Sophie continued to run through the cathedral of stone. She was going to try going through the main entrance of Noland's cave, though she was wondering just how long the Predator was going to let her run. It could easily catch up and stop her anytime it wanted. She stopped midway down a hallway.
"Shit." Sophie cursed under her breath. She must've taken a wrong turn. It was hard not to get lost in a place you knew nothing about. All alone in the dark.
She was dead now. No cover. No exit. End of the line for her.
She cast about frantically, searching for options and finding none. Sophie heard the sound of water sloshing in the distance, drawing near. It was impossible to see where the creature was. It had its invisibility cloak on and Sophie couldn't spot the fluctuations in the light if there was none.
Sophie knew she was going to die, only this time she was more accepting of it. It gave her more clarity and closure. Wear it like armor and it can't hurt you anymore, Sophie reminded herself. Though that wouldn't be enough to stop Kvar'thwei and his other two buddies from stabbing her with their wrist blades. The story might've ended for her, but Sophie prayed to God, if there was one, that the little team she had been a part of survived. Criminals or not.
Its footsteps drew closer, only about a foot away from her. Fuck, she forgot how large these monsters were. Then, it took a step directly in front of her. Sophie didn't flinch once, staring right through its cloak, at the end of the corridor. "Can't say it's been a pleasure." Sophie admitted. "But, four years is a long time to hold a grudge over something you started, don't you think?"
Her predator suddenly uncloaked himself. She was staring into its mud green, muscled chest motted with black spots. Sophie stepped back with confusion. This Predator wasn't Kvar'thwei, the one that had hunted her all those years ago. Its mask was black with two curved tusks jutting out from it. Plus, had little armor, instead having two pieces of leather strapped across its ripped chest, holding its black armored pants up like a belt, making it look more feral looking than their species already were.
But, this wasn't Kvar'thwei. This was one of the other Predators.
Somehow, Sophie felt a little relieved. Only just a little. She honestly didn't expect to die to a foreign Predator. She was certain that Kvar'thwei wanted her all to himself.
Then again, this Predator probably had the same idea too. All that sudden relief was all gone. Now, she was terrified. What was this Predator going to do to her?
It simply tilted its head to the side, reminscent of a cat. Some of its leathery, tube-like hair spilled to the side. In a milisecond, the Predator snapped a claw around her neck, lefting her more than two feet into the air. Sophie choked, grasping for breathe and solace from the pain.
He dropped her and she tried to make a run for it, no matter how futile it was. The Predator grabbed her back by the hood of her pink sweater-before ripping the back of it in half with both hands. Sophie tried to scramble to her feet only to get kicked down. She felt like she had been kicked by a horse right in the stomach.
Pulling off the rest of her jacket, his claws snagged her short sleeved shirt, exposing her left shoulder and scars as well as part of her bra. It didn't take long for Sophie to gather what this creature wanted to do to her. To her, that was more horrific than being impaled by its blades.
Sophie preferred that to being raped any day.
"No, no!" Sophie cried out. "STOP!"
He strode up to her, growling, and straddled her from underneath him, effectively pinning her down. Sophie used her free arms to smack him repeatedly on the chest on shoulders before starting to scream. Just like the ones that Kvar'thwei had recorded. She was sure this Predator would record this too. The Predator didn't seem bothered by her flailing around and hitting him. It probably felt like a baby trying to injure him. Sophie gritted her teeth in anger and hissed at him.
It was useless, but she wasn't going down without a fight, no matter what was going to happen next. Just as the Predator was preparing to rape her, it suddenly glanced up to be hit with a shotgun slug right in the shoulder. He let out a roar of pain and rage. Taking advantage of the few seconds of being free, Sophie quickly scrambled towards her feet and towards the end off the corridor-where Nikolai stood with a shotgun.
She couldn't help but through her arms over his shoulders and quickly hug him, despite the precarious situation they were in. What was going to happen to her only mere seconds earlier.
"Thank you," she breathed, barely a whisper. Her blue eyes were wide with trauma. "Fucking thank you, Nik."
Those were the only real words that came to her head after that. Nikolai nodded, his breath quickened. "We can't just forget you, kid." He told her with a slight smile.
Her heart broke in half right there. Though the moment was interrupted by a low, rumbling noise. The now extremely pissed off Predator had been denied his rape and kill. He stood up albeit with its bright green blood trickling down the shoulder. Nikolai was back in soldier mode, stoic faced and all.
The strange looking device on its shoulder-which shot lasers-aimed itself at Nikolai and Sophie. Before she could react, with a strong arm, Nikolai had shoved her to the side while he took the full blow of the plasma blast. He collapsed to the ground, his eyes squinted with pain. There was a large scorch mark running from his back to his front chest.
Sophie grabbed his muscled arm in an attempt to lift him up. Nikolai simply shook his head, before revealing what was hidden in his military vest. They made eye contact. As if they could read each others minds, Sophie blinked with a few stray tears rolling down her cheek. His life for hers. She resumed running down the corridor that led back to the man hole.
Nikolai remained, propped himself up against the wall. Clutching his chest, he waited as the enraged Predator approached him. With a sharp snap, the long wristblade extended, gleaming in the low light. The Predator drove it into Nikolai's mid-section, who merely let out a grunt at being mortally wounded. The Predator lifted the big man off the ground like a scewered piece of steak. Nikolai's throat tightened, as if he were holding back a scream. Sweat pouring down his face and body like rain. The Predator studied him for a moment, waiting for him to cry out. To beg for mercy.
All he got was Nikolai gargling over his own blood, saying something in Russian to the creature. "Vy...odin...nekrasivo...mat'...zasranets."
Click! The Predator's eyes snapped down to Nikolai's chest, where six grenades were packed. And he had just pulled the safeties out. Nikolai started to laugh as if he were afflicted her insanity. This was one trophy the Predator wouldn't get.
And Nikolai found that to be hilarious.
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The entire explosion rang loudly through Sophie's ear drums, just like Nikolai's rampant laughter did until it was cut short by said explosion. The ground from which she ran on shook violently like an earthquake, despite how jumbled it was, Sophie didn't stop running. The rocks shifted, chunks dislodging, starting to fall onto the ground. A large rock hit Sophie on the back who was forced to ignore it. She reached the entrance from which the explosion was over.
"Sophie?" the voice of Isabelle asked. "Nikolai...he?..."
She turned around, seeing all of the others. Smoldering, singed, but alive. Sophie let out an exhausted breath. No one said anything after that. They all knew.
Nikolai killed the Predator at the cost of his own life. For Sophie and for the rest of the team. "He went out with a bang." she answered in a serious tone of voice. Royce lightly pushed Sophie away from the entrance of Noland's hideout. "Let's keep moving then," he ordered as if he hadn't agreed to abandon Sophie. It greatly angered Isabelle, but Sophie didn't really care. She knew she was a goner when that thing grabbed her. Course she had no fucking idea that the thing planned to rape her or that Nikolai would sacrifice his life for her.
They all ran across a barren plateau, which stretched across the land like an island of stone, surrounded by jungle on all sides. Stans stood up, his eyes almost filled in disbelief. He then let out a loud cheer, jumping up and smacking the air with his fist. "We killed it!" The realization dawned on him. "We fucking killed it!"
He held up both middle fingers in the direction of the hideout where the Predator was blown up. "Fuck you, you ugly alien Bob Marley piece of shit!" Stans shouted for the whole jungle to hear. "How do you like us now, motherfucker?! Huh?! Huh?! Wooooooo! Who's your Daddy now, motherfucker?!"
The anger and sorrow which brewed inside of Sophie snapped. She stood up to the criminal in orange. "Nikolai is dead! He sacrificed his life to save all of us! Stop prancing around like an idiot!" Sophie yelled in his face, before glowering at him. "There's still too more of them out there!"
"Oh, suck my dick!" Stans snorted, jumping off a large rock like an wild child. "We can take 'em! I'll gut 'em with my lil' wee knife and wee cock!"
He grabbed his crotch like he was Michael Jackson.
By the time Sophie saw it, it was too late. A large purple plasma blast came out of nowhere, nailing Stans right in the back, blowing him out of sight. Sophie's eyes widened in horror once the Predator uncloaked itself before them.
It was Kvar'thwei, unveiled in his full glory.
There he was.
The monster that brutally attacked her four years ago. And continued to do so in her nightmares ever since, standing before them. Letting them drink in his even more dark and gruesome appearance.
Kvar'thwei wore heavy jet black armor, enveloping his hulking frame like the Grim Reaper's shroud. Desiccated remains of his victims hung around his neck and belt. A triple headed plasma caster rested on its mount. Cruelly cured blades at the elbows, spikes on shoulders, knees and heels. There were gold rings in his leathery dreadlocks. Kvar'thwei looked larger and even more terrifying than the last time Sophie encountered him. The notable thing about him was that there was a strange shaped jaw bone on his mask.
What fucking steroid oats were the Predators feeding him? He was huge!
There was that same chilling rattle that Sophie remembered. The laser sight extended, to Royce's forehead. Was it going to kill all of her crew members first before finally killing her?
Royce simply closed his eyes as the plasma caster began spinning, charging up for an attack. He was ready and showed no sign of fear. Kvar'thwei was nothing fancy to Royce. He would give nothing to the monstrosity before him.
Out of nowhere, Stans jumped onto Kvar'thwei's back—not as dead as they all thought he was—repeatedly plunging his shiv into the thing's neck. "Back from the dead, motherfucker!" Stans shouted, along with a joyous laugh. "Think your shitty laser was enough to get me? Walter Stans?!"
That caught Kvar'thwei off guard, who was no longer able to shoot Royce or the others. As the Predator tried to pry Stans off of his back, Sophie saw underneath his scorched, bleeding back was Noland's alien armor—a hole through the armored plate, but enough to save his life. Stans clung to Kvar'thwei like a rottweiler; stabbing, punching, slashing, and shouting at the Predator with glee. Now they all finally saw why he was chosen.
He was a fucking animal.
"Go!" Stans yelled at them. "GO!"
Immediately, they ran for the hills, quite literally. The roar of Kvar'thwei quickly overshadowed Stans's—throwing the criminal off of his back. Stans merely laughed like the crazed fuck that he was. Ashe flying into his mouth from the brutal wind. Bleeding and dying, Stans would spit on the Predator with his last dying breath. "Oh, come on," Stans taunted with a chuckle. "That all you got? I eat that for breakfast!"
Kvar'thwei couldn't take anymore of this ooman's arrogance. He drove his single longsword wristblade into the back of Stans—causing him to gasp with surprise—ripping out his spine all the way to the skull. Kvar'thwei loomed over holding the bloody spinal cord and skull still attached. He leveled his heavy gaze on the jungle, searching for his prey. Dachande shimmered beside him, having discovered that his brother died in the explosion. He did not mourn his fallen brother. Only reveled with joy that his weakness was expunged from their species.
Kvar'thwei bellowed into the dark sky. It was the cry of a hunter. Stirring fear in the heart of his prey.
And then the two creatures moved in fast, efficient strides, heading after their prey, fading to invisibility.
Author's note: Basically, what Nikolai was saying was "You're one ugly motherfucker" in Russian. I thought that was a clever way to pay homage to the original. However, Predators did take too many things from Predator, which is why it isn't the greatest Predator film that it could've been. It's too much like the original rather than its own flavor of bad ass. Still, I like the film. Obviously :p