- "There was nothing for it but flight. Nothing I could do would kill a creature like this. I had but one hope. That Africa itself might kill the beast."
- ―John Copeland (from Predator: The Pride at Nghasa)
John "Johnny" Copeland was a park ranger in Kenya. Alongside, Reginald Barrows and Wanji, he was assigned to escort expert hunter, Sir James Neville Ramsay to Nghasa Basin after several workers were attacked and killed by a 'Lion'.
Copeland would go on to encounter the true culprit - a Yautja known by the locals as the Forest Devil. He eventually managed to escape with his life after the Predator was attacked by Kenya's wildlife.
Biography
Journey to Nghasa Basin
At Kildeer station, a runner approached Copeland and Barrows, notifying them that they were to escort the hunter Sir James Neville Ramsay to Nghasa Basin following an attack there. Word spread that a Lion was the culprit, but Wanji translates that the runner attested it was a Forest Devil - "Dudu Ya Porini."
Upon meeting with Sir James, Copeland, Barrows, Wanji assembled a team and set out on foot, approaching a nearby village on the way. A village elder informed them of the 'Forest Devil', and a child escorted them to several flayed corpses strung up on a tree.
Ambushed by the Devil
With Sir James becoming overwrought, Copeland and Barrows attempted to calm him, before he was blasted from behind from the shot of a Plasmacaster. Chaos ensued, and Barrows and Wanji are killed in the skirmish, with the remaining bearers fleeing in terror.
With the Forest Devil emerging and moving on to Copeland, he kept it at bay with his Webley revolver, before fleeing for his life into the depths of the jungle, the hunter in hot pursuit. Deeming the risk worth it, Copeland entered a marsh to lose the Predator, with the Devil following him, it is subsequently attacked by two monstrous Nile crocodiles, and despite losing its left arm, it killed the creatures and continued its pursuit.
Copeland ran into an open field, with the Devil close behind. The blood of the Devil's wound subsequently attracted a clan of Hyenas and he was attacked by them, followed by a Lion and Lioness that joins the chaos. The Predator managed to escape the mauling, and limped away to a muddy wallow, John cautiously following him.
Copeland witnessed the Predator enter the wallow, a Mother Ship later emerging and taking off. With John kneeling in exhaustion, he wished God's mercy towards the next beings that would face the creature's wrath.
Personality and Traits
- "To have an unreceptive nature in Africa is to be blind. There are things in these wilds that white men have no name for."
- ―Copeland (from Predator: The Pride at Nghasa)
Copeland was a fair-minded individual who treated people of all races with respect. He was quick to correct Sir James after he mistook Wanji for a bearer, and later attempted to reason with him after he accused the Kenyan people of revolt.
Unlike other survivors of Predator hunts, Copeland recognized the impossibility of killing the creature that stalked him, and only survived the hunt by fleeing into Kenya's wilderness, fuelled by sheer adrenaline.
Trivia
- Copeland is notably one of few survivors of a Predator hunt in which the protagonist does not kill the hunter.