The Ripple of a Stone

Blood ties

Authors Note: This story I have written may not be exact with the customs and culture founded by the Predator movies, comics or stories but I have tired to stay in the area of their beliefs and ways. I have brought in elements from each of the categories and have combined them into one. I do not own Predator. Updates will be regular and changes will be made if any suggestions are made for me. Good Reading.

E.M.

Amendments, corrections and add-ons have been made sense the original posting on 6-10-06

White. All there is is white. "Am I dead?" Looking around that's all she sees, white. She slowly begins by moving her toes, her fingers, stressing every muscle in her body, a mini check list in her mind to see, to feel if she's alive. Going through the list she draws a blank at 'my name'. She softly whispers "How do I know what to do when I wake up and yet I don't know my name…" She lifts her hand to touch the white that floats just beyond her body and finds it harder to lift her arm than usual, "Its fabric, where… where am I?" She attempts to place her hand back down to where ever it was before, but she feels nothing but air, there is nothing under her, she's floating. Turning her head to look underneath her, she sees there is only a slab of what looks like white marble just a few feet below. "WHERE AM I?" Panicking, she instinctively reaches for where her handgun would be but she feels only skin. "I'm naked! Why am I naked?" She grabs for the white fabric that she felt before, so she could cover herself. Pulling causes her and it to tumble down onto the slab of cold, hard stone. "AHHH!" A Sharpe pain on her left shoulder forces her scream, but she cuts it short incase someone should hear her. "Oh, ouch, now how did I get this?" Her shoulder is bleeding from a large gash that stretches from her collar bone to her arm pit. Some of it as held, but it still bleeds from the middle, the largest part of the gash. "I couldn't have been asleep long enough for this to heal, what is going on?"

She can see through from where she took down the white fabric. Black walls, black walls with red stripes, "Odd decorating," she says sarcastically. She turns her body and hangs her feet over the edge of the stone she sits on, only to pull them back up when she feels it begin to move. It slowly falls and becomes flush with the ground, the white fabric that surrounded her lifts into the ceiling. Her white cage from where she woke from doesn't exist anymore. "What is going on?"

A flash of white in the corner of her eye catches her attention; the same white cage is beside her. She looks down at the stone she was on and can see her reflection, startled at what was reflected. She begins to touch the black and blue bruises that surround her face and then touches her broken lip. She can see two scars on her check that are about two inches long and look like stretched out triangles, just upside down, curving slightly to the left and have scabbed over. Her long red hair has a bad case of bed head and is hard to the touch from the dried blood that had settled in her hair. Tears begin to swell in her ocean blue eyes, but she blinks them away "No time to cry umm…oh my god, what is my name? How do I not know my name!" Staring at herself in the reflection of the stone, she tries hard to remember anything. Closing her eyes, she sees flashes of trees and sad and blue. And of something black and wet and makes her flinch at just the thought of it. "Who am I?"

With no time to waste she tries to stand, "Ugh..," getting up took more energy, more will, she can feel her strength was not at is best. She knew that her injury would be making it difficult for her to move but there was something more. It seemed she was being pulled down hard, like the gravity was heavier, or a bowling ball was in her head. Taking a step back, she can see more than the one white cage, there were dozens. She can hear breathing, heavy, deep breathing. "I need to get out of here!" The room around her is large, the high walls with the red strips seem to be never ending. Her instincts tell her to hug the wall, knowing that somewhere she will find a door, hopefully. When she reaches a wall, she looks at what she thought were plain red strips, but they were actually covered in marks. "What on Earth is this," she says before moving on. She takes a moment, fingering the markings that look like the same marks from a digital clock. But she knows she can't stand here all day and look at the pretty marks, she has to move. Finally reaching a corner, a little comfort came over her, but that didn't last long,

"Pauk!"

She crouches down in the corner, searching for what ever made that sound, but she can't see anyone, or anything. The dim light is making it hard for her to make out anything but the white cages and the black floor. She begins fallowing the wall again, and soon finds something like a door. Its looks like the top half of a hexagon with a line in the middle for it to open. "How do I open this thing?" She feels around the edges for a switch or a button, there isn't panel for her to open the door. "Open dam you!" No sooner did she say that, the doors opened. Startled, she jumps then bolts back to the wall, there may well have been someone on the other side of the door. Looking around the corner, she sees there is no one there. Steeping from the wall, she can see out through the door, only to see that the same black and red walls were through out where ever she was. A small hallway is between her and getting out of this place. With her first step, she feels pain, "OWE! Grates? Who would put grates on the ground?" The pain from the top points of the grates couldn't stop her, she had to get out of there and find out where she was. It took a few steps to reach the end of the small hallway that led out from the room she was in. There was another doorway, just like the one she had just steeped from, directly across from where she was. Looking back to the door, now closed, a moment of hesitation caused her to think, should I have stayed in the room? Was it smart to leave? Can I get back? But it was too late. She could see a panel with the same markings on the wall beside the doorway, she punched a few of the keys but nothing happened. Poking her head around the corner, she couldn't see anyone else in the corridor. She could still feel the hard metal grates that lined the floors, every step was a new pain.

Still hugging the walls, she walked slowly, until she reached another one of the small hallways leading to another door. Looking to see if there was anyone in the hallways or coming out, she jumped across when she knew it was safe and continued along the wall.

"Mmmm, owe!" She had to stop, the sharp spokes on the grate were starting to puncture her feet, leaving small pinhole marking that gave way to tiny drops of blood. The pain showing in her face was intense as her foot throbbed in pain. She looked back to see if she was leaving a small trail of blood, only to see that she was leaving a very large one. The cut from her shoulder had soaked the white fabric she had wrapped around herself and had begun dripping large spots all over the grate, leaving a long and large blood trail for anyone to find her. "Oh shit!" She couldn't help but feel to give up, she was lost, she didn't even know where she was lost in. Now anyone can see where she went.

Feeling faint from the blood she has lost, she sits down on the hard grates, but she doesn't have a lot of time to rest. She can hear the familiar sound of an opening door just a few feet away from her. Someone was coming from another room. Franticly, she runs to the closest hallway, to hide from what ever was coming her way. She could hear heavy foot steps, and they were getting louder. Crouching in the corner of the hallway, she tries to make herself as small as she could be, so that what ever was coming wouldn't see her. "A panel," she starts to hit some of the keys on the panel that sits just beside the door, the foot steps are getting louder. She looks to the end of the hallway just in time to see a glimpse of black, green and metal, "What the f…" She slowly creeps to the end of the small hallway and looks around the corner to see what ever just walked by. "What the hell is that?"

Taking a small step forward to get a better look, she finds herself having to look higher to see what it was. Long black rings of dreadlocks hang down onto its back, just under its shoulder. Little round metal cuffs hug to the dreadlocks, some having those same strange marking on them. The back of it had a small band of metal that hung down from its neck to its waist, covering the spine. Then she noticed just how different this creature was from her, the skin on the back was a yellow-green-cream color, which faded into a deep green on its fore-arms and the tops of it shoulders. The strange thought of it having the look of alligator skin, but 'moisturized' crossed her mind. It turned a corner and was out of view from her sight.

"AHHH," the pain from the injury and her feet were taking a toll of her strength," I can't do this for much longer." Taking a moment to rest, she sits on her feet, back down onto the cold hard grates. Taking long, deep breaths, trying to regain her strength, or what left of it. Suddenly, her vision goes blurry, and her head feels light, "No, I can't pass out. Not here, not now!" She pulls herself up off the ground and begins walking along the corridor wall again. Fumbling with her feet, it's hard for her to see where she is going. A door has opened again but there is no where for her to go, she falls silent, no foot steps, nothing, she isn't even breathing. She hears nothing. Something's wrong, something here isn't right. She starts to breathe again, looking around for anywhere she can hide. The light from the open door shines brightly on the ground, she can't see a shadow coming out from light, there is no one there. With her eyes wide and her one good hand ready to hit anything that may come at her, she creeps to the corner to the open door. The light coming from the room is too bright, it hurts her eyes and she cannot see beyond it.

"Now or never," she says as she takes a step to go through the open door. The light is so blinding she puts her hand over her eyes. Blinking fast until her eyes adjust, she can see the familiar black and red walls, but she can't see anything else yet. There is nothing else in this room, its empty, or so she thought.

Her eyes have finally adjusted, and she sees the entire room. "Whoa, what is this place?" The room is bigger than anything she has ever seen. Bigger than any stadium she has ever been in, and in the middle of the room is a large chair, covered in red, on top of a small pyramid of stairs. The top of the pyramid has four long red pieces of fabric coming down from the high ceiling, connecting to the floor. "Beautiful…" she says, wide eyed and her mouth gapping open. She takes a few steps into the large room to hear the sound of the door close behind her. Turning fast, she goes to it, to try and open it and get out, "I have to get out of here! I can't stay here," she says as she pounds on the door, "please open… please…" She can't hold back her frustration and her anger, and she begins to weep. She falls to her knees. "Why am I here…wh… where is here…." She rests her head on door and lets the burning hot tears fall down her beaten face. Suddenly the door she is resting on opens, and she falls onto her back. She looks up to what is standing, she does recognize the creature that stands before her, but she can see it all now. "Oh my…" It's wearing a strange armor that covers its forearms, its legs, its chest and a small plate hangs down its waist. But most alarming are all the weapons that rested over its entire body. They are clipped to a belt, handing off of it, some are even sheathed on its thighs and arms. The black dreadlocks she saw on the other one were shorter than this ones, and the color was even a little different. She reaches its face with her eyes and she loses her breath, the fear of what she is looking at takes hold over her every thought and movement. "W What is that?" Its head is oblong, with no nose or ears and it doesn't even have lips. Its giant eyes, deep set in its scull, are now staring at her on the ground. It makes a clicking sound with its strange mouth. Its sharp, jagged teeth that surround its opening doesn't scare her, it's the four large tusk things that stretch from its upper jaw to its lower, and seem to move on their own. She starts to slowly crawl backwards, to where she doesn't know. The creature takes a step forward and makes the same clicking sound as before, but it's louder and has a hint of a growl. "What...what do you want!" she screams at it. She's still on the ground, she can't get up, her arm stops her from turning to stand. It tilts its head as it stairs at her and makes a hissing, from the belly sound. "Get up, GET UP!" she says to her self. Painfully, she puts down her bleeding arm, so she can stand," ahhhh...," the pain is unbelievable but she somehow gets onto her feet. Now standing 'face to face' with the giant, she can see just how short she is compared to it, where as she is tall for a woman, standing a high 6'2. Whoa, even I stand a few good inches above the men in my unit, I don't even reach its shoulders, "My unit," she says out loud, "I'm in a unit." She remembers a small bit of her life before she is forced to snap back and look at the menacing creature that stands in front of her, and the door. She takes a step to the left to see if she could run but it blocks her from looking following her every move. Its takes another step towards her and makes a loud growl at her, and some how she can get the sound of "Ell-osde."

"What? Did you just...say something?" The creature lifts his right arm and opens something that rests on its wrist. He pushes some buttons on and it plays back what she had just said, "Did you just…say something?"

Stunned, she falls back a few steps and looks hard into its eyes, her eyes however were full of marvel and of fear, "What are you?" It takes in a deep breath and lets out a giant roar, so loud that her lungs shook a little. She had noticed that only the two large tusks that rest higher on its head lift up, the bottom two never moving. Suddenly another one appears, putting its hand on the right should of the first one and giving it a little shake. The first creature looks back at the second and points with two fingers to the small women standing just ahead of them, cowering in her blood soaked cloth, shaking from fear and of blood loss. Between the clicking the two are making, she can make out one of them saying "Ooman."

"Ooman, what's Ooman?" she asks, she couldn't believe she had just said those words, regretting the attention she would get. The two stop and look at her, both with their heads tilted a little, eyes squinting and their brows together. She wasn't sure if it was anger or curiosity that she could see in their eyes, truth be told she didn't really want to know. To mimic them, she tilts her head to, but the second one got angry, he lets out a fierce roar with all four of his tusks spread out, showing off every muscle in his face as he roared. Some where between the first blast of hot air and the end of its roar, she can make out "Pyode Amedha" but right now she didn't care what that meant.

Fear was climbing up her spine, with in an instant she knew she couldn't be here anymore. She turns and runs towards the pyramid with the red chair on top of it, hoping that they would do anything but fallow her. Behind her, the one that growled at her was hit in the side by the other one, and does a small growl with "Ki'dte" said some where in it.

Running as fast as she could, she makes it to the base of the small stair pyramid. She stops to look back at the two creatures to see that there were more of them now, six, even seven, she didn't want to waste her time and count. All of them staring at her and 'talking' among them selves. One of them gestures towards her and they begin to move closer. She starts climbing the stairs one at a time, the pains nagging at her to give up. The stairs were hard to climb, I guess they are not meant for someone to climb, or maybe they were and my legs just aren't enough. There may have been only 5 large steps to climb but it took a lot out of her. Reaching the top, she had become light headed again, and her vision distorted, the red of the chair bleeding into the space around it, "Not now…" Placing one hand on the chair to balance herself, she takes a few deep breaths to try and pull her self together, I can't, I just can't. She falls to the ground and moves her self behind one of the four long red pieces of fabric that come down from the high ceiling, to try to get some kind of cover. She notices that there is one side to the pyramid that has a thin, straight ramp for someone to walk on, "I wish I had that a minute ago…"

A sudden loud and strong siren can be heard, an alarm has started. She can hear the same clicking sound all around her and somewhere in it she again hears the word Ooman. "Ten bucks says that I'm 'Ooman'". With another look back, she sees that they have all stopped at the base of the stair pyramid and have spread out to cover all sides of it. Great, what the hell can I do now?

For what felt like years, she sat with her back to the red fabric, looking around at all of those who surround her. A pool of blood from her arm had made its own 'blood lake' and has now leaked over the edge of the top stair, making a dripping sound that could be heard in the far corners of the room. She takes a long her look at one of them that is standing below her, "I know I'm going to regret saying this, but if you can't understand me, I don't think it counts, how can this day get any worse?" In true form, seconds after she says those words the door she had come through opens and five more of them come in. But something was off, some of them were different, they don't look like the other ones do. They walked in rows, gradually creeping their way to the base of the pyramid, there was two in the front but one was a little behind the front one, another in the middle and two in the back. The two of them that were in the back were wearing the same armor plating as all the others but they have significantly more weapons. He one in the middle was really strange, it was smaller then all the other creatures, maybe even the same height as she, and doesn't wear armor. It wears a strange kimono looking dress that is stiff, it doesn't even look like the creature is walking, it was like it was floating, and it doesn't carry any weapons, instead it carries a book, or something like it. She can't see the other one that fallows behind the on that is in front. Because this one is much bigger then the rest and more 'decorated' than all of the others, she can't and doesn't want to see behind him, she wants to look at him. Its dreadlocks aren't black, they are stark white and very, very long, and they have the same metal rings on them but there are a lot more. It wears weapons in places she didn't even know they could go, strapped to its legs, cuffed to a belt, she even notice a tiny dagger placed underneath his right arm, just under the panel thing. It still wears the armor but it's more complete, it has more marks on it, more scratches and has a floor length red and black cape flowing behind it. But its face is the most unusual and most beautiful. Its face has so many scars, some of them seem to be designed or purposely put there, she could tell that war was written on its face, and time had slowly chiseled its teaching, defining every part of who he was. And its tusks, its tucks are beautiful, they are engraved with markings from top to bottom, colored a deep red with who knows what. She could tell this one was different, important, "You must 'be there leader'," she says with a hint of laughter, "Oh, ouch, maybe I shouldn't laugh huh?" The one with the marked tusks starts clicking and chirping, Ooman seems to be the word of the day, she can recognize it in his 'words'. His raises one of his arms a swipes it in the air, it must have been a signal because all that surrounded the pyramid took a few steps back. Was it to re-assure her that she wasn't going to get hurt? Or does that one want to get her for himself?

She doesn't move, still sitting under the red cloth but staring hard at the 'leader' and he stairs right back. He takes a step forwards and can see her body flinch. He can tell she is freighted, and she was. Dam it! What now? There's no where for me to go… He stops and looks behind him to the one she cannot see and makes some chattering sounds and he takes a step back. She stares at them still, wide eyed and shivering hard from dread of one of them coming closer, losing blood like it was water didn't help either. Her eyes begin to flutter and her head to fall slightly, but she snaps back, "stays awake…stay awake…" she whispers. She looks towards them again to see the one behind the marked tusk one take a step forward and come out from behind it. Something about this one makes her feel she has seen him before, like she knows his face…like she knows him.

"I know you…"

He looked different from the other as well, but he was so familiar to her. His dreadlocks were very long, almost down past the waist, and had many rings but one of the strands of dreadlocks had been cut. It was now just under his shoulder and sticking out like a sore thumb. His armor was a deep gray, different from even the marked tusked one. But everything else was the same, weapons everywhere, and armor covering most of his body. When she looked onto his face she could see his yellow-green-blue eyes looking back at her. Some how, those eyes had calmed her a little, enough for her to take a deep breath and close her eyes for a moment. But in that moment she could see flashes, flashes of guns and of bloods, of bodies and the same wet, black thing. She opens her eyes when she hears footsteps. She can see the one with the gray armor walking around to the front of the stair pyramid, to the side with the walking ramp. When it reaches the bottom of the ramp it stops and looks at her.

He takes a single step forward, to see if she would react to him coming towards her, but she doesn't move, she just watches. He takes another, than another, slowly creeping up the ramp, never losing eye contact. She watches him, staring hard at his face, that is until her vision again goes hazy and her head light, "NO….ahhhh!" she screams loudly and places her hand to her head. The creature, stunned by her sudden yell stops in his place, mid-step. She attempts to stand and gets half way up when she falls forward, toward the giant chair. She catches herself with an arm of the chair, balancing her body so she didn't fall.

Seeing her stumble, the creature rushes towards her but stops when she snaps her head in his direction, he could tell by her eyes that she didn't want him any closer. Standing straight now, she takes a few deep breaths and looks hard at the face of the thing that is coming towards her and something catches her eye. On its forehead, just about at its brow are the same two symbols that are on her face, but on her cheek. She brings her hands to her marks are and touches them lightly.

She takes a small step towards the creature, still staring at it with her most evil look she could make. I already look scary enough with my 'beautiful bruises' and all, but I don't think I could bluff this thing… He doesn't move, he only slants its head and makes a soft clicking sound. She takes another step, winching in pain every time her bloody feet touched the floor. Now they are only a few feet apart, and she can look right into its eyes. Seeing the yellow-green-blue color again makes her relax even more, her face changing from an evil scowl to a look of marvel. She takes another step forward, "…h how do I know you?" She moves her eyes down to a red spot on his gray chest armor that sat like a tattoo, right in front of his heart, Maybe it heart isn't there, who knows where it could be…For all I know it's on the other side…and she sees a hand print, her hand print. She knows it was hers because of large line that was missing from the stain. A line crossed her hand, a scar from a life time ago, sat between the bottom of her pinky finger and the bottom of her palm, stopping it from stamping on his armor. That made it obvious that it was hers, and only hers. Why would my… my hand print be there? W Why would I even touch him? Is that blood, my blood?

He moves his head back up and lifts is right arm and open the same kind of box the first creature did. He starts to hit some keys and then looks back at her, "…okay you saved my life, don't expect me to kiss you on your cheek. And just because I saved yours, doesn't mean you have to give me one…"

It was her voice, it was definitely hers but she can't remember saying it, she can't remember anything. He makes a purring sound that was a little comforting to her, she immediately felt a little safer in his presence, he's so familiar, how do I know this thing, how do I know that sound? The look on its faces had an odd look of concern, brows raised and the eyes had such worry in them. He takes a step towards her and she flinches, ever so slightly. With the slope of the ramp they both stand on, she and it are at the same height, and are now little more than a foot away from each other. She stairs at the two marks on its forehead, and reaches out with her hand to touch them. He watches closely with his beautiful eyes as her hand slowly comes closer. When she finally touches his face, he didn't know what to do and draw back slightly. She takes her hand back a little but for only a moment, than moves it back and lightly traces the markings with two of her fingers.

"I remember now…"