Dillon signals to Ramirez who approaches, to watch over Anna. Dillon slips into the undergrowth. Ramirez stands over Anna, cautiously scanning around him for movement. Unseen by Ramirez, Anna's outstretched hands slowly tighten around a stout root-burl, lying loose on the ground. Dillon appears, looking to Mac for an explanation. Mac ignores him, concentrating on the jungle.
Billy remains frozen and transfixed, staring into the treeline. Something is moving, fluid, silently and downward, into the forest. He's lost sense of the Hunter's presence. Schaefer stares hard at the jungle.
Billy: I guess it's nothing, Major.
Sensing the danger has passed, Ramirez has neglected his attention to Anna. Suddenly, without even looking, Anna with the trained reflexes of an experienced fighter swings the burl with all her might, catching Ramirez hard on the side of the head. As Ramirez goes down, Anna turns, scrambling for the jungle.
Hearing Ramirez' cry, Schaefer signals to Hawkins to move. Hawkins moves out, fast, heading towards the sound. Hawkins sees Anna running away. He gives chase. Anna, although bound, is light and fit and runs fast, hurdling fallen logs and branches, charging through the undergrowth. She has a good start.
Hawkins, in tremendous shape, thunders after her, closing the distance. As he passes from behind a large tree, surrounded by dense foliage, he sees the fleeing Anna. He watches her and then begins to run faster, the green of the jungle rushing by in a blur. Anna drives on, breathing hard with the exertion.
The Observer's P.O.V.: Moving through the jungle. As he steps clear of the foliage he sees Anna driving hard into the alleyway, twenty yards away, Hawkins, closes in.
Hawkins, closing the distance, taking advantage of any hesitation Anna makes, struggles with the dense jungle. Anna hits a small clearing, an alleyway through the trees. She sprints hard across the clear ground. Only a few feet behind Anna, Hawkins lunges forward, knocking her to the ground. In a second he's on her, his weapon ready. She struggles to her feet, fighting, gasping for breath.
Hawkins holds the MP-5 on her, looking at her, almost pleading. He doesn't want to shoot her, but he will if he has to. She looks at the weapon, to Hawkins and then, to the jungle. She stops, staring hard down the alleyway. Something . . . suddenly she sees it!
Hawkins spins . . . seeing the mottled outline of the Hunter's body, racing towards them, as if the entire wall of the jungle were rushing in. The Hunter's weapon flares to life. A splitting thud as Hawkins is hurtled backwards into the undergrowth, the Hunter's hand and weapon flashing through the air. Blood splashes on Anna's face. The woman is terrified, uninjured and covered in Hawkins' blood.
Ramirez, face bloody from Anna hitting him with burl, swings into action, moving in a coordinated pattern into the jungle. The Hunter's arm and spur hook into Hawkins' leg, and he is dragged into the jungle. Immediately Schaefer runs forward to join Ramirez.
Entering the alleyway where Hawkins was killed, Ramirez sees Anna cowering in the bushes. Her blood-splattered face glazed with terror and her eyes are vacant. Ramirez approaches, angry, wary, but the girl is stunned. He sees the trail of blood leading into the jungle.
Ramirez follows the blood trail, finding Hawkins' blood-covered radio, then just a few feet further, his weapon. Ramirez cautiously parts the brush before him and sees bloody entrails, causing him to nearly vomit. The rest of the team assume defensive positions around the clearing.
Schaefer and Dillon approach Anna. She seems unaware of their presence, staring numbly ahead. Schaefer checks her out, looking for wounds, he wipes some of the blood from her face. It's not her blood. Ramirez emerges from the jungle carrying Hawkins' MP-5 and radio. He approaches, dumping the equipment on the ground.
Poncho: Major, you'd better take a look at this.
Dutch: Did you find Hawkins?
Poncho: I . . . I can't tell.
Dutch joins him as Ramirez parts the brush, showing him Hawkins' entrails. There is no body.
Dutch: What in God's name!
Dutch instructs Ramirez to question Anna.
Ramirez drops to one knee and talks to her in Spanish. She mutters incoherently in Spanish, still dazed, shaking her head. Dillon listens closely to her response. Ramirez turns to Schaefer.
Poncho: She says the jungle... it just came alive and took him.
Schaefer seems confused. Looking at Hawkins' bloodstained equipment, he questions why didn't they take Hawkin's weapon or the radio.
Dillon grimly remembering, they did the same thing to Hopper. The two veteran commandos look at each other, finding no explanation between them.
Dutch orders the others to find Hawkins' body. They move out. The team searches for Hawkins' body. Schaefer studies the jungle, looking for signs. Behind him, a stream of blood flows down a vine, but Dutch doesn't notice and moves on. More blood falls, dripping from a leaf and above that, from another leaf. Above that, high in the top of the tree, suspended from vines from his ankles, is Hawkins' body, his chest a gaping wound. He hangs there as if he were an animal, field dressed.
Blain, crouched in the undergrowth. There is a movement in the brush before him. He clicks his safety on the Mini-gun to fire.
Blain: Come on in, you fuckers. Come on in. Ol' Painless is waitin'.
The sound is growing closer. Blain levels the weapon. The movement in the brush is growing louder.
Then a small animal wanders through the leaves. He relaxes momentarily as he watches the animal scurrying from sight. He stands. . . Something grazes his shoulder, a gout of blood erupting. He starts to turn, the Mini-gun held low, ready to fire.
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