Due to some bad things and losses happening in my life right now, I haven't been able to continue any of my stories, but this one had been lying around on my desktop for months, just waiting for proof-reading, so I decided to finally upload it. If you want further explanation, it's on my profile page.

Blame the squirrel thing on my sister.

What the hell had just happened? Annie watched baffled as the man she had been on a date with, vanished after uttering some feeble excuses, leaving her standing in front of the small restaurant they had eaten in. Soon she could hear a motor revving as he sped off, not even stopping for a red light.

She shook her head in disbelief. Ten minutes ago they had been exchanging pleasantries and stories about themselves, generally having a pretty good time. After eating she had gone to the bathroom while the man had gone to get his car. And now this happened. She couldn't think of anything that would've explained his sudden need to escape.

Frustrated more than perplexed, Annie gave an exasperated sigh towards the night sky. Had it been the first time something strange like that had happened, she might've just forgotten about it, but sadly it wasn't. She had inexplicably lost two other dates too recently. Not quite as abruptly as this one, but still...

Sometimes Annie wondered why she even bothered. It was kind of fun meeting new people and finding out what they were like, but even when nothing strange happened to interrupt, eventually she began losing her interest. They never had enough in common for her to really connect with someone.

Sometimes she even got annoyed by their carefree attitude. She would always carry the loss of her child in her heart as well as the knowledge of the xenomorphs and hunters that threatened the Earth and it took its toll on her. One topic she didn't want to discuss, the other she couldn't without being labelled crazy.

Annie felt like walking. It didn't solve her problems, but it helped her clear her mind. The night was still warm after a hot, sunny day and the air felt uncomfortably stagnant. Most people seemed to have escaped it indoors where the airconditioning kept the sweat from constantly clinging to one's forehead.

Annie glanced towards the old park where yellow lights illuminated a gravelly path, making the shadows around it impossible to see through. Dangerous. She wasn't stupid enough to venture there alone in the middle of the night.

"Help! Anybody?!"

It seemed, though, that someone had been.

The distress was real in the screaming woman's voice. Either she had some serious acting talent or she was really in trouble. Annie fished her phone hurriedly from her bag and tried to dial a number, only to find herself staring at a blank screen that refused to light up.

"You've gotta be kidding me! Like a cheap fucking horror film..."

Her head jerked up as she heard another desperate scream that got abruptly muffled. Different options flashed through her mind, before she made her decision and started running towards the sound. Someone needed help right away and she had no time to search for someone and explain the situation.

She wasn't afraid. She did faintly realize that she should've been, but despite the sudden rush of adrenaline, she was thinking clearly. Another sign of how abnormal her life had gotten. She had gotten too used to dealing with xenomorphs and humanoid hunters. Ordinary people simply didn't scare her anymore.

She found them far from the path, out of sight in a clearing surrounded by a patch of thick bushes and branching, old trees. As the sounds of struggling alerted her that she was getting close, she slowed down, eyes automatically searching for a weapon. A palm-sized rock and a thick branch that looked like it had been used as a dog's chew toy were not much, but better than nothing when you knew how to use them.

Annie abandoned her bag and crept closer, careful not to be seen. What she saw as she peeked through the bushes made her grit her teeth in disgust and anger.

A small group of three men were surrounding a young, red-haired woman, holding her down. One of them held a hand over her mouth to muffle her screaming while the other two were busy forcibly removing her clothes. There was no mistaking what they were going to do to her.

That settled it. Annie was definitely not going to let them continue, even if she was outnumbered. She had survived worse situations.

Pulling her hand back, she chucked the rock over the group. It landed, as intended, in the bushes far away from the men, giving a brief, but clearly audible rustling sound. Three heads turned quickly and the struggling stopped for a second.

"Go see what that was", the assailant covering the woman's mouth ordered quietly.

"Why bother, it's just some stupid squirrel again."

"And what if it's not? Just go check!"

Reluctantly, one of them men got up and headed towards the sound with a small knife in hand. The others returned their attention to the overpowered woman who had started kicking furiously as soon as she had realized someone might be there.

Annie waited for the third man to reach the bushes before moving. The lack of light as well as her dark grey shirt worked in her favor and only the restrained woman noticed her sneaking closer. Annie saw the terrified and pleading look in her eyes, but kept her emotions in check, knowing she needed to act quickly and be smart about it.

As soon as she had gotten close enough, she abandoned the silent approach and crossed the remaining distance with a quick dash. The man now straddling his victim lifted and turned his head just in time to receive a boot to the chin. It knocked him right off the woman and Annie didn't stop, thrusting the sturdy branch into the other man's face. She had been going for the eyes, but the surprised man managed to bow his head and the sharp end hit his forehead instead.

Letting go of the woman he scrambled blindly back, pressing his hand over the long scrape that was quickly starting to bleed. Annie took the freed woman's hand and yanked her to her feet, pushing her unceremoniously towards where the path was.

"Go!"

The red-haired woman staggered, nearly falling down again, but kept going, not glancing back. Annie had planned on both of them running back to the streets, but changed her mind as soon as she noticed the woman limping badly. They wouldn't be able to get away like that.

The night just kept getting better.

She didn't have time to make sure the woman she had saved would make it back. The third man was running back, no doubt alerted by her shouting and the pained sounds of his fellow thugs.

"What the...? What happened here?!"

Annie backed away, assessing the situation. It was three to one, not a problem. She knew more than enough hand-to-hand combat to manage. One, or most likely all of them had knives of some sort, which could cause some issues. If any one of them had a gun, she would be pretty much screwed.

"That fuckin'..." the man she had kicked in the chin spat blood as he got up.

"What? You're not seriously telling me you got your asses handed to you by this dainty broad? Some bunch of pussies you are..."

Despite the severity of the situation, the corner of Annie's lip twisted into a crooked smirk. Dainty?

"Don't feel bad", she couldn't resist saying in a low, calm voice. "I've faced bigger and uglier things than you."

"That bitch is crazy", the man bleeding from his forehead growled, wiping his brow as the blood threatened to dribble in his eye.

"Whatever", the so far uninjured man flashed his knife with a dirty grin. "I'd still fuck her."

Yeah, he wasn't going to stay uninjured for long.

Annie squeezed the makeshift weapon in her hand, bracing herself as the men, taller and heftier than her, spread out to attack her from different sides, giving crude remarks as they approached.

"Since you were so eager to join in, why don't you come here and see what we've got for you?"

"Yeah, put that stick away, I've got another one here you can handle all you want."

"She must want it badly to have come so far."

"And she's gonna get it. Let's grab her and go someplace where we won't get interrupted. I wanna hear her screams."

Annie was too focused on forming her plan of attack to listen to the laughing and taunting men. Someone else was listening very closely, though.

Before any of the men even got close enough to touch her, they heard a dull thud and one of them twitched and slumped to the ground. Everyone stopped, Annie as surprised as the others, looking at the abruptly fallen man who wasn't moving anymore.

"The fuck?!" his friends were too stupefied to do anything. "Is... someone throwing rocks?!"

"Well no shit, brainiac, unless you still think it's those squirrels..."

"I'm not saying it's a... aaaghh!"

"What the fuck, man!?"

"Fuuuck! Get it off! Get it off!"

Annie could only stare dumbfounded at the shrieking man dancing around. As ludicrous as it sounded, a squirrel had flown straight at him out of nowhere and latched itself on his face, clearly just as terrified as him. What...? Just what?

Annie cast a quick, searching glance to the seemingly empty forest behind her, unsurprisingly finding nothing. Like there would've been someone just standing there, collecting and throwing squirrels at unsuspecting criminals.

She could've used the opportunity to make a run for it, but found the option to beat the crap out of the vulgar thugs much more appealing. The distracted men were easily caught off guard and she took down one of them without any problems, giving him a sharp kick to the head for good measure.

The other one proved to be more troublesome. The panicking woodland critter seeking shelter from whatever had scared it so much, had managed to slip inside the madly flailing and cursing man's clothes. Annie had to be careful not to get hit by the knife the man was still holding.

Unfortunately she wasn't paying enough attention to her surroundings. When the man happened to blindly lunge straight at her, Annie tried to jump out of the way and ended up tripping on the man she had just knocked unconscious. The branch she had been holding onto flew from her hand and before she even realized she had fucked up, she was on her back with the heavy man on top of her.

The squirrel finally fled and for a second Annie and the badly scratched assailant remained in motionless stupor. Then the situation dawned on both of them and Annie prepared to put a few more scratches on the victoriously grinning man's face.

She barely heard the faint swish of something flying once again and flinched as the man got struck hard. This time it wasn't a rock or a squirrel. It was a shuriken with long blades and one of them had embedded itself deep into the man's skull.

Annie's eyes widened in shock and recognition. With the stupid grin still frozen to his face, the man fell limp, dead without ever knowing what had killed him.

But Annie knew.

Driven by a flurry of emotions, she flung the body off of her and jumped to her feet, facing the direction where the deadly weapon had come from.

"Come out!"

Only silence answered her furious demand.

"The cops are here soon! You want them to find your little toy?!"

Another brief silence, followed by rustling in the trees. A heavy thump as something dropped to the ground. For a moment Annie still saw nothing, then a large figure flickered into view.

As she had suspected, it was Stealth.

She felt immediate resentment at the sight of the dangerous hunter, but as much as she wanted to get rid of him quickly, she needed to get some answers first. She crouched to grab the shuriken and yanked it free, grimacing from the nauseating sound it made.

Stealth approached her, impossible to read with the biomask covering his face.

Annie stood up again with the throwing weapon in hand, looking up at the way over 7 feet tall humanoid in front of her. "Care to explain yourself?"

He didn't. Annie looked at the sharp-clawed hand that was extended towards her expectingly. She didn't make a move to raise her hand and give the weapon back.

"What were you doing here?"

"Hunting... like you", the gruff voice sounded deeper coming from inside the mask, but the mocking tone was as familiar as ever.

"Don't speak like we have anything in common!" Annie hissed, instantly peeved. "I don't kill people for sport."

"But you enjoy... the thrill of the battle... nevertheless", Stealth replied with his broken pronounciation. "You choose to fight... even when you... don't have to."

"I don't..."

"I watched you."

Suddenly Stealth was closer, using his imposing size to tower over her. Annie faltered for a second, taking a small step back before stopping herself. The masked face leaned closer.

"There's no point... in denying it. You're a warrior... and... an outsider."

The last remark was not what Annie had expected to hear and her dumbstruck expression didn't go unnoticed.

"See... we have... more in common... than you... would like to think."

It took Annie a moment to recover from the unexpectedly accurate description, but when she did, her voice was icy calm. "How long have you been watching me exactly?"

Stealth leaned back again, silent in turn, then shrugged. "Long enough."

Annie had an unpleasant hunch. "And what the hell does that mean? Were you following me today before I came here?"

"Yes."

"When I was with that man in the restaurant..."

"I got... rid of him."

The straightforward confession gave Annie another reason to be surprised. "You... what...? And the others before him?"

"Them too."

At that point Annie was too bewildered to even guess what was going on in the twisted hunter's head. He was deliberately choosing to stalk her and mess up her life. For what game this time?

"Why?!" she had tried to keep her voice steady and emotionless, and hated herself when it came out unusually high-pitched and hesitant.

"They didn't... deserve you."

"What...?" Annie didn't even try to hide how shocked she was anymore. The already strange night had taken an even stranger turn and she had trouble processing what it all meant. Also, she was completely unprepared for the shock that was yet to come.

Stealth raised his clawed hand, and Annie flinched as she realized he was trying to touch her face with it. With an instinctual move, she swatted at the hand with the shuriken she was holding, missing as it dodged swiftly and grabbed her wrist instead.

Her bewilderment still topped the hatred she felt towards the unpredictable warrior, and she didn't make a move as he calmly took the weapon back from her with his other hand, putting it back in its place. Nor did she when he didn't release her hand.

"I don't like... seeing you with them", Stealth turned his masked face briefly to the men on the ground and his voice got a contemptuous edge. "Especially... with unskilled trash... like these. You should be... with a warrior... worthy of you."

"Like you..." Annie said what the powerful hunter hadn't.

Stealth observed her reaction for a moment in silence and nodded. "Yes..."

Annie kneed him to the groin before he could get past the first word.

She yanked her hand free as the large humanoid warrior fell to his knee, hand clutching his loincloth covered crotch, and backed away with fury blazing in her eyes. "You're fucking out of your mind! I would never even think about being with someone like you! Interfere with my life again and you'll regret it!"

Storming away with clenched fists, Annie went to retrieve the bag she had left behind the bushes. She was done. She didn't want anything to do with any hunter, unless it involved getting rid of them. She couldn't comprihend Lex's choice to be with Scar and she sure as hell couldn't comprihend Stealth's sudden interest in her.

Taking her bag, she headed to the opposite direction where she had come from, not wanting to stay and explain everything to the cops. Luckily it had been so dark, the girl she had saved probably wouldn't be able to give a very accurate description of her. As much as she had planned on leaving the arrogant hunter without another look, the sound of throaty laughter made her stop in her tracks and turn her head.

Stealth was sitting on the ground, knees propped up and his mask beside him. Annie could see the golden eyes gleaming even in the dark as their gaze fixated on her. The hoarse laughter died down, but the amused look stayed.

"I shall... enjoy the challenge."

Shiver's ran down Annie's spine. Stealth wasn't moving to get up, but everything in his eyes, posture and in the way he had said the words spoke of unwavering determination. She turned away quickly and continued on her way, unable to repel the nervous twisting in her stomach as she knew she hadn't seen the last of the twisted hunter.