The Hunters.

Mu'kala walked on in the darkness. He wasn't in the mood to think about taking sweet revenge upon the others anymore. He just wanted to be by himself and go to sleep.
I just saw my family. He thought in his head. What does that mean?
It could have meant a few things. One was that all of the spirits in the world had come to visit him, signalling the beginning of the new world (he just made that one up). Two was that the spirits of his family had gotten restless. They would have come to visit him as a final goodbye. And finally three: he had cracked his skull and had gone completely crazy.
He had stricken the first one off, he couldn't make his mind up about the others though. At least his headache had gone.
"Funny…" he muttered to himself. "Every time I get a headache, something bad happens…"
No, wait…. He countered. That time with that brew I had last week was definitely strange… Strange but ordinary.
Mu'kala shook his head. Merely thinking about headaches was giving him one.

He was walking for another hour or so when he finally came up to the mining compound.
Thank Eywa… he thought relieved. About fucking time…
The place looked about the same as when he left it. The buildings were more or less where he left them, and the lights were still blazing at full power. To the right of the whole complex laid the ugly open cast mines. The whole place looked more or so the same.
The thing that hit him however was that the place was utterly quiet.
He started to walk up to the gate leading to the lumbering area of the compound. Its large inches-of steel-plate gate was closed. There were no sounds on the other side.
"Hello?" he shouted in na'vi. Nothing happened. He tried again in English. There was no response.
"Okay this isn't funny." He continued. "I've had a tough fucking night, and I don't want any more crap. Just let me in so I can see my friends."
The silence that came back started to scare him. He might have well been met with an echo.
He started to take a good look at finding a new way in. The walls were thick polycrete topped with that godawful razor wire. The gate itself was a no go. He moved than to the left, turning the corner to another side of the compound.
Right there he saw something. The wall was breached. There was a big hole in the polycrete wall, near the top. The razor wire had been cut away.
Right away, Mu'kala knew that could not have been normally done. Anyone who tried to so much as touch the wall was easily blasted away by the automated defence towers that lined the walls every hundred metres or so. Mu'kala himself took care not to cross the killzone. Then he realised that the towers had been trashed. The auto-turrets had been reduced to scrap. Something big had hit them.
Above all, he noticed the make-shift ladder someone had placed at the breach. It was definitely of na'vi make. He started climbing. He wasn't sure if he would like what he would find on the other side.
As he climbed, he noticed someone's head slumped near the top of the battlements. The light from behind made it impossible for Mu'kala to see who it was. As he got to the top, Mu'kala noticed it was a na'vi's head. He lifted it.
"Hey, are you okay?"
When he lifted the head, a dead face stared back at him. It had copped an arrow in the eye, and that arrow had been removed, leaving a bloody eye socket.
Mu'kala yelped in fright, going as far as to fall off the ladder. He landed on his ass.
As he looked back up, he could still see the ghastly silhouette of the head on top of the wall. At least he didn't have to see the eye socket again.
He started to climb the ladder again. This time he poked his head over the wall.
"Eywa…" he breathed.

The yard in front of him looked a warzone. One in which the bodies hadn't been picked up yet. The buildings were pocked with gunfire and arrows. The once orderly piles of machinery and lumber had been knocked around, scattered across the ground. The lights were more or less still going, although some of them had been knocked out. The odd scorch mark permeated the surroundings, someone had decided to get friendly with explosives, or a flamethrower, and had been shooting everywhere. A truck had been turned right over, another one was a burnt wreck, the ashes still glowing.
Of course, all of that paled in comparison to the corpses that still decorated the place.
There was the militiaman who had had his head smashed into the wall several times.
The na'vi brave, stabbed repeatedly and lying in a pool of blood.
The lumberjack pinned to the wall by arrows.
Another militiaman, with both his arm and head hacked off.
A young na'vi woman, arrows in her back.
Another militiaman slouched through a broken window.
A lumberjack dangling on a ladder, legs still hooked on the rungs.
The list went on.
"Eywa…" Mu'kala breathed wild eyed. "Who would do such a thing?"
His eye caught movement. He turned towards the biggest building in the whole compound: the mining administration.
The building still had some power. Light shined out of the reinforced windows.
A shadow crossed one of these windows.
"Shit, someone there?"

"So do you think they might be related?" Alex asked Neytiri.
"What's related?"
"The attack on the convoy and the thing with you and the Khalistheya, do you think they might have been done by the same people?"
The human and the na'vi had managed to find their way back onto the road at this point. Instead of trekking through a dangerous swamp, they now had to walk down the road until they hit something. They still couldn't find anyone else. At least they didn't have to worry about killer Pandoran crocodiles.
"It certainly can't be a coincidence." She said kicking a stone. "Yeah, I'd have to say they're connected."
Alex kept an eye on the forest. He didn't want to be jumped by any animals. He once heard of a creature that could kill a man from a distance by firing its head, at the prey, although he had never seen one before.
"Why do you think they'd want to do this?" he asked.
"Well aside from the fact you're all sky people…" Neytiri began. "There's-"
She trailed off and stopped in her tracks.
"What?-"Alex began. Then he saw it too. He got his shotgun out.
The militiaman was hanging in the trees. Alex recognized it as the radioman. He wasn't hanging from one rope around his neck or anything, he was dangling from what could be best described as a tangle, or a web, or a net of ropes and vines. He was hanging there like a drowned body in the water, arms flopped down. His dead eyes stared down, as if he regarded the ground as something trying to kill him.
He still had a few arrows in his back.
Alex frantically looked around. "We need to get moving." He whispered. "NOW."
They broke into full run. They had just started to take the next bend, when they stopped right in their tracks.

The na'vi that stood before them wasn't dressed in the style of garb the Omaticaya wore. His hair was dreadlocked, not braided. The cloth that he wore was of a different weave. His arms and feet were covered in what looked like wicker bracers and shin guards. And he was covered in body paint. At least Alex hoped it was paint. It was red in colour, and it made strange designs on his body. Alex could barely see the man's eyes. He couldn't tell who it was.
Neytiri stopped breathing. Alex took this to mean that this guy was one of the Khalistheya.
"What do you want?" Alex asked. He felt like his heart was about to burst out of his chest.
At first the man didn't do anything. The tension was palpable in Alex's mind. Then the man did something Alex wished he did not do.

He smiled.

That smile, easily counted to Alex as The Scariest Fucking Thing He Ever Saw. It was a huge, twisted, evil smile that stretched across the na'vi man's face. Alex raised his gun at him.
"We've all missed you Neytiri." The man said in horrible, sing-song voice. "Hesh'ka's been really disappointed when you left so early."
Neytiri stared at him in a different way. She was still on guard. And terrified, but now she looked a little curious.
"What's wrong with you?" she whispered. "You weren't like this when I left."
"Wrong?" the man beamed. "I'm fine! I've felt like I've got so much off of my chest!" he turned to Alex. "And he I was thinking that my friends had managed to get everyone in that convoy…"
As the man was talking in that horrible voice, Alex noticed something about his face. At first he thought that it had been painted in more of that red war paint that covered his body. Then he realised that the markings on his face seemed to be of a different texture to the paint on his body.
Then he knew that it wasn't paint. It was dried blood. Blood that had been bleeding out of his eyes and nose.
"We are not coming with you." Neytiri whispered firmly.
"What?" the man said. He didn't look so happy anymore. "Now that is just rude. You've all of my friend's feelings!"
Alex's eyes glanced around. There was other na'vi around them, keeping their distance for now. He could tell from only a cursory glance that they looked more or less the same: worst kind of crazy.
"Neytiri, on my go, run." He whispered in English.
"What?"
"What did you just say tawtute?" the man said displeased. "I don't catch what tongue you were speaking in." He was starting to get really threatening.
Alex knew that however this was going to play out, one of them would probably get the chop. The only thing that they could really do now was to hope that one of them would get away to warn the others.
They way Alex saw it, the one who gets away might as well be the mother and future Tsahik.
"Are you ready?" Alex whispered.
"Ready."

Alex turned back to the crazy na'vi in front of him. "Right," he began. "I was just saying to her that…"
Right in mid-sentence, Alex blasted the man's head right off with a shotgun blast. The head practically sailed right off, a few metres down the road. Neytiri started to sprint in the same direction.
Right away the other na'vi howled and rushed at Alex. In return, he started to blast at them wildly with his gun. They screamed and howled at him, but Alex couldn't worry about that.
He started to get a headache as well. He couldn't worry about that.
He managed to take a quick glance towards where Neytiri was going. She had managed to run a hundred or so metres and was nearly off the path before a na'vi tackled her to the ground.
"Shit Fuck Piss!" he shouted. He blasted one na'vi to the ground before another batted his gun out of his hands. He was nearly swatted aside, but he brandished the knife he kept on him and rammed the madman away from him.
Now he was starting to get dizzy.
Two great arms hugged around him from behind, pinning him and lifting him up, like child being dragged out of a play fight. He started to struggle like crazy, roaring a multitude of profanities at his attackers. He nearly managed to struggle out of the grip, his exo suit gave him about the same level of strength as any na'vi, but these guys were tough.
He was then slammed down into the ground, forcing him on his ass and knocking the wind out of him. He made an effort to get up, but a foot slammed into his face. He tasted blood.
Not just in his mouth either.
The last thing he remembered was a bloody faced na'vi woman smiling in a triumphantly evil way, before she introduced her fist to his face, causing his mind to explode into a thousand shards.
Then there was nothing.

Jake took stock of the people before him.
About a third of the humans from the colony had managed to escape. They were resting against the trees, sitting on the ground, leaning on one of the three APC's that managed to get out, tending to wounds and keeping a watch out. Some of them were miners. Others were lumberjacks and there were even a few office workers. They were no warriors so Jake understood why they were scared. Others were the surviving militia and a few mercenaries. They set themselves to tend to their wounded, comfort the survivors and keep on watch for any more attacks. All in all, they weren't exactly at their best, and they had to rely his people for advice on what to do now.
On the other hand were his own surviving tribesmen. They had managed to fare better than the humans when the Khalistheya struck, but about a third of them were either dead or unaccounted for. The rest were doing largely the same things that the humans were doing, except that it included getting the canoes ready for departure.
The attack on the compound had been hell. It started when one of the lookouts reported seeing torches in the treeline. Everyone knew it could not have been the guys who had been sent out to look for the convoy; those guys had been sent in the opposite direction. Many had wanted to go to see who it was, but both Jake and Captain Smith figured it was a bad idea.
The lights had stayed for a few minutes before they winked out of existence. Suddenly, a minute later, one of the towers holding some of the heavy auto turrets was suddenly attacked. Everyone only heard a large crunching noise, and when the shined their lights at the tower, the turret was gone. Something had just wrenched it out and made off with it. It happened three more times to the other to the other towers before someone had finally managed to shine a light at it

'It' happened to be a silent group of banshees. Nobody knew how they managed to move so quietly, what they did know was that they were manned by na'vi and they were painted in red Khalistheya colours. That's when the humans opened fire.
At that moment, the Khalistheya really started to storm the compound. The banshees had breached gaps in the walls, and with most of the attention being diverted to them, the men and women inside the compound didn't see the horde coming in time.
The actual battle was a sordid affair that Jake rather wanted to forget. He did think about the time one of his warriors was willing to carry wounded humans to safety. Or the time that lumberjack went at the enemy with a chainsaw.
But everyone could tell that the attack was going to succeed. Captain Smith had been thrown out a window when the attackers stormed the administration block. The foreman suffered a rather grim end, and as a result Noh was the only human with any real capacity to lead now.
It was at the moment when they were deliberating (or arguing) about what to do when the convoy search party that was sent to check the convoy came back. They had to circle the compound since the gates were closed, but there were enough Khalistheya all around to keep them busy. It was at this point Jake figured now was the best time to go and make a break for the canoes where he and his tribe came in from. Noh was inclined to agree.
The rest was a matter of piling everyone into whatever vehicles there were and making a break for it. The rest was history.

As Jake thought about the state of the people around him, that insipid voice crept back into his mind.
Do you really think that you can save them both?
"I need to." Jake whispered. "If not, my people will be blamed for the attack and we'll all burn for it."
Aw there it is. the voice sneered. You're not helping them from the bottom of your heart. You're just helping them because it's good for you.
"Shut up!" he hissed. "I would have helped them anyways!"
Sure you would. But even so, you know that you can't keep them on your side. It's siding with them that's probably caused the reason for the attack.
"Chieftain?" a voice asked. "Are you okay?"
Jake looked to find Shee'kana. The fight at the mines had left her battered, bloodied and a little in shock, but she was showing remarkable amounts of strength in keeping it together for a young brave.
"I'm fine Shee'kana." He answered in a distracted fashion. "Really."
"Well… if you say so." She said in a suspicious fashion. "Anyway, I've just come to say that there's enough space on the canoes for both us, the humans and a few more."
"Thank you Shee'kana."
"Oh yes, that human leader? He said he was going to talk to you soon." She walked away.
Aw fuck, not him…

Jake knew he wasn't going to like the next part. It wasn't as if Noh was a bad guy. It was just that he and Noh really grated together. The man was always snarking, always poking fun, never taking anything at face value. He always seemed to sniff whenever he heard any of his people's stories or how the land worked. He was almost impossible to work with and Jake still could not figure out why.
Sure enough, the exo-suited man started to walk up.
"Jake, we've got a problem."
"What is it?"
"One of our miners here, Victoria I think her name is, she's out cold right now, but we can't find her kid."
"She had a kid out by the mines?"
"Don't know the details. I think it was some kind of take daughter to work thing. She's the only kid I know who's around here."
"You sure?"
"Positive. We have to get back."
Jake frowned. "We can't, that's too dangerous."
Noh flashed a Look. "Jake, this is a fucking child we're talking about-"
"Noh, I've got your people, and my own to take care of. There's a tribe of crazy na'vi out there, and we're not even sure that this spot is secure. We can't risk it."
"But-"
"You can go yourself if you want, but I'm not risking any of my own with you. Do you understand?"
Noh stared at him. "Fine." He muttered. He took a look around. "Isn't it nice to know that this isn't your kid we're talking about?"
The temperature in the forest rose by a fraction.
"She is safe right now, at home." He quietly snarled. "Leave her out of this. Go and watch the dark"
"I don't take orders from you, chieftain." The sergeant snarled back. "Unlike you, I'm still human, remember? Last time I remembered, you introduced yourself as a na'vi, not human."
"How 'bout I introduce my fist to your face!"
A slightly nervous voice started up from the side. "If I might get this back on track…"

Jake and Noh turned to see Dwight standing to the side. He had some bandages over his head from when a madman swiped at him, but otherwise he was okay.
"I'm just here to say that the rest of us humans are still okay with staying here for an hour or so." He said in an uncomfortable fashion. "We were also talking to the na'vi guys and they're okay with the idea as well."
Jake turned around and shouted towards Shee'kana. "Hey! Are you okay with staying here in the dark while we wait for anyone else to come?"
"We all are chieftain."
"Well…" Noh smiled, clapping his hands together. "I guess that's one thing our peoples have to agree on." He looked back at Jake. "Ain't the spirit of cooperation grand?"
"I guess…" Jake muttered grudgingly.
"Makes you think that both of our species, human and na'vi alike, are actually worth a damn huh?"
"I hate working with you so much."
"I know!" Noh beamed. "Isn't it great?"