Predator: Survivor

Chapter 26

Staying perfectly still, Izara pressed her body into the base of the thick tree and watched as the yautja stalked through the undergrowth below. His head moved slowly from side to side as he scanned the thick jungle for her presence. Izara did not move. She barely even breathed from her perfectly balanced on a branch.

Only after ten minutes did she allow herself to let out a silent breath of relief. Turning her head to the side, she nearly jumped at the small face five inches from hers.

Izara let out a breathless little laugh and smiled at the lizard hanging out on a branch watching her.

"I'm not avoiding him per se," she whispered defensively to the lizard. She knew this wasn't the same lizard she saw when she first arrived on the planet, but she liked to imagine it was. Treating each lizard she came across as the same and picking up her conversations where she left off was totally rational, she mused.

Glancing back down to the ground below, she scanned for the hunter in question. Good, still nothing.

Guiltly, she looked back at the lizard who continued to stare tirelessly at her. "It's just...hard for me to face him right now," she admitted with a groan as the embarrassing memories of the other night resurfaced.

It had been three days since she drunkenly confessed her feelings for Bor. More importantly, three days since she awkwardly forced him to say he liked her too. Izara's stomach churned hot with humiliation. She teetered between the overwhelming want to throw herself into the sea or puke. Closing her eyes, she turned and hugged the tree, pressing her cheek into the scratchy bark.

"Why? Why? Why would I do that?" she moaned quietly. "Now, it's so awkward."

Granted it really only seemed to be awkward for her. Bor didn't seem phased in the least from her cringe-worthy antics. From the moment she woke up the next day until now, he seemed to be his usual monosyllabic self. Well, except for the never letting her out of his sight bit. That was new and odd.

But beyond that, he seemed perfectly normal. Since he decided to stay around the ship and forgo his usual hunting habits, they spent the last three days working on his weapons modifications. With him silently working and her hardly speaking because she was constantly dying every few minutes on the inside due to reliving her drunken confession. It made every minute of each day hell. The progress they made on the plasma capabilities and her period coming to an end were really the only positives Izara could claim for the past seventy two hours.

"I bet he thinks I'm a sad pathetic sack," she whined, staring into the glossy black eyes of the lizard.

Even now she could remember his growled "yes" as he admitted to liking her back all the while backing away. Her stomach knotted painfully and she hugged the tree tighter willing it to come alive and just eat her now.

"Everything had been so perfect until I fucked it up," she cried.

Pulling her legs up to wrap around the tree, Izara knew she resembled a koala bear right now. She didn't care. She needed to think. To somehow squeeze all of her shame into this tree. More importantly, she needed some lizard-therapy.

Pitifully, she stared into the lizard's pitiless eyes. "And do you know what the worst part is?" She didn't wait for a reply. "Bor is being so nice about this. And he says yautja aren't nice," she scoffed. "He is trying to be considerate and keep me company every day... even every minute of the day actually," she mused aloud thinking of Bor's intense presence the past few days.

He must really be concerned for her. He hardly left her side now.

"Izara."

She froze at the rumbling sound of her name. Slowly, she turned her head far enough to see behind her and paled at the sight below. Standing there holding her purposely discarded wrist unit in his clawed hand, Bor stood there looking up at her.