Chapter 6: Caught up
Hul'sin felt something grazing his arm. Glancing down he saw it was the oomans odd footwear. Turning around swiftly he didn't see what he expected to. Instead of the ooman standing behind them, she was being carried away by a hard meat! Roaring to his comrades over the noise "The Ooman!" he started running to the wall after her, throwing his combistick just to see the drone dodge it and keep going,
Ke'varde snapped his head around instantly yelling to Ek'tan "Take care of them!" pointing to the retreating drones. Braking to a run he reached the wall at the same time as Hul'sin, pointing his laser at the beast. The other Predator growled shoving his arm "You can't shoot it! You'll hit her as well, they are too close!" grabbing his attention. Cursing he saw they were too late to do anything else as the drone was already through the hole with a limp Cat in its black claws.
"We will find her in the nest Ke'varde" grunted Hul'sin observing the hunter who just growled in affirmation. Ek'tan joined them shortly saying "The drones escaped, they are heading for the queens chamber"
They all knew they had to get the ooman out since they gave their word. Walking to a wall with circular protrusions Ke'varde turned some seemingly random dials which moved a wall covered in carvings of their race fighting the hard meats aside exposing a dark corridor. Looking at his map he confirmed it was the right path that would lead them to the queen and to Cat. As he was about to go through Ek'tan stopped him by giving him the oomans knife. Nodding to him he took it hoping that the female had another weapon to protect herself.
Groaning and slowly opening her eyes Mina didn't know where she was for the first few minutes it took to focus and get past the pounding in her head. Looking around she could see black walls that almost seemed to come to life, another passage and a few things on the ground scattered that looked like eggs of some sort. Turning her head she could see Gabe about 10feet away from her. A pained and frightened look on his lifeless face. His chest sporting a hole, the size of a melon. Trying to move her arms and legs she discovered she was completely pinned to the wall by god knows what this thing was. It held better then cement. Glancing down she saw one of those crab-like things lying dead in front of her. She knew what that meant whispering "It's inside me…" struggling a bit harder she decided it was time to get out of this place and find a medic somewhere "Maybe they can get it out of me in time!" Hearing a noise she stilled, going limp and hanging her head like she was still unconscious. Waiting for whatever it was to leave her alone again so she could escape.
The drone carrying the being it stole from the hunters reached the nest. It was about to raise the limp form to the wall, when the queen gave the order that it was time for them to release her from her prison. They have lost too many and their number was low. Dropping the being unceremoniously to the floor it waited for a few moments if it would wake, when it didn't even stir the drone turned and left the same way it came in. The facehuggers would take care of this one and seed it with a new Alien.
Cat woke up in the beasts arms a few moments before she was dropped, concentrating hard to keep her breathing even and her heart rate slow she made sure not to move a muscle until she heard it move away. When she heard nothing more she popped on eye open and waited just in case this was another trick. Slowly getting to her hands and knees she saw red blood on the floor in front of her. Frowning she followed the wall behind the blood up with her eyes, reaching an open chest cavity she almost threw up, moving on to a face she froze with a look of pure horrified recognition "Oh Gabe…" She never imagined seeing her ex-fiancé like this. Sure she'd had a few colorful ideas on torturing him for breaking her heart and stabbing her in the back, but this was a bit over the top. Glancing at his left leg she reached for his ankle, feeling the shape of a gun muttering "Thank god you never could change your ways Gabriel…" Right now she was glad he never listened to her about guns. She hated guns, but she knew how to use one. Checking the clip a disturbing thought struck her "If you're here, then that means so is…"
"Hello Catherine" Smirking she watched Cats face go from shock to annoyance "I know we had our differences but you wouldn't leave a member of your own family to die here would you?"
Getting up from the floor Cat seriously considered leaving her annoying cousin to the mercy of those hard meats. Moving to stand in front of her she knew "I'm going to regret this…" Grabbing the gun by the barrel she used it to crack the hard mass holding her cousin to the wall "What are you doing here Mina? How did you even find this place?" Struggling to help Cat along she opened her mouth to answer when she spotted the eggs opening "Turn around and start shooting Catherine!"
Doing exactly that Cat raised her gun watching the strange eggs opening up and pale crab things with tails slowly crawling out of them. Shooting them she counted since she had only twelve bullets. Killing seven already she almost missed the one that jumped at her. Being too slow with the gun she ducked just in time, turning her head she watched Mina grab it by its tail and swing it around in a circle she released it yelling "Shoot!" Aiming her gun steadily Cat hit the thing in the air like it was a clay disk. They were easier to kill then those black hard meats.
Both women stood surveying the room for any more of those crab things. Not seeing any Cat turned to her cousin just to get knocked on her ass by a fist out of nowhere. Dropping her gun it skidded out of reach "What the hell was that for! I just saved your ass" She said narrowing her eyes and holding her busted lip.
Glaring with ice in her blue eyes Mina spat out "Do you really think I'm going to let you beat me to the treasure again Catherine? I don't even know how you managed to survive Cairo"
Shocked Cat could only ask "That was you! You shot me in the back and left me in the desert! You're the one who stole my map to this location? And for what! Open your eyes Mina there are no treasures here!" grabbing her cousin's hand she swiped her legs tugging at the same time. Rolling on the ground they both struggled with each other. Clawing, tugging and trying to get a few good hits.
Rolling Cat underneath herself Mina grabbed her throat and started applying steady pressure, choking the life out of her, leaning close to her ear whispering viciously "Gabe stole the map sweetheart, but I'm sure you suspected that already. Even if there is no treasure it's the perfect opportunity for you to disappear. And this time I'm going to make sure your dead."
Clawing at the hands chocking her Cat couldn't believe what she was hearing. She knew they always had a rivalry and they never could stand being in each other's presence but going that far? She remembered parts of the expedition to Cairo. The fight they'd had about the treasure and who it belonged to. Cat thought the treasures they found should belong to the museums and people it that region, not to private collectors. She remembered being on her way back to the city from the dig site when she was ambushed by what she thought were thieves. Discovering now that it was her cousin did nothing to mend their broken relationship.
Fuming she tried to get her legs under Mina, succeeding she pushed her off turning to her stomach and crawling towards the gun. Hearing Mina scramble to her feet cursing she dove for it and turned pointing it at her before the blond had a chance to lunge at her again "Why Mina?"
Putting her hands up she answered with a cold smile "Don't play dumb Catherine you know why. Working for museums doesn't pay enough. Besides you don't have it in you to shoot me, you're too moral for that" she moved back a few paces keeping eye contact.
Shrugging Cat cocked an eyebrow answering "Do you intend to test me Mina? And I'm Cat, not Catherine" Expecting her to do something sneaky she didn't budge when her cousin started to clutch her stomach and fall to her knees bending over with a pained expression. She only reacted when she saw her cough up blood. Jumping up and rushing to her side, dropping the gun in her haste she helped her to the floor. Propping her cousin against herself she asked frantically "What is it? What's wrong?"
Coughing again Mina clutched her cousin's hand "One of those things is inside me…it's gonna be out soon, I can feel it clawing" wincing she smiled through the pain "This doesn't change anything, I still hate you…Cat…This isn't how I envisioned it…" Hugging her close Cat leaned her head on hers crying she made the effort to smile back "Shh I know. If it helps I hate you too" Even through everything, they were still family and Cat wasn't going to leave her in her last moments. Though she couldn't do anything to help her she held her hand giving comfort. Trying to chuckle slightly Mina whispered "Liar, but I guess it's the thought that counts" Feeling her tense up and scream with pain Cat watched as an ugly beige miniature of those beasts burst through her cousin's chest screeching and tossing. Letting go of her limp body she grabbed the gun and shot it twice. Dropping the gun again she kneeled back down leaning over Mina closing her lifeless blue eyes she whispered "Bye"
Wiping her face after a few minutes she needed to get going. "I can't get out of this alone, I need the hunters" Getting up she grabbed the gun. Turning to Minas still form she checked her holster for more ammo. finding two clips she put a new one in the gun and another one in her back pocket. Creeping to an opening she saw it was a passage. Mustering her courage she moved forward cautiously, gun at the ready in case she bumped into something she really didn't want to.
The Predators moved quietly down the passage. Entering the nesting chamber they saw opened hard meat eggs. Looking around the walls for the ooman they were seeking, they didn't find her, just a male who was already seeded and empty of the beast. Moving forward Ek'tan spotted the bad blood ooman he was trailing earlier dead on the floor. Kneeling next to her he uncloaked noticing she was more bruised then he remembered her being when the alien took her. Either she was in a fight with the hard meats or their missing ooman. "This ooman was in a fight…from her bruises and scratches it doesn't look like the hard meat did this, they are too small and too recent." He wasn't pleased that the bad blood was dead. Particularly since he didn't get the chance to do it himself.
Hul'sin saw the dead facehuggers and the dead hard meat lying in the female oomans chest the acid almost all the way through her upper body. "Our little ooman must have found a burner in order to kill so many of them…" Shaking his head he was a bit disappointed that "She didn't even take her trophies"
Growling in satisfaction Ke'varde was proud and relieved of the little one for taking care of herself without them. He just hoped she could hold out a little longer until they found her. "We will give her the mark once this is finished. If she survives, she has earned it."
Hul'sin and Ek'tan both looked at him strangely thinking "Did he just purr?" Shrugging it off they continued examining the chamber.
Since Ke'varde didn't see their expressions he didn't even notice his slight mis-purr. Circling through his visor he was looking for Cats heat signature, making an estimate that she wasn't gone for long. Looking in the direction of her foot prints he could see she was heading directly for the main chamber. Clicking to his fellow hunters they all recloaked and headed cautiously down the passage.
Cat reached the end of the corridor uninterrupted. Sticking her head around the corner she couldn't believe what she was seeing. In the middle of the huge chamber there was a gigantic black beast surrounded by three smaller already familiar shapes. "Oh my god this must be the queen" It being more than 20feet high, probably forty if you counted in the deadly tail lengthwise. Her head was elongated with a high crown, her back and tail adorned with deadly protruding spikes. Her teeth and claws alone could give a person nightmares.
The drones were circling her, biting at the chains keeping her prisoner in this pyramid. The chains holding her were connected around what looked like a collar and spread out to the ceiling to large rusted rings she saw before. The ends of the chains were connected to cuffs on her clawed arms, legs and tail. The more it would pull on them with a limb the more it would choke her by the ring around her neck.
Narrowing her eyes Cat could see the hard meat that dumped her in the egg-room using its tail to drip acid blood all over the chains holding the queens clawed hands. Braking free from one set of chains holding her the Queen let out a deafening screech of triumph.
Her mouth dropping open at the noise Cat started backing up whispering in dread "How the hell are we supposed to kill it?" Bumping into something solid behind her Cat almost shrieked herself. If it wasn't for the shimmering hand she would have given up their position. It took her a second to register that it wasn't one of those monsters. Feeling the now familiar texture of firm callused skin and claws on her face she turned and jumped into the arms of a very surprised hunter whispering "It's you! I've never been happier to see anyone in my life!"