Chapter 3: Encounters part 1

Hul'sin heard the oomans primitive weapons firing. It was what he was waiting for. It signified that the drones were loose around the pyramid. He was a little surprised that some humans managed to survive for this long. In the end it didn't really matter, either the hard meats would get them or they would. Growling he thought "None of the outsiders will leave this place alive"

He would go slow at first, the drones needed time to get stronger, if they were lucky most of them would be warriors. Clicking contentedly he neared the area where he heard the burners fire and the oomans scream earlier.

Laying a hand on the wall next to him, he could feel the slight tremors of the shift starting, first the bottom of the pyramid would be affected and then it would work its way to the top. Leaving mazes open and reconfiguring every 15min. Soon the shift would reach this level.

He was the oldest Yautja on this hunt, being a little more than 210 cycles/years. He didn't want to leave The Hunt to be a training master to the un-bloods and pups. The Elder was suggesting this more and more as of late. Staying home and raising future warriors was not for him. He was still in good shape and the females all wanted him when he showed off his massive collection of trophies, skulls, hides, and skeletons of the great beasts he hunted for almost two centuries. He was determined he would hunt until the Black Warrior took him.

Reaching his destination, the sacrificial chamber, he watched as an ooman female and male shot at the drone. He knew the small bullets would do little damage to the hard meat, as soon as they punctured the tough hide they would disintegrate in the acid blood that made the hard meats all the more dangerous and respected prey.

The oomans looked around frantically when the moving slabs reached this part of the structure. The female reacted and grabbed the male who was still firing and almost dragged him through a slab that was going to close the chamber to a hallway. The drone wanted to follow the humans, it was moving fast in their direction. The Predator uncloaked roaring at it, as the beast skidded around to face the threat, he could see the oomans watching them as the slab slid into place, locking the soft meat out, and them inside until the next shift.

The drone crouched low on his front claws hissing. They circled each other, both looking for an opening to strike. The drone made the first move, jumping at him and clipping his arm with its razor sharp claws. It was just a scratch that he paid no mind to. Just as the drone was past him, he grabbed its tail and hauled it back to himself grabbing its neck and lifting it up above his head. The drone thrashed in his grip screeching and clawing in the air. The Yautja threw it at the wall as hard as he could, the slabs cracked as it struck them as did its exoskeleton. Debris and stones fell down over it.

The beast lay motionless on its side facing him. Hul'sin was satisfied, now to take his trophies. Crouching next to the beast he pulled out his knife to start cutting it apart when he felt an excruciating pain in his back. Roaring "Pauk-de!" he popped out his wrist blades and stabbed the drone with both hands ripping it apart. Looking over his shoulder he could see his kill's long tail in his back "C'jit this is humiliating" Reaching around he pulled the tail out roaring in pain. He could feel the thwei running down his back. Pulling out his medi-pack his vision became dark and he collapsed.

Meanwhile in another part of the pyramid a hidden figure was patiently waiting for the being beneath to move into striking distance. The black beast quivered its lips in anticipation, gooey saliva dripping from its mouth. You could just barely see the inner smaller mouth with teeth. Though the inner mouth looked small it was strong enough to pierce bone and metal like a knife through butter.

Ke'varde thought he heard something in this chamber, moving in cautiously, he circled through his visor. Not seeing anything didn't mean there was nothing there. The pyramid shifted closing the way he came in and opened another way out on the other side of the room. He moved deeper inside looking around cautiously. Just as he was turning around, the beast leapt from its high hiding place into the hunter throwing them both to the ground. The beast crouched on top of the hunter trying to bite into his skull with his inner mouth, all the while trying to claw at him and pierce him with its tail.

Ke'varde tried keeping the beast at bay while dodging its tail. The claws were scratching at his arms that were the only thing holding it away, the inner mouth snapping constantly inches from his face. Loosening one hand to grab his shuriken, the beast reared to give the final blow when it was suddenly knocked off his body.

Thinking it was one of his fellow hunters he was shocked to see an ooman female rolling off the Kainde Amedha "What the pauk?"

Cat slammed into something very hard, big and skinny. "Ouch, that was definitely not fluff" Rolling to the side she was still a little dazed when the thing started moving! Jumping away from it she could see it didn't like her entrance, the whole posture of the thing screamed "you're dead meat".

As the black thing lunged at her she grabbed the first thing she could think of. Raising her machete the beast impaled itself on it, but it didn't seem to be all that deterred by the sharp piece of metal sizzling in its torso, it was still trying to claw her eyes out. She kept ducking and dodging. One swipe of that clawed hand and she'd be sushi. Then the most astonishing thing happened, a dark green hand grabbed the thing of the ground and impaled it on two blades from its other wrist finishing it off permanently. Her eyes were the size of saucers and her chin was on the floor. For the first time in her life Cat was speechless.

Ke'varde regarded the ooman female as she processed what had just happened. It has been a long time since he last saw an ooman up close. She was a biped like him, small, with fair skin and thin black strands of hair to her mid back, odd human mouth, glinting green eyes and she was frowning at his feet! He frowned back even though she couldn't see his face.

Cat regarded her savior with wide eyes, she'd never seen anything like him in her life! He was huge, probably 8ft tall if not more, built solid like a wall with all that muscle, green with black stripes like a tiger and had dreadlocks for hair! She couldn't see his face because of his odd helmet thingy, she could see he was armored and decked out with all sorts of gadgets, probably weapons. Looking down she saw he was wearing sandals and his clawed toes were showing! Snorting she couldn't contain herself. "The jolly green giant is wearing beach sandals!"

Suddenly the ooman started laughing, clutching her side in her mirth. "What is she laughing at? She must be wrong in the head" He was not amused. Growling at her she stopped after another minute and regarded him again. "T-Thank you for saving me from that…amm what is that anyway?" she said pointing to the corpse of the hard meat.

Grunting he decided not to answer. Maybe if he ignored her she would go away. Turning to the hard meat he started gathering his trophy. Carving the head off the body he started cleaning it. He could hear the female coming closer to him. He groaned on the inside.

Watching the big guy she could see he was going to be stubborn, not to mention rude. He didn't even answer her question. Shrugging her shoulder she took a look at what he was doing. She was surprised that he was taking the scull from that thing. She heard that ancient warriors took trophies, that it brought them honor and position in their tribe. Was her savior like those ancient people? His weapons seemed advanced, but not his attire. "I don't think he's from around here" smacking her forehead and rubbing her eyes"…what in the world have I gotten myself into this time…?" she thought watching him through her fingers while he was cleaning. Dropping her hand she decided to look for her hat and then get chatty. She hoped her curiosity wouldn't get her killed.

Just as he was getting up to clip his cleaned skull to his belt, he felt the ooman move away from him. Turning around he saw her looking for something. When she found it he could tell she wasn't pleased. "Oh it's ruined! It was my favorite hat! Damnation!" looking at the piece of cloth she kicked away with her foot he shrugged, he didn't know what a hat was, and looking at it, he didn't see its importance. Hearing her muttering something about "…getting over my separation anxiety…" he decided it was time to move on, thinking "Of all the oomans, I get stuck with a broken-minded female"

Looking over at her green companion Cat decided introductions should be made. Walking to stand in front of him she had to tip her head way back to see where his face was supposed to be. Clearing her throat she caught his attention when he cocked his head to the side. She figured it was in the form of "what do you want now?" "So…what should I call you?" gesturing to herself she said "My name is Cat…what's yours?"

He didn't know why, but he ended up telling her "Ke'varde" She was trying to repeat what he said from his clicks and growls butchering it half a dozen times before she got it right. "You know I could break my tongue saying your name in an emergency" she said grinning at him. He was starting to regret that he told her.

Following her friend out she kept repeating his name for another minute, to get used to it. It was an odd language to be sure. He didn't seem to have much difficulty understanding her though. "Probably has a translator somewhere or something"

"So where are you from Ke'varde? Is it beautiful there? How old are you? Have you been here before? Do you live in a tribal culture? What is your social structure like?" taking a deep breath to fire out some more questions, she was stopped when his clawed hand covered her mouth followed by a low growl. "I wonder what would happen if I licked his hand?" Leaning to the side to peer around him her eyes widened and her thought was forgotten, she could see two of those black things moving out of the walls heading their way!