Predator If It Bleeds 42

The big beast stalked forward, snarling, sniffing. Jerrick glimpsed the mirror flicker again as the armored alien predator made itself partially visible. The great gruzzly generally relied on its sense of smell and hearing, so the camouflage wouldn't be a perfect defense. The beast's black
tongue flicked out of its reptilian snout, and it roared, sweeping its rake-like claws from side to side, looking for its target. Facing off, the alien hunter dashed toward the gruzzly, then disappeared entirely as its camouflage locked in. The wounded beast lumbered along, wading through the wheat field, destroying the precious stalks as it looked for the alien hunter it could sense nearby. Seemingly coming out of nowhere, a line of fire licked across the ground like a fire hose of flames. The hunter was intentionally burning the fields to madden the animal.

The gruzzly stumbled away from the dark smoke and crackling flames. The hunter set more of the crops aflame, boxing in the huge beast. Jerrick watched, appalled. "That's our field! Damn you!" The alien predator seemed not to care, using the flames to drive the gruzzly. The predator was a humanoid-shaped blur against the rising fire. The furry beast charged directly into the flames, somehow finding its enemy. The predator blasted his prey with the flamethrower, but the heat rolled off the big animal's reptilian chest plate.

Facing a real battle now, the hunter switched off his camouflage field and withdrew two long knives before throwing himself at the smoke-maddened gruzzly. The furry creature smacked him sideways, bowling the predator aside. The armored hunter rolled through the rising fires in the field, stumbled back to his feet, then lunged forward again with both knives extended. His snakelike hair tentacles writhed, and through his metal mask he let out a bellow that sounded just as primal
as the gruzzly's. They engaged. The hunter's sharp blades dipped into the gruzzly's body again and again like a stinging wasp.

With massive arms, the beast clasped the hunter, wrapped around his body, and squeezed tight. Long claws struck sparks across the armor, damaging it. Then the predator clamped a small self-adhering explosive to the gruzzly's back. With a brief, bright flare, the explosion blasted through the beast's vertebrae and into its chest cavity, incinerating its heart and spine. The huge monster collapsed, dead, while the predator reeled backward, barely able to keep his own footing. His shredded armor sparked with random energy pulses, and his body leaked runnels of acid-green blood. Though obviously wounded, the predator remained upright over his kill.The dead gruzzly lay twitching, smoking the burning fields crackled around them.-pg.220-221-222 chpt.8