Author's Note: I hope you people like this one. My hope is that it sets up the plot for the next few chapters and reveals that it might not be all well with Kerrigan just yet.
Chapter 3
Survive
Raynor's breath was coming in gasps, pushing up a hill through deep snow drifts and against high winds was not as easy as it sounded. Especially toting a heavy rifle. Several times he considered dropping it but every time he realized he knew nothing about the world they were on and had no idea what kind of dangers they could run into. So he continued to carry it, moving through the snow at what felt like a snail's pace with Kerrigan following behind in the channel through the snow he was making with his suit. "How you holding up back there, Sarah?"
"Just peachy. This suit is so…restricting. I can't move worth a shit." Kerrigan replied, stretching her body as far as the confines of the suit would allow her, which wasn't very. Raynor simply grinned and turned back to face ahead. Warning lights suddenly started flashing in his suit as it began sending him warnings about possible suit failures. The high winds were forcing snow and ice into crevices in his suit, causing the suit to bind and some of the mechanisms to start seizing up which the suit was not happy about. Raynor flipped a switch to shut the warnings off considering there wasn't much he could do about it at the moment anyways.
As the pair made their way across the mountains, Raynor noticed a major lack of vegetation on the planet. There were practically no trees on the ground with which to break the wind and only a few mounds of snow that could have even possibly been bushes covered in snow. Even many of the most uninhabitable worlds usually had some form of life growing on them even if only toxic plants. He didn't have energy to waste checking on it so it was simply a mystery for the time being and he decided to leave it at that. Raynor finally topped the crest of the hill they had been marching up and could see down the other side. "Halfway there, sweetheart. Just a little further." Raynor said as he checked his navigation read out before moving out again, clearing the snow for his beloved.
Every few steps Raynor would check back to make sure Kerrigan was still with him. Her silence over the radio was disturbing at best and frightening at worst. If she stayed silent for much longer he'd start to worry the suit was failing her. A muffled roar sounded from nearby and a large form slowly materialized out of the falling snow. A large, white, furry beast advanced on the lone pair, a growl coming from deep within its throat. Raynor pulled up short and Kerrigan almost bumped into him, stumbling at the last minute and finally pulling her eyes from the ground. At the sight of the monster she almost jumped but Raynor put a calming hand on her shoulder.
Raynor slowly began backing around the creature, keeping one hand on Kerrigan's shoulder with the other leveling his rifle at the large beast. The creature tracked their path with his eyes, not closing the distance but not backing away either. It seemed to be waiting for something and whatever it was Raynor didn't want to hang around to find out what it could be. He realized that was an empty hope as two more shapes materialized out of the mist, one even larger than the creature currently facing them. As the larger one advanced, the two smaller creatures backed off, obviously giving it preference.
Raynor heard a growl coming over the radio and turned to see Kerrigan looking at the beast and even through the frosted pane of the SCV view port Raynor could see a feral snarl on her lips. "Sarah…let's not be hasty now…" he started to say but was interrupted by her.
"Who are you, lowly creature, to challenge my might? You want to take me down, then come and try!" she yelled at the beast, even though there was no way for the creature to hear with her suit closed to outside communication. With a feral roar she charged at the beast, and the beast lunged towards her with a roar of its own, as if it could hear and respond to Kerrigan after all. The two connected in the middle as Raynor could only watch and Kerrigan was launched backwards by a swipe from the creature. Raynor pulled the trigger on his rifle and the rifle made a chugging noise but other than that nothing happened. The weapon had succumbed to the cold after all, rendering it useless and Raynor unarmed. With a curse he pulled his sidearm out of the holster in the leg of his suit and opened fire. The creature howled in pain as the large bore bullets pierced its hide and changed targets, charging towards Raynor and away from the prone Kerrigan.
Raynor combat rolled out of the way of the charging beast and landed in a crouched firing position, unloading the rest of his side arm's ammo into the side and head of the beast as it turned around for another charge. The beast roared in pain and anger and leapt through the air, trying to crush Raynor under its massive feet. Raynor managed to dive out of the way once again but now he was out of ammo in his sidearm and once again defenseless. As the beast reoriented itself for another charge Raynor tripped over his previously discarded rifle and fell to the ground. With a curse he kicked at the hunk of metal and something inside of it made a sound like a release. Grabbing onto that one hopeful wish he picked the rifle and leveled it at the charging beast, praying to any God or gods that would listen for the weapon to work.
The rifle belched fire as heavy round after heavy round poured into the beast's head and upper torso, blood beginning to pour from all over yet the beast continued to charge. Raynor let out a yell of defiance as the beast continued bearing down on him until it finally succumbed to its wounds and fell down face first, not more than a meter from where Raynor sat with the rifle still pointing at it. Raynor suddenly realized he was gasping for breath, the exertion and fear caused from seeing Kerrigan hurt had taken their toll and he could barely move for a few seconds. He slowly levered himself to his feet and leveled his rifle at the other two beasts. With a snarl the two other beasts began retreating, keeping their eyes on the weapon in Raynor's hands.
As the creatures finally faded from sight, Raynor let out a pent up breath. He hadn't been sure he could have fired the weapon again, much less held off two more beasts so he was glad they departed after what he assumed was their leader had been defeated. "Sarah!" Raynor rushed over to the prone form, glad to see that she was still alive but the readings from the suit showed small ruptures in the exterior. It was meant for simple repairs, not melee combat against a clawed monster. Raynor looked around for something to make a sled out of but with the complete lack of vegetation there wasn't as much as a large branch anywhere in sight.
He looked down at the prone, weak form of his love and made up his mind. He wasn't going to lose her again, no matter what. He discarded his rifle and did something he'd promised himself he'd never do, he activated the stim patches in his suit. The suit immediately injected the drug into his system and Raynor felt himself revitalized with an almost inhuman amount of energy. He kicked the rifle out of the way and picked Kerrigan up in his arms, positioning her carefully before begin to run through the snow.
It felt like decades went by as Raynor ran through the snow, Kerrigan's suit rapidly venting the atmosphere it had kept inside and being replaced by the deadly cold of the planet they found themselves stranded on. On and on he ran, when the first jolt from the stim pack wore off, he triggered it again. When that one wore off, he triggered it again. His suit began flashing warnings indicating further use of the drug would risk permanent damage to his health or his psyche but he just ignored the lights and sounds and triggered the pack again.
Raynor began to see visions. At first it was Zerg running through the snow after him and he almost doubled his speed before the vision disappeared and was replaced by a squad of his Raiders, running away from an unknown something behind them. He started to bark orders to get them to spread out and flank their pursuers or to join up with other forces. That vision faded to be replaced by another until he could hardly tell reality from fiction, the only thing that stayed in his mind was the need to keep going and no matter what, not let go of the precious bundle in his arms. He triggered the stim pack again.
Eventually, Raynor collapsed, throwing the still unconscious Kerrigan for a tumble as he landed face first in the snow. With a jolt, his partially deranged mind focused on the one thing he knew he mustn't lose and he scrambled over to Kerrigan again. In a brief moment of clarity, Raynor spotted buildings through the still falling snow. Raynor picked up his cargo and began to make his way towards the building, his stim pack empty of charges and his own body rebelling. Stumbling across the threshold of the first building he saw, Raynor reached for the door handle but with his hand still outstretched his sight faded and he simply fell forwards, his heavy suit knocking the door out of its housing and allowing him and Kerrigan to fall into the warmth inside. The fact that they had made it never even registered with Raynor. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.