Author's Note: Hello, fair readers! We have decided that, from now on, whenever we get reviews in multiples of twenty, we shall have a contest for a gift one shot! Because we feel like it. That means we're over half way there on this one! Good job!

Thanks to all of the people that took the time to review. We really do appreciate it. High five!

Disclaimer: We're not bad ass enough to own Predators. We don't think anyone REALLY is.

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Chapter 4: Run Away and Live to Fight Another Day

Marie turned the wheel, whipping it around the corner, sending Evie flying into the door. She righted herself, desperately reaching for her seat belt. Clicking it into place, she braced herself as they took another sharp turn. "Marie! Slow down! I think I'm gonna hurl! And what if we crash into a spider at this speed? Goners will be toast!"

Marie was hunched over, wild eyed. "Shitshitshitshitshit."

Evie looked out the back. "Marie. Slow down! They're not following us! You left them behind forever ago! And I doubt they'd catch up on foot at the speed you're going!"

Evie was hurled forward as Marie slammed on the brakes, the car skidding and screeching as it slowed. Evie was suddenly grateful that she'd put on her seatbelt earlier. When the car finally came to a stop, Marie turned and looked at her friend. "I'm going back and killing those freaks."

"No! We don't have the time for that, Marie, and you know it! We need to go save Chatter and Bossman. You like THEM, right? And what about Cook? You two seemed to get along well."

Pouting, Marie put the car into motion again, though at a much more sedate pace. "Fine. But I WILL find those things and kill them. One set of alien beasties is bad enough. I don't need ones with weapons coming after us!"

The vehicle took another turn and the two women screamed as they almost ran right into a small group of people standing in the middle of the road, who were also screaming. A master of avoidance, Marie easily dodged around the group of terrified men, and kept Goners from hitting a tree at the same time.

Putting the car into park, both Marie and Evie lowered their windows. Marie to speak with the approaching group and Evie to promptly puke her guts out. One man stepped up to the window, clearly relieved. "Hey there! Name's Jedidiah. But you can call me Jedi."

The man was interrupted when Evie gave another strange hacking noise, one that reminded all of the people present of a cat puking up a hair ball. Jedi looked around Marie's shoulder at the heaving shoulders of the other woman. "What's wrong with her?"

Marie looked at him, straight faced, and waved her hand in front of his. "There IS nothing wrong."

Jedi kept a straight face as well and bantered back. "Your Jedi mind tricks will not work on ME, young padawan. You have much to learn."

The other men were laughing through this exchange of pleasantries, and Jedi even gave in to a small chuckle. "No, seriously, what's the matter with her?"

Marie shot back. "She's allergic to UGLY. You should take a few steps back. That might help. That goes for all of you. Step AWAY from the vehicle."

The men looked back and forth between each other, nervousness returning. Jedi took a step back. "She's not, you know…"

Evie had recomposed herself a little bit by this point. "Motion sick!"

She hacked up once more and the men sighed and laughed. Marie cracked a smile. "She's delicate. What are some fine boys like you doing in a place like this?"

"We're trying to get back to Bobbie's Cliff. We've got to rendezvous there, with our other teams. We haven't been able to let them know we're still alive."

Marie's face lit up. "Oh! You must be Theta!"

The men behind Jedi looked suspicious again, reaching for their weapons. Jedi held up a hand, settling them down. "How do you know about us?"

"We work with Alpha! We traveled with them this summer. We're the Red Herrings, remember? Bossman should have mentioned us."

The general atmosphere cleared up. Jedi grinned. "That's right, he did. It's good to see a friendly face."

Evie sat up, trying to speak, but was too out of breath from blowing chunks for the men to hear. Marie nodded. "Yes, that makes sense."

The stocky girl turned from her partner to Jedi once more. Smiling a lascivious grin, she quirked one of her eyebrows up. "So, you boys going OUR way?"

Jedi looked at her strangely for a moment, before bursting into laughter. "Why, yes, little lady, I do believe we ARE going your way. Give some men a ride?"

Marie hit a button and the back trunk doors opened. "Hop in, boys. It's gonna be an interesting ride. Also, don't touch my guns."

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The Herrings had just finished filling in the remnants of Theta team with all the bad news, when the radio began squawking once more. "Herrings! Come in Herrings! Over!"

Evie grabbed up the handset. "Chatter? What is it? What's your status? Over."

Chatter's voice came over the waves, despair in his normally cheery voice. "Don't bother coming, you two. It isn't worth it anymore. Trying to save us is just a death trap. Beta team just made a retreat with only two of their guys left standing. It's only me, dad and Cook left anyway. Just get away from here. Over."

Marie had put on the gas, fear filling her. She began talking, mostly to herself, partially to Evie. "We can't ditch them! We can still make it! I'm sure we can save them!"

Evie shook her head, wanting to cry, both for her friend and the men they were losing. Jedi poked his head up between the two front seats, an angry look on his face. "Tell them we aren't leaving them! We've got seven now, and if we pick up what's left of Beta we'll have close to a full team! Plus, you gals have a CRAZY arsenal back here. We can do this!"

Marie whipped her head to the side, glaring over her shoulder. "Don't touch my guns! They're MY guns! I found them myself!"

Jedi fell backwards as they went over a particularly rough patch of road, startled at the venom in Marie's tone. Evie looked at her partner, raising one eyebrow. "Marie. WHAT have I told you about sharing?"

Marie mumbled to herself, something about if the others were all dead she wouldn't HAVE to share, and hunched down over the wheel. Evie shook her head, torn between laughter and exasperation. The awkward moment was interrupted by Chatter. "Herrings? You still there? Over."

"Sorry, Chatter. We're still here. And, for the record, we have what's left of Theta team with us. So, we are STILL coming to get you. Try to stay alive! Over."

An angry voice took the place of Chatter's boyish tone. "NO! I order you to leave us! It's not safe here! We can't let more die in a wasteful cause. Over."

Evie almost giggled. "We don't TAKE orders from you, Bossman. Remember? And we've commandeered Theta team, so they don't either. Here we come to save the day! So hang on tight! Over."

Bossman hurled obscenities and insults at the Herrings, Theta team, and all of their parents. And grandparents. He was summarily ignored and the happy team continued on into certain doom.

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Marie was slowing the car down, inching carefully around a sharp corner, ready to either ram something or run away, whatever was needed. She flicked her eyes back and forth as the headlights cast their reddish glow.

As she eased up on the brakes, something darted out of the tree line in front of the van. Marie noticed it too late and screeched as she hit the thing with a tiny thump, since she'd only been going about five miles an hour.

Staring out the window, foot solidly back on the brake pedal, Marie turned to stare at Evie, horror and tears in her eyes. "Evie… I think I hit something. What if it was a BUNNY?"

Evie deadpanned at her. Before she could come up with a suitable caustic remark, the thing they'd hit jumped up from the road, revealing itself to be a rather irate man.

"You dumb bitch! Watch where the fuck you're going, dipshit! The fuck is your problem?" The man raged at the women in the front, before slamming his fist down on the hood of the vehicle, leaving a rather sizeable dent.

Evie gaped at the dent, turning to Marie quickly. The driver was stock still, focused on the further damage to her beloved Goners, left eye twitching even more than normal. Slowly, Marie clicked the release on her seat belt and began opening the door, pulling a hefty looking machete from beside the driver's seat.

Evie instantly dove for the seatbelt, trying to click it back into place. "NO, MARIE! Murder is not the answer! Violence is only a temporary solution! Put the machete down!"

"NO! He hit Goners! HE MUST DIE! Somebody hit the CD player and flip to Mortal Kombat, the Techno version!"

An epic battle for the seatbelt ensued and Jedi looked over, under, around and through the flailing arms in the front seat, trying to ascertain the identity of the still cursing pedestrian. Recognition hit fairly quickly at the sight of the outsider's scraggly mountain man beard. "Oh! That's just Dingo! Hi, Dingo!"

Dingo squinted, looking into the gloom of the van, past the still battling females. "Jedi? That you? I thought you were dead."

Shaking his head, Jedi responded. "Nah, our com guy just got eaten. We couldn't stay to let ya'll know we were all right. Well, some of us. And these lovely gals offered to give us a lift to Alpha."

Dingo snorted. "Dude, don't even try it. I barely made it out with all my limbs still attached."

"Hey… Chatter said two of you escaped. Where's the other?" One of the other men looked about, trying to check for anyone else in the surrounding woods.

Shifting uneasily, Dingo scratched his chin. "We were attacked on the way here."

Marie started, shocking the gathered company. "Hey! So, YOU'RE the guy we've been looking for!"

Evie and Jedi looked at each other, before Evie commenced speaking with Marie once more. "Yes, darling. That's the one."

"Sooo… I'm supposed to give him a ride in my van that he hurt?"

Evie began getting that uneasy feeling again. "Yeeesss…"

"Okay!" Marie perked up and Evie swore she could see her partner's pigtails bouncing in delight.

"Er, that's great! Thanks for being understanding, sweetie. You're wonderful! Will you put the machete down now?"

Marie complied, sheathing the blade once more. "Of course. I'm not THAT crazy. We can't just leave him out here! He can ride on the roof!"

Evie had been halfway to thinking Marie had been going back to the way she'd been before the apocalypse. Those hopes came crashing down. "Wait, what?"

"By his neck, of course. Or from the back! I'm not picky. Oh! Oh! How about strapped to the HOOD HE DENTED?"

Jedi began laughing, but it petered off when Evie and Marie simply turned to stare at him. He gulped, gazing from one serious face to the other. "Wait, ya'll weren't kidding?"

Marie kept her face perfectly neutral. "I am ALWAYS serious."

"That's a LIE." Evie commented back, her face just as straight and serious as her comrade's. Jedi sat back, feeling confused, amused, and a little bit scared.

In the interim, Evie managed to talk Marie out of her homicidal zone, distracting the driver while the other men let Dingo into the back. The new comer sat, hunched over, glowering at all those assembled. "If you go charging in there, count me out. You are all nuts. I don't want to go back there!"

Marie started the van up again and they took off. "YOU are the one that got into my van. WE are going to get Bossman, Chatter, and Cook. If you do not like this plan, please feel free to leave. Just give me some warning, so I can really hit the gas, you ugly hobo faced loser."

Dingo gaped at the back of Marie's head, spluttering for a response, but settling on sullen silence. Jedi chuckled to himself, mentally giving Marie a score of two, Dingo zero.

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They had all gotten out of Goners, parking it well away from the infected area. Marie refused to take the van anywhere near the huge amount of acid blood that was sure to be there. Begrudgingly, Marie handed out some of her weapons and ammunition to those that didn't have anything left of their own.

Evie began sketching out the area in the dirt, creating a battle plan for the ragtag group to follow. Jedi and the other men added what information they had, trying to perfect their scheme. Dingo stood off to the side, sulking and making curt, angry comments at whatever he thought was stupid. Which was a lot of things.

The others ignored him and continued working. Marie sighed, shifting from one foot to the other, cradling her G-36. She was a woman of ACTION. NOT of planning. Of course, she pondered, this had led her into many unfortunate situations in her life.

Finally, she could wait no more. "All right, ladies! I am going to go kill shit now. Anyone that wants to join me can feel free to tag along. Kay? Bye."

Turning, she headed down the hillside, straight for the writhing mass of Xenomorphs. Evie grabbed her gun, charging after Marie. "You dolt! You can't just waltz into that, guns blazing! Get back here! I'm warning you! MARIE!"

Infuriated, Evie whipped her head about to the men standing awkwardly by. "You heard her! Come on! Seeing as how Miss Crazy Pants over there doesn't WANT to be smart about this… Let's go! We know the plan! MOVE!"

They all headed after Marie, following the sound of gunfire, adding their own to the mix. Dingo began forward with the group, but slowed gradually until he was far behind the others. Grinning, he went back to the van, getting in the driver's seat.

He fumbled about, looking high and low, before snarling in frustration. "That bitch took the fucking keys! What am I supposed to do now?"

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Things were not going well. The group tried pressing forward through the black mass, desperately trying to avoid the blood splatter induced by their gunfire. Evie and Marie stood on their own, back to back, keeping their enemies at bay, trying to keep their eyes peeled for their comrades.

Jedi and his four men were also by themselves, holed up on the top of a hillock. Marie swore as she took the time to reload, looking about. "EVIE! We can't do this for much longer! Are we getting close?"

Evie grunted as her gun recoiled into her shoulder badly. "I can't tell! Marie, I don't think we can do this! We need to get out of here while we still have ammo!"

Marie kicked at a Xenomorph face that was getting too close, before firing into the crowd again. "We can't leave them! We have to save them!"

"We can't! Not with this many Xenos around! Come on, we have to retreat! We've gotten through too much to die out here like this!"

Evie began retreating in what she thought was the proper direction. Marie kept fighting, but tore after Evie, refusing to be separated. The two fought on, shooting and stabbing, doing anything to keep the aliens away.

Finally, the two broke through the edge of the roiling group of Xenos, panting and bleeding. They sprinted towards the van with several of the monsters were following them. Marie looked over her shoulder, spitting obscenities at the beasts. "Evie! What about Jedi? We have to warn him that we're retreating!"

Evie slung her rifle over her shoulder before pulling out the flare gun. She loaded a red flare in and simply aimed up, pulling the trigger. The small valley was flooded with red light. They ran on and broke through the trees in time to use the light of the flare to spot their team mates.

"Marie! Over there!" Evie pointed at a small hill close to them and Marie turned just in time to watch one of the men of the group fall, pierced through the chest by an alien tail. He was dragged, still screaming, into the frenzy.

"I really hope that wasn't Jedi! I like him!" Marie stated, before blasting another spider away. The two had taken care of the Xenos that had followed them and they took a moment to rest. The group on the other hill could be seen retreating towards the van and the two women took off once more.

The women hit the clearing where the van was and raced to their respective seats. Marie let out a shriek as she found Dingo in the driver's seat, attempting to pry open the plastic to get to the wires. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY CAR?"

Dingo started, swinging up his gun. "HEY! I wasn't doing anything! How was I supposed to know if you would come back or not?"

Marie didn't listen to this logic, bodily hauling the man from her seat and hurling him to the ground. She fell upon him with all the viciousness in her small body, pummeling at his face and torso. He screamed, trying to catch her wrists or throw her off, but he couldn't stop the fury directed at him.

Evie stood by, glaring. Dingo looked up at her when he could, crying out. "GET THIS CRAZY BITCH OFF! PLEASE! OH, GOD, HELP ME!"

Evie sneered, feeling very little pity for the man getting his ass kicked by her friend. "Like HELL. You tried to STEAL OUR CAR and leave us STRANDED. And, if I'm not mistaken, YOU didn't even bother going to the fight at all! DID you?"

"You're right! I didn't go! I'm sorry! PLEASE! Just get her off of me!"

Marie reached into her boot, pulling out a wicked looking serrated knife. Grinning wildly, she held it up for Dingo to see. "So… You thought you could steal MY Goners, eh? Well, I'll just help you get rid of those sticky fingers of yours, hm? Hold VEEERY still. This will hurt!"

At this point, Evie finally stepped in. "Marie. Don't. You can beat him as much as you like, but don't kill him. As worthless as he is, he's still human. A pathetic excuse for one, but still…"

Marie didn't put down the knife. "HE would have killed US in a heartbeat! Why not get rid of this slime?"

Evie set her hands on Marie's shoulders. "He isn't worth the trouble it would take to clean the knife afterward. Come on, we have to get Goners ready to go. Jedi and his buds should be here soon. Let Jedi decide what to do with him. They ARE part of the same group."

Marie nodded, getting off of Dingo. He tried to stand, hacking and bleeding, shaky on his legs. He leaned against a tree, trying to recover as best he could. Marie stopped just as she got to the van door, before turning and hurling her blade toward him.

Dingo screamed, but the knife lodged into the wood scant centimeters from his face. He stared, wide eyed, jaw dropped. Marie strolled up, perfectly calm, reaching to grab her blade. As she yanked it from the tree, she locked gazes with the terrified man. "Let me tell you something, Dingo. YOU are a lucky man. BUT, if you EVER mess with me and mine again, Evie won't be able to stop me from lodging this knife in your body several times. That isn't a threat. I'm giving you my word on that."

She walked away, looking over her shoulder. "Don't forget yourself again."

Dingo slid down the tree, rubbing a hand over his face. "Stupid bitch… I'll kill her. I'll fuck her up so bad, she'll never do shit like that to me again. Goddamn…"

As Dingo stood once more, Jedi and one of his men came through the trees. "Hey girls! We gotta go! You won't BELIEVE what we saw!"

The three men got in the back as Marie revved the engine. As the back doors shut, she hit the gas, sending them off wildly. Jedi was panting, clutching his gun. "God… I've never seen anything like it… It was down to me, Sketchers here, and Small Time. We lost Kickstart early on, then Bud Light got dragged in."

Evie nodded. "Yeah, we saw that part. What happened to Small Time?"

"It was AWFUL! These two things just came out of nowhere! One of them shot something at us and Small Time was just missing a chunk! It was like nothing I've ever seen!" Sketchers burst out, shaking.

Marie and Evie just looked at each other. They communicated silently with gestures, eye movements and body language. Marie finally nodded and Evie turned to the men in the back once again. "These two things you saw… Did one happen to be REALLY tall and red? The other a little shorter and black?"

Jedi and Sketchers gaped at the blue eyed girl. "How did you KNOW? "

Evie turned to face the front again. "They're the reason why we were late getting to rescue Bossman and Chatter."

Before anything further could be said, the radio came to life. "Hey, Herrings! You still alive over there? Over."

Evie picked up the handset. "Yeah… We're good. We lost three men. I'm sorry, Chatter. I don't think we can make it through. Over."

"Yeah, Dad and I already knew that. He's got some bullets ready for us. I just wanted to say good bye. You two were great to be around! Over."

"Chatter… I'm going to miss you. And Bossman, too. I wish I could have heard the story about the zombie elephant scar. Over."

"When you get to the other side, I'll make sure he tells it. Will you promise me something, cutie? Over."

"Anything. Me and One both. Over."

"Really? What if I wanted you to promise to build a shrine to me and worship it for the rest of your lives? Every day? Over."

"Chatter."

"Okay, okay, sorry! But, seriously. Just, please don't take off those bracelets. I want you to remember me and dad and Cook and everyone. We all like you. Over."

Evie looked over to Marie, who was wiping at her face. Marie glared up fiercely. "I'm NOT crying! I'm NOT sad! Don't look at me like that!"

Evie sighed, turning back to the handset. "We could never forget any of you. We promise we will do our best to keep these bracelets on. Over."

A sigh of relief came over the line. "I'm glad. By the way, I wanted you to know my name. I'm Ryan Daniels. My dad is Kurt Daniels. Over."

"A pleasure to know that, Ryan. My name is Genevieve Caroll. And Herring One is Marie Sorenson. Good bye, Ryan. Say good bye to Kurt for us, too. Over."

"Wow, you have pretty names. Anyway, this is Ryan Daniels, second to last survivor of Alpha Team. Signing off!"