Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Alien/Predator series or any characters and may not follow all customs and cultures found in Alien/Predator movies.

The Bad Bloods raised their heads in attention, rising in height that almost intimidated Ethan. When he was up in the tree, the idea of charging in seemed like a good idea, but now he started second-guessing. He had no way if the females would follow or even help him. They had nothing to gain from him other than bait as the Leader suggested, worse that they had nothing to lose. Now, here he was revealing himself in front of massive humanoids who would kill without the slightest hesitation, with nothing but a few guns for protection.

So much for that. He glanced at a whining Grace, tiny sparks of hope gleaming in her eyes through the despair. But no point going back now.

He raised his rifle and pointed at the alien that was identified as their ring leader, "I said let her go now!"

Bhuh'kah snorted, close to the chuckle of amusement, "How amusing. I've heard of oomans being so naive and eager to race to their deaths. Thank you for proving that." He flicked two fingers and his buddies came closer, moving to surround Ethan.

Sensing the trap, he moved to the side, eyes focused on Bhuh'kah as he held Grace by the hair, gasping each time he tugged when his body shifted even the slightest. He tensed and Bhuh'kah picked it up quickly.

"You want this female so badly?"

Ethan swallowed, trying to keep sights on every small movement of the hunters, not an easy task with a bunch of them that could get him before he could even take a step. A whole minute of silence passed by before Bhuh'kah tossed Grace roughly into the no-man zone they created, "Here. You can have her."

Both him and Grace looked back and forth. Is he serious? Something was off that this monster would let go of his prisoner so easily. While he hesitated on how to answer, a distraught Grace took it hook line and sinker, scrambling to her wobbly feet and crawled towards him, desperate to reach him for protection as tears flowed uncontrollably from her eyes.

Ethan slowly stepped closer, silently mouthing to her. Everything's going to be okay. She smiled weakly and her bloodied hand rose to meet him. But as he started to smile back and grab her, the horror he caught from behind Grace began to play out.

He screamed, "Grace!"

By the time he called out for her, it was too late.

Not even a few feet away, Bhuh'kah came right behind Grace, grabbed her head like a baseball, and lifted her off the ground. She tried to break away but I'm vain, the sharp points of the hunter's claws left nasty, deep cuts across her cheeks.

"Hey!" Ethan cocked his rifle, "You said you would let her go!"

"I did," Bhuh'kah chuckled, "But you were too slow so I changed my mind."

His hand clamped tighter around her head and Grace began to thrash, screaming and gasping in a frenzy to break free, "Please! Help me!"

Ethan ran with no thought about a plan, driven to save her life.

"HELP ME!"

In a split second, her head was gone, exploding into thousands of pieces made of flesh, blood, and brain matter. The crushing force was so powerful that it splattered all over his face, the smell and taste of iron almost made him puke and it would have if not for the glee in Bhuh'kah's eyes. Seeing the pleasure from such a beast, he didn't stop in his stride and ran with a roar of rage and fire.

"Bastard!" He fired like a wild man, "I'll kill you!"

The shots were sloppy and a ray of bullets barely hit the ground by the hunters' feet. All of them scattered away while Bhuh'kah dodged. The rage inside Ethan overtook any logical sense to retreat or come up with a better plan than this shit. He learned his mistake too late as a kick landed in his abdomen, breaking a few ribs while sending him skidding across the dry ground. Not even given a break when he stopped, Bhuh'kah clenched his throat and slammed him into a post, his rifle knocked out of his hands.

Ethan screamed from the jolt of unrelenting pain but the rage inside still gave him the strength to act. Without hesitation, he pulled out his knife and stuck it deep into his attacker's neck. Bhuh'kah released a howling roar of affliction, green blood splashing around.

In retaliation, the hunter grabbed Ethan's arm and with enough pressure, snapped his arm free from the joint and the appendage goes limp, "Fuck!"

Bhuh'kah clamped on his neck to shut up his screams so all he could do was gag, seeing the temper in the hunter's eyes, not bothering to take the knife sticking out, "Any last words?"

He spat into the alien's face, "Vete al infierno, hijo de puta."

Bhuh'kah hissed and squeezed his neck tighter before he unsheathed his wrist blades and aimed for the underside of his jaw. He closed his eyes in anticipation for what was to come, the end to which he was familiar with too many times. He stared at the red eyes glowing with rage and bloodlust for him. Ugly asshole.

Just as the blades barely touched his skin, Bhuh'kah flinched as an arrow pierced into his bicep, his hold on him loosened and Ethan dropped to the ground, "Pauk!"

No time was spared as a piercing roar screeched from above right as a figure fell from the sky, wrist blades out to kill. Bhuh'kah barely had time to get out of the way, one of his followers got the brunt force when he came to his leader's aid and his head was crushed by Nai'stip's feet and blades shredding his chest. Green blood, unlike anything he'd seen spilled to the wet ground.

"So the Lou-dte kalei has decided to join us," Bhuh'kah chuckled.

"To end your life, you disgusting ic'jit," Nai'stip scrapped her blades against each other, "And to the rest of your followers."

"We'll see about that!"

The two collided in a frenzy of sparks and earth-shaking roars, the ground itself vibrated even from where Ethan laid and it was a good, few meters away. He watched, more in awe than fear, as they exchanged fists and blades like a perfectly coordinated dance of martial art. It was clear Nai'stip was the better fighter, her hits cut into his legs and arms when he used them for defense and then brought a direct hit to the abdomen, forcing Bhuh'kah to back off, exhausted and unable to prevent his green blood from seeping through his hand that covered the mortal wound.

But her luck didn't last long.

Like the scumbag the Bad Bloods were, several more surrounded Nai'stip as she moved to finish him off, the hiss indicating her disdain as she was forced to back away. A dozen or so of the enemy came at her with full force but she stood there, doing nothing to evade or fight back.

What the fuck is she doing!?

In an instant, a rain of arrows struck down a few Bad Bloods from the sky, most died before their bodies met the ground while the rest were too incapacitated to move, let alone fight. Those that managed to keep going, Vi'su took care of, emerging from the forest and threw what looked like double blades knives in midair. The Bad Bloods moved to the sides to avoid it but the blades split apart into smaller blades like shrapnel and riddled their bodies with bullets. The dozen Bad Bloods that once stood were reduced to a few and the bodies of their comrades littered the ground in their blood and fluids, body parts with pieces of tendons and bone were dumped everywhere.

Nai'stip raised her arms as in triumph, "Where's your army now?"

Bhuh'kah growled, "Don't think you have the upper hand. After all, we don't play by 'your' rules."

She glanced to Vi'su and both nodded to each other, "It won't matter once you're dead."

Ethan suddenly noticed a change in Bhuh'kah's demeanor. From what he could decipher, the hunter was angry, mandibles flared open and a mix of growls and hisses emitted from his throat. But in the next second, his eyes traced to his gauntlet lighting up and when he lifted his face, a spark of glee replaced the earlier emotion. Ethan widened his eyes, more so seeing Nai'stip's finger flex. Oh no!

He shifted to his knees and screamed, "Don't attack!"

"Shut up, ooman!" Nai'stip roared.

"You have to listen! It's a trap!"

"Go on then," Bhuh'kah waved his hand, "Listen to the pyode amedha. He appears to know better than the great Nai'stip of the Razor Clan. What a joke!"

It was the final straw that sent Nai'stip over the edge. Ethan tried to scream for her to stop, despite the other half still hating her, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. He could hear A'sao roaring from the trees, no less worried that something was wrong. No matter, the female leader charged like an angry rhino, all reasoning vanished within that split second.

He watched in horror of his fears coming to fruition. Right as Nai'stip was halfway to Bhuh'kah, the ground where her foot landed burst open. A series of metal claws entrapped her legs before small wires sprouted and attached to her abdomen, sending a high voltage shock. One minute she was all-powerful but in the next one, she was falling to her knees, writhing in pain.

"Do you like it? I designed this trap myself. You should have listened to the ooman," Bhuh'kah pointed to her and the rest of his forces charged again.

"Nai'stip!"

Vi'su ran to her aid, almost stopped by a Bad Blood when an arrow pierced into his skull. It was then that A'sao leaped from the trees and came swinging, shooting arrows right at them. Still, the Bad Bloods refused to even dodge the attacks, the smirk on Bhuh'kah's face as he and the others retreated.

Shit!

Ethan barely had time to get away when the earth crumbled under his feet and he went falling, surrounded by blasts of blue light that bombarded everywhere. He landed on his dislocated arm and gasped in agony, turning at the last second to see a Bad Blood standing over him with a knife aimed down at him.

It was the same one that appeared to be arguing earlier with the others, greenish dark blotches decorating his skin through the bruises and old cuts he had. Ethan reached clumsily with his good arm for the sidearm he had, just about to pull the trigger when he was struck by something odd. The Bad Blood's yellow eyes didn't show anger, bloodlust, or even any enjoyment like the others. To his surprise, he could sense the one thing he didn't expect . . . hesitation.

"Ethan!"

He turned back, seeing A'sao coming to his aid, so much that she barely saw the Bad Blood pursuing her. Reacting upon hidden strength and instincts, he fired behind, clumsily that he didn't think it would hit its mark and the Bad Blood fell for her to finish him off with a quick decapitation. The Bad Blood that was standing over him saw this, looking between him and A'sao for a moment until Ethan watched him turn around and disappear into the trees.

What was that?

"Ethan! Get up!" A'sao pulled him up with little effort, noticing his limp arm, "You're hurt."

"Never mind me," He shrugged her off, "We need to help Nai'stip."

"Vi'su's already got her."

Much to his surprise, Vi'su had released her from the trap with some advanced technology from her gauntlet and picked Nai'stip back on her feet. Secretly, his first impulse was to leave her to deal with the mess she made but he knew the importance of having their leader intact was critical. If she went down, the other females would be left to clean this shit up and they didn't deserve it. Plus, they weren't about to abandon their leader for any reason but they were in no position to fight back. We need to retreat.

"We have to leave!" Ethan shouted.

"No!" Nai'stip hissed. "Not until we have their heads!"

"We're outnumbered!" He pointed to the hillside a few meters away, finding the source of the bombardment to be more Bad Bloods. There were far more of them than they initially thought, "We need to regroup for another plan!"

"I said no! Na'tou-Va is there!"

Ethan was confused but followed the head movements of Vi'su and A'sao when they looked up at the hill. His vision was limited but somehow the females could see it. Maybe their masks . . .

"She's right. He's there," Vi'su spoke.

"Then we have no choice but to fight," Nai'stip struggled to take a step, "We don't leave from a fight . . . no matter what, unlike you oomans. Honor demands it"

Ethan puffed like a toad. Is she going to put her comrades in danger because of pride!? He stomped to her, not even paying attention to the blasts still coming as he glared into her mask. The breath and heat of her growl seeping through and gliding across his cheeks.

"I don't know what culture or world you came from but it's a death sentence to go at the enemy, especially in your condition. Even if you did manage to get to him, he's formidable according to the little information you gave me."

He paused, choosing his next words carefully, "What would everyone think if you and your team were beaten by a Bad Blood?"

In an instant, he saw her demeanor change. From an authoritative and pissed-off hunter, she lowered her head and her body softened, like a child who got caught by their parents doing something bad. The rage was still there as she looked back but no longer so suppressive. He hoped it was enough to change her mind, much more not to get killed for him speaking out of line.

After a moment, she relented, "Fine. We'll regroup . . . for now."

With her command, Nai'stip and Vi'su were the first to retreat into the trees, followed by Ethan who tried to keep up with A'sao. She was very patient with him, despite the fact they could easily leave him behind in mere seconds and he would be the enemy's next victim. No way in Hell I'm going to die here like an animal.

Ethan didn't dare to look back, hearing the roars of the Bad Bloods and still feeling the shockwave of the plasma blasts not too far.

He swallowed. That is if we make it out of here first.

Hello my fellow Hunters!

A new chapter is in order and got it a few days early so I'm very excited for this one!

Lots of fighting, blood and gore that will pick at your wildest imaginations. And a few positive notes for Ethan if you know what I mean once you read the chapter. Such guts!

More to come my readers and still my goal to post chapters as early as possible because I love all of you and your great support!

Good Hunting! ;)

Normal = Human speaking human (and other languages too)

Bold = Yautja speaking ooman (human) language

Bold and Italics = Yautja speaking Yautja language

Lou-dte kalei = Child-maker (insult to Yautja)

Ic'jit = Bad Blood

Pauk = Fuck

Pyode Amedha = Soft Meat (aka humans)

Vete al infierno, hijo de puta = Go to Hell, Motherfucker.