It would be another month before Lex saw the predators again.
When they did show up, they thought it would be a great idea to just land their ship in her spacious back yard. In the middle of the night. Four o'clock to be precise.
Her house shook and the lights shined in through her windows. Effectively waking her up. Pissed beyond belief, she grabbed her shotgun and stomped her way downstairs in nothing but her pajamas and a thin robe.
Scar stood on her deck waiting for her.
"It's four o'clock in the morning! Some of us here are trying to sleep!" Scar placed his hands on both her shoulders and began to calmly purr. It helped to keep Lex from shooting him with the gun.
"Keome... With uz... Ount. Keome Ount."
"Your English has definitely improved," Lex noted, surprised. A bit of her anger left at that fact.
Scar nodded.
"You be my teakeoer?" His voice sounded almost hopeful at the prospect and Lex sighed in defeat.
No use in being angry at him. No use in going back to bed now either. Once Lex got up, she stayed up.
"Yes, I'll teach you but is it necessary to wake me up at four o'clock in the morning to ask if I'd teach you English? And go on a hunt with you?" Scar thought a moment before nodding.
"We ount now."
"Can I grab a few things?" Exasperated, she dragged the shotgun behind her and back inside.
Scar nodded and followed her, having to duck and go through the door sideways to fit. Lex laughed and left him to look around while she grabbed some of her stuff.
Once ready, she followed him out and he helped her onto the ship. The ramp closed behind them, familiar fog swirling around her ankles.
Molten passed by them in the hallway, nodding his head to the human. She waved in return.
Scar led her to where a room, presumably his at the little trinkets scattered on shelves and the desk. He opened a drawer from the wall and pulled out a necklace of teeth, some from the bear and others from the creatures from Antartica.
"For you." It looked like the necklace he wore, made from his successful kills.
"Oh. Thank you."
Lex smiled and let Scar help her put it around her neck. Then, he pointed to a second bed of fur next to his.
"Sleep. We ount zoon." Lex cringed a bit at his pronunciation but gratefully took the cot.
"Alright."
Her temporary bed sat a few feet from his own and made entirely of thick furs. About a foot thick. She caught sight of metal wires binding the furs together and providing the oval shape of the bed, but no post or anything to keep it off the ground.
Lex skeptically laid down but found the furs soft and plush. Extremely comfortable.
Scar laid down as well and quickly fell asleep. Lex stayed awake. Once up, always up.
The ship's constant buzz calmed her anxiety but the heat left her uncomfortable and breathing heavily. Slowly, she scooted off her bed, head dizzy, and tiptoed over to where Scar lay.
"Hey... Alien..." Lex gently shook Scar's arm. He grumbled before moving away out from her grip. "Scar! Come on... I need help here..." Her lightheaded-ness only increased.
Finally, Scar turned over to face her. He immediately noticed how her body temperature had risen dramatically, her cheeks flushed a bright red, and her breathing heavy. Sitting up, he grabbed his gauntlet to look into her biometrics.
"It's hot Scar... Got a fan or something?"
Scar moved towards his room's control panel and set a cooling vent to her side of the room. This helped Lex cool down and eventually fall asleep. However, Scar knew she couldn't stay on the ship because of the humidity. They were used to over a hundred degrees. In fact, a hundred degrees equaled to forty human degrees (Fahrenheit).
He left the room, setting the temperature to something more appropriate, and locked it to keep the others from disturbing her. He would need to confront one of his hunt brothers in the matter.
When Lex awoke to a soft sound, she blinked her eyes open at the unfamiliar metal walls. A rush of panic sent her jolting from the bed. Something touched her shoulder and she quickly batted it away, expecting to be surrounded by armed guards or men in lab coats. Instead, the hand belonged to Scar.
He looked taken back, eyes wide and mandibles spread slightly. Once she calmed, he titled his head and gently trilled at her.
"So what exactly are we doing now?" Lex avoided his gaze, focusing on the reason he brought her here.
"Keome." Scar led her out of the room and to the ramp. A beautiful blue sea greeted her along with the sound of seagulls.
"The sea? Why here?" Scar led her out and pointed off into the distance to where a large jungle awaited.
Massive in its vegetation and full of life, it extended into the horizon, barely stopping where they were now. They had landed in a small portion along the cliffside where the trees had stopped.
Lex nodded and they headed back inside to prepare. She had brought her own spear along which pleased Scar greatly.
All five of them headed off. Scar and Lex stayed on the ground, Molten was a little ways ahead of them, Jag took to the trees above them, and Night brought up the rear.
"So... what are we hunting?"
"Anything."
"Well, that's very helpful..." Scar turned to look at her. While not an expert in her language, he did understand her sarcastic tone.
With his mask equipped, Lex couldn't see his expression. She didn't have to though as he trilled questioningly, not angry at her tone, but confused. She rubbed her temples feeling an oncoming headache, having not slept very well. This reminded her of dealing with clients that had vague ideas of what they wanted and weren't entirely cooperative in answering her questions.
"Isn't it better to know what you're looking for? Hunt everything on your way to your goal instead of being aimless?" She said a similar thing to clients in the past. Let's figure out a goal, how far you want to hike, which monument you want to see, whatever. Then, let's plan a route that can include some other things of interest.
Scar nodded before translating to the others and they stopped by a large tree to discuss.
They went through animal after animal through their data base. Lex let them know the English word for each and in turn, Night explained their own term for the creature. She hung back, only inserting her opinions here and there as she let the predators decide for themselves.
Eventually, they came to the conclusion they wanted to hunt a panther. Molten expressed great interest in the animal's sleek body and hunting skills.
Lex walked alone in the jungle as the others cloaked themselves. They wanted the advantage of a quick kill which seemed pointless if their original intent was to fight.
Scar stayed closed by, Lex feeling his heat like a furnace to her left.
An hour later, they came across a panther relaxing in the trees. A large male that had recently gone hunting and looked to have failed. The branches were thick enough to support his weight and the foilage hid him quite well.
Lex had had the unfortunate chance to be ambushed. Miana never enjoyed the cold climate and in exchange, Lex had agreed to explore the Amazon with her. At the time, she didn't have a combistick, but a rifle. The gun had done the trick and blocked the attack that would have left her bleeding out on the jungle floor.
She slowed, eyes trained on the creature. If she moved under it, there was a chance it would attempt to ambush her, but she didn't know if the others were already positioned to strike. Hanging back, she relaxed against a tree.
No one moved.
Lex searched for Scar, finding his shimmering from a few feet away. He decloaked himself, tilting his head at her actions. When she nodded to the panther, he shook his head and pointed to her.
"You want me to go for it?" He nodded.
Lex rolled her eyes, pushing away from the tree and started forward. Last time it ambushed, she blocked with the rifle and shoved it away before firing a round off. It hadn't killed the panther, but it did do damage.
She stopped and looked back to Scar who had recloaked. Seeing his shimmering form just behind her, she moved under the branch, extending the combistick.
As predictable as ever, the panther took notice and pounced. Its claws cut into her knuckles, but it didn't stop her from shoving it to the right. Right where Scar stood.
He roared in surprise, being knocked back by the heavy body. Lex noted the soft thuds as the other predators dropped down to the ground. Neither of them decloaked. Scar remained cloaked, but the panther shook its head, crouched low and confused. It could hear them, but not see them. Except for Lex.
"You wanted to fight it, so fight. Just remember, you woke me up and I'm still pissed about it." Lex crossed her arms, combistick stuck upright in the ground.
Despite her words, Scar moved away, joining the others in their makeshift circle arena. Lex grabbed her weapon, more annoyed than anything as the panther turned its gaze on her.
It began to feel like that moment when a client would be pushing her buttons, trying to test her as if they were some sort of expert and she an amateur. Not like she hadn't years of experience behind her. Not like she didn't do these sorts of things for fun.
Lex admitted that this situation was different. She was the amateur surrounded by experts and holding a weapon she hadn't trained to use.
It charged and Lex allowed it to grab ahold of her arm. Her other arm reared back, taking the combistick and shoving it through the chest and to the heart. Its teeth had just sunk into her flesh when the metal cut through it.
Biting her lip to keep from crying out, Lex pried her arm from its loose jaws. Jag retrieved her weapon, flicking some of the blood off.
"Very good." Lex looked up to see Jag handing her her combistick. Molten also nodded his approval.
Scar clapped her on the back before helping Night inspect the corpse. Before he got far, Lex stopped him, her injured arm held tight to her stomach.
"You wake me out of a dead sleep for this and while I agreed to come, I didn't agree to be forced to fight. You ever circle me like that again and I will never go hunting with anyone of you again." Scar stiffened at the threat, an unidentifiable noise coming from him as Night laughed behind him.
Molten trilled, amused at her anger and she quickly extended her spear to slap him across the back. He too made the same noise as Scar after that and she assumed it was equivalent to a whine.
Night handed the corpse over to Scar as he tended to her arm. Jag and Molten left for several hours to hunt some more before returning to them.
Lex found on their way back that Molten knew how to speak English quite well as did Night, though he still didn't talk much. Jag didn't seem as aggressive as before but he still kept his distance.
"We've heard of your achievement at the temple," Molten commented on the way back to the ship.
"Achievement?"
"Yez, the hard meat queen." Lex was confused.
Scar talked about us? About me?
"I didn't do that by myself..."
"Modezt..." He trilled in approval.
"A little."
Molten nodded before heading up the ramp and off to his own room.
Scar excitedly dragged her off to the kitchen to eat before insisting she learn how to properly collect trophies.
"Muzt learn."
"I don't think I have to..."
Scar refused to take no for an answer and forcefully sat her down at his workbench. It sat beside his desk and had tools scattered all over the metal surface. He laid the animal on the bench. Lex tried to scoot back but Scar stood behind her to keep her from running.
"Muzt do. Iz right."
"Fine..." Scrunching her nose at the smell, Lex followed Scar's instructions and began to skin the animal.
After that, they removed the head before removing the meat and bones for later use. Finally, came the cleaning of the skull.
Using a scalpel-looking tool, Scar guided her hand in removing the flesh. Lex did the rest on her own in which Scar praised her before they moved onto cleaning. When the skull was polished, Scar moved some his trophies aside to hang hers.
"Maybe it wasn't so bad..." Scar laughed and pointed to her bed.
"Zleep. Tomorrow more ount."
"Scar, I can't stay... I'll have to leave tomorrow night, okay?" Scar nodded quietly. Lex changed into some fresher clothes and Scar left to give her privacy. The vent was blowing over her side of the room to keep her cool while she slept.
When the morning came, she woke in her bed with the skull, meat, and fur neatly bundled on her dresser. Other than the broken trees from the ship landing, it looked as if no ship had landed. No aliens to take her away for a hunt.
Lex quickly realized that they would be coming back a lot more often. And they did. Once a month they showed up and once a month she hunted with them. Each month she learned more about them and vice versa. Each month Lex found herself expecting their return. And each month, they didn't disappoint.
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.
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8/14/19: Fixed the pasting without format issue I think...