Predator Big Game 10

The commandos were now on rocks all around the creature, firing at will. The creature staggered backward, again caught by surprise as it was hit over and over. Suddenly the blue energy shot out from a weapon mounted on the creature's shoulder. The bolts looked like blue death, and they were aimed directly at the commandos. The beams exploded on contact. The power of that weapon was immense, easily slicing through commandos who were in the open.

Five of the commandos were cut down in the first moments of the fight. The rest dove for cover. Nakai shook his head. So much for the creature leaving its weapons in a camp. Obviously this creature was far from unarmed. It just chose when to use a weapon and when not to, as any good soldier would do.

"Return fire!" the colonel shouted.

They were definitely in range now. Nakai and Tilden both dropped to cover behind rocks, leveled their rifles on rocks, and began firing. Both of them chose to pull off single shots. Nakai figured the chance of hitting the creature at this range was much, much better with well-aimed fire. Clearly Tilden had the same thought. Most of the other men down the line opened up with full automatic fire.
The sounds of the weapons echoed and doubled back, loud enough to do damage to any human ear.

Nakai hoped that the noise bothered the creature, hoped that it struck some fear into the thing. The creature dove for cover into the lava rocks, firing as it went. One of the humvees exploded not far from Nakai, sending orange and red debris into the smoke-filled air. Beside it a man screamed and rolled in the dirt, trying to put out the gas fire engulfing him. Nakai kept squeezing off shots through the smoke at the spot where the creature had hidden behind rocks. Dozens of other men on both sides of the canyon were firing, some in bursts, others, like Nakai, firing one shot at a time. The creature leaped into view, firing rapidly with the blue-flamed weapon. A dozen explosions to Nakai's right shook the ground as men died, some screaming in pain, some making no more than the thick, wet sound as their insides were blown out. The commandos on the rocks closer to the creature were taking even more of a beating. They were being picked off like ducks sitting on the shore of a pond. It seemed the creature never missed.

But the remaining men were scoring hits. Nakai could tell every time a bullet pounded into the creature, making it jerk backward. Its entire body couldn't be covered with armor. Some of those bullets had to be getting through, causing damage.
Nakai and Tilden kept pulling off shots, consistently, both of them finding their mark, but since they were firing singly, and were at a distance, the creature focused its firepower on the closer commandos, and the men down the line who were firing in long bursts.

Three more shots of blue death shot out.
Three more men died. Then the monster started to move. With a quick bound, it was on top of the lava flow. Quickly, it fired a dozen more blasts, exploding rock and bodies with blue fire.
The second humvee exploded. Six more commandos died. Three more men in the valley were cut in half. Then the creature was gone, vanished over the ridge into the black lava field. The gunfire slowed and stopped. In the sky, small parachutes still held up the flares of white light, flooding
the smoke and fire-filled valley with reality.
Death was everywhere.-pg.630-631 chpt.23