"Don't even think about it." Toni put her hand on Eve's shoulder and stopped her from launching herself forward. They both watched with anger and sadness in their dark eyes as Hetta was lifted from the ground and slung over the Predator's shoulder.
"He's taking her as a trophy." Eve shook with rage. Her teeth were bared and her sharp black nails dug into the bark of the tree they hid behind. "She might not be dead. We could-"
"We could get ourselves killed." Toni sniffled and wiped a tear from her cheek. "There's a river between us and that bastardo. He'd see and hear us coming before we'd have a hope in getting her body back. Shoot us like fish in the river." Eve still looked like she was frothing at the mouth and seconds away from not giving a damn about her life anyway. "Are you sure you can't sense Alice anymore?"
That snapped her out of her trance. Eve whimpered and turned to hide behind the tree and hold her creamy shoulders. Her skeletal tail coiled around her body and she wept.
"…n…no. which means she's unconscious, or dead."
"Well we don't know that she isn't just out cold." Antonia lowered to a squat and put her hands over Eve's pale ones on her shoulders. She dug deep past her own reservations and tried to inspire hope in the young hybrid. "We should look for-"
"If Alice was knocked out, she's had the same fate as Hetta. And you know it." Bitterness lined the hybrid's voice. Her messy raven hair was wild from running through the trees. As soon as she'd heard her sister's strife and plan in her mind, the pair had abandoned the stream they found to come to their aid. But when Eve had lost her connection with Alice, she lost her mind. She couldn't navigate her way back to their friends without her telepathic link with Alice. Eve ran desperately calling out for her sister, and no one answered. When they finally did find one of their friends…it was to watch her body being carried off like a damn prize. If Hetta was alive…it was not for long. The Predator walked into the forest on the far line of the river, and disappeared with a crackle.
"Damn it. Did you study the predators?"
"Why do you ask that?" Eve sniffled and wiped tears from her face with the back of her hand. "You know I'm half human half Xenomorph, right?"
"I know." Toni sighed, missing Emma and Hetta for moments just like this. "I just wondered if there was any chance that they'd be taking the others to a central location before killing them. A location we could find and ambush, or something."
"They hunt." Eve snarled. "They kill. They skin their prey, hang their bodies as a point of pride and bleed them out. Then they take their fucking spine and skull as a prize to ordain their fucking walls and ships. Oh, and of course they always win. It's why mother dearest was desperate to make me and Alice. To fight back." Her voice wobbled and she held her head, screwing her black eyes shut. "Oh Alice…this is all my fault."
"No sweetie it isn't." Toni lowered her rifle and pulled Eve into chest for a hug.
"It is!" she sobbed. "I suggested we split up. I should have stayed with her. I should have-"
"Four of them together didn't stand a chance. How would five or 6 have made a damn difference?" The sniper sighed and stroked Eve's hair, trying to sooth her. "It's just me and you now chica. Just me and you."
Eve's sniffling stopped and she slowly raised her head. She peered out over Toni's arm and exhaled a choppy breath.
"Hello Eve."
"…Toni…" she whispered, her ears wringing and her head buzzing.
"Yes chica?"
"…w-we're not alone."
Toni's whole body tensed. Those four words fizzed down her spine and sparked through her nerves. She darted her brown eyes down to the rifle by her feet, and licked her bottom lip nervously.
"…where?" she whispered to Eve's head. Toni pretended to stroke Eve's arms, picking off flakes of dirt.
"Straight…ahead…in the shadows…" Toni's heart was hammering in her chest. There was no way in hell she was losing Eve. Not after losing everyone else. She'd die first. "…he's…so loud…so…strong…h-help-can't-stop him-he-so loud." Eve was hyperventilating as Toni 'groomed' her way down to Eve's feet. The hybrid's breathing was getting choppier and chopper, and her tail twitched with fear.
"Eve."
"…nnno…n-noo…c-calling m-my name." Eve whimpered, clinging to Toni with one hand, and holding her head with the other.
"Now." Toni grabbed her riffle and released a lazy shot towards the bushes opposite them. However, her aim wasn't to plant a perfect shot, but get some distance between them and…whatever had Eve whimpering like a baby. That freaked her out more than anything. "GO NOW!" Toni ran beside Eve, who was on all fours, and she pulled a pistol from her belt. Not many rounds left in it, but she'd be damned if she let that thing get Eve. Normally Eve was more than capable of out running her, but the hybrid stumbled over her own hands and feet, whimpering and swaying.
"In my head! He's in my head!"
"Shit." Toni aimed her pistol behind her and couldn't see anything to shoot. "He's telepathic? Like you?"
"No-not like me." Eve fell to her side and screamed. "He's stronger!" her skeletal tail flailed around her and she yowled in pain. "Can't, can't fight him off. he's clawing his way into my mind!" her body wracked with pain, trembling on the floor.
"You fight him Eve!" Toni barked down at her friend. "You keep him out of your mind." She pulled her rifle up and knelt defensively next to her thrashing friend. "Because he isn't getting your body."
"Eeeeeeeeve."
"NO!" Eve screeched, thrashing her head in her hands back and forth. "You will NOT possess me!"
"That's the ticket chica. You tell that asshole." It was hard to spot the enemy over the tortured wails of her charge, and with a brain that was sleep, food and water deprived. Damn it though, Toni was determined that if this was her last stand, she was taking that fucker with her. "Come on. Where are you."
"THERE!" Eve screamed and pointed to their left. Toni moved without hesitation and fired a shot. "MISSED!" Toni didn't dare look down at he girl by her feet. No doubt she looked possessed, the way she hissed at the air, clawed at the ground and rolled her black eyes in pain. There were a few times Toni thought the girl's tail was going to slap her across the face it was swinging around so damn much.
"You show me where to shoot Eve. I'll get that bastard."
"Clever. You can sense where I am."
"STOP TALKING!" Eve screamed and scrambled on the floor to get on all fours. Her nose was bleeding, but she glared for all she was worth. "THERE!"
Toni turned and trusted her telepathic spotter. She fired, and a roar signalled that she'd hit her mark.
"Take that asshole." Toni loaded her next bullet. "Is he down Eve?" Toni felt her fingers twitching against the trigger and she stared down her sight. Any movement, and she'd squeeze hot lead into that bastard.
"No no no no no no no not him."
"What do you mean? What's not him? I thought I hit him." Eve was whimpering and laid on her back, staring up with tears slugging down her face. She was trembling and holding herself. "Shit. Don't you give up on me Eve. Don't you do it." Toni knew what a crumbling resolve looked like… "Eve!"
"She didn't hit me, did she Eve?"
"no…she didn't…hit you…" Toni tore her eye away from the sight and looked down at Eve. The way she was staring…transfixed… "…can't…fight…any…more...hurts…hurts too much…"
"Eve?" Toni reached down to touch Eve's clammy cheek. Her fingers didn't even connect. All the wind left her body as something hard collided with her gut, and with such a force, it lifted her body off the ground. She landed in a gasping heap, separated from her rifle, a goof two feet away from Eve. Blinking the world back into view Toni clawed at the ground to get to her feet. "Eve!" Toni tried to run back to her, but a monster jumped down from the treetops and landed on top of her. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Toni screamed. Whatever it was, it wasn't holy. At first she thought she was looking at an alien; a Xenomorph. But this fucker was much bigger, and humanoid. It turned to look at her, and she thought her heart was going to break through her ribs at the rate it hammered against her chest. As black as a nightmare. As large as a predator, and as terrifying as it got. On all fours it turned to look at her with one red and one green eye. Long black dreadlocks swung around his head as he turned to glare at Toni, and his mandibles spread wide. The monster didn't wear any armour. Just brown shorts.
"…run…" Toni dropped her eyes down to the floor, seeing Eve laid placidly beneath the beast. "…T…Toni…run."
"I'm not leaving you." She raised her fists. "Come on. I might not have my gun, but I still know how to bring the pain. Los hijo de puta."
"She is mine." In Queen's fucking English it spoke with a deep gravelly voice and a smirk across his mandibles. The fact it was capable of communicating with them, and still hunted her friends down, pissed her off more than if he'd been incapable of talking.
"Over my dead body." This was it. her last stand. With a battle cry she-
Again she was knocked on her ass. Her back collided with a tree and she coughed desperately to catch her breath. She'd assumed it was the monster before her that knocked her down last time, but this time she'd been watching him.
"Shit." That meant that-
Antonia ducked just in time to avoid a silver staff from crushing her face into the bark behind her. She groaned from her bruised ribs and staggered around the tree, trying to see her assailant and keep tall dark and sinister in her sights. Said monster had taken her distraction to scoop a totally dazed Eve into his arms like a bride. Somehow, the monster was even scarier when he stood upright like the other predators. Toni tried to run towards Eve, but she was knocked to the ground with a thick staff swiping a welt across her back. "Fuck. Eve!" Toni wheezed and clawed over to her friend.
She was too late.
The monster leapt up like he was bloody Spiderman and vanished into the treetops. "EVE!"
She'd failed. Toni couldn't even see where Eve had gone… "She…was mine to protect…"
Crackle crackle.
Toni glared for all she was worth, and spat the blood from her mouth to the floor. She turned, and finally looked upon her opponent. He dull silver metal armour. It was designed to be sharp looking, with a chevron pattern to the boots, thigh guards, torso and shoulder guards. His gauntlets were sharp towards the finger tips, and what looked like a small plasma gun sat on his shoulder. He held an extended silver combi stick in one hand, and extended duel wrist blades on the other.
So he's armed to the teeth, and I'm totally unarmed. What a fucking gentleman.
"You bastardo." Toni unzipped her jacket and shrugged it off. she craned her neck to work out the kinks, cracking it, and then she rolled her shoulders. "If you think I'm going down easy because you've separated me from my gun." She nodded towards the rifle at his armoured feet. "You have another thing coming. In fact." She smirked, her own blood on her lips. "I think I like the look of your weapons. I'll just take one of yours."
He clattered and his shoulders bounced. Obviously he found her amusing. "You just killed my friend. The last friend I had. I now have nothing to lose. So if this is my final hurrah? You're going down with me, pendejo."
Clunk.
He dropped the staff. "…huh?"
Fwip.
He withdrew his duel blades.
Vvt.
The plasma gun lowered to his shoulder and turned off.
Thud, thud, thud. Toni watched, half mesmerised, half confused as hell as the creature before her disarmed and removed his armour. Apparently, he intended to be as unarmed as she was. He kept discarding his attire until he was down to a black body mesh and a dark green wrap around skirt. She could now see that his skin was the colour of clay, with cream skin over his stomach and neck. His dreadlocks were mahogany in colour and long, with golden bolts here and there. She clocked a thin slice on the outside of his left hip, showing her bullet earlier had in fact grazed him.
At least I hit the fucker.
Pop. Hiss. Thud.
As his mask hit the jungle floor, Toni gulped. It occurred to her that the monster she saw carting off Eve clearly belonged to the same species as this predator. The mandibles were a dead giveaway, as well as the arrogance of his eyes. Although this predator had light brown eyes. "Well I like my odds better now. But could you put the mask back on? I don't what this." She drew a circle with her hand, indicating his face. "To be the last thing I see. Thanks." He just chuckled at her again, his shoulders bouncing. It was like she was channeling Bonnie. That was definitely something she'd say…with a lot more swearing.
Her loss prickled at her eyes, and she scowled once more. The strangeness of this creature that murdered her friends wasn't enough to put aside the danger to her life, or her need for revenge. "Come on. Let's go."
Apparently he felt the same way. The predator roared and charged forward.
Larger opponent. Use his weight to throw him. Avoid his fists, hit low. Foul if I have to. I just need to blind side him and grab a weapon. Or a stone to beat his fucking skull in. that'll do.
He swung a fist round for her face. Toni ignored her extreme fatigue and forced herself to duck below it. She jabbed forward getting a few punches on his bloody hard abdomen, and regretted it. Not only did he not even flinch, she was within arm's reach. He brought both fists down on her shoulder and sent her screaming to her knees. Damn that hurt. She seethed, running on the fumes of her adrenaline and rage alone. She leaned forward and bit his thigh hard, even chewing a few times before he threw himself away from her.
From the sound he realised, that had hurt. Huh, he's fleshy there. He staggered back and held his inner thigh, snarling at her in shock. Toni snickered and scrambled back to get to her feet. She wiped her hand over her mouth, and caught a flash of green on her forearm, before she had to focus on her enemy. Her bite was superficial a wound at best, but the point was made. Toni was not to be underestimated. She would fight dirty if her life depended on it. which of course...it did..."Come on you pussy. Next time I'll aim a little higher, and to the center." She blew him a bloody kiss, her chin smeared with his green blood. He seemed to just cackle, and walked on his injured leg like it was nothing.
Ok. need to stay out of arm's reach. Need a weapon. He's keeping me away from his 'weapon's cache'. Can't risk making a run for it. my rifle is there too.
She scanned her tired brown eyes around her to see what the forest had to offer. Not much, but she spied a rock to her right. if I can get my hands on that rock, and then avoid his fists long enough, I could try to bash his head in.
She didn't have much time to execute her plan. He was charging for her before she could blink. So she dropped and rolled out of his reach and pulled the rock from the ground with numb fingers. she swung around as he came up behind her and watched the stone come so very close to it's target.
Alas, she just wasn't fast enough. He caught her wrist and squeezed it so tight, she couldn't hold on to it. "MOTHER FUCKER." that hurts. She put her other hand on the wrist that held hers, and used his own body as a weight support to swing her leg up and book him right across the face. Slightly dazed by her unexpected flexibility, he released her burning wrist, and staggered back. Toni screamed, launching forward to capitalise. Before she could mount him to rain her fists down on his face, he grabbed her tank top and pulled her down to her back. The thud on the floor reverberated through the deep bruising of her back and ribs, making her gasp for air and spatter more of her own blood onto her lips. She thrashed for freedom, but by the time she got over being winded…it was too late. He had both her hands pinned above her head and straddled her waist. She screamed and thrashed as much as she could, but then the futility of her situation dawned on her, and she stopped. With all the hate she could muster through her busted lip and throbbing body she seethed up at him. "Well? Don't toy with me. Kill me or get off so I can kill you." he chuckled, those mandibles clicking together with glee as he leaned over her. His free hand reached for her face, and she closed her eyes. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of watching her fight off death.
After all, he'd won. She had nothing to live for anymore. All her friends were dead…and now she was going to join them.