The Forest Devil is the Predator that hunted men along a new railway spur near the Serengeti in Predator: The Pride at Nghasa, a 1993 Dark Horse story by Chuck Dixon and Enrique Alcatena. The local people called it the Dudu ya Porini, a forest devil, and some of them called it Shaitan. It came down from the sky as a falling light the locals named the hunting star, butchered railway workers and the men of a village, and killed a British big game hunter. It lost its left arm in a crocodile river and still left alive.
Biography
The Hunting Star
The Forest Devil arrived in colonial East Africa as a bright streak of light that crossed the night sky over the plain, watched by robed mystics around a fire. The old men of the region later said it was the hunting star, a star that came down from the sky to hunt men. It made its ground in the bush around the Nghasa basin, where the Crown Victoria railway company was pushing a new spur north. Lions roamed the same grassland, and the workers on the line soon blamed the big cats for every death. The hunter let them believe it while it chose its first prey.
The Railway Spur
The first killings came at night at the Kilosa camp on the railway spur, where the workers played cards by the tents. The Forest Devil marked an overseer named Boss George with a solid red triangle outline from its targeting beam, then cut him down in the tall grass while his companion stood beside him. Two armed men who came looking were blasted apart by a bolt of light from the trees, and a fire burned over the remains. Workers who saw it fled, and it went on taking men along the spur until the railway office sent for a game ranger.
The Village Massacre
Deeper in the bush, the Forest Devil lured the men of a village out among the trees and killed every one of them. The village elder told the hunters that it had done this not for food but only to kill, and a blackened blast hole in the ground showed that no lion had been there. It hung the bodies of the men head down from the branches, where the party led by Johnny Copeland found them. A young village girl who had seen it led the way, and the bearers who came with the party began to lose their nerve at the sight.
Sir James
The party was led by Sir James Neville Ramsay, a British big game hunter who held stock in the railway and believed the killings were a native revolt. The Forest Devil marked him with its red triangle while he was lecturing the ranger, then struck him in the chest with a beam from its shoulder cannon. Sir James fell in the grass, and the bearers fired wildly into the treeline. It cut one of them in two, and the rest broke and ran into the bush to spread the story of the forest devil. Their wild shots struck Reginald Barrows, and he died where he lay.
Johnny Runs
When the shooting stopped, the Forest Devil stepped out of its cloak and stood over the bodies with blood on its wristblades. John 'Johnny' Copeland, the game ranger, was the last man standing, and he fired a pistol into its armor without stopping it. The guide Wanji had been hit, and blood was spreading across his shirt. The village girl crouched in the grass as the cloaked hunter passed her, and it left her unharmed. Johnny ran, and it could have killed him at any moment, but it let him go. He jumped into a river to escape.
Fight With The Crocodiles
The Forest Devil followed the ranger into crocodile country and waded into the river after him. Two crocodiles seized it in one of the bloodiest fights between a Predator and wild animals, one by the body and one by the arm, and dragged it under the churning water while Johnny reached the bank. He thought the beast would end up in the belly of a croc. Then an explosion tore up the surface of the river, and the hunter rose out of the water with its left arm gone and green blood pouring from the stump. Mad with its wounds, it spent its rage on the jungle around it, firing into the trees, before it went back to the hunt.
Fight With The Hyenas
That night a pack of hyenas, a small army of them, caught the scent of the wounded Forest Devil on the grassland. They leaped onto it from every side and tore at it, and it fought them off with its one arm and its blades. Lions came in after the fight, and the lions and hyenas fought over the prize while the hunter moved on. It carried its bio-mask in its remaining hand, its bare face showing as it walked through the grass, still dripping green blood from its wounds. Johnny watched from cover and followed it.
Escaping In His Ship
The Forest Devil walked all night to a muddy wallow just east of Nghasa, with the ranger following to make sure it was dead. It lowered itself into the cool mud and sank until only bubbles of green blood marked the place, and he thought it meant to drown itself. Then the ground shook, and a blast turned the wallow to steam as its ship burst out of the mud. The hunting star climbed back into the night sky, and it went to track game on some other world. It left as one of the Predators who lost limbs in battle and lived.
Weapons And Armor
The Forest Devil wore a full suit of armor over a fine mesh net, with heavy plates on its shoulders, chest, thighs and shins, and a gold bio-mask with red eye lenses. Its main weapon was the shoulder cannon, which painted a solid red triangle outline on its targets and fired a bolt of light strong enough to blow men apart or leave a blast hole in the earth. It carried twin blades on a wrist gauntlet, and its cloak let it move unseen through the jungle. Pistol shots from Johnny Copeland did not stop it, and it bled bright green.
Conclusion
The Forest Devil came to colonial East Africa as the hunting star and turned the bush around Nghasa into its private game reserve. It killed railway workers, the men of a village, bearers and a titled hunter, then let the last ranger run. Crocodiles took its left arm and hyenas tore at it, yet it reached its buried ship and left the planet alive. To the people of the region it remained the Dudu ya Porini, a devil of the woods that came from the sky and went back to it.
Appearances
- Predator: The Pride at Nghasa (Dark Horse, Dark Horse Comics #10 to #12, 1993)
Tag Categories: Individual Predators | Predators Who Survived | Predators From The Comics | Predator Lore
