I started choking and hacking and coughing and all that fun stuff as blood shot from my throat. Now I know why these people looked so pained. I heard a loud thud to my left and started to turn my head, but even the slight motion of that caused more blood to pour out of my throat, into my lungs and out my nose at the same time.

I felt arms around me a moment later and then sunlight. That didn't make any sense. I opened my eyes and looked around. We were outside of the ship. I looked back towards my, could have been (should have been), tomb. There was a large hole in the side of the ship. Adrasta sat next to me while I recovered. My throat eventually stopped bleeding and healed up after about 20 minutes.

"How did you do that?"

"Metal deteriorates after a while. These boots were a good idea."

"I suppose I can see a use for them now. Maybe I should find myself a pair."

Adrasta pulled a pair of boots just like hers from behind her and set them in front of me.

"Thought you would say that."

"You're a creepy fuck, you know that?"

She almost smiled as she shrugged. We sat there for a couple more minutes. I finished tying my boot and stood up. I really wanted to get off this planet, but I have a feeling that we haven't done what we came here to do. The blip was still there, it wasn't coming from the ship as I had first thought.

We didn't talk at all as we walked through the woods. We probably had the same idea. We should listen and look around. I don't know how the kiande amedha got onto this planet and I don't know how many there are, but I do know that none of that matters. They are too much for us to handle right now. I seem to have lost most of my strength and it seems like all of my invulnerability, again. . .

We crested a hill and I saw a large complex in the clearing below. I'm pretty sure whatever is calling to my headset is in there. I just have a feeling. It took us about an hour to reach the huge doors that were slightly ajar. That makes it easier to get in. Adrasta wasted no time in stepped through and disappearing into the gloom. I set off a couple more flares and dropped them at the entrance. Once again I was in a dark corridor. I've had about enough of these for the day.

I spotted Adrasta a few yards ahead of me. She was messing with a power box. I was about to scold her for it, but suddenly lights all up and down the corridor started coming on. A few gave a couple pathetic pops and the bulbs exploded, but most of them held steady. She looked at me and we followed the corridor, occasionally peeking into rooms to see if there was anything of interest in them. My headset was getting louder and I figured as soon as we got to the center of the complex, I would finally know what the hell was going on. I've been known to be wrong though. . .

It got colder as we neared the center. I was shivering as we stepped through another set of large doors. I could see my breath and my fingers were going numb. I need a pair of gloves, maybe a scarf. Adrasta seemed to be just as cold as I was. She didn't have any sleeves after all. I could see the goose bumps on her pale arms and hear her teeth chattering away in her head. We walked around the wall, that was randomly placed in the center of the room, on different sides. We both came around at the same time though and both looked at what was hanging on the wall. I gasped and dropped the flare I had in my hand.

"No!"

I ran over and started pulling at the black sinewy material that was holding him in place. I felt an arm pulling me away.

"Leave me alone! I have to get him down!"

"He's dead."

I fell to my knees and started wailing hopelessly. It took me a while to be able to look up at his face again. Adrasta was right, he was and had been dead for a long time now. The hole in his chest was an obvious clue. I felt Adrasta's hand on my shoulder again, only this time it was there to try and comfort me. What the hell had transpired that caused him to end up here and get himself impregnated by a god damn face hugger?

"Ya'uta."

I twitched when I heard her speak his name. How did she know? She raised her hand to touch him, but I wasn't going to allow that. I grabbed her hand and gently pushed it away from him.

"I'll handle this. Wait for me back at the ship."

She shrugged and walked off humming some weird tune.

After burying Ya'uta's body I returned to the ship and sat down on the chair. I sighed and rested my head in my hands. I cried quietly for a few more minutes. It's so strange that I was brought here to see that. Fate is a cruel bitch.

Just before I powered up my ship I realized that Adrasta wasn't even on it. I jumped up and dashed out of the ship when I heard a yelp. My eyes and my brain were at odds about what was actually going on. I saw Adrasta scrambling up a tree as fast as she could, but why? What was that monster that was chasing her? Why am I just standing here?

I ran over and grabbed for the tail of the monster. I'm really bad at that apparently. Again I missed. It leapt at Adrasta and caught her in mid air. They both fell out of the tree and hit the ground. Adrasta was on the creatures chest for a moment and flailing around wildly. I saw her slice the monsters face open with her knife and as she kicked at it, the spikes on the bottoms of her boots dug in deep and nearly gutted it. It roared ferociously and flung her into the tree. I grimaced when her head hit the tree. She seemed down for the count. I hope she doesn't get a blood clot or something.

The monster was about to go after her again when I valiantly charged it and hit its side with my entire body. My momentum sent it tumbling head over feet and I heard a crack as it landed on its neck. Take that. Adrasta was already moving about. She grabbed her head and groaned slightly.

"Adrasta! Are you ok?"

She blinked a few times and nodded. Her eyes got really wide and I heard a growl behind me. The monster was moving again. No way. Its god damned neck snapped, how the hell is that thing still alive? It was very focused on me. It was the weirdest thing I had seen. It was like a kiande amedha, but larger. . .and . . .it had. . .mandibles. It's part Yautja. It took a few steps closer and growled. Does this creature possess any of Ya'uta's memories? Does he actually recognize me or is he just being cautious? I thought I saw a hint of recognition in his eyes and a flicker of reasoning before the eyes turned cold and murderous again as instinct took over.

He charged me just then and met with Adrasta's knife. She had hopped in front of me and stuck her arm straight up just in time to catch him in the throat. She pulled it out and took him down while he was distracted. She stabbed him over and over again. I was almost horrified, but at the same time it was kill or be killed in this world. So Beleth did teach her a thing or two. I wonder why she hadn't let me know until now.

She was wiping the blood off her knife and I realized that it wasn't burning her clothes or her at all. I took a few steps forward and was going to touch the corpse, but she stopped me.

"We need to leave."

I heard rustling in the trees and bushes all around us. The other hard meats were coming. Adrasta and I double timed it onto the ship and I slammed my hand down on the button that secured the door. I powered up and we broke atmo a few moments later.

There was no way I was going to get my mind off of what had just happened. That second when I thought I saw Ya'uta inside that thing. If a Yautja's genetic makeup can cause a hard meat to mutate like that, then could the hard meat maybe have a sense of where it came from? I was going to voice this to Adrasta and see what she thought about it, but she was asleep. I looked at Sponge Guy and pat him a few times.

"I guess I'll never know, huh?"

He chortled at me and I followed Adrasta's example.