Predator breaking free of trap

Just then, from the end of the corridor by the snare, a loud swish followed by the snapping of branches broke the silence. An instant later the net exploded off the jungle floor in a hail of leaves and sticks, rocketing up into a stand of mahogany trees growing tightly together. Schaefer jerked his head around, and the whole team leaped to its feet as the trap went off. Even at this distance they could see that a huge struggling creature mauled the sides of the net, and a long unearthly high-pitched screech echoed through the canyon.

Schaefer led the commandos down the short incline along the corridor toward the bobbing net. All their guns were cocked. Only Anna remained behind, crouching behind a rocky outcropping, terrified and praying.

As they arrived under the net it was beginning to tear beneath the strain of its victim’s powerful thrusts. Then the whole network of branches exploded into smithereens of vine and leaves and dirt. A streak of pulsating crimson leaped for the trees, and a powerful three-fingered hand gripped at a limb. It was the alien, at the height of day, raging scarlet and mercurial beneath the brilliant sun without any camouflage at all.

   The Predator (1987 novelization), chapter 14