Aliens VS Predator Hunters Warfare

[Blade0414]

A story I've been thinking of, and been starting to put on paper for the past 2-3 years. Good and bad comments on this are welcomed...

ALIENS VS PREDATOR
HUNTERS WARFARE

The clan Chieftain sat in his throne room looking down onto his subjects as they prepared for a Royal Hunt, located on the oomans home planet. Even though it wasn't the high temperature they liked for a hunt, it was new territory, so it came as a test to the Chieftain to prove he was skilled enough to hunt under any condition. He looked down upon his fellow Yautja, preparing for the hunt. A conveyor belt carried hundreds of hard meat eggs from the cargo hold of the ship to the docking area. This batch of eggs would be the second wave of eggs to be laid on the hunting grounds. The Chieftain’s royal hunters unpacked their weapons and strapped themselves with conventional armor. A loud roar could be heard outside of the ship as ozone scratched at the hull. They were entering the planets atmosphere. There was a loud cheer from the group as they strapped on their burners, and loaded their spear guns ready to begin their hunt. This would be the hunt of their lives



Duane was at his house in a no name town in Pa. He was packing a fairly large pistol and cases of ammunition into the back of his Jeep. He ducked his head under the roof of the car. His back ached as he stood up. Fifty-some years of work and hunting had worn on him. Even at that age he was still hunting during almost any season. He and his sons Ian and Devin were preparing for their annual hunting to the Rocky Mountains for the abundant deer, ram, and, if they were lucky, bear. They had given an invitation to several of their hunting friends. Among them were Chris Gantz and their neighbor Marcus.

Devin and Ian came into their father’s house and saw him packing lots of ammunition for the trip, far more than they would possibly need.
"Dad, you know we never end up using even close to a quarter of the ammo you pack. There's absolutely no reason for it dad." complained his youngest son Devin.

"Well Dev, ya never have enough ammo when you need it." said Duane with a grin on his face. Both of his sons shook their heads and laughed at their father.

"Come on dad, it's just a waste of space taking all of that ammo. No reason in taking that much" complained his oldest son Ian.
"Well, I'm always prepared, always," Duane replied. He walked back into the house to grab the rest of the firearms. This would be the hunt of their lives.

Reuben sat in the driver’s seat of his old beat up SUV following closely behind his friends Ian and Chris in the car ahead of him. Reuben looked in his rear view mirror to check and make sure that Wayne, Nick, and Shawn were all still following him as well. Reuben made the last wide turn as he saw it, the Rocky Mountains. About two hundred yards ahead he could see Duane’s cabin, it was fairly large, big enough to house around 9 people. Reuben watched as Duane pulled up to the cabin and then turned his car around so the back was facing the front door. Reuben had no need in emptying a lot from his car so he parked front end first as did the other three behind him.

"Well boys this is it," said Duane as he shut the door to his jeep.

"Yea, this year I'm not gonna miss that deer,” said Chris as he pulled out his 375 hunting case from the back of Duane’s jeep.

"Yea sure you won't" said Shawn with a chuckle as he got his rifle out from the car and walked over to the cabin door and opened it. Inside the cabin was hot and dusty. Shawn threw his rifle case against the wall near the door and jumped onto the sofa with a sigh of relief. He stretched out the cramps in his legs from the long car ride.

"Hey Shawn, come help me with this stuff" said Nick as he carried a rifle case, and a bag of ammo. He handed the bag to Shawn. The two took all of Nick's equipment, gear and other supplies over towards his room and laid it all neatly on his bed.

Shawn went back into the living room to see Wayne come through the door. "Ok Shawn this is the last of it," Wayne said, handing Shawn a case of their ammo. "Just go and throw it in my room and I'll deal with it later." Shawn carried in their supply of ammunition to the rooms and stored it in the closet.

"Dad, you just gonna leave that truck load of ammo in the car?” asked Devin as he leaned back in an old wooden chair.

"Yea, we'll leave that in there incase we need it later” said Duane with a grin on his face. Reuben walked into the cabin, his arms loaded with his gear. He shuffled to his room in the back of the cabin and placed it beside his bed. Reuben then sighed and dropped himself onto his bed.





The large female black bear walked slowly into her den for the night. She slowly walked to the spot she slept in when she noticed an odd scent in the cave. Following her nose, she was led to the back corner of the cave. Attached to the floor was a slimy grey oval. The bear cautiously approached the object and sniffed it. Her wet nose lay on top of the object and suddenly it opened like a flower. The petals spread apart and revealed a mass of goo inside. Then, over the edge of the opening, fingerlike needles arose. Out of the oval climbed a large spider-like creature unlike any the bear had seen before. She bent over, peering at the spider when in leapt from the opening and latched to her face. Stunned, the bear pawed viciously at the organism attached to her face. A tail hanging from the creature wrapped around her neck and squeezed tightly. The bear struggled for a few moments with the parasite before she passed out.

The group of nine walked out into the early morning sun covering their eyes as they got used to the sun light. They had a good mile to walk until they were on hunting grounds, but they needed the exercise. About half a mile from the hunting grounds they heard something like a stampede. They stopped and looked out into a large field. There they saw something none of them had ever seen. Hundreds of deer running the direction they just came from. Dust flew in the air as literally thousands of hooves shook the ground. With tails raised and grunts going, the deer were rapidly leaving the vicinity.

"Dad have you ever seen anything like this?" Ian uttered in amazement.

"No, not that I can remember. Most of the time I see at the most a dozen running, but this, this is something unbelieveable" Duane said, astonished. While looking at the stampede, over the thunder of hooves they could hear a pickup truck pull up right by them. A park ranger jumped out from his jeep, binoculars in hand. He looked out as the continuous line of deer ran past.

"Do you know what's causing this?" asked Wayne

"Nah, it's just been happening for the past few days. Up there at our ranger's station,” he pointed about half a mile up the road at a large cabin. "We've seen this going on from up there, they run like heck and we haven't seen anything besides them running, let alone anything chasing them." The ranger closed his binoculars and put them in his pocket. "Well I'll leave you all alone, happy hunting!" said the ranger as he jumped into his pickup truck and started for the station.

The hunting party left the road and took a trail leading into the woods and eventually the mountains. The trail took them to the base of a chain of mountains. Along the chain were the separate hunting spots. While walking towards the spots, something caught Duane's eye. A den in the side of the mountain about three hundred yards away. "Hey fellas, look over there!" he said pointing towards the den.

"Wow a cave!” said Nick

"Not just a cave, it's a bear's den,” said Duane

"How can you tell?” asked Reuben

"Well , look at the ground around the entrance. It's matted down and well torn up." Duane replied as he pointed towards the ground a few feet in front of the cave entrance. "And those bushes beside the entrance are berries, an easy food source."

As he peered at the entrance, Chris thought he saw something move slightly. A deep black rock beside the entrance wobbled slightly. It wasn't a rock, but definitely something alive.

"Hey what's that?” asked Chris pointing towards the "rock".

"Good question...maybe it's some sort of fungus or something," said Shawn, puzzled.

"No fungus doesn't move like that," whispered Ian. Then the black figure started to unravel itself. It's sleek shiny cone-like skull reflected the sunlight. It stood up on its two legs, each covered in random spikes and a shiny black coat like the rest of the figure. An obvious ribcage could be see. Human-like arms hung from the side of the monster, ending in thin, long fingers. Its cone head turned to face them. Lips in the front of the face retracted to reveal a set of metallic teeth.
Just then there was loud shrieking sound and the spiny coated monster started running at lightening speed towards them. In less than seven seconds the monster covered nearly the entire three hundred yards. It was twenty-five yards away when it stopped dead in its tracks, slowly turned around and looked at a nearby tree. Then in a blink of an eye a flash of blue and white ball of energy slammed into the monsters body. The monster flew back and slammed against the ground, split in two by the blast.
Cautiously, the group stepped back in terror, not knowing what happened. Wayne looked into the tree and saw nothing. He strained his eyes at the spot in the tree where the blast came from. Still nothing. Wait...something was there. Something was there, yet it wasn't. A shimmer lofted in the tree. Almost like heat waves...

"What was that?" whispered Shawn, "I can't see anything"

"Wait, I need a closer look at that tree," replied Wayne. Wayne then slowly walked up to the tree, Weatherbe hunting rifle trembling in his hand . Silently, a trio of red dots slowly ran along the ground, up Wayne's leg, and to the middle of his chest. He followed the direction the lights came from. They led to the same spot up in the tree. He watched as a glowing red dot appeared in the tree, sending another blue-white blast to the location of the dots. Sights. Wayne realized the dots were simple targeting sights as the blast hit him in the chest, sending him backwards and to the ground.
Feeling pain in the middle of his chest, Wayne lifted his head and looked at his chest. In horror, his last vision was of the blood-painted ground he was laying on, which he could see THROUGH his chest.
Horrified, the group turned and ran as fast as they could towards the ranger’s station. Marcus turned around as they ran and looked behind himself. The air seemed to move behind them, like it was alive. The sky and ground were distorted as if light was being bent. Whatever it was that was back there, it was now following them.

 

[Blade0414]

Rick, the ranger the hunting party met earlier on the road, leaned back on his chair, becoming annoyed with the group's frantic story of invisible hunters and black monsters. He looked at the tired group, all hunched over with their hands resting on there knees. They had just run two miles to get to the station, with guns and other equipment holding them down. Sweat poured down their faces as they stared at Rick with a look of fear behind their eyes.

"I'm sorry fellas, but I cannot act on your silly jokes," Rick said, not taking them seriously. "If you want, we can get another person to hear your story."

"No one's around for miles," Marcus reminded the ranger.

"What do you mean," Rick started "I can't do this job alone." He paused. "Jenna!" Rick called through the station.

From an office in the back corner of the station walked another officer, a woman, wearing the ranger’s uniform. She was young, maybe late twenties, and atop of her blonde hair was a forest ranger cap. "Yeah Rick. What do you need?" she asked.

"Listen to this crazy story!" Rick laughed. “In this one, we've got big black monsters, invisible hunters with some mega-laser gun, and a dead hunting partner."

Nick began to ramble nervously. "Crazy story! We have a dead friend! And how are we going to keep from dying..."

"Whoa sir, slow down!" Jenna said calmly.

"What do you mean slow down?! We just watched some 'monster' almost kill us but was killed by some other 'hunter'. Then the 'hunter' turns and kills us. I don't think that's something to take lightly!" shouted Nick. "Call the cops or something! We cannot leave this spot! It’s too dangerous!"


"There's no other civilization for miles, much less any law enforcement besides us. And it would take the cops maybe half a day or so to get here," Jenna interjected. "Calling someone to get us out of her for these reasons, even if they were true, would prove impossible. No one has the time or money to send a recovery team out here without sound reasoning. Our best bet is..." she paused. A soft rumbling could be heard. "You all hear that. It’s another stampede!"

Marcus stepped to the nearest window beside the door. Pushing aside the curtains, he peered outside. He saw nothing but the line of trees surrounding the open grassland of the ranger’s station property. But...something was wrong. The tree line seemed too dark. And it became larger. Wait, Marcus thought, it wasn't getting larger, it was getting closer! The tree line became one mass of black. The rumbling was getting louder...

"Oh no..." Marcus gasped as her stepped away from the window.

"What is it?" Devin asked.

"The...the stampede," Marcus stammered.

"Yes, they've been going on like this for days, so?" Rick retorted.

"Yes," Marcus whispered, "but not like this." He pointed out the window. The rumbling got more intense and there was a new sound mixed with it. A quiet shrieking. The mix of sound got louder as Marcus backed further away from the window.

Curiously, Devin stepped up to the window and moved aside the curtain. As he looked out, terror washed over his face. "It’s a stampede of monsters!" Devin screamed. He ran away from the window.

"Okay, I believe you," Rick admitted as he looked out the window on the other side of the door at the army of black monsters coming for the station. The rumbling was now a thunder and the shrieks were loud. "It will be a matter of moments until they are here!"

"Well, what now?" Reuben asked.

"What else," said Duane firmly? "We make our stand. I think its safe to say these things are hostile, so we take them out." He looked at the other nine people in the station and smiled. "Let’s lock and load. This will be the hunt of our lives."

Rick and Jenna reached into their holsters and raised their identical Colt .45 revolvers. Rick ran over to his desk, yanked a drawer open, and pulled out a large bag full of .45 rounds. He pushed open the action, loaded six shots, and closed it. Jenna did the same.

"Alright," Rick started, “We’ve got enough ammo to help ourselves, what’s your position with firepower..." but before he could finish, the well-experienced hunters were cranking their bolts and loading as many rounds as their rifles could take. All of them could hold about six rounds in there firearms at a time, all except Duane. The hunting weapon he had on him was a Contender .45. It was a long pistol-like, break action firearm that could hold one round at a time, designed for hunting big game and packing a mighty punch. To make reloading of his Contender easier, Duane had a wrist-strapped band with slots to hold a dozen rounds.

"Nice," Reuben commented, pointing to the ammo-strap.

Duane turned and smiled, "Always a need for speed Reuben. Always," he paused, "Okay, lets make this clear. We're in this together. No one ditches anyone." He looked around, getting everyone's nod of approval. "Alright, lets do this."

The hunting party and rangers cluttered around the two windows by the door, with weapons raised, and looked out. The group gasped in amazement.

"What, they stopped!" Ian said, curiously. He was right. The stampede of monsters stopped fifty yards from the station; all were standing in a firm row. Like soldiers. Then, the front row of the group broke from its set position and sped for the cabin.

"No, no way," Duane muttered," they are conserving their...their troops! They somehow know we will put up a fight! They're only sending out warriors in waves, not a large mass! They're performing like. Like...like a well trained army." He was right. Only the front lines of monsters were members of the first wave. The rest just stayed back, waiting for their chance to strike.

"What are you....ohh my gosh they're gonna kill us!” shouted Nick as he looked out the window. He watched the first wave rush up to the station. Nick lifted the window, aimed at the mass of black, and fired. A deafening bang muffled the shrieks momentarily. The rest of the hunters followed suit, along with the rangers. Shots rang out at a surprising rate. Most of the shots connected, sending splashes of green, smoky blood into the air and a monster to the ground. Yet they kept coming. There were just too many. Finally, the monsters reached the station and began to tear at the walls with their claws. They could hear the thuds on the walls from them ramming into the sides. The walls were already splintering from the new stress. They wouldn't hold up long.

The people inside were now shooting at the monsters which were right outside the window. The monsters continued to throw themselves at the structure. Chris leaned against the window sill and fired at the nearest one, blowing its head off. He slid his lever forward and brought it back, chambering another round. He squeezed the trigger again. Nothing happened. He was out of ammunition.

"Loading," Chris yelled, taking a knee and ducking below the window. He began shoving rounds into his .375 Winchester. Suddenly, from the above window, a black, spiny, six-fingered hand latched onto Chris's collar and began pulling him out the window.

"HELP," Chris screamed. His body was almost out, with his feet dangling inside. Seeing the situation, Ian dove for Chris's legs, grabbing them both. He began to pull Chris with all his strength. The monster and Ian were engaged in tug of war, with Chris screaming his head off and the monster winning. With unearthly strength, Ian along with Chris were pulled outside.

Outside the station, they were surrounded by the beasts, which were preparing to pounce. Chris went frantic, saying, "we're gonna die, man, we're gonna die!"

Ian grabbed Chris by the collar." Suck it up Chris! You wanna take it on your feet, or take it on your knees, beggin? Well I ain't much for beggin'!" shouted Ian as he swung his .308 around to start shooting. Chris looked at him and acknowledged by lifting up his gun and shooting.

"Hey Devin, mind giving us some covering fire?" Ian yelled as he fired.

"I'm on it," replied Devin as he stood by the window and shot. Jenna came beside him and shot her revolver alongside with Devin. "Loading!" shouted Devin as he took out his magazine and went over to the side of the window while Reuben filled in his spot.

"Loading" shouted Jenna as he fell back and let Duane take his position. They kept rotating once one of the members needed to reload, like a well oiled machine. They were getting shots off at a surprising rate this way. This system was the only thing keeping Ian and Chris alive.

"Guys, we aren't gonna be able to stay down here much longer," Ian roared. Chris and his ammunition supply in their pockets was running low. "Chris, watch yourself!” shouted Ian as he shot a monster just steps away from Chris in the chest. Green liquid sprayed from the monsters body and landed on Chris's leg. He screamed in pain as it started to burn.

"Ahh...what the...its acid. The blood, its acid," said Chris in horror.

"Rick get over here!” shouted Duane as he shot another shot from his Contender and loaded it again. Rick ran over and tapped him on the shoulder. "Do you think you could get these guys back inside while we give you covering fire?" asked Duane.

"Sure," Rick answered. He opened the door. Cautiously, he stepped outside as bangs of gunfire were quickly followed with the dropping of a monster. Rick turned to the men sitting under the window.

"Let's get back inside," he said. As he put his hand out to help Chris up, a spiny, hard hand grabbed his neck. Out of nowhere, a monster pulled him onto the roof. Shots from his revolver and his screams could be heard on top of the roof.

"RICK!" shouted Chris as he saw Rick get pulled up onto the roof. "Ian, Ricks' gone!" said Chris as he turned to Ian. "Let's go get him!"

"No look at your leg it's burned," said Ian while reloading his rifle.

"Fine I'll go by myself,” said Chris as he got up and grabbed the edge of the roof. He pulled himself up.

"Chris” mumbled Ian as he jumped onto the roof.

Atop the roof, both men saw Rick in the hands of the monster. Its shiny head focused on Rick. Then, its mouth opened, revealing another set of jaws inside the mouth. The inner jaw lashed out of the mouth, connecting with Rick's forehead, sending blood and brain matter everywhere. The monster dropped Rick's limp body and charged Ian and Chris. In a blast of gunfire, the two friends dropped the beast. Green blood dripped from the carcass and onto the roof. The puddles of blood sizzled and burned gaping holes in the roof. Seeing their ironic way back in the station, they jumped in.

Inside, the nine people fired at multiple targets. In many places of the station, the monsters had smashed gaping holes in the walls and were trying to get in. The rate of fire was picking up as another wave of attackers was being sent. The humans were putting up a good fight, but it would last for long. Ammunition was running low and the station was crumbling. The gaping holes in the walls were getting bigger and they were almost big enough for the monsters to get in.

"Jenna," Duane yelled over the gunfire and shrieking, "Where's that pickup truck?"

"There," Jenna said, pointing to the back door of the station with her left hand and her revolver in the right. "It's just outside that door."

The situation was grim. Outside the station was a wall of monsters, blocking the road south, to civilization. North, the direction the cabin, deeper into the mountains was the only accessible route.

"Listen to me, Jenna," Duane started, "we have to get out of here. The only way to go is back to my cabin. I want you and everyone else to run out to the truck, start it up, and drive around to the front. You'll need cover fire, so me and..." Duane looked around the cabin, finally seeing Reuben. "...Reuben will stay here and give it to you. Bring the truck around front then and pick us up. We'll jump in. If we don't come out right away, just keep going."

"Alright everyone, follow me," Jenna commanded. "We're outta here."

While the group ran for the truck, Reuben and Duane stood in the room, at the windows. They fired at the monsters trying to get at them as they ran, keeping the beasts at bay. They fired while watching Jenna jump in the drivers seat, Devin in the passengers, and the rest in the bed of the truck. The car started and peeled out of its spot and out of view to the other side.

Reuben and Duane stepped back and waited for the truck to come. It didn't. It was no where to be found. Then, in a burst of shrieks, the side wall of the station finally collapsed, letting in a torrent flood of black, hard-shelled death machines.

The two men unleashed the last bit of there ammo. Monsters shattered into pieces as they gradually drew closer.

"I've only got six rounds left," yelled Reuben as he opened and shut the bolt of his rifle. "You?"


"Four here," Duane answered. "Not looking good, is it?"

"We're not going to make it, are we," Reuben asked, firing again.

"Don't think so," Duane mumbled. "Let's make them hurt while we can."

 

[Blade0414]

Jenna drove as fast as she could straight away from the station. She would turn around and get Duane and Reuben, but there were a dozen monsters running behind them, and slowing down to turn around would be certain death.

"We've gotta go get my Dad," Devin said.

"Well, what do you want to do about them," Jenna replied, pointing into the rearview mirror. Devin looked back and saw a load of the black monsters on their tails.

"I've got it," said Devin as he stuck his upper body out of the truck and began shooting. He yelled to the other men sitting in the truck bed. "What are you guys doing, shoot them!" Promptly, the others swung up their weapons and fired.

"Wait, I've got an idea," Jenna said. She slammed on the brakes. Not prepared for the change in speed, the monsters slammed into the back of the truck and fell to the ground. She back up, running over the monsters. "There, now that wasn't hard."




Duane shot his final round. He ducked to a knee beside Reuben. "It's just you now," he said to Reuben.

"Nope, I'm done too," Reuben called and bent down also. "This is it. But let’s go out fighting." Reuben held his hunting rifle as a club and swung at the nearest monster, sending it to the ground. He looked at the fallen beast in victory. While he was distracted, one of the monsters leapt onto his back. Reuben fell, now fighting the beast on the ground.

Duane dove on top of the monster while others filed in around them. They were surrounding them.

Suddenly, the station fell apart. Timber fell from the ceiling and on top of the monsters, confusing them. This gave Duane and Reuben a chance. The two leapt up and looked around. Beside them was the truck. It busted through the station wall to rescue them.

"You're late," Reuben yelled as they hopped into the truck bed with the others.

"There was traffic," Jenna countered as they sped north, away from the rubble of the station and towards the hunter’s cabin.





The hunting party was scattered throughout Duane's cabin, trying to regain composure and not saying a word.

“We’re all gonna die man! We’re all gonna die!" shot Nick as he sat in a chair in the corner of the room.

"Now everyone, just calm down, we will all find a way out of here." said Jenna.

"Find a way out? How do you suppose we do that?" Shawn yelled.

"Well, we've got plenty of gas between what’s in the truck and what’s in all of your cars. We can head south, toward Trinidad. That’s the closets city. "

"Nope," Ian interjected, "South is the direction of that cave they came from. We will never make it past that thing."

"How do you know the cave is where they come from?" Devin asked.

"Haven't any of you noticed their structure? They send masses after us, but only after us when we are around that cave. These monsters attacked us back at the ranger’s station only after we came close to that cave and bothered them. They followed us to that station. Then when this swarm got close to the station, they attacked in waves. Obviously, with these monsters, the individual is not important, but they are protecting that cave, almost like its a fortress or..." Ian stopped.

"A hive," Reuben gasped. "These things are insects. Bugs"

"Okay, so that means they won't follow us if we leave them alone?" Jenna asked.

Ian shook his head. "Actually, I think quite the opposite. We are now perceived as a threat. They will probably be following us. We need to move."

"Alright then, since their "hive" is south, we need to head north. The only city that way is Denver. If we make the trip fast, we can make it on the gas we have. If those things do follow us up that way, we can fight them off." Jenna reasoned.

"Where have you been the past two hours?" Nick screamed." We just spent close to 300 rounds saving our life. None of us have a worthwhile amount left."

"Great., Just great. We’re defenseless," Marcus mumbled, kicking the wall. "No ammunition."

Duane, who had been sitting quietly since they entered his cabin, spoke.” Well," he paused" that's not entirely true” He smiled and walked over to the far wall of the cabin. "Ian, come help me lift this."






The Chieftain stood along a ledge, looking down at the hive entrance far away. He raised his fists and signaled the rest of his hunting clan to step forward. In sync, the warriors stepped forward. They we adorned in the usual Yautja ensemble; netting covering the chest and a simple loincloth below the waist. The Chieftain was wearing slightly more flamboyant attire, with a short smooth cape and numerous beads around his neck. On the Chieftains belt hung a net bag. Inside was his most recent trophy; an ooman skull he harvested earlier that day.

Beside the Chieftain stood the only other Yautja not wearing the same thing as everyone else. He was the Royal Guard to the Chieftain. He wore a single red band around his right forearm, above the wrist blade attachment. The Guard and the Chieftain had been on numerous hunts before. They became friends over the years and would now trust each other with their lives in battle.

Another signal came as the Chieftain lifted his spear into the air. Simultaneously, the ships that brought them to the planet shut their ramps, locking the hunting party out and the maintenance crew of eight in the ship. After the ramp closed, a shimmer spread over the hull. Slowly, the ship faded out of view; it had the same cloaking device each of the Yautja wore into battle.

With a shout, the Chieftain led the clan down the mountain to the hive.

Soon, the hunters reached the mouth of the hive. From inside, the steamy, putrid stench of rotting flesh seeped out. The Chieftain gave a commanding roar and the clan reached into their packs, pulling out the essential hunting mask they always used. With delicacy, each hunter placed the mask on their face, reached through his braided hair, and snapped the mask on.

The mask had certain settings for each of the different prey the Yautja usually hunted. Each turned a dial on the side of the mask which changed a mode of vision with each turn. One for oomans; a heat sensitive vision, and one perfected for hunting the hard meat, electromagnetic field detectors. Each of the specialized visions highlighted its target.

The Chieftain led the hunt as usual. He stood at the front of the clan. He peered into the hive and saw no immediate target. Cautiously, Chieftain and his royal guard walked into the hive and signaled the rest of the warriors to follow. They quietly walked down the dark cave. Inside, the walls of the hive were lined with the thick, black goo. In this electromagnetic vision they could see the hard meats in a silver color and everything else was in a shade of red.

The warriors took normal formation which was to have the more experienced warriors in front and the beginners in the back. In the front, Chieftain and Royal Guard each pulled out the honorable spear as their first weapon. The spear was used only by the best and most able of the Yautja because it required the user to battle his enemy at point blank range, the most deadly area to be when hunting hard meat. The hive was quiet and no movement was detected. This wasn't exactly an unusual situation for a new hive. The drones often stay back and protect the queen in her early days.

The clan traveled deeper into the cave. Along the cave walls, the common hosts of this planet. The four legged beasts with the bone horns hung from the wall, glued there with hard meat secretion. The animals’ chests hung open and ragged. In front of them sat opened hard meat eggs. The rotting flesh prompted the clan to pick up the pace and creep faster into the cave.

Then the Chieftain saw it. The first hard meat. About twenty meters in front of him the hard meat was crouched on a wall, in a state of unconscious suspension. Chieftain raised his hand to signal the clan to halt. The group stopped behind him and let Chieftain creep forward toward the hard meat. It was traditional for the head of the clan to take the first kill in battle.

Spear in hand, Chieftain approached the hard meat hanging on the wall. He lifted his spear over his head. With great speed, Chieftain thrusted the spear to the wall. He simply hit the hive secretion. The hard meat awoke and jumped out of the way before Chieftain could land a shot. The hard meat jumped to the ground and stood in front of the Chieftain. It's long black head appeared silver in the electromagnetic vision. The eyeless face snarled at the Chieftain, mouth open and exposing the inner jaw. Saliva spilled from the mouth as the hard meat leapt onto the Chieftain’s chest, pinning him to the ground.

The Chieftain was furious. This mistake he made caused him to look like a fool in front of his own clan. His honor was being degraded.

The Chieftain held his spear against the hard meat's chest, keeping it from slashing his torso open. With amazing force, the Chieftain threw the hard meat against the far wall. It lay on the ground, dazed for a moment, then got up and charged the Chieftain. In response, the Chieftain held his spear straight in front of him, pointing at the charging hard meat. Unable to stop in time, the hard meat impaled itself on the staff. Acid sprayed in all directions, landing on the Chieftain.

For a few seconds, the acid shot pain through his body, but his blood did what nature had evolved into it over the course of millions of year; it neutralized the acid. Acid continued to flow from the wound as the hard meat swung its limbs violently before dying.

The Chieftain jerked his spear and threw the beast off. He turned to his clan, who gave the usual roar of congratulations to him. His friend, the Royal Guard, raised his fist in the air and shriek. The Chieftain responded with the same gesture. His honor was still intact.

The hive flooded with sound. Deep inside, the drones were on the move, ready to advance to the threat of the Yautja. The hard meat sensed that one of their own was killed and now they were angry.

The clan was well aware of this and they stood firm, readying their shoulder cannons. Suddenly, silver masses filled the vision of the clan member’s masks. The drones were now attacking.

In an explosion of blue-white energy, the battle began. The Yautja, except for the Guard and Chieftain, fired rapidly from the shoulder cannons. Hard meats were exploding everywhere. The younger, less experienced hunters stayed inside the group for protection. For a short while, the hunters stood their ground, clearing out the hard meat that came close to them. Unfortunately, the wave of attackers leapt into the cluster of Yautja, breaking up the clan. The fight was now close range.

The Chieftain began swinging his spear in all directions hard meats approached him. The closest one swung its handful of claws at him, nearly missing his chest. The Chieftain strafed left and was now beside the beast. With amazing agility, the Chieftain leapt into the air and landed on top of his attacker.

The hard meat collapsed under the stress and was face down on the ground with the Chieftain standing atop. It struggled at the legs of the hunter on it. A quick thrust of the spear to the back ended the struggle.

The Chieftain looked at his second kill of the hunt with honor. Yet it was short lived as he heard the shrieks of his clan. He turned to see total chaos. Four dead Yautja lay on the ground, with others standing but battling beasts clawing at their chests. The nervous young hunters were too inexperienced to handle this hunt. They should not have come, because each of them knew what they were getting into. This was a hive battle, forcing close quarters battles against hard meat.

The Chieftains saw the flash of red on the Royal Guards arm as he ran by, giving a charging spear into one of the prey. The chieftain grabbed him and instructed him to help their comrades.

The Guard and Chieftain leapt into the mass of screaming, explosions, and acid to save their clansmen from an untimely death.

 

[Blade0414]

The group stood in the cabin in awe as Ian and Duane lifted the main floorboards of the cabin. Underneath were dozens of firearms, most semiautomatic or automatic. Most were common military guns Duane had bought over the years. He was a gun addict, he liked his guns powerful and his rounds fired fast. A few were not too legal, like grenade-launcher attachments and fully automatic submachine guns.

"Dad," Devin started, "I thought you got rid of these, but actually you just moved them out here?"

"Well, I couldn't just get rid of them. I like them too much," Duane answered.

"What all do you have?" asked Devin kneeling down to get a closer look at the weapons.

"I have anything from the M-16 automated to the classic Street Sweeper to your rapid firing SOCOM pistol. So almost anything you'd like, but there is my special weapon." said Duane while kneeling down and pulling up a dusty blanket."Hold this" said Duane as he tossed it to Jenna.

Underneath sat a massive four foot long machine gun. "This is the automatic .50 caliber rapid fire machine turret, complete with vehicle attachment."

"Thank God for your obsession," said Marcus.

Duane smiled, "Yeah, but we have to go hook it up now if we want to move out by tomorrow morning. Tomorrow, we head north towards Denver, away from that cave. You guys go get some sleep, I'll hook this up."

"I'll help" said Rueben stepping forward.

"Alright," Duane started. "Tomorrow we get the heck out of here. Armed like this, we might have a chance. Without this, we'd be sitting ducks...Either way; this will be the hunt of our lives."


The Chieftain stood back at his ship. He was exhausted and beaten from the hunt. The clan had lost eight of its seventeen hunting members. More would have died if he and the Royal Guard didn't help them out as fast as they did.

But the mistakes of that days hunt didn't matter. Tomorrow there would be the grand hunt.

He pulled binoculars out of his bag and peered down the mountain towards a single structure. A structure built by oomans. Tomorrow, that would be their prey; the only prey that shot you back.



The night was sleepless for most, those who did, had visions of large dark insects clawing and biting away at them, or of mysterious hunters shooting laser like mad men.

Duane and Rueben preferred not sleeping, and working on the mounted .50. It kept them busy most of the night, between the sounds of battle miles down the road.



The hunting party awoke to a changed world. The wooded area around their cabin was littered with the bodies of some of the hunters, and a large quantity of the insects.



The party stepped out into the gleaming morning sun.



“Make this loud and clear” announced Duane. “No one backs down, no one stops shooting. We stick to our guns, and maybe, just maybe we’ll get out of this nightmare alive. Clear?”



The entire party agreed with a nod.



“Good” he said scanning the group. “Marcus, I’ve never trusted you 100%. But now I’m going to put our lives in your hands” he spoke wearily. “I want you to handle the .50”



Marcus had a grin come along his face. “Thank you Duane” he spat out.



“Alright boys, lets saddle up” said Ian pounding on the side of the truck, and jumping into the truck bed.



“I’ll drive” shouted Jenna.



“I got shotgun” said Devin jumping into the passenger’s seat. The rest filed into the truck bed, most armed with a form of assault rifle, and a sidearm.



“Just take it nice and slow” Devin told Jenna, whose hands were shaking on the wheel. “Hey, don’t worry; I wouldn’t want any marine in this situation if I could have my dad. You’re in good hands” he said with a smile.



“Thanks” she said starting the trucks engine.



This was not going to be easy….