.x.
We didn't resume our march immediately, for the predator set about dismembering his most recent kills. I stood not far off and watched with morbid fascination as he meticulously removed every long clawed finger from the corpses, snapping them off at the joints and stringing them together to hang on his belt along with all his other grisly and grotesque paraphernalia. When he began prying the teeth free with his knife blade, however, I decided I'd seen enough of this to last me a life time and made a pointed effort to look anywhere but at the hunter and his trophy collecting. I recalled all Sebastian had related to me, that the race of predators had made these temples on earth to serve as rites of passage, and I wondered if the hunter with me had passed said rite. Sebastian and I had both watched as earlier he had marked himself with the caustic alien blood of his first kill—did the mark symbolize ascension to a new rank?
Behind me the hunter rumbled away like a contented cat, which seemed to fit because I strongly suspected he was enjoying his macabre duties. Noises of flesh being rent and bones being snapped filled the stillness between us. In a bid to suppress my rising gorge I walked a little further down the passageway, leaning still on the spear. I was still trembling a bit from my earlier ordeal in small aftershocks that would grip me from time to time. Now that the adrenalin had faded, I felt nothing short of terrible. I set the spear up against the wall and rolled up my sleeves to examine my bandaged arms. The alien had shredded the gauze but hadn't done too much damage to the flesh beneath, though some blood was evident on the wrapping.
I sighed and began digging through my pockets, looking for what was left of the gauze. I found it and struggled with it for several minutes, and when finally I managed to unravel it I found that there wasn't much left. I used what remained, rewrapping my arms as carefully as I could. Task completed, I glanced back at the predator. He had decapitated one of the corpses and was now methodically cleaving the skull in two and the sound alone was enough to make me want to heave my guts out. Deciding that if I had to vomit it would be best to do it away from the predator, I picked up my spear and meandered further along. Sighing again, I slid into a crouch and leaned heavily against the wall. I wasn't tired anymore—the last attempt on my life had sent my nerves into roiling chaos, and I didn't think I could sleep even if I'd tried. I leaned my head back, placed the spear across my knees, and began to fondly recollect the periods of my life that had been much, much simpler.
I'd been recalling that last fateful climb I'd had with my father when I heard the heavy sound of footsteps. I raised my head to see the predator approaching. His chittering growl as he stopped before me gave me no indication of what he was about to do, and when he reached down and removed the spear from my grasp I stared at him in bewilderment. He turned and walked back to where his trophies lay. I got quickly to my feet and trailed close behind.
"Hey!" I said nervously. That spear had saved my life repeatedly since I'd first acquired it. Was he taking it back? Was he going to leave me here and strike out on his own? Agitated, I asked, "What are you doing?"
No answer came, not that I'd expected one. Having reached the alien corpses, the hunter knelt and picked up his knife from where it lay. The blade was coated in the sickly green blood of the aliens, with a layer of something filmy and thicker over top. I watched with mild disgust as he wiped the blade clean along the stones of the floor and then used it to cut free from where it dangled at his waist the tooth he'd taken from the alien I had killed. Deftly he strung what remained of the tooth's wire through a space at the head of the spear and wound it about the haft several times. He then tied if off in a knot. He was decorating the spear, I realized, with the trophy from a kill—my kill. Setting the weapon down, he looked to me.
"What?" I said after an uncomfortably long moment under his scrutiny. I wished I could see whatever expression he wore beneath that unnerving mask. Rumbling softly, he cut from his waist the finger from the other, younger alien I'd slain. Expecting him to affix it also to the spear, I was startled when instead he dipped the clawed end of the finger in a nearby pool of steaming alien blood. He rose to his feet and approached me. Apprehensive, I backed quickly away.
"What's that for?" I asked tersely, knowing I wouldn't receive an answer and wondering if I could make a run for it. To where, I had no idea, but this scenario really didn't seem like it was going to be all that much fun.
His continual growling didn't really assuage my anxiety. He was still approaching. With the wall suddenly at my back I found myself staring up at the acid tipped finger held ominously in his large, clawed hand. Another long, tense moment passed as I tried furiously to comprehend just what he was going to do. Interpreting my obvious unease, he cocked his head to the side and gestured with his free hand to the symbol on his helmet
"Oh," I murmured, relieved. He was going to mark me like he'd marked himself, with the blood of a defeated enemy. The vivid and more gruesome visions of torture that had risen in my mind faded away. Inhaling deeply, steeling my nerves, I pushed wayward strands of my hair away from my cheek and nodded up at him.
There was a sudden thunder all around us. The floor I stood on heaved and knocked off balance I fell to my knees. Swiftly the ground that bore me began to sink down. The hunter reached quickly for me and caught my arm. He'd lifted me almost to his level when the sound I'd come to both loathe and fear tore through the air around us. Emerging from a newly created entrance an alien stalked forth. The hunter dropped me abruptly and I fell to the still descending platform I'd recently been standing on, landing hard. Frantic, I stared upwards as the roof slid closed over my head. Before it had melded together completely, however, something came falling through it, and I dodged to the side as the spear landed with a loud clatter at my side.
Silence fell then, thick, heavy, and oppressive. I was alone again and that was not a good thing. I heard the distant echo of the predator's cannon firing once, just once, and then the silence was complete. Tears pooled in the corner of my eyes and spilled over almost instantly and I knelt to retrieve the spear. Again, the hunter had gifted me with a method of defense, and though I was once more thoroughly terrified, the fact that he'd done so mollified me a little—obviously he thought I was competent enough to deserve a weapon. I knew why he had let me fall—if he hadn't the alien would have been able to launch an undefended attack upon us both and one of us most likely would have died. This didn't change the fact, however, that I was on my own again in the bowels of this hell.
"You can do this, Lex," I whispered, wiping angrily at the tears that wet my cheeks. I cast another hopeless glance upwards, praying that the hunter was alive, praying I would find him again, before looking all around me. I was in a small passage, narrow enough that my shoulders rubbed both walls when I stood. I took a deep breath, gripping the spear so tight that my knuckles hurt, before I chose a direction and began to walk.
.x.
Quite some time later the passage finally widened, becoming a hall of sorts. It was lined with towering statues of both the aliens and the predators. It was brighter here. I didn't know why, but I found this fact to be somewhat heartening. Several steps into the hall, I heard an odd skittering noise. I halted and stared very hard into the shadows all around me. It wasn't long before my eyes picked out something moving quickly across the darkness of the floor. I stood absolutely still as I watched it, trying to discern what exactly it was.
And then it was airborne, and I knew.
I couldn't let it near my face. I knew what this spindly legged spider-like creature was and I knew that if it gained access to my mouth I was nothing more than a dead woman walking. I brought both arms up in front of my face, letting fall the spear. It hit me much harder than I figured it would. Driven to my knees, I could only let out a hoarse cry before the thing twined its tail appendage around my neck and began to squeeze. I tried pushing it away with my arms, crossed as they were over my face, but it was incredibly strong. Its small and wiry legs had crept around my wrists and were steadily pulling my arms apart. As it constricted about my windpipe I tried to gasp for breath but could manage only a faint wheeze. Something began to force its way through my entwined fingers, and I went very cold knowing what it was. The more I struggled, the more I needed air, and slowly I toppled over.
I'm so fucked, I thought as my arms began to give way beneath the incredible pressure the creature was exerting. Something slimy and wet bumped against my lips and I tucked my head as far as I could beneath my arm to escape the intrusion that was slowly becoming inevitable. If I could have chosen my death, it would have been by anything other than this defilement, this violation, this desecration. Spots danced in my vision. My arms collapsed and instantly I felt something probing my lips, pushing, gaining entry.
Not like this! Please, not like this!
My mouth was pried open, and I tried biting down, tried to stop what I knew I couldn't stop—
And suddenly the weight on my face, on my arms, was gone. Choking, retching, I struggled to my hands and knees. I heard the unmistakable noise of sharp steel being withdrawn, heard the shriek of a dying alien, and lifted my grateful gaze.
"Oh fuck," I whispered. Staring imperiously down at me was not the hunter I was familiar with. Swallowing hard, I rocked back on my heels and then rose very slowly to my feet. I recognized this one's mask—how could I not?—it was savage, feral, and I knew this was the hunter that had slaughtered Max. He was huge, taller even than the other I had traveled with. Skulls and bones decorated his waist as well and he, like the other, wore various pieces of armor. The alien spiderling lay in bloody halves at his feet and in one enormous hand he held a massive shuriken like the one I had seen my companion hunter use.
The predator roared then and it was a powerful enough sound to make me weak in the knees. He bent and picked up the spear. As he examined the tooth hanging from the weapon he made a rumbling sound that was both deeper and rougher than that of my previous companion. Abruptly he thrust the spear out before me and growled, indicating with one finger the alien tooth. I nodded hastily. He made a noise that was distinctly rude, shook his fierce head at me, and began to walk away.
"Give that back!" I cried, running after him. He barked harshly and spun around with a swiftness that was astounding. One massive hand wrapped itself about my neck and hoisted me effortlessly into the air. Pawing vainly at his grip, I stared into the depthless eyes of his mask and knew that this one could care less if I lived or died. He released me then and I fell into a gasping, ungraceful heap to the floor.
The predator was leaving and I watched him go, one hand rubbing my tender throat. I wouldn't go after him, because if I did I knew he'd gut me much as he'd gutted the alien spiderling. And as more tears streamed down my face unheeded, I realized I was already dead either way.
It was just a matter of time.
.x.