WHY DIDN'T YOU STAY WITH ME ELLI
Several masked soldiers searched the area around the city and place they landed. Ishe and Kiai noticed them. They were leading the old man to that same place. They planned to take the old man to the mother ship till they finish their duty. He has recovered a bit from everything that happened. Hope flowed in his veins. Sinai will bring girls back, as he did Ishi.
Ishe and Kiau have slowed down. They looked around and went toward the nearby forest. The meadow was covered with snow and their capsules couldn't be seen.
They begun to feel irritated with humans, they always put their noses everywhere. Now they'll have to wait with their plan.
Soldiers were looking over each centimeter of meadow, not even noticing that they were walking on top of the capsules. Metal they were made of was not similar to anything that could be found on Earth. It has special features. This metal could adjust to the pressure to withstand almost all conditions.
Old man was listening what's happening around them. He asked them where are they.
Ishe quickly silenced him with his hand, but nearby soldier noticed some movement around them. He called two others who were near to go investigate with him what he had seen. One of them called commander Lionel that there might be more hunters in the city.
"Even better", commander replied briefly. "Did you find the capsules?"
"No, we haven't yet."
''Than go ahead and try to find and lure others if they are here. Probably their capsules are here too, if they are. Thoroughly search all! "He ordered them.
"Yes sir!" The soldier confirmed and ended transmition. He told others, who searched the meadow with them, to be careful and report them if they find something or someone.
They continued toward the woods, looking around, slowly and in fear. They couldn't see anything. They put on night vision, but it didn't help much either.
''If you notice anything, even falling leaf, report it right away. They are extremely adaptable to the environment and very fast!" He warned them.
Ishe and Kiau have waited.
They raised the old man to nearby tree with twisted branches. They ordered him to be silent and to not move for a bit, otherwise they wouldn't be able to help him.
The old man listened to them. They put a part of their armor on his shoulders. He immediately felt the heat entering his body. Something like net was wrapping itself around his clothes.
Then, they went to the other part of the forest. Soldiers followed the sounds around them.
''Looks like we're going to get some trophies, '' Ishe said with a smirk.
"Just let them come!" Kiau was eagerly expecting them. He put on his invisible shield.
Ishe growled as loud as he could. Soldiers who came to look after them became overwhelmed by fear when they heard him. They looked around with their night vision masks and saw a large figure with some kind of armor.
Slowly, they were heading in his direction. Two more joined them in search.
Kiau was still waiting. He looked few times in direction of the old man. He did not move."Good," he said and continued to lurk from the tree above.
Ishe disappeared again. Soldiers looked around and above them.
"Take a good look at the trees", one of them warned.'' They use trees to move.''
And without noticing, one soldier disappeared in branches of one tree. Without any trace and sound.
Something began to leak on top of the head of one soldier. He removed his mask and touched his forehead. His gloves were soaked with something wet. He turned on the light and looked at his arms. Blood. He looked up with fear. And then, like the previous soldier, he just disappeared at the same tree.
Their superior, Glen, noticed that two of them were missing. He called them with speaking device. Three of them came forward.
"Where are Michael and John?" He asked them.
Nobody knew. They looked around them but there was no one. They heard nothing.
''Maybe they are more than one here!" He warned them and called several others who were looking for capsule to join them. They will need all the help they can get if they want to catch those creatures.
Soldiers were approaching to each other, preparing traps. They had lot of different kinds of rifles and other devices with them.
One of them noticed someone on the branches of one tree. He walked toward it. Kiau noticed him.
The old man was waiting on the tree. He was listening who is approaching to him. He knew that this weren't The Great Hunters, but he hoped one of them was nearby to protect him.
Kiau approached him silently. Soldier felt like someone was following him. He looked around, but couldn't notice anyone.
Kiau did not rush. Why wouldn't he play with his prey a bit? He smiled satisfied. He lurked around him on trees, trying to scare him even more. Silently, he lowered down and stabbed him in his chest with blades on his hands. Loud cry was heard out of the woods.
At the other side of the city, in the suburbs, a few soldiers searched the nearby forest where Elli landed. They haven't found anything yet. They went slowly into the woods, making sure that there weren't any hunters. Forest was empty. There was nobody, only wind slightly blowing.
Approaching slowly to one tree that was broken in half, one soldier found something half covered with snow. He didn't immediately notice what it was, but he realized when he got closer. He looked around to see if any of the hunters were there. There was nobody.
He quickly called the rest of his team. He switched on the link and told the base commander that they found one capsule!
'' Great news! '', commander said. '' Go and send it to the hangar.''
''Alright. ", replied the soldier and reported others about it.
Soldiers quickly packed the capsule into the protective foil and the wooden chest. Truck was already waiting to load. They were headed toward the side hangar near the base.
Sinai managed to find the facility. Device on his hand read some kind of signal interruption.
"It seems to be here." He said to himself.
With his feet he lightly shifted the sand that was on the surface of the ground. He took a small ball from his armor and put it on the ground. Red beams began to spread out of it. Ground under his feet began to shake. Suddenly the opening began to appear. Sinai took the ball and went inside.
He found himself in a narrow room where he could hear human voices from outside of it. He followed voices to the closed doors with a small glass opening. He turned on the invisibility shield, and used small metal ball to disrupt the main power supply in the facility.
"It will slow them down, surely." Smirk appeared on his face.
He opened the door and entered the first hangar. It was a huge space with lots of heavy armed soldiers and other humans.
''Trophies'', he thought. But he had no time for that now.
Everywhere around him computers with the latest human technology. Soldiers were running around the hall, alarmed by the loss of the power.
Sinai observed it all and quietly moved around the hall trying to find entrance to other levels. He tried to scan the place but his device had disruption problems. He tried to contact Keishe but still could not reach his signal. It wasn't clear to him whether his device had been turned off or been damaged in search.
He managed to reach the end of the hall where was the entrance to other levels. Doors were locked. Behind him heavy armed soldiers scanned the hall. They had masks on their faces.
Signal on Sinai's hand, for now disrupted their masks, but few of them still managed to notice someone moving at the end of the hall.
They were not sure if this was really one of the hunters there, but they could not ignore what they saw. The two of them moved toward him. Others stayed behind waiting for orders.
Sinai noticed them. He did not have the time for fighting or hunt, but he was prepared. It seems that trophies are going to him with their free will.
'' I can't disappoint them." He thought.
Sinai waited patiently. Other soldiers withdrew, while the two were approaching. Some kind of devices in their hands.
"It will take you more than that to catch me." He said in his own language.
Two of them heard him speak. But they didn't understand anything. They started to approach, but he jumped over the beam above their heads and disappeared.
They heard loud metal laughing coming out of his mask. Soldiers looked around trying to figure out where he went, but they couldn't notice anything.
Sinai went to the other end of the hall, where they were another door. These were open. Someone has recently opened them. He entered and found himself on the staircase leading down.
He went down till the end of the staircase and walked into a long corridor. At the end of it were locked doors.
In the middle of the door was the unlocking device. He needed the access code. Sinai had no time for unlocking games. He took some kind of device from his belt and put it on doors. They broke in half. He pulled the rest of it with his hands. They bent in the middle from the force of his hands. With both hands he grabbed edge of the doors on the folded section and began to pull it to the side.
Finally he got out of the way and went into a large passageway where there were several rooms on both sides. They all had huge glass windows. There were people dressed in a white protective suit. They worked something with some kind of chemicals on metal objects that reminded him on parts of his armor. But these items were little smaller.
They tested some kind of yellow fluid on them that reminded him on ...
''Acid!" They had acid dragons blood and they were testing it on something that's apparently resistant to it.
''How did they get their blood? " Sinai was paralyzed with anger.
They really came at last moment to stop this. If they don't do it now, they won't be able to prevent humans from doing whatever they want. They will be a threat to all.
They probably plan to develop a spacecraft technology, if they didn't already. Why would they otherwise have those things? They were developing suits resistant of acid blood. Defense technology? He was thinking in disbelief.
He has to hurry and find Elli, Annie and Keishe. They have to destroy everything, so that nothing remains that could endanger their survival.
"For human well, it's better to destroy everything. Nothing that comes in their hands don't end up well.
Impatience grew in the military base. Hard-armed soldiers went in search for predators inside.
Keishe, Elli and Annie went downstairs. They found themselves in a long narrow corridor without rooms. There was just one door at the end of that hallway. They were slowly approaching them, making sure no one was after them. Nothing could be heard. Silence everywhere.
Approaching the door Keishe paused and listened. He gave them sign with his hand to go after him. They went without any complaint. Going further, they found themselves in another corridor, only this one was wider and smelled a little like medic's office.
On both sides of the door were two huge windows. They got closer to it but couldn't see anything. Windows had thick white mat glass. They heard some hissing sound coming out of it. Keishe knew that sound. Queen. How did humans get her?
On the other side of the window was small opening, though which they could see what's inside.
Base commander Lionel, was still trying to power up all the computers. The power was back, main generator was working again, but the computers and cameras still didn't worked everywhere. From his office he supervised main cameras from which he could see the rooms where Keishe, acid queen, predatory equipment, laboratory, and the back side hangars were.
After a few more minutes of waiting, picture appeared on the main cameras. They watched where they are, but they didn't see them. Side cameras haven't fully functioned yet. He'll have to wait a little longer.
He was going to check up capsule that was found when they bring it to one of the side hangars. Two guards who were standing by the commanders office and watching out for the predators were ordered to observe the cameras while they are in the side hangar.
''Report us if you see anything unusual. They are here and they use all their technology to hide.''
Special squad soldiers were scattered all around base. Scanning the halls with cameras on their masks they were trying to catch run away predator and new intruder. Girls should be here somewhere too. They hoped they would serve them as bait. They waited for their mistake.
Ishe and Kiau were still in the woods. Most of the soldiers who were trying to catch them ended up as trophies in their hands. Only a few managed to escape to the meadow. There were still a few soldiers looking for capsules, but for now they were safe. Well protected from human eyes.
Kiau was near the tree where they left the old man. He was protecting him from humans. His mask spotted the old man's accelerated heartbeat and heavy breathing. He had lost lot of strength. All this has left a heavy trace on his health.
Kiau climbed to the tree where he was. Still in shock, the old man caught a long branch and began to swing with her, almost knocking Kiau down. He quickly caught the branch and put his hand on the old man's shoulder. He began to calm down. He's not in danger. But his granddaughter is.
He started to shake from fear. Kiau couldn't help him so he stayed close to him. He was looking at Ishe's whereabouts.
Ishe followed other soldiers to the meadow. He tried to find out what they were talking about. He accidentally heard someone mentioned the capsule while he was removing the skin from the last trophy, so he decided to investigate it. Humans had some kind of primitive communication devices.
"A capsule was found." One of the soldiers said.
Glen, their superior, told them: "We're going back to the base. Destroy all traces. We don't want police messing around and find out what was going on here. ''
Police commander was already on the verge of rage because they had taken control of the city. They didn't want to have them in their way too.
Ishe was listening on top of the branches. He tried to contact Sinai and Keishe. Somehow he managed to get Sinai. His signal was weak but he succeeded to tell him what's happening around the town.
Sinai immediately replied. When he heard what humans have found, he was even more enraged. If only he put someone to watch over Elli until he got back to the ship. Humans will get their hands at everything.
If they fail to find a place where they hid the capsule, they might lose the battle with them. As they have lost it with some other civilizations... They shouldn't allow it again.
Sinai ordered Ishe and Kiau to return the old man to the apartment and follow the soldiers to the place where they took the capsule. It will surely be near base. If they miss the location, they would have to think of something else.
Ishe listened what Sinai told him. He came to Kiau. The old man was with him. He looked weak.
"We have to go," said Ishe. "Humans have found the capsule in which human female escaped."
Kiau was getting angry. "All right," he replied.
''We'll get you back home.'' Kiau told the old man. "You will be safer there than with us. We have to go find our clan members."
The old man's face turned white: ''No! I have to go with you! I have to see her again. My Annie! I can help you, I know the way to the base! "He grabbed Kiau with his shaking hands.
Kiau started to lose his patience.
"My tribe lived nearby long time ago. You can leave me there. I'll be hiding in my old home until you do your job. Just let me go with you! I won't stand in your way!" The old man begged them.
Ishe and Kiau didn't have time to wait. They weren't happy with the idea of dragging the old man with them, but he might be of use to them.
Kiau put the old man on his back. He was slow and weak so he would just staying behind. Their capsules were still well hidden, so they went searching the stolen one.
The old man told them the way. He was not comfortable with being carried on the backs of The Great Hunters, but if it means he'll see his granddaughter again, then all this was worth the trouble.
Ishe and Kiau were quick, but even though they came at the first sun rays. They dropped the old man down and showed him way to the homes they found. He recognized the familiar shape of walls under his hands.
"I'll stay here.'' He said. ''The facility should be a few hundred meters north. You'll see a small entrance into the cave. Save my granddaughter and Elli!'' He told them with hope they'll listen him.
Ishe and Kiau just nodded and went out, leaving the old man in silence of the walls.
Memories were getting back. Long forgotten stories of his past. The ghosts of the ancestors and The Great Hunters seem to have blended in this place. They whispered long forgotten events.
The old man listened carefully if he would hear the voice of his mother and grandmother, who told him the story of Ishi, his grandmother's sister.
"She had a child, it seems. Sinai is my blood. And Annie's too. He will certainly take care of her." He hoped. They don't abandon their blood, no matter what.
The old man remembered stories his mother and grandmother told him. His father would occasionally tell some of them too, though he didn't believe so much in their truthfulness.
The hunters just stopped coming. His grandmother thought they had disappeared, like Ishi. And so stories about them became myths. Later his tribe later moved to the south, far away from the other warrior tribes who regularly attacked them.
The old man sat inside for a long time listening and hoping that Annie and Elli are fine.
Walking thought the cave, Ishe and Kiau came across a long corridor, something similar to mine area. They went along this path. In the distance, they heard human voices, but they did not know what they were saying. They seem to be on the right track. They decided to follow it.