Charlie and I quickly but cautiously travel through the undergrowth of the Jungle. Neither of us look back but we can hear the young asian man following behind. Charlie had his gauss carbine at the ready, he was traveling a couple feet in front of me. I had my rifle out but I kept it across my body holding it in both hands. Charlie’s drone flew behind him just above his shoulder constantly feeding him data.

Since I had lost my helmet in the last mission I was unable to communicate with Charlie through his internal comms therefore we did not speak much as we traveled through the Jungle. We traveled uninterrupted for awhile. ‘I’m glad that the imp genetic enhancement helps me with the heat otherwise this would be near unbearable.’ I scanned around us as we walked, always making sure that I kept Charlie in my sight so we didn’t get separated. ‘We’re dealing with hunters, the Yautja or predators, if we get separated we are dead. Even if we remain together we don’t stand that good of a chance. From what I remember of the movies they are physically strong, good in both melee and ranged combat, and have the ability to go invisible. This’ll be tough.’

I’m brought out of my thoughts by Charlie raising his hand and stopping. I stop and focus on my surroundings, hefting my rifle up I looked down the iron sites and scanned from side to side. “What is it?” I ask Charlie quietly.

Charlie put his hand to his lip and pointed to something on the ground. I look down and amongst the leaves, dirt, and small plants I see a rope. Charlie points from the rope to a sapling next to it that was bent towards the rope. I look closer and see that the rope is connected to the sapling. “It’s a snare.” He says in a whisper. After squatting down next to the trap for a couple minutes we stand up and start to move around the trap.

“Watch out for the snare.” I said over my shoulder.

“Watch your step.” Charlie said. He then looked at the ground. “There are probably pitfall traps and definitely more snares.” I nod my head then keep my eyes on the ground. “I can still hear the kid behind me so he’s probably fine.’ I give a slight chuckle. ‘I’m probably about the same age as him but these past few months have felt like years.’ I shake my head and focus on the ground ahead of me.

We walked for hours and as it turns out there were pitfalls, I almost fell into one but I managed to jump away at the last minute. As we traveled I constantly felt like we were being watched but I never managed to find out what it was. Though I had a sneaking suspicion it was the predators. As night drew near we searched for a place to rest and eventually found a little clearing next to a waterfall. Charlie set up a fire in the clearing and we prepared to rest for the night.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I sat down on the slightly damp foliage and set my backpack down next to me. Charlie did the same. The young asian man joined us but since he had nothing he sat down awkwardly. I brought out my food and water pills popping one of each into my mouth. I enjoyed the feeling of my thirst and hunger washing away then I offered the bottles to the young man. He hesitantly took the bottle and popped one of each pill into his mouth like I did. His eyes widened in surprise as the pills took effect. Charlie and I chuckled at his response.

“So what’s your name?” I ask him.

“My name is Jack Lee.” Jack said. He hands me the bottles and I put them back into my backpack.

“Nice to meet you Jack, I’m Joshua but you can call me Josh and that’s Charlie.” I said with a slight smile, making sure not to show my teeth.

“Likewise, so what you said was true about the points.” He said with amazement as he points at my backpack.

“What, didn’t believe Charlie when he said it the first time?” I said with a laugh. Jack rubs the back of his head as he smiles awkwardly.

“Not really but now that I know for certain what he said is true, what are we going to do?” Jack asks, a concerned look on his face.

“Well you aren’t going to be able to do much but Charlie and should be able to protect you. In all honesty we can’t do much. The Yautja have the ability to stay invisible on top of extremely good combat abilities. To even start to fight back we would need the ability to detect them.” I said then I pause for a bit. “Wait, Charlie can your drone sense targets with invisibility.”

He looks down at his wrist then taps on his drone controller for a bit. He looks up then shakes his head then he taps on his drone controller for bit longer. “Its sensors can’t see invisible targets but if I put it into sentry mode it might be able to spot abnormalities that occur and warn us of its presence.”

I nod. “That’s probably the best we’ll get for now.” I hold up my arm and look at my cloak. “This won’t do any good against the Yautja they have heat vision and the camocloak only blends in visually. Better than nothing I guess.” I look at Charlie’s drone. “I guess you got first watch huh Charlie.”

Charlie chuckled. “I guess so.”

I look at Jack. “So Jack, what did you do before you came to this hell hole.”

Jack jumped a bit in surprised then answered. “I worked in a small company as a financial advisor.”

“Interesting, I was still in college when I was brought over.” I said.

“I was military before I came here.” Charlie said. Conversation stopped and a silence fell over our group. This was common for Charlie and I but it obviously made Jack uncomfortable. Jack kept shifting until he eventually laid down to sleep. Charlie and I soon followed. Darkness surrounded us, kept at bay by the fire at the center of our camp, but they were not alone. In the inky curtain that fell upon the Jungle a triangle of red lights flashed before slowly moving to rest upon the forehead of Charlie. A deep blue light glowed in the darkness then a ball of intense heat came to life, flying through the darkness like an angel of death.