Chapter 8: Arachnophobia

Mac-11: Hi guys. I'm back. My dad is letting me use his computer to update until mine is fixed. Thank God for that. Well here's the new chapter.

The clan decided to walk back to the ship. It might take them half an hour, but they didn't care. They had not slept in a week (minus Shou'nk who is currently getting some shut eye). They were also quite dirty. They had not bathed in days. All the excitement had kept them going. Normally a Predator would sleep for ten hours twice every week. To them it was more like they hadn't slept for two days straight. They had found a new kind of alien and were the first to kill it. No doubt they would have the honor of bringing the first head of an acid spitter to their home planet, but they also found ruins with their language on it hinting they used to in habit this planet and had been the first to explore them. And not to mention they skipped another night to attack the corporates. It appeared as if they would go down in Yautja history once they came back from this mission.

"Well, that was pretty easy. As soon as we get back to the ship I'm ordering you all to get at least ten hours of sleep," said the clan leader. Netak cringed at the words. He hated to take orders from Merc'rk, but never the less he did need the sleep. Essra yawned and stretched her arms. "So, what are we going to do when the other corporates arrive?" asked Essra. "Hunt down every last one, then grant them slow and painful deaths," answered Netak. "Sounds good to me," said Reco'de.

Meanwhile...

The marines all sat down next to the main bunker setting up for a daily patrol. Jason was now holding a pulse rifle, because the lens of his sniper rifle was dirty. The Corporal stepped out of his bunker. "Ok, men, since we have a drop ship containing supplies that's going to be here in an hour we need to have a patrol go out and search the area. Also with word of the corporates here we marines don't trust them. Due to some recent conflicts..." he gave a look in Sean and Jason's direction. The commander knew of everyone's combat history before they were sent here, including Sean and Jason's small battle with the corporates on Lv-1201. "We will have three-five man patrols. Here are the men going and where you will go."

He then began giving out a list of names and a list of wave points after every five names. "Sean, Jason, Steve, Richard, and Bebop," he said and then gave them some directions. Jason looked at his squad leader with a questionable look. "Who's Bebop?" he asked. Just then a large black man walked up to them.

He had short black hair that was covered with his bullet proof helmet. His sleeves were ripped off because they wouldn't fit his muscular arms. Unlike most marines instead of a pulse rifle he had a shot gun and two ammo belts slung around his chest. One loaded with shot gun shells and the other loaded with shot gun slugs. He was a good six foot nine which made him tower over Jason's five foot eight and Sean's five foot eleven.

"I'm Bebop," he said in a deep and raspy voice. "I like him already," said Jason. "Alright let's get going," ordered Sean.

Meanwhile...

The clan was continuing their short walk back to the ship. "Damn we're a mess," said the female predator just noticing how dirty she and the others were. "Clan, look over there!" cried Reco'de and pointing. He had spotted a small water fall were a river ended. Where the water fell it made a small pool that was about one and a half meters deep. This planet had some rivers, but they had not found any for a while. They approached the river and looked in it. They could see their reflections clearly and they could see the bottom of the ground under the water, which meant it was pretty clean water.

"Finally I can bathe. I'll go first," she said and took a few steps toward it when she stopped and looked at the others. She gave them a look. They got the message and walked out of sight of Essra. It was considered perverse for a male Yautja to watch a female Yautja bathe.

As soon as they were gone the huntress took off her armor and got in the small pool. Essra walked under the water fall and began to clean herself.

Meanwhile...

The patrol of marines were at there second wave point. They had five wave points total. "So, Bebop, where are you from?" asked Steve. "Salt Lake City, Utah," he answered proudly. "Cool. I'm from California," replied Jason. "I'm from Maryland," said Sean. "Colorado," said Steve. "Columbia," said Richard. 'Figures,' they all thought. "And why are you still here?" said Sean looking at Meagan as she was following them. "Sorry to say this, but my boss at CNN said the ratings are going up ever since I began stick with you guys so he wants me to record you guys a lot," she answered. Her should camera watched and shinned in the sunlight.

Suddenly they heard a sound coming from the direction where their next wave point was in. The marines slowly approached with caution. They looked over some bushes and saw some aliens. It looked as if they were talking. He saw four drones, two acid spitters, and something new.

This new alien also had two legs and two arms with claws. It was just as tall as a praetorian. Its head was shaped like an arrow, but it still had the drone's face. There were two canards sticking out of the side of its head. It also had two large plates of armored skin covering its back.

The drone and the other aliens were sniffing each other. When one recognized the other the acid spitter clawed one of the drones. The claw went right to the face and killed it instantly. It was as if this new breed of aliens hated the originals. A fury broke out in all of them and they began to kill each other. It was a short battle and when it was over the new breeds stood victorious.

"What the hell just happened?" asked Jason as he stared not believing what he just saw. "Who cares? It just means less bugs for us to shoot," said Sean as he jumped out, gave a battle cry and began shooting at the aliens. He was quickly followed by the other marines. They began shooting at them with him giving their own battle cries.

The acid spitters spat back at them. The new kind of alien stared for a few seconds. Then suddenly both of the plates of armored skin lifted up and exposed insect-like wings that were similar to a beetle's. The wings began flapping at a very high speed like a humming bird's wings. A motor sound came with the increasing motion of the wings. It lifted of the ground and roared at them.

The marines stopped what they were doing and stared motionless watching it. "Oh great now they can fly," said Steve in a sarcastic manner just before an acid spitter spat at him. It hit his gun and knocked him back a few feet. Sean, Jason, Richard, and Bebop all split up and ran for it as acid spit wads pelted where they were standing. Meagan looked back at Steve and saw the flying alien moving towards him at an increasingly fast speed. The alien was getting ready to swoop by and cut off his head. Meagan instantly reached for Sean and Jason's right hips. She grabbed their pistols and turned to the flying Xenomorph. She fired both her pistols at it and hit its leg. She got a glimpse of Steve's shocked expression. The bug turned and now it was flying towards her. She continued to fire at it and hit it, but it didn't care how many times it got shot. It was about reach her when suddenly a loud bang went off and it fell to the ground.

Bebop walked up with his shot gun and stuck the barrel down the alien's throat and pulled the trigger. The entire back portion of the creature's exploded.

Sean walked over behind a tree. The acid spitter had disappeared from his sight. Sean looked around and didn't find anything. Suddenly it jumped out from the other side of the tree. The acid spitter clawed at him and knocked the gun out of his hands. It landed a few yards away to his right. He ran for it, but the alien jumped between him and his pulse rifle. It stepped forward and got real close to Sean. The acid spitting Xenomorph was inches away from him when it spat acid directly at his face. However Sean was quicker. He looked down at his shoes and exposed only the top of his helmet to the creature.

The acid splattered all over the top of his helmet. He took it off and held it by the chin straps. He swung it into the alien's face. The helmet was quickly burning away and he was hoping it would last him long enough to think up a plan to get his automatic rifle back. The alien swung back, but Sean ducked and dodged it, and then returned with an attack of his own. He swung the burning helmet into the alien face again. It got pissed off and attacked him again with the claws. It got cut on his arm, but it wasn't enough to immobilize it. Sean gathered all his strength and swung the helmet into its face again. The helmet shattered this time. The tiny and pointy shards got jammed in the alien's face. It began desperately trying to claw them out.

'Perfect timing,' thought Sean as he dashed for his gun. He fire a grenade in the acid spitter's back that exploded and killed it on contact.

Jason began firing at the other acid spitter. He was getting some hits when his clip ran empty. He mumbled a curse word as he saw the enraged acid spitter running at him. There wasn't enough time to reload. He pushed a button on his rifle. A bayonet unfolded out of the front of his rifle between the barrels of the grenade launcher and the automatic rifle. He stabbed it in the stomach. It roared in pain, but was still getting closer by pressing the bayonet into it self.

Just then another bayonet came out of its mouth. It automatically started to melt from the acid blood. Jason looked down and realized his bayonet had melted too. The dead alien dropped to the ground. Behind it was Richard. "Nice one," Jason complimented as he took off what was left of the burnt bayonet.

They walked back in the formation they were in before. None off them spoke as they headed to the next wave point.

Meanwhile...

Essra had just finished bathing and was putting back on her last piece of armor. She heard the snap of a branch go off. She looked behind her. There was nothing in sight, but trees. She looked forward again and saw a stream of web fly at her. It rapped around her. She gave a loud roar trying to get the others to hear. Suddenly a large Xenomorph spider jumped down and wrapped up the rest of her body. The spider walked over to her cocooned body and stuck its fangs in her. It was not enough to kill her, but it was enough to knock her out. It wanted her alive. The creature scooped her up and jumped away.

The others had heard her roar and came running. When she wasn't there they almost panicked. "Spread out and search for her," ordered Merc'rk. Reco'de and Netak left and searched in different areas.

Reco'de was searching for about an hour. He was tired and was fighting sleep so his senses were dulling. Suddenly he was covered in webbing. He heard the sound off many legs coming his way. Just then he felt a sharp pain in his side and gave a loud roar before falling asleep. The spider carried him off too.

Merc'rk realized it was picking them off when he heard Reco'de's roar and ordered Netak to come back to him. Netak came back to his leader and heard the roar. "We need to head back to the area where Reco'de was captured," he ordered. At that moment Netak realized that he and Merc'rk were alone. Now was the perfect time. He grabbed his spear and it unfolded. "Merc'rk, I challenge you!!!"

Meanwhile...

The patrol was walking to the next wave point when they suddenly heard a roar, but this was a predator's roar. They began to run passed the trees fearing something had happened to the clan. Suddenly Sean stopped at a small ledge. The others didn't see it and rammed into him. They all fell down into a large web coating the ground. They couldn't even move. "What is this stuff?" asked Richard. "I got a better question. What is that?" said Steve as he saw a large Xenomorph spider jump to them. It saw them in the web. It opened its mouth and sprayed web over them. They struggled, but it was no use. One by one it carried them off.

Meanwhile...

Essra woke up in a cocoon. She couldn't move at all. In her mask she had a homing beacon that was activated if she moved her mandibles the right way. She could think of anything else at the moment so she activated it. The mask also had an emergency vision mode change also in the mask. It used a lot of power to do it, but she need to see out side so she switched it to X-ray vision.

Outside she saw several other cocoons. Some were open and exposed dead and eaten bodies. She hoped that they would come soon.

Meanwhile...

Shou'nk was in the ship. Suddenly his wrist computer clicked and vibrated. He woke up and opened it. It showed a map. It had Essra's homing beacon on it and also Netak and Merc'rk on it. The homing beacon meant she was in trouble. Since his other clan mates weren't moving he thought they were fighting other aliens. He was the only one able to do anything. He got up and grabbed his weapons. As he was heading out the door a sudden dizziness struck him. He quickly shook it off and headed out to rescue his clan mates.

Mac-11: What will happen next? With Netak and Merc'rk in a battle for leadership the patrol and Essra and Reco'de's only chance lies with a wounded Shou'nk. The more reviews I get the sooner the next chapter will be up.