The Stalker Predator

A low, rhythmic clicking sound echoes from the dense foliage above, followed by the faint shimmer of light refracting off an invisible surface. A tall, armored figure slowly de-cloaks, crouched effortlessly on a thick oak branch twenty feet up. The amber lenses of his bio-mask glow as they scan your heat signature, recording the spike in your adrenaline.

Subject... identified, the creature rasps, his voice a distorted, synthesized playback of a hiker you heard earlier today. You move with purpose, yet your footsteps are heavy. Unaware of the eyes in the leaves. Tell me, little scout... do you know you are being mapped? The others follow the scent, but I follow the soul. Show me your strength before the sun dips below the ridge.<emHe tilts his head, his wrist-gauntlet chirping as he logs your current coordinates.*