Personal Log
Day: 365
Time: Approximately Noon
Close Encounters of the First Kind
James Holmes sat with his feet propped up and sipping a glass of whisky, found in one of the offices in the installation. Today, was the one year mark. Holmes was quite proud of himself, for today he broke all odds and it was indeed a cause to celebrate.
"One year," Holmes said, "Damn, one whole year."
"What would this constitute as, sir?" asked the Computer, "Would the appropriate response be Happy Birthday? Or… Happy Anniversary?"
"Birthday… hot dang, Computer," said Holmes, sitting up straight, "This whole year I had completely forgot about my Birthday."
"I apologize, Lieutenant," said the computer, "Would you like me to remind you in the calendar?"
"Yes, please, computer. We can't be going nuts out here, and forgetting a Birthday would definitely bring that around."
But, he had been doing quite the opposite over the past few weeks. Ever since his first flight and what he had found that night; Holmes started mapping out the local outposts and even other bases that were left behind the last human and RDA inhabitants. Every day, he would fly from place to place, raiding them of supplies such as food, water, technology, and weapons and ammo. A few even held some extra vehicles, which Holmes either came back for or stripped down for the parts.
Holmes even started fixing up some of these outposts, in case of emergency. He had started reconstruction on one other base and had completed fixed up three other outposts, and had marked another for repair. Each one he picked was spread out quite a ways, in hopes that if something, anything, happened he would have multiple choices for safety. He ended up having more guns then he could ever use alone, and more ammunition then he ever hoped to use. So he began hiding stashes of "weapon dumps" in key outposts or bases, or even some caves, in-between Alpha and the other fixed up safe houses.
Today, Holmes was going to try something new. With an external hard-drive of 2 terabytes he took enough of Computer so he could log into these other computer terminals of his hiding bases and, possibly, connect them all. So, he was gonna try this out on a small outpost that, according to several merc logs he read over, was known for an extensive armory.
Holmes fired up the Sampson and headed out with Computer, who was still tapped into Alpha at this point, pointing the way via GPS. It was a two and a half hour flight, mostly because of Holmes' cautious flying style. When they finally arrived, they were on the outskirts of the jungle, right at the base of a mountain. The whole base was built into the mountain, right at the base, and it looked like the most beat up yet. Trees and other plant life had already grown or overgrown most of the outer walls and even into some of the outer structures.
Holmes circled it for two more minutes after arrival, allowing all the smaller creatures to scatter, running back into the jungle, before he cautiously landed in front of the main door. It was a few seconds after that Holmes cut the power to the Sampson and allowed it to die off. He sat, eyeing the surrounding jungle for some time. He had that feeling of being watched, again, and he didn't like it one bit.
"I hope it's worth it," said Holmes, climbing out of the back with the hard drive and his ACR.
He cautiously observed the place, and the surrounding jungle, before making his first steps toward the installation's front door. When he approached the large, steel door that jutted out of the mountain base, he attached the hard drive to the port outside. He hit the small green switch and waited for the Computer to load.
After a few seconds, the base's PA system kicked on, and so did a small speaker on the door consol.
"Upload complete. Front door… opening," said the computer.
The massive front door screeched to life, and slowly began opening, vines and dirt and small plant life falling from it as it rumbled open. Holmes aimed his rifle down into the corridor that appeared behind the doors. The corridor was pitch black, the walls and floor showing signs of disrepair. The computer then turned on the lights, and they flickered on for a second, showing a typical human installation inside.
"Computer," said Holmes, "Do you read any lifeforms?"
"No, Lieutenant," said the Computer, "All of the exterior censors are badly damaged, and many of the interior ones are beyond repair as well. The ones that are operational, I can find no traces of life."
"Then let's keep our eyes open, yeah?" said Holmes, and he slowly entered the installation.
He walked down the corridor, and entered the first room. It was an armory, just as he thought. It looked similar to the one back at Alpha, but it was more full, way more full. Holmes smiled, this is what he was hear for.
"You have entered Armory one dash two," said the computer.
"One dash two?" asked Holmes, "There's more?"
"Much more, sir," said the computer, "This is meant to be an ammo dump."
"Then let's get started," said Holmes, slinging his ACR across his back and taking a weapon's bag that was lying out and he began filling it with ammunition.
After a while, the bag was full and he placed it on a cart that was nearby. He loaded ammo crates and filled bags with magazines that were lying around. After he had cleared out the official ammo lying out, he began removing clips from the guns on the rack. He loaded up a few shotguns and a small Sub Machine Gun that was on the rack before he nodded and decided to bring what he had collected back to the Sampson.
"Computer, start the link," Holmes yelled, "I'll be right back."
Holmes pushed the cart out to the front door. The cart was quite heavy, but Holmes didn't mind. This find would make his week, his month; he would most likely never have to worry again for some time.
No sooner had the thought rolled through his head then Holmes looked up at his chopper and froze, dead in his tracks. Standing, right next to the Sampson, was a large, Pandorian creature. It stood, sniffing at the chopper, unaware of Holmes' presence. It had grayish-purple skin, and what appeared to be multicolored fins by its neck and ears.
"J-Jungle Cat," whispered Holmes, "Oh no."
The creature tensed up, sniffing and then turning around at Holmes. Holmes heart froze an instant, and his eyes widened. The creature's upper lip peeled back, to expose a fine row of sharp teeth. It then let out a blood slowing roar.
"Computer," started Holmes.
"By the sound, it appears to be a Thanator," said the Computer, "I suggest you start running, sir."
"Way ahead of you," yelled Holmes, as he darted back down the corridor.
The creature wasted no time hurling itself at Holmes' last know location, tipping over the cart and its ammunition. The creature then continued to chase Holmes down the corridor.
Holmes ducked into the first room he entered, slamming the door behind him. Through a small pain of bullet proof glass Holmes could see the creature stop and throw itself into the window, cracking the glass. It continued do do this, shards of the glass breaking under the pressure.
Holmes left his ACR strapped to his back and he grasped a shotgun off the rack and pumped a round into the chamber. No sooner had he finished then the glass broke, and the creatures head and front claws came ripping through it. Holmes let out a yell as he was sprayed with shards of glass and he instinctively jumped back, landing on the floor by the gun rack. The creature clawed at the floor, snapping its jaws at Holmes.
Holmes brought the shotgun around and fired at the creatures face. The creature seemed to have an armored front head, but the force was enough for the creature to recoil back a bit. Holmes pulled the trigger again, sending a burst right into the chest of the creature. The creature was forced back, through the window, for a second.
Holmes used that second to frantically lunge himself from a sitting position to an awkward run towards another door at the back of the armory. The creature was right behind him, snapping at Holmes and forcing its way completely into the small armory. Holmes had just enough time to turn around, fire another shot at the beast and run through the door before the creature lunged.
The Thanator burst through the door without any problem, and continued on, hitting the wall on the other side of the hallway. Holmes had already started his sprint down the hall and towards a more secured door at the end. The creature let out another roar and recovered itself, sprinting down the hall again. Holmes opened the armored door, spun around, and fired two shots at the creature as it made one final lunge.
Holmes was barely through the door when it slid shut, right in the face of the creature. Holmes let out a gasp of surprise, even firing a shot into the door on accident. The force of the creature was held back, but only slightly. The creature recovered, and began ramming the door repeatedly.
"I figured you'd like that shut, sir," said the Computer.
"Can the door hold out?" asked Holmes.
"Most unlikely, sir," said the Computer, as the creature began denting the door, the hinges creaking under each blow.
"Crap," said Holmes, frantically looking around the room he had entered.
Like the rest of the complex, this room also had racks of weapons. It seemed to have a few tables, and multiple doors leading in and out of the room. Sitting on one of the tables was a rocket launcher, and a rocket sitting next to that. Holmes smiled, and he wasted little time making his way over to it.
Holmes loaded the rocket and activated the launchers firing system right as the creature made the final blow against the door, toppling in with it. The creature righted himself up and scanned the room for Holmes just as Holmes put the targeting system on the creature.
"Survive this," said Holmes, and he pulled the trigger, sending a rocket from the launcher's cannon and hurtling towards the creature.
The creature crouched down before leaping up in the air, working its body around the rockets flight path, and the rocket sailed through, missing the creature completely. The rocket hurtled down the hallway, slamming into the side of one of the walls and detonating, causing a chain reaction of explosions.
Holmes allowed his mouth to hang open, completely shocked he had missed. The creature, though, was eager to attack as he leapt towards Holmes with amazing agility. Holmes barely had enough time to drop the launcher and roll under a table when the creature landed, eager snapping towards Holmes.
"Sir, that rocket has ignited some of the ammunition, the installation is now on fire," cried the Computer from over the PA system.
"I have bigger problems," said Holmes through clenched teeth, but the creature's head had begun searching the room at the sound of the Computer's voice.
Holmes took that time to bring his shotgun to bear, leaning out from under the table and aiming at the stomach of the creature. He fired another shot, causing the creature to yelp with pain. It jumped with the force of the hit, and ended up collapsing another table, and falling on its back.
Holmes rolled from under the table and began sprinting from the room, tears almost filling his eyes. He ran from the room, and down the hallway again. He turned back into the armory he had came from, ignoring the mess on the floor. He burst back into the hallway, praying he would lose the creature, and he ran up the final corridor to the outside.
Outside he leapt over the upturned cart and ran for the Sampson. When he reached it, he jumped to the pilots seat and immediately started activating systems and firing up the engines. When it came time for things to seem to move too slowly, he eyed the opening of the installation, not seeing the creature exit its mouth just yet.
He cranked down on a lever, hurtling the Sampson up into the air. Just as he had cleared the tree line some ways, he saw the creature come leaping from the mouth of the installation, and it circled outside, starring up at the Sampson circling above.
Holmes immediately tried to activate the weapons systems, but he fumbled with the controls. Finally he got the front machine gun working, and he took aim and fired down at the creature. The creature evaded Holmes' untrained aim and then leapt back into the forest, running off into the undergrowth. Holmes tried to follow it with the gun, but only succeeded in damaging some trees.
A few moments later, things quieted down, and Holmes hovered in the air, hovering over the installation, gasping for breath.
"Sir," said the Computer over the radio, "Hanging around is not a good idea, especially with all that has come from this encounter."
"What about you?" asked Holmes, "and the weapons?"
"There's always tomorrow," said the Computer, "Besides, the link should be complete in an hour or so and with the bad wireless connection it might be a few more hours to a day for me to wirelessly come back to installation Alpha with all the additional files."
"Alright…" said Holmes, "But I will come back. Just make sure you let me know the minute the upload is complete back at Alpha, ok? I can't lose you, Computer."
With that, Holmes began to eye the sky cautiously, and he headed back to base.
The night began, the sun had set, and yet no sign had been received from the Computer. Holmes sat in the observation tower, looking out into the jungle with a worried expression in his eyes. The Sampson sat out in the yard rather then the Motor Pool, and the lights had just barely kicked on, illuminating the yard outside.
"Computer," said Holmes, still starring out the window.
No response came back, for the Computer AI had left behind only enough to keep the basic systems up and running and the scanners sending information wirelessly to the AI core. Holmes' heart still felt empty, still felt alone. He starred out into the abyss. The night, which forever seemed to darken.
"Computer," he tried again, no emotion showing in his voice, no hope.
No Response.
No words could describe how alone he felt, how vulnerable he had become. He held his ACR, safety off, weapon fully loaded. He starred out, his body aching, his cuts seeping blood and puss from infection. And yet he stood, eyes frozen open, staring out the window.
"Computer," said Holmes again, barely a whisper.
He could not go to the medical bay, he would not go to bed, because he felt no safety anymore, he felt no sense of peace. For the first time since arriving at Pandora, actually, he felt stone cold fear. Not afraid, or startled, or worried, for he felt those on what seemed to be a daily basis. But, fear. Hide under your bed, cry at night, fear.
"I'm coming for you," said Holmes, and he stood there, frozen in place, all night long.