You Don't Belong Here

Chapter Seventy Six

Brielle followed the two males through the city until they reached the nearby forest. They walked ever deeper for what felt like an hour before O'kaor directed her to stop.

"You cannot continue on foot. Our traps will kill you before you realize you have tripped them."

"What do you suggest I do? I can't exactly jump from branch to branch like Tarzan."

"Climb onto my back." He turned to allow the female the chance to grab hold of his shoulders. "I will carry you."

"Seriously?" Her tone was incredulous."

"I am even less fond of the idea than you are, but you are more than welcome to try to navigate our traps if you wish."

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Dhadtoudi waited patiently in the campsite for the males' return. They had been gone many hours but were expected to return soon.

She listened to the various peaceful sounds of wildlife that lived around them, but it was the unknown scent that carried along the air which stirred a primal reaction within her. The scent was not one of the forest nor was it the common musk that was a telltale sign of Yautja.

The female looked to the sleeping form behind her before racing toward the source of the new smell.

It was akin to the chemical stench that was attributed to the human race, but their kind never journeyed this close to the camp let alone survived the traps that guarded it. Oftentimes when the cretins would venture too close for comfort, either T'ahrou or O'kaor would use their mimicry to impersonate a violent predator and scare away the intruders.

Dhadtoudi's bio-mask detected the heat signiture ahead, so she pulled the large, ornate dagger from its sheath upon her thigh and readied for attack.

As she neared the being, she noticed that it's thermal readings showed to be that of a female. She would not kill it, but she would definitely scare it off and make it never want to come back.

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Once they had cleared the plethora of lethal traps, Brielle resumed walking on her own, though the two Yautja stayed several paces behind her to discuss matters that could not be known by her.

"Just continue forward," O'kaor had said, "so long as you stay on this path you will meet your destination." But there was no path - none that she could blatantly see, anyway. As if the darkness wasn't enough to handicap her vision, the added overgrown foliage made the very task of walking nearly impossible.

The silent darkness allowed her mind to wander, and her thoughts dwelled on the conversation that the two males may be having; were they discussing a plan to kill her? Or perhaps debating whether Dhadtoudi would actually kill her, and how she might go about doing it. She wondered now how the earthborn alien had fared since last they saw one another, and more-so how the baby had progressed through the pregnancy.

Her heart ached at the memory of the growing fetus moving inside its protective sac as the lead scientist held a light to the woman's mutated womb. She could still smell the blood...hear Dhadtoudi's pained cries as she cursed them for their sins against her and the other clan members.

Her thoughts began to shift to her memories of the time spent on the mother planet and with O'kaor in his dwelling while Dhadtoudi and T'ahrou were away on hunts. The closeness and safety that had been born from their time together had longed to experience those feelings again. Instead their last experience had been one of anger, frustration, confusion, and sadness. and now he was more distant than ever.

Brielle was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of swift footfalls in the treetops. She looked up just in time to see a slender form pounce on her from above, a shining blade glimmering as the attacker brought it down on her. Brielle tried to move out of the way but suffered a nasty cut to the side of her arm. She hissed in pain before stumbling back and scrambled to get back to her feet.