Chase

"Wake up buttercup." A familiar human voice sounded through Alex's head. "Breakfast's up."
Alex groaned like he went to sleep drunk. "Have they killed us yet?"
"Nah, they're still fattening us up for the big feast this evening, dude." Noh smiled, motioning to a small basket of fruit.

Alex cocked his eye at his compatriot.

"Aw c'mon... They're not gonna kill us yet... In fact one of the guards just told me what's gonna happen now."
Alex sat up slowly. His exo-suit whirred a bit, warming up. "So?"
"They're gonna return us back home man! Well, at least back to Hells Gate." He looked pretty chuffed. "In a little while or so Jake the Big man is going come over with a bunch of guys on those big, six-legged Clyde's Dales... what do you call them?... oh yeah, Dire Horses. After that, we're gonna come along with them for the journey back home."

"How far away are we?"

"The guy said that Hells Gate is about... a solid day's journey, from here. We'll get there in the evening." He was grinning happily. "So eat up man. We got a hard day's ride ahead of us."

Jake was getting his gear together. He took with him his bone knife, his machine gun, bow, lance and lunch. As he was getting ready however, his eye drifted to the mirror.

It was a little thing, small enough to be held in a human hand. It was just a small thing that he took from the wrecked mobile lab they had when Jake was still human, just a little one for shaving and stuff. He looked into it and saw his face. It wasn't like other Na'vi faces. His eyes were too small for a start. His Avatar body wasn't a perfect translation of a pure Na'vi body. It never would be. For a brief moment, he thought he saw his old face in the mirror. But that was probably just a trick of his mind.

No. He reiterated to himself. No way. I'm a Na'vi. That's who I am. He tossed the mirror back down where it lay with some of his other belongings.

I'm better than a human now...

Alex and Noh didn't have enough to do. The guards had stopped talking to them, so now, all they had to now, was wait and watch the Hometree come to life. He watched as people were descending the great trunk, practically dancing over the roots that made up the steps of the place. He listened as he heard singing, drifting down to the ground, beautiful sounds that brightened his mood up. He watched the banshees soar above him, hunters and fliers, soaring without a care in the world.

Sometimes he privately thought that this place was WAY too good to be true. He was still willing to bet that some people in the tribe hated each other's guts, that some felt jealousy because some people were better than the other, or that some mothers were grieving the loss of a son on a hunting disaster. He remembered the look that that Tsahik gave him last night. Pure hatred. All in all, Alex was comfortable in betting that beneath all this, the Na'vi were saints and jerks. Just like humanity.

Alex had to admit it. The Hometree was ridiculously huge. Of course, he had seen huge industrial monoliths, skyscrapers and arcologies that would have dwarfed this when he was back on Earth, but the fact that this was one great, big natural tree was what made it so awesome. Back home, the only plants he really ever saw were either genetically modified; small stunted things that grew in pot plants that someone had kept as a treasure in their home, or on old nature videos. The only grass that he ever saw was what grew through the cracks in the ground. Only the rich, sipping clean water in their air-conditioned arcologies had the money to afford real Earth plants. Everyone else had to make do and survive.

And now here he was. On another world, watching real plants and animals, real people, go about life. If anyone told him five years ago that he would be coming here, he would have laughed in their face in a spiteful fashion. A zombie apocalypse would have sounded more probable, he had seen enough horror movies to believe that.

He watched as a group of na'vi women carried gourds of water towards the Hometree, they seemed to laugh and gossip about what sounded to Alex like how some big shot hunter had tried to prove himself big time by catching a dire horse on foot, but slipped and had fallen face first into a dire horse turd. Noh must have understood what was going on because he laughed; saying that one of his old friends had tried a similar thing when he was running after a car, but he had slipped up on a dog turd. This gave Alex an almost comforting thought. Those alien women, gossiping about the epic fail of a hunter, could have been another gaggle of girls chatting to each other while walking down the street, talking about boys and school. Maybe the two races weren't so different after all.

"I see you." An utterly innocent and small voice said right above Alex.

He looked up. Lying on the gargantuan root that he was leaning against, was a small girl. Well, to call her small is relative; she was almost as tall as Alex's chest. She seemed to exude a friendly curiosity. Like a dog trying to make friends with a cat.

"Uh... I see you too." Alex tried in his rusted Na'vi.
"You're a Sky-Person right?"
"Yes..."
"What's your home like?"

Alex and Noh looked at each other.

"Um... what do you mean? Hells Gate, or Earth?"
"The place where all the Sky-People come from."
"Earth, right...uh..."

Noh then said quite bluntly, "It's a shithole compared to here."

"NOH!" Alex cried out in shock. "For the love of God man, no foul language with a kid!"
"What's a shithole?"
"Just forget it, just forget it, it's a BAD word." Alex quickly said, doing damage control. "What my friend here is trying to say, is that Earth is not a good place compared to here."
"Why?"
"Uh... The air's dirty and polluted. There are hardly any plants or animals. And the other humans try to make your life miserable." Noh said, trying to be helpful again.
"Why is it like that?"

Alex sighed. "Because... we don't change. Not very well anyways..."
"That's why we're here." Noh spoke up. "It's better to live here than live at home."

"Can you live with us?"

That's the question. Unfortunately, she didn't get the answer.

"MIRI GET DOWN FROM THERE!" An angry voice shouted, blasting the peace of the scene away.

Alex looked forward in shock. Jake was dismounting his horse, keeping his eyes locked on the group. He stomped towards them with the impact of an Alpha lion. The guards started to cower back from the advancing figure coming for them. He went right past them and grabbed the child, taking her away from the humans, speaking angrily to her in Na'vi.

Both Alex and Noh stood completely still. Like deer caught in headlights.

"Is he going to kill us?" whispered Noh.

"Probably." Alex whispered

"Miri what the hell were you doing?" Jake yelled. "Why the hell did you go talk to them? They're Sky People for crying out loud! You can't trust them!"
"But dad..."
"You had your mother scared to death! We didn't know where you were!"

"But dad, I was just talking to them! You and mum said that I should know them before I call them something." Miri pleaded, close to tears.

Ah fuck... she was a little too inquisitive for her own good.

Jake froze. "Listen Miri... I didn't think that you'd actually go and do it..." his anger started to dissipate. "Look, just... don't do it alone. Okay? You really had us worried there for a moment."
"Okay then..."
"Hey, don't cry. It's nice of you to show some initiative." He smiled as reassuringly as he could under the circumstances. "Anyway, you'd better get back to your mother. You've got a big day ahead of you."

Jake was coming back. While this would normally mean to Alex and Noh that they were both going to die, they relaxed when they saw how Jake's posture was much more laid back than before.

"I think this is yours." A voice came from behind, and above him. The scarred hunter was standing there, and in his hands was Alex's helmet. It must have been torn off him when he had his head smashed in during his escape attempt. Alex gingerly took it from his hands. "Uh... thanks."

"Come, We're heading off." He said motioning to the towering Horses in front of them. They were over four metres high, had the same six legs as everything else around here, and they seemed as intelligent as the creatures Alex saw in old nature vids. The strangest thing about them was their tendrils, the long antennae that protruded out of their skulls. They consistently seemed to fan out, and Alex still could not get over the 'bonding' or neural link between the riders and their mounts. The whole concept... just seemed invasive to him. Of course he knew that was just from an alien point of view. It was probably as natural as... well he couldn't guess.

"Uh... I think we're going to need some help getting on these." Noh said looking at the huge mounts nervously.

Jake spoke to the scarred hunter. "Mu'kala, give him a boost on to your mount." He looked towards another Na'vi, one that was adorned in, strangely enough, bits and bobs of scrap metal, wires and circuitry. "Ar'kadi, do the same with the other, he's with you." He then casually mounted his own horse in a fluid motion.

The Na'vi known as Ar'kadi politely stooped to give Alex a boost. Mu'kala on the other hand, simply mounted his own horse, and crudely hoisted Noh up to behind him. Neither the human nor the Na'vi was very happy about it.

"All set then? Alright then..." He turned back to the people who were watching. Among them, were Miri and the Na'vi woman who must have been her mother.
"Neytiri, I'll be back tomorrow evening." Jake called out. "Miri, you be good when you head to the tree with your mother and grandmother. They know what to do. And be nice to Norm and our friend Hesh'ka when you're there okay?"
"Okay then daddy."
"You stay safe with the sky people Jake." The woman known as Neytiri called out. "Don't take any risks with them."
"Thanks, see you all later." He turned back to the other riders in his group. "Let's ride."

They moved as one, back out into the forest. They moved out of the towering embrace of the Hometree and into the jungle.

"You know, it's probably rude of me, but I don't actually know your names." Jake opened up in English.
"Oh... I'm Alex. Alex Garnett."
"Johnny Noh." Opened up the other human. "But please, just call me Noh."

"Okay then. This is Mu'kala..." he motioned to the scarred hunter whom Noh was riding with. "That's Ar'kadi..." the strange Na'vi with the human charms whom Alex was riding with. "There's Shee'kana..." he motioned to the same young huntress who had talked to the humans last night. "...here's Sha'han, that's Kal'el and behind me is Las'kan." He finished. "Just don't shoot your mouth off, and we'll be fine. Any questions?"

Alex's hand went up.

"Was that your wife and kid back there?" he asked.
"None of your damn business."

Noh's hand went up.

"This had better be good." he asked tiredly.
"I need to go for a pee."

They trotted through the forest, forded through rivers, and galloped whenever the ground got flat. The forest was alive with... well, life. The birds and the bees (or their closest equivalents) buzzed and flew around them, strange animals rustled in the bushes, and fantastic colours and smells bombarded Alex's senses.

Naturally however, riding on an alien animal related to a now, highly rare earth animal was not something that came to either of the humans naturally. They clutched the saddles, tucked just in front of their riders. It kind of reminded Alex of the hobbits from an old 20th flick that he once watched, long ago. He was not very comfortable with the whole concept, but he toughed it out. Just like he was having to tough out his scrunched crotch.

To try to alleviate the boredom of the journey, Alex tried to enter in conversation. The other Na'vi sometimes chatted to one another, about how another relative, or how last night was, or what they should expect from the humans at the colony. At was at this that Alex interjected in the conversation trying to speak as well as he could. The others regarded him with disinterest at first, but they started to soften up after a while, when they realized that he was making a decent attempt to learn their language. He'd ask them the Na'vi words to the various plants and animals that they passed by. They in turned asked about human words, like his exo-suit. After a while, they started to ask about him.

"You called yourself a... 'cop' last night." Asked one of them. "Is it that a type of warrior?"

"Hm? Oh, not quite. I helped keep order back home. I had to stop bad people, thieves, murderers, 'criminals' we call them, from getting away with their crimes." Alex said helpfully. "We 'arrest' them, which is kind of like capturing them, and then we punish them. It's kind of a more peaceful version of a warrior, or a soldier as we call them."
"Really?"
"Yep, for a start, we don't try to shoot first."
"That's kind of like what we are right now." Noh spoke up. "We're militia. We help keep order among the colonists, as well as defend them from the beasts out here."

"Hold on a second... I thought those other soldiers... the ones in green clothing, were the ones who did that." Asked Ar'kadi.

"Nah, nah man. Those guys are RDA mercenaries' dude. Kinda like 'warriors for hire'. They're there to help train us for one we have to take over for ourselves." Noh continued. "They're not the nicest people around..."
"How so?" Shee'kana asked uncomfortably.
"To put it in terms you would understand, many of them were the survivors of the same group who burned down your old Hometree, and tried to kill you all." Alex said flatly.

There was silence.

"That, and they're all jerks." Noh chatted normally. "They've always looked down on us man... and not in the ok 'I'm more experienced than you' kind, but in the 'You're all a bunch of soft weaklings who'd never kill anybody and we get paid more than you.'"

Jake finally decided to speak. "What's life like back on Earth now?"

"Same shit, different day. It hasn't really changed since you were last there Jake. That's all I'll say on it." sighed Alex.

They stopped for lunch at one point; a few fruits wrapped in leaves kept their hunger satisfied. Then they kept up their journey through the forest. The afternoon past without too many interesting events. Although the group did get to know each other a bit better.

"So... who is the leader around here?" asked Mu'kala.

"We-ell, our military leader is a guy called Howard Carson." Started Noh. "He's in charge of the RDA merc's around here. He's a bit of a cold jerk really, not very friendly with us militia. I have a feeling that he did black ops in the old days back on Earth. On the other hand, the leader of the colonial militia is Major Robert Halverson. He used to be a cop, like many of us. A bit rough with the rest of us, but he's still friendly in a gruff sort of way. He's also an excellent judge of character. Heh..."
"What?"
"We actually call him by his nickname when he's not looking... we call him 'Old Hellboy' behind his back."
"What's a hellboy? Asked Las'kan.
"One of the other colonists, a mechanic, said he reminded him of an old fantasy hero called 'Hellboy'. Said both of their personalities were alike... Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the Director of the whole colony, some corporate douche bag... Director Selfridge..."

"Selfridge?" Jake said suddenly alert. "As in: Parker Selfridge?"

"Yeah dude, how did you know about that?" asked Noh, surprised.
"I knew him from before. Back when the RDA was here last time, he was the one who gave the go-ahead for the Hometree attack."
"Hmm, makes sense. There are rumours floating around that he's here as some kind of punishment. He doesn't show it in his public speeches, but the guys an asshole. Everyone who's met him in person says that he really just wants to get back home on the next transport."

"When is the next transport?" Jake asked.

"In about two months. There's only one ship with FTL right now, but it's making a continuous loop. From here, to Earth, to back again takes about four months." Answered Alex.

The rest of the journey went on. The sun went down, sure, and evening spread around Pandora, but it wasn't dark at all. The land glowed in bio-luminescence. The tree's the plants, the horses even the Na'vi were glowing. The only odd ones out were the two humans straddled in front of two Na'vi riders. The land was still alive.

"So where exactly are you from Noh?" asked Jake.
"Meh... my parents were from Korea, but I grew up in North America. Joined the army, got kicked out, joined the colony program, met Alex in boot camp, came here, and got kidnapped. That's the story of my life."
"Wait, you got kicked out of the army?"
"Very important lesson that I failed to learn. Battlesuits and alcohol don't mix."
"Then why the hell did the RDA hire YOU?"
Noh shrugged. "Fuck knows man. But hey, don't question a good thing."

It was getting darker.

"You know what was the funniest thing in boot camp? It was you Jake."
"ME? What do you mean?"
"Oh you were the poster villain of the Na'vi. Some paraplegic loser who goes and gets a second chance at living again, but backstabs the RDA's generous offer and betrays the humans at the Hallelujah mountains, all for some native chick who..."
"I've heard enough." Jake snapped.

Noh shrugged. "Suit yourself, I'm just saying what the RDA says about you. It looked phoney from the start and a lot of the left leaning Earth media think you're a..."

Then the lights went out.

Every dot of bioluminescence in the forest, every light on the trees, every bug in the area, the dots on the Dire Horses, and every small shining dot on the Na'vi, simultaneously went out. It was as if someone flicked off the light switch.

The area was plunged into total darkness.

Everyone stopped. Everyone stopped moving, everyone stopped talking and everyone stopped breathing.

Alex's eyes started to just to the dim light. At least the planet still reflected light like the Earth moon. He could make out the other Na'vi riders. They were spooked. They looked around with wide eyes, gripping their weapons tightly. Their mounts shared their feelings.

"W-what... what just happened?" whispered Shee'kana.
"I...don't know." whispered Jake.
"Is this natural?" Alex whispered.
"Hasn't happened in my lifetime..." Mu'kala mused. "Or in anybody's..."
"Oh man, it's quiet..." breathed Noh, shaken.

He was right. It seemed as if every bug and animal in the forest had stopped. All that could be heard was the rustling of the trees. The place was unnatural.

"Hold on..." Alex whispered. "I've got something..." He took a small torch out of his pocket and turned it on. The path in front of the group was illuminated only partially, but everyone started to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Let's go." Jack quietly ordered. "We're not much further from Hells Gate."

The riders moved on warily. Everyone still had the idea of where to go. Soon, they started hearing noise, and seeing faint lights in the distance.

"I think we're there." Alex whispered.

One of the Na'vi started to curse and mutter under his breath. He was clutching his head.

"What's wrong Las'kan?" Ar'kadi whispered.
"I've just got this bitch of a headache..."

They kept going. Alex started to notice that the other Na'vi were holding their own heads every now and then, or tossed their ponytails.

Then he started to hear it. He didn't know what it was, or where it came from. It was a sort of ringing noise. It ringed and hummed and slithered past his ears and into his head.

"Do any of you guys hear anything?" He whispered.

No one was paying any intention. The na'vi started to groan and moan, clutching their heads. Their horses kept walking. "I do. It's nothing to worry about Alex." Noh said quite conversationally.

Alex got spooked. "Okay, that's it! Everyone stop! Stop, please!" The horses started to slow down.

As soon as they came to a complete halt, Jake Sully fell off his horse. He didn't say anything, he just tipped over the side. One of the riders followed. Mu'kala was leaning right on his back and fell off himself, leaving Noh hunched over the saddle. Ar'kadi fell to the side. The others sat there, hunched over.

"Shit! What the hell's going on Noh!" cried Alex.
"It's... really sad... she doesn't like being there... she needs... help." Noh said his voice varying in pitch and depth.
"Noh? You okay?" Alex shined his flashlight on Noh.

His face was covered with blood. It was coming out of his mouth, out of his nose, out of his eyes, from his brow and even out of his ears. He had this sort of look on his face, like he was on drugs, or in nirvana. Alex couldn't see Noh's eyes, his flashlight's light shined them to reflection, but he could tell something was wrong with them. He was looking directly at Alex, almost smiling.

"But don't worry... she's gonna be alright." He giggled, and fell off his horse.

Alex sat on his horse speechless.

Then the sound started to get louder. It was everywhere. He felt funny. His head really started to hurt. He touched his brow; his hand came off wet. He could feel blood seeping down his ears, brow, and nose and out of his eyes. He started to get dizzy. He was seeing things...

And then he fell off.

Alex came to his senses. He was lying down, he was aware of that much at least. He was vaguely aware of the ground being just that; earth. He felt... different. Not in a bad way, but not in a good way either. He felt... immaterial. That was the word, like he was there, but at the same time, not there. He felt like he was as sober as a man could possibly get.

He sat up. The ground... felt real enough. The problem was is that he could barely see. The place, the realm, the area or whatever one could call it was lit up well from sources he could not find. The problem in question was that the place was as foggy as hell. Wait, no fog was not the right word, as well as being kind of foggy; the place seemed grainy, as if he was seeing the world through an old fashioned movie camera. There was barely any colour at all. The land was grey and white, with shadows of black in the background.

He heard... voices? Rustling? Both? The place wasn't right. The sounds were growing more and more intense. They were quite a variety. There were the natural sounds of running water, the sound of trees swaying, the sound of rock falls, the wind, crunching leaves and the calls of animals. And there were sounds of machines. Of helicopters and planes. Of thumping and grinding. Of sirens and trucks. Of machine and nerve. The sounds became more and more intense. The volume was escalating. Alex covered his ears.

What the fuck IS this place?

He looked around. He saw bodies on the ground. They were the Na'vi members of his journey. At first Alex thought that they were dead, but then he could see that they were still breathing. They had no colour, which wasn't surprising. Neither Jake nor Noh were among them.

"Hello?" he called out. "Anybody?"

He started to make out voices in the sounds. They were speaking in both human and na'vi. He strained to hear them.

"... can assure you that these blue-skinned savages will pose no problem..."

"...side effects of the modding..."

"...from so little, to so big..."

"...have to tell her sometime Jake..."

"...They've taken us! TO EAT!..."

"...don't take any risks..."

"...had your mother scared to death!..."

"...first order of business..."

"...But dad, I was just talking to them!..."

Alex strained his ears. He swore to god that some of the phrases were familiar. He was trying to make sense of this world, trying to sane in a place that had no sanity. The noise and the voices grew to become unceasingly loud. As loud as a typhoon. His ears didn't feel so bad, but his head was buckling under the pressure. It was starting to hurt badly, feeling like it was about to cave in. Alex screamed. He couldn't take it anymore.

Just when he dropped to his knees the voices stopped. Then he knew they weren't gone. They were replaced. Only one voice seemed to be heard.

"Can you live with us?"

Then silence.

He got up. The voices had subsided. He looked around. The place was still the same. He thought he saw a figure walking around, but that was just a trick of his mind.

"Is there someone there?"

He saw a shadowy figure move towards him. Alex figured that it was human, it had the same size and shape, and he was aware of it wearing human clothes. It had got to have been a woman at least.

Then he felt a wind. Some kind of great wind blowing at him. He struggled to stand up, he felt himself being pulled back. He leaned forward trying to keep up. The Shadow came forward. It tried to grab his hand, tried to help him, but it was too late. Alex slipped and fell back.

Everything faded to black.

Alex woke up hacking and coughing through the blood. He spat out the stuff that was in his mouth and wiped off the blood that was coagulating on his face. Strangely enough, he felt physically okay. His nose, eyes and ears didn't hurt at all. His head still ached from... well, from whatever that was.

He sat up. It was still dark. The lights hadn't returned yet. The horses were just standing and milling around, chewing at the odd plant or just grazing. His compatriots on the other hand, were still lying the ground.

"Guys?... People! People wake up! Wake up for Christ's sake, wake up!" He cried.

He rushed over to Noh. He was also covered in blood. Alex wiped it off him and shook him. To his relief, Noh started coughing, and came to his senses.

"Wha... What-the-fuck just happened?" He groggily asked. Alex shook him.
"How many fingers am I holding?"
"... None?"
"Good man, here, come on, get up..."

They went to check their Na'vi guardians. None of them had any blood of any kind on their faces, with the exception of Jake, but it was a small amount and it was probably just from his fall. They all came to their own senses when Alex splashed a water bottle in their faces. They were frightened and shocked as to what just happened.

"... and then Noh started to say weird stuff just before he fell off-" Alex was saying, trying to tell what happened, when Noh suddenly said "What? I said something?"
"Yeah dude! You were going on about how 'she' was really sad, and needed some help or some shit."
Noh drew a blank. "Okay, I remember everything about my head hurting and all, but I'm pretty sure I didn't say anything. You sure I said something?"
"Positive."
"If you say so."

Jake got himself together. "We can talk about this later, okay? It's still dark as hell, and we need to get our asses to Hells Gate right now, I really don't want to be here." He ordered, trying to keep himself composed.

The other riders went to the saddles. Ar'kadi and Mu'kala tried to help them up on board. "Hurry up!" Sha'han whispered. "I really think there's something out there!" The humans were on board their mounts; Alex was behind Ar'kadi instead of in front, while Noh was still in front of Mu'kala. Kal'el was having trouble with his getting on his own.

"There's something snarled up on my foot..."

He ripped of a small vine that was caught on his leg.

"Okay, that's it, let's go guys."

The others in the group were staring at him in horror.

"What? It was just a vine..."

Then he realised that they weren't looking at him. They were looking behind him.

He slowly looked behind himself.

It was big. It was standing on a root. It was big enough to make out in the dark. It had six legs, dark chitinous plates, and giant fangs. Its armoured head gave it the appearance of an Earth panther. It looked like it was primed and engineered for power. It stood there taking the entire group in.

Then it pounced.

Kal'el screamed as the Thanator bore down on him. Absolute chaos spread. The horses were now galloping for their lives. Everyone was screaming and trying to get away. It was a miracle that they didn't separate, or get lost on the way.

Soon Jake called out everyone to slow down. "We don't have to worry now... that Palalukan's probably picking his teeth now..."

"What the fuck Jake?" cried Alex. "If we were still knocked out cold, it would have had us all!"
"Shouldn't we have like, you know, HELPED him?" shouted Noh.
"Do you think he had a chance?" replied Mu'kala.
"Listen, we can..."
"What was that?" whispered Ar'kadi.

It was a thumping sound. Like something massive was coming right for them. Something from where they were.

"OH GOD, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" screamed Mu'kala. As they were just starting to do so, the same Thanator burst out of the bushes. It went and hurled Las'kan and his horse against a tree with its mouth, smashing them with the force of a freight train. It kept coming at them. The others kept riding.

"What the fuck is wrong with that thing?" cried Shee'kana. "It's trying to kill us all!"
"You think?" Jake screamed back. He ran close to Ar'kadi's and Alex's horse. He got something out of a leather bag that he carried on his horse. "Alex! Catch!"

Alex caught the large and heavy object. It was a GS 221 30-cal light machine gun. Contained a full hundred round clip. "Turn around and shoot that thing!" Jake screamed.

Easier said than done. The actual weight of the gun was mitigated a little by Alex's exo-suit, but trying to turn around on a galloping horse and shooting a huge monster was something else. He sprayed bullets everywhere. He nearly shot the other riders, who did their best to keep out of the way. The Thanator was still coming at them. Like some demon made out of shadow.

"Shit, why didn't I think of it before?" Noh said suddenly. He had grabbed what looked like two rocks off of his armor. At least they looked like rocks in the dark. Until Alex saw him pull a pin out of one of them and throw it behind.

The grenade hit the ground where the Thanator ran over it. It blew up in the distance. "Fuck..." cursed Noh, who pulled the pin on the other. Instead of just throwing it away, he held it for a moment longer and then he dropped it.

This time, the High Explosive Fragmentary grenade exploded right underneath the beast. The blast took off two legs, and left gory wounds all over the monster. It howled, and faded into the dark.

"Fuck yeah!" Noh cried exuberantly. The other horses started to slow down a bit, catching their breath.

"Come on..." Jake whispered "It's not far to go now." It's just over there..." He pointed forward. Hells Gate was lit up. A haven of light in a sea of darkness. The guards must have surely heard the gunshots and explosions. "How do we get inside without getting shot by the automated turrets?"
"I still got some green flares with me." Noh replied, patting his tactical vest. "If I pop one, the turrets and the guards will know we're friendlies, and let us in."
"Okay then... good enough. Let's move quiet- Sha'han! What the hell are you doing!"

Sha'han was a little apart from the group. He was looking intently to where they came from. "I thought I heard something in there..." Then his eyes turned to saucers of horror. "OH GOD, RUN-"

The same Thanator burst out of the bush and landed on Sha'han, who gave a short scream before his lungs were crushed. The beast proceeded to downright tear the poor bastard and his horse apart. It looked hideous. It was covered in wounds from the grenade blast and two of its six legs were stumps. The quills on its head were quivering madly. And they all swore later on that it had bright, blood red eyes.

The others started to make the final couple of hundred metres to the human base. They were going flat out, with Alex shooting at the thing with the machine gun. He was actually hitting the damn thing now and was making actual wounds that seeped blood, but it wasn't doing a damn thing! It still went after them!

"Jesus Christ! What the hell does it take to kill that thing!" screamed Alex.

Hells Gate was in sight. The great walls that separated the human area from the rest of Pandora, was huge, they could make out sentries posted on it, watching them, and moving. Alex was too busy trying to shoot at the Thanator to see it.

"Noh pop the fucking flares NOW!" screamed Jake.

Alex was still shooting.

"Alex watch the branches!" cried Ar'kadi, who ducked down.

Alex turned around. "What-"

-CRACK-

2 minutes ago.

Mac was on the wall, watching the surrounding landscape. He could barely see anything. Once he could make out the distant shapes of animals and birds, even at night, but the entire glow from the previous nights were gone. Now the forest seemed... different. Not inherently threatening, but different. The place didn't feel right.

In the old days, the wall was just a great big barrier to keep the animals from coming in and destroying everything. Now, after the new colonists came in, they had installed a new walkway, just behind the razor wire, that ran right around the entire perimeter, affectionately known as 'The Battlements'. Patrols would make their rounds on them, keeping watch over the entire area.

Mac sighed. Out there, in the jungle, was a whole new world, where dragons flew, trees grew as high as buildings and people lived. Sure, all of the fauna would try to kill them with they saw them, but at the same time, the Na'vi live just fine, in this beautiful but deadly world. That didn't stop his temptation to go out beyond the wall. To walk in the world that all of the kids in the colony ask about. Sometimes the colony felt like a prison to him.

"So what do you think those Na'vi girls are like in bed?" asked an RDA soldier, walking by.

Aw, for fucks sake, not this topic again

Sometimes the mercs would ask that to each other, like it was the Meaning of Life. The Militia on the other hand started to get really sick of hearing it.

"I don't know, and I don't care." Mac responded, annoyed by the derailment of his train of thought.
"Oh c'mon dude!" the other smiled behind his exo-mask. "You got to admit, they might be from the stone age, but they got the goods!"
"You really wouldn't want to try screwing one of them man..."
"Why not? You gay or something?"
"Two reasons. One: Those girls would probably crack your pelvis in two. And second, your pathetic little dick couldn't fit in one of-"

There was a long burst of gunfire, coming from the forest in front of them.

"What the fuck?" muttered the RDA man.

Mac's radio earpiece buzzed.
"Two-one, we're hearing gunshots in your sector. Did you shoot anything, over?"
"Negative Overlord. It came from the forest. I repeat. The gunshots came from inside the forest, over."

A small explosion thumped.

"And a grenade. I heard a grenade go off. I think there's something in there Overlord."

There was more gunfire, then another thump.

"Another grenade went off Overlord, please advise."
"Uh, roger that Two-one. Do you see anything?"
"Negative." He checked his image intensifier. "Got nothing on thermals. The bush is too thick."

There was silence for a long while. Then Mac swore to god he heard a short scream.

Then a machine gun burst opened up. It sounded a lot closer now.

"What the fuck is this shit man?" The merc shifted uncomfortably.

Something caught Mac's attention. He looked down to the right of the treeline. He saw a group of horsemen riding towards the gate.

"Check it out!" smirked Mac "Guess Tonight's the night you find out!" He fingered his earpiece. "Overlord, I see four riders, repeat, four riders, going at full steam, towards the gate."
"Copy that, auto-turrets are tracking them. Are they armed Two-one?"
"Unclear. They're-"

A bright green glow came from riders. Looking at them through his rifles scope, he could see a familiar figure, frantically waving a flare while sitting in front of big Na'vi.

"SHIT! Overlord! Private Noh is with them! Noh is alive and with them! Everyone cease fire! Cease Fire!"

Alex picked his face out of the dirt. Something had hit him in the head. It must have been one of those branches that Ar'kadi mentioned. He felt his helmet and was aware of the large crack running along it that he felt with his fingers. If he hadn't been wearing it, it would probably be his head that would be cracked open.

He got to his feet, taking a cautious look around. He saw the gate to the colony. It had opened by a crack, just by a fraction. He could see the Na'vi had stopped by what looked like a security detail.

Then he heard something, rustling off in the bushes. It was big. The blood in Alex's face drained.

Oh fuck...

He started to run. His exo-suit was giving him some extra power, but he wasn't sure he'd make it in time. He kept running.

He heard voices, talking at the gate.

"Alex, hurry the fuck up! It's coming!" Cried Noh's voice.

Just keep running Alex. Run on the feet God gave you.

The group faces started to change. They were looking at something, something that scared both the Na'vi and the humans shitless. The humans raised their weapons at his direction. Alex kept running.

Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck...

Voices started to panic.

"Close the gate! We can't let it inside!"

"NO! He can make it!"

"I can't get a clear shot, he's in the way!"

"Give him a chance! Give him a chance!"

Alex kept sprinting. He heard the monster behind him come towards him.

OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK... his mind screamed.

"Alex!" shouted a much older voice. "Drop to the fucking ground NOW!"

Alex dove to the ground, pissing his pants and cursing God for not giving him faster legs.

Armageddon.

All of the guns on the ground, plus the men on the battlements, not to mention the automated defense towers, opened fire on the Thanator. The militia and RDA soldiers opened up with everything from SCAR and CARB rifles, to incendiary grenade launchers. The real damage was done by the Auto turrets. Armed with magnetic gauss rifle tech, the 20 mm lead ball bearings slammed into the beast with huge force. Explosions from the grenade launcher rocked the land around it. The Thanator was literally torn apart in a volcano of fire, blood and gore.

When the gunfire finally stopped, nothing remained of the beast. Just a charred, bloody crater.

Alex slowly got to his feet. He looked at the others gathered silently at the gate, then at where the beast was. Then he looked at his soiled pants, turned to the silent group and said:

"I think I need to change my pants."

Not exactly a snappy catchphrase, but it summed both the human and the Na'vi feelings.