The next chapter is posted!
WARNING: Some Strong Violence & Gore in this chapter.
Enjoy :)
The following morning, Thea got up as usual and headed downstairs to make breakfast.
While passing Setg-in's room she noted the door was open and she saw him putting on his armor and grabbing some of his weapons. Normally, when he did this, it meant he was going out to hunt.
"Hey, you going out this morning to hunt?" She asks.
The young warrior shifted his gaze to her and smile.
"Yes, but this time I won't be hunting deer. I would like to move onto something with more of a challenge. So, I'm going to go out and hunt black bears." He told her.
Thea knew he'd been wanting to hunt them for a while now. He talked of doing so once he was all healed up and ready for it.
At first, she was a little nervous for him to be hunting something as dangerous as a bear. But then kept reminding herself that he has told her he hunted things that were far deadlier than a bear.
He also told her that he had hunted bears on her world at least once before. Ones that were bigger and more imposing than black bears.
"Ok, just be careful out there." She said.
Amusement flashed in his eyes as he approached her.
"Why, Thea? Are you doubting my abilities? Or you just going to miss me?" He teases.
The young woman rolled her eyes.
"Nah, just try not to get bit in the ass. I may have treated your injuries once before. But I'm not going anywhere near there." She teased back.
He chuckled a little, "Not even kiss it better?"
"Nope. Not going to happen." Thea says.
The pair walk downstairs together.
They entered the kitchen where Thea started pulling things out to get breakfast started. It would only be her eating this morning since Setg-in ate yesterday.
She still can't get over the fact that he can go at least a couple days at a time without eating. The same went for sleep, seeing as when she came down one time not long after he came here and saw him watching the t.v. in the middle of the night.
She went down around 3:30am to get some water once and saw him sitting on the couch in front of the t.v.
When she went over to ask if he was ok, he just told her that his kind doesn't necessarily need sleep every night nor do they require a lot of hours of sleep.
Then she had to listen to him teasing her the next couple days, calling her lazy bones because she slept so much.
Thea pulled out a bowl and started to fill it with cheerios. While Setg-in was testing his wrist blades to make sure they were still working properly. He also tested out his cloaking device, which he was finally able to fix after he got here.
It was neat watching him be there one minute. Then the next, he was practically invisible and out of sight.
The yautja thought it hilarious when he would activate the cloak and sneak up on her and scare her. He would laugh when he made her jump in the air a couple times.
"Just don't be a creeper and go invisible to spy on me when I'm showering or changing alright?" She told him once.
Setg-in just gave her a wide grin.
"That's a good idea. Thanks for mentioning it." He replied.
"Don't you fucking dare, Set. Or I'll lock you out of the house and you'll be sleeping in the shed." She threatened.
The yautja snorted, "Have slept in much worse places than your shed. So, I don't care."
But if he knew the young ooman female, she still finds other ways to get back at him.
Once he went to go polish his armor, and she replaced the metal polish with olive oil. And one time she replaced the stuffing in the Oreo cookies with toothpaste and gave it to him.
And those are just a couple of examples. But then he also did things to get back at her too. Like yesterday, when he locked her out of the house and only let her in when she swore, she wouldn't do anything for payback. She also mentioned making chocolate mousse. Which was one of the few sweet things he actually liked that she made.
One of his favorite pranks though, was when she was showering once, he took all the towels out of the bathroom and emptied out her drawers in her bedroom.
The look on her face when she came out of the shower and couldn't find anything to cover herself with was priceless.
She couldn't believe he had swiped everything and hid them. The bastard even took the sheets and blanket off of the bed so she couldn't even cover herself with that.
"Set! Where the fuck are all my towels, clothes, and sheets!?" She yelled from her room.
He then walked in with a mischievous look plastered on his face and thought it funny to watch her hide behind the closet door to hide her nude body from his view. So, all he saw was her head poking out from behind the door.
"Well!? What did you do with them all!?" She yelled.
The young yautja's grin just widened and he pointed with his thumb over to one of the bedroom windows.
Thea didn't want to move, but she wanted to know what he was up to and why he was pointing to the window. She dreaded to see what could be out there, but felt she needed to know.
So, with her arms covering as much of herself as she could, which wasn't much at all, she ran to the window.
Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened when she saw all her clothes, towels, and sheets scattered around the yard on the grass. She then turned her burning gaze to the warrior in question with a scowl.
"Go and get them now." She snapped.
His gaze shifted down to his hand than he was holding up in front of him.
"Nope, they're your clothes. You go and get them." He said, as he casually picked dirt out of his blunt claws with one of his other claws.
"Go get them before I hide your clothes!" She threatened.
Setg-in gave her a devilish smirk.
"If you wanted to see me walk around naked, all you had to do was ask. I won't mind." He purred.
He laughed when he saw her cheeks turn a bright shade of red. The rest of her body lit up too.
"Set, c'mon. At least grab me a set of clothes to put on. Then I'll grab the rest." She reasoned.
"Why can't you just go out and get them? No one else lives close by. So, no one will see you out there in nothing but your birthday suit." He teased.
"You will see me!" Thea argued.
"And?" He inquired, with a wide smirk.
If looks could kill, he'd be six feet under already and he knew it.
"It's nothing I haven't seen before. I know what a naked female looks like. I have mated before, remember?" Setg-in added.
"That's not the point. Having to walk about out there scooping up clothes naked is bordering embarrassment and humiliation." She stated.
He crossed his arms; his grin still has yet to leave his face.
"Would it make you feel better if I shed my loincloth and help you pick up the clothes? That way you won't be the only one naked." He teased.
"No! Don't even think about stripping in front of me again and then walk about naked. Keep yourself covered." Thea snapped.
Setg-in huffed, "Ok, fine. I'll grab you something to cover yourself up with. Then I'll help you pick everything up and put everything back."
"Thank you." She said.
He left the room and came back a couple minutes later and tossed her something.
To say she wasn't amused to see that it was merely a washcloth was an understatement. And that's when she told him to stop being a little smart ass and get her some actual clothing.
The yautja laughed and finally gave up tormenting her. He went down and grabbed her a tank top, shorts, and undies.
She quickly yanked the articles out of his grip, not liking that he pulled them out of her reach a couple times, and once holding them over her head where she couldn't reach.
Then she yanked the clothes on and made him follow her out to pick up everything else that was strewn across the lawn.
Yeah, there were times they really got into their pranks as a means to get back at one another whenever one of them did something they didn't like.
Back to the present.
Setg-in was satisfied that everything seemed to be in working order. It was important that everything was working at one hundred percent when hunting for dangerous prey.
His amber gaze shifted back to Thea who was still sitting at the table finishing up her cereal.
"What you doing this morning?" He asked.
"Was going to go out for a jog on the dirt path after breakfast." She replied.
"Have fun. Try not to run into anymore skunks again." He teased.
Thea snorted, "Yeah, just because that happened one time, doesn't mean it will happen again. Though I'll tell you right now, if you encounter one out there while hunting and it sprays you, you're definitely not coming back in the house for a while."
"Won't happen. Because I'm way more careful than you. But thanks for the heads up." Setg-in replied.
He then put his mask on and headed for the back door next to the kitchen.
He paused for a moment and shifted his gaze back to her.
"I'll see you later. Be back either later this afternoon or evening." The warrior said.
"Later, and good luck." Thea told him.
He nodded, then he left.
She walked to the sink with her empty bowl and saw him disappear as he activated his cloaking device while he was walking across her lawn. After that she didn't see him again, with the exception of some disturbance in the bushes or grass as he entered the woods.
The young woman placed her phone in the flexible armband before wrapping it around her bicep. Then she placed the small canister of bear mace in her front pocket.
She went to the back door and stepped outside onto her lawn.
It was pretty overcast this morning, so she didn't really need her sunglasses. She pulled her ear buds out her other pocket, switched them on and connected them to her iPhone, via blue tooth.
Thea crossed the lawn and once she got to the dirt path that led from her lawn and into the woods, she started up her jog at a slow pace.
The dirt path didn't go in only one direction. It did split at some point with one path going left and the one path going straight. She mainly stuck to the left path because that one circled around the large property and would take her back to the house after a couple miles.
The one that goes straight, went deeper into the woods and stretched on much further.
It went so far, that she never had a chance to reach the end of it. And at some point, she'd turn around and head back when she felt like she went far enough.
She learned it went on further than she could jog.
'Ehh, it's still very early in the morning. Could always just go a couple miles or so then turn back around. Can always walk back if I get too tired.' She thought.
With that in mind, Thea decided to take the path straight this time.
She made it down the path about fifteen feet when she got this weird feeling.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she looked around while maintaining her jog. It was very strange. She never had this happen to her before. If she didn't know any better, she got a strange feeling that someone was watching her.
Then she shook her head and tried brushing it off.
'It could be Set. He may just be checking up on me before moving on. Like always.' She thought.
Thea learned early on that there were times when Setg-in was out hunting around the same time she went out for a jog, he'd sometimes circle around to the dirt path and check on her.
He did this to make sure that no dangerous animals were nearby and scoping her out.
She saw his distorted image once not far from the path up ahead, and when she got there and stopped, he deactivated his cloaking device. And when she asked what was up, that's when he told her, he will sometimes check up on her when he knows she's out and about in the woods.
Instead of being annoyed that he didn't tell her this upfront, she was actually rather thankful.
There have been plenty of times in the past where she did cross black bears on or near the path. And while most tended to ignore her and move on, there were a couple cases some were too overly curious and approached her.
Luckily, there was only one time she had to use her bear mace. The individual proved to show it wasn't skittish or afraid of humans. It even ran towards her when it spotted her.
And that is when she had to spray it. The mace did its work and the bear grunted and growled as it ran off shaking its head, trying to ease up the burning sensation in its eyes.
Having Setg-in around to watch out for bears was pretty reassuring. It made her feel safer and more protected. Plus, it's not just bears. Other things can happen out in the woods too.
Thea jogged on, going a little faster while keeping her breathing slow and even.
Music was always a good distraction from the fatigue and kept her going. While she used her eyes to constantly scan her surroundings for other animals.
At one point, she came upon a couple deer grazing not a few feet from the path near some bushes. Though, once they spotted her closing in, they took off and headed deeper into the woods and further away from the dirt path.
She let the lyrics of the song flow through her as she continued pass where the deer used to be.
She burns friends like a piece of wood
And she's jealous of me because she never could
Hold herself up without a spine
And she'll look me up when she's doing fine
Because the rage it burns like Chinese torture
She's just someone's favorite daughter
Spoilt and ugly as she willingly slaughters
Friends and enemies they're all the same
They'll burn her name
And crush her fame
Thea didn't make it much further than that when she suddenly felt someone grab her from behind.
She let out a startled yell as arms wrapped around her. Next thing she knew, she was shoved forward onto the dirt covered ground. Thinking it may have been Setg-in playing another one of his pranks on her, she quickly turned around sitting on her bottom still to give him a piece of her mind.
But as her mouth opened, no sound came out. Because she froze and stared up in horror to see it wasn't her friend at all. But the last person she ever wanted to see again.
The handsome dark-haired man started down at her with a dark smirk.
"Ma...Mark? What the hell are you doing here?! You're not supposed to be here!" She said.
One of her ear buds had fallen out when she fell. But the other was still blaring music into her right ear.
She'll break a promise as a matter of course
Because she thinks it's fun to have no remorse
She gets what she wants and then walks away
And she doesn't give a fuck what you might say
"What? You mean I can't come and visit an old girlfriend?" He retorted.
Thea eventually made her way to her feet and stood a few feet away from him.
This was bad, they were out in the middle of the woods, and she was a good distance from her house. And she is unsure if Setg-in was around at this time or not. Because a lot of the times, she doesn't know when he comes to check on her.
"You can't be here. Leave now, before I call the cops." She told him.
The young woman was starting to regret not renewing the restraining order on him.
She hadn't seen him in months and figured he'd finally moved on and would leave her be. But seeing him here now, just proves how wrong she was to assume.
His smirk turned into a scowl.
"Don't even fucking think about it, bitch. You've already wrecked my career and had me thrown in jail. I'll be damned if you have me sent back to prison again." He growled.
Thea clenched her fists at her side and glared back at him.
"That's your own fault. If you hadn't hurt, abused, and stalked me, none of that would've happened. You have no one to blame but yourself there." She snapped.
"Because you deserved it and needed to be put in your place. Had you been better at following demands and rules like a good little girlfriend, I wouldn't have had to teach you a lesson.
But it seems like beyond that pretty face your too much of a slow learner and stupid to do even just that. And by the going to the cops you fucking betrayed me. And now, you're going to pay dearly for it, Thea." He spat.
Mark started to approach her, quickly closing the distance.
He was about a foot away from her when he stopped dead and let out a small yell. His hands went to furiously rub his eyes trying to get the loose dirt out.
As soon as she thrown the small handful of dirt in his eyes, she turned tail and started to run back the way she came.
Because it cuts her up like Irish mortar
Mother's pride is what we taught her
Soiled and petty as we happily taunt her
Friend or enemy we're all to blame
{She'll burn us bad
She'll flaunt her flame
She'll make us remember, remember her name}
"SET! HELP!" She yelled as she ran.
"THEA!" Mark roared, as he took off after her.
"HELP ME! SOMEONE HELP! SET, WHERE ARE YOU!?" She continued to yell as she ran down the path.
If she sits still like she knows she could
She could win this game and be the queen for good
Save herself up for the cream of the crop
Then she'll look us up when she's ready to stop
She sprinted hard, but she was already pretty fatigued to begin with from her jogging. And her lungs felt like they were starting to burn. But she knew if she stopped or slowed down, she was dead.
It was then she heard a sharp bang and felt a searing pain in the side of her calf.
Thea let out a yelp of pain and dropped to the ground. She laid there on her stomach for a moment before turning over. Her eyes widened when she looked down and saw a deep graze on the outer side of her right calf a few inches below her knee.
She let out a gasp when she saw him quickly make his way over with gun in hand.
Tears came to her eyes, and she felt like she could hardly move. She eventually started crawling backwards away from his approaching form. A sick grin was ever present on his face.
"Please! Don't!" She pleaded.
He just shook his head and let out a small chuckle.
Then to her surprise, he put his gun back in his waist band right before he got to her.
"You shouldn't have tried to run. Had you not, I wouldn't have had to do that." He stated.
Next thing she knew, he shoved her down into the ground hard and was now on top of her.
Because the rage it burns like Chinese torture
She's just someone's favorite daughter
Spoilt and ugly as she willingly slaughters
Friends and enemies are all that came
To burn her name
Crush her flame
We're all to blame
There was rage in those deep brown eyes as he gazed down at her mere inches away from her own face.
"Mark, get off of me!" She sobbed.
That's when she felt a sharp slap to her face, making her cry out.
"Shut up! You made me fucking do this! If you've just been a good girl and listened to me, we wouldn't be where we are now!" He yelled in her face.
"STOP, PLEASE! HELP! SET, HELP ME! PLEASE!" She yelled out again.
Her yells abruptly stopped when she felt a blow to her left cheek. The asshole hod now gone and punched her in the face.
She was scared yes, but anger started to well up inside of her from him hitting her. Thea growled and arched her upper half up. Then she cocked her fist back and sent her fist flying into his face.
There was some pain and pressure blossoming in her knuckles as her fist connected. But there was also a crunch sound as she felt something give beneath her fist.
Mark pulled back with a small scream and clutched his broken nose that was now bleeding profusely.
Thea was able to shimmy out her hips and legs from beneath him and pull away. She also pulled back her right leg and kicked out at his hunched over form, nailing him right in the gut and sending him sprawling back onto his back.
She quickly stood up, wincing from the stinging pain from her bleeding calf.
He growled and stumbled to his feet. Some blood was still cascading from his nostrils. It dribbled down over his lips and chin and made little splotches on his blue t-shirt.
"YOU BITCH!" He yelled.
Then dread dropped back down into the pit of her stomach when he pulled his gun back out and pointed it at her.
But before he could pull the trigger, there was a loud menacing roar that reverberated and echoed through the air. It made him pause and look around and Thea knew exactly who it was that made that sound.
There was a soft thump behind her followed by a series of clicks.
Then Mark watched in shock and confusion as this large, strange man suddenly materialized behind the young woman. The strange being had its masked face directed at him and it let out what sounded like a low, menacing growl.
Thea turned around; a wave of relief hit her when she saw Setg-in had came.
The warrior shifted his gaze to her and noticed she one side of her face was red. Her lip was cut and bleeding as well as her lower leg. He slowly approached her and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"What the fuck is that thing!?" Mark yelled.
Setg-in's gaze snapped back to the man with another growl.
He quickly placed himself in front of Thea and stared down the ooman male with a gun still in his hand. There was a sharp metallic sound as he unsheathed his wrist blades.
Mark saw the large, serrated blades and became very nervous.
The warrior took a couple steps toward him. Which only made the ooman male back pedal a bit in fear. Setg-in paused, a couple more clicks left him.
"You'll attack a female smaller than yourself. But too much of a pussy to fight another male. You're pathetic." Setg-in stated.
Mark's fear quickly morphed into anger and then remembered he still had a gun.
"Fuck you!" He yelled, then raised his gun and shot at the large yautja.
Thea screamed and covered her ears.
Most of the shots fired ricochet off of Setg-in's armor. But at least one made purchase in his left side. Still, he didn't let it get it to him. He growled in annoyance than quickly advanced on the ooman male.
In one quick sweeping motion, he brought up his wrist blades and swiped at the man's extended arm.
Mark screamed in pain as his arm was severed and fell to the ground. Then he looked down in horror at the bloody stump that was pumping out blood like a busted water pipe.
Then he felt a large hand wrap around his throat and lift him effortlessly off of the ground and held him up.
He clawed at the yautja's large hand with his remaining one, gasping and choking for air at the same time. Setg-in then quickly repositioned his wrist blades and shoved them through the man's torso.
More gurgling sounds left Mark's mouth and blood started dripping out of the corners of his gaping mouth. Until his body went slack and he stopped breathing altogether.
The warrior then carelessly dropped the body to the ground and retracted his wrist blades.
He then turned back to Thea. He saw she had her backed turn and had her hands over her ears. Her breathing sounded a little shaky and distressed.
Setg-in reached out and lightly placed a hand on her shoulder. Thea flinched at first, then relaxed when she realized it was him. She slowly turned around to face him. Her glassy eyes drifted up his body to his masked face.
"It's over. You're safe now. He can no longer hurt you." He softly assured her.
A small smile made its way to her face. Before her resolve crumbled and she leaned into his front and started to silently sob.
He lightly wrapped his arms around the petite female and began to purr to her. Thea went to wrap her arms around his waist. Until she felt something wet near his side and felt him flinch slightly.
She quickly pulled her hand away and saw the bullet wound in his left side. Bright neon green blood was still lightly leaking from the small bullet hole.
"Oh God, Set. You've been shot!" Thea blurted out as her gaze quickly snapped from the wound to his masked face.
"It's fine. It's not fatal. I'll be fine. Let's just get you back home." He told her.
Thea looked at him for a few moments, before she took a couple steps to the side and looked around him.
That's when her eyes landed on the crumpled up bloody form of Mark. He laid there in a heap with his severed arm laying less than a foot away from him. Blood was still pooling beneath him and soaking into the dirt covered ground.
It was pretty horrific. But at the same time, she knew that could've been her, if Setg-in wasn't here to save her.
"What about him? Can't leave his body here. The cops will come looking." She said.
To him, that wasn't an issue. He had something to solve that problem.
"Wait here a moment." He told her.
Then he turned around and approached the body.
Thea watched as he pulled out this vial with bright glowing blue liquid in it. He twisted it near the top then poured it over the body. She gasped and covered her mouth as she watched the strange liquid quickly dissolve the body and the arm until there was nothing there.
It hissed and billowed some smoke as it came in contact with the dirt. And the warrior just kicked the very loose soil over the dark spot and stopped the smoke.
Now it looked like there was never a body there to begin with.
"What...what is that stuff? Some kind of pressurized acid?" She asked, her eyes darting from the blue stuff in his hand to him. Before going back to the spot on the ground where Mark's body used to be.
"It's a type of solvent. Mainly it's used by Arbitrators or Cleaners when they got to go on missions to contain or get rid of evidence of something ever being there.
I found this on the bad blood's ship that I was on. They must've killed an Arbitrator and taken it off of him. Or found his ship and taken it from there before disposing of it." He said.
She nodded in understanding.
Shouldn't be all that surprising. Setg-in kept telling her that the yautja were very technologically advanced. They have things that humans have yet to accomplish and create.
"Come, we can go now." He stated.
Then the pair started down the dirt path back to Thea's home.
I don't own the lyrics to the song mentioned in this chapter. The song and lyrics exclusively belong to the band called 'Curve.' The song is called 'Chinese Burn.'
Until Next Time ;)
