size, they could be very stealthy and quiet killers. If it was below ground, our armor would let us know that it was coming via seismic readings.
We scanned and searched the area both below and above ground for hours with no luck. We knew it was there, but it looked like we were going to have to flush out of hiding. Hunters are essentially blind, they can see a few feet in front of them, but they largely rely on scent and hearing. Their sense of hearing was particularly keen, so D-Arin activated a simple sensory pulse device and tossed it out into a large field of scrub brush. The sound the device omitted was entirely undetectable by humans, but I guarantee you that every dog, coyote, and wold within 100 miles of our location was going absolutely bonkers and howling in discomfort. We also hoped it was doing the same thing to the hunter and would bring it to our location.
We waited 10 minutes … 20 minutes … 30 minutes, and nothing happened. D-Arin turned to me, a video of his face appearing on my heads-up display. His brow was knitted with confusion.
“Do you think it’s moved on?” He asked.
“Or maybe it’s de—!”
The desert floor below us exploded, tossing me into the air and I was thrown two dozen yards from where I had been standing. D-Arin was no longer transmitting, and for a brief moment, I panicked. The only reason why he would no longer be transmitting is if he was out of range, or he was dead. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to think about either possibility, because the hunter was now right in front of me. From what I could see, it was at its full, mature size and was easily 20 feet long and was nearly 10 feet in height. Even though I was easily 20 feet away from, I could feel its hot, stinking breath—the smell of rot permeated my every pore. Its front row of teeth were the size of tombstones but filed down to razor sharp points.
I rose to my feet slowly, readying my weapons, priming my in-suit lasers and activating my synth knives which lit up the black night air with an iridescent blue light. This monster had most likely just devoured the love of my life, and I was going to make it pay.
I charged the hunter just as it started to move towards me, firing my lasers. It was surprisingly fast for a creature so large, and it danced around the beams with only one or two of my shots hitting their target, but the hunter barely seemed to notice. It size was too large, so I would have to engage it directly with my synth blades. I leaped into the air when I was within 7 feet of its mouth, hoping to drive my blades into the tough skin of its head. By I moved too slow and the hunter anticipated me and knocked me hard to the ground. I was now right in front of its open maw, it teeth glittering dull in the wan moonlight. I would soon be joining D-Arin in death and the planet was most likely doomed.
But as the hunter moved in to devour me, it came to a halt, and I could smell the distinct stench of burning emanating from its mouth. Suddenly, the hunter’s midsection exploded in a rain of rotten flesh, and with it came D-Arin, covered in head-to-toe in carrion, his armor scarred, but he was alive!
He pulled me to my feet and then removed his helmet.
“I’m sorry that took me so long.” He said.
I stripped off my helmet, and even though he was covered in slime and stank of what smelled like burnt dog hair, I kissed him so harder that you would have thought I was trying to eat him.
***
D-Arin has decided to stay on earth. Well, not on earth, in his ship orbiting the planet in stealth mode. And I’ll be staying with him most of the time. I’ll occasionally travel to earth to visit my parents and my sister—and before you ask: No, my memories will not be intact when I am on earth