ALIEN MEANS HOME CHAPTER 6
As fast as I could I reached the bank. The screams and roars of the monsters behind me were continuous and terrifying. I ran as fast as I could to get away, as I approached the end of the lake rock wall I turned back one last time, at a further distance I felt somewhat safer. Pulling out the L115A3 one more time, the familiar frame of that weapon bought comfort to me in my grasp. I only had one clip and there were 2 bullets left, steadily I aimed, I tried to get a hold on one of the hunters but they moved to fast, I waited and waited for my chance. The battle was coming to a halt as both creatures sustained fair amounts of injuries, I couldn't risk staying here for too long, I aimed at the head of the largest hunter and shot. The sniper fired, hitting me in the right shoulder brutally with the recoil. The bullet smashed into the side of the largest predators head, everything stopped, the serpents swished either tails, a few glanced back to where I was standing. The smaller hunter looked from the larger hunter to me, and held his gaze. Swaying on the spot slightly the larger hunter reformed his ground.
The bullet had not pierced the mask, but made a large enough of a dint to make it almost unbearable to wear, I watched on as the hunter removed the mask, he raised one hand and pointed at me before throwing the mask aside, he roared in anger and began running towards me threw the water, any serpent that crossed him had to meet the sharp edge of his wrist blade. They struggled in fighting him off. I ran.
Beyond the lake cavern was a long stretch of a beach that met abruptly with the jungle. Both the head and arm of the dead hunter weighed me down. I continued to jog along the beach before I felt I had enough space between me and hunters. Before long my body forced me to stop, I dropped both body parts almost immediately and collapsed on the sand.
A cold wind rushed past my ears, I opened my eyes, the sky was forming a cloudy grey and the sun had almost set. I sat up quickly, I must have passed out. The water now had a black shade to it and was creeping in closer to the beach. I grabbed my back pack which was pretty much in tatters by now and emptied it. I set the L115A3 aside; with only one bullet left I have to make it count. A rustle in the bushes echoed in the Amazon behind me, I paused and looked back... nothing. I could hear it come alive, it was silent in the day, but by night time I could hear insects click their wings and birds flutter from tree to tree. I turned with hast back to my supplies, I checked my pistols... empty. "Great" I said aloud. What I had left was my drink bottle which I emptied, some rope and my binoculars. My jacket was gone, so I was left with a half ripped top and shorts that were still wet from the lake.
I turned my attention to the head and arm of the hunter, picking up the arm fist I examined it, the skin was cold yet very smooth to the touch, much like that of human skin. When I was 19 my first degree was a bachelor in Bio-engineering and nanotechnology.
I observed carefully the technical wrist watch the hand had equipped onto it. With a few tries I managed to take it off, placing the hand aside, feeling quite happy with myself I acquired something useful. I strapped it onto my own hand, there were three metal clasps underneath that could be adjusted to any size, the metal was quite heavy and had no signs that it had been soldered or welded, it was not shiny either like chrome, it had a non reflective surface that was quite eerie. I examined it some more and found a button that released a hatch on the device, slowly I moved it back to see a glass panel, flicking from one symbol to another was writing I could not read, it looked alike to the markings that were on my parachute.
They glowed red and changed every 5 seconds or so. Unable to understand anymore I shut that hatch and moved to the head. Doing the same as I did with the wrist watch I managed to take off the mask, I shuddered when I saw the face of the hunter up close, unlike that of the one at the camp this one was larger, it was horrifying, the mandibles were larger and the scale of its forehead stretched back for longer than the other hunters. I moved away from it. I had always believed deep down that there were others in this universe.
We have only just begun in a universe that is billions of years old. It would be stupid to think that we were the most advanced. I sat in silence. What have humans done to make them want to kill us? For a strange moment I felt sorry for the dead hunter, and for the human race, before I knew it I was crying. I whipped away my tears quickly; as I did I whipped away blood as well. I noticed my cheek had a cut going along side it where the hunter has attacked me. I washed it in the salt water as well as some green blood that had dried on me previously. I turned back to the mask and tried it one, of course it didn't even grip the sides of my face. Improvising I cut off some of the rope and tied it around my head.
It was by this time the sky was almost pitch black, the nights seem to go quicker than the daytime. I looked up at the sky of this planet, wondering if it was in a goldilocks orbit or an orbit similar to that on earth.
We have found much earth like planets like Kepler-22b and Gliese 581. But I doubt that they would have a whole eco system like this planet.
Finding myself lost in thought again I chose to go back into the Amazon. I needed a place to stay for the night, somewhere that I can use to be a resourceful look out. I took out my machete and walked into the depths of the Amazon. As I walked I figured out way to work the helmet, it seemed to communicate with the wrist watch, I discovered that with simple thoughts or movements of my eyes I could adjust or switch between modes of infrared, night-time vision and others that I did not know of. The Amazon was almost pitch back, and these modes came in handy. Soon enough through the dense jungle I emerged to a clearing. I looked around, there to my left was a very low to the ground hard to see cave.
This would be perfect. Just as I took another step closer to the cave I was pushed down by the heavy weight of something on top of me, its claws gripped into my back and I could smell its breath, I managed to roughly turn around to glimpse what it was. It was the hunter's dog. Its gaping mouth snapped at the nape of my neck and I struggled under its weigh to get free. I held my machete up to its neck and prepared myself for whatever I would have to do to stay alive.