Wow, an update so soon! Yay! There may have been some discrepancies between personalities and my portrayal of the Predator and it's habits, but, I don't have much to go on, besides the two Predator movies, and what I've been able to gather from them. Enjoy!
Prey to a Hunter
Chapter III
The Hunt Begins
Incident+59 Hours. Fall 13th, Year 5
Harris and Tim marched ahead of me as we walked along the path behind the Library. I held my shotgun high, in case the thing that had killed Rick was some kind of wild animal lurking in the woods. The footprints of Grey and Mary hadn't even had time to fade yet as we followed them to that familiar turn in the path.
Flies swarmed all around it, but the hunk of meat and glasses still lay on the side of the path. Blood still painted a red scene along the tops of the trees. Zack, who carried some kind of spear-weapon used for fishing, wrinkled his nose in disgust and swore under his breath as he beheld Rick's glasses. Tim knelt down beside the pile of rotting flesh and declared,
"This isn't Rick"
I looked at Tim sharply and Harris arched an eyebrow.
"What do you mean, it's not Rick's? It's painted all over the forest, starting with where he disappeared!" I exclaimed angrily, waving my shotgun in the air. Zack nimbly dodged the butt of the weapon as it passed by his head. Harris warily looked around and lay his hand on the grip of his 9mm police pistol; standard for any police officer, backwater farming town or not.
"I've got a hunch that this blood isn't Rick's. Look at his glasses, and the way the blood is smeared. If Rick had, say, had his head chopped off or a leg dismembered, the blood would be scattered in tiny blots and dots, not looking like it ran down the frames. It only seems like Rick suffered some kind of head wound. Whatever got Rick wanted him alive, and probably knocked him out to do it" Tim said with an air of confidence.
"Then what is that?" I asked, pointing towards the mountain of flesh. Tim smiled sadly at it, and replied,
"I think that's the remains of one of your chickens, Jack. The thing stole your chickens, right? I'll have to check out some of the woods, and your farm, but I'm sure that this does not belong to Rick. He's still alive, out there, somewhere" Tim declared. I sighed.
"Let's spread out and search. If you find Rick, or the thing that killed him, don't try and take it on alone. Harris, go with Tim. Zack, you and I will search the south side of the forest. Let's go!" I ordered. Somehow, unspoken, the others had let me take charge of the murder investigation, even though Harris was the police officer. They nodded, and went off to search for Rick's body. Zack held his weapon at chest height as he marched off into the woods with me.
"Are you alright, Jack?" he asked meekly as we marched for some time. I glared at him.
"How do you think I would be, after seeing one of my best friends murdered? I'm only wondering how Karen is going to take it, in the long run…" I mumbled. Zack looked down.
"Yeah…I wondered about her. I hope she'll be OK" he consoled.
"Ann will take good care of her until then. Let's worry about the now" I growled. The smell of smoke was becoming apparent in the crisp Autumn air; it occurred to me that we had gone about five miles into the woods, and were nearing the crash site of that strange meteoroid.
"Phew! What's that smell?" Zack inquired, pinching his nose. I replied,
"A meteor hit the ground here, last night. I think we're getting close". Gripping my shotgun tighter, I warily looked around at my surroundings. Every shadow, every rustling of leaves, seemed to be some kind of predator descending from the trees to kill us. I felt like a rabbit being hunted, helpless, trapped, and afraid. My finger hovered very close to the trigger, ready to fire.
We reached a clearing. In the center of the clearing lay a massive, smoking crater. Molten-red rock, still glowing slightly, adorned the field, obviously from the meteor's impact. Zack grunted as he tripped over a small flaming meteorite, only to have his pants leg catch on fire! Shouting angrily and snarling, Zack hopped up and down, slowly extinguishing the blaze. I sighed. If that predator was still out there, it had probably heard Zack by now. I glanced at the perimeter of the clearing; nothing. Good.
-
The Yajuta silently chuckled at the human's ignorance; if it knew what force was waiting, taking aim, as it stupidly flapped it's arms around and yelled at the top of it's minuscule lungs…other species, knowing what the Yajuta could do, ran in fear at the sight, or, lack of sight, of a warrior such as himself.
The Yajuta had enjoyed his meal the previous night. Earth animals made oddly satisfying food for warriors like himself with nothing to go on. Of course, they were dropped onto planets like this without provisions as a test, to prove their worth. Yajuta were tough, anyway.
These two humans were armed. The Yajuta recognized the lead one as the one he had tried to kill the previous night. The human would not escape his grasp again. The Yajuta tapped a button on his wrist, and his shoulder cannon locked into place. Triangulating the homing device, he locked onto a human and…
-
Zack peered over the edge of the crater. I crouched a meter away, shotgun ready, glancing nervously around, waited for Zack to shout out what he had found. Something didn't feel right, exactly like the night before. Something was out there, watching me and Zack work. Waiting to strike. My hair stood on edge as he remembered the yellow eyes staring at him from outside of his fields; whatever the thing was, it probably wasn't human.
"Hey, Jack! Check this out!" Zack cried, a mixture of awe and wonder in his voice.
"Yeah? What is it?" I asked.
"You're not gonna believe this. It's…!" Zack began. I rose slowly. Zack had frozen still, staring into the trees in front of us. I slowly trotted over to him, staring into the distance.
"What is it?"
"Something moved. In the trees" Zack whispered. Straining my eyes, I couldn't see a thing. The forest was empty.
"Aww, come on, Zack. Nice try" I ribbed, punching him in the shoulder. Zack stared into the trees, still, glaring at a branch. It seemed to sway on it's own, as if something had landed on it…
"It's there. Don't you see it? That odd-shimmery stuff?" Zack asked, pointing towards the branch. Still nothing. I shook my head in response. Zack looked at me quizzically.
"Don't you see it? Look closely" Zack urged. It turned out that I didn't have to look very hard to see what happened next. The same pair of yellow eyes that had stalked me from the woods and followed me into my fields last night suddenly began to glow from the tree branch. Horror washed over me as I realized that the thing that had gotten Rick and devastated my farm was in a prime position to kill both of us in one strike. The thing was obviously not an animal, and defiantly not human. The camoflauge and glowing yellow eyes were a testament to this. So what was this thing? An alien?
All these questions dropped from my mind faster than a falling stone as a glowing ball of light zoomed towards our position. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as I screamed "RUN!", and jumped towards Zack, who stood directly in the path of the speeding ball of light. Slamming my shoulder into his gut, we both flew sideways, landing in a heap on the ground. I could feel the heat of the light as the projectile narrowly missed blowing my head off.
I immediately rolled off of Zack, snatched at my fallen shotgun, and fired a shell at the tree branch. The branch exploded, showering the field with splinters ranging from the size of sowing needles to pencils. An odd, gurgling kind of chuckle passed over my head as I looked up. Sure enough, Zack's shimmering foe leaped over my head and landed next to the prone Zack. The shimmer seemed humanoid, biped at least. The chuckling continued as the thing leaned over Zack.
"Get away from him!" I yelled, pumping shotgun shells into the shimmering menace. The weapon boomed, and the deafening noise taught me why the weapon had been nicknamed a "boomstick" by armed forces soldiers who used weapons like this on a frequent basis. I wished I had some kind of earmuffs as the booming resonated in my ears. The noise of metal striking metal, however, was still audible over the booming of my weapon. The weapon wavered, and splintered trees and blew holes in the ground, reminding me of the fact that I had only shot my father's shotgun several times in my life, and that I was not a proficient shot.
The creature snarled and turned towards me as the first three shotgun shells found their marks. The two before them had missed, blowing holes in the scenery around me. The alien screamed an inhuman roar in rage. Smirking in anger as I loaded another weapon into the chamber, I began to laugh manically as I fired the weapon.
"Oh, is that it, huh? Want some of this?" I challenged as I fired at the creature. As the creature staggered under the blows of my shotgun, the weapon stopped firing, revealing the ringing noise in my ears. Pulling the trigger, I realized the worst had happened; the shotgun had run out of shells. Like the anti-climatic scene in an obscure action movie, the weapon clicked empty as I desperately searched my back pockets for that clip of extra shells I had probably forgotten. My fears were proved correct as my back pockets produced an old bubble gum wrapper and a set of keys to the house. I gulped and slowly backed up as the shimmer rose to it's feet, walking slowly towards me menacingly.
"Oh, crap" I groaned as I backpedaled away from the threat. It seemed to mock me, slowly and deliberately putting one foot in front of the other. Turning to run, I suddenly felt the ground rush up quickly. I had tripped over my fallen shotgun.
"Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no!" I screamed angrily as the creature towered over me. The yellow eyes bored into my head as the creature prepared to strike. I knew that this was the end. Shutting my eyes, I hoped that this would not hurt much. My life flashed before my eyes; playing in the streets of Brooklyn as a five year old child, visiting my grandfather's farm at seven, my return to Mineral Town thirteen years later.
The faces of all of my friends in town flashed before my eyes. Zack, when we had first met all those years ago. Karen and Rick, the geek and the alcoholic. Mary and Grey, the bookworm and the blacksmith's grandson. And my wife, Ann, the bartender's assistant and daughter. The memory of when we first met those many years ago, when we were still children, played like an old black and white movie before my eyes.
A roar of pain broke my chain of memories. It sounded, loud, and echoed through the mountains. Opening my eyes, I realized that I wasn't dead. And more importantly, the creature standing over me had a massive spear protruding from its side. Green ichor gushed from the wound, spraying everywhere as the creature thrashed in pain. A small line protruded from the end of the spear; it led back to a fishing speargun. And holding the speargun was…
"Zack!" I exclaimed happily. He was clutching his side and had a massive gash across his forehead, but otherwise looked alright.
"Grab your gun and let's go! I don't think this is enough to stop this thing!" Zack exclaimed as the creature began to reach for the spear embedded in its side. To my surprise, it tore the offending weapon out of it's side and snapped it in half with an angry roar of agony. A crackle of electricity accompanied the shimmer melting away, to reveal…something in it's place. A huge, hulking creature, easily taller and stronger looking than even Zack, appeared, prone, clutching the remains of the spear. A metal mask adorned the creature's head, and the two eyesockets glowed yellow, the same, cruel yellow that had been the end of Rick and my farm.
"Let's go! Run!" Zack yelled. I didn't need a second urge; I turned quickly, grabbing Zack's wrist, and ran. The irony of the situation appeared to me as Zack grabbed my wrist as he surged ahead; Zack was many times stronger and faster than I was, despite my long work hours and excellent physical condition. Even wounded, he was still faster than I was. Panting heavily, we dashed through the brush and foliage of the forest. The heavy footsteps of the alien behind us spurred us on like horses under the whip; we quickly doubled our speed. The thing still followed.
The chase continued for a good five minutes. Adrenaline pulsed through my veins as we fled. We didn't even care if the thing was right behind us; we just knew we had to run faster. Finally, we reached the path in front of the Harvest Spring and the Spring Mines. The hot spring, and Barley, waited for us. We must have been quite a sight; me, covered in green blood and foliage, looking half dead, and Zack, arms outstretched, dragging me, blood smeared all over his pristine white shirt, deranged, almost foaming at the mouth. Barley fainted at the sight of us.
Wheeling around quickly, we scanned the woods for any sign of that creature, following us. The woods were tranquil, silent, broken only by our raggedy breathing. Zack and I looked at each other, nodded, and immediately fainted.
-
The Yajuta warrior, panting for breath, stopped at the edge of the woods and beheld the humans as they lay unconscious in the open. He could easily kill them, strike them down with a flick of a wrist…
No. that would be a dishonorable kill. And to kill without honor to a Yajuta was worse than not killing at all. The Yajuta retracted his wristblades and observed the two unconscious humans with a mixture of interest and humor. Humans were…amusing prey, at best. The humans looked almost triumphant in their deep sleep, as if they had won.
Victory. A thing the humans would never taste against a Yajuta. Never again.
-
"Jack? Jack? Oh, god Jack, please, don't be dead…!" the crying voice of my dear wife pierced the dark, numb confines of my mental prison like a shaft of light; the world slowly came into focus. Ann hovered over me, the desperate look in her eyes replaced by unadulterated joy. Cliff, holding our son, smiled at me in the background. Tim, leaning over me, grinned as I sat up.
"How do you feel?" he asked. I groaned.
"I feel like I got into a drinking match with Karen…and lost". I hadn't actually been in any drinking contests with her in my stay in Mineral Town, but I had witnessed the legendary battle between Karen and Duke…in which Duke, the winery owner, lost.
"That bad, huh?" he smirked. Ann hugged me, squeezing my ribs tightly. I gagged, and darkness ebbed back into my vision, threatening to send me back into unconsiousness again.
"Stop, Ann! He's alright- don't squeeze him like that, now, he might faint again…" Tim admonished. Ann giggled and smiled at me. I managed to weakly smile back before turning to look at Zack. Elli was crouched over him, fanning him with a paper fan while trying to put a cold compress on his sweaty forehead. Zack didn't budge; he looked dead.
"Is Zack…?" I mumbled, but Tim shook his head, guessing my question.
"He's not dead, if that's what you're asking. He's got a concussion and some internal bleeding, a torn Achilles tendon, and some broken ribs. I'm surprised you two made it this far, in your condition" Tim stated.
"What do you mean? I'm…ARGH!" I exclaimed as I tried to lift my arm, only to have a horrible, searing pain shoot through it. I almost didn't want to look, but, out of curiosity, I did anyway. And was horrified by what I saw.
My arm and hand was a charred, blackened mess. The skin was blackened, peeling. I could see the red muscle underneath. Tim sighed and shook his head.
"The damage isn't that extensive. There's no muscle damage that I can tell, but several layers of skin have been completely burned off, and it will be painful as it heals. Your arm will be fine in a couple of weeks" Tim sighed.
"A couple of weeks!" I exclaimed angrily.
"Yes. Whatever did that to your arm must have been hotter than a frying pan outside on a hot summer day, because it burned some of the flesh off outright. The stress of handling a shotgun must have also hurt" Tim admonished.
"How did you know I was shooting my gun? Were you there?" I asked. Tim shook his head.
"A shotgun is pretty audible over a quiet forest. Harris and I made for your position as fast as we could, and found you by the hot spring, passed out. We called the others, and they're here now" Tim said, motioning towards Elli, Grey and Mary, Doug and Harris. Elli was tending to Zack and Barley, Grey and Mary were talking with Harris, and Doug was standing over me, a forced smile on his face. I could see the worry behind his eyes, though.
"What were you doing out there? Ann kept telling me that you'd fill me in…" Doug began. It then occurred to me that the town was still uninformed of Rick's demise, save the ones that had been there, Thomas, Tim, Elli, Harris and Zack.
"It's a long story, sir, so I'll spare the details. Last night, we were at Mother's Hill, watching the stars. After we left, something…I guess the best thing I can say is that the woods seemed to come alive, and it took Rick. Something, maybe some kind of spirit or alien or something, took Rick, attacked my farm, and killed all of my chickens. We went searching for Rick today, and we were attacked…by something. I don't know what it was. I think whatever it is has some kind of mystical powers; it fired some kind of heat-ray at me and Zack, and did this to my arm. Whatever it is is still out there, waiting…watching" I moaned, the image of those yellow eyes surfacing in my mind once again. Doug's eyebrow arched.
"Had it come from anyone else, Jack, I'd think they were crazy. But, since Tim, Harris, and the others agree…what do you propose we do?"
I smiled as the words formed in my mouth.
"Simple. We're sending in the Marines".