Here's the final chapter of the story! Man, this one caused me soooo many problems with writers block, you won't even believe it! SOOOO SORRY FOR HOW LONG IT TOOK FOR ME TO UPDATE! Thank you for all of the reviews! You guys passed the 100 review mark! (Insert cheer here)

Predators Vs. Tremors

Chapter 10: The Gift

Bert stared at the alien lying motionless in the dust. He wasn't sure if it was dead, but at the moment he really didn't want to find out. Bert approached the prone form and stooped down to pick up his rifle that lay on the ground, only to be grabbed by the supposedly "dead" alien's hand and slammed into the ground.

Bert stared in disbelief as the alien rose, picking him up by the neck. The bullet had not penetrated its thick skull; it had only dazed it. Bert struggled to breathe against the alien's powerful grip, his hands futilely trying to pry at its fingers.

The alien glared evilly at Bert and brought up its wrist blades, leveling them with Bert's eyes.

"Now you will die," the alien said in a throaty, guttural English. Bert glared at the alien and composed himself for the pain, shutting his eyes. The sound of metal tearing though flesh echoed in his head.

"Am I dead?" Bert thought, his eyes still shut. He cracked them open to see the alien lowering its' blades. Bert fully opened his eyes to stare at the alien, confused. The alien released him, Bert falling roughly to the ground. The alien reached down to where its heart would supposedly be, touching two blade tips that protruded slightly from its chest.

With that, An'tir'de ripped his wrist blades from the dishonorable student's back and let the lifeless body fall to the desert floor. Bert met the alien's eyes and saw disgust within them; not aimed at him, but at its companion it had just murdered.

Bert glanced around to see the other aliens either completing their battles, finishing off the Shriekers that had yet to die, or taking trophies.

Bert gave a nod to the alien, who promptly returned it and turned to walk back to its' kills and begin to take its trophies. Bert wrinkled his nose at the absolutely horrible smell these creatures, dead and alive, gave off.

Getting to his feet, Bert walked around and collected his weapons; as far as he could see none were damaged, although that was the last of his worries. Now that the aliens were finished with the battle and his weapons, what were they going to do with him?

Once the alien's grisly work was finished, they all turned to stare at Bert. Bert had most of him weapons on him and loaded, but if these guys tried to kill him, he didn't really have a chance.

The Leader of them turned to another and growled something. The alien dipped its head, turned, and ran into the ship.

Earl and Kate continued their trek up the mountain side. Eliza and Joe headed back to the town to get a truck and more supplies. Of course they had wanted to go to Bert's aid as much as Earl and Kate did, but Earl managed to defeat Joe in a game of rock/paper/scissors so the other two had to go.

Climbing the mountain face was no easy task either. They had chosen the more direct trail of going over the mountain, rather than use the trail the Yautja and Bert had used earlier. The rock had a decent number of handholds, but if you grabbed too many loose ones, you were in for a long and painful ride down.

Earl used a pair of binoculars to keep an eye on Eliza and Joe as they ran back towards the town. Although he wouldn't be able to help if any of the creatures came at them, he could at least give them a slight notice beforehand.

Unfortunately, Earl should have been looking down rather than at the other two. Two shriekers had managed to sneak up on them. Screaming, the shriekers tried to get to Earl and Kate as they climbed up the sheer mountain wall. Somehow, the creatures were managing to grip the wall and pull themselves up.

"Damn," Earl cursed, "Move faster Kate," he said as one jumped and narrowly missed biting his leg off, "I really don't feel like being dessert for these guys." As if punctuating his point, the second shrieker made another jump, again barely missing.

Kate, more anxious to get to the top of the mountain that ever, frantically began to increase her pace. Her arms were sore and weak, not to mention how exhausted she felt after the day's events. Even with the adrenaline running through her system, she wondered if she would be able to make it to the top.

As Kate selected her newest handholds, she didn't notice how one seemed to move underneath her palm, nor that the other was just as weak. The rocks buckled from their places in the mountain as she put her full body weight on them and one broke off completely.

Kate screamed as she lost her footing and began to fall. Grappling with her hands, she managed to get a hold of a crack in the rock and caught herself, mere inches from the shriekers snapping mouths.

"Kate! You alright?!" Earl shouted trying to lower himself down.

"No! Get me out of here!" Kate shouted, kicking at the closest shrieker. It backed off allowing it's companion to snap at Kate's dangling leg. Kate grabbed a loose rock and chucked it at the shrieker. She hit it dead on causing the shrieker to slip. As it tried to regain it's hold, Earl used the last bullet from his hand gun blasting it through the shriekers head.

With it's loud death-cry, the shrieker toppled from the mountain. Earl quickly reached down and grabbed Kate, hoisting her up so she could get a better grip of the mountain. The shrieker made on last-ditch attempt at it's retreating meal only to follow it's dead fellow down the mountain.

Bert stood surrounded by the aliens, but refused to give into the terror that tried to grip him. He had been on so many Safaris with some of the most deadly predators on Earth, nearly getting eaten once or twice. He had hunted Graboids, Shriekers, and Ass-blasters without a thought; but that didn't stop him from nearly shaking in his boots.

Within a few seconds, the alien the "leader" had sent into the ship exited it carrying something Bert couldn't really make out within the shadows. The leader took the object and moved towards Bert when two familiar voices rang out in the night.

"Get away from him you butt-ugly ass-holes!" Earl screamed, half running, half sliding down the mountain trying to aim his gun without falling flat on his face at the same time. Kate was taking her time and managed to get to the ground a few seconds after Earl.

They ran over through the ring of hunters to stand at Bert's side, both of them aiming their weapons at the alien leader's head. The aliens however, didn't even seem to care, nor worry in the least that Earl was going to kill their leader.

"Earl, please put your gun down, or at least stop pointing it at that alien's head," Bert said through gritted teeth.

"Don't worry, it isn't loaded," Earl answered, thinking Bert was nervous he was actually going to shoot.

"Either way, the safety's on." Bert said. Earl looked at him and checked, finding Bert was right. The aliens seemed to understand and started laughing. Earl shuddered; it sounding like a bird with a broken windpipe trying to sing.

Earl sighed and lowered the gun, now wishing he hadn't insulted these guys.

Once the laughter had died down, the leader motioned his group to enter the ship. Once the rest of the group was on board, he tossed the object in his hand to Bert. Without another word, he turned and left entering the ship.

The ground began to rumble and the three raced over to a small outcropping of rocks as the alien ship lifted from the ground and disappeared into space.

An'tir'de sat in the main control room of the ship, absently stroking the skull of one of the creatures. He was going to have to write a very extensive report about this to the Elders. He had used the ship's computer "library" to check to see if there was any background on these creatures. It seemed these creatures have never been seen among the prey species… ever.

He wondered back to the human warrior and the "gift" he had given him. It was probably one of the few things he had ever done on an impulse and if the Elders found out, they would kill him.

"Damn the laws," An'tir'de thought. The human deserved it's gift.

An'tir'de glanced at the now distant planet with a playful smile.

He couldn't wait to go back.

Bert, Earl, and Kate met up with Joe and Eliza halfway back to town. Everyone was curious to see exactly what the alien gave Bert, but no one could really figure it out in the darkness.

Once back at the main convenience store, Bert checked the seismographs, happy to find only one Graboid, el Blanco, was still running around. Bert took the object into the back of the store in case it blew up or something.

Eventually, Bert came back out of the room, a large grin on his face and a spark in his eye, bringing in the "gift" the alien had given him. Setting it on the counter Bert let the others get a look at it everyone looked at Bert in shock.

"So, you gonna try it out Bert?" Earl asked, laughing.

"No, the last thing I need is the government trying to get their hands on this one."

It was unmistakable what the object was.

It was a gun.

Yayyyy! It's finally done! After so much writers block it's finally done!!! First off, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! WAY OVER 100 for a 10 chapter story! I am amazed and flattered. I don't think I would have been able to finish this without all of the support from you people! Thank You SOOO much! Whether there is going to be a sequel or not, I'm can't say. I don't think I will unless I'm struck with a new idea or someone helps me out with it.

Now that this story is complete, I'm going to work on my other stories: War of the Worlds, Ancient World, and some new ones will be coming, namely my new story "The Crystal Shard".

Thanks again SO MUCH for all of the reviews and help you guys have given me!

Tootles!

Bastet