Sheryl held her breath as another thump was heard outside, only letting it out when she was sure that the pod's hull hadn't been breached.
"This isn't happening." She whispered, "This planet should be completely barren."
Her partner gave a small grunt of acknowledgement. He didn't even seem to care.
"What's taking so long!" a muffled voice was heard outside, "I'd like to get back sometime tonight!" She could only make out slight figures through the pod's reinforced glass since it was coated with a layer of orange dirt.
"Sir!" A new voice was heard from outside, also slightly muffled by some sort of device.
"What!" Shouted the same angry man from before whom Sheryl now presumes is the leader.
"I… I think I saw something."
"… What!?"
"Under the truck… something came out. I… I didn't see where it went, it's too dark."
"You saw something under the truck…" The leader didn't seem too impressed, "And it then just magically disappeared."
"Well it, it went into the darkness… The, the headlights were in my eyes."
There was a long pause. Sheryl lent closer to the pod's door to try and hear what was happening.
…
She leant closer.
…
Still nothing.
….
BANG!
Sheryl jumped back, her heart skipping a beat. At first she thought the escape pod had been hit again but when she had more time to register it, she realised it was a gunshot.
"Get back to work!" shouted the leader.
"Yes sir!" Two young men were heard right next to the pod. Sheryl assumed they were the guys breaking in.
"Anyone else see anything? Hmm?" the leader spoke up again in a condescending tone, "Rogers what about you?"
"No sir!"
As the leader went off asking around different people, Sheryl braced herself for another hit… she heard nothing apart from the bosses angry sarcasm. Sheryl turned towards her partner who was now starting to take an interest to what was going on outside.
'What's going on out there?' She thought to herself.
However Sheryl's unspoken question was then somewhat answered when a humanoid figure smashed against the pod's window, leaving a human shaped smudge in the dirt on the glass. It didn't really help with visibility though.
After that, more hits were made on the side of the pod. Not as hard as the ones before but they kept repeating one after another in some form of twisted, monotone rhythm. After two or three seconds of non stop thumping against the pod's wall, the leader seemed to stop talking and another couple of hits after that so did the thuds against the pod.
"Oh I'm sorry, am I interrupting?" a new voice was heard around where the thumping had been. It was deep but as he talked its tone sounded as if he was telling a bad joke. This one's voice however didn't seem to be as muffled as the rest of the men she had heard so far.
"And who are you meant to be?" the leaders voice, even though still strong, seemed to quiver just a little.
"Oh I'm sorry where're my manners?" He chuckled slightly "I am the last guy you're ever gonna meet."
"So you think your pretty funny-"
"Oh please, I'm being dead serious."
"…Well then Mr 'last guy I'm ever gonna meet'" The confidence in the leaders voice returned "There are still seven of us and only one of you. So unless I suddenly have a stroke then I don't think you'll be living up to your name any time soon."
"Well I have to get my eyes checked…"
"…Excuse me?"
"Because I can only see five."
"What are you ta-" he was cut of by the sound of screaming and gunfire before a thud was heard on top of the escape pod.
"See," His voice was now coming from the top of the pod, Sheryl could hear his smile, "Five."
"Sh, shoot it! Kill it now!" the leader shouted.
"Hmm it seems that my eyes are still playing tricks on me." More gunshots and screaming were heard until a dead silence crept over for a couple of moments, "Because now I can only… count… one."
Sheryl tried to look through the smudged glass to try and make out what was going on out there. The only thing she could see was the outline of a man holding something in the air. Squinting her eyes, Sheryl could just about see that the object was another humanoid silhouette being grabbed by the throat.
"See some people my think that I enjoy doing this…" the figure holding the second in the air positioned them both to the same level "well… maybe I do but they don't seem to realise how every… almost every time they always seem to bring it on to themselves."
"W… What are you." The leader's voice was horse.
"Oh didn't you listen. I'm the last guy you're ever gonna meet." After that no recordable noise could be heard from outside. Sheryl just saw the first figure let go of the second who slumped to the floor, motionless.
Sheryl then froze as the figure turned to face the pod before making its way over.
"I don't suppose you'd mind opening the door would you?" he said.