Author's Note: Well, I'm swamped with work right now…so I'm not sure how great this is going to be. I've taken a leaf from Beezulbub's "Nightmare in Mineral Town", which will become prominent in the chapter. And Panzer, yourWWII/ Harvest Moon story, a small reference to that story is embedded in this chapter( BTW, what Predator game? Concrete Jungle isn't out yet, IS IT? ). And, yes, General Rykov and Stacker's rifleman who blew himself to bits with a Pulse Rifle Grenade, Harrison, are references to AVP 2, which is amazing online! To those who know me, I am darkjedi908, kamikaze noob and spawnkiller extrordinare! (XD)
Prey to a Hunter
Chapter 11:
A Hunter's Flight
Incident+378 Hours, Fall 25th, Year 5
"Gaaah…ahhh!" I choked over the hunter's glove. Even from behind its metal facemask, I could tell the hunter was seething. Enraged, and in general terms, EXTREMELY pissed off.
My head rolled backwards as the hunter slammed its fist into my gut, forcing the last bit of air out of my lungs. Behind me, Cliff levied for a clear shot at the hunter.
"Jack! Get down!" he yelled, firing his weapon at the creature. The ammunition belt draped around his shoulders seemed to fly into the chamber of the weapon, spitting molten bits of lead at the hunter. The massive beast staggered, and pulled at a weapon on its belt.
The weapon was spherical in shape and pulsated with a strange light. It looked like a throwing disc. Cliff depressed the firing lever of the gun, continuing to spit bullets at the hunter, which grunted as a trio of bullets pierced its armor.
The disc glowed red for a second, and then flew as its owner flung it at Cliff. It spun quickly, more like a Frisbee of Doom than anything. Cliff jerked his weapon to bear on the approaching object, and spat a quartet of rounds that slightly altered the projectile's course. Instead of severing Cliff's head, the weapon merely sliced Jenkins' gun in two, the bisected gun falling to the ground.
The hunter roared in triumph. Cliff scrambled backwards, tripping and falling over rubble. He gasped as the hunter stretched out its hand, recalling the circular disc. It flew back into its master's hand, and took its place at the hunter's belt.
Blackness crept into my vision. The hunter was squeezing tightly, threatening to snap my neck. I would never see Ann or the others again…unless they were dead, of course. Then I'd be joining them shortly.
A roar of surprise barely scratched the surface of the darkness in my vision. Air swept back into my lungs, and I gasped, falling to the ground. The hunter had released me, but why? The answer was clear when the hunter roared and slammed the back of its fist into Mira's face. The metal pipe Mira held clattered to the floor as she spun in the air. The hunter roared and raised its leg to smash her skull in.
Shiro suddenly sprang from underneath the rubble. Her right arm was bent and crooked, hanging limp at her side, but she was still able to grip a combat knife in her left hand. The hunter caught her wrist as the arm finished its sweeping arc, meant to stab the blade deep into the hunter's neck. She cried out in pain as he snapped the bones in her arm, and kicked her in the chest, sending her flying backwards into the rubble. Her chest plate was completely shattered, a gaping hole bashed in where the hunter's leg had struck.
"Stay down!" Larsen yelled, throwing his own knife like a javelin at the hunter. It clanged off of the hunter's helmet, leaving a deep scratch to add to the dented, blackened exterior of the mask. The hunter shrugged the blow off and grabbed the fallen Mira by the throat. Her head rolled on her shoulders as he flung her at Larsen, who grunted as the Marine slammed into his face. The sergeant cursed.
"Damn!" he snarled and fired his sniper rifle. The high-caliber rounds completely missed the hunter, who had initiated his roll before the sergeant had even raised his rifle. He rolled, and quickly kicked the sergeant in the head with his metal boot.
"Open fire!" General Rykov commanded. The entire scenario that had just unfolded couldn't have taken any more than ten seconds, at most. The two guards didn't hesitate to fire on the hunter. Their huge weapons spat fire and metal at the creature, to no avail. The hunter's armor was enough to weather the few hits it did sustain as an evasive jump and roll brought it out of the range of the guns. An almost superhuman jump catapulted the hunter into the trees, which were promptly chewed into mulch by the miniguns carried by the two guards.
"Target lost, General" the first one duly reported. The second one turned, watching the trees. The General cursed.
"Damn it!"
The sound of shifting rubble startled me. Tim and Elli slowly stood. Stacker and Takatura were beneath them, still on their cots, unharmed. But where were Doug and Ann?
"Elli, quickly! Doug's under here!" Tim yelled, trying to pull a large beam that had once held the roof up off of a small pile of boards. The sergeant, who had recovered his composure, stood and helped Tim pull the massive beam out of the way. The boards shifted, and Tim dragged a beaten Doug out of the rubble. Ann was lying beside him, shielded by her father's body. She immediately stood and rushed to her father, who lay on his back.
"Dad? Dad, are you alright?"
Doug groaned as he replied,
"I feel like I got hit by a truck. Everything hurts…wait, well, not everything. I can't feel my legs at all…" he explained, a note of panic rushing into his voice at the last bit. Tim's eyes betrayed worry as he spoke next, urgently giving directions to Doug.
"Doug? Try to move your legs, please!"
Doug's face expressed clear confusion as he stayed limp on the ground.
"We'll get him to the Clinic. This may be hard for you two to hear, but I believe that Doug is paralyzed from the waist down. We'll check him out, but there isn't much we can do if he is paralyzed. I'm sorry" Tim said grimly, moving to pull Stacker and Takatura from the ruins. Ann stared blankly at Tim.
"Surely there isn't something you can do?" she asked. Tim shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Ann. There is nothing I can do. Your father will still be able to function like a normal human, just without use of his legs…that's all" Tim shrugged. Ann shuddered slightly, and began to sob loudly. Tim looked at me with sympathy as I held Ann to my shoulder.
"General, the specimen has left the perimeter. No sign of it on any Doppler or passive sensors" the first commando noted. Then I remembered Larsen and Takatura's mission to seed the woods and perimeter of the town with some kind of early warning system, and this must be it.
"We shall pursue it. The specimen will not escape us. Pilot, prepare the helicopter. We're going now" the General stated. I raised my hand and stood up.
"Going where?" I asked. The General looked at me quizzically.
"After the specimen" he responded coolly. Despite the fact that I had just met him, and didn't truly trust him, and had probably pushed all of my luck for the day, I responded,
"No! You can't go after it! It's already killed off several townsfolk, and will be waiting for you if you pursue it into the woods!" I warned. He sneered.
"Little farmer, I do know, unlike you, what I am dealing with. An alien from another planet. A hunter, a stalker, and good one, I might add. My men and I can deal with him"
he waved his hand dismissively, striding off to his chopper. I sprinted after him.
"At least let me come with you. He's killed several of my friends, and I want to see him go down" I said. I secretly doubted that this General could succeed, but with these two burly men backing him up, the least I could do was go watch the downfall of this hunter.
The General nodded and strode to his helicopter. Motioning for his men to assist him, he began to unload several crates from the back of the helicopter. There were three crates in all. By this time, Karen, Gotz, Grey and Mary, and Harris had fallen into step behind us, wordlessly knowing what was about to happen. Their faces reflected grim determination. Every one of them had faced this monster before and lived. What would happen now, none of us knew.
The General pried open the first container, and the black gleam of several M41A Pulse Rifles gleamed in the midafternoon sunlight. Karen boldy strode first, grabbing one of the rifles, three clips of ammunition, and four grenades. Sliding the first magazine into the weapon and cycling the chamber, she clicked the safety on and clipped the grenades to the sides of the rifle.
"Can any of you shoot a military carbine?" the General asked, holding up another M41A Rifle. Gotz strode forward, taking the rifle in his massive hands, and clumsily sliding a clip into the rifle, attempting to imitate Karen's finesse but failing. He still managed to get the weapon loaded and the safety on, though.
Grey stepped forward next and hesitantly picked up a smaller, more compact, version of Larsen's old flamethrower. He slung it over his shoulder before picking up a standard-issue military sidearm. He looked clearly uncomfortable wielding both weapons.
Harris put his own pistol down and traded it in favor of a military-grade shotgun and one of the carbines, both loaded with full clips of ammunition. Zack followed suit and picked up two carbines, slinging them over his shoulders. The General sneered.
"Two carbines? A waste of weapons and ammunition, my friend"
Zack glowered at him and pulled himself into the chopper. Mira and Cliff sprinted after us, Ann trailing behind them. Larsen, whose face was bruised and bleeding, followed. And after him came Nickson and the sergeant.
"We're coming, too!" Ann panted, crouching over and panting. The General sneered at her. Cliff stepped forward and pushed her back.
"I'm sorry, Ann. You can't go"
Ann glared at him indignantly.
"Why not? You're going! Jack is going! They're all going!" she screeched, pointing to the others boarding the chopper. Cliff shook his head.
"I'm a marine now. Jack has fought this thing before, and wants to see it taken down, and they all aren't pregnant! You can't go- what if you get killed out there? Jack will never forgive himself! Do you want him to suffer for the rest of his life?" Cliff questioned Ann. Ann looked down and replied,
"But what if Jack dies? Our children…they'll never know their father". Cliff and I knew what had happened to Ann's mother, and how she had grown up with her father as her last surviving family member.
"I won't die, Ann. We're gonna take this thing down" I declared with a confidence that didn't quite reach my gut. She still pleaded with her eyes, pleaded me to stay and be safe, not to face this monster. That was not an option. Mary embraced Ann as Cliff snatched a carbine out of the box and was the last one to board the chopper as it took off, straining to get off the ground because of it's many passengers.
Larsen slapped a patch onto his face, masking his visage. Blood seeped onto the white cloth, gruesomely painting it a crimson color. The pilot called,
"Sir, target re-aquired, bearing 3 o clock. I can free up the chainguns on the nose and open fire, if you wish…" the pilot began. Rykov waved his hand dismissively.
"Do not open fire yet. We must capture this creature alive". The pilot blanched and aimed the chopper's nose in the direction of a clearing in the trees. This was where the hunter had fought Zack and myself weeks before.
"Thirty seconds! Heads up!" the pilot called. I stared into the faces of everyone aboard the chopper with me. A motley crew at best. Three defeated marines, their souls shattered, their wills broken by an invisible menace. The sergeant's face had lost all of it's usual luster and defiance, the wad of tobacco missing from his mouth. Larsen's arrogant face was now contorted into a painful grimance, from what I could see beyond the face bandage. He held the carbine in a confident grip, though, and silently thumbed a grenade in his palm. If he was going to die, he would try to take the hunter with him.
Karen, the aspiring actress and "town hottie". Her beautiful face was twisted with hate and a determined fury that I had never guessed possible from her. The knuckles that gripped the military carbine were white, and her formerly soulful, happy green eyes, were cold and heartless. She was out for revenge.
Harris' face displayed a nervousness I had never seen from him before. His job had been peaceful, simply resolving conflicts between other villagers. I had never really gotten to know Harris, but he was a good man, too good to be sent off to die on a suicide mission against an unbeatable foe.
Zack's face was contorted. He was no longer the happy, fun loving man who cracked jokes with me as he collected my harvest for the day. He was now nothing more than a man, a scared man, facing against a monster, before which his imposing physical size and good nature could not compete. His face was fearful, but determined to see this operation through to the end.
Gotz and I had gotten to know each other over the five years I had lived in Mineral Town. I had seen a side of Gotz no one but possibly Karen had seen; the caring, compassionate side of Gotz. His wife and child were lost one day at the summit of Mother's Peak during a rainstorm, and the empty cottage in the mountains he had built as a tribute to them. Some, like the town gossips Sasha, Anna, and Manna thought he was a heartless monster for never publicly shedding a tear for his lost kin, but I knew better. He was a man who was badly hurt, but could still love. His face betrayed nothing as the chopper began to descend.
Grey looked ready to wet himself. He was a city boy, like myself, unhappy with Mineral Town. He was the grandson and apprentice to Saibara, the town blacksmith. Grey was kind and quiet, and in my opinion, perfect for someone like Mary. I knew Mary would be heartbroken if Grey died on this crazy mission. The two probably didn't even know that they loved each other, but it was obvious to many who looked closely enough. He knew as well as I did, though, that he had a duty to accomplish, and would not back down until he had either walked away victorious, or had been slain by this alien.
Cliff was an enigma to me. His katana was strapped to his side, and a semi-automatic pistol was tucked conspicuously into his jacket. He also carried the military carbine. His past was unknown, it being an almost unspoken agreement between us to never speak of such a painful thing for Cliff. His face looked almost sinister in the darkness, a drastic change from the shy, respectful boy I knew. His eyes seemed to glow with a fire I had never seen before, as the chopper's door opened.
"Let's go! Move it up!" the sergeant yelled, but with very little confidence.
Mira. The only unknown in the equation of the seven marines. Her face reflected a clear determination, not unlike Karen's. Jenkins and Mira had worked before, but I did not know when. Whatever that was, there was no time to think about it now. She looked around the trees, and then to the crater. As she started to move towards it, a loud roar echoed through the trees. It threatened to split my eardrums in half, and I had no doubt that it was our hunter. It would not be long now.
-
The Yautja paused for a moment, resting against a tree. It could not make it any farther. The hunting equipment and stimulants would only push him so far. The human vehicle roared overhead, and the Yautja knew he would have to fight the humans one last time to get to his ship.
Pressing several buttons on the side of his wrist-computer, he extracted two short blades from the humming machine. Peeling off his ceremonial chestplate, the Yautja shut his eyes under his helmet, and stabbed the blade deep into his chest.
The roar shattered the forest as the rain began to fall.
-
I gripped the shotgun as tightly as I could as Mira quietly whispered,
"He's coming"
The two men escorting General Rykov shifted, pointing their guns to the trees. The chopper's blades stopped spinning, and the pilot stepped out, pistol at the ready.
"Sir, Doppler is picking up something very big headed this way. Should I take our bird up?" the pilot asked, casting a worried glance into the trees. My eyes turned into dots as I realized exactly what I was standing next to: several tons of live ammunition, rockets, and gasoline. And the hunter was on his way back.
"RUN!" I yelled, jumping out of the way. Rykov cast me an odd look, looking from me, cowering behind a rock, my hands above my head, and to the chopper. His expression was almost priceless as he realized the thoughts that had entered my mind.
-
The Yautja paused for a second, sliding the healing blades back into its wrist-computer. Slowly standing up, the Yautja took inventory; only his Plasmacaster, Combi-stick, one shi'ruken, homing disc, and, of course, ceremonial wrist-blades had survived the past few units fighting the human warriors. His plasma pistol, which ran off of power from his hunting mask, was bent and twisted beyond recognition, useless. The Yautja snarled and threw the broken device onto the ground.
Moving through the trees, the Yaujta surpressed a laugh as he saw what the humans had done. Their vehicle was right out in the open. The Yautja pressed a button on the side of his mask, and powered up his Plasmacaster….
-
"Jack, wha-?" Gotz began. That was all he managed before the helicopter exploded in a brilliant flash of light, sending the burly man flying. Zack sailed past on my left, and one of the General's guards, on fire, ran past my right. Grey was thrown about six feet backwards, eventually slamming onto the ground in a heap. Karen, taking cover about one second after I did, crouched behind me, eyes squeezed shut.
The explosion's roar eventually deafened, and the last chunks of metal fell. The General slowly rose and screamed in anger.
"Come out, you big bastard!" he yelled into the trees. The sergeant held up his hand.
"Now, sir, I don't think that this is the smartest thing to…"
The sergeant's eyes went blank as the shining metal disc embedded itself into his gut. As he slowly gazed down at the metal object and slumped to the ground, a loud roar of triumph echoed through the trees as the hunter leapt into the air.