The next chapter is up! Enjoy :)
It was eerily quiet as they made their way down the hall. Though every now and then they would hear occasional gunfire and shouting. But what confused the group was as they made their way down, they still couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.
Or at least the two humans in the group didn't. Air'ik apparently knew where it was coming from. And that's where he was headed.
"Where is it coming from? We're getting somewhat closer. But I don't see anything." Briggs said.
"It's coming from another level below us. Apparently, this isn't the lowest level like we originally thought. There is another floor directly below. And according to the holographic map on my wrist gauntlet, that's where many of the hard meats are congregating. There are still some soldiers holding their ground. But many are still dropping, and their numbers have greatly dwindled." Air'ik informed them.
Aurora was surprised to hear this. She figured since they were currently in the basement level that this was it. Guess it didn't occur to her to check the map layout on her own gauntlet. But then, she can't recall how to do that on hers.
"Really? That thing on your wrist can pull up a map of the area?" Briggs inquired, clearly intrigued by the thought.
Air'ik who had his wrist up in front of him with the map layout, held it out to the side to show his ooman companions. Briggs looked on with interest. It was a 3-D holographic showing of the area they were currently in.
It showed a bunch of little moving dots, that most likely represented each being in the general vicinity. Some of the dots were yellow, but there were many others that were red. He then noticed a group of three dots. Two were yellow and one was neon green.
"Why are the dots all different colors?" Briggs asked.
"The yellow dots indicate oomans. The red ones are the hard meats. And the one green one represents me or the yautja. That way we know what beings are around us during a hunt and we can distinguish them from each other." Air'ik explained.
"Ok, so that little cluster of three with the two yellow dots and one green, that's us then?" Briggs deduced.
"Correct. I'm not liking the number of hard meats I'm seeing though. It looks like the oomans lied about the number of hard meats they actually had. Wilson mentioned ten. We killed three and that meant there should've been only seven more, assuming some of the oomans hadn't killed a few.
But by the number of dots, it looks like there is at least a dozen more. And they are gradually outnumbering the ooman soldiers. Every time a dot disappears, that means that someone died. Which means, we need to pick up the pace and get down there." Air'ik stated.
He then gradually started to go faster. Aurora and Briggs were right behind him.
"This isn't good. If more of the soldiers die, that means by the time we get down there, we will be greatly outnumbered ourselves. Who knows if Agent Wilson and Robin will make it down in time with weapons to help." Aurora said, with worry in her voice.
"We'll have to take our chances. Don't worry, this isn't the first time I went into a hive outnumbered. If anything, it tends to make the hunt more invigorating." Air'ik said.
The hunter in him was becoming more excited by the minute for this upcoming battle. It was in a yautja's nature to find the ultimate hunt or battle exhilarating. They were born and bred warriors. There was no room for fear or hesitance on the battlefield. That's what'll get you killed.
Though, he'd only be lying to himself if he didn't have some fear. But it wasn't for himself. It was for Aurora and her safety. Air'ik had to have more confidence in her abilities. It gave him hope when he saw her viciously attack and kill that hard meat with nothing but an ax. Plus, this was a perfect hunt for her to prove herself. If she could get through this hunt alive. Then it's possible she wouldn't have to go through the trials of a Chiva within his clan.
Hell, technically this was a Chiva for her. And with his mask recording the events, it was perfect. If the Elders could see this hunt through his own feed, then they will see the capable hunter for what she is as she helps him slay the rest of these hard meats.
Which meant upon her return with him to Yautja Prime, she could already be welcomed in as a newly blooded member of the clan. He just needs to mark her with one of her next kills. And if they have the time, he could grab one of the skulls of her kills for her and take it back to his ship to polish and present to his Elders as more proof to the success of her hunt here.
They turned another blind corner and found the end. But instead of an elevator it led out to a doorway with some stairs.
As they approached the doorway, a black blur jumped up the last few steps and out into the hall in front of them. It was another hard meat that managed to get passed the surviving soldiers.
It hissed at the group. Aurora and Briggs went to take aim with their weapons. When Air'ik beat him to it. He whipped out his shuriken and threw it at the hard meat.
The serpent tried to move out of its way as it went sailing towards it. It narrowly missed its head but sliced through its shoulder. It screeched in pain as its acidic blood spilled out of the fresh wound.
The animal didn't expect the shuriken to swing around and return to the owner. So, with an enrage snarl, the hard meat tried to charge at the group.
A charge that was cut short when the shuriken came back at it from behind and sliced through its banana shaped head with ease, splitting it down the middle. The creature was dead by the time it hit the floor.
And Air'ik caught the shuriken with ease as it returned to him.
"Damn, that's a cool throwing star you have there. Comes back and everything." Briggs says, amazed by the power of the small sharp weapon.
Air'ik found some amusement in the older male's fascination with his kinds weapons.
"I can't say I'm too fond of it. Air'ik had a hard time convincing me to practice with it during weapons training on Planet Mi'nae." Aurora said.
Briggs eyes widened.
"Wait, what!? He took you to another planet!?" The older man blurted out.
"I'll explain later when we are all safe and the rest of these bastards are history. And don't worry, I'll promise you I'll explain everything." Aurora replied.
They cautiously kept their guard up as they made there way to the stairway. It too was all covered from top to bottom in that gross dark and sticky residue.
The group was halfway down when they heard someone gasp and was panting heavily.
It was coming from the row of stairs below them. Weapons were raised as the three crept down as quietly as they could. And as they rounded the corner, they saw one of the agents they recognized from earlier leaning against the wall. He was holding his shoulder and was trying to catch his breath.
It took him a moment to realize he was not alone. And he quickly pointed his gun at the group.
Air'ik growled and set his targeting lasers on the man's head. He was about to shoot him with his sivk-'va-tai when Aurora spoke up.
"Wait, don't shoot. Take it easy." She said, holding one hand up.
"It's...it's out of control. We can no longer keep them contained. Everyone is dying down there." He whimpered.
"How many of those monsters are still left? Do you know?" Aurora pressed.
The agent shook his head.
"Too many. Already most of the soldiers and agents are dead. And if there is nothing left to stop these things, then they will get out." He says, as he pushes himself off the wall to face them.
"I don't understand. We were told there were only ten eggs. Which would've only made ten of these things. Were there more eggs then they led on?" Aurora questioned.
"This batch of creatures were lab created. They took DNA from the eggs and other components from the eggs as well as the dead spider like variations of them and used it to replicate and create more.
Except these ones are different than the ones that hatched from their hosts. These serpents are smarter and when you thought it wasn't any more possible, more vicious. It was them who escaped and started all this.
They managed to get out of containment on this lower level. Then they made their way up to the basement level, killed the guards, and few soldiers here, and freed the rest of the creatures being held in the other containment cell." He explained.
"How are they smarter than the rest?" Briggs asked.
"They know how to work out coordinated attacks. They work together, communicate. They know to take out their opponents' weapons first, disarm them before killing them. Their strategies are similar to that of our soldiers." He confessed.
At first, Aurora wondered why the lab technicians would want to make such deadly creatures smarter. But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.
"They made them that way to be more efficient weapons for the government to use at their disposal. Didn't they? Most likely to teach them basic commands and strategies to take out their enemies." She surmised.
The agent nodded, "Yes, I would say your deduction was right. It was Finn. He authorized it and gave the lab techs explicit instructions to do so. Though, he didn't share this with us until it was too late."
Aurora clenched her jaw. Of course, it was that sadistic asshole's idea. She wouldn't put it past him to think of something as grandiose as this. It was quite clear after meeting him that he was fucking insane.
"Where is Finn right now?" She demanded.
"Last I checked, he was still down there. Though I'm not sure if or how much longer he will survive down there. As I said, they are gradually thinning our already small numbers." He explained.
Aurora turned her attention back to Briggs and Air'ik.
"Then we need to go and get down there, Now." She said.
The two males didn't need to be told twice and went to proceed further.
"What?! Are you nuts!? You won't stand a chance any more than..."
He was harshly cut off when his chest exploded, spraying the group with blood. Aurora and Briggs looked on in horror as they saw a large sharp barbed tail jutting from the man's chest.
A horrified look glazed over the doomed agent as his gaze dropped down to the protrusion sticking out of him. He gurgled as blood poured from his mouth in rivets. He then was lifted off the floor as a dark mass came out of the shadows.
It crept out, hissing menacingly at the group.
Air'ik analyzed it. This hard meat was clearly a drone. But it was bigger than your average hard meat drone and, in some ways, looked more menacing. This one had to be one of the freak experiment ones the agent just told them about.
The hunter growled and went to make a move. Only to be surprised when the hard meat threw the dead agent's body at him. The dead body hit Air'ik with enough force that it threw him off balance and made him land on the floor.
Briggs raised his shotgun to shoot it. Only for the creature to whip its tail out and knock the shot gun from Briggs grip. The force of it, made the shot gun fly out of the old man's hands and go over the side of the railing and fall down to the floor below.
The hard meat then turned to Aurora who shot at it with her taun'dcha.
She aimed the weapon at the creature's oblong head and fired. And just when she thought she had it and was about to blow its head off, the creature surprised her when it quickly ducked out of the way of the incoming plasma ball projectile. Instead, the shot hit the wall behind it.
The hard meat lunged at her, and then once it was upon her, it drew its head down and head butted her in the abdomen. The blow knocked the wind out of her and sent her flying back.
"Aurora!" Briggs yelled.
The older man pulled his rifle from his back and started firing at the creature.
Some of the bullets hit their intended target. The hard meat's acidic blood spurted out from the tiny bullet holes. But instead of incapacitating the creature in any way, the thing acted like the wounds were a minor inconvenience, like they were bug bites or something.
It hissed in annoyance and whipped around to face the older man.
By now, Air'ik had shoved the dead body off of him and made his way to his feet. That's when he noticed Aurora getting knocked over and onto the floor a little way behind him.
He turned back to the hard meat with an angry growl, whipped out his ki'cti-pa, and started to approach it.
Air'ik swung the combi stick around a couple times. While the hard meat crouched down on all fours and waited. The hunter found this strange. Usually, a hard meat would charge at its enemy, especially upon seeing them armed. Not wait to see what they will do.
He started to believe when it was mentioned that these lab grown hard meats were proving to be smarter. It irked him that these oomans tampered with such dangerous creatures like this. But at the same time, he was eager and a bit excited to see what kind of challenge these modified hard meats will give him.
The hunter lunged, feigning to the right with his combi stick. The hard meat got up and lashed out with its tail. It swung its tail at the extended combi stick.
Air'ik saw it coming and struck out a glancing blow with his weapon.
It didn't stop there, it continued to use its tail to strike out at him. It didn't take the yautja long to figure out it was using its own tail as a sword or spear to counter his own attacks with his combi stick. A worthy opponent indeed.
By now Briggs and Aurora were silently watching the fight proceed.
And an amazing fight it was turning out to be. The small hallway they were in that connected the flights of stairs was quite narrow. But the two dueling opponents didn't seem to mind or take notice.
For most yautja, it may have been challenging to fight in such tight spaces. But that wasn't the case for Air'ik. The hunter was very resourceful and cunning. He would try and utilize the small space to his advantage while fighting against prey.
The hard meat's tail came down at a downward angle, causing Air'ik to swing the combi stick out horizontally over his head to block it. And that's when the hard meat tried to lunge at the hunter's opening.
But Air'ik saw it coming, and shot out with his leg, kicking the hard meat in the head. The kick forced the animal back with a pained grunt.
It was starting to become aggravated upon finding out that this being was not going down as easily as the human soldiers. And was trying to think of a new way to catch the hunter off guard and make its move.
That's when it leapt off the floor and onto the wall. It happened very quick. The serpent barely made contact with the wall before it used it as leverage to jump off and onto the hunter.
Air'ik quickly shoved the combi stick that was still held horizontally in his hands out to lessen the blow from the creature's body as it slammed into him.
It now had him against the metal railing. A railing that was starting to bend from the excess weight being continually shoved into it by the two heavy aliens.
Aurora saw that Air'ik was now in danger.
She pulled out her dah'Nagara and charged at the creature on top of him and currently trying to use its deadly inner mouth to punch a hole through the hunter's bio mask and skull.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" She yelled.
It snapped its head in her direction. And as she drew closer it whipped out its tail at her.
But Aurora saw the tail coming and with a yell sliced through the end of the creature's tail, severing it.
That's when the serpent screeched in pain. It was distracted enough by the blow that Air'ik was able to force it back. He shoved it off of him and plowed the stunned creature into the wall.
Then the yautja quickly pulled back, whipped out his dagger, and plunged it deep into the top of its skull.
The serpent continued to bellow in pain. And began to thrash around trying to both shake and pull the dagger from its head. That's when Aurora came back in and sliced into the lower half of its head.
The short sword was sharper than any known human blade and cut right through the hard meat's head without much difficulty. She watched as the lower part of its head where it jaws were slide off from the rest of its long head and body.
That's when it finally fell to the floor and didn't get back up.
Air'ik purred at her and nodded a thanks. Aurora smiled behind her mask as a blush crept on to her cheeks.
"Shit kid, remind me not to piss you off." Briggs said, breaking their stare.
She chuckled lightly at his joke.
"You already knew for many years what I'm like when I'm pissed though." Aurora teased.
"Yes, and I'm still learning. But let's go. We need to go down and finish this. I don't like how smart these things are proving to be." Air'ik said.
The three stepped over the dead xeno's body and continued further as they descended the stairs.
Yautja Translations:
dah'Nagara- short sword
ki'cti-pa- combi stick
sivk'va-tai- plasma caster
taun'dcha- plasma pistol
Until Next Time ;)
