The creature had been running for nearly three hours. Blood was coursing through his veins so fast, it were as if he would explode at any moment. His adrenaline turned him into a freight train. Perspiration droplets flew from the muscled arms. Leaves and branches whipped against him, until finally he came to an abrupt stop while perched on a thick tree branch. His breathing was rapid. He needed to rest. Whoever had shot at him was obviously gone, and he silently cursed himself for failing.
Perhaps it was The Alpha who had shot at him. Nothing pleased her more than to deepen and increase the suffering of the Bad Bloods.
And nothing would please him more than to rip out her lumpish skull with his bare hands.
His body relaxed ever so slightly, and he noticed that thick green blood was continuing to seep out of the wound on his leg.
After a minute, he placed a hand on a small pouch at his waist, removing a black box and opened it. Inside were used medical supplies; he poked and prodded inside the box, looking for something specific; a syringe of painkiller. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the syringe was nearly empty. He slammed it back into the medpack and thrust the pack back into the pouch at his waist in frustration. Scanning the forest for a moment, he spied a long, twisting tree with shining bark that glistened in the light of the moon. The creature stood, took a few leaps onto a few branches, and landed near the shiny-barked tree.
Next, he quickly extended a single jagged-edged blade from the gauntlet strapped to his wrist. The wrist gauntlet seemed to house two blades, but one looked as it had been ripped out of its casing, for only a few inches of its base remained. It was a pointed and painful-looking blade, as long as a sword. Using it, the creature sliced off a long, thin piece of the shining tree bark. As the bark peeled away from the flesh of the tree, it oozed a sap that was bright red in color, and smelled sweet. After the creature had peeled off a few feet of thin bark, he gathered it in his hand, turned around and braced his back against the tree. He lifted his injured leg and braced it on a nearby rock. He knew that this was going to hurt. A lot. Taking the strip of bark in his hand, he wrapped his wound up snuggly, and then made a loop in which to tie a knot. He then let his head fall back against the tree, took one end of bark in each hand, and pulled tightly, bringing the edges of the wound together and sealing them under the bandage.
The creature cried out in pain, making a few birds scatter out of the canopy.
Yulia finally had heard enough. She crawled across the stone floor towards the back of the cave and wretched. Vomit splashed onto the floor and onto her fingers. Tari, in pity, picked up a small clay vessel and filled it with water from the falls. Crossing the cave, she handed the cup of water to Yulia, who continued to vomit. Yulia then sat back and wiped her lips off with back of her hand. Noticing the cup, she took it from Tari with shaky hands and gulped the cold liquid.
"You're taking this pretty well. The few women I managed to help escape from the camp just shut down completely after they realized what was going on...they didn't last long. Two even killed themselves. I guess the monsters fucked up this delivery. All they got were shrinking violets." Tari cracked, desperately trying to lighten the mood. Yulia's red-rimmed eyes followed Tari as she made rounds of the cave, gathering bits of this and that, cleaning and loading Yulia's gun, as if she were preparing for something.
"You've got a load of ammo here. Good. We'll need it when the time comes...for the mission." Tari said, inspecting Yulia's belongings. Yulia stopped drinking from the cup and lowered it, her eyes fixated on Tari.
"Mission? By mission I assume you mean the plan to get the hell off of this rock?" Yulia spat bitterly. Tari didn't look up at the question being asked of her, but rather replied while she contiuned her work.
"No. We can't leave yet. Not without the others...There are still...a few women left in the camp." the blonde woman spoke reluctantly. Yulia thought she was going to lose it.
"Uh, in case you haven't noticed, Tari, we aren't exactly in a good position to be mounting a rescue operation. Here we are, taken from our own planet, dumped onto some God-forsaken alien shithole, chased through a huge fucking forest, fighting for our lives only to be stalked by some creature who now apparently is part of a GROUP of creatures who are all CRIMINALS of their race and have advanced weaponry, the ability to cloak themselves, and on top of that, they're all sexually starved. Now you want to march right in to one of their camps that you say is led by the biggest, meanest, and fucking deadliest of ALL OF THEM? ARE. YOU. FUCKING. NUTS?"
Tari leapt to her feet and pushed her hand over Yulia's mouth to silence her. She then slowly pressed the barrel of Yulia's gun deeply into Yulia's cheek and angrily spoke in a whisper through clenched teeth.
"Listen up, bitch. If you don't keep your mother-fucking voice down, I'll tell you what I am going to do with you...I will take you out into the forest myself, rip off your clothes and tie you to a fucking tree...Then...they will come...and take you over, and over...and over again. You will be the bait...the distraction...while I make my move and rescue the others in the camp...and we will leave you here... to die..." the words oozed out of her mouth like a poison. Yulia's jaw was clenched tightly, but she held Tari's wild gaze fearlessly. Yulia then relaxed, showing Tari her willingness to submit, and Tari backed off, handing Yulia back the pistol. She took it from Tari with a possessive grab. Tari turned around and continued about her business.
Yulia then holstered her weapon and walked over to the falls to fill her cup again. The entrance to the cave was wet and slippery; Yulia stepped lightly and extended her arm into the falling water.
"It's funny. A minute ago you were talking about rescuing people. Now you're threatening to throw me to the wolves." Yulia said softly, turning towards Tari with a disgusted look. Tari met her gaze once more as Yulia brought the cup up to her lips and gulped again. After taking a long drink, she tossed the empty cup back into the pile of scraps, and turned to Tari.
"Kind of counter-productive, don't you think?" Yulia asked in a facetious tone.
Suddenly, another guttural shriek echoed throughout the forest, frightening some nocturnal birds and sending them flapping into the air. Tari and Yulia snapped their heads towards the entrance of the cave in surprise. Tari threw a handful of damp rags over the tiny fire, making it sputter and die. Yulia and Tari were left in darkness now; the only slices of light shining through the falls. Yulia slowly turned her back to the innards of the cave, and focused her eyes into the deepness of the forest. Behind her, she could feel Tari stepping closer, until she could feel Tari's chest brush lightly against her back. The two young women strained their eyesight to try and see into the trees; suddenly and without warning, they realized they didn't need to see that far.
Less than 20 feet away on the rocks below, two large rippling masses of air appeared in the darkness; gentle moonlight giving away their positions. The creatures had found them. Tari and Yulia sucked in air and held their breath while the creatures circled below. A faint clicking sound was heard...then another... slightly different.
They were talking to each other.
One was a bit taller than the other; the shorter one seemed to have a limp when he walked. The clicking continued, and the taller one began to walk closer to the entrance of the cave.
Yulia's heart was pounding in her chest. She could hear it once again in her ears, this time she was convinced these creatures would hear it as well. She dug her nails into her thigh and fought to regain her calm.
The creature seemed to scan the rock face where the water was falling, and stopped his gaze directly on the falls themselves. Specifically, where Tari and Yulia were standing.
From behind his mask, the tall creature thought he had seen the slightest wave of heat from behind the water. He knew the natural springs would be cold this time of year, so anything that would be hiding in the rock face would have their heat signature completely hidden by the falls. It was stupid to try and walk through the falls; the water would knock out his cloaking device and his element of surprise would be gone. However, he couldn't seem to find the source of the smell that had drawn him and his idiot companion to the falls. He knew it was a female. The scent of rushing body fluids flooded his senses. She could taste her. He inhaled deeply, the inviting smell of female juice rushing into him. She was here. Now he had to find her before the other one did...