A wordless battle cry reverberated throughout the store as Lilith charged into snarling space rats that were now bent on killing everything around them. The sound of her voice caught the attention of one, and it lunged at her in a hissing screeching leap. Lilith poured every ounce of strength she had into the swing that she just knew was going to connect.
The vibration caused by the tremendous impact made her hands sting, but that was easily ignored as she saw the result of her effort. The space rat was knocked a good fifteen feet across the store to land in a twitching heap, and Lilith grinned at it. She quickly looked back at who knew how many others that were still fighting each other, and poked one of them with the end of the bat.
The creature turned and attacked so fast that Lilith barely got a swing in at the creature. There wasn't much power in the swing, but it still stunned the creature just long enough for her to get a much better second shot at it. She couldn't help but laugh as the head exploded in a shower of blood and brains that went everywhere, including all over her.
Lilith looked carefully for another space rat to kill. She wanted to get the big ones first, because she figured that the little ones would be easier to kill later. She gave a sharp whistle between her teeth, and saw another one look up after it had killed its opponent. Her eyes went wide as the space rat came at her fast and low. She kicked it away stubbing her toes in the process, but the space rat never hesitated as it charged again. This time the bat made a loud wet crunch as she caught the creature in the back of the neck.
Lilith didn't care, or even consider what the Predators might think of her methods as she got the attention of another space rat. The fact was, she wanted those things to face her, to see her, to know she was coming for them. She wanted something to be afraid of her for once, and that was why she was doing what she was. For a long time, she'd been chained naked to a wall, and endured the cold darkness of the basement while suffering from thirst, hunger, and more pain than she had even dreamed was possible. Now she was free… away from the basement, away from her parents, and even away from Earth. She was on an alien world where no one could ever find her. It was likely that no one knew or even cared that she was gone.
Lilith hated the memories that kept flowing through her mind. Visions of her father's fists as they pounded into her body; the horrible happy sounding laughter from her mother as she watched Lilith get beaten into unconsciousness; and the never ending hunger that she had to endure along with the sneering, snarling faces of her parents. She hated those memories, and wished that she could somehow forget it all… but she couldn't. So Gwen had gotten the scars taken off her arms and legs, she still had the ones on her back, and she was never going to let anyone know that those scars still caused her pain.
Thoughts of honor never entered her mind as she got the attention of each space rat that she killed. Instead, what she thought about was the fact that she was figuring out how to use something to fight back. Fight back against anything that could hurt her. She knew that she'd have to start small, and these space rats were a good place to begin. She imagined her father's sneering grin on the face of one space rat as she killed it, and her mother's happy smile on another when she crushed its head. This wasn't what she had wanted from life. Before the basement, when she'd been ten years old; she'd had dreams of a handsome man who would become her 'Prince Charming', and she had dreamed of a house, and children. Those dreams were long gone now. Those dreams had belonged to someone who didn't know that she was a worthless mistake, someone who didn't deserve a life of never ending pain and suffering, someone who'd actually been loved. Now things were different. Now she wanted to get as strong as she could; she wanted to learn how to fight so she could make sure that she was never trapped in a basement again. She wanted to make sure that no one could ever hurt her again. She knew that it wasn't going to be easy, but she had seen how easily these Predators had killed some of the other people who'd been in the pyramid, and for now, they were willing to teach her what they knew.
Lilith stalked among the writhing piles of fighting space rats, and quickly killed those she could single out. Looking carefully, Lilith could see that the number of space rats was dwindling rapidly as they continued to kill each other off. Although that was actually a good thing as far as getting rid of them went, it did absolutely nothing to satisfy her need for some kind of revenge against something!
Stepping over to a pile of dead space rats that had two left alive who were facing off against each other, Lilith gave a loud snarl of rage and kicked at both of them. Instantly, the two creatures separated, and began moving to opposite sides of her. She swung the bat at one of them, only to have to kick out in defense as the other lunged at her. Just when Lilith realized that while she tried to deal with one, the other would get her, she found herself being hoisted from the ground by the back of her shirt. Then, before she could even start to struggle against whatever, or who ever had her, she saw Slobber plow into both of the space rats at a dead run.
Lilith burst out laughing when she saw the huge Yaut Hound smash the first into oblivion by running over it while lunging for the second. Her cackle of laughter instantly turned into sputters of disgust when Slobber brought one of her massive front paws down on the space rat which had turned to run, and sprayed her clothes, face, and everything else in a shower of blood and guts as the Yaut Hound splattered the thing by crushing it.
After wiping the green gunk off her face so she could see, Lilith craned her head around so she could see who was holding her up in the air.
"Understand this ooman! I don't like you, and I do not like your species, but I will not allow you to be injured or killed because of your own stupidity! If you are going to continue this hunt, then you will be more careful! Those Tunnel Runners could have killed you if that Yaut Hound and I hadn't acted when we did. They might be small to a Yautja, but even then, they can still be dangerous in large numbers. You have neither the size, speed, or the strength to face them as you just did, so do not try that again!" Lar'ja-sain'ja snarled angrily before she placed the ooman back on the floor.
Lilith turned to face the angry Predator, and instantly recognized the one that had gotten pissed just because she had been smelling those weird flowers. Lilith backed up a step, before she turned around, intending to go over to Slobber, and see if she could get the big beast to follow her while she went after some more of the space rats.
As soon as the ooman turned its back to her, Lar'ja-sain'ja became irate, because she just knew that the ooman was going to completely ignore her warning. She heard the ooman pup make a strange two tone sound, that was very much like one an aerial creature might make, and then the Yaut Hound was moving quickly to the ooman's side. She was very surprised by how quickly the Yaut Hound responded to the strange summons, but her anger began to cool as she realized that the ooman was apparently going to actually listen to what she'd said. Although she completely despised the entire ooman species, Lar'ja-sain'ja was grudgingly forced to admit that getting the vermin to kill each other was an incredibly clever tactic, and she had to applaud this particular ooman for having done so.
Lilith moved through the shop with Slobber right beside her. She kept the baseball bat ready to swing at anything that came her way. She didn't really know how long it took her and Slobber to find the rest of the space rats that hadn't gone into the vents, but she was sure that it was a couple of hours. The problem was that after the weird little war was over, the space rats started hiding under the shelves and racks again… and this time they wouldn't come out. She had to poke and prod each and every one of them with the baseball bat dozens of times before they would finally be fighting the bat intensely enough that they could be lured out where Slobber could get at them.
Once she was sure that the rest of the space rats were all hiding in the vents, Lilith traded the bat for the sling shot. She checked the glow sticks to make sure she'd be able to see, before looking through the bag of firecrackers to make sure she had plenty of ammo. A smirk crossed her face as she got down on her hands and knees to crawl in the vent. She pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and then crawled in.
As soon as she realized what the ooman pup intended to do, Lar'ja-sain'ja stepped towards the pup meaning to intervene. Although she fully despised oomans, she wasn't about to allow a pup to be placed in danger. Then she spun around angrily when she felt a hand on her left elbow.
"Be at ease Huntress. She has gone into the vents before, and she has a very effective means of keeping the Tunnel Runners away from her by frightening them." Thwei-de said candidly.
"And just what means would that be?" Lar'ja-sain'ja demanded crossly. "That ooman is supposed to be a pup, and therefore does not need to be placed in jeopardy! Entering those vents where Tunnel Runners are known to make their nests is asking to be injured or even killed!"
Suddenly, everyone jumped and turned towards the entrances to the vents as the sound of a small explosion was heard loud and clear.
"That is the means she has to frighten the vermin!" Thwei-de said with a snicker after getting over being surprised by the noise of the report.
"What the pauk was that? It sounded like some kind of explosive device!" Lar'ja-sain'ja demanded angrily.
"That's exactly what it was; some kind of small and nearly harmless explosive from her world. They make a loud noise, but there's not much use for them other than that. They just aren't made properly." Thwei-de admitted.
"Am I to understand that you've allowed a mere pup to enter the nesting area of a bunch of tunnel runners, who've already been provoked to the point that they've even begun killing off members of their own nest, while she is armed with nothing more than noise makers for a weapon?" Lar'ja-sain'ja screamed in mounting rage.
"Who's pup did he allow to do such a foolish, and suicidal thing?"
Lar'ja-sain'ja turned to see a rather large female approaching after having entered the shop, and she instantly appraised the unknown female.
Tall, and well muscled, the female approached with a silent, but deadly grace that could only come from lots of experience in battle. Although there were surprisingly few battle scars in evidence on the female's body, it only took one look at her, for Lar'ja-sain'ja to know that she was looking at a highly experienced Elder who could readily, and easily defeat any individual in the shop… herself included.
"The pup in question is an ooman, and I know very little about them, but I am told, that this particular ooman is still a pup!" Lar'ja-sain'ja answered clearly now certain that this female was going to assist her in ensuring the safety of a pup.
Instantly the strange female's face contorted in rage, and she rounded on one of the Youngbloods present. It was the same Youngblood that Lar'ja-sain'ja recognized as having been with the ooman pup earlier.
"Tell me Setg'in… where… is… Lilith?" Guan hissed in anger as she stalked towards her son.
"She's in the vents… chasing the Tunnel Runners. Just like she did earlier…" Setg'in broke off and stared at the opening of the vent in mounting horror as a thunderous report was clearly heard. This one was much, much louder than the others had been, and it was quickly followed by a rapid series of somewhat smaller explosions that made his blood run cold to realize that they were being detonated in such an enclosed space.
Angry squeals of pure terror heralded the sudden flood of tunnel runners as they fled the vents. The sounds of terror from the vermin were accompanied by the laughter of a very satisfied ooman as Lilith popped her head out of one of the vents. Guan's breath of relief suddenly turned to one of horror when she saw the pup get knocked to the floor from behind as one of the tunnel runners mangled her back while trying to flee over the prone body of the pup.
Lilith surged to her feet with a scream of both pain and pure primal rage. The space rat had not only knocked her down from behind, but the claws on the thing had pretty much shredded her back. The pain was such a familiar sensation that it was quickly ignored in the burst of animalistic rage that tore through Lilith's mind. Besides, the scars on her back always hurt anyway, so this was nothing new. The space rat was another story. Lilith ignored everything else as she caught up to the creature, tackled it, and wrapped her legs around it from behind in an effort to start squeezing the air from its lungs. Then she grabbed it by the neck and applied every bit of pressure she could as she slowly throttled the space rat.
Lilith continued to apply every bit of pressure she possibly could while she screamed in pure rage at the creature. Long after the body went limp in her hands she kept squeezing; wanting it dead and more for hurting her. The whole time, tears flowed from her blue eyes because she really wished that it was her own parents that she was strangling. Then, she looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
Guan could smell many things about Lilith in that moment; despair, fear, blood, and an anger that she couldn't really fathom. She knew from Lilith's scent that it was a rage more intense than anything she'd ever seen from this ooman pup, and that both disturbed, and worried her.
"The Tunnel Runner is dead, Lilith. You can let go now." Guan said softly.
Lilith looked up at Gwen while rage flowed through every vein in her body. She was pissed! Pissed at her parents, pissed at that stupid stiff Weyland, pissed that she'd been taken to the South Pole, pissed that she'd been brought to this world, and really pissed at the space rats who had scared her, and now hurt her. It was time to get some serious payback for everything!
She untangled herself from the space rat and saw that the end of its tail was wrapped around the stem of one of those giant mangos. She snatched the giant mango away from the dead space rat angrily, and got to her feet. She walked over to the shop keeper and shoved the giant mango at him before going back to the vent to grab the bat. She looked around the shop and quickly spotted the trails of green blood that had been left by the ones to run across the broken glass that she'd placed as a trap. She tried to follow them, and quickly realized how useless that was going to be, because of the large pools of blood that had been left everywhere by the space rat war.
Guan watched in silence as Lilith stared at the floor of the shop angrily. Seeing that the pup was thinking something over, she knew that she had a few brief moments in which to have some questions answered.
"I thought you were supposed to hunt the vermin down… not Lilith! How did that change? Answer me Setg'in. I want to know why the ooman pup I've accepted as a member of my house is now injured because of a hunt that she has no weapons for!" Guan demanded in a soft voice.
Lar'ja-sain'ja felt her mandibles drop in shock as she looked at the large female again. 'This is the female Elder who has claimed the ooman? If she's that well built, then her Lifemate will certainly be no easy challenge either, but why would they decide to claim an ooman?'
"One of the tunnel runners startled her before the hunt could even begin. That was when she insisted on dealing with them. At first she was even demanding my spear, then she spotted what she has now, and she's used that to kill more than a dozen of them. Bakuub has even been helping her." Setg'in answered immediately.
"I will admit that I've seen that Yaut Hound assisting the ooman, but I have already needed to intervene twice to keep the ooman from being seriously hurt or killed, and that was before the ooman got injured! I don't even know why this has been allowed if that ooman really is a pup!" Lar'ja-sain'ja said angrily.
"I can tell you that she is indeed a pup, because she still hasn't experienced her first breeding cycle. As to why she is doing the hunting here instead of my son, is something I still have yet to learn!" Guan finished in an ominous tone while looking straight at her son.
"That would be my responsibility. While he was telling the ooman that he would deal with the tunnel runners, I said that I didn't care who killed them, as long as the problem was dealt with. The ooman, then selected what she is currently using, and many other things from among my wares to use in her hunt. I have been supervising her, while assisted in keeping her safe from harm by this Youngblood, and that Yaut Hound." Thwei-de said defensively.
Guan was about to say something when her attention was suddenly drawn to the noise made by one of the explosives that she'd heard a few brief moments ago. Lilith's snicker of pure malice, made her look in that direction, and she saw the ooman pup using some kind of wrist device to hurl a small object across the floor of the shop. She looked at the strange cylinder shaped object, and jumped in surprise when it detonated with another of those thunderous noises. Snapping her attention back to Lilith, she intended to go and ask what the little female was doing, when the ooman pup laughed before darting over to a box on the floor of the shop.
When she saw that not even two of the M-80 firecrackers would get the space rats out from under the racks, Lilith decided that she needed something better. Suddenly she was laughing loudly when she thought of the perfect solution. She ran over to the box of fireworks and started pulling things out of it. Looking at one of them, she saw that what her father had always called 'Nigger Chasers' were actually labeled 'Rat Chasers'!
'Oh that's just perfect! Rat Chasers for scaring the crap out of space rats! I'll light these things off, and throw them at the rats, then I'll break out an even bigger gun!' Lilith thought with a giggle.
Lilith took all thirty six of the Rat Chasers out of the box and lined them up in front of her. Then she grabbed half a dozen of the Roman Candles and set those out. She quickly relit her cigarette, and got ready.
Light, throw, grab! She repeated the process as fast as she could, and she had actually tossed about nine of the Rat Chasers before the first one started a loud buzzing whistle and took off in some random direction. Within seconds, there were nearly a dozen of the whistling, buzzing things flying around the shop no more than an inch off the floor. They were not only scaring the crap out of the space rats, but startling the observing Yautja as well.
Lar'ja-sain'ja watched in shocked disbelief as a few tens of buzzing noise makers flew across the floor of the shop even faster than a hurled blade disk! In shock, she looked over at the ooman pup to see the little thing laughingly light off more of them until the small row in front of her was gone. That was when the ooman settled back for a moment to watch with what could only be described as a predatory smile on the ooman's face.
"What the pauk are these things?" One Youngblood demanded.
"I don't know, but they are pauk-de fast!" Another answered.
Guan observed everything in the ultra-violet spectrum of her mask, because she'd found that whatever those things were, they moved much faster than thermals could keep up with. Those strange little noise makers moved at high speed, and ricocheted off of anything they came in contact with. It wasn't until one bounced off her left foot that she realized they were harmless, but still, they were highly irritating. She couldn't help but notice that poor Bakuub wasn't able to deal with them, because by the time the Yaut Hound saw their heat signature, the swift moving thing was already gone. The Yaut Hound finally took her frustration out on those tunnel runners who'd abandoned their hiding spot in favor of avoiding the… what ever those were!
Lilith smirked as she watched Slobber chase down a few of the space rats, and decided that it was time to pull out all the stops! She quickly gathered up all of the smoke bombs and tossed half a dozen into each vent shaft after lighting it off. When the thick clouds of colored smoke started filling the vents, she knew it was time to kick things up a notch. She knelt down by the box, and grabbed a Roman Candle. Once it was lit, she pointed it under one of the racks where several of the tunnel runners were hiding. The ball of green fire that shot out of the end of it resulted in terrified squeals as the space rats immediately ran for new hiding spots. She saw one run into one of the vents, but quickly come back out again, while making some weird noises.
'Ha! Can't breath in there anymore, can you sucker?' She thought nastily as she aimed right behind the thing.
Lilith had thought that the space rat was running fast, but she learned a whole new definition of speed when the ball of blue fire exploded right behind the fleeing tunnel runner. The thing jumped forward and screamed in mortal terror at the same time. Lilith watched the thing's claws scrabble for grip on the stone floor as it ran even faster to find a place to hide.
Lilith burst out laughing when that hiding place was never reached. Slobber saw to that with her fang like teeth. The huge Yaut Hound had darted from between a row of shelves to catch the space rat, and end its panicked flight with one snap of those deadly jaws. Even as that happened, Lilith was aiming the Roman Candle under other racks and shelves to scare the rest of the gross looking space rats out of hiding.
"What in the name of The Black Warrior is that thing?" Setg'in demanded loudly as he placed a hand on Lilith's shoulder.
Lilith was so surprised that she wasn't even thinking about what she was doing as she spun to face the Predator. That was when a lemon yellow fireball shot out of the thing and hit Scar right in the stomach. The fireball exploded with a loud crackle and a blinding flash of light, and Lilith fell back with a cry of both fright and surprise.
Setg'in stood there and examined his stomach carefully. The point of impact had left a small area of irritation, but there was no real damage, and it felt about the same as if he'd gotten just a touch too much sun. A glance at Lilith showed that she was rapidly blinking her eyes as she tried to clear away after images from her vision, but the scent of total fear began to rise swiftly from the now prone female.
"Setg'in?" Guan asked hesitantly not really sure if she wanted to know just how badly her son had been injured through a foolish accident.
Setg'in spun angrily to face his mother, and the expression of rage on his face did not bode well.
"Even her pauk-de plasma caster is harmless! Had that been one of ours it would have burned right through me at that range. I would have hit the floor in two pieces! She is using nothing more than playthings as weapons to hunt these tunnel runners!" Setg'in said in a near roar of disbelief.
Setg'in suddenly found himself spun around as Lar'ja-sain'ja looked at his stomach closely. "He's right… there's no injury there that is even worth mentioning. I've received far worse than that from simply being exposed to the sun for too long."
"Explosives that do nothing more than make noise, miniature disks that do no more than move at high speed, and a plasma caster that won't even leave a burn scar after a very close impact; does she have anything that is an actual weapon for this hunt?" Lar'ja-sain'ja demanded angrily.
"This shop doesn't have any weapons, so there are none for her to use! Everything she's using is something that she's found in here… well… except for that Yaut Hound!" Thwei-de finished ruefully as he began using the sensors in his wrist computer, and mask to find out how many tunnel runners were left.
Thwei-de stared at the results of the scan in stunned surprise. "I knew that she'd managed to get quite a lot of them, but there are less than a handful left. That means she's killed more than three-hundred of those vermin!"
Guan gaped over at Lilith in pure shock. The ooman pup was still on the floor of the shop, and watching all of them as if she were the one to be hunted! Suddenly, the little female was scrambling to her feet, and creating that strange two tone whistle to summon Bakuub to her side. Guan watched carefully as Lilith began stalking through the shop looking for the rest of the tunnel runners.
Lilith knew that she'd be in serious trouble for hitting Scar with that Roman Candle, and she could only hope that if she killed off the rest of the space rats, that it wouldn't be something too painful! She knew that Scar was supposed to be the one to kill all of these things, but now she was the one doing it, and she hoped that if she finished, that maybe she wouldn't get punished too badly. After getting a rather weird idea, she picked up the bat, and walked through the shop. Getting the rest of the space rats out from under the racks and shelves was easy now that she was slinging the bat underneath them. As the giant rats ran from the bat, they were killed by Slobber. She had just knelt down to look under a rack when she got a strange feeling. She looked up to see that strange Predator woman coming towards her.
Certain that she was about to be hurt, Lilith jumped to her feet, and ran towards the vent. She flopped down on her stomach and slid inside. She was glad that she hadn't taken off the glow sticks as she hurriedly made her way deeper into the vents. As she crawled through the vent, she came to a right hand turn, and knew that this was where she'd first seen the space rats. She peeked around the corner carefully, and saw that the coast was clear, so she crawled ahead. It wasn't until she spotted a whole bunch of weird things in front of her that she realized she was looking at the nest. There weren't any baby space rats, but there was a bunch of half eaten giant mangos, and some other stuff that was just shredded. Then she saw a small bag that had a hole in it, but wasn't shredded like everything else. She tied a knot where the hole was, and then tied the bag to her belt. It was about the same size as the Crown Royal bag, so it was no problem to carry it with her.
"Lilith? All of the tunnel runners are dead… there is nothing left for you to hunt in there, and I need to look at your back to see how badly you were injured." Gwen's voice said as it echoed through the vent.
Knowing that she was going to be in a lot of trouble for shooting Scar, and not wanting to make it worse than it was already going to be, Lilith crawled slowly back out of the vents. As soon as she stuck her head out of the shaft, she was greeted by the long raspy, and wet tongue of Slobber sliding across her face. She reached up and pushed the Yaut Hound's face to the side while she got out of the vent and stood up.
"Turn around and let me see your back Lilith. I want to know how badly you're hurt." Guan stated firmly as she placed a hand on the pup's shoulder.
Lilith turned around slowly and winced as Gwen pulled up her shirt. Lilith cringed when she heard the ominous growl from Gwen, and quickly turned back around to see that the Predator wasn't too happy.
"I need you to turn back around, while I apply some pain blocking paste to your back. You are fortunate that I saw Than-guan today, and that she gave me something that will work on you. I just didn't think I'd need to use it so soon." Guan said as she quickly turned Lilith back around and spread some of the paste on the pup's back. She was certainly glad that there was pain blocker in the paste. She finished quickly and pulled the pup's covering back down, and saw that it was damaged and torn.
Guan wasn't pleased to see the damage to Lilith's covering, because the pup had very little to wear as it was. She knew that more coverings were being made for Lilith to wear, but she would need something to cover her body until those covering were finished.
Once Gwen pulled her shirt back down, Lilith went over to the shop keeper and handed him both bags after untying them. She expected him to keep both bags, so she was really surprised when he handed her back the one she'd found in the vents.
"You were the one to recover these from the tunnel runners' nest. I would never have been able to recover them, so they rightfully belong to you now." Thwei-de said as he examined the small bag containing the strange explosives.
"So what does that pouch contain?" Guan asked curiously.
"It has plant seeds from several different worlds. I had planned on selling it to Lar'ja-sain'ja, but the vermin took it before I could." Thwei-de answered.
"Plant seeds? That has got to be one of the strangest trophies I've ever heard of." Setg'in said with a shake of his head.
"No stranger than that naxa fruit she obtained from the one she killed with out using a weapon of any kind!" Thwei-de responded with a snicker.
Guan looked down at Lilith who was looking at the bag skeptically. She knew that an actual trophy was never sold, but then a mere pouch of seeds wasn't something that could be easily recognized without some kind of explanation.
"Lilith… do you wish to keep those plant seeds as a trophy?" She asked hesitantly.
Lilith looked up at Gwen and shook her head. The bag of seeds wasn't anything like the bowling trophies her father had been so proud of… and besides, she didn't even have a dresser or shelf to put a trophy on. She didn't know anything about keeping a garden or farming either, so what was she going to do with them if she kept them?
"If she doesn't want them… I will be glad to purchase those seeds… at an honorable price." Lar'ja-sain'ja said as she stepped forward. "Since they are a result of her triumph against a large nest of tunnel runners, and therefore a trophy of that victory, I would not expect a low price." She added quickly.
Lilith looked from the two Predator women down to the bag of seeds. She knew that she didn't have any use for them at all, and she didn't really want them. Then she realized that she could get rid of them easily by giving them to this grumpy Predator woman. Maybe then the woman wouldn't be so grouchy when she wanted to smell those flowers in her yard.
Lilith thrust the bag of seeds at the grouchy assed Predator woman, and soon as the woman took it, Lilith turned and started walking through the shop. She could hear Gwen talking with the other Predator woman, but she saw the shop keeper getting ready to do something with some kind of a bottle. Curious about what the shop keeper was going to do, Lilith walked over to watch.
"Ah… the 'L'ulij-bpe Dah-Kujhade' (Angry Little Destroyer) has come to see the final end of these tunnel runners. Tell me Yeyin Dah-Kv'var-de, (Brave Little Hunter) are you ready to examine the bodies of your kills to select your trophies? You will need the skulls and skins of many kills upon your trophy wall to properly impress others with your skill." Thwei-de thei-de said in a very pleased tone and a wide smile.
Lilith frowned at the thought of hanging the skulls of a bunch of space rats in her room. She wasn't all that pleased by the thought of putting their skins on the walls of her room either. The stuffed doodads were one thing, because she had never seen them alive, and they weren't hanging on the walls either! She looked up at the shop keeper and shook her head with an expression of disgust on her face.
"Ahhh… a discriminating Hunter! I like that. I can see already that you will be one who takes only the best of your kills as a trophy, that's good. While it will mean that you have fewer trophies on your wall, it will also mean that the ones you have are those that you can be proud of." Thwei-de told her approvingly. "Now… since you don't wish to claim anything from these kills, I will show you how to remove their remains, so that they do not stink up my shop while they decompose."
"The first thing you must understand, is that this solvent has no mind of its own. So it doesn't care if what is being dissolved is alive or dead. That is why you must be very careful not to get any of it on you!" Thwei-de instructed as he demonstrated how the solvent was used. "Another thing you must make certain of, is that you are not standing in the spilled blood of the bodies you are disposing of. All organic, and even some inorganic material is dissolved by this, and that includes some metals, so be careful with it!"
The old hunter knew that the solvent wasn't quite as dangerous as he let on, but then it was how every would be hunter was warned, because while the nano-disassemblers in the suspension wouldn't do much damage to living tissue, there would be some injury and burns from it, so it was best to avoid that altogether.
Lilith took the bottle and poured a little of it onto the blood stain that had a bunch of dead space rats in the middle of it. Her eyes shot wide open in disbelief as she watched everything disappear like it was never there. When it was over, all that was left, was the bare stone floor that looked perfectly clean. She stood there for a moment, and stared at the clean floor while she realized just how easy it was going to be to clean up the whole huge mess she and Slobber had made!
Suddenly, Lilith was once again stalking through the shop while eliminating the space rats… but this time, there wasn't anything left when she got done with them! What really blew her mind was that cleaning up the huge mess that seemed to be everywhere was actually a whole lot easier than making that mess in the first place, and just as much fun. She couldn't help the soft little giggle that burbled forth while she worked, because this part was way too easy. A little dab here, a few drops there, and some over in that place. It didn't take very long to clean the whole shop, and she saw that the Predator wasn't kidding when he'd told her that it would get rid of some metals too, because even the 'Rat Chaser' firecrackers were being turned into nothing by the weird looking blue stuff. What felt like a very short time later, Lilith was looking for any spots that she'd missed, and she realized that the only mess left in the shop was… her!
Lilith handed the bottle of blue stuff back to Thwei-de and stepped back away from him. She looked down at herself and just knew that she was now the biggest mess in the shop. She was so messy, covered in green blood, along with the splattered guts and even the brains of dead space rats, that she was pretty sure she hadn't been this filthy when she'd gotten out of the basement! She smiled nervously at the shop keeper and hoped that he wouldn't make her leave for being such a mess, but the Predator only smiled and put the bottle of strange stuff away.
As she turned around, Lilith saw Gwen coming over, and knew that she was going to be in trouble for getting as dirty and filthy as she was. She could see that Gwen had a serious look on her face, and Lilith was trying to think of some way to avoid getting punished.
"Lilith… why did you choose not to keep any trophies from these kills? Are you not pleased with the size of the creatures?" Guan asked in a serious tone with some level of concern in her voice.
Lilith just shook her head and shrugged, because she had no idea how to answer that question or to tell Gwen that she did not want those gross things hanging in her room without actually speaking.
"Well, since you don't seem to want any trophies… are there other things in this shop that you would like?" Guan asked casually.
Guan knew that the playthings that were still in the room had been thrown, hunted, stalked, and even 'killed' more times than it was possible to count by each of her three sons when they were still pups. The playthings were old, and she knew that some of them were nearly worn out, which meant that it was time to replace them. Given that Lilith was ooman instead of Yautja, she thought it was possible that Lilith might prefer something different. She thought about how Lilith had managed to successfully hunt down the tunnel runners using playthings as weapons, so maybe there were things in this shop that Lilith might like, and enjoy. The thought of finally seeing Lilith happy while not under the influence of a chemical made her smile.
"Go! Select the things you like Lilith. I've been intending to get some things for you, and this seems like an excellent time for you to choose what you like." Guan said while still smiling.
Lilith just couldn't believe her ears! She'd fully expected Gwen to be pissed at her for getting as filthy as she was, and that wasn't even thinking about hitting Scar with that Roman Candle… instead, she was being told to pick out some things she wanted. It was unbelievable!
Lilith walked down the isles trying to figure out what she wanted to pick out. There were a lot of things that she didn't even recognize. Some of the stuff, she knew was some kind of tools or something. She looked at a large pipe wrench which was propped next to a couple of black bean bag chairs and some other weird looking tools. She wasn't sure how much Gwen was going to let her get, so she wanted to make sure that she got the important stuff first. She had been down nearly half the isles before she spotted the blue plastic case. She opened the case out of curiosity while hoping that it was what she thought it might be. She couldn't help but grin in delight at the sight of the contents.
Hairbrush, comb, nail clippers, toothbrush, razor, tweezers, and small, travel sized containers of toothpaste, mouthwash, deodorant, shampoo, and a tiny bar of soap were all packed neatly in the case. The inside of the lid had a built in mirror so that she was able to take a good look at her appearance. Her hair was disheveled and dirty. Her face was smudged with black grime that had come from somewhere, and a bunch neon green gore from the space rats she and Slobber had killed. About the only thing she could recognize from her reflection were her blue eyes. Even her shoulder length hair was no longer the solid black which she'd dyed it before leaving the house her parents lived in; instead, it was now tinged with green gore like her clothes.
Lilith turned around to find Gwen watching her, and not sure how many things she could get, she held up the travel grooming kit hopefully.
"Is that the only thing you want from here?" Guan asked doubtfully.
Guan had observed Lilith closely while following her around the shop, and she had seen how the little ooman had spotted several things which might have been selected, but had been reluctantly passed over in favor of the strange case she now held. She looked down at the ooman pup and once again noticed how poorly the coverings fit. Then Guan remembered just how thrilled Lilith seemed to be with the coverings that had been made specifically for her.
'Why would she choose only one thing… unless it's because she doesn't think she's allowed to have much by way of belongings! She's probably never been given anything except the cast off things from someone else. That's why she was so pleased with the coverings I got her.' Guan thought sourly.
"Lilith… don't choose a single item because you think that's all you're allowed to have. If there are things that you feel you need, or simply want… then you are to get them. Do you understand?" Guan said firmly.
Lilith nodded her head, and looked back at the shelves in the store with wide eyes. Then she nearly ran to the counter and set the case on it before going back to the shelves. One of the first things she grabbed was one of the bean bag chairs, because that would be more comfortable than the floor in her room. Walking down the isles, she saw that some of the stuff was still in packaging like it was new, but other things were set out by themselves. Then she saw a cardboard box for paper towels with writing in black marker that said 'Kitchen' on it. Curiously, she opened it up, and saw all kinds of things, like rolling pins, small cutting boards, and salad tongs, but what caught her eye was the set of table ware. Forks, knives, and spoons that she could use to eat with, and not have to use only a spoon like a stupid baby. She grabbed that out of the box and took it to the counter.
Going right back to the same isle, she saw several more of the boxes that were packed like someone was moving to a new house. Some of them were for the living room, hallway, bath room, but then she spotted two that made her smile. Those two boxes were for 'kids room', and 'swimming pool'. She opened the kids box first and saw all kinds of nerf guns, suction cup dart guns, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels cars, and other things. Opening the second box, she saw all kinds of Super Soaker water guns, squirt guns, water balloons, and even some swim floats of different kinds.
Suddenly her eyes lit up with mischievous delight as she thought of what she could do with some of that stuff. She quickly grabbed the nerf guns, pop guns, sucker dart guns, six golf disks that were like super strong Frisbees, and even a whoopee cushion, and stuffed those in with the swimming stuff, before carrying that box over to the counter.
Knowing that the moving boxes had a lot of different things in them, she went back to look at them, and opened one the ones for the master bedroom. The only thing she was interested in were pillows, and those were in the third box she opened. She grabbed the whole box with four pillows in it, and took that to the counter.
When she got to the counter with the box of pillows, the shop keeper was waiting for her with a stern look on his face.
"You'll either have to take both or none." Thwei-de said while pointing at the bean bag. "Both of them came together, and they are a set. I am not separating them, understand?"
Lilith nodded her head and looked over at Gwen to see that she was picking up the second bean bag chair.
"Since she definitely wants one of them, she'll have both. I'm sure that since she knows what to do with one, that she can use the other as well." Guan said as she dropped the weird thing on the floor.
Lilith didn't take long to get over her surprise, after Gwen told her to choose a few more things. She walked down a few of the isles and saw what looked like a small stack of T-shirts. She picked one up and while it was narrow enough to fit her, it was long enough to go down past her knees. Then she saw two pair of pants that were sort of like blue jeans sitting next to them, and picked one of those up. When the pants unfolded, Lilith's mouth dropped open in shock. Even though she had the waist of the pants just below her chest, the legs of the pants were sprawled on the floor. Then her eyes bulged in her head when Gwen picked up the other pair and held the waist out in front of her at eye level to look at them. The legs of the pants were still on the floor!
'Holy crap! How tall was the person these were made for?' Lilith wondered in shock as she stared at the pair that Gwen was holding up.
She knew that the pants wouldn't fit her because they were way too long, but then she got an idea, and held them against her stomach to get an idea of whether or not they were too wide or narrow in the waist. Seeing that they looked about right, Lilith decided that they might work as cut-off shorts. She grinned at the thought of some more clothes that she could wear, and quickly grabbed the shirts to go with them.
When Lilith quickly gathered the strange coverings in her arms, Guan looked down at the pup curiously, and saw that Lilith wanted the ones she had as well. She didn't have the slightest idea what Lilith could want them for, since it was obvious that they wouldn't even come close to fitting her. After all, the strange coverings were even longer than she was tall, and she was nearly double Lilith's height. Still, she handed the strange leg coverings to the ooman anyway, figuring that she'd find out later.
As she wandered through the shop, Lilith wasn't really looking for anything specific, but she was trying to look at everything that was there, because there was a lot of weird stuff in the shop. A yo-yo was sitting between a car jack and a mask that was nearly as tall as she was. That was when she saw it.
Lilith felt her heart nearly stop beating when she had picked it up and seen the expiration date on it. It was a really old 'El Patio' Beef Enchilada TV dinner still unopened and still in the box, but it had spoiled more than forty years ago! The mere thought of how bad this thing was going to stink if it was ever opened nearly made her heart stop. She knew that something had to be done about it, but she wasn't sure of how to tell anyone without actually talking.
Thwei-de could smell the apprehension and even a slight amount of fear on the ooman as she brought something over to him, and carefully sat it down. He was about to ask if she wanted that as well, when the pup pointed at it and shook her head before he could even say anything.
"I take it you know what that is?" He asked casually.
Lilith nodded her head, and acted like she was eating something and enjoying it. Then she pointed at the TV dinner and acted like she was choking.
Thwei-de looked down at the small container as he thought about the ooman pup's actions. He knew just about every item in his shop, and could even give a rough estimate on how long it had been there.
"Are you saying that is supposed to be something to eat?" He asked to clarify the pup's actions. When he saw Lilith nod her head, but then point at the object and again act like she was choking, he thought that he had a much better idea of what the ooman was trying to tell him.
"That was brought in by a Hunter before my nephew was even born, and he is now a Youngblood. If that is supposed to be eaten, then it would have spoiled by now…" Thwei-de broke off what he'd been saying when Lilith began nodding her head emphatically.
"If that thing is even older than Thwei-de-th'syra, and he's older than I am, then that is going to reek if someone opens it!" Setg'in exclaimed after observing what was going on.
Lilith pointed at Scar and nodded her head like she was trying to shake it off her neck.
"I think you're right, and that's what she's trying to tell me. If someone had bought this and opened it, I would be faced with a serious problem. Thank you for that information Little One. I'll put this in the incinerator, so it can't be purchased by mistake." Thwei-de stated as he carried the TV dinner away.
Lilith let out a sigh of relief before going back to looking through the stuff on the shelves and racks. She didn't see or even notice the nods and expressions of approval that followed her. The first thing that caught her attention was a small plastic trash can of something called 'Slime'. It was in a green plastic trash can about the same size as a small can of Folgers coffee, but when she pulled the lid off, it was something that looked like lime green pudding. Out of pure curiosity, she poked at it, only to find that it felt dry, but slightly greasy, very gooey, and really gloppy! This was the kind of stuff that just begged for some really gross practical jokes! She was just glad that it was a bright lime green, because if it had been slightly more yellow in color, she would have sworn that it was snot! She tried to pour a little of it into her hand, and saw that it even flowed as slowly and just as thick as a giant blob of snot! Suddenly she dumped the stuff into her hand, acted like she was sneezing, and turned around to face Gwen with the huge glob of stuff slowly dripping through her fingers!
Guan heard Lilith sneeze, and was sure that it was caused by something that had irritated the sinus cavity. She stepped towards Lilith intending to ask what had caused the reaction, when the ooman turned around. There was a large and very disgusting pile of what appeared to be some kind of mucus in her hand. Instantly Guan was letting out a strangled sound as she tried to control her rebelling stomach at the thought of that much sinus mucus emerging from the mouth. She could only imagine how revolting that must have tasted, and an involuntary shudder passed through her body as another strangled sound was released.
Lilith couldn't help it; Gwen looked so grossed out that it was funny! She started snickering pretty loud, and the more she snickered or giggled, the more grossed out Gwen looked.
"What is she doing?" Thwei-de asked as he approached while trying to figure out what the commotion was about.
Guan turned around to avoid looking at Lilith who was now playing with the disgusting mucus by pouring it from one hand to the other.
"She's… she playing... with her…" Guan stopped talking for a brief moment as she tried to control her rebelling stomach, and keep from vomiting everywhere.
"She's playing with her sinus mucus!" Guan finally blurted out.
"What?" Thwei-de looked over at the ooman pup and saw exactly what the female was talking about. The old shop keeper felt the urge to empty the contents of his stomach, and he quickly looked at one of the shelves in order to avoid looking at the ooman. That was when he spotted the open container. That was when he realized why the ooman was laughing.
"That is not funny, Dah-Kv'var-de! (Little Hunter) It is disgusting, revolting, and hideous! I don't even know why oomans would even make such a substance, but that is one that should never have been made!" Thwei-de snapped angrily. "Not put that stuff back in the container, because I do not wish to see it! I will also tell you that if you do not choose to purchase that stuff, then I will also have that incinerated as well!" Thwei-de growled angrily.
"Are you saying that isn't sinus mucus that she's playing with?" Guan asked in surprise.
"No… it isn't. What she's playing with is an ooman substance that has a small amount of plant material in it, but is otherwise completely synthetic. I haven't the slightest idea what that stuff is supposed to be used for, but it both looks and feels disgusting!" Thwei-de answered irritably.
Lilith only snickered at the shop keeper. She knew that the gross looking Slime was only a toy, and that the only thing it could be used for was to gross someone out, but it was still kind of fun to do. She let the green slime drip from her hand back in to the little trash can with a disgusting plop before she put the lid back on with a snicker. Then she smiled brightly as she carried the container to the counter to set it with the other things she'd found.
As soon as she turned around, Lilith stopped dead in her tracks, because Gwen was right there squatting down in front of her. Lilith froze at the serious and displeased expression on Gwen's face, because she just knew that she was about to get it good.
"Is that disgusting substance an ooman plaything?" Guan demanded firmly.
When Lilith nodded her head hesitantly, Guan continued. "You may get that to play with then, but I do not want you using it in an attempt to make me sick like you just did. That was revolting, and while you might have thought it was funny, I didn't! So don't do that to me again. Understand?"
Lilith nodded her head and watched as Gwen stood up. She was surprised that the Predator hadn't spanked her or even scolded her for what she'd done. It was a big difference from what she was used to.
"Good, now choose a few more things that you can play with, because some of these items look to be interesting." Guan said as she stepped back to allow the ooman female to resume her search.
Lilith headed back to the racks of things and started looking again. There were all kinds of things that she either didn't want or didn't even recognize. She stopped to pick up what had to be an old skateboard that was made before people started doing all kinds of stunts and tricks on them. About two feet long, it was made from some kind of red plastic that was pointed at one end, and had a small kick ramp at the other. She knew that it wouldn't do her any good here, because she didn't know how to ride it. There also weren't any sidewalks or any other place to use the weird looking thing. She put it back on the shelf and saw a small little rack that looked like one of those things that some people kept on their desks in a really fancy office. The difference was that instead of only six metal balls hanging in a line, this one had thirteen of them. Other than that, it looked almost the same. Lilith reached up and pulled a ball on the right back before letting it drop. The instant it hit the others it stopped dead, and the ball on the far side swung out as the momentum was transferred through the metal. She smiled when she saw that this one worked the same way as the ones she used to see on TV.
Guan tilted her head in pure curiosity when she watched those small hanging spheres act the way they did. It was sort of interesting, but very captivating to see. She knew that it was simple inertia at work, but the way it was being used by the strange device, made it seem almost magical in function. She decided then, that if Lilith didn't choose that particular object, that she would get it for herself. Besides, it was definitely better than that last item Lilith had chosen!
Lilith stopped the metal balls from swinging back and forth, when she noticed that the thing was sitting on a memo board. There were already several dozen tacks stuck in the thing, and it was used, but she could still put things on it. She grabbed the cork board with the ball thing on it, and saw that the box underneath was labeled 'Kid's Clothes'.
Lilith froze as she stared at the box in front of her. The memo board and desk toy were still in her hands, but they were forgotten as she stared at the cardboard box. Then she quickly put the cork board on the floor, and pulled the box off the shelf to go through it. As she dug through the box, her hopes rose, and were smashed in a single instant. The box did have girl's clothing, but all of it was too small for her to wear. She pulled out a one piece swimsuit of solid white and looked at it sadly.
'This would have been great for when Thingy started teaching me how to swim… if she really meant it.' Lilith thought as she prepared to stuff the swimsuit back in the box.
Guan could smell the sadness coming from Lilith as the ooman began to put the strange but obviously too small covering back, and realized that it would have been something that Lilith could use. Then she got an idea.
"Go ahead and place that with your other things Lilith. I think that I can get Dachande to use that as a pattern to make one exactly like it so that it will fit you properly." Guan instructed gently.
The look on Lilith's face was one that she was sure contained disbelief before the little female darted over to the counter to put the covering with the other things. It was only then that Lilith returned to get the two items on the floor. That was when Guan realized that Lilith wasn't simply grabbing various playthings to entertain herself, she was trying to get what she actually needed, and that included those strange leg coverings that she was almost sure couldn't be used. Knowing that Lilith possessed almost nothing but the coverings she'd been wearing on her own world, before being brought to live among them, made Guan inclined to indulge the ooman pup a little. Besides, some of the things that were being chosen were interesting to say the least.
When Lilith got back to where Gwen was waiting, she spotted four cylinders that were made of wood with some kind of rope holding them together. They were really cool looking, and the lids that were also made of wood fit perfectly. They were about six inches thick, and about two and a half feet long. She opened one to see what was inside.
Whatever it was looked like it was made out of really small feathers from different birds. She pulled it out of the wooden case and carefully unrolled it. That was when she saw that it was some kind of banner, or hanging that really was made out of small bird feathers!
"All four of those came in from your world at the same time, so they are also a set, and I will not have them sold individually. I don't know what they're for, but they are older than I am, and they go together, so if you get them, you must take all four, understand?" Thwei-de instructed firmly. Although he happened to like this ooman pup, he also had a business to run, and he wasn't going to let his affection for someone ruin that business.
Lilith nodded her head and looked at the strange hanging again. It was some sort of Aztec or Mayan scene with pyramids, temples, and a whole city. The really cool thing about it, was that it was all made out of feathers! That was when she realized that she could hang these on the walls of her room.
'Pictures of pyramids hanging on the walls of a pyramid. That's a pretty cool idea.' Lilith thought as she slid the hanging back into the protective tube. Then, she grabbed all four of them and put them with the other stuff.
Lilith walked down the isles passing up things she didn't want like a soccer ball, or the skateboard, when she spotted the folded up umbrella. It wasn't something she wanted, so she was about to keep going when she saw what was sitting next to it on a stack of boxes. The satchel case was labeled 'Polaroid', and she was quickly sitting on the floor while pulling the case into her lap. When she opened the case, she saw that the instamatic camera was there along with ten packs of film for it. She almost put it back, but then looked over at the pile of things she'd already picked out. Her mouth quirked into a smile because she knew that she'd be able to take some nice pictures with this camera. She started to put everything back into the case when she noticed one of the boxes that the camera had been sitting on. 'Knights of Yore play set complete with sword, scabbard, sword belt and hunting knife, made of soft foam rubber this set is safe for use by ages six and up.' There were six boxes of those toy swords, and Lilith stared at them for several minutes.
'They always have some kind of knives or swords with them! Even when she was taking me to see those doctor friends of hers, Gwen was wearing those mean looking swords in that thing on her wrist. Celtic was wearing a great big knife at dinner the first night I was here. They always have those sword things on their wrists. Even the Things and Thingy have them… so if I get these, maybe I can get one of them to teach me how to use it. If I know how to fight with a sword, then no one could hurt me anymore; I'd never get chained or tied up again!' Lilith thought, before she was quickly grabbing all six of the boxes. She slid the strap of the camera case on her shoulder and hauled the six boxes to the counter to set them on the floor with the rest of the stuff, before taking the strap off her shoulder, and putting the camera down.
Lilith stood there for a moment while looking at the pile of things near the counter, while wondering if she should try to get anything else. She looked down in deep thought and saw one of the spent Rat Chaser firecrackers. That was when she realized that she should get those things as well. Even though she had used them here in the store to kill the space rats, they were still things that the shop keeper had been trying to sell. Besides, she'd already opened, and used a bunch of the stuff, and she'd even messed up some of the things like the baseball bat by getting blood all over it. Then, there was all the marbles that she'd broke. It was only fair to buy that stuff after the way she'd used all of it.
Guan was about to ask if Lilith wanted anything else, when the pup took off running through the shop. She watched in silence as Lilith pulled a box full of things over to the counter before running off again. She saw the pup gather a couple of things and place them in a pair of matching containers. Those containers were then closed up before Lilith brought them over to the counter. Then she saw Lilith gather up the wrist device which had been used to launch the explosives across the floor of the shop, and the strange club, before bringing those over to the counter. Guan was surprised to hear a grunt of approval from her son as Lilith retrieved what had been used, but she fully agreed with the sentiment.
Lilith knew that she'd pretty much gotten everything, but then her eyes fell on one thing that she'd once asked her parents for. It was a huge solid white teddy bear that was almost as tall as she was. She went over and looked at it. Large, and white; it was really fluffy, and even had blue eyes and a ribbon around its neck to match. She remembered asking her daddy to get her a teddy bear just like the one she was now looking at, and she recalled his words at the time.
'Not while I'm alive!'
Lilith remembered the pain she'd felt because of her daddy's tone and voice. At the time, it had been the most horrible thing he'd ever said to her. A week later, she'd been forced into the basement.
Lilith stared at that teddy bear for several moments while tears of hate and pain slowly rolled down her cheeks. She absolutely hated her parents, and she hated herself because of that. Children were supposed to love their parents, not hate them. She knew that it had to be one of the reasons why she was worthless. Suddenly, Lilith was remembering thinking about how it would feel to curl up next to such a huge and soft teddy bear at night. She'd even thought that maybe the dark wouldn't seem so scary if she had such a big thing sharing her bed with her. That maybe the monsters that she just knew were real would be afraid of something that big in her bed. She had thought that a teddy bear like that would help her feel better about some things. She had never gotten the chance to find out.
Now she was stuck on a strange world far from Earth, with Predators who had killed several of the people who had taken her to the South Pole. Predators who looked like monsters. Predators who seemed a lot nicer than her own parents had been. Even the Predator woman who seemed to hate her wouldn't let those space rats hurt her.
Lilith stared at the teddy bear and couldn't help but wonder if everything she remembered would still have happened if her daddy had gotten it for her that day. Would things have been different? Could things have been different? Would she still have been a worthless mistake? She didn't know. Maybe now was a good time to find out. She took a step closer to the big stuffed animal when it was suddenly picked up by someone else.
Guan heard Lilith gasp in what was almost a sound of grief as she picked up what was obviously a plaything. This was the kind of plaything she could recognize, and the way that Lilith was staring at it so intensely told her that it was something that the ooman pup should like. She tucked it under her left arm and reached out with her right hand to guide Lilith back to the counter.
"Come, Little One. This is enough for today. We can come back another time if we need to." Guan said gently as she began to guide the little female to the counter