Chapter 39 The Hunt

_ _ _3rd Person Pov_ _ _

It had all happened by accident to be honest, they had just stumbled into all of this without even realizing what it was they had uncovered in the beginning. They may have been rather rash to just rush into this rather advantageous situation but there's no changing the past now.

They had arrived on the world after detecting a possible infestation, what they ended up uncovering was truly a place swarming with the potential of a great and glorious hunt. They're leader, a calm and steady hunter by the name of Darook, was quick to investigate the situation. He was the most seasoned amongst them, although that meant very little when considering their current status as relatively newly-blooded Yautja. They were now warriors, full hunters, however they still had much to learn.

Either way though, after they had landed their ship in a hidden place far from any prying eyes they had gotten to work almost immediately. It took them some time to identify just what exactly was going on but when they did, well, the call of the hunt began to ring in their ears. Not only did this planet contain formidable wildlife and a large quantity of Pyode Amedha but just as they had hoped there were clear signs that the most desired prey to their species was also spreading its influence across this world as well.

This would have been great with just that on its own but things weren't so simple at all, in fact the hunters soon discovered that surprisingly a war had broken out upon the planet's surface. Their most favorite of prey was at war, not with the humans mind you, no, they were at war with their own kind. This was a rare event to witness even for the Yautja, to think they would find a world where a whole new species of Kainde Amedha was battling viciously against the original strain. To put it simply the hunters were more than just excited, they were ecstatic at the chance to revel in such a dangerous hunting ground.

Of course they weren't stupid enough to just jump into things without a plan of some kind, after all the stupid and rash ones of their kind didn't last long. Despite this fact however, the desire to gather trophies as well as glory for both themselves and their clan was immense. Unfortunately life doesn't always work out the way you so hoped, in fact things can go down hill rather quickly if you are not properly prepared.

They had ended up in a large battle between the black and purple Xenomorphs with a group of humans trapped in the middle of it all. It was then that it had happened, one of their number, a young hunter that had recently joined the hunting party, had been taken by one of these new violet Xenomorphs before anything could be done about it. The hunters had to admit that this new strain seemed different when compared to their normal counterparts, however that was a problem for the future because right now they were in quite the panic.

Not that it showed, they had been trained for such an event after all, not that they actually expected something like this to happen so soon into their hunting career of course. Anyway, they soon left while fighting their way through the hordes of purple and black until they were finally able to break out of the tide of bodies and chase after their kidnapped companion.

Additionally as they were leaving, Enu, one of the two females within their group, had her plasma caster destroyed by a human sniper who was hidden off in the distance, a fact that greatly irritated her. Unfortunately she wasn't able to go after said prey, mostly because they had an emergency on their hands at the moment. In the end they couldn't allow an Abomination to be born, even if it resulted in all of their deaths they couldn't allow such an affront to their very existence to appear from one of their own.

Anow'ka and Ootora had been weary as they advanced, not that the others blamed them for this, after all it didn't take a genius to know that something was wrong. These new violet Xenomorphs were different, if only slightly, they seemed more cunning, more intelligent and yet they still retained their single-minded nature to kill everything that was a threat to them.

This feel of weariness only increased when they began to encounter the Xenomorphs that were waiting along their path in ambush. The first time it happened they had won without much difficulty at all, however the next battle they were thrust into was somewhat different. As a hunter by the name of Ta'kanar was fighting one of the beasts he noticed that the creature was strangely focused on his wrist device, the same device used to activate the self-destruct function all Yautja had so that they could die an honorable death. It was as if the creature could sense the threat that it posed.

He eventually did cut the Xenomorph down but that gnawing feeling in the back of his head didn't vanish, something was off here and he wasn't the only member of their party that had noticed who noticed. In fact the only one who seemingly hadn't noticed yet was Dengwei, Darook's younger brother, however that made some sense considering how thick headed and blunt his personality was at times.

Despite the growing nervousness they felt because of this fact the hunters were somewhat blinded by the glory that this could bring to them, not just from the grand hunt they will surely experience but also from the praise that their fellow clan mates will surely shower them with for discovering such a fearsome and worthy hunting ground. Unbeknownst to them however, something was watching them all as they continued to advance, something unseen and unheard by even their trained senses. That statement only grew more true the moment they entered the nearly completely abandoned human city.

It had taken them quite some time to get here, especially considering the constant attacks which seemed to always appear just as they were beginning to relax for a moment, a fact that had led to a few painful injuries and quite a bit of their equipment getting destroyed during the fighting. Now that they were finally here however, they knew right away that this was the place they had been looking for. The hunters could already see signs that a large hive has set up a nest here somewhere.

One such sign was the small patches of hive resin that could be seen out in the open, such patches of hive resin almost acted like a territory marker and could usually be seen covering part of a wall or a long since broken down vehicle. Another such clue would be the occasional corpse they came across as they checked their surroundings, corpses that had a massive hole in their chests and had been stuffed into a dark corner of a building or alleyway. In fact some of those mentioned corpses even appeared to have been partially eaten, something that the Yautja noted as meaning that their prey felt rather comfortable here, as if the whole city was their domain.

Oddly though the constant attacks seem to come to a stop the moment they entered the city's borders, a fact that made them more on edge then ever. Unfortunately, this unnerving atmosphere would last for some time as they made their way deeper into this crumbling place, they were almost glad when something finally changed.

It began with a slight movement just out of view that always disappeared before they could see what caused it, however despite not seeing its form they all had an instinctual feeling. They knew exactly what it was that was stalking them. Darook was quick to give out orders but the moment he began to speak something fell down from the roof of a nearby building, its massive bulk destroying the vehicle it had landed on with a loud echoing boom of crunching metal and shattering glass.

The Abomination had arrived and it was far faster than they were expecting it to be, fast enough that it was within their very formation before they even had time to react to it. It launched itself forward, slashing its claws at Anow'ka leaving four long bloodied wounds across her torso while whipping its tail into Ta'kanar's legs, tripping him and sending him face first into the ground.

Darook quickly tossed his combistick at it with trained precision but the fowl creature weaved and dodged out of the way before jumping forward. The damn thing then went on to tackle the young Enu out of its way without even paying her any mind, as if she was nothing but a slight distraction in its path. Of course by this point Ootora had taken aim and began firing at it with his plasma caster but quickly stopped when the creature grabbed hold of Dengwei and tackled him to the ground while screeching madly.

The two of them rolled across the cracked and overgrown pavement sending dirt and debris into the air as they struggled violently against one another. Dengwei was putting up one hell of a fight as he slammed the creature into the ground and slashed at it with his wrist blades, however despite his efforts the Abomination clearly had the upper hand as it clawed and bit at the struggling warrior. Eventually the Abomination picked the male Yautja up like a rather large ragdoll and tossed him at his own companions who were currently moving to try and help in the struggle between the two raging combatants.

Anow'ka, who was still bleeding by the way, managed to avoid the body of her companion and toss a smart disc at the creature. Unfortunately however the disc like weapon only cut a shallow wound into its side, a fact that seemed to only serve to greatly aggravate it. Before it could retaliate however something seemed to catch it's attention causing it to jump backwards, the creature then turned and clawed its way up a nearby wall and into the a third story window, just in time to avoid several plasma blasts aimed it's way.

As the monstrosity retreated however it looked back at them, almost mockingly in a way, a fact that the prideful hunters took note of. And so the chase was on, now that the hunters knew for certain that there was indeed an Abomination on this world they could not stop, they would not stop, not until it was dead at the very least.

As they charged after it a thought echoed out within a certain far off mind, a mind that was an observer to these very events. (Let the hunt begin...)