Author's Note: I HATED writing this chapter. I couldn't decide which marine (I couldn't kill off any of the cardinal characters yet!) to sacrifice in this chapter! ARGH! The loss of said marine hurt me, but I still have use for marines like Shiro and Larsen. And my Cliff's past is loosely based off of the KOTOR 2 character Atton Rand, with a shady past he doesn't want to acknowledge. Read and review, please!

Prey to a Hunter

Chapter VII

One Down

Incident+202 Hours. Fall 19th, Year 5

I slowly opened my eyes as day broke. I was clutching my pillow tightly, and it was warm and hard in my arms. Wait a minute- warm and hard? I could feel my pillow under my head, and I snapped my eyes open quickly to examine this odd object. It was Ann's head. A peaceful smile was spread across her face as she sighed in her sleep and cuddled up next to me. The scene, in my opinion, couldn't get any cuter than this. The first few weeks of our marriage, I had kept waking up in the middle of the night, wondering who was in my bed. Ann had actually woken up and punched me in the jaw when I reached my hand out and touched something. We had both avoided each other for the rest of the day. Chuckling to myself, I lay back down in bed. I didn't have to get up yet, really, seeing as it was only daybreak.

Stroking Ann's hair absentmindedly, I wondered what had shaken her up so much last night. She hid it well, but you don't live with a person for over a year and not know everything about them. Something last night had disturbed her greatly, and I wondered exactly what had happened.

She had never told me, but I somehow knew that I had met Ann before, years and years before inheriting Trayus. When my parents brought me here, fifteen years ago, I had met a little girl. During the week I spent here in Mineral Town, we grew very close to each other. I had forgotten what her name had been, but the one feature I remembered about her was her fiery red hair and bright blue eyes. It had to be Ann.

A crisp knock on the door made Ann jump off of my lap; she looked genuinely afraid of something. Her normally cheerful face was twisted with fear, and her eyes darted left and right, searching for some invisible threat. Did the hunter arrive at our house last night? I decided to ask her later as I groggily stood and opened the door. Elli and Tim were standing in front of me. Tim was smiling happily, and Elli glanced over my shoulder at Ann, barely trying to conceal her glee.

"Ann…we have the results of your blood tests" Tim smiled. I perked up instantly, and Ann rushed over to me.

"What is it?" I asked. Elli's eyes sparkled as she told Ann,

"You guys better make some more room…Charlie won't be alone for much longer!" she squealed. Ann instantly grasped the concept of another child and happily yelled with joy. I hugged Ann and Tim slapped me on the back. The sound of boots crunching on gravel, however, made us look up in surprise. Two marines, Jenkins and Shiro, quickly approached our door. Saluting us, they spoke quickly.

"The Mayor has requested all town citizens gather in the Square for a meeting. The winery owner Duke was found dead this morning" Jenkins growled.

"And Manna? What of Manna?" I inquired. Shiro shook her head.

"Nothing. We found nothing. We were there when something came and abducted her. We hit it with everything we had, but that wasn't enough. Whatever it was, it is as tough as you say, Jack" Shiro grimly reported. I shook my head. So now the casualty list had been bumped up to two- Rick and Manna. I stopped only to grab my shotgun and headed out. I didn't want to actually shoot the weapon, but the psychological purpose it would serve for that hunter would probably be enough. Besides, it had been five days since my encounter with death, and I was beginning to feel better again.

"Be careful now" Tim admonished as I carefully strapped the weapon over my shoulders. I nodded in acknowledgment. Ann and Elli were chattering in the background happily as we approached the town square. Thomas was standing on an old, moldy box of soap, getting ready to address the crowds.

"Everyone!" he cried vainly over the chattering crowds. Everyone looked anxious and afraid. Rumors must have spread like lightning, for everyone glanced into the trees fearfully. Cliff approached us and asked,

"What's going on? Do you know, Jack?"

"I don't know. These Marines just told me that they found Duke dead and Manna missing" I replied. Cliff shook his head and stood next to us as Thomas finally began to shout out his speech,

"I know that rumors have been flying around lately…" he began. Jeff, to my immense surprise, yelled back angrily,

"How can we defend ourselves against this thing? It's coming into our homes!" he yelled, swelling up like an angry balloon. Sasha scowled at him before Thomas attempted to speak again,

"Well, umm, that brings me to my next point. Sergeant, please!" he yelled, motioning towards the marine sergeant standing off to the side. The sergeant proudly stepped up onto the moldy soapbox and barked,

"We've come to the conclusion that only a quick strike can take this tough-ass son of a horse's turd out! To that end, I would like some volunteers! Who's with me!" he queried, sweeping his arm out widely to encompass all of us. Nobody stepped forward, except one person. Flowing brown hair and the trademark purple jacket screamed that the first volunteer for this suicide mission was Karen. Her eyes flashed with anger as Larsen regarded her with contempt, and the sergeant smiled at her, saying,

"Welcome aboard. Any other volunteers?"

Gotz was next. He casually slung his chopping axe over his shoulder and joined Karen next to the sergeant, his cold eyes taking in the line of marines. Nickson, the tiny, young marine, blanched as Gotz glared at him, and stumbled backwards under the over-balanced weight of his weapon.

"Anybody else?"

Nobody else stepped forward. Zack, his head still bandaged, looked up at the volunteers and shook his head. The Marines scowled at us, almost mocking us, daring one of us to step up. I almost stood and walked over to the marines, but Ann grabbed my shoulder. Before I could stop her, she spun me around and looked me square in the eyes.

"You can't go, Jack! I'll go instead" she insisted. My eyes bulged.

"No way! That thing could kill you! And I can't let you- it's my duty as your husband! And besides, what about that baby you're carrying? What about the baby?" I challenged silently. Ann glared at me.

"I saw that thing last night. It could have killed us all, and it didn't. Now, I believe that if we don't stop this thing here and now, it'll kill us all anyway! You saw what it can do, and what it just did! Kidnapped Rick right in front of you, and stole Manna out from under the noses of these marines! If they're asking for help, they're gonna need all the help they can get! I'm going, Jack!" she firmly stated, meaning the topic was closed for discussion. I mulled her thoughts over, and silently handed her my shotgun and a box of ten shells from my back pocket. With a look of grim resignation, Ann stepped forward, sliding the box of shells into the front pocket of her suspenders.

Elli and Tim, who hadn't overheard our conversation, gasped in surprise as Ann took her place next to Karen. Karen nodded silently at Ann, who slung the shotgun over her shoulder and stared back at me. I sighed and stared down at the ground.

"Jack, what are you doing? Stop her!" Elli growled, nudging me in the back. I turned to Elli, my head bowed, and said grimly,

"Those marines will need all the help they can get. I would go, but I can't, because of my injury. It was Ann's choice to go, and I won't stop her. She'll be safe…I know she will. They'll wipe the floor with that thing and come home safe. Ann will be alright" I told more myself than them. Tim shook his head.

"The stress of combat may be too much for her. She'll only be a liability in combat" Tim t'sked, making me smile at him.

"Then you don't know my Ann" I stated proudly. I knew Ann wasn't a liability to those Marines; had I shown her my shotgun before, she would have probably wanted to go shoot it. I disliked the idea of shooting the weapon at all, but I considered taking it up as a hobby as the sergeant began to speak to his volunteers. To my surprise, Cliff had joined them, and was cradling a long package in his arms. His face might have been set in stone, from the cold expression on his face. If I didn't know any better, I could have sworn Cliff almost looked different, like a changed man. He almost looked like some kind of trained killer or assassin, like he had killed and almost died before.

In a group, the Marines filed out of the clearing, heading in the direction of the woods. Watching them go, I saw the scared expression on Ann's face before they entered the wood. The fear twisted my heart into knots, and that was the final straw. I ripped the cast off of my arm, to the horror of Tim and Elli, and flexed my hand. My arm looked slightly charred, but otherwise healed. Nasty scars would come from this, but I didn't care. As I prepared to follow the Marines, Doug approached me, reaching for something in his jacket.

"If you're going after Ann, take this. You'll need it" he said, handing me a .45 pistol and another clip for the weapon. I internally grimaced at the idea of shooting something again, but repressed the urge and replied,

"I won't let her get hurt, sir. I mean it" I firmly stated. He nodded.

"You're a good husband, Jack. Watch over Ann" he slapped me on the back and sent me on my way. I slipped away from the general chaos of the raging square, quietly slipping the weapon into my rucksack and fingering the extra clip Doug had given me.

I won't let you down, sir.

-

The Yautja extracted the syringe from the female human. She spat at him and huffed indignantly as the warrior deposited the contents of the syringe into a small vial. The other male human had given up resistance units ago, and glared at the Yautja from his shackles. The Yautja had originally intended to kill him, but seeing that the human was of right age, his use had been secondary. The Yautja placed the vial of white liquid collected from the male human into a miniature stasis-unit and placed the other vial from the female next to it.

Human leaders long held the relationship with the Yautja; the Yautja provided technology and tipped political scales for the humans, and the humans gave the Yautja the ability to hunt in selective locations on the human home world. But there was a sect in the human government, looking to capture a Yautja. And three times, they had almost succeeded. The Yautja hunts had become more subtle since then, the last hunt taking place in a giant pyramid housing the biological weapons of the Yautja's ancestors. But the Yautja wasn't interested in his species' past at the moment as a low beeping noise emanated from the nearest console; the trip lines he had placed in the woods had been set off. It had only been a matter of time before the humans had come to investigate the crash site of the Yautja for the second time…and with force. Based off of the number of sensors tripped, a large column of humans were coming.

The Yautja grabbed two weapons off of its trophy rack and turned towards the doors. Let them come.

-

Ann glanced around warily, Jack's shotgun at the ready. Had she known her husband possessed the weapon, she would have loved to go target shooting with him! Ann had originally despised the idea of shooting the weapon, as her look of distaste when her husband unveiled the weapon clearly advertised, but after a little while, the idea of the weapon's recreational use had grown on her. Ann wasn't one to pass up new things.

Karen, standing on Ann's left, was acting strangely. Her face was determined, dead set in seriousness. Her green eyes, which captivated the stares of many a passing traveler, were cold and distant, and Ann, no matter what she said, couldn't even get Karen to grin at her. Ann was Karen's best friend, and the loss of Rick must have a bigger impact on her friend than Ann realized. Karen was holding the basic framework of some sort of automatic weapon, loaned to her from Saibara. He claimed to have re-furbished the weapon himself, re-crafting some of the parts by hand.

Cliff was distant as well. He carried a long package under his arm, and no amount of prompting would get him to open it. He had stubbornly refused to reveal the contents of the box. What could be so important for Cliff to be so obstinate about the contents of a long box? Cliff glanced around coldly as his fingers toyed with the edges of the box.

"Movement!" the lead marine shouted, pointing his weapon, the long, advanced, tracking weapon, in the direction of a clearing.

"What's the position?" the sergeant asked, glancing warily around.

"Uhh…god dammnit, stupid piece of crap! I can't lock in, there's too much interference!" he snarled, pushing buttons on the side of his helmet.

"Talk to me, Jenkins! What was it?" the sergeant barked.

"Sir, I dunno! It was there, and then…gone! I only had it for a second…Nickson, did you get anything?" he asked in frustration. Nickson nodded.

"Yes, sir. I did. It looked like some really big thing, I dunno. It was big, and was only on my weapon's tracker for a second" he confirmed. The Marines removed the safeties from their weapons.

"There! Twelve o'clock!" Nickson shouted, letting loose a barrage of bullets. The stillness of the woods was disturbed by the cracking of automatic weapons fire as their assailent fell silently from the trees.

The hind legs of the squirrel twitched slightly, the body mangled beyond recognition. The sergeant's eyebrow cocked, and the big marine, Larsen, growled,

"We got spooked by a SQUIRREL? That's it! Let's just torch the place and get it over with!" he declared, igniting the primer flame of his weapon. Takatura held her hand up.

"No, we can't! Do you want to set the whole village on fire, you idiot? You'd fry us all!"

The next moment was awkward as the marines glared at each other.

"Alright, people, settle down, settle down. Let's just keep moving" the sergeant growled. The Marines glared at each other, than moved on. Ann sighed and shook her head; these idiots didn't even get along with each other, so how could they possibly band together to stop this threat?

-

I silently followed the procession of Marines into the forest. We were getting closer to the clearing where I had been attacked by that creature. What if the thing was following us now? I really didn't want to wait to find out, yet I didn't want to scare Ann too badly by jumping out of the trees for nothing. I decided to hold my ground, silently following the marines as they delved deeper into the woods.

The Yautja gurgled as the humans blasted apart the small Earth mammal from its perch. Stupid humans, wasting their ammunition on such a small mammal, or had those shots been intended for the Yautja? The Yautja knew he had been spotted by the human's tracking technology, but the electromagnetic fields radiated by his hunting mask disrupted the auto-targeting systems on the human weapons before they could fire. Instead, the human weapons had re-acquired a new target, and terminated it, missing the hunter completely. The humans probably guessed the Yautja's presence, but were still casually relaxed. The Yautja reached for the closest weapon at his belt; his throwing disc. The human sporting tool, the discus, was based off of the design of the Yautja weapon, but far inferior from the original, as the disc was about to prove. The hunter prepared to throw the disc…

Larsen suddenly glanced into the trees and shouted,

"Look out!"

Flinging myself to the ground, I watched, surprised, as a black, glowing object soared overhead. It seemed to have originated from the trees behind us. The Marines still didn't know I was there, and as the disc chopped through several trees, pandemonium broke loose. I jumped out from my hiding spot as Jenkins fired his grenade launcher indiscriminately into the trees, shattering the tranquil forest.

Karen tripped over me as I landed, belly down, in the center of the marine formation. She gasped and pointed her weapon at my face, the look of hate sending tendrils of fear into my heart.

"Jack?" she asked as Nickson's overbalanced weapon barked, spitting rounds into the trees. A familiar gurgling chuckle passed overhead, and the black disc, embedded in the side of a tree, swung about and into the hands of it's invisible owner, who promptly disappeared again into the trees.

"God damnit, you big bastard! Come out and fight!" Larsen challenged, holstering his flamethrower and unsheathing his shotgun, sliding the action back and forth. Ann glanced around warily, not even noticing my presence. Cliff was gone, lost in the chaos. Had the hunter killed him, too? I couldn't let anyone else die; I pulled the pistol from my jacket and aimed it into the trees.

"Fuck off and die" my voice rang, synthesized and yet still mine, from the trees behind us. My head snapped back and forth as I tried to trace this unstoppable menace. Where was it? The question was soon answered as a bloody scream made me jump in fear.

Private Shiro yelled angrily as an invisible arm blindsided her. She fell, and the shimmering form moved on to Larsen. Larsen grunted and fired his shotgun, and missed. The thing kicked him in the chest and knelt over his struggling form.

"Get it! Shoot it, now!" the sergeant yelled. The ATS Smartguns spat out more rounds than I could possibly count, and the amount of fire laid down by Stacker and Takatura was amazing. Shiro groped for her fallen weapon, but this was all in vain, as the invisible hunter struck for the kill.

"God damn it! What the fuck are you?" Takatura yelled angrily as she reloaded her weapon.

"E tu, mothefucker?" the thing gurgled before leaping back into the trees. I glanced around, surprised, thinking the thing had gotten away. But, to my surprise, Jenkins screamed as a long spear embedded itself in his gut. Blood spurted across Shiro's face as she grasped her rifle.

"No!" someone yelled. The shimmer, which had landed several feet away, clashed with, to my surprise, Cliff, who was wielding what looked like a Japanese katana. The thing blocked and parried Cliff's furious tirade of attacks using it's bare forearms as shields to weather the storm. Cliff never seemed to tire. Spinning and circling his blade, he weaved an intricate dance of death, slashing and hacking at the unseen menace.

Cliff was suddenly hurtled backwards by an unseen force. The thing seemed to have won as the sound of metal sliding into place clicked over the silence of the forest. A shimmer in the air turned into a blue crackle of electricity, and soon became the noise of electric circuits burning out. The masked demon was revealed to have a set of wristblades, pointed directly at Cliff's head!

"Stay down!" yelled the marine to my right as she sprang into action. Her helmet flew off of her head as she charged at the hunter. It was then I noticed how short her hair was, and the odd color of her skin as well. It was almost an orange-peach color, except on her face. Her fingers almost looked like claws as she used her rifle as a brutish cudgel to swing at the creature.

With a sickening crack, the creature stumbled sideways, grunting in pain. The marine held her rifle barrel up, the butt of the weapon slightly bent from the impact on the alien's skull. Her eyes flared, and it was when the creature didn't rise that I realized how strong she must be. What was this marine? I didn't even know her name.

"Run, kid, run!" she yelled at Cliff. He looked like he didn't need telling twice as he scooped up his katana and sheathed it.

Jenkins coughed feebly and stood, pulling the spear out of his chest with a yell. Dropping his "Smartgun" and all of it's auto-tracking gear onto the forest floor, he struggled to stay upright. As the creature rose, standing menacingly in front of us, he charged forward.

"Go! I'll hold this bastard off! He's no match for me! Run!" he yelled in a final display of bravado. Drawing a pistol, he fired twelve shots at point-blank range into the creature's helmet. All twelve bullets pinged off of the thing's helmet as it lifted Jenkins by the throat. As I turned to fire on the creature, a hand grabbed my arm and yanked me backwards, away from Jenkins' death gurgle.

"Get up, Jack! Run!" Karen urged. I stumbled to my feet and ran, hearing Jenkins' death screams that still echoed through the woods as we all fled.

We emerged from the woods a bloody and bedraggled mess. The townsfolk were gathered, and dismayed by our broken appearance. Stu waddled forward and asked me,

"Did you win, Jack?"

I patted the small boy on the head and replied,

"Well…"

Larsen snarled.

"We just got our asses kicked, kid! Alright? It won, we lost! What are we gonna do?" he yelled angrily.

"Pull it together, Larsen!" the sergeant checked. Larsen glared and went silent.

"Now, what exactly happened? Where's that last one…umm…Jenkins?" Jeff asked. Gotz spoke up, in his big, booming voice,

"That thing killed him. It's tougher than Jack said it would be; it made a complete ass out of all of us. Even these Marines here!" he exclaimed, pointing towards the scowling Larsen.

"You wanna start something, boy?" Larsen challenged. Gotz bristled and held up his ham-sized fists, well callused from his work as a lumberjack. Thomas stepped forward.

"Now, now, everybody! Stop! We need a plan!" he yelled over the din of the townsfolk. Everyone glared at him.

"What kind of plan? This thing outwitted an entire squad of marines! How can we stop it?" Anna queried, looking like an angry balloon. Mary glanced around nervously and tried to calm her mother down.

"You underestimate us. Look at what our forefathers did! They came here, to Mineral Town, an uninhabited, lonely island, and colonized it within five years. History says that they overcame many hardships, but survived all the same. They repelled invasions of every kind, from the British attacks during the Revolution, to the Confederate occupation during the Civil War, we've overcome a lot. We'll survive" Mary assured the restless crowds. A murmur of assent traveled through the congregation before the marines trumped off in the direction of the town's Inn.

"Say, Cliff…where'd you get that sword from?" I asked him. He glared at me.

"It was a family heirloom" he said simply before walking on. I couldn't help but notice the brown stains on the side of the hilt and sheath of the sword; were those bloodstains?

"JACK!" yelled an angry voice. I knew exactly what to expect as I turned around to face a glaring, petite, saber-toothed tiger with bright blue eyes and red hair.

"What were you doing out there? Where's your cast? Why aren't you at home?" Ann asked angrily.

"Hey, isn't that supposed to be MY job? And besides, you aren't much better off! At least I'm not pregnant here!" I retorted angrily. Ann huffed indignantly.

"You fought this thing before and it almost killed you! What kind of sense do you have to go and fight it again, Jack?" she asked, tears forming in her eyes.

"I didn't want you to get hurt. If that thing killed either of us…well, I don't know what you would do, but I wouldn't go on. I couldn't, Ann. That's why I couldn't let you go alone" I almost choked out the words, reaching out and hugging my wife. She hugged me back.

"You're so sweet, Jack. I'm so glad we're married" Ann told me silently as we let go. Emotions were running high after our brush with death; it almost seemed inappropriate, especially in public, but to us, it meant the world to each other to know we cared this much for each other. Feeling giddy, we held hands and almost skipped home, not caring about invisible hunters or the death of one Private Jenkins.

-

Cliff sullenly walked back into his room and put his imported katana away. What he had told to Jack was half-truth; the weapon had been a family heirloom, but Jack didn't know the weapon's past and the conflict it had served in.

The female marine walked in, putting her rifle down on the table. The massive dent on the butt of the weapon reminded Cliff of his close shave, and he put the weapon on his bed and rose to thank her.

"Umm, thanks for the save out there. I would have probably been toast if you hadn't interfered" Cliff told her gratefully. She smiled at him.

"It was nothing. Your assistance in the battle was greatly appreciated" she said in a formal tone that betrayed no emotion. Cliff frowned.

"You never did tell me your name. I'm Cliff, by the way" he said, extending his hand.

"Mira. My name is Mira" she told Cliff, shaking his hand.

"So, umm, where are you from?" Cliff asked. It was Mira's turn to frown.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you" she said in a final tone, telling Cliff not to ask again. Pulling the clip out of her weapon, Cliff tried to engage her in conversation again, saying,

"That's an impressive weapon" echoing her earlier words about his katana.

"This is the M6AP Assault Rifle. Shoots more or less where you want it to go, and quickly, as well" she shrugged, tracing her fingers along the contorted end of the weapon. Cliff remembered the power behind the attack on that hunter's skull. Was Mira even human, from her physical features? Her eyes, a bright, almost unnatural yellow, seemed to glow in the dark, and if Cliff didn't know any better, he could have sworn four small bumps were visible whenever she opened her mouth.

"Well, I'm bushed. I'm going to bed" Cliff announced with a yawn, only taking time to put the katana under his bed before going to sleep. Mira stared at him in confusion for a little while before falling asleep at the table.