Chapter 46

Disclaimer: I do not own Alien/Predator series or any characters and may not follow all customs and cultures found in Alien/Predator movies.

The pain was unbearable. The hot burn from her hip mixed with the sudden blanket of coldness created by the sweat. The darkness was inescapable as A'stea wandered. Her mind was scrambled, trying to piece together the events before ending up here. She remembers trying to stop Kaail from making a huge mistake. To think he would listen . . . It was harsh to say he was nothing more than an Amengi but she saw it as it is. But now . . . she had no idea where she was.

"Hello?" She called but all she received was her echoes. She didn't like this one bit. Despite the mixed feelings of pain, the loneliness here was far worse.

But then, she saw something in the distance. A light? Freedom? As much as she wanted to run, her legs barely moved an inch. Then, she heard a voice.

Hold on, A'stea.

She stopped. Was that Kaail's voice? Although angry, she was delighted to hear him. She tried to call out but in shock, she couldn't. When she reached for her neck, she felt a hot liquid pool and brought it back to see it was her blood. What the pauk!?

Everything around her began to swirl, even though it was impossible since it was dark but she felt it. Then the screams began to echo in her ears. It screeched, clawed into her ears like a bug burrowing inside. And then . . . she saw herself in the middle of a pile of bodies. The eyes of the dead Hish looking at her, cold and empty.

Why? Why did he believe you would set up free?

Her heart races as she panics, thrashing around frantically . . . anything to stop this . . . anything to get away.

Enough! This hurts! Please, stop!

Despite no use, she opens her mouth and screams . . . with the last part calling for Kaail.

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S'aha and D'alg worked around the clock, taking care of A'stea, and monitoring her health. So far, the fever was getting worse despite the medicine keeping the poison away. They had to change the bedsheets several times when they were completely soaked in sweat. They allowed Dakha to lay next to her, seeing that it was helping a little as the pup began to purr in his sleep.

"How is she?"

Fi'ka comes into the room, looking down at her friend slowly dying. She bit her mandible to keep herself calm. There was no use spitting out every profanity she could muster.

S'aha shook her head. "Nothing good. She hasn't regained consciousness and her body is starting to shut down. It appears that the poison is spreading faster than expected."

"How's the antidote coming?" She turns to D'alg as he worked on several chemicals on a nearby desk, still wary of him but so far he hasn't done anything to think otherwise. Still, it was a force of habit in all of the Hish here to fear one that is one of the enemies despite acting better. And somewhat too friendly with S'aha. Neither she nor anyone else knew they were connected. But then again, it wasn't too far fetched.

"I'd made adjustments to the volume of chemicals needed to make the antidote but without the Z'int, it's pretty useless. It's a waiting game now." D'alg saw the despair in Fi'ka's eyes.

"Don't worry."

Fi'ka lifted her head in shock as D'alg smiled. "I know Kaail well and when he's determined to get something, there's no stopping him. Although I never thought it would be for this."

"Anything can happen when love is involved." S'aha chuckled softly.

Fi'ka tilted her head, noticing a spark between D'alg and S'aha. "Speaking of things, how do you know each other?"

"It's . . . complicated. Now's not the time." Fi'ka saw S'aha turn her head away, focused on treating A'stea when she moaned. D'alg went back to his study on the antidote. Whatever it was, something was going on between them.

"Fi'ka."

She turned around and saw Nu'kha come through the entrance. In an instant, he glared at D'alg even though his back was turned. S'aha clicked her mandibles in irritation. Who can blame her? Before anything might happen, Fi'ka came quickly to Nu'kha and pulled him away.

"What's up?" She asked irritably.

Nu'kha huffed at D'alg. "The members want to talk with you."

"Me?"

"They want information on A'stea's health, given that S'aha and that 'thing' are busy."

With irritation, Fi'ka grumbled and went with Nu'kha outside of the tent, waiting there was only Mu'at. She seemed confused, seeing only one leader waiting with Bu'at next to him, having some kind of argument. They stopped when they saw Fi'ka coming.

"Where are the others? I thought every member would be here."

"They had other duties to attend," Mu'at stated. "Preparation for obtaining a ship."

"What?" Fi'ka had to shake her head at such nonsense. "Why now? And without A'stea's opinion no less. I thought you told us we had time to gather forces. That was the deal."

"That was until we found out A'stea is on death's doorstep. You've seen the condition she is in. How confident do you think she'll survive?"

Fi'ka lowered her gaze for a moment. They weren't wrong that A'stea is not doing well, barely surviving on fumes. But she had no doubt this is what the members would want. With her out of the way, they would have sole command of their Rebellion. With the massacre going on outside, they have the backings to persuade the others.

Still, that was no excuse.

"We can't say for sure. And we're close to making an antidote. In a day or so, she'll be better and then you'll have to answer for what you've done behind her back." Fi'ka hissed.

"She's right," Bu'at commented. "Kaail is already on his way to get the Z'int. We're confident that he'll get—"

"There's no guarantee he might return."

Bu'at stopped when Nu'kha spoke. He wasn't one to get easily angry but this was ridiculous in his eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

Nu'kha raised his hands. "He's on a suicide mission to go up a mountain that no one ever returned. And he's the reason A'stea is in this mess in the first place. It's better that he never comes back and we find another way to save A'stea."

Without warning, Fi'ka swipes her hand and hits Nu'kha in the cheek. Despite her size, she had enough strength to leave a large bruise. Nu'kha stepped back, holding his face in shock.

"You bastard." She hissed. "And this is coming from the male that declared his love for A'stea. Kaail is taking responsibility and risking his life to save her. I wonder why you didn't volunteer for it."

Nu'kha flinched, turning away. "As I said, it's suic—"

"To pauk with you! A'stea is dying and Kaail is a better male than you. Now I can see why A'stea broke it off with you."

That set things off. Nu'kha growled and stomped right at Fi'ka, full of rage and disdain.

"Enough!" It took Mu'at to stop the situation from escalating, roaring loud enough to stop a few Hish as they passed by. "Either way, we are going to get a ship to get us out of here. There's nothing else to discuss."

"Why?" Bu'at asked. "You know this is not right."

"We have to do what's best to save everyone. The Amengi are too strong and no one can change that."

"The Great White Warrior can."

Another voice entered the conversation. Everyone turned to see a group of Hish warriors, newcomers who had come to a while ago. A few servants were also standing behind and it was clear that they were listening to what was going on.

One of the males, the one who spoke before, stepped forward. "I mean . . . he's the strongest warrior on the face of the planet. Even some of the Amengi fear him. If he's willing to risk his life to save an ooman . . . knowing that he could be punished by his master . . . it could be possible that we can fight back."

Mu'at grumbled. "Regardless, it's suicide. The Amengi possess technology that far surpasses our own."

"But A'stea has been working on a weapon that might change that and she trusts the Great White Warrior." A female Hish spoke this time. "As much as I fear for my pup's safety, running away is not the best option. We don't even know where we're going if he does escape.

Grumbles of agreement started to gather and then turned into shouts and roars. The mixed noise sent a wave of vibration throughout the cavern. It didn't last long as Mu'at roared. "Enough!"

It became quiet once more. It took a minute before Mu'at calmed down. "We will prepare for a ship either way. We'll reconsider what to do next . . . if A'stea survives."

With that, Mu'at walked away and the group slowly dispersed. Fi'ka and Bu'at glanced at Nu'kha for a few seconds, more like glares at the male. Not wanting to be in this anymore, Nu'kha left as well, leaving a few Hish warriors, Bu'at and Fi'ka. With a nod from the first, the warriors scattered.

"Well, this is a mess." Bu'at rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

"I know." Fi'ka sighed. "All of this is so messed up."

"Still, we can't lose faith. I know Kaail will make it back. He's too stubborn to die . . . and he cares too much for her."

Fi'ka chuckled. "I agree with you."

Bu'at nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder. "The good news is that many are starting to side with our plan to stay and fight. Still, they need a leader to guide them."

There was a pause between them. Both thinking the same idea in their head and agreed silently.

Bu'at sighed and removed his hand from her. "I'll go check on the others. If the members are planning their own game, why don't we do the same?"

He smirked for a second before he left. Fi'ka stood there for a moment, confused and worried. This tug of war between leaving and fighting was starting to break their little group but in some ways, it was making them stronger. She firmly believed that. But there was nothing more she could do except help A'stea. She closed her eyes and lifted her head to the ceiling.

"Please hurry . . . Kaail."

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Kaail grumbled in annoyance, slowly grabbing to one edge of the mountain and then the next as he ascended. The path he took only went a quarter up the mountain, maybe even less in his opinion . . . he couldn't know. The only thing that mattered was to get to the top of the mountain as quickly as he could. So he had no choice but to climb the rest of the way.

But he didn't know how long he climbed and it felt like he got a few feet in. With the fog around him, it was hard to tell anything and the heat vision proved useless. He growled to himself. "I swear . . . How big is this pauking mountain?"

He shook his head. Don't think about it. Just get the flower and get back quickly to save A'stea. With new determination, he dug his claws deeper into the mountain and moved faster to the top, ignoring the heaviness in his chest and the hard pumping of his heart struggling to keep the blood flowing.

But then, a break in the fog came and Kaail could see a large crack within the mountain. Kaail reached for the edge and pulled himself into it, laying on the makeshift ground to catch his breath. Being so high up, his body felt heavy with little access to air. After a minute, he gets onto his feet and looks to his surroundings. From what he could tell, the crack was an opening to some tunnel that supposedly wedged into the mountain.

Does this lead to somewhere? He turned on his heat vision and determined nothing was in there. Strange . . .

Cautiously, Kaail moved forward, keeping an eye out on anything that might be here based on the rumors. But so far, it wasn't as bad as he expected. He started to think that the climb alone is why many have died on it. But then again, he didn't see any bodies at the base as predicted. If many disappeared, their bodies had to be somewhere.

As if someone heard him, Kaail steps on something that makes a loud cracking noise. Slowly, he looks down and lifts his foot to see. To his shock, it was a jawbone but he couldn't tell what it belonged to.

What is this?

He scanned the tunnel and found more bones scattered around, some fractured and turned into partial dust. Whatever this was, it had been there a long time. Kaail shook his head and kept going but his body was on high alert. His hand reaching for his spear.

After a while, the tunnel breaks into an opening with some light from an opening in the ceiling that shined down. Cautiously, he stepped into it and noticed several tunnels around him. After a minute of thinking, he widened his eyes. There's a tunnel system in this mountain.

More bones littered the ground and even piles of it were sitting casually on the sides. One had a mandible sticking out and there was no doubt in his mind that it belonged to a Hish.

So this is where the bodies end up. But . . . what's killing them? I doubt they came here to starve to death.

But as he looked around, a sudden whoosh of air hit him from behind . . . like something was there. He whipped around and growled, only to see that there was nothing. A sinking feeling was growing in his gut. He didn't like it one bit.

His eyes scanned for anything until something caught his eye. Right at the corner of the junction, he noticed a bundle of flowers growing in the middle of the junction. He tilts his head in curiosity and moves closer, kneeling in front of it to get a closer look.

They were beautiful flowers that were purple but had a few streaks of red running down the petals. Kaail grabs one gently with his fingers and moves it around. Is this it?

He looks around and then back to the flowers. He remembers D'alg saying that the plant he needed was at the peak of the mountain but he was certain he wasn't there yet. He couldn't even tell how far up he was. The mountain was stranger than he thought. First a tunnel system . . . bones . . . and now this. But then again, no one ever came back to tell the tale.

He shook his head. This has to be it. Nothing else grows here but this.

Kaail felt confident that this was it. He smiled, knowing that he made it and now had the ingredient necessary to create the antidote and save A'stea's life. He could see her smile in his mind. Oh, the warmth in his chest pushed all of the doubt away. With that, he reaches for the flowers slowly.

This was easier than I thought. Why is everyone so afraid of—

A deep growl stopped him in his tracks. His hand was frozen in the air and his body grew stiff. Even his dreadlocks stood up a bit. The sound was nothing he'd ever heard and more menacing than any creature he faced. He stood still as he heard another one, this time right behind him. Kaail remained as still as possible, even when a breath of hot air brushed on his back. The worst part was that it carried a foul smell of blood and rotting flesh. It was hard not to gag.

Fear grew inside as he realized he was not alone . . . with a creature unlike anything, he'd ever seen as he would find out.

A creature of nightmares.

Hi everyone!

Oh boy . . . Just when Kaail thinks he's safe, this happens. But at least we'll have some clue as to why the mountain is so dangerous and no one comes back alive. Will Kaail make it out as well?

But there is also a shift in opinions back in the hideout. The other Hish are starting to see the possibility that they might have a chance of fighting. The bond Kaail has with A'stea is starting to resound to everyone else. But, sadly, the members and Nu'kha have little faith that A'stea will live and Kaail will make it back. I wonder what happened between A'stea and Nu'kha . . . we will see.

For now, will the Rebellion finally see through A'stea's eyes and fight?

Find out when Chapter 47 comes tomorrow!

Thank you for the reviews (Anonymous-E, Mariah, and IanAlphaAxel)! They are very important for me and I hope I see more readers posting as well. All opinions are welcomed. I hope you keep on reading! ;)

And thank you for your support. :)

Happy Hunting! :))))