Prey

Chapter 3 - The Cliff

The beast was here.

In the breeze his scent hit me like a truck. It took me smelling it with a gust in my face to realize that the beast from the hangar was here, hiding somewhere. Watching me.

I knew very little about his kind other than that Weyland-Yutani scientists had experimented on those they captured and that they were called Predators. In the lab I heard whispers of the true name of their race but I dared not to repeat it. Their kind was supposedly responsible for Xenomorphs infecting the universe; according to the scientists that is. Scientists had loose lips around me.

A part of me knew I should be terrified. I was scared of dying, sure, but to be actively hunted by the very creature who's DNA had been spliced with mine was unnerving.

An actual fucking alien was stalking me. I knew on a deep level that it had come for me. Another part felt excitement, excitement for the deadly game we would play. This game would end in one of two ways; me being cut down by the Yautja or kill him myself. The latter was much preferable given how little of a chance I had against a creature that lived to hunt other beings.

My feet flew across the forest floor as I raced towards nowhere. I hoped to put distance between myself and the beast.

I surmised that I had been given a head start and pretty much blew it.

Freedom was so close...yet so far.

Thanks to being subjected to Weyland-Yutani assholes, I at least would have a leg up versus if I were still a regular human. I was faster, stronger, and more deadly than I had been. Sure, I had been a good citizen, but that had been torn away in a heartbeat.

My life would never be as it was. I would be forever hunted.

A horrifying roar broke me from my wandering mind. The sound seemed to came from behind me but at the same time all around me. It sounded like a lion or a tiger but I knew better. Instinctually I knew what it was.

I screamed when the ground disappeared before me. Into the abyss I plunged, crashing through the brush down a massive hill. A valley was at the far end. My body hit every object along the way causing me to cry out with every rock I came across.

By the time I landed at the bottom I struggled to breathe, the wind long knocked from my lungs.

I didn't have long to recover because once again the breeze blew the scent of the beast in my direction. A faint chittering came from somewhere above. The damn thing was in the trees!

"It's fucking Tarzan!" I figured the alien didn't play fair and wanted to play Tarzan.

Clambering to my feet and ignoring the various pains on my body I picked up my pace again. Onwards I continued with the wind at my back. My vision was pretty clear despite the darkness of the young night, the sun having dipped below the horizon a half hour earlier. I could see everything as if it was daytime with a clouded sky. Certain details didn't pick up but it didn't matter. I only needed to see where I was going.

A ringing sound filled my ears and I ducked as something breezed close to my neck. Something made a loud thud ahead of me.

Imbedded in a tree ahead of me was a wicked looking shuriken-like object. As I raced past I gave a hard yank on the massive weapon's handle and kept going. I felt around the handle until I found a slight depression in the metal and I glanced to see the jagged blades fold neatly into a disk with a shing.

Impressive, I thought.

Behind me the heavy footsteps ceased but I kept running, running right and left in a loose zig-zag direction. I hoped I could throw it off my trail. Earlier I had abandoned my shoes so I could make less noise; too bad my feet would give away my direction if the Yautja was a good tracker.