Lex had been following her newfound companion for what seemed like hours. She panted slightly and the precipitation on her brow continuously accumulated no matter how many times she wiped it away. Her makeshift spear felt slippery in her clammy hands.

"How far?" Lex stopped for a moment to breathe out the words and he turned to watch her. "You got a name? You can call me Lex." The woman waited as he cocked his head.

Then, he nodded. Bumping his chest twice he said something followed by a few clicks.

"Okay... Perhaps a nickname?" Again, he cocked his head as if trying to understand her. "Let's just go with..." Lex's eyes lingered on the mark on his mask. Sebastian and she had watched him mark himself as if...

How did he put it? A rite of passage I believe he said...

"Scar. Yeah, that's good enough for now I believe. Sound good?"

Scar nodded his head, probably not even caring, before he motioned for her to follow. And so, they continued down the long corridors.

Too soon the pyramid shifted and they found themselves barely making it into the room at the end of the hall. Only three options to choose from, three hallways lead away but surely only one would lead out.

Scar turned to Lex and motioned for her to sit by the wall. Raising an eyebrow, she cautiously sat down and leaned against the ancient stone. Her companion sat about half a yard away to work on his tools as well as check out some map that popped up from his gauntlet.

Breathing easier, the woman decided to close her eyes. Only for a brief moment, of course.

Miana growled low in her throat as she took her last throwing knife in hand. Removing herself from her crouch, popping her joints as she did so, she drew back her arm, took aim, and threw it with all her might. It struck home and the creature tumbled to the ground. The large predator charged forward then and finished it off.

"Damn... Lost seven knives to the acid and the other three are sadly stuck in the damn stones. Yay me!" Her sarcasm lost on the predator, he watched her depressing demeanor.

He cocked his head, completely confused as to many things revolving around the human woman but mainly the fact she helped him. Twice.

He watched as she tried to pry one of her knives out of the wall. Clicking in laughter, he gently (as gentle as he could) pushed her away and retrieved the knife. Not stopping there, he gathered the other two before returning them to her.

"Oh... Thanks. I guess you're not that bad after all," Miana smiled at the creature in front of her. His shoulders slumped and his head tilted off to the side. "You have no idea what I am saying do you?" His head only leaned more in response.

Laughing, she nodded.

Well, I don't get him either, so we're even as far as I'm concerned.

Moving back to the hole, she gathered her belongings together and placed them inside before shrugging on her backpack. Miana prepared to walk off and never see him again, but to her surprise, he pulled her back and moved her towards a different direction. The woman watched as he took the lead.

The predator walked until he got to the corridor's entrance before he turned to motion for her.

Suddenly cautious about this alliance, Miana followed at a safe distance. If she remembered correctly this was the predator that killed Stafford. Then again, they did steal those "artifacts". And Stafford had been an ass.

She gulped nervously as she noticed the three scratch marks on his mask. It seems one of the black creatures had, in fact, got him. Though the marks didn't break through the mask, it seemed like they extended further down to possibly his chest. Yet, he showed no pain in his movements and continued to walk like a wound-up war machine.

Perhaps I chose the wrong evil... I guess I got to sleep in the bed I made and that bed just might be made of my own bones.

Shivering from the slight, ominous breeze that drifted along with them, the woman began to slow her pace, continuously putting space between them. The predator noticed and against better judgment slowed down as well. It was clear she didn't like him nor did she want to follow, but she saved him twice.

His own anger over his brother blinded him and he had been overrun by the drones. Lucky for him, she came and slid his combistick towards him. Then, she got out of her hole to throw knives at the hard meats. That had thrown most off balance and allowed easy kills for him.

He had gathered teeth and fingers of their joined kill just before they headed off. He had only one skull that he had been able to bring with him from a previous fight, however, but it would be enough. He also hadn't marked himself but he hadn't the time. The minute he could take a break, he'd gladly do so.

Looking behind him, he made sure to keep five of her paces between them. She mumbled to herself on several occasions and her shoulders were slumped as if heavily exhausted. He had no idea what she was saying from his lack of knowledge on their language or how to even read her mood from her current posture. Their species worked so differently that without his gauntlet, it would be difficult to understand her verbal and nonverbal cues.

Distracted by his thoughts he didn't realize what had been above them until too late. With a cry of alarm and fear, the dark mass landed on Miana.

Lex snapped her eyes open to find that she was indeed still in the pyramid and not back home in her cabin by the Rocky Mountains. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around to find Scar "butchering" one of the creatures. Three laid scattered on the ground as the predator moved from one to the other in haste, but skillful ease. Leaning forward, Lex took notice of his accumulating finger and teeth collection, as well as the three new skulls attached to his back.

"I only meant to close my eyes for a breather, not sleep!" Angry at her lack of self control, Lex quickly stretched and stood.

As soon as she had done so, she collapsed back down, landing right on her butt. Pain seared up her leg in unmerciful waves as well as a new, deep-rooted pulsing from her rear end.

Cut deep into her flesh bled a set of claw marks. They began just under her knee cap to stop at her ankle. Breathing heavily, her eyes landed on the nearest corpse that so happened to have one of its "hands" reached out towards her.

Pushing her fear and pain down, Lex tried once again to stand. She managed to stand in utter agony by bracing most of her weight on the wall. Her heart jumped in her chest as a shadow fell over her. She looked up to Scar standing next to her. He motioned back to the ground and then to her before pointing to the ground again.

Confused as to why he wanted her to sit, she did as told. Pulling her pant leg up, she poked at her bleeding wound. It stung, but by the look and feel of it, a pretty deep wound.

Scar set to work on something. It looked like a burner with a small bowl on top. Some weird gel boiled inside and he swooshed it around before squatting by her leg. With the bowl in hand, he began to smear it on the wound.

Lex hissed as he began to cauterize the wound. Her teeth cut through her lip until it bled and the room spun at the pain. Soon enough, darkness welcomed her back for the second time.

Even in the darkness, she could feel everything tilt left then right and then left once again. Honestly, it began to give her a real bad headache, but eventually, everything settled once again. A few minutes later everything titled right then left then right again. Beginning to get annoyed, Lex blinked her eyes open and jumped at her reflection staring right back at her.

Scar took her elbow and hauled her to her feet with clear impatience. With the spear (more like a walking stick) and shield in hand, the duo headed off in whichever course that would lead them out of the hell hole.

After a few minutes, Lex managed to brace more weight onto her injured leg and stopped using her spear as a makeshift walking stick. Scar continuously checked back on her and when he noticed her change in pace, he sped up, testing her. She kept up easily but began to have trouble when he sped up a bit too much.

He purred in impressive delight as the human kept a slower pace than his usual walk, but managed to keep up without the use of her weapon at a slightly faster pace than her own. She took longer strides, but that didn't make it unmanageable for her, even if injured.

The sound caught her attention and he immediately stopped and turned away when she looked up at him. He shook his head, the few beads clinging silently together as he did so.

The human could keep up. Impressive. But what about when an upcoming fight came? How many could she take before she'd need more rest?

Miana hit the ground so hard the air ejected from her lungs like how an airbag discharges from the steering wheel of a car. Drool hit her face in large droplets, catching her attention beyond the blur her brain had become. She wasn't entirely sure but she thought she heard a loud roar past the ringing in her eardrums.

The small glint of the black skull had her heart reaching up into her throat as her mind attempted to fill in the numerous blanks her eyes could not. A small hint of an outline could be defined, but the vagueness atop her sent her into a struggling frenzy to get as far away as possible.

The large black creature hissed and its jaws opened, ready to end her, but before it could do anything, it was roughly pulled from her and into the nearby wall. Rolling to the other side of the passageway, Miana used the wall to help steady herself as she stood.

On the other side of the hallway, the predator charged at the alien. The alien's tail lashed out but missed its intended target. His heart. However, it did hit at least his arm. The gash there was deep but it didn't stop him. Instead, he pulled out his combistick and extended it right into the creature's throat. Quickly, he flicked off the blood before retracting it.

He listened as the human slowly came up behind him to hesitantly stand at his side. For a moment, he started at the new corpse before finally glancing down to look at her petite form.

"Thank you." Her words were softly spoken but still, he heard them. Those were one of the phrases he did remember.

Nodding at her, he turned his attention back to the corpse and he began collecting his trophy.

Miana turned away in disgust. Not wanting to see the sight, she opted to dig about her bag once again. As soon as her hands landed on the smooth skin of the apple her mouth watered. Grabbing it, she sunk her teeth into the organic fruit. A low moaned rolled out of the back of her throat. The juicy taste of the apple was just what Miana needed. Food always quelled her troubles.

The predator ignored his human companion's strange behavior towards the earthly fruit and focused on finishing his rite. Pulling his mask from his face, he heard an audible gasp to his right, but he ignored the audience. He took the finger and using its acid made his clan's mark. When he was done putting it on his mask and his forehead, he turned to the human.

Miana had subconsciously scooted closer as the alien did his markings. If he was scary before he sure as hell was now. The eerie yellow eyes, wide forehead, and mandibles. All features that would have anyone running in terror. Still, she had moved closer to see.

He growled lowly, not liking the newfound attention.

Jumping back to her side of the corridor, she whispered a quick and quiet apology.

She gathered her things, as did he, and continued to follow him through the maze.

The maze shifted leaving them stranded in the corridor. At first, they tried to make a break for it. Miana was sure the big man could have made it but for some odd reason as soon as she (most likely him too) realized she wasn't going to make, he slowed down to stop beside her. The doorway sealed off and they were left stranded in the darkness.

"Well, isn't that just great?" Miana huffed as the predator began to growl and click in his own tongue. Scooting over towards the wall, the petite woman slid to the floor. "I guess I better just sit here as to not get trampled on."

The alien continued on and on as he paced by the door. Occasionally, he'd pop up an orange 3D map of the temple but it was static-y like and of no use to either of them.

"Um... Hello? Does big, scary, alien man have a flashlight? Oh, wait! Never mind. I have one." Rummaging about her bag, she found it.

Pulling it out, Miana pointed it at the ground and turned it on. It worked like a charm and lit up the five feet around her. Careful to keep it at the ground, she maneuvered it to see the surrounding area.

"Well, at least I can see. That makes things less scary, doesn't it? I don't really think so..." She waited for something to happen, like another shift, a silent hiss alerting them to danger; anything and everything but the large thump next to her.

Scaring the daylights out of her, she flashed her torch towards the sound to find her companion. The light blinded him and with a growl of surprise, he knocked the light from her hands. Miana landed on her backpack as the flashlight turned off, the batteries scattered about on the floor.

"Oh come on! Dang it! You broke it!" Scrambling to her feet, Miana blindly felt around for her supplies.

One battery. Flashlight. Second battery. Now to put the pieces together and... Ha!

The light returned as soon as she connected the last battery and slid the cover properly back into place. With nothing to do and the glow of his gauntlet keeping a nice light about them, the flashlight was returned to the bag.

"So..."

She was met with silence.

"I guess I'll start. I'm Miana. What's your name?"