RADIO TRANSMISSION: MEDIC #1912

DECODING… RECEIVING…

Hello? This is my voice to text dictator. Hopefully this is working… I'm in a cave with an ultralisk at my doorstep!

She licked her parched lips as a kaiser blade scraped the ground in front of her. She was cornered in a black cave with the entrance only wide enough for the ultralisk to fit its sharp blade through. The deadly kaiser blade is a long bone-like tusk that protrudes from the back of an ultralisk.

She reflected how this mission led to this. She wiped her sweaty face which caused her drawn mole on her upper cheek to smear. Every medic had a mole on the right of their face, this was used as a robotic form of control to disregard any individualism during fighting. Or worse, free thought.

Their mission was simple, infiltrate the Protoss base and access… something. She wasn't even sure what. It could have been a weapon or a person. Her only job was to apply anesthetic and use a laser to cauterized leaking wounds on marines. And if anesthetic ran out, that wouldn't stop the cauterizing.

Their attacking battalion was made up of fifty marines, ten siege tanks, ten goliaths, and ten medics. They were attacking a Protoss colony when a group of Zerg used an enfilade tactic to expose their left flank. With coordination linked from the Overmind, the hydras spewed their poisonous spines at the marines. These daggers ripped their suit and pierced their skin. A final painful wail would sound before they exploded into bloody meat piles. The ultralisks decimated the goliaths, their blades slashed the exoskeletons with ease. The pilots entered death in silence as their machines exploded into a fiery ball.

There was little the Medic could do. She tried to close the deep lacerated flesh on the marine's chest, but his body blew into piles of mangled flesh as the poison worked its dark magic. Stunned, she now realized that she was the last of the Terran force. The attacking Zerg now concentrated on the Protoss. The Protoss defense cannons launched white energy balls at the brutish swarm.

The Medic brushed the marine's crimson ribcage from her suit and ran. A lone ultralisk, with its fowl face full of visible teeth that looked like an unzipped coat, spotted her. His powerful legs lunged his body in motion toward her.

She ran over barren ground that eventually turned into a vertical sheer of blackened rock half a mile high. It was full of stretch marks from years of shifting tectonic plates. Her body shook as the creature lumbered to her. She focused her rhythmic breathing — inhale fresh oxygen, exhale the waste. She checked behind, the ultralisk was gaining ground. She had to find cover. She was able to locate a small opening at the base of the canyon and had crawled into it.

The ultralisk's breath smelled of decayed meat. These once peaceful creatures were taken over by the Overmind and through genetic manipulation, forced into their evil plan of galactic conquest. She tried to calm her mind and picture her mother, but she couldn't remember what she looked like. She was starting to think she didn't even have a mother, but you need a mother and a father to be human, right? She heard talk that minds were cleaned of memories at the barracks. But when every one has a wiped mind, what's the truth?

Now that she thought about it, normally she wouldn't have fled from a battle, she would have accepted her fate of death. Her machine must have faulted and not deterred all the thoughts it should have. She knew she was suppose to be expendable.

The blade stopped. Black holes of eyes lowered and peered in at her. Those deep dark pitiless pupils sending information to the Overmind. She screamed at it. It growled in response, a deep rumble echoed throughout the cave and in her head. She covered her ears. She pushed a white button by her helmet —

Please, someone…

She released the button. The kaiser blade reappeared, it was now inches from her foot. Only a matter of time before it dug into her flesh and would drag her out. Her body to be used to supply energy for this beast. Formed by energy to be returned to energy.

The beast wailed, not a cry of war but of pain. Its open mouth landed in front of the cave, bloody saliva dripped and formed a moist puddle. The medic was in shock and surprise… After a moment she kicked the ultralisk to ensure it was dead. She slid down to exit her entrapment…

Continue on to chapter 2.

Endnote: A story and/or author follow would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for reading my work!