The Hunt

Part 6

Muscles bulged beneath the beast's thick, furry hide as it tensed. Seemingly in answer to Three Claws' challenge, the wolf snarled and leapt.

Its claws flashed, briefly reflecting the moonlight.

Hunter and prey met in the center of the clearing with a crash.

Serrated alien metal and wickedly curved claws flashed in the silvery rays of moonlight amid the blurs of struggling forms. There was a yelp of pain and a spurt of crimson shot out into the snow, steaming where it struck. The pair parted, retreating several yards from one another. They circled each other, eyes never leaving their opponent.

Three Claws issued a series of clicks and rolled his massive shoulders to loosen them. His heart raced. He hadn't been this...excited...on a hunt for many seasons.

The wolf beast growled. The sound rumbled up from deep within its thick chest. Blood ran from a deep cut across the left side of its chest and up into its shoulder, clotting in the beast's dark fur.

As if at some unseen signal the combatants again leapt at one another. Snarls, yelps, and roars echoed out into the night. Spurts of blood, both crimson and a bright alien green, shot out into the snow which was quickly churned into a thick, clinging mud.

A wicked blow from the wolf beast caught Three Claws in the abdomen, ripping upward to hook beneath the Hunter's chest plate and tearing it from him, snapping the straps that held it in place. The power of the blow sent Three Claws crashing to the ground in a splash of gory mud several feet away while his armor sailed off into the swirling snow.

Three Claws lay stunned for several heartbeats. The beast leapt atop the fallen hunter and sank its fangs into Three Claws' shoulder. Three Claws roared and bucked beneath the beast's weight, trying to overbalance his foe. The beast remained atop Three Claws however and snapped its head back and forth rapidly, shredding the alien flesh clamped in its jaws.

Three Claws again roared in pain and rage as he slipped his left hand between his own body and the beast's. He'd lost his sword when he'd fallen. He grabbed the beast by the throat, squeezing and pushing it away...trying to buy himself some space to move. The beast snarled and snapped and clawed at Three Claws,spraying the hunter's blood out in great arcs, refusing to surrender.

Three Claws growled and heaved the wolf up off his chest in one desperate shove. Taking advantage of the space his maneuver had won him, he swung his gauntlet blades. Once, twice, three times he plunged the blades deep into the beast's side, coating himself in the wolf's lifeblood. 

The beast yelped as each blow landed, the third piercing its heart. It shuddered as it slid from atop Three Claws to land, sprawling in the churned up, bloody snow. The beast let out several high-pitched whines...its feet kicked feebly in the mud before it finally sighed and lay still.

Three Claws stood over his prey and threw his arms wide, roaring his victory cry into the swirling snow. His revelry was cut short as the sound of bones popping into and out of their sockets drew his attention back to the wolf beast at his feet. Three Claws stepped back, eyes and mandibles wide with shock as he beheld the naked, bloody form of the human he'd hunted.

Three Claws staggered and hissed as pain flared up in his mangled chest and shoulder. The hunter was able to cant his head enough to watch as the savaged flesh knit itself back together. Healing on its own and at a rate far superior to even the most advanced of Yautja medical supplies.

Three Claws glanced from his healed wounds to the naked human at his feet, who was already being covered up by the blowing snow, and then up to the full moon overhead as it slipped behind a bank of dark clouds.

An interesting hunt. He thought to himself as he collected his dropped equipment and his prey's skull...it would clean up well and make a good trophy...not to mention a good story when Three Claws returned home.

Three Claws slid his bio-mask back into place and turned to walk back into the treeline. He paused and glanced up again as the full moon slid out from behind the clouds.

A very interesting hunt indeed.

With that he engaged his armor's cloaking ability and disappeared into the trees.