Chapter 5: Living Nightmare from the Past

Jason and the predators had a new place to settle in. It was early in the morning. It had been four days since Shou'nk was blooded and Jason got his medal. They took it pretty well except for Netak who was restless. "Netak, settle down." said Essra. "We been doing nothing, but sit in this dump for four sun downs! Why aren't we off exterminating those pests?!" "We can't go fight with out a plan." Netak stormed off to a small café.

There was a TV where Merc'rk and some marines were huddled around and the rest of the clan was sitting there eating. Netak was pacing back and forth thinking of something to do that was worth while. He didn't want to practice his martial arts because that only made his urge to fight aliens grow. He couldn't scare marines because Doun'ch told him not to. He didn't want to sharpen his weapons because with all the sharpening he did earlier they were as sharp as ever and waiting to taste some acid blood. And he couldn't find anything that was good for target practice with his weapons.

Doun'ch thought that Netak was suffering from hunt withdraws (Yes, predators can suffer from hunt withdraws). The Ancient hunter walked up to the general and asked if it was okay to go out for a hunt. The general said that as soon as the sun comes up since xenomorphs are mostly nocturnal. Doun'ch watch as his fellow clan mate was pacing back and forth. Poor guy. I feel his pain' he thought.

Meanwhile Netak continued to pace back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and "STOP IT!" exclaimed a marine. Apparently the pacing was driving him crazy. "I only take orders from my clan leader so unless you want to challenge me I suggest you leave." Netak said calmly. The marine wasn't stupid enough to fight a Predator and walked into a different room to ignore his pacing.

It was now 6:00 a.m. The sun began to slowly rise out of the horizon. Shou'nk was in the gym trying to lift these 2,000 lbs. weights. Needless to say he was not succeeding. A marine walked up to him and saw him attempting lift the enormous weights. "You'd better give up." "I will not fail." The marine sat on a seat nearby and pulled out a cup of coffee. He had an idea. So what if the general told them they could only have decaffeinated coffee.

He offered Shou'nk a cup. Shou'nk took it and drank the whole thing (Oh no). His wrist computer popped open and began reading the ingredients. Millions of words in Yautja language began going down the small screen. It suddenly stopped and went to a count down that measured the time until the fluid reached his digestive system. As soon as it hit zero he suddenly found the strength to lift the weights easily. He pulled it to his chest and lifted it in the air again. He continued to do this a hundred times with ease. The hunter got up and decided to test this newfound strength. He went to an area full of metal poles and pulled out his spear. He began slashing and cutting down the poles at an amazing rate. Despite Netak being the most skilled with the spear Shou'nk looked like a close second. The poles were all cut down in a matter of seconds.

The sun was up and Doun'ch and Netak were out hunting. Doun'ch was watching him to make sure that he came back on schedule. The hunters were traveling in the same direction. They were jumping from tree to tree and had not found anything for an hour. Then they found their ship. Merc'rk set it to explode by remote, but he hadn't pushed the remote detonator. It was still in ruins. Netak saw what looked like with thermal vision two red glowing biped figures hovering around the ship. Two unarmed humans were walking around the ship and inspecting it with some kind of scanner. Netak and Doun'ch each had a amazed yet curious look on their face. What were two unarmed humans doing out here. If they were strong enough to take on a hardmeat bear handed Netak would take his wrist blades and challenge these guys. Five armed humans walked out of the ship one with a unique heat signature. It was a combat synthetic and they were corporate forces.

The one in the middle spoke to the two with the scanners. "They aren't here. We will need to inform Rykov." "We could tell him where the ship is." one suggested. "No, the Predators must be gone by now." "He'll be pleased when he here's there's another chance to capture one."

They had said it all. Doun'ch activated his favorite weapon the energy flechette, which was a rapid firing energy weapon mounted on his right wrist gauntlet. Netak pulled out his disc, but something was strange with him. Doun'ch could see this too. Netak was remembering something from his past.

Inside Netak's memories: He was very young, slightly younger than Shou'nk's current age, but still he was not the youngest. He is on a hunt with a different clan on a jungle like planet. All his clan was about his age and there were three others. One was an older hunter, which was his past leader. The other was his brother and last was the youngest, the female hunter Netak had first become close friends with. She was pretty by Yautja standards and was like all female Yautja with a slender body, longer dreadlocks, and shorter size. Humans were trying to capture them. Humans with the corporate insignia on their armor. There were at least 21 chasing them.

They were jumping through the trees. Netak had his disc in his hands and had jumped on a tree branch to ambush the passing humans. He saw seven soldiers. He heard them talking and waited for the perfect moment. "Rykov I think they went this way." one said to the man in charge. He through it at the man who just spoke. It ripped through his chest and shattered his rib cage. The disc flew back to him automatically. The corporate men were all looking at their fallen comrade. All except for Rykov who was watching the disc fly back to its camouflaged wielder. He fired at the cloaked figure and green blood began to spill from the figure. Netak swiftly jumped away from the human firing. The soldiers were now watching the figure run away. "What the hell was that, Rykov?" asked one. "I don't know, but it's what we're chasing." Answered the man called Rykov.

His clan decided to fight them with the direct approach. They were hiding in the trees with their weapons at the ready. His leader had the spear gun, his brother had the plasma caster, the female had the pistol, and he had his disc. When the humans came. They ambushed them, killed one and went back in hiding, came out and killed another. This went on for several minutes. He saw his leader get hit with pulse rifle. He fell out of the tree and hit the ground. The injured Predator took out his spear and stabbed a corporate that was close to him. Another came up and aimed his rifle at him, but was also stabbed. One more came up and aimed his gun at him. He fired a few shots that hit his leader in his armor and a few in his midsection. The Yautja warrior turned around and stabbed him then flung him off the spear at another soldier aiming his rifle at him. Suddenly Rykov shot him in the stomach. The leader fell over dead. Rykov aimed his rifle at Netak's brother who was blasting away at his men. Rykov used the grenade launcher on his rifle to launch an explosive at his brother. His brother flipped in the air and landed on a hard rock with a sickening thud, which was his skull braking. The female Predator was shooting the humans with her pistol. Rykov shot her in the leg several times and a few in her side. Netak ran to her, picked her up, and carried her to a bundle of rocks that provided cover.

He set her down and leaned next to her. She was bleeding to death and roaring out in pain. She stopped and looked at him. "Get out of here." she said. Netak heard the humans coming. There were ten left and at that time he was not experienced enough to fight all of them. The female Predator activated her self-destruct device. Netak got up and ran to a safe distance as large explosion came from behind him.

Netak came back and checked for survivors. There was one left. It was Rykov. He had several bruises and wounds. He came out of hiding and looked around. Netak shot at him with his spear gun, but he missed and Rykov began running. He pursued him with various weapons. Rykov came across a bridge that was over a canyon and just before could cross it three laser sights appeared on his boots. He began frantically looking around as they trailed to his chest. He looked up and saw Netak in a tree with his plasma caster. The predator shot him and he fell into the canyon. That was all Netak remembered of his most glorious revenge.

Back to the present. They looked at the Corporate forces with determination. They were better trained than average marines. Netak through his disc at one and it cut off he's head. The disc went back too him automatically. The synthetic looked in his direction and unloaded a full clip into the trees. The hunters jumped out of the trees and dodged the bullets. Doun'ch fired his energy flechette and destroyed the synthetic. The Corporates began firing everywhere. Netak pulled out his spear gun and shot one in the head. It was so powerful it took his head off with it and continued to fly away until it jammed itself in a tree. The two scientists ran away. The Hunters let them run. It was dishonorable to kill unarmed prey.

The last two Corporates ran into the trees with the scientists. Netak stood cloaked behind a tree with his spear at the ready. As they were passing by Netak came out, decloaked, and stabbed one with his spear. The other turned to him and shot some rounds into Netak's armor and shoulder. Netak pulled out his net gun and netted the corporate to a thick tree. The net tightened so hard that it began to dig into his skin and the corporate shrieked in pain. Netak approached the helpless corporate. "Who do you work for?" he asked. The human was surprised at first to see this creature talk, but didn't speak. Netak's wrist computer opened and he pushed a button on it. The net tightened harder and the suffering corporate screamed. Netak asked again. "Who do you work for?" "I'm not telling you anything!" yelled the still suffering soldier. "Foolish human." Netak quoted before tightening the net again. "I can make this tight enough to cut right through you skin and chop you into bite size pieces. It is a painfully slow way to die. Now one more time, who do you work for?" "General Rykov." answered the corporate. Netak was so angry his wrist blades came out and he raised his arm to stab the human, but Doun'ch held him back. "It would be dishonorable to kill him pinned down like that, Netak." said the ancient hunter. Netak instead cut the net and let the tortured human go. Doun'ch wanted to ask who Rykov was, but not with the mood Netak was currently in. They collected their trophies and left back to the base.