"So Greer and Marcus have gone out to see if they can find any food that doesn't taste like my Aunt Rosa's zucchini pasta."
"Eli, stop talking to that thing." Rush looked up from his thinking position on the rock ledge across the cave.
Eli scowled. "No one ever understands that documenting this will be important. I thought you guys learned that when we found the Kino from our first visit to this planet." Eli was always talking to the Kinos. It was nice, too, like having a best friend who was always there to listen.
Rush lifted his chin off of his hand and turned towards Eli. "Why don't you get some sleep? I'll keep watch until Greer and Marcus return."
Eli opened his mouth to protest, but ended up yawning instead, which made him choose not to say anything. He turned the Kino off and placed it on the ground next to his sleeping bag, which he then started to unroll. Thunder rolled outside the cave and Eli jumped a bit. "It's getting colder", he commented. Rush gave no response. Eli finished making his bed on top of the rock and curled up into it. He tried to close his eyes and fall asleep, but the hard rain, thunder, and thought of being viciously murdered by those nocturnal creatures made it difficult. After a few minutes, Eli rolled over to his other side, facing the inside of the cave. He watched wearily as Rush paced around the wet cave, returned to sitting, then got up and start pacing again. Eli smiled and his eyes closed quickly.
Eli was woken to the sound of Greer and Marcus returning. In their arms they carried small, purple, round fruits, but their faces weren't happy. "Here", Marcus commented, dropping his armload on to the rock ledge. "They taste awful but they're not poisonous and they're something." Greer piled his fruits on top of Marcus'. There was plenty of food for everyone and it would last them a few days, but it seemed that everybody had lost their appetite.
Greer slung his gun around his should so that he was cradling it. "And now we wait." And they did. They waited several hours before Greer jumped up, nervously whispering, "What was that? Did you hear that?" He was waving his gun around wildly.
"If you'd be quiet, the rest of us might hear it", Rush growled. The four men strained their ears to hear all of the sounds in their new surroundings. Light rain fell onto leaves and ferns, making soothing sounds. Something like crickets sounded all around the cave, and there was even a bird, or something like it, bellowing its chords in the distance. Then there was a rustling in the brush, and a soft panting noise coming from within them. Rush and Eli snatched up the rifles that had been leaning against the cave wall, glad to rest. Holding their breath, the four men watched the entrance to the cave.
Scott fell out from the undergrowth and vines of the forest. He landed on all fours and was gasping and coughing. Marcus freaked out from his sudden appearance and fired his gun. Three rounds spat out into the darkness beyond. Luckily for Scott, Marcus had been too nervous to aim, and the bullets missed him widely.
"Matt!" Greer rushed forward to help his friend up. "We thought you were dead!" The last anybody had seen of Scott, he had been wounded, alone, in these woods during the solar flare, or so they had seen on one of the previous Kinos.
Greer was pulling Scott off the ground and having Scott lean on his shoulder for support. Scott muttered, "Yeah, I thought so, too. I've been out running those devils every night. I thought the solar flare was interrupting the Stargate." Greer relayed their past few days' events to Scott, telling him that in the past, their team had been sent out to look for Scott again and retrieve the Kinos after the solar flare. They had found the Kino and sent it back to Destiny, but apparently had gone back to the past, because a few minutes later, the solar flare came again, effectively trapping all of them here. They were attacked by the creatures again before they could make any progress in rescuing Scott. Half of the original team had died from the attack, and two more left dead by the virus in the water. Marcus, Greer, Rush and Eli had sought refuge in this cave, and were on the defense when Future-Scott had come bursting through the forest.
"Ah", said Scott, his back to the cave entrance, his hands warming on the meager fire that Rush had built a few hours before. Greer was examining a deep cut in his arm when suddenly two of the creatures sprang from the jungle and landed on Scott's back. Scott yelled out in pain as the two monsters dug into his flesh and bit him all over. Rush and Eli jumped up from their sitting positions and scanned the cave entrance for more ambushes, while Marcus fired randomly into the night. Greer was sitting in shock, still right in front of Scott, and could see the horrified expressions cross Scott's face. Breaking from his trance, he violently swatted at the creatures on his friend's back, but they had already done their job, pouncing off the dead marine's body and running out of the cave.
The creatures had not returned, and all men relaxed after another hour. Greer had carried Scott's body out of the cave and laid it gently on the mossy floor of the jungle. Rush had added more wood to the fire, and everyone had huddled around it sadly. After much silence, Rush spoke. "If we are to survive this, we need to deal with tactics. And not just against these creatures, but food, water, shelter, and facing the possibility that we may never be rescued."
Marcus turned to face Rush. "What do you mean? The solar flare won't last forever."
"Yes, but it may last longer than the amount of time until Destiny drops back into FTL."
Marcus' eyes grew bigger. "We may be stuck here forever? We'll die!"
"Everyone dies."
"Or we can start a civilization! We can colonize this planet, dominate it." Marcus was panicking.
"With what? There aren't any females alive. And truthfully, I'd rather die than procreate with any of the women aboard the Destiny." Eli snickered at Rush's comment.
"What about the food?" Eli asked. "'Cause I don't think I can live much longer if I'm eating stuff that tastes like that." He pointed to the purple fruits on the rocks.
Rush rolled his eyes. "We have meat."
Eli's eyes widened at the thought of such a delicacy. He hadn't had meat since he left the Icarus Base. The rations on board the ship were made of calorie bars, water, and oatmealish stuff. "Meat? Where?"
"Well you could either eat one of the dead creatures, of course that'll probably kill you, or Lt. Scott over there."
Eli gagged. "Eew! I'm seriously not that hungry. I am bored, though."
Greer clenched his fists when he heard Rush suggest that Scott's body be eaten. "How dare you even suggest something like that!" he yelled, furious. He lunged towards Rush, but was still sitting down, and was prevented from getting anywhere near the older man.
Rush seemed not to notice. Instead, he turned to Eli. "You're bored? You are the one with the imagination that everything is going to be okay. You are the one who has a Kino to talk to. You are the one who doesn't have to do anything! So don't tell me you're bored when there's hundreds of things you could be doing to help get us out of here!" Rush didn't yell, he hardly ever yelled, but he said it so calmly and aggressively that Eli shrank away from him and retreated into the corner.
Greer and Marcus exchanged glances. Neither of them were going to sacrifice themselves to save Eli from Rush. They pretended to talk to each other, agreeing that they should probably go scout out a fresh water source. They hurried away from the cave, guns in hand.
Eli sat alone in his corner. He had no idea what time it was; Rush was the only one with a watch and it had been smashed and broken during one of the attacks. There was still no direct sunlight, but the rising sun had begun to make vivid colors in the sky. Rush did not turn when he said, "Eli, I'm sorry. I know you're doing all that you can. It just seems that all of our knowledge is no use; it's simply survival of the fittest."
Eli nodded, even though Rush couldn't see. Eli stood and walked over to where Rush was sitting. He sat next to him, and even dared to rest his hand on Rush's shoulder. Maybe in such a hopeless state, Rush wouldn't notice, maybe not even mind. Eli sighed. "Yeah, I know. It sucks. I don't think we can keep running and holding them off, though. We need to get back to the Destiny."
Rush nodded slowly. Eli felt backwards, him telling Rush what was going on and what he felt they needed to be doing, instead of the other way around. Rush looked up, an odd grin on his face. "If you're really bored, I'll give you some logarithms for you to do in your head." Smiles were an uncommon thing on Rush's worn face, and this was the first Eli had ever seen, but he thought he rather liked them. Eli nodded in agreement and Rush proceeded to say any kinds of math that just happened to pop into his head at the moment. Without paper, Eli made a few mistakes, but he was able to talk them through and have Rush point out his errors. This was fun, at least more fun than anything else, but soon Eli became bored again. Silence covered the two once more.
"We're going to die, aren't we?" Eli asked. Rush didn't reply, but reached a hand over and patted Eli's knee. It was oddly warm and comforting. Eli leaned ever so slightly closer to Rush's side.
Marcus and Greer had crept back into camp after listening for a minute to check that the coast was clear. "Hey, guys, Marcus and I found a creek about-" Greer stopped walking and talking when he saw that Rush and Eli were asleep on the rock ledge. The weird part, though, was that Eli was almost cuddling Rush's right side. Greer laughed, something he wouldn't have dared to do had Rush been conscious. He turned to Marcus. "Well, it seems like it's time for watch duty."