Thank you to u/spacepaladin15 for inspiring us all with the original NOP and u/Demon_Deity for inspiring me to pursue a different story under a similar premise with your fantastic marred migration



Next:???



Previous: [https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureofPredators/comments/1rjaekp/predators\_garden\_part\_1/](https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureofPredators/comments/1rjaekp/predators_garden_part_1/)



Prologue:[ https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureofPredators/comments/1ri8ogh/predators\_garden\_prologue/](https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureofPredators/comments/1ri8ogh/predators_garden_prologue/)

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\*Memory transcription subject: Lieutenant Vermi, Krakotl alliance ship officer\*

*Date \[standardized human time\]: October 18th, 2136*



It had been a long walk through the dense foiliage, unfortunately the refusal to prepare for a ground battle on earth bit us in the cloaca when we landed on this unknown habitable world. Ciza said that sensors indicated possible primitives on this world though contact with them remained a secondary priority compared to gathering supplies or searching for escape pods and their occupants. Even if there were primitives it was unlikely they had the intelligence to cull predators to even a moderately safe degree as most primitives tended to struggle with such things. 



So far we had encountered no signs of sapient life neither primitives nor our ejected colleagues. Though fortunately fruit on this planet was not hard to come by damn near every tree had some and our wings made it easy to fly up and pick it off the trees so food would likely not be a problem. But that meant nothing if we had no long term way off this planet. 



I had half a mind to strangle Xelsemi into unconsciousness, lock her in the brig and take command once we got back for endangering the crew like that rather than having us jump back to known coordinates. But mutiny couldn’t fix the problem now. Plus such thoughts made me wonder if I was predator diseased, part of me said I was, that I could never have a normal life and I would die in one uniform or another. That was ok right? As long as I used my violent instincts for good and never pretended to be anything other than a monster deep down?



My private musings were halted by a screech of terror followed by gunfire. It seemed a member of my recon squad, one private Cilt had been startled by something and it soon became apparent what. A large furred predator bolted away from where the gunfire came from and into the treeline before any of us could put it out of it’s misery.



“Great….” I muttered.



“Recon squad regroup on private Cilts position.” I ordered into my radio just to be sure.



As I approached the position where my subordinate failed to eliminate the threat 2 things immediately jumped out at me. The slab of meat on the ground, likely from a recent kill by the beast and primitive dwelling sitting just beyond it. The worst thought instantly entered my head, perhaps that meat was all that remained of the residents living here.



We would have to check up on the house’s interior to be safe, even if they were alive and this place wasn’t abandoned the gunfire might’ve spooked whatever primitives might live here, they wouldn’t understand the technology we wield. Already my squad had assembled a safe distance from the predators kill and began to debate, exchanging information and insults.



“Nice work with alerting that predator so it can stalk and kills us later Cilt.” One jeered.



“Yeah what if you had hit the house and the primitives inside it?” Another spoke up.



“It appeared out of nowhere! What else was I supposed to do, wait for it to notice and maul me?!” Cilt defended himself.



It continued on and on until I finally broke it up.



“Enough, Cilt tried to do everyone here a service by putting down the beast, now we’re going to dispose of the contaminated meat and see if anyones home so that we can tell them it’s safe now.” I said in a commanding tone while motioning towards the primitive dwelling.



“Do I make myself clear?”



“Yes sir!” Came the unified reply.



I lit a match from my survival kit and torched the stinking meat the creature had been mindlessly gorging itself on before stopping Cilt dead in his tracks.



“Next time, don’t miss.” I said coldly.



“Y-yes sir.” He responded.



Hopefully he followed through on that when it or another predator reared their ugly head later.



And with that we marched up to the door of the house, the first thing I noticed was the patio made of dirt covered in flowers. It was pretty in a way, a very primitive way though it lacked the superior functionality of federation design, these primitives would surely welcome what we had to teach them……if there were any left.



The first thing I noticed as I stepped up was the beautiful if chaotic array of flowers and plants growing on the cabins porch, there was a even a series of glass windows in the overhanging roof to let sun shine through. This was certainly prey behavior, though the chaotic nature of it was primitive, nothing was neatly separated within the porch garden. The soil was also moist beneath my talons, indicating someone had likely been here recently since it hadn’t rained since we got here, we might actually not be too late to save them.



I knocked carefully on the door first, then a bit firmer. Then slowly continued until I was knocking full force. One frustrated bang on the door after another, yet no response came.



“Maybe they left before we or the predator got here.” Cilt offered.



“Or maybe we just torched the last remnant of them.” Another soldier suggested.



“Unlikely, there would have been bones, unless these primitives were born without them somehow.” I explained. 



Though the strange predator encounter did stick in my mind.



“Guess nobody’s home then?” Cilt asked.



“Most likely, let’s see if there’s any supplies we could use inside, i’m sure the residents would be understanding once they find out who we are and why we’re here.” I said as I readied myself to kick in the door of the house.



“Are you sure that’s wise Liutenant?” Cilt asked.



“It’ll be-“ I forced my talons forward with all my might before I finished my sentence. “Fine.”



Cilt eyed me with a mix of suspicion and resignation as the rest of the squad shrugged and casually entered the primitive abode. The interior of the cabin was as rudimentary as expected. It hardly even had appliances beyond a sink, there was only a wooden shelf of simple design and old fashion paper books, confirming that either this race had not even discovered holopad technology or the internet or they simply held on to worthless things out of some misplaced sense of legacy. The only sign of a food source was a massive vine-like growth on the wall with 2 odd yellow-orangish fruits covered by strange membranes, already 1 of my soldiers named Dossi had moved over to investigate the strange plant and no doubt pluck one of it’s fruits.



“Only take one, we can’t leave the primitives to starve.” I ordered firmly.



“Yes sir.” He sighed as he reached for one of the fruits, and it pulled away from him.



Time seemed to slow down as the next series of events unfolded, the poor scout found the vines around his neck and lifting him off the ground as we instantly trained our rifles on that……thing, while his own clattered to the ground. As our squadmate became strangled more vines began to move rapidly peeling off the wall forming into a shape, the shape of the all too familiar bipedal configuration most species were. And as one of the plants, predators, things “arms” continued to keep our team member in a chokehold, carefully holding him in front as a shield, the other produced a sidearm seemingly from inside itself as the vines around the “torso” of…..whatever this is began to vibrate violently.



My translator whirred to life but what came back was a garbled mess as it mistook the vibrating of the vines for vocal cords. It’s vice grip on private Dossi didn’t loosen, as it fired its gun into the roof of the building while awkwardly inching toward the door we came in through. The strange fruit, no eyes…I think, on it swaying every which way watching each and every one of us.



And as its fruit-eyes settled on me with a now binocular gaze every instinct in me screamed to shoot it. But I held firm, I would not shoot through my squadmate. Unfortunately Cilt had other ideas as he fired a trio of rounds that all missed only to receive a crippling shot that shattered his right shoulder after the…..thing unleashed a barrage of it’s own.



“Hold fire!” I screamed, not wanting to take anymore casualties.



\*That Idiot\* was the only thing running through my mind after witnessing Cilts failure before turning my attention back to….it



It didn’t attack until attacked so it was prey, but it was aggressive and could make it’s eyes face forward so it was a predator, but it didn’t seem to have any method of consuming…..anything really, it seemed to be made of plant matter but that wasn’t right at all. This thing defied categorization currently, but I doubted this species could evade being known forever. My best guess was that it was an ambush predator with aggressive mimicry to lure in prey. How disgusting. That would explain why it let a beast wander so close in hindsight. No wait predators didn’t allow competition to exist, then again what we saw on earth proved differently.



As it approached the front door it began firing into the roof again before pointing its firearm squarely at me, as one of it’s vine-like appendages extended to grabs keys off a hook next to the door before it stepped outside and gently closing the front door. The last thing before it shut I saw were Dossi’s pleading eyes as his breath continued to fail him while it dragged him off. I attempted to rush through the door after it closes only to be forced back inside by gunfire, whatever it was it wasn’t going to let us follow it any further.



“We can’t just let it take Dossi!” One of my squadmates shouted.



“I don’t think we have much of a choice.” I muttered.



Another knelt down by the wounded Cilt as the rest of us waited at the door and carefully listened and over the course of about 2 minutes we the opening of a garage, the starting of a primitive engine, a wet thud against the outside wall and the distinct  sound of vehicle driving off across the rough gravel path just outside.



As we cautiously crept into the outside world once more, we smelt the distinct smell of a dead body as we looked at Dossi’s seemingly lifeless body slumped against the outer wall of the cabin now smeared with purple blood.



\*No that’s not right, bodies don’t decay that fast do they?\*



And then we heard a rustling in the leaves.

Predator’s Garden: Part 2