Star Child

Thirty-Seven - Bitter Enemies

Kade half-dragged Landon out of bed with a grunt. He rubbed his eyes, swatting Kade's hand away as he worked to make sense of what was going on. Free of Kade, the younger man straightened his back as he sat upright on the edge of the hospital bed.

"He's here already, isn't he?" He asked with a scratchy voice, his eyes scanning Madeline up and down with scrutiny.

She had opted to leave her long waist-length hair down for once, dressed in a loose fitting yellow t-shirt and a pair of fitted jeans and topped off with some old school Chucks. Strapped to her back was a black backpack with, assumedly, her stuff. Kade watched as she made Landon drink a pink cocktail that she claimed would give him an energy boost.

"Yeah, and we need to get going." An exasperated Kade explained, looking over Landon.

Landon's ruined eye was covered with a gauze pad with a hint of purple and green bruising peeking out from under the edge. The guy looked like a mess, his hair shaggy and his skin almost normal again in tone. Two weeks of laying around in the infirmary had done good for him.

The infirmary wasn't very big to begin with but the bright artificial lighting made it seem less so, slightly claustrophobic. Every wall was covered with storage cabinets full of medical equipment that could be seen through fogged glass panes. Eight beds were lined up down both sides with blue curtains dividing each one for privacy. Scattered around was various medical equipment that had been left in everyone's haste to escape before the incoming attack. Landon remained because he fought anyone that tried to move him.

Kade didn't have a lot of time to deal with Landon's lethargy right now. He was already late for his date with mortal combat. That big, ugly bastard had been the reason his crew were either dead, injured, or gone entirely, having quit and moved on to save their own skin. Dhare had likely already found Sawyer, so Kade had to hurry to get Landon off the planet.

At least one of them would get out...he hoped.

While his logical mind wasn't confident he could defeat the Predator, his ego said otherwise. It was hubris, but he was beyond caring. Dhare had single-handedly barreled through the facility with brutal efficiency; an enraged boyfriend fighting to take back his girl.

"Landon, come on," Madeline urged as she helped him up. "We have to go." The man was still sluggish from when he last had a dose of pain medicine.

She shoved a pistol in Landon's hand as he stretched before her dark eyes focused on her task of removing the two IV lines from Landon's arm. She didn't bother with bandaging the tiny pricks of blood, choosing instead to press little wads of gauze against his skin instead.

"Why? I just want to sleep..." he yawned. "I don't get enough naps."

"We need to get the hell out of here, or would you like to be a smear on the ground like the soldiers?" Kade snapped. "Besides, how the fuck did you sleep through the blitzkrieg of the fucking Yautja killing everyone?"

Landon just shrugged, watching the Asian scientist who tended to him. He had missed Kade and Madeline prepping themselves to hightail it off of Perseus-9, the two having worked to avoid the chaos.

Madeline had proven to be a decent ally to Kade in all of this mess. The head bitch was dead, the duo having discovered her mutilated corpse just moments ago on their way to the infirmary. Ashaki had fulfilled her purpose and now they could move on to the next phase; get Landon and Madeline off planet while Kade took care of Dhare.

While Kade despised the alien with a passion, he had to give the beast credit that he was efficient and quick. He could admire prowess when he saw it. If Dhare had been a human, he would've gladly made friends with him and tried to recruit him. Competent, talented men like that were always needed in this line of work.