Hunting Grounds
Chapter 4
"I know we, or at least you, want down in the valley. So how do we accomplish that?" So far the cliff looked unclimbable to her.
"I'll admit that as a team leader of a SEAL group I'm used to giving orders and expecting everyone to do what I say. So have you got a better idea?" Rick asked her as they walked.
"Not at the moment," Kate replied. "Only shouldn't we want height so we can look down? Isn't it better to fight downhill and force them to fight uphill?"
"You're correct. However, I haven't seen any wildlife to hunt for food. We only have the two MREs and our two canteens of water each. I'm more interested in staying dry, finding fresh water, and food. As to how to reach my valley, I haven't seen a way down yet.
"And since we're on the edge of a cliff I'm beginning to think we're already about as high up as we're going to get. Unless you fell like climbing a tree." Then it hit him. "That's why I don't get this place! None of these trees look familiar and while the ferns look like ferns it's just these are huge." Rick finally understood.
"Alien planet." Kate got it since she was living it. She was deeper into the trees and it felt like the wind was coming toward them. She stopped abruptly and looked around.
That had Rick raising his rifle to look around. "What?" he whispered to her.
"I smell a dead body," Kate replied quietly.
"Normally I would say skip it, but last time we gained some supplies. But we go slowly and try and stay hidden. Stick close to the trees for cover," he said in a hushed tone. She nodded and headed deeper into the jungle with Rick off to one side but even with her.
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Since they were moving so slowly it took time till Kate finally saw something. Immediately she didn't like what she saw. Kate motioned to Rick and each moved even slower into what looked like a clearing. They both stopped at the edge where they could see three bodies hanging from a tree limb. All three were headless and seemed to have been skinned alive.
"Gross," Kate commented only to see Rick glare an evil glare at her and signal for her to keep quiet.
Neither of them really saw much else though it did look like a crude camp and there was even a fire burning. This told Rick that whoever it was couldn't be that far away which worried him. However, he did see something that he liked. He was just debating with himself if he should even try for it.
Rick pointed at Kate and then pointed two fingers at his eyes and motioned for her to stay where she was; he hoped she understood all that. He saw Kate nod, raise her weapon, and scan the area.
He almost crawled to what had him interested and wrapped his hand around a strap. But he feared he saw something. "RUN!" Rick was done trying to hide. He picked up what he was after and took off. Thankfully Kate had listened and was running roughly next to him but there were a couple of trees between them.
Then suddenly one of the trees up and exploded. That got both of them to run just as hard and fast as they could while avoiding downed trees or the occasional rock. That might be what saved one or both of them as yet another tree seemed to just suddenly explode. Due to obstacles Kate ended up right next to Rick when suddenly both of them lost their footing and found themselves tumbling down a hill filled with those large ferns.
Thankfully both managed to right themselves and were now sliding on their ass down the hill.
"OH SHIT!" Rick yelled which was very unprofessional of him as unexpectedly the hill was gone and they were falling through the air till they ended up splashing into a lake not far away from a waterfall.
Rick wasn't sure just how he'd done it but he was climbing up rocks to get out of the lake and still had his weapon and the backpack he had snagged which was what had his attention.
Kate pushed her wet hair off her face. "What the hell was that?" She was used to being in a city. Not out in nature let alone on another planet that was still a big shock to her system.
"A grenade launcher comes to mind," Rick told her. "That way." He did his best to point closer to the waterfall.
It wasn't easy going given that the rocks were a mix of large and small. "Where are we going?"
"Against the wall," Rick said. "We need to hide again and check to see if we lost anything in that tumble and fall."
Kate took it at face value and kept moving and climbing over rocks. "I think I see a cave."
"Good. Check it out, just be careful." Kate was lighter than him and was out in front.
Rick watched her disappear from sight and he both liked that and didn't like that. But she was soon back. "It's not deep but there's nothing in it," she reported.
He dropped his backpack next to her and put his weapon down next to it. "Stay here for now." Rick looked the opening over and went back outside.
It took him five trips. After the second one Kate caught on to what he was trying to do and actually worked with him trying to help cover the opening with dead tree limbs. It still left a small opening on one side.
"Help me find some dry wood," he said. "We're going to stay here and maybe build a fire so we can get dry."
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Kate helped Rick set up some small branches inside their cave around the wood for a fire.
"Strip and hang up your clothes. Just keep your weapon handy," Rick told her. He got to work on starting a fire and Kate was almost down to just her bra and panties when he started stripping.
Both of them had their clothes spread out on sticks. Kate was down to her bra and panties and Rick was down to his shorts. Even though the fire was really small they could feel the heat.
Kate watched Rick sit down and move the backpack closer to him. "Oh the hell with it." She didn't like the idea of wearing a wet bra and wet panties so off came the bra and she hung it up. She kept her panties and sat down to watch him. "I hope whatever it is it's worth it." That had not been fun in her eyes.
"Anything is more than what we have now." Rick looked at her; he couldn't miss seeing her tits and quickly changed where he was looking. "Oh boy." This was going to be a challenge for him, he just knew it.
Kate grinned since he was being sweet and not ogling her being topless and exposing her breasts to him.
"This looks human so let's see what they packed, if our friends left anything in it at all." Rick worked at opening it. "MRE." He handed it to Kate and kept searching. "Poncho, combat knife, gloves, t-shirt, emergency blanket, medical kit… Gum!" He hung onto the gum for now.
"Lighter!" Rick had one but another one was good to find. "Hang the t-shirt up to dry and break open the MRE. We need to eat." He repacked the backpack with everything else including the gum.
"So what's in this side pocket?" He opened it to go through it. "Mini binoculars! Very nice." He used them to look out past their temporary wall onto the lake. "And they work." He put them back.
"Give me the other two MREs." Rick put those two into the backpack since there was room. "So what have we got to eat?" He looked at her and did his best to look down at the meal.
"Spaghetti with meat sauce, a heating unit, crackers, Skittles, raisins, oatmeal and raisin cookies, a spork, moist towelette, water, two mints, and seasonings." Kate shrugged, "Could be worse." Rick definitely had eaten worse.
"I don't know about you but I'm ready to eat. May I have it, please?" Kate handed it to him. "Now pay attention. This is how you heat up the entree using this heating pouch. It's done chemically." Rick proceeded to show her how it was done and gave her the spork. "Eat half." Meanwhile he opened the Skittles bag and popped pieces till both had eaten half and they switched.
Crackers and raisins were next. Kate had the crackers and came across a tiny tube of peanut butter to put on the crackers.
"No coffee?" Kate asked him since she would kill for coffee.
He shook his head. "Sorry, not this time. Some do. It depends on the entree."
"Just my luck." So far it clearly sucked big time.
"We can't stay long, Kate. They'll work out that we tumbled down that hill and come down here looking for us. Keep moving your clothes around to help them dry. Then we're leaving. I don't want to be trapped here."
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Rick had spent his time doing his very best not to stare at her breasts. They weren't large but they looked well-shaped to him.
"No girlfriend?" Kate asked him while she moved her clothes around to see if they were getting drier.
"Not in my line of work. It takes a special kind of woman to put up with having her boyfriend or husband being shipped out for up to 6 months. Those kinds of women don't grow on trees. Add to the fact the types of jobs SEALS are given; she never knows if he's going to return. You?" Turn about was fair play.
"No, no boyfriend. Very few dates even. Especially after a couple of the blind dates my best friend Lanie set me up with. The last one? We had only just sat down for dinner when he asks if we were having sex later. It was free food so I stayed but I found my own taxi after that and told Lanie she absolutely had to stop."
Kate shrugged. "Usually when they find out I'm a homicide detective they don't ask. I guess you could say I'm in the same boat."
"Sounds like we're perfect for each other," Rick said with a smile. "You're not running and I happen to like having you around."
Kate grinned a little. "Thanks." She was thinking she might even say yes to a date if they'd met in the city. She wasn't afraid that he would be deployed for months at a time.
She got down to the big question. "Are we going to get out of here? Given that we don't even know where we are?"
"It depends. Can we learn how to fly it. Do we even find something that can fly and I mean fly through space." Then he pointed out their biggest problem. "However, the bigger question is where the hell is Earth from here?"
"We don't even know how we got here," Kate added.
"One thing at a time." Frustrated, Rick ran his fingers through his hair. "You know what I really hate? I'm reacting. SEALS want to be proactive. We want to be in control and not react to the enemy. We want them to be off balance. Right now we don't even know who THEY are!"
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Kate was grinning as she got dressed while Rick sat there in his shorts with his back to her. Without his helmet she could finally get a good look at his face and since he was wearing just his shorts she got a really good look at his body.
She knew he was a SEAL so he had to be in good shape. But he was better than in good shape. He was a hunk and handsome. Why some woman wouldn't want him made her the fool. He was being sweet, a hunk and handsome, and maybe a keeper.
"You're next. Give me the backpack. I'll take it. You have the bigger weapon and your vest is already carrying a lot." Kate leaned down to take it and shifted her arms through the straps as she got it on her back while Rick got dressed.
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With their fire dead and their clothes mostly dry, Rick led and together they began trying to walk across all the rocks and not fall into the lake. Eventually the large rocks gave way to a rocky beach that was far easier to walk across. Their jungle was still right there and down next to the lake they were finding it even hotter and more humid. Now both of them were walking around sweating into their shirts and Kate's dry bra was becoming uncomfortable again.
Rick stopped at a big dead tree that was blocking their way. Getting over it wasn't going to be a problem but he had a question. "Don't take this the wrong way, please. But when is your next period?" If she was or was going to be soon bleeding that might mean a predator could smell her.
"It depends on what today is. How long did it take us to get here? It should be in about 11 days and I don't have anything for it." She needed to come up with a plan or her pants were going to get bloody.
"Neither do I. I do have an extra medical kit which should have gauze pads, though. And I still have a tiny amount of toilet paper that could be used to hold it in place," Rick offered. "After that use a sock or start ripping strips off the bottom of the new t-shirt we just gained." They needed to solve this and just deal with any predators that smelled her.
"That should work well enough." Kate would prefer a tampon but that wasn't at all possible.
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They were moving again and were still on the edge of the lake. So far it was all crushed rock, larger rocks, and an occasional dead tree that had fallen down.
Kate was working on going around this rocky jut out while trying not to get her feet wet when she suddenly just stopped. "Rick!" She was literally too shocked to move.
That had Rick rushing to join her, ready to shoot whoever or whatever it was. Only he saw what she had seen, stopped next to her, and almost let his rifle fall to his side. His training prevented it, however.
Her voice shaking, Kate asked, "Is that what I think it is?"
"It's not a boat, that's for sure," Rick answered even if both of them knew what it was. They were clearly on an alien planet orbiting a gas giant with really long days. Add to that it looked like they were being hunted.
"A spaceship?" Kate was still looking at it but wasn't sure she believed it.
"It looks old, like really old, but mostly in one piece. Interesting design," Rick commented and kept looking it over. It was easily the size of the largest cruise ship on Earth only shaped differently. It looked like two lances jutting far out in front with a big box in the back connecting the two. It didn't have a smooth shell like a starship on Star Trek. It was far more rough looking. Like pieces had been slapped together with no care about being streamlined.
There were antenna or maybe they were weapons poking out of it far forward and along the side.
Still staring at it, Rick said, "I'm thinking it's worth a look."
"Are you nuts! What if the people that are hunting us are in that thing?" Kate looked at him like he had lost his mind.
He tried reasoning with her. "That thing looks like it crashed here. The people that brought us both here didn't crash here. I'm feeling outnumbered, outgunned, and tired of being hunted. If there's something in there that can help us I say we take it, Kate.
"We have two whole MREs and a couple of power bars. If they don't kill us we'll starve to death. Besides, on every sci-fi movie I ever watched a ship of this size had shuttles capable of space flight."
Kate knew she was used to doing without eating but even she couldn't keep that up for long and half an MRE once per day wasn't going to keep them both alive. "Like a runabout on Star Trek?" She was willing to think big. "I guess I could get wet again for that." She made up her mind and would go with him. "But if I'm right and I die, I swear I'm going to haunt you!"
"My own ghost. Love it. Let's see if we can find an easier way across this lake." Rick kept looking at this ship and watched as water was falling off of it and into the lake. There was obviously a small pond on top holding water somehow.
"Just think. If we can find a way inside it'll get us out of the rain that will show up again eventually."
Kate liked being dry so she didn't mind that benefit.
[_] /\ [_]
It looked like it was going to be dark by the time they reached the ship and started looking for a way inside.
"How about this?" Kate had found a jagged hole in the hull. Now where this went she didn't know since it was really dark inside.
"This will do hopefully. Take your backpack off and carry it so you don't get snagged." Rick opened a pocket, pulled out two sticks, and handed one to Kate. "Snap it like this and then shake it. Good for 24 hours minimum." He demonstrated and watched Kate do hers.
"Let's see what we've got. Keep your weapon handy." He made sure his weapon was ready and went inside. At first they were crawling till they reached some kind of door. Rick saw a panel to press but nothing happened. "Power must be out and no battery backup." He put his stick down and shouldered his weapon; he took out his combat knife and pounded the tip into the gap and prayed this was the right side.
Before he broke his knife he got the door to move a little. So he put it away and used his fingers to force the door to open. It took a lot of muscle power but he had it half open which was enough to squeeze through.
"Keep your eyes open." Rick picked up his glow stick, readied his weapon, and squeezed through the door. They found themselves in a hallway so they had a choice. "Left or right?" He sighed. "I'm thinking right leads to the bigger section that connects those two." He went right with Kate right behind him who kept looking behind her.
"It's tall enough." He liked that. "Uh-oh." He came across their very first dead body.
They both examined it using their glow sticks. It was definitely wearing what was left of a uniform. Two arms, two legs, body, and a head. Except the head didn't look human.
"It has a tail." Rick ran his glow stick down the length of it. "No weapon that I can see. He or she has been here for quite a while." It was almost all bone and minimal amount of flesh that wasn't already mummified.