Eran awoke to the sound of rushing water.

The cool air caressed his form, and he rested his head on the rock, warm still from the sun's light. Slowly, he adjusted his senses to where he was. His spear was lying beside him, and he gripped it in one talon.

His side was causing him discomfort, but the searing pain from yesterday had gone. He didn't want to get up, but he knew that if he kept lying on these warm rocks, he would never get up again. Sighing, he uncoiled himself, and slowly raised himself from the ground on two shaky legs. Taking a few steps, he had balanced himself out again, and felt much firmer. His belly was rumbling and causing him discomfort, but he had to check his surroundings first. He had gone to sleep under a small crag in the side of the Cave-in, shielding him from prying eyes.

The rock-strewn ramp leading down to the river was still and silent, the river its usual rushing mess. No sign of Aki'ru.

Eran clambered upwards, quickly negotiating the rubble on all fours, his tail curled around his spear.

He tasted the air, looking for Aki's scent

It was stronger up above, and he resumed his climb.

Reaching the top, he saw the Yautja expertly skinning a larger animal, and hissed at him.

"Eran" the yautja clicked.

The xenomorph padded the last few metres towards the yautja, and eyed the dead animal greedily.

"Wait till I'm done then you can have your share."

Eventually, Aki handed him the meat which he devoured greedily.

"Where do we go now?"

Aki had gotten up, whilst Eran was still cracking some of the bones left of their meal, and walked over to the edge of the crater the cave-in had left and gazed down at the water. Suddenly, he emitted a shout, and started to make his way down the rubble into the direction of the river.

"What is it?" Eran clicked, but he got no answer. Sighing, he lifted himself up, and walked to the edge.

The night was not yet absolutely dark, and even without his superior night vision, he could see the yautja had already reached the bottom and was pulling something out of the river, precariously close to water. Eran raced downwards, clumsily hitting his ankle against a rock, stumbling, but eventually reaching Aki unscathed.

"Help me with this, Eran!" His muscles were knotted, as he was on his belly, clinging onto something the water wouldn't quite give up just yet.

Eran followed his example, lying down and with his long thin arms, reached in the water. His talons hit a cold, soft mass, and he curled them around it, and together they lifted it from the water.

It was a sodden, human body.

Aki put it down on the ground, and Eran eyed it hungrily.

"Wait. I remember this man."

"Who is he?"

"He was one of the men that were in the Saloon with me. I remember, he was standing to the left of the governor."

"Well does it matter? I'm still hungry" Eran said.

Aki turned the man around. His clothes were tattered and his skin was damaged, but those happened after he died, possibly in the river. Eran saw the yautja shiver. "If you want to know how the man died, take a look at this:" he pointed at the man's ear.

Aki'ru had a look at it, slightly horrified, as he saw a biro buried deep inside the man's head. The wound was not too large, and the water had washed away the blood and brains that were leaking out.

With a soft squelch, Eran extracted the Biro. It was a steel affair, hardly a proper pencil.

Aki reached for the pencil and plucked it from Eran's talon, spinning it in his hands, wiping away the muck attached to it. "I've seen this before… check the man's pockets."

Eran did as he was told, ripping each pocket opening, and emptying the innards on a small heap beside the man. There wasn't much, but something attracted Aki's attention.

A small piece of paper, folded and sodden. With careful fingers, he unfolded it and grinned.

"We've had a stroke of luck."

"Hm…" Eran's belly grumbled loudly

"It's a map. A map of these parts. It'll lead us to where we want to go.

"Hmm hmm" Eran answered. He fidgeted with his claws

"All right you greedy boy. I'm leaving you to it…"

Aki got up and turned away whilst Eran sank his maw into the soft sides of the carcass.

He had just turned away and was squinting at the map under the light of the small lamp attached to his wrist blades. Most of the electric systems had failed in the river, the spring-loaded blades still worked, as did the small backup LED.

Behind him, Eran was making horrible noises with the corpse. He knew that Xenomorphs could eat a lot and then go without food for some time, but watching a xenomorph feed is nothing pleasant, not even for a hardened yautja.

Slowly, he clambered back up the ramp, towards the sky. The stars twinkled, and the prairie was glowing faintly in the Starlight.

He managed to identify two mountains on the sodden map, and slowly, he succeeded in finding his bearings.

He was joined by Eran who was, apparently quite happily, munching on an arm. The outbreak, and his actions from yesterday seemed completely forgotten.

"Happy now?"

Eran made a noise that could perhaps qualify as a burp "Sure."

"We have to head right, another eight kilometres, then we will arrive where we started."

"The capsule?"

"Not quite." The yautja grinned, and held up the biro pen "I still have to return this."

Eran didn't quite grin "Are you sure?"

"Quite. I think I want to know what's going on here."

Eran dipped his head in agreement.

"If we make good time, we will arrive in the small hours of the morning" the yautja said.

The xenomorph hissed "What are we waiting for then", and bounded off

"ERAN! THAT'S THE WRONG WAY!" slightly smiling, the yautja watched the xenomorph skid, turn, and race back to him. Elated in the feeling of the hunt, Aki joined his friend in a swift jog he knew he could keep up for hours.

Eran was speeding ahead of him, with this strange, almost four-legged walk that was so well know of his race.

The wind rushed past him, and into his lung, the cold making it sting slightly, and the euphoria of finally moving fast, of finally hunting and not running away setting in.

Ever so often, he sped up, catching up with Eran, who had his fangs bared and was gritting his teeth. He was probably still feeling pain from the "accident" with the spear.

But there was new-found determination in him now.

And he, Aki, had seemingly given him that. His memory rolled back to their fight, and his strange behaviour. He had been trained from a young age to respect the code, and yet he had completely contradicted most things that had been drummed into him.

Yet it seemed that the borders of what was true and what was false were starting to swim out here in the desert. The dichotomy of good and evil that he had so long believed in was developing certain cracks, especially at the base.

Even things that were certain had now been shaken up, and blown away, like dust in the wind. He was afraid to let go of those rules that had governed his life, because if he did, what would he be? A bad blood?

He disagreed. He had not acted dishonourably. Was injustice not evil?

And yet the code decreed that weakness made one unworthy. And he had shown weakness, bared his soul, to an arch enemy, a creature he had despised not so long ago.

And yet, now, all he could find in his soul was a certain warmth towards Eran. They were friends. A strange word, after so long of working alone. But it was a good word.

Friends.

And yet, there was more. The feeling of Eran's smooth bum under his talon, the kiss… Aki'ru didn't permit himself to think further. It was an accident, Eran had been desperate, and it meant nothing.

He turned his focus to the road ahead.

They had halted their progress close to the town perimeter, and scouted around. There was no wall, just a small ditch and a few street lamps. The houses were clustered together, two stories high, built out of smooth cream-coloured plastic. There was a fusion generator hissing, and mining structures built up high. Two tired-looking guards patrolled the perimeter, but Aki knew that more could be hiding inside.

The hover train had disappeared, the loading crane standing alone above the pad, but Aki had, after a few moments, identified a hover bike.

He whispered to Eran "That will take us where we want to go."

"Where is that?"

"I do not know. I must ask the governor."

Eran shook his head "You do not know which house is his."

"No, we do not. I'm guessing though, it's the one the left, beside the saloon"

"It seems larger than the other ones."

Eran sized up the building not ten metres in front of him. "I can get over there and check."

"Be careful not to get seen"

Eran nodded, and Aki reached out and grabbed his talon. "Be careful" he whispered, and Eran was gone.

The xeno was quick, on his feet, up the wall, and onto the roof, where it stayed down, and ducking low to avoid being seen. Using his low weight as an advantage, he hung onto a power cable stretching over the main street. It swung precariously, as he made his way across, and scooted up the wall of the house where Aki suspected the governor to be. Eran had a quick look in one or two windows, and then set himself down on the roof, doing a small wave to Aki, who quickly waved back as acknowledgement.

He now just had to make his way over there.

With a silent jump, he left the ditch, and sprinted to the wall of the house before him, keeping to its wall, but not touching it. After all someone could be sleeping directly on the other side.

He tiptoed to the corner, and had a quick look along the high street. One of the guards was smoking in front of the Saloon, whilst the other one was yawning, and checking his rifle.

He quickly checked on Eran, who was still on the roof, but frantically waving into the direction of the house he was hiding behind.

He heard the crunch of boots on the gravel in front of him. There was a third guard! The Yautja dropped down on his haunches, crouching low and preparing himself.

He heard the voice of the guard in a semi whisper. "Looks all clear around here" Then a garbled reply from his radio, and he stopped. "The ditch? Are you serious? Listen, I have no idea why the Guv is so pissed off. I'm not going to check the bloody ditch. We are almost at the end of my shift, and I want to get to bed to my babe."

The radio jumped into life again, garbled, and fell silent. "All right then. In fact, I'm heading off to bed right now. I'm not his bloody private soldier." The guard stomped away, off the main street and a short while later Aki heard the hiss of a door open and close.

A change of the guard that was his chance. They would be distracted, and the main street was only fifteen metres wide.

He checked the two by the saloon, they were still smoking and deep in conversation and then, staying low, he took his chances and sprinted across the street.

The guards did not cry out. He had made it.

He was now at the corner of the house next to the Governors. He would go around the back and come up from the back door, meet up with Eran, and thoroughly fleece the governor for information.