Chapter 2: There's Something in the trees

McKenna made his way over to whatever strange thing crashed nearby. On the way over he contemplated several things.

'well there goes our cheque, fucking hell how am I gonna explain this?' He thought as he drew closer to his new goal. He wondered where Hanes and Dupree were, surely they saw what happened too. They're not stupid enough to try chasing the targets, given how the hostages scattered trying to find the bastard would be a needle in a haystack.

suddenly he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him...

McKenna whipped around, gun drawn as a figure stepped out from the bushes...

"Jeez somebody's paranoid." It was Haynes, joking as usual with a cocky grin on his face.

"Can never be too careful." McKenna responded, cracking a smile at the relief. "What do you think that was?"

"My guess?" Haynes responded as a look of confusion adorned his face. "Probably just a crashed aircraft." He shrugged as they made their way forward.

"Didn't look like any plane or jet I've ever seen." McKenna pondered as he remembered the strange object careened past the pylon and through the forest they were now walking through.

"Could be a prototype they were testing." Another shrug.

"If that's the case." McKenna giggled. "Their engineering department are fucked because that ship went down in a blaze of glory." He couldn't help but laugh at the situation as he imagined the lab rats watching their new toy break and rip through a forest. Haynes thought for a moment, before bursting into laughter himself.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the crash sight, Dupree already waiting for them smiling with pearly white teeth. "You guys have got to see this!" He shouted as they entered. The ship was truly like nothing they'd ever seen before. It vaguely resembled a sniper round. If the bullet were cut in half vertically and bent downward at the front like a banana. Two similarly curved rectangular "wings" were extruding from the sides of the "ship". Between these wings and the ship were 6 large bowling ball shaped machines, red Hot like the back of the ship but noticeably less so. As if they'd been activated later on.

"Hey." McKenna announced as he drew the attention of his friends. "What's that over there?" Gesturing to some area not far from the front of the ship. Dupree halted his investigation of the ship to investigate whatever his friend had noticed. He found what looked to be strange equipment, some pieces just looked like shrapnel from the ship. But two pieces stuck out, not just for being completely intact but for also not looking like they belonged on a ship. More like on a man. He lifted up the larger of the two pieces, it resembled a mask in shape complete with two eye sockets. The eyes of the wearer protected by glass that Dupree for some reason couldn't see through. Just above the corner of the right eye socket was a strange protrusion, three hollow, cylindrical bumps resembling laser pointers. "What the fuck?" He muttered under his breath as he examined the other eye socket. The left side of the mask looked like it had been clawed at by a rabid animal. It didn't seem to damage the mask too badly but whoever owned it was stuck with those damages. The part of the mask where a mouth would go was quite different. A golden, almost egg shaped metallic piece extended from between the eyes to the bottom of the mask. Inside the hollow piece was another layer, this one the same colour as the rest of the mask. And a third final piece in the center of it that was golden as well.

Dupree turned the mask around and peered inside. There was so much advanced machinery that he couldn't possibly hope to understand. Red lights shone around the inner forehead of the mask, their purpose unknown. He let his curiosity get the better of him and slipped the mask over his face, it was nearly twice the size of his head. "Whoever that belongs to has gotta have a head like fuckin megamind or something because Jesus that is huge." McKenna quipped as he joined his friend. "What is this shit?"

"Looks like some mask." Dupree answered. Still holding the mask over his face. "Shit mask though, can barely see a thing."

"Probably why the poor guy ended up like this." McKenna unloaded his backpack and extended his hand. "Here, I'll pack this up. Could earn us a bonus." Dupree handed over the mask and walked back towards the ship. McKenna shoved the large mask into his backpack but it took a bit of effort due to the size of it. Then moved on to the other object.

He picked up a small, metallic device of unknown function. It was coffin shaped with two crimson rectangular lights running down the center of the device. He didn't think much of it and just tossed it in the bag.

"alright, let's get out of here and see if this'll cool things over with the higher ups." Dupree suggested, hoping to get out of this humid jungle.

"Alright let's get Haynes and bounce. HEY HAYNES, WE'RE HEADING BACK!" McKenna called out to his friend. He didn't respond...

"HAYNES!?" Dupree called out, wondering where he was. "HAYNES WHERE ARE YOU!?" Another call left unanswered. At least not by choice...

Something fell from the trees above, landing not too far from the two men. Both were startled by the sound of something crashing to the floor. Dupree was the first to approach. And that's when he realised.

"OH SWEET JESUS!" He cried out.

"Dude what's the matter!?" McKenna asked as he rushed over to his comrade, then he saw it too. It was Haynes. Or rather, his head, the neck cut cleanly and slick with blood. His eyes were open but empty, he showed no injuries besides the cut that had severed his head.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" McKenna shouted as he lurched back in horror. His friend had died without them even noticing. 'What could have done this?' They thought in unison. Then a thought entered Dupree's mind, if Hayne's head fell from above them...

Dupree took out a small flashlight from his pocket and turned it upwards towards the trees. And that's when he saw him. Haynes's headless body lay slumped on the thick branch of a tree. It too soaked with his friend's blood glistening under the artificial light. But he wasn't alone, as two large green eyes stared back. But these eyes weren't human, there was no white and the pupils didn't react to the light. As if they belonged to a blind bird, but birds aren't just eyes, yet that's all Dupree could see from the thing. Mild glimmers of light reflected off an invisible something. Whatever it was it was big, too big to be human. The last thing Dupree ever noticed was a strange shape sitting on the monster's shoulder, it lit up in an instant and Dupree knew he'd never live to understand what he just saw...

Author's note: I know I took forever to get this small snippet out and I apologise. I've been busy and I procrastinate like a motherfucker. But I hope to start getting back into this as I've been getting back into Predator recently.