Drug War is a 2017 short story written by Bryan Thomas Schmidt and Holly Roberds, published by Titan Books as part of the anthology Predator: If It Bleeds. A sequel to Predator 2, it reunites Mike Harrigan, now retired from the LAPD, and former OWLF agent Garber in Rio de Janeiro, where the two find themselves caught up in another Yautja hunt.
Plot[]
Having retired from the LAPD after forty years of service, Mike Harrigan now advises urban police forces around the world on how to tackle extreme gang violence. Attending one such conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he bumps into his old OWLF adversary Garber, who has likewise moved on from his previous career and now sells high-tech weaponry. Garber is approached at his stall in the convention center by two Rio police officers, Ana Rios and Rodrigo Villaça, who question the legality of the weaponry he is selling.
At that moment, the sound of a distant explosion is heard from outside. Harrigan rushes to investigate with Rios and Villaça, and they see more blasts erupting in the midst of the sprawling favela that covers the hills above. Garber joins them and, through the high-powered scope attached to his rifle, spots a skinned body hanging from a tree in the favela. Realizing a Yautja is at work, Harrigan and the Rio cops head off into the favela, while Garber returns to his stall to arm up.
On their way into the maze-like slum, Harrigan bumps into a local man named Fernando; when Fernando overhears that Harrigan is from Los Angeles — a city he dreams of one day moving to — he eagerly offers to help show him through the favela to the source of the commotion. Having lost Rios and Villaça, Harrigan reluctantly agrees. The pair soon discover the carnage left by the Yautja, Harrigan deducing it has come to Rio to hunt the heavily-armed drug gangs that operate in the favelas, mirroring the hunt in Los Angeles that he himself had been involved in many years previously. They catch up with the Yautja just in time to witness the creature slaying several gang members with its Plasmacaster, at which point Garber reappears and engages the hunter in a ferocious firefight with his high-tech firepower.
Realizing he is woefully under-equipped, Harrigan raids a nearby gang hideout for weapons before setting off in pursuit of the creature. He finds an elevated position from which to fire on the Yautja, witnessing as it brutally blows Garber apart with its Plasmacaster. He's preparing his own shot when he is stunned to see Fernando engage the creature with hurled handfuls of fruit. Acting quickly, Harrigan saves the young man when he shoots the Yautja in the shoulder. The wounded creature flees, while Harrigan and Fernando follow its trail of luminous blood.
The Yautja is eventually trapped between Harrigan and a heavily-armed police squad headed by Rios and Villaça, who all rain gunfire down on the creature, seriously wounding it. It slips away from the police, but Harrigan corners it and is preparing to finish it when he is confronted by four other Yautja. The new arrivals do not attack, but instead reveal they have come to Earth in pursuit of the individual causing havoc in the favela, who is apparently wanted for some unknown crime. Understanding, Harrigan allows them to restrain the rogue individual and take him away, explaining to the others afterwards that the Yautja will "punish him in their way".
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