling into bloodlust, the screams of the creature was all she could hear.
Whilst she had it pinned to the ground it was trying to claw her body, but Sain'ii couldn't feel the pain, she latched onto its throat and tore its head off. Grabbing the head from her mouth she belted out a mighty battle cry, completely naked, bleeding but exhilarated.
Her breathes were heavy, as she stood there panting.
"Ahh fuck me." She sighed, "Haven't had a fight like that in a long time."
Her eyes still dilated, she rolled her head to look at the humans standing there in awe.
"Now." She stepped off the hard meats corpse, her feet covered in the creature's blood, each step was seated into the ground, "Give them back their weapons." She stared at them,
"Um." Graeme stammered as he took his backpack off, "You're naked."
"Yeah. I am." She placed a hand on her hip,
Aja walked up to her, grabbed her shoulder and said, "|Thank you for saving Lar'ja, let me heal you.|"
Sain'ii nodded, letting him clean her wounds as she stared at the humans,
"Who's got the other weapons." She asked bluntly as Aja started putting the healing gel on her wounds,
Graeme handed her the one he was carrying, Weyland passed his to her.
"I can smell it on you, Max. Hand. It. Over." She growled, causing Aja to freeze and asses the situation to make sure he didn't cause her growl,
"You don't tell me what to do woman." He spat at her,
"|Aja will you wait a moment, here's two of the plasmacasters. Make sure your hunt brothers get them.|" she talked to Aja,
She put her hard meat head on the ground, walked over to the corpse and dipped her hand into its guts, covering her hand in the acid blood. She turned back around and was growling as she walked to Max. The other humans backing away from her,
"Now Max. You hand over that weapon or I will choke you with this hand." She threatened, "You see, the blood of this creature is basically acid, whilst it doesn't affect me, it will affect you."
She reached towards him with her hand and he raised his gun, earning a deep growl from Lar'ja and Aja who was standing behind her.
"If you shoot me, I promise you, that you won't live for more than 10 seconds after you pull that trigger." She growled at him.
Max sighed and dropped his backpack in contempt. Reaching down he got the weapon out and went to hand it to Sain'ii.
She shook her head, "Give it to him, not to me."
"The others gave it to you." Max moaned,
"You disrespected me."
With a sigh he walked of to Aja who had a constant growl happening, offering the weapon to him. Aja looked at him, dwarfing the smaller man, he put his clawed hand out flat. Max reluctantly placed the weapon in his hand. Aja deepened his growl to make the Ooman go faster.
"Good boy Maxxy." Sain'ii cooed, she squatted down and rub her hand on the stone floor, getting the acid off.
"|Alright I'll stand still for you now Aja,|" she walked over to the Yautja that had been waiting patiently,
Lar'ja and Thwei'ja were standing by patiently, eager to get onto the hunt after watching Sain'ii fight the hard meat.
"|When's the next shuffle in the temple?|" Sain'ii put the question in the air,
"|Very shortly, I'm hoping to have stopped the bleeding of your wounds before then.|" Aja replied simply, "|Lift your arm.|" she did as she was told.
"|Can someone being me that guys corpse? I want to take his clothes. The oomans won't stop staring.|" she glared at them, "Seriously why are you staring at me." She growled at them,
"You're naked. You have aliens fixing wounds that would have killed you and YOU are acting like it's nothing!" Lex was the one who answered,
"It is nothing." Sain'ii sighed, "Why are you so embarrassed by a naked body."
"I-its ..its nature to be embarrassed by being naked. We cover up for a reason!" Lex tried,
"It's natural for you, not for us." Sain'ii looked away from them as Lar'ja brought Stones corpse over, she started taking his clothes off as Aja continued his work on her back.
"What are you doing with his body?" Weyland demanded,
"I need to cover myself because I cannot stand the stench you guys are emitting." Sain'ii said with utter disgust, "You guys may want to get ready." she tore his clothes, into pieces that could cover her breasts, then tore his pants into a makeshift loincloth.
Aja finished off her back, putting his medical supplies back away. Attaching his plasmacaster to his shoulder, he tested the targeting, satisfied with it he stood up and started scanning the room.
"|Can I have some of that metal wire?|" Sain'ii asked Lar'ja,
He simply took the piece that was around Stones' throat and handed it to her, she nodded to him and started wrapping it around her hard meat skull. Then attaching it to the belt loop on the makeshift loincloth.
At that moment Sebastian's watch started beeping, Sain'ii smirked to herself, looking at the hunt brothers, knowing that they all need to get a kill each then deactivate the temple and kill any witnesses. That's when the pickup ship will come down and collect them.
The hunt brothers started to move as a unit, the oomans were panicking at the shifting temple, but the Yautja knew exactly where to go. Their wrist computer keeps them updated on where the new passageways were being created.
Sain'ii sat in the middle of their pack and kept up with them. She was actively scenting the area, smelling for signs of hard meat. They had stopped for a moment after the temple had settled,
"Someone show me the map," she asked,
Thwei'ja who was closest to her brought it up on his wrist computer, she looked at the new passageways. Then she saw the yellow dots,
"Those are the oomans yeah?" She pointed at the cluster,
Thwei'ja nodded, she turned one of the halls, smelling the scent coming from it. The acrid smell assaulted her senses once more, growling low in her chest.
"Hard meat that way." She growled,
Aja walked up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder, giving it a firm shake before taking off down the hall she indicated. She followed behind him with Lar'ja and Thwei'ja coming up behind her. She scented the oomans nearby, as well as more hard meat, the scent of panic. She scented Weyland, his death coated scent let her know that he was falling behind. She heard his ragged breaths.
She stopped, then honed in on the sound of his breaths, at least she could give him a quick death. She had a soft spot for him, wanting to give him a merciful death. She turned down a different corridor than Aja was going, she heard them behind her, she ran down the hall and leaped the gap on a bridge. She saw the oomans up ahead trying to get Weyland up and going. Sain'ii slid into the shadows, she heard the young hunters catching up to her.
The hard meat had caught up to the oomans, there were two hard meats stalking them. Sain'ii felt the presence of the hunters behind her.
"There's two beyond the oomans there." She indicated, "I suggest letting the oomans bait them in before taking them out. They are maybe more hiding. I can't tell since they don't have individual scents."
The hunters cloaked and waited with her, the oomans passed them. They weren't rubbing anymore, it was only Lex, Sebastian, and Weyland. The rest of them gotten separated during the shift. The hard meat was following the humans along the roof, now they had a triangle of red dots trained on their bodies. They waited for them to move a bit further along and then the area was filled with the blue-white light. The oomans spun round to see that the creatures that had been following them were now pools of acid sinking into the ground. They hurried forward into the next room, away from Sain'ii and the unseen hunters.
Aja and Lar'ja stepped forward, claiming the skulls from their kills, removing their bio masks and marking themselves. That's when Sain'ii heard it, the skittering around above them, she saw a face hugger launch itself at Aja. It was as if Sain'ii's world moved in slow motion, her pupils slit, as she moved as fast as he could in front of him. His scent flashing through her mind, the hunts that will come. He looked towards her, then over to the incoming face hugger, his mandibles dropped at the horror that was coming. His body didn't move. Sain'ii put her hand out as the proboscis-like appendage started to extend. The talons of it starting to latch on, the tail whipping to wrap around his neck, but instead, it wrapped around Sain'ii's arm, her hand stopping the proboscis. Her strength seemed to diminish, but she held it off of his face long enough for the other hunters to come over and help pry the hugger off. She was leaning back on his chest, her arm in a vice from the huggers tail.
"It's okay, your going to be fine. No dishonorable death for you Aja, I promise." She strained, all the wound from earlier taking the energy out of her, she was using all she could muster to hold the hugger back.
Its claws held onto Aja's face painfully, Sain'ii knew he was in pain, she could feel the appendage smacking against her hand, desperate to impregnate a host. The tail tightened around her causing her to shriek, breaking her bone, her grip started to loosen. She brought up her other hand up and pressed against the back of her right hand, squeezing her fingers around the body of the hugger. Her back was full planted against Aja's chest, his right arm bracing hers so no further damage could be done.
"Lar'ja," Sain'ii panted, "Thwei'ja. I need you to pull the fingers off. Don't make it bleed. We can deal with Aja's flesh wound, not acid." The hunters nodded. And set to work getting the fingers off Aja's face, his mandibles had been clicking in frustration, with himself mostly for letting his guard down this much. He glanced down at the form that had planted herself between him and his death. Her broken arm jutting out at painful angles, the tail of the hugger constricting even more. He had his right hand supporting just under her elbow, there was much he could do.
Lar'ja and Thwei'ja had managed to pull some of the fingers off,
"Alright now pull away with all your might, and I will push!" Sain'ii commanded, "Aja." She looked out the corner of her eye, desperation could be seen, "Push my back okay. You won't hurt me. I promise." She smirked lifting her lips, her tiny nubs of mandibles showing on her gums.
"Okay Sain'ii, I trust you." Aja raised his mandibles in a smile,
Aja felt the pull of the fingers talons through the sides of his face, his pressure on Sain'ii's back was perfectly dispersed pushing her forward. Sain'ii was pushing as hard as she could with one good arm, the Hunt brothers were pulling the hugger off. Finally free from his face it latched around Sain'ii's arm with its fingers now, she fell forward in pain as the claws dug into her flesh.
"CUT IT OFF!" She howled, "CUT THE PAUK'DE FILTH OFF" tears pricked her eyes as it twisted her right arm in different directions.
The hunters extended their ki'cti-pa, and started to cut the hugger away from her hand, they made short work of it. The blood dripping off their ki'cti-pa and burning the floor. She pulled her arm out of the acidic mess and started to nurse, pushing bones back into place as best she could. She sniffed from the pain, catching the scent of another hard meat that was watching nearby, her head twisted towards where the creature hid. It back away into the tunnel and disappeared.
Aja had been scanning her arm, watching her put the bones back in place. Her body was exhausted,
"We need to get you on the ship Sain'ii," Aja said as a pure started in his chest, wanting to calm the female as best he could,
"We can't leave until they are all dead and you've each at least killed one." Sain'ii sighed, "I may look human Aja, but my mother, my bearer, Paya, taught me all about the hunt, and she's watching us now. So is my sire, waiting to take us to his halls."
"Very well, all we need is Thwei'ja's kill," Aja stated, "Then we can reduce this place to rubble."
Sain'ii had grabbed the huggers decapitated tail from the pile of mush, as he spoke, straightened it so its bones locked into place, then placed it along the outside of her arm. As a makeshift splint, needing something to hold it in place, she retrieved what fingers were left and bound together with some spare wire from her hip. Now she had a splint on her arm made from a face huggers body. Sain'ii tested her fingers movement, still feeling the pain she decided on keeping it unused.
Aja finished what he was saying, Sain'ii and the other young hunters agreed.
Sain'ii strained to stand, her body' energy being siphoned to heal her wounds. Her eyes fluttered, and she dropped to a knee.
"Aja..." Sain'ii whispered, she then fully collapsed hitting the floor, her eyes closed fully, her breathing labored.
The dark brown hunter turned as she collapsed, his hands reached down to her form. He flicked through his different views on his bio mask, confirming she was alive. Her body just exhausted from healing so much. From what little he understood of Yautja biology, they had something similar happen to them when they receive many mortal wounds, they have a functional organ in their body that accelerates healing at the cost of the other bodily functions. She would wake up when her body has seemed itself properly healed, or good enough to function.
"Lar'ja you take the point, Thwei'ja you cover behind us. I'll carry Sain'ii." Aja told them, "I remember stories my sire told me when I was a pup of an ooman Yautja. Shed exactly like us. Just not looks."
The grunted in agreement, taking up the commanded formation as they continued through the temple.
Jesus fucking Christ. This took way too long and I've decided to split it into two chapters. Please send help.