Cat & Mouse

Not According to Plan

The group breathed in the fresh air. All of them washed in relief. Somehow they had survived, but it was still haunting them that no one else had. The serpents and those huge creatures would surely give them nightmares for the rest of their lives. Nadia was glad to be outside as well, but she still wished she had more time with those Yautja. For so long she had been trying to learn more about them. Somehow she had encountered them again. But it was too short lived, and she wished she had more time to just enjoy the moments. Less running and fighting for their lives. "Alright let's get to the vehicles and get the fuck out of here." Roxy announced. Everyone was all too happy to agree, and they couldn't make their way fast enough.

The trip to the vehicles was uneventful. Roxy pulled open a door looking around. Almost nervous she looked more thoroughly. "What's wrong?" Marissa questioned. Roxy just let out a bitter laugh as she slammed the door shut forcefully. "Those assholes are still a pain in the ass even when they're dead. They took the keys in with them. The bastards." She bit out. Marissa and Claire groaned. "So we have to walk all the way back!?" Claire exclaimed, her frustration evident. Roxy nodded. "How long will it take?" Marissa asked. Roxy huffed, "Days." the pair groaned more. "But for now we have a temporary shelter here. We should sleep in the vehicles tonight and set out tomorrow morning." She finished. The group had no choice and they all nodded.

Climbing into the back of one of the vehicles they all settled in for the night. "What are we going to do? We didn't prepare food or even water to last days. And we know nothing about the vegetation or animals on this planet. And as far as shelter goes, we didn't bring tents or sleeping bags or anything" Claire said. "But I am a survivalist. We can build temporary shelters as we go. I don't believe there isn't a single edible animal or plant on this planet if it comes to that. Water, there is obviously some somewhere otherwise this planet would be dead. All we need is fire which I can make, and we can boil it in our canteens if we have to." Roxy replied easing her mind. Claire nodded. "Now sleep, it's going to be a long few days." Roxy added. Again Claire nodded. Everyone fell asleep pretty immediately after laying down. The pyramid had drained them all, all except Nadia. Nadia was sitting at the back of the vehicle watching the night view. The stars were so much clearer and even more vast here as there was no population to drown them out. It was breathtaking. She discovered the planet had three moons. The largest one was blue, second largest was red, and the smallest was white. It resembled the moon from Earth a lot.

Roxy woke up in the middle of the night glancing around at everyone sleeping peacefully. A brief tinge of fear passing when she noticed Nadia wasn't there. But a closer look and she found her star gazing and she sighed with relief. She bit her lip, fully aware she was a bitch to her back there and she was regretting it. She stood up and went to Nadia as quietly as possible so she didn't disturb the others. She sat down beside Nadia, and Nadia visibly tensed. It kind of hurt. "Di, I'm sorry I exploded on you back there... I know you like those thi-" she caught herself before she said things, "I mean them. And I know they helped us and you get out of there. But really, they are dangerous, Di. I just don't want you or anyone else getting hurt because of them that's all." She explained. Nadia listened but remained quiet for what felt like eternity. She finally spoke, "I know you meant well, Roxy, and I understand that. But you also need to understand me. To us their way of life is fierce or savage even. But it's all they know. And it isn't like they go around from planet to planet to massacre and enslave the races. They have saved my life twice now. And now everyone here too. From my experience, it's humans that are the real monsters and are truly cruel. Not you, not the rest of our group, but it's all in history that humans have much to be desired." Nadia said. Roxy sighed and nodded. She was right, although it still sucked to hear. "But for what it's worth. I'm not upset with you. I just can't forgive you because really there was never anything to forgive." Nadia said. Roxy smiled with relief and hugged Nadia. "We should probably sleep now, huh?" Nadia offered and Roxy nodded with a grin. The two friends went back to their sleeping area. Again, as soon as they laid down they drifted off to sleep.

----------Back in the pyramid----------

Archer, Blaze and Axe all were gathered around looking at the holographic map. Currently they were planning an escape route. They had found an entire hall full of eggs, hundreds if not thousands of them. And multiple serpents prowled the area. With so many fresh eggs, and serpents almost acting as a guard the only explanation was a queen. The plan was pretty straightforward. Plant their bombs and blow the whole pyramid taking all the eggs, and serpents with it. However they must first find the queen and get close enough so the bombs would kill her too. This had turned into their Chiva, but it wasn't supposed to be. Those humans had activated the mechanism and woke the queen wherever she was, and had forced this all prematurely. Once their escape was set, they also strategized bomb placement. Once each male had their designated point they nodded to each other. Turning on their cloaking they all ran their separate ways. Archer chose the location nearest the queen for he was the stealthiest of the trio. He could also keep them at bay from a safer distance and faster than the other two.

After the three males had placed their bombs and hid them well they all gathered back at the checkpoint. What they didn't know is that a freshly gestated serpent had seen them. It let out a screech. All three Yautja growled as they looked around switching fields of vision. More serpents than they could count began coming from everywhere. The shrill shrieks echoed the hallways as the serpents approached them fast like a black tidal wave. They lined the walls, the ceiling and whichever didn't fit there were approaching on the floor. The Yautja roared. Axe and Blaze began firing their plasma canons. Archer began to nock and loose arrow after arrow firing at the ones farthest back. But the unblooded were being pushed forcibly back due to the oncoming waves. Any brave serpents that decided to break from the sea of them were easily sliced down by Axe's swift strikes. However their numbers were soon too overwhelming and Axe was inevitably swarmed. Flourescent green blood sprayed as he was stabbed by their tails and some had bit him with the second mouth attached to their tongues. He fell with a pained roar as some of the serpents began surrounding him. When he had the chance he tapped his wrist device activating its bomb. He roared at Blaze and Archer, using the last of his strength to hold back and distract at least some of the wave. They bowed their heads respectfully at the realization and began moving backwards swiftly. Archer launching arrows while Blaze blasted with the shoulder canon. When Axe could no longer hold them they fully turned and sprinted through their planned exit. Archer and Blaze both pressed the buttons on their gauntlets to activate the planted bombs. They ran as fast as their muscular legs would carry them.

After their countdown, the bombs detonated. They could hear the shrieks behind them dying down as they were drowned out by the sound of the powerful explosions, and engulfed in the flames. Starting to feel the heat of the explosion fast approaching on their backs they also lengthened the strides of their fast sprints. They soon approached the end of the pyramid. Using all of their power in their muscles, and the momentum from their run, they leaped out of the exit, flying however many feet through the air. They escaped the lick of the flames, but the force of the blast pushed them both forward with a powerful jolt. They both landed on the ground hard, but they had made it out. They turned towards the leveled pyramid and burnt fragments and let out ground shaking roars.

--------Back at the armored vehicle--------

The chorus of distant shrieks, the sound of the explosion and the ripple that followed, scared all of the researchers awake. They immediately moved to look out the window. They saw the gigantic blue energy field spread for many miles flattening everything in its wake and the flames that engulfed the area as well. They stared wide eyed and in shock from the devastating power of it all. "There's no way those serpents survived that. And probably not those other things either." Marissa said. and the whole group exchanged hugs once again. They were safe now for sure. Nadia didn't join their celebrations. She had lost the Yautja way faster than she had found them. She'd never get to hear Blaze speak or talk to any of those males. It was devastating, and she was back to feeling hopeless.