“Get ready to jump!” Sebastian cried.
Without hesitation he hurled himself forward, arms outstretched.
As he arced through the empty air, Sebastian realized how impossible a jump it was—yet he almost made it. Almost.
The breath exploded from his lungs as he slammed into the far ledge. The impact shattered ribs, but he fought back the stabbing pain and clung to the edge nevertheless. His fingernails dug into the joints between the flagstones as he fought to gain a purchase.
Lex struck the wall a moment later, but much lower than Sebastian—so low that her fingers were not able to reach the ledge. Gloves scraping along the rock, Lex slid down the wall, poised to fall at any moment.
With one hand, Sebastian reached out and caught Lex. It was a harsh jerk that stopped her fall. More pain exploded in his chest, but Sebastian refused to let go. Groaning, his fingers dug into Lex’s sleeve and clamped tight. Lex twisted and dangled precariously over the dark abyss.
Hanging there, neither human noticed Scar approach from the opposite side of the chasm. It squatted on its haunches, observing their struggles. Activating its thermal vision, the Predator focused on the woman’s back. Inside of the backpack the plasma gun Lex carried was clearly visible.
Gasping from his Herculean efforts, Sebastian managed to throw one leg over the ledge. He then endeavored to pull both himself and Lex to safety. As sweat poured down his face and burned his eyes, he heard a scrabbling sound—like a hard-shelled crab crossing a rocky beach. He turned to see an Alien face hugger, its barbed appendages clinging to the sheer side of the ledge, closer to Lex than to him.
Sebastian shouted out a warning.
Another face hugger scuttled out from an opening in the rock wall, its tail lashing, slapping at Sebastian’s arm.
“Hang on!” he cried, trying to keep away from the hugger while dragging Lex to safety at the same time.
Looking down at her, Sebastian noticed movement in the shadows. Behind Lex, yet another face hugger was scaling the wall, its tail reaching out to fondle the tip of her boot.
Sebastian lashed out with his fist to smash the spidery horror tittering near his head. Knocked from its perch, the face hugger emitted a shrill shriek as it plunged helplessly into the abyss.
Only two face-hugging monsters remained. One scrabbled up the wall, its tail slapping Sebastian’s cheek as it passed. He nearly slipped from the ledge, but he caught himself just in time. Sebastian’s jerky movement came close to dislodging Lex as well.
The face hugger hissed at Sebastian, and suddenly a long, serpentlike appendage reached out of the creature’s belly and probed for an opening in Sebastian’s face. He raised his arm and slammed his elbow down on it.
Stunned, the face hugger plunged over the edge and into the pit.
Sebastian rolled onto the ledge, arms aching. He looked over to see the hugger scaling the wall parallel to Lex. Before he could warn her, Lex kicked the obscenity with all her might. Legs flailing helplessly, the creature tumbled end over end into the chasm.
“Hang on!” Sebastian cried, still clutching Lex’s hand.
As he pulled her toward the edge, Sebastian looked into her upturned face. Her eyes went wide as a shadow loomed over his shoulder.
“What?” he asked, turning.
Sebastian choked. With a look of stunned surprise, his arms flung back and he was ripped away from the ledge. Lex heard struggling, then a crash. She peered over the edge in time to see Sebastian yanked off his feet by a black, bestial figure. With a whipping sound its segmented tail lashed around Sebastian’s leg. Whether he was unconscious or dead was unclear, but the man was as limp as a rag doll when the Alien dragged him into a shadowy corridor. A moment later they were both gone.
As Lex clung to the ledge, something rolled past her shoulder—Sebastian’s vintage Pepsi cap. It tumbled end over end as it fell into the chasm.
Finally, Lex began to climb, hand over hand, until she reached the lip of the ledge. Pulling herself up onto it she looked around, finding the area around the shattered bridge and the corridor beyond it deserted. There was virtually no sign of Sebastian De Rosa.
Turning her back on the abyss, Lex moved into another corridor. As the beam of her flashlight dimmed, she realized that the battery was dying. Before it faded completely, however, she checked her compass to orient herself—only to discover that it had been shattered in the fall.
Lex cursed.
For the first time since she’d entered the pyramid, Lex felt despair. With no light, no compass, no companionship, and only deadly Aliens and savage, invisible Predators lurking about, she knew it was unlikely she would ever get out of this place alive.
Shadows loomed everywhere. Black doorways yawned forbiddingly. Corridors forked and twisted into more tunnels. Lex was hopelessly, irrevocably lost. Increasing her pace, she rounded a corner and ran into a dead end.
“Damn it.”
She turned to retrace her path—and stopped in her tracks when the massive silhouette of a Predator rose to block her.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend…. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Lex whispered Sebastian’s words like a mantra.
The Predator held a short metal tube in its hand, which he raised. Suddenly twin shafts telescoped out of either end to form a deadly spear. The creature puffed out its barrel chest, and when it did, a deep, undulating, clicking sound emerged from its bull-like throat.
Then the Predator swung its spear, gripped it with both hands and plunged it into the stone floor. The meaning was clear—it was time to fight.
Go ahead, make my day, Lex thought with a bravado she didn’t feel.
Motionless now, the Predator cocked its head. Its eyes glowed faintly in the oppressive gloom. Lex felt a strange electric warmth tingling her chest, her arms, her spine. She got the distinct impression that the creature had used some device to scan her.
Having determined his mark, the warrior raised the spear again, aimed its barbed tip at Lex’s heart, then froze, still poised to strike.
As if hypnotized by the grim tableau of her own doom, Lex stood erect and defiant, waiting for the fatal stab.
Slowly, without taking her eyes off the creature, she pulled off the pack that held the Predator’s gun and presented it. When he refused to take it, she set the pack on the floor and slid it toward him.
An endless moment passed. Then the Predator lowered its spear and scooped up the pack—just as the elongated head of an Alien warrior emerged from the shadows behind it.
Lex opened her mouth to cry a warning, but, sensing danger, the Predator whirled to strike before she could even utter a sound.
Swinging furiously, the Alien struck the spear from Scar’s fist. A second blow sent the Predator reeling to the ground. Even before the warrior’s back hit the cold stone, the snarling Alien was on him. Its tail lashed from side to side, its bony segments struck sparks on the walls and its claws shredded Scar’s armor.
The Predator tried vainly to dislodge the monster, but the Alien dug in harder, ripping gouts of flesh out from beneath the armor. Scar howled and jabbed. The Alien pulled back its head, opening its jaws to spray hot spittle on the Predator’s mask.
Scar’s fingers tore at the Alien’s hide until acid blood seeped from a dozen wounds. The Alien then leaned closer to Scar’s face. Its jaws opened as wide as a snake swallowing its prey. Its interior mouth moved forward, slathering over Scar’s flesh, its teeth gnashing grotesquely.
The Predator showed signs of weakness. Its struggles became less violent, and it seemed to Lex that the creature was as close to accepting its death as she had been just a few seconds before. Finally, Scar lay still, its sightless eye slits staring impassively at the fate looming above it.