It's not that Patrick was a terrible disgusting pervert like Eric or a delinquent degenerate like a few other campers she knew. She actually found him quite beautiful in a poetic kind of way. She respected him for the most part. But when it came to teams, as a partner he was impossible to keep up with.
The 6ft 5 soccer player since he was like five just didn't let up the ever-increasing inclines of the mountain forests trails. Whether the fact that she was suffering to stay caught up with him didn't dawn on him or if he didn't care she was loudly panting and reaching for her water at least every five minutes.
"Pat, man. How high are you planning to go?" Cassandra asked politely although her desperation clearly shown.
"I came up here with my cousin last year, the best plants and flowers are by the waterfalls. If you want to draw sticks and grass blades feel free to stay down here." He grinned. "I may come back to show you how a real artist works." She growled lowly and picked up her pace, shuffling and flip-flopping up the mountain in her slides with a new objective.
To show this pretty faced dickwad how the fuck a real artist works.
She chugged the remains of her water bottle and dropped it, Only to run back and pick it up because littering in the Forrest was illegal and highly stressed against by the camp securities. Not today karma, Mother Nature
On the other side of the Forrest was tall Shana and busty Angela down the south trail. They barely said a word to each other since they started walking. Shana knew Angela liked Christian and Angela could also get the feeling that Shana liked Christian.
But Shana although not completely undesirable was definitely not Christian's type, Angela knew that for sure. Even if she pushed hard to get him to like her the tall slim sporty Amazon would only last a one night stand before he made up a reason to break up with her.
She knew this because she had been studying yummy-boi-Buyers since middle school when her crush had first bloomed. She learned his favorite color, his food his tastes. He has asked her out a couple of times and she rejected him. She knew that she would continue to have the upper hand and pique his interest until she was the only girl he could even look at. Shana wasn't a challenge she snickered internally only to frown.
'But that bitch Bridget has another thing coming.'
"Yeah." She said, reaffirming herself.
Shana turned back and raised a brow.
"What didja say?"
She looked up at her and chuckled.
"Sorry I was thinking out loud"
Shana nodded and smiled.
"That's alright I do that too." Shana smiled calmly, readjusting her silky blonde ponytail into a bun. It was nice to break the silence, even for just a moment.
Salvak growled softly watching them pass, their sudden appearance granting his current prey to escape. He would kill them both had not big brother; self-announced pack leader, enforce as little casualties as possible so no one left a trail of death for the bad blood to hide under its scent.
Pauk de Oomans, always intervening.
He gripped his Smart Disc tightly, the bright neon Yautja blood dripping down to it. He would find them and bring back his skull as a trophy. he'd show it to his mother in pride if she wasn't already dead to him, almost just like his father.
Salvak was not raised with love or to love, only to survive and kill. The only thing he cared for was the weapons on his back and his pristinely polished trophy cabinet. X'ol had once brought up his fantasy of raising a family of strong brothers of a new generation with his kin and their mates.
It made him want to vomit in equal parts hatred and jealousy, which he hated to admit. And never would if ever asked.
While X'ol was in the trees and Salvak on the hunt. It would only be just to visit the Ooman village for signs of the lost hatchlings.
The camp was empty, but He was only half relieved.
If the hatchlings did make it to camp the pests could have trailed after them or already deposited its eggs inside one of them. Then the real danger would emerge.
Recent tracks showed that the Oomans split off in different directions.
It must have been here.
From his infrared, he already knew the place was empty but he wouldn't be sloppy.
He would find the hatchling, however many were loose and pour their acidic blood down the throats of the Bad Bloods. After his first analysis of the camp being vacant, the Yautja dropped down silently from his tree and pressed into the camp cabins and buildings.
from smell alone, the Yautja could tell which held the male and female Oomans prior to their leaving. The female cabins had a faintly sweeter scent to them especially the few closets to him whilst the male cabins had traces of juvenile hormones, not nearly as strong as a juvenile Yautja male void of any armor or atmosphere netting.
He recognized the difference in Ooman scents back from his Trial hunt where he and his team took pleasure in killing many Ooman and the hard meats that came out some of them. They were merciless and in return so were the hive of serpents, taking all but one down into the depths of the underworld with them.
He scanned the first female cabin. Traces of Ooman food and products were within. he also picked up many soft metals which urged his curiosity to go inside.
He knew already that they weren't weapons but he watched for them in his scans anyways.
The cabin was full of various writing utensils of different kinds.
Which was interesting to him.
According to the elders, it was Yautja who came and taught their first Ooman civilizations to build and grow although he didn't much care for history he tried to think if they had also taught them to read or write.
The characters they used were far different than how they were eons ago. Without picking up the book in the crack of the second bottom bed he could see the marks of each led through the page which made a character and he could slowly translate it all through his mask. The notebook was empty except for the first and second pages. The text read to be addressed to the female writer's father. Although some of the lighter marks were harder to decode as well as some different marks unrecognizable to his translator he could make up the most of it.
The rest also made up the majority of other books in the cabin.
It was art.
A strange concept
Did the Yautja race teach them that as well?
He wasn't sure.
He knew X'ol had an interest in different alien philosophies. Maybe one day he would ask him.
He thought of YoungBlood X'ol going on and on about human plants and creatures. It was jaw trilling enough, If X'ol so much as went into their art or history his thick skull might split in half from pure agony and intense boredom.
It was decided. Not a word would be said to X'ol.
The thought of Ooman culture quickly left his mind as his helmet pinged the same pheromone level scans and tracks of a newly hatched walker that brought him here in the first place. heading right up the human trails.
'Finally, something exciting.' He thought to himself.
If he was lucky the Bad Blood he lost would also be on the same track.
—-
The conversation Patrick had with the two hiker women was going on way too fucking long.
First, he was power hosing up the steep inclines unwilling to break at any time, and now two-thirds of the way there he wants to stop and flirt.
Cassandra was seething and too tired to climb up the tallboy and scratch his eyes out like the bitter crab she had become over the walk.
"Yeah I got partnered up and we were on our way to the Big waterfall nearby path 307."
The two girls, a blonde and a brunette with frosty tips Shifted their weight from one foot to another and listened intently before responding back and it continued to go back and forth. Her legs ached as well as her shoulders. All she wanted to do was sit down and relax. She was losing patience that she never had to begin with. Occasionally the girls would look over at her curiously and she would gently give a tired smile.
She wasn't a horrible person, she just wished that the big thickheaded Patrick would say his goodbyes for they could fucking go already.
He knew how tired she was and turned to give her a smile.
"Cass?"
She looked up in relief
"Are we heading up?"
He shook his head.
"Do you mind going on ahead and I'll meet you up there, I'm already mostly done with my project anyway."
He cut her off before she could even answer and began to walk a different trail with the ladies.
She groaned and lifted her leg to rub her sore foot before slapping it back into her Victoria's Secret: PINK slide and continuing up the trail with a sigh.
"Remember what dad said, Cassandra." She said to herself, "if I keep saying all men are shitty all the men I meet are going to be shitty."
She heaved a sigh.
"I'm sure there's a-" she groaned, making her way up the forever inclining hillside "...intelligent helpful...useful male in this Forrest somewhere."
"I'll just never fucking find him." She growled under her breath as she read the sign to try and figure out how to keep going to the waterfall from here.
There were several.
But the one he wanted to go to was going to be the biggest and most beautiful so she was going to go up there, take fire selfies and draw beautiful flowers and come back and flex on every fucking one of them.
Every.
Fucking.
One of them...
I've scanned the Ooman Camp
The unnamed Yautja growled lowly into his com.
What found brother?
X'ol echoed back through the com.
The oomans have fled the camp to our advantage. Traces of saliva and mucus on one of the Ooman trails.
Salvak growled lowly in acknowledgment
The nameless predator continued,
It was going to hide in the oomans den but started following Oomans uphill.
X'ol grunted
Are you currently pursuing it?
The Yautja growled in agreement.
Affirmative.
After a moment of silence on the coms, the oldest brother let out another growl.
Salvak, what have you found so far.
The large Yautja Salvak was haunched over the trail of bright green blood that seemed to disappear into nothingness
Thermal camouflage has been detected in the bad blood's technology interface
Pauk
What are the options leader-brother?
Report to the mother ship about this and stay alert, bad blood know of new Yautja technology. New challenge. Seek blood trails. Pheromones. Alert elder P'bvreik that we located the Bad Bloods at site Tarauk, and that this mission is now solely ours.
S'nder'nk's team won't be too happy to hear that. X'ol chuckles. I'll notify them right away.