After spending countless days trying to repair the critical damage, Tomak was not at all pleased with the state of his ship, but he was alive to hunt another day. Of all places to have crashed on this marble, it had to have been in a frigid wasteland. The uncomfortably low temperatures forced him to wear his mesh suit to stay warm while he worked.

It would have been clear to anyone nearby that he was not in a pleasant mood. But for their sake, he was alone.

He knelt down and used an advanced tool to open up the console to his ship, but as he cranked it towards himself, the tool slipped and forcefully hit his other hand. Tomak roared in rage and hurled the tool across the room, then swiveled around and punched the wall.

No one knew where he was and his ship was too damaged to send a distress signal, so unless he found replacement parts and fixed the damned machine himself, he was stranded on this forsaken planet.

Tomak leaned his head against the wall, inhaling slowly and exhaling even slower. He needed to clear his head and perhaps hunt for some food as his rations had run low.

Rumbling softly, he went to do just that.

As the cloak was the only thing working fine on his ship, he didn't feel concerned about leaving it briefly to scout the area. So, he took to the trees and followed the scented air.

Within the hour, he was at a nearby mountain. As he climbed higher, he noticed large metal contraptions sticking out from the ground every few yards. Connecting them were long, thick cables, and hanging off the cables were what appeared to be cages of some sort, steadily moving in a circuit up and down the terrain.

The purpose of it, Tomak had yet to find out, but what mattered to him most was that it was made by the species of this planet. And if humans were nearby, he would need to be on the lookout. He scented the air through the filters in his mask. He couldn't smell anything unusual, but that didn't necessarily mean he was alone.

Skillfully moving through the trees, he was able to reach the peak. According to the infrared vision in his mask, there were no heat signatures nearby, so he took a risk and leapt up onto the giant metal structure that was sending the cages downhill again. From there he had a better view of the area. He could see for miles in every direction.

There didn't seem to be many human establishments, but there were the hanging cages and even further down there were a few small structures, but nothing major like in their cities. From what he could tell, there appeared to be no one around.

"Haha! Woooo!"

Tomak snapped his head in the direction of the howl, flicking his dreads over his shoulder while positioning himself on the ledge. His eyes narrowed behind his mask as he pinpointed where the voice echoed from.

Fast movement and puffs of snow captured his attention and the hunter inside sent adrenaline surging through his veins, urging him to chase the fleeting object.

Both intrigued and hungry he gave in to his primal instincts.

Keeping up was a challenge, but that was no deterrent for him. The harder it was to catch, the more fun and satisfying it was when caught. That was the thrill every hunter yearned for.

As Tomak got closer he learned that there was not one human, but two. The gender was difficult to tell due to their poofy attire, but nevertheless they both looked fit and in their prime, judging by the way they moved on their… primitive transports.

The humans finally came to a halt at the bottom of the mountain, allowing him to perch on a tree limb and get a better glimpse at his potential prey. Now it all came down to which one he wanted to have fun with. He rumbled rhythmically.

But before he could decide, two new figures entered the picture. They were taller, more built. These, he assumed, were males, making the other two, females.

Not that he cared, but he listened closely to their conversation, wishing to learn what he could about these lesser life forms.

It had now reached the time when small groups started showing up and unfortunately that led them to a new challenge. Rae watched as two guys approached.

"Wow, that was some pretty awesome skiing ladies," one of them commented, his piercing green eyes and dirty blonde hair was the only thing distinguishing him from the other.

"Thanks," Naomi pulled at her mask to reveal her smiling face.

"I'm Sean and this is Damon," he gestured to his friend. "We're pretty new to this mountain and no one here seems to be as seasoned as you. So maybe you could help us out and show us some of the fun trails to ride."

Rae crossed her arms, not at all impressed, "Isn't that what the trail maps are for?"

Naomi shot her a look and quickly dismissed her blunt response, "I apologize, what my friend means to say is that we would be happy to show you some trails."

"Great!" Sean replied.

"Yeah, that's just great," Rae grumbled quietly, releasing her foot from one of the bindings.

Just as Naomi was leading them back to the lift, Rae stopped her, letting the guys go ahead. "I don't like this," she spoke in a hushed tone, careful to not be overheard.

Naomi smiled softly with an all-knowing look, "Once we show them a few trails, we'll ditch them and go separate ways."

Rae stared at them from afar, "But of all people, why approach us?"

A shrug was all she received. "They obviously know talent when they see it," she smirked, placing her poles down to push off.

Gently, catching her friend's arm, Rae looked at her seriously, "I don't trust their intentions. It's not safe."

A rare scowl crossed Naomi's features as she turned to face her. "Now you are starting to sound like my dad. Don't worry, I can handle myself. If you are not comfortable with this, then go off on your own." Before Rae could respond, Naomi pushed off in the direction of the lift.

It bothered her how quickly her friend could make a decision without thinking of the possible consequences. As much as Rae hated it, she wasn't going to back out and leave Naomi on her own, especially with them. When she neared their small group, she glared readily at the one named Sean, who started this mess in the first place. He was completely oblivious to it. Fortunately for him, her heated gaze was masked with her face covering. Although, she made it very clear she was not happy by staying quiet. For Naomi's sake she would endure it.

The four had decided to split up into two groups. Naomi and Sean, and Rae and Damon. For obvious reasons, it seemed Sean had taken a liking to Naomi, and who wouldn't? She had gorgeous brown skin, big chocolate eyes, and plump luscious lips, a real stunner. But sometimes that could attract the wrong attention.

Rae knew her friend had a good heart, but there was a time to be helpful and a time to leave things be. This was one of those times. She prayed Naomi was suffering as much as she was.

Damon uncomfortably cleared his throat as their chair carried them higher, "So uh, you got a name?"

Not bothering to uncover her face, she looked at him from the side and then straightened her gaze, "Yes."

…

…

Damon chuckled, his blue eyes sparkling, "What is it?"

Be nice, she tried to remind herself. "Rae."

"Rae," he repeated out loud then smiled, "Like in the song?"

She frowned, "The song?"

"Yeah, you know," he took a breath, "Doe, a deer, a female deer. Ray, a drop of golden sun!" he sang poorly, his breath coming out in white puffs of air.

Rae couldn't help the small smile that pulled at her lips. It was the dumbest thing, but it was kind of funny. "I will give you creative points for that one."

He smiled, looking down to adjust his gloves, before turning back to her with a calculating expression, "I'm usually very good at starting conversations with people, but one look from you and everything in my head is just gone."

Wow. "Gee thanks."

Feeling his gaze on her, she turned her head, catching his smirk. "I never said that was a bad thing."

Just as she opened her mouth to respond, their ski lift violently rocked back, knocking the wind out of both of them. Multiple screams were heard sending their heart rates to the roof.

Damon gripped the bar until his knuckles turned white. "What the hell was that?!"

"I don't know!" Rae shifted in her seat and peered back behind them. At first, she thought her eyes were playing games with her, but after blinking a couple times she realized she was seeing it for real! It looked like an extremely large blurry figure hanging from the wire!

"You see anything?" Damon turned to look as well, but he did not seem to react. Rather, he indifferently faced forward once more.

"Um, you don't see anything?! Like, at all?!" Rae questioned incredulously, blinking her eyes a couple times.

Damon frowned, "No. Do you?"

"...no," she lied, stiffly turning to face forward. Either her ability was allowing her to see things others could not, or there was something wrong with her eyes. Then again, it could simply be that her goggles are in need of buffing, but she doubted it. Then a thought occurred to her, "Maybe the experiment is failing after all," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

She shook her head, "Nothing."

Naomi, who was ahead of them, turned back and hollered, "You two alright?!"

"We're good!" Damon answered.

Yeah... great.

Author's Note

Apologies if the chapters seem short. They probably will not stay that way for long. Emphasis on probably. ;)