Night had fallen. The only sounds that could be heard were the chirping of insects. Nina had rid herself of the warrior's blood in a stream, scrubbing roughly to remove it all. After rehydrating and eating a quick bite, she was on the move again. She had to find the others; she didn't want to only get there in time to see their dead bodies lying around and fighting for retribution alone, although that enough would cause her to attack their murderers.

There was a large, orange glow, and for a moment Nina thought a forest fire might have started. However, she soon realized the fire was more controlled, although huge. Interested and curious, she hid in the shadows and examined the area.

It was a camp of sorts, although there didn't seem to be any one there. A few totem pole-like monoliths stood around it. The leaves and grass that covered the floor before was replaced by dirt and rock. The area looked more like an outdoor butcher shop, with skins and bones from creatures she couldn't recognize either hung from tall racks from above or scattered the earth below in piles. There was also some equipment carefully lying in different areas that she recognized as Predator technology. Most hauntingly, as she looked up, she saw a young, human male, with metal chains tied around his wrists and neck, hooking him to one of the monoliths, breathing heavily, but unconscious. He was covered in his own, slick blood, cut up and badly bruised. Corin...

Quiet and unhesitatingly, Nina ran over to him, "Corin, Corin! Please, stay with me," her words rushed out softly with a pleading tone as she placed a cloaked hand on one of his cheeks, gently caressing it, "Come on! Please! Corin! Stay. With. Me."

He coughed up a little blood as he woke up. He opened his eyes and faced her, even though he couldn't see anything there. "…Who…who's there…"

Smiling under her mask, ecstatic that he was still alive, she placed her other hand on the other side of his face so he could feel her. "It's me, it's Nina. I'm here to get you out."

Corin noticed the touch of small, human hands and relaxed a bit. "Nina…"

She shook her head rapidly, "Yes." Unable to stop herself, she hugged him and began shedding tears of relief. He cringed at the embrace, but refused to let it show. Nina had somehow lived through this madness, and he cared more about that than anything right now. Her safety, her life, it had always been something precious to not only him, but Mike and a few other boys as well. Maybe there was nothing romantic between her and himself, or anyone for that matter- she had always just fit in so well as another one of the guys-, but that didn't stop him from caring about her.

They stayed like this for a second longer. Then Corin's eyes suddenly flew open, the comfort he felt changing to fear. "Nina, run!"

Letting go and looking at him again, she stood up, "What?"

"Go, now!"

"Not without you," she uncloaked so he would be able to see and follow her when they left. He didn't know what to think as she appeared in a Predator mask and some armor, but that wasn't that important right now. Nina took her Combistick off of her waist, activated it so the spear blades came out, and sliced through the chains that had bound Corin with ease.

As soon as he was released, he quickly stood up and began shoving Nina away from the camp with what strength he had. "We have to get out of here! You don't understand! It's a trap!"

Fully registering his words, Nina grabbed his arm with her empty hand and started pulling him away. Not long after, the jungle seemed to come to life. Up in the trees, one by one, Bad-Blooded Predators began to appear, five in total, surrounding them. Nina cursed herself for her stupidity. She should've known it wouldn't be this simple. They must've been waiting for her from the start.

They stared at the two cadets, watching to see how they would react. Some of the Predators activated their wristblades or their own Combisticks. Nina glared up at them. Without looking back she said, "Corin, go. Now!"

"W-What? And leave you alone to these…these monsters?"

"I said go!" she shouted in a commanding voice, "I'll hold them off. If you stay, both of us will die."

He looked at her, backing away, but sadly, she was right. He would only be hindering her if he stayed to try and help. Weaponless and wounded as he was, he would only make her lose concentration and mess her up as she would focus on protecting him. That's how she always had been. He ran off, and as Nina predicted, none of the Predators followed him. She had their full attention now. Be safe, she wanted to tell Corin.

Each of the Predators hopped down from their perches before her once they were alone and Corin's footsteps could no longer be heard. One raced for her preparing to try and kill her with his first strike. Although, Nina had never used anything like a Shuriken- it wasn't like she was trained in the art of the ninja or could use throwing stars- some of the trainers had taught them how to throw knives in case they ever ran out of ammo during a battle. How different could it be really? Nina yanked it from her side and allowed the curved blades to come out before swiftly throwing it at the first incoming Predator.

Apparently, it was more different than she thought. She had been aiming for his heart, but it went higher, sticking in his face instead, luckily damaging the brain and killing him. Now the others were certain her skills in combat weren't to be taken lightly or underestimated, even if her second kill had just been dumb luck.

Nina activated her wristblades on her unoccupied hand, blocking a Predator on one side while using her Combistick to push back another. These guys seemed much stronger than the one she had fought earlier. While she was fending off the two, another came toward her front and let off an extremely powerful kick to her chest, making her fly back and smack into one of the monoliths.

She gripped her weapons tightly as she went airborne and slammed into the chunk of stone. Well, that didn't go well. The fourth Predator swung his Combistick at her chest, but she spun around to the other side of the monolith, hot sparks flying off the tall slab of rock on the impact of metal, and recloaked.

Figuring she was trying to run away, the Predator ran to the other side and scanned the area with his eyes to see if he could spot the shaky movement of air that would give away her position. The other three went around in that direction, looking for her as well, dead quiet.

Nina jumped down from her true location on top the monolith, stabbing the unsuspecting Predator through the back, twisting her Combistick to make sure it would kill. The Predator howled from pain and rage as he saw the blade come through his chest. He tried reaching back for the human female, but dropped dead before he could get ahold of her.

Hearing their comrades last cry, they raced back over to the camp to find his corpse with the Combistick through it. Nina was trying to yank it back out, with much difficulty. They needed to get the cloaking device off of her to be able to finish her with ease. One of the Predators, the leader of this particular group, charged forward and slammed himself into Nina, toppling both of them onto the ground with her Combistick still stuck in the body of the dead one.

Once he knew he had grabbed a hold of her and was on her, he pressed one knee down firmly onto her chest so she couldn't move. He felt around until he could grasp the corners of her helmet, then yanked it off, tossing it far out of reach and into some bushes. Nina raised her wristblades up to try and swipe at him, but, now capable of seeing her, he quickly gripped her arm into his massive hand, stopping the attack. She tried again, activating the others, but he did the same thing.

Lifting her up and gripping her wrists painfully, he pulled her closer to him and flared his mandibles apart, trying to terrify the human. Nina spat in his face, staring him down. With a deep growl forming in his throat, he spun her around and threw her into a pile of boulders. The other two Predators moved forward, ready to surround her, each taking her on one side. Both slashed forward at the exact moment Nina had righted herself; she barely had enough time to lift her own wristblades up to block the two.

One brought his foot around and tripped her, causing her to fall again. He was about to make the killing blow when he heard his leader shout something at them. The two Predators looked up to see him come near.

"Be on guard, but leave her be. This little pest is mine," he stated, now holding Nina's Combistick in his grip.

They obliged and backed off, stepping away from Nina and their leader as they retracted their wristblades. This would be too entertaining to watch.

Nina pushed herself up, propping on one elbow when the Bad-Blood leader grabbed her by her neck and tossed her back towards the center of the camp. She pushed herself up off the ground and got back on her feet, already turning to face him.

Expertly spinning the Combistick in one hand, he moved to her. Nina watched him carefully; her "sixth sense" was in overdrive now. He swung at her head and she ducked, then struck upward with her left wristblades, catching the Combistick in between the pair. She flipped her wrist around and knocked it out of his hands and kicked it away, but he punched her up and under the chin, knocking her back several steps.

Crimson blood dripped out of her mouth. The leader smiled. Nina looked him dead in the eye, and then slowly, as if brushing away something disgusting, but otherwise harmless, she wiped her lips with her sleeve, clearing the blood away.

He clicked at her angrily. She continued staring at him. Quickly, she flipped open the controls on her wrist gauntlet. In no way was she going to survive this fight. She began rapidly pressing a few quick buttons and commands into the keypad of the self-destruct device. She hoped Corin was well out of harm's way by now.

In moments, the three remaining Predators realized what she was trying to do. The leader lunged for her; Nina turned around and elbowed him as she typed. He staggered back, but then lunged again, grabbing one of her arms and twisting it up and behind her head, nearly snapping the bones.

Nina yelped, but tried to continue activating the countdown with her nose. Come on! Just a few more commands…

He grabbed her other arm as well, then pulled the keypad right off, sending small wires sprawling out of the gauntlet. Ungracefully, he crushed it in his clawed hand.

Kicking her behind her knees, he forced Nina to kneel in front of him. He moved around to face her, still gripping onto her wrist and twisting it even more tightly. She gritted her teeth together. Bending down, the leader got eye to eye with the young human. She glared at him and continued trying to struggle free from his grasp.

He didn't understand this one. She was too young to be a warrior amongst her race, yet she fought well enough. While others had run from him and his allies, she- foolishly- stood her ground and stayed to fight back willingly. While most at this point would turn their heads so they wouldn't have to see approaching death, she had the guts to still try to get away and stare him down.

Too bad he would need to spill them out of her.

He was just about to, already pulling a ceremonial dagger off his belt and putting it to her skin, when he froze in place. He had almost forgotten about the Yautja armor she wore. That meant that she was allied with the Jungle Hunter Clan. Killing her now would mean also destroying possible information and an edge over the enemy clan.

He shoved her down at his feet. Nina watched him as he stood up, wondering what he was doing now.

She didn't have long enough to question it as he kicked her hard in the face and she blacked out by the still brightly glowing fire.