Predator: Survivor

Chapter 12

Ahead of him, the black waves of the sea churned while the sky raged and thundered. Rain fell into his eyes but he did not move, he remained standing staring at the spot the girl--the defect--had been moments ago.

Her reaction was not what he had expected.

The scent of her salted tears had somehow punched through the briny air of the sea and met his senses. Why would she cry? Why not meet his blade or match his anger?

This girl did everything wrong. She smiled when she should not. She was fierce when she should have been scared, and now she was fearful when she should have been enraged.

Had he been wrong?

He made a deep sound of annoyance and turned in the direction she had run. The wind was picking up. Back on his planet, he had been born by the sea, he knew the beginning signs of a monsoon. With little effort, his eyes found her fading tracks in the sand with ease.

The rain fell harder with every step he took. Turning with her tracks he followed them in the thick overgrowth of the jungle. Thunder bellowed above while the wind beat at the trees bowing them as it whipped their branches chaotically. All signs of her trail were gone now. The footsteps in the dirt were obliterated by the sloshing mud caking up at his feet. The broken branches of her passing through were gone as the raging storm took its turn damaging more. The howling wind and rolling thunder even aided her deafening her movements to him.

But he would not be deterred.

He had watched her every time she left the escape pod. He tracked her careful inspection of the island and knew what she knew. And he knew where she was running in this storm.

Lightening flashed followed by a great boom.

He paused. Rain ran down his face as he listened. There was another sound just after the thunder. Narrowing his eyes, he picked up the pace, running faster through the thick underbrush.

Within seconds he was sliding to a halt.

He was on the other side of the island now, the north side, opposite the pod. Two days ago, he had followed the girl as she walked the beach slowly rounding the island and stopped to stare at the cliff. As if grabbed by a great hand the cliff had been drastically cut away by the sea leaving its wall curving and eroded. The girl had stood under the rocky overhang marveling at the cave-like structure. That would have been the only shelter for her to run to in this storm.

But now it was gone.

The edge that had jutted out a few yards before was gone. Below was only a pile wet pile of rock and mud.

He knew she was in there, that he was certain. But where? Would she have been standing at the top of the cliff when it crumbled or had she already been trying to get shelter from underneath?

Letting out a deep growl of frustration he slid down the side of the muddy pile and examined it. She would not last long in there. There were two tons of rock and mud on top of her.

He began to grab the rocks flinging them out of sight. The ground shook with another crack of lightning followed by a rumble of thunder. Scooping away an armful of mud, he paused only for a second as something shifted ahead of him.

A pale hand emerged from the dirt, rain washing away the mud as it reached blindly into the air.