Thank you all for your reviews! I had several requests to update this story. I am sorry that it took so long! Shorter chapter. This author does not condone violence, rape, use of force, or manipulation/abuse.

I own nothing. This is to include Predator or any owned aspects.

OoOoOo

She made it as far as watching Gk'yaun exit the ship, and being able to go within three feet of accomplishing the task herself.

'Don't panic.'

Kathy took a deep breath and held it until her lungs ached. They burned and she saw bits of bright flashes of color on the edges of her vision. She shivered as she released the breath, terrified beyond all understanding about actually stepping off of the ship.

Gk'yaun was watching her, mutely, as she stood at the opened ship entrance. She had convinced herself that it was time to show human courage, but she could not scrounge any of it up at this moment. She trembled in place, her eyes wide and frightened as she focused her gaze on the Predator that had come to mean more for the sake of protection than the physical manifestations of evil she envisioned his ilk as.

She wanted to go outside. Honest to goodness, she truly did. It wasn't that she didn't trust Gk'yaun. She did. Mostly. Well, she didn't exactly have a choice. It was literally him or some form of silent, agonizing, and isolated death.

Her muscles jumped and twitched in her legs, but she remained as a living statue, fighting to control each breath. The heavy weight of sheer panic was threatening to crush her chest with each claimed drawing of air into her burning lungs.

'Do not panic.' She reminded herself with what little dignity she could muster in the face of such a fright. Her fingers flexed, and clenched at her sides and her mouth went dry as she continued to stare at the only other sentient being on the planet, that she was aware of, which did nothing to soothe her highly frazzled nerves.

Kathy just wanted to go home, but she was beginning to remind herself not to remember home. It was only making matters worse. She clung to the hope that Earth instilled into her, but at the same time she was forced to recoil in horror at the memory of Nirmala informing her of...

No, it was best not to think such things.

Right now, she needed to keep her mind from sending her body fleeing back into the area she claimed as her 'room'. She had desperately wanted to leave. Imagined it a thousand times, subconsciously and even in her dreams, but now, when faced with the reality of possibly setting a single foot off of the ship; she was paralyzed with tangible fear.

Gk'yaun said nothing, and she wondered briefly how he could be so patient when she was growing increasingly anxious and furious with herself. She should be better than this. She should be able to take one damn step...

But...

'It's so hard.' She internally thought in a broken manner. Something inside of her was forever changed and she could feel it, but not fully comprehend it. Her eyes teared up, but she fought them back down. Kathy berated herself in her mind. It was unjustified, and objectively she understood that, but it did not comfort her in the slightest emotionally.

She had been getting better, but as she stared at the translucent flowers that glistened with what resembled some soft green nectar; she was struck by the realization that this situation was not something she could feel anything but fear toward. Her throat constricted painfully, as a lump formed. Kathy clenched her teeth tightly, nearly cracking a molar, as she fought to control the emotion threatening to overwhelm her. The sadness, the bitterness, the anger, and finally humiliation.

It angered her that she couldn't even properly blame those responsible for her pathetic condition. They were... God knows where... somewhere in the vast reaches fo space. Even if they were right in front of her, she could never hope to ever...

A defeated half-sob escaped her throat.

"I...I-I'm," she said with a tremor in her voice. "coming. I-I'll b-be rig-ght there."

No weakness. Their kind hunted the weak. Hell, who was she kidding? The Predators hunted everything. they destroyed everything! Her shaking slowly stopped as she gave into the indulgence of blind anger. However, that comfort was stolen easily by the gentle voice that still remained in her thoughts that prompted survival above all else.

Survival meant going forward. Survival meant continuing on. For her and her species. She had to do it. There was no chance to back slide now. Her diaphragm contracted sharply and she began to hiccup as she took another ragged breath.

'Okay. Okay. Just one. It just starts with one step. Just one... little...step.'

It took a strength of will that was nearly unimaginable to slide her left foot forward six inches. Six meagerly, and ridiculously small in the scope of things... inches.

Her eyes locked on Gk'yaun's scarred and disjointed mandible as she swallowed back the lump in her throat. It was no longer comprised of deep sadness and longing for a place that no longer existed. Unfortunately it was no composed of bile as she swallowed back the sour taste of stomach acid. The spots in front of her vision danced brightly again as she vaguely realized she was forgetting to breathe again.

She licked her chapped and dried lips with a sluggish tongue that felt as if it were comprised of sand paper.

"A-almost there," she said as she forced the lingering notes of terror out of her voice.

Six inches down.

Kathy shuffled her right foot forward. Eight inches this time. She blinked quickly and willed her hands to un-fist. Part of her, nearly forgotten in her own thoughts, wondered if the sunlight on this planet lasted a while because she was going about as fast as molasses in the dead of winter.

Gk'yaun clicked something, the familiar popping sound he made gave an odd feeling of reassurance. However, he continued to stare at her unblinkingly. She could feel it. As if this wasn't humiliating enough for her, but it wasn't truly that. It was more the weight of his stare on her left her feeling more confused and less like she could handle going out-fucking-side.

It was only a few measly steps. No one was going to use her as bait. No one was going to harm her. This was still a planet she did not know. Kathy attempted not to think about how many light years they might have traveled, if his kind even called it light-years, and what the hell was she supposed to do once she actually set foot on the soil?

Her skin felt as if it were tightening over all of her body. The tingling sensation of prickling fear that ran along her skin were things she was desperately attempting to ignore.

Gk'yaun wouldn't do to her what Deuub had done. Right? Yes, she had to trust that. Because she did trust this Predator. Tears gathered in the corner of her eyes, but she still kept them in check.

He wouldn't...

He...

The weight, or perhaps simply the feeling of something running along the sensitive hairs of her arm caused Kathy to look down. Her features twisted into something akin to gut-wrenching terror as her mind registered a multi-legged creature on her.

The frightened woman released a screech loud enough to cause Gk'yaun to tense as she suddenly leapt a good two feet in the air and started frantically swatting at her arm.

"Ah!" She screamed as she started moving in a circle, slapping at the bug-looking thing that actually resembled an avian animal. It had scales and feathers, or something remarkable like feathers from what she could see as she dropped to her knees. In her state of reactionary thinking, she began slamming her arm over and over onto the metal flooring of what precious bit of the ship remained between her and the alien soil.

"Fucking hell!" She bellowed as she did not even register pain. "You god-damned little troglodyte! Get the hell off of me!"

Her skin felt wet, and she briefly entertained the idea that the thing was biting her. Was she going to lose her arm? Oh no. This was just like that scene in the movie 'Evolution'. This thing was not allowed to try and come out her-

The internal ramblings she had were abruptly stopped by Gk'yaun's loud chittering. Her whole body seemed to seize at the sound of it. Perhaps the memories still wound around her thoughts like a poisonous snake, ready to strike at any moment.

"It is dead," he informed her, not having moved from his position.

Kathy dimly understood that her self-proclaimed 'protector' had not attempted to save her life. Why in blazes had he not attempted to help her? She narrowed her eyes at him, her anger simmering to the surface even as her other facial features remained blank. The bug and bird cross-hybrid, though small, had been smashed into a fine paste.

A fine... violently green... paste.

She felt a little more sick to her stomach. Why, dear lord, was it green? She opened her mouth, intending to ask Gk'yaun when she heard a strange sound emanating from him. Her eyes landed on his mandibles and they flared, before closing.

The deep and nearly warbling tones of him...

Laughing?

She felt color stain her cheeks as a flood of emotion over took her. He was laughing? Predators, no Yaujta, could do that? Laugh? The icy feeling of fear from before, the tingling feeling of adrenaline nearly vanished as she continued to kneel and listen to the previously unknown sound.

A feeling, warmer than the others, slowly uncoiled in her chest. Like a snare that was lying in wait, patiently passing time until it caught her. Kathy's blush only deepened as she found the sound nearly pleasant.

What the hell was wrong with her? She was old enough to recognize the human emotion that was rising to the surface. Her lips parte din surprise, shock, and admitted horror. The stark reality of the situation crashed over her with the unforgiving force of a tidal wave.

She was growing more attached to the only Predator that had shown her any form of honor. Kathy might have taken a moment to process such staggering possibility, had it not been for the cousins, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and possibly parents of the creature she'd killed.

They burst from the strange trees like a plague of biblical proportion and her parted lips formed a silent slack-jawed impression.

"I think they like you," Gk'yaun commented with a series of pops as the warbling in his tone deepened.

Kathy seized up at the sight, her heart plummeted to the soles of her feet.

"They are harmless," He told her, as she barely registered him moving closer toward her. Had she been in full possession of intelligent thought, and not blind panic, Kathy might have believed him.

Or argued.

Likely the arguing, combined with even more screaming and several very creative curses upon this planet. However, baser instinct reared its head and Kathy was on her feet in nearly the blink of an eye. Her blood was thrumming in her veins, her sight had turned to tunnel vision as she pushed off the balls of her feet.

Kathy's body moved her closer to the only thing her brain registered as any form of viable protection. She latched onto Gk'yaun and buried her face against his chest, trying to shield her body from more of the creatures she hoped to never see again. She shook against him and closed her eyes tightly as she fought to keep herself from devolving into blind panic.

The human was so caught up in her turmoil, that she failed to notice that Gk'yaun had ceased laughing. His dark and predatory eyes stared at her, without giving a hint as to what he was thinking. The large alien merely clicked his mandibles once, as if in contemplation.