Be advised, I claim no right to ideas/characters/ ect contained herein. I do not claim responsibility for Predator or any affiliated licensed ideas.
For those of you who have been waiting so patiently for more Predator storyline!
Rated M.
OoOoOo
It is a stray thought. One that happens only when the mind has wandered too far from true purpose and seeks only to continue to function.
'I don't like this.' She thinks without a single speck of emotion past the child-like honesty of it. It is a thought that honestly shouldn't stand out at all. Not in the slightest. Her features momentarily reflect her confusion as she listens to the sounds of what could only be beasts or monsters around her. Vaugely, she ponders if she should even give them that title. Somehow it feels like she is giving them power when she gives them such a description.
She hates that idea. Despises the thought of them having even more power over her. Even though a night has not come since she lost Joan, that she has not been dipped in nightmares saturated with human blood and loss.
Kathy hardly moves as the sensation of a thousand insects crawls across her skin. They are not present. Their inky-black eyes and tiny feet combined with the sensation of movement are not real. But her skin continues to react as if there is something there. She wants to dig her nails into her skin and scratch. But...but...
Its not real.
Without knowing the full measure of what she is facing, Kathy clings to that thought. It provides no comfort, but somehow she doesn't need 'comfort', no; that is a lie. Kathy wants to delve into the self-delusion that there is some sort of comfort to be found. But that's...
That's just not possible.
It's...not.
There's a lingering note of hopelessness in her soul. Kathy breathes deeply, trying in vain to stop the aching sensation of dreams of the future against her current reality. The uncertainty gnaws at her stomach, but it does not bother her nearly as much as the sensation of her skin crawling. They make her sick. The Predators. Or maybe its all in her head. She'd like to say they are just that poisonous.
After all, in her eyes, they destroyed everything they touched.
She'd seen the skulls. Trophies. That is what she had been. A trophy. Some sort of sick and twisted prize for these bastards. Her nose itches and it is the tell-tale sign that she is close to crying. Her eyes sting as she blinks back the moisture. She buries the thoughts, the sadness, and the anger. Kathy has to bury them. This is neither the place nor time to express her human rage and bone-deep sorrow.
Her gaze flickers at the peripheral movement at her right. The largest Predator clicks, each sound jarring and aggravating all at once. Kathy knows that they are talking. Their form of speech, but she is the lone human in the room. Soft and frail. Tiny against the hulking aliens, each more intimidating than the last.
However, not all is lost. Gk'yaun is here. She knows that. Something inside her solidifies against the fear and the pain. The discomfort is momentarily muted by his presence. At least she wasn't entirely alone. Even if he's not human, he's... important to her.
She swallows, a heavy sensation of an emotional weight in her stomach. Some part of her feels as if she's turned her back on her species as a whole by accepting him. Yet, another part of her honestly doesn't know how to exist without him. She remembers Deuub. It's impossible not to, yet she can almost tangibly feel herself let the hellish memories of him go.
It doesn't matter. Nothing in her small and confined world truly makes sense anyway. Though, she desperately searches for the meaning behind it all. There is a crisis of her faith at the moment. Kathy simply... doesn't understand how any of this could have happened. Why she was even surrounded by all of these creatures.
But she still believes. Has to believe that this cannot be all that there is. She's not a trophy, or a pet, or a victim. No. She's just Kathy. And, God knows that she is ill-prepared for all of this. Who ever could be? She blinks again, trying to stop the flood of tears that is threatening to spill, as she tries to bring that sense of numbness back to the forefront.
Except, that instead of numbness, a perverse sense of mirth bubbles forth. Incredulity hits like a tidal wave, and Kathy takes a moment to really process what is happening.
She is literally surrounded by things that could snap her like a freaking toothpick, as they chitter like crickets, and not even entirely certain that she's even in the same galaxy anymore. And, strangely, she finds it highly amusing. She's nearly falling apart at the start and end of every conceivable 'day' since that announcement from the President that seems like it was through someone else's eyes; but she's still clinging to some half-formed hope.
She has no intention of letting go of that hope. So it strikes her as funny that everything she's ever cared for was brought to an end by creatures that look like something out of an H.P. Lovecraft novel.
A soft snort, the ghost of a laugh escapes before Kathy can stop herself.
Horror wells inside her as she realizes that every head twists in her general direction. She can see it on the edge of her vision. Gk'yaun never pauses, in his popping clicks, but she can feel the weight of his gaze on her and it reassures her.
And, that too, is somehow oddly out of place for her highly unusual situation.
OoOoOo
In all his many cycles, Thwei-dha held the vast curiosity of several of his fellow warriors combined. Though he was as cunning and calculating as he was vicious on the battle field, he still thought that much could be learned through simple observation. Many things were easily reveled if one were patient enough. Though tests of skill were still highly sought after and hunts were to be glorified as a warrior pitted against every odd possible.
Yet, the ooman Kathy seemed so soft compared to those of her kind he had held the honor of hunting in one on one combat. He watched through his mask, the filters reading her every movement and physical response, as the female refused to be out of the presence of his former hunt-brother. Her hormone levels indicated she was under duress. He had seen it prior in his Ooman prey.
Yet, he did observe that she calmed considerably when Gk'yaun was permitted to stay. Though his fate was still uncertain until the Matriarch declared if his head was to remain atop his shoulders or to be dedicated to Cenatu. For Thwei-dha, as a blooded warrior of high standing and honor he understood both outcomes. If Gk'yaun were permitted to atone for his disgraceful act of refusing servitude to those that were his better due to his injury, then he would be pleased to honor his quest.
If Gk'yaun were to be beheaded for his lack of honor, and his status as a bad blood, then Thwei-dha would take upon his own honor the task of restoring to the Ooman Kathy what had been so dishonorably stolen. It would be something worthy of his bloodline and their clan, to see that the wrong was washed clean with the blood of those that had caused the harm.
But, as prey was opt to do, The Ooman seemed to sense his gaze upon her. The female turned more slightly toward him, and he noted that she glanced at him quickly and then away. Once, and then twice. He gave her the Ooman greeting he had witnessed on her planet many cycles ago. The overly wide Ooman eyes narrowed briefly before the female stilled. Thwei-dha read the spike in her vital signs. He felt a thrum of curiosity at her actions. The Ooman appeared, under his observation, to have inclinations toward mating with his former hunt brother.
Yet, the female did not seem to trust Thwei-dha in the slightest.
He came to the conclusion that the female was an intelligent Ooman, and he would observe her more closely.
OoOoOo
Gk'yaun was not blind to the actions of the Ooman he had sworn to protect with his life. All of his abilities and experience were at her disposal. He would give all that his battered body could muster and more to return what had been taken from her. Though she had committed no crime. He also was aware that her vital readings had spiked and her Ooman hormones were flooding her system causing a stress-reaction.
Though he was not aware of any actual threat to her person.
However, he pulled his attention back to the Matriarch who outlined what was to become of him. Gk'yaun tipped his head forward as he was declared resolved of his bad blood title, but could not regain any former honor or status until he completed his oath to the Ooman Kathy. The warrior Deuub had requested to compensate for her stay with their clan to further provide for her.
Gk'yaun respectfully declined such an offer. It would cause further harm to the Ooman to be in the presence of the one that had held a hand in her unlawful capture and captivity.
OoOoOo
Kathy tried her hardest not to twitch.
Out of the periphery of her gaze, she caught sight of the Predator that Gk'yaun called his 'former hunt brother'. It took everything in her will not to visibly react at the sensation of his heavy stare upon her. No. No, she had to be imagining such a thing. Yet, before she could stop herself, Kathy glanced over once more.
She watched as he widened his mandibles at her. Was it a threat? Was he saying she looked tasty and he wanted to eat her? Had she inadvertently challenged him? Horror clutched at her then. Had she just gotten Gk'yaun into trouble? Would he have to fight the other predator? Oh lord.
A human sense of anger rose to the forefront of her thoughts. A protective want to keep Gk'yaun from harm, though there was a laughably little that she could do. Kathy trembled at the realization that she had gone past admitting needing all that Gk'yaun provided -to include her basic survival and the only chance she had to see the reserve planet-.
Her stomach clenched painfully at the understanding that she had fromed some sort of Stolckholm like bond with Gk'yaun. Except that he hadn't held her captive. Was there some sort of savior complex bonding? Kathy couldn't remember. Her last episodes of network television with complicated plots had been...
A while ago.
It occurred to her like a bolt of lightening striking, that she had no true and defined sense of time. Or how much time had passed. Had it been weeks?
Months?
Was she past a year now?
The sensation of skin crawling returned with a vengeance. She had no concept of time with the changing worlds, and the lack of day and night in space. She had nothing, except the hope she clung to and Gk'yaun.
Who had some creepy friend or hunt brother... or whatever he was to Gk'yaun now.