Chapter 7
Nick was the first to respond, grabbing his rifle off
the table and cocking it. "I'm going out there," he said, and
rushed through the door. "Private, get back here! Son of a
bitch," yelled Mason, still holding the spine he pulled out of
Mitch. "I'll get him, sir," shouted Shawn, running out the
door. "God damn it! Everyone, suit up!" Mason shut the door
behind Shawn, who pulled out his sidearm pistol and scanned
the surrounding jungle. He saw a rustle in the bushes and
investigated, figuring Nick had just run through them. As
he got closer, this.....thing jumped out of the thicket.
It stood there before Shawn, an insect-like monster, as big as
a dog but with six legs, some sort of shell armor and deadly
claws and fangs. Shocked and surprised, Shawn almost fell back,
then trained his pistol on the creature. The two faced each other
off, sizing the competition, then the creature made it's move.
It leaped up at Shawn, taking two rounds from the trooper's pistol,
and landed off to the side. Shawn examined the damaged done, but
saw only two dent marks in it's armor. All he did was shake it up.
The thing did an about-face towards Shawn and reared back,
ready to pounce. It leapt back in the air as Shawn unloaded the
rest of the clip and fell back, the creature slamming into him.
Shawn frantically pushed the beast off of him and stood up, half
expecting it to jump again, but it didn't move. A bullet had pierced
one of the creature's eyes, and what looked like rust-tinted blood
spilled out of the hole. Emptying out the old clip and forcing a
new one in, Shawn took off in the direction the creature came from,
keeping a lookout for more beasts.
Meanwhile, back at base, a frenzied Big Joe, hiding in the
storage area, held the strange device in one hand, and an encoded
comlink in the other. "God damn it, when the hell are you guys going
to pick me up!" "Patience, Sergeant. We're still testing the effects
of the-" "Sucks to your testing! You know what this thing can do,
and two of my troopers were almost killed because of it!" "Calm down,
Sergeant. A Dropship is heading for you right now. It'll meet
you outside the complex. Don't keep it waiting."
Big Joe shoved the comlink in his pocket, just as Mason walked
into the room "What th-? Sergeant, what the fuck are you doing with
that thing!" Big Joe pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Mason, who
stepped back in surprise. "It's my fault, sir. I should have told you.
I should have-" "Told me what. Sergeant?" Mason was more calm, especially
with a weapon trained at his head. "It was all suppose go perfectly to plan,"
responded a tearful Big Joe. "They said no one would get hurt, they said
they wanted to test the range." "Who's they? And test what?" "This,"
said Joe, pointing the gun at the device then back at Mason. "It attracts
these....these.....aliens, sir. They're like demons from hell, sent by
the Grim Reaper himself, sir. There are things out there, in the cold of
space, that would scare the shit out of you. And they're coming, coming
this way for us, for the entire human race! The government wants to harness
them, like some new bio weapon. But they're so terrible, so horrifying,
they're something I'd never wish on anybody.
"But that don't matter now. Nothing matters anymore. There'll be a
Dropship outside in a few minuets, and I want the whole squad on it, sir.
See you on the other side." With that, Joe pointed the gun in his mouth
and fired, his brains splattering on the wall behind him. Mason watched
as Big Joe fell face forward, a big gash on the back of his head. Taking
in everything the sergeant said, he said good-bye to his friend and ran back
to the others.
Chapter 8
Most of the jungle was engulfed by flames, lighting up the usually
dim forest floor. Even during this firestorm, Nick acted in his usual,
calm self. Kneeling on his left knee, he followed a large set of tracks
into a dense packet of trees, which presently were burning to ashes. Hearing
a noise above the roar of the flames, he turned with his rifle drawn, aiming
at an out-of-breath Shawn. "What do you think you are doing, Nick?" Nick
was about to answer when his right shoulder burst open, a spine shooting
right through it. Shawn watched as Nick fell to the ground in pain, then
looked up to see the monster that did it. It was just like Mitch said,
the lower half of it's body a snake's tail, the upper half kind of like
the smaller creature he saw, hard carapace with claws and fangs. The front
of it's upper half was opened up like two swinging doors, and Shawn could
see the rows of spines sticking out. Another one spat out, just missing
Shawn by an inch.
"Go, get out of here! I'll hold them off," shouted Nick. Clutching
his rifle with his other arm, he rolled over to face the thing and fired,
armor piercing rounds striking the beast. The first few bounced off as
the rest punctured the brute, which gave off a screech and feel on it's side.
Nick lifted his head up to Shawn, "I said go, NOW!" Giving thanks to the
brave soldier, Shawn took off back towards the base.
All around him he could hear the cries of the beasts mingle with the
roar of the fire. Shawn dodged falling debris and jumped over burning trees
when he realized he was being followed. Several spines flew by him and,
turning his head and seeing out of the corner of this eye, saw several of the
small creature running towards him. At last he reached the base and saw.....a
Dropship! But it was leaving!
Maria was with the pilot, the Dropship slowly rising up when she saw
Shawn running out of the jungle. "It's Shawn! Quick, put us back down!"
"Sorry, miss. I've got orders to take us back now." "Screw your orders,
I said-" but she stopped and almost broke out in tears. Before here very eyes
several spines shot right through her man, and watched as several creatures
jumped him and began tearing away at his ragged corpse. She would've let loose
the floodgates if several of the spines hadn't shot through the cockpit screen,
one slicing open the head of the pilot.
The dead pilot fell forward on the controls and the Dropship lurched forward
into the jungle. It skimmed the tops of the trees as Maria feel backwards into the
main compartment with the rest of the squad. In the jungle below hundreds of spines
were shot up at the Dropship, many striking it's underside. One of them cut the fuel
line to the number one engine and plasma began spewing out. The Dropship was leaving
a trail of plasma gas behind it as a speck of gas was ignited by the adjoining number
two engine, which started a chain reaction. The entire left side of the Dropship was
blown to pieces, killing most of the squad. Alex, the last one alive, sat against the
wall with a chuck of steel in his stomach, watching the world outside spin around and
around. Slowly he too slipped into a coma, as the Dropship slammed into the jungle,
leaving a huge fireball and a crater in the wilderness.
Above all of this chaos, in orbit around the planet, sat a colossal
Explorer-class Science Vessel, it's every instrument trained on the jungle world.
And at his desk, a scientist watched his monitor, which showed an image of the Dropship
crash site. He was thinking for a bit, and started on his notes:
PROJECT FOXTROT-TANGO-7-8-3-1.6 IS A SUCCESS. DEVICE ATTRACTED ZERG COLONY
ON BETA-9 AT 14.9 LIGHT YEARS AWAY. NEW ZERG COLONY GROWING ON WORLD BELOW.
ESTIMATED COLLATERAL DAMAGE DONE IS LIGHT WITH FEW HUMAN LOSSES. RECOMMEND INCREASE
PRODUCTION OF THE PSYCHIC AMPLIFIER DEVICE. END OF REPORT.
Nick was the first to respond, grabbing his rifle off
the table and cocking it. "I'm going out there," he said, and
rushed through the door. "Private, get back here! Son of a
bitch," yelled Mason, still holding the spine he pulled out of
Mitch. "I'll get him, sir," shouted Shawn, running out the
door. "God damn it! Everyone, suit up!" Mason shut the door
behind Shawn, who pulled out his sidearm pistol and scanned
the surrounding jungle. He saw a rustle in the bushes and
investigated, figuring Nick had just run through them. As
he got closer, this.....thing jumped out of the thicket.
It stood there before Shawn, an insect-like monster, as big as
a dog but with six legs, some sort of shell armor and deadly
claws and fangs. Shocked and surprised, Shawn almost fell back,
then trained his pistol on the creature. The two faced each other
off, sizing the competition, then the creature made it's move.
It leaped up at Shawn, taking two rounds from the trooper's pistol,
and landed off to the side. Shawn examined the damaged done, but
saw only two dent marks in it's armor. All he did was shake it up.
The thing did an about-face towards Shawn and reared back,
ready to pounce. It leapt back in the air as Shawn unloaded the
rest of the clip and fell back, the creature slamming into him.
Shawn frantically pushed the beast off of him and stood up, half
expecting it to jump again, but it didn't move. A bullet had pierced
one of the creature's eyes, and what looked like rust-tinted blood
spilled out of the hole. Emptying out the old clip and forcing a
new one in, Shawn took off in the direction the creature came from,
keeping a lookout for more beasts.
Meanwhile, back at base, a frenzied Big Joe, hiding in the
storage area, held the strange device in one hand, and an encoded
comlink in the other. "God damn it, when the hell are you guys going
to pick me up!" "Patience, Sergeant. We're still testing the effects
of the-" "Sucks to your testing! You know what this thing can do,
and two of my troopers were almost killed because of it!" "Calm down,
Sergeant. A Dropship is heading for you right now. It'll meet
you outside the complex. Don't keep it waiting."
Big Joe shoved the comlink in his pocket, just as Mason walked
into the room "What th-? Sergeant, what the fuck are you doing with
that thing!" Big Joe pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Mason, who
stepped back in surprise. "It's my fault, sir. I should have told you.
I should have-" "Told me what. Sergeant?" Mason was more calm, especially
with a weapon trained at his head. "It was all suppose go perfectly to plan,"
responded a tearful Big Joe. "They said no one would get hurt, they said
they wanted to test the range." "Who's they? And test what?" "This,"
said Joe, pointing the gun at the device then back at Mason. "It attracts
these....these.....aliens, sir. They're like demons from hell, sent by
the Grim Reaper himself, sir. There are things out there, in the cold of
space, that would scare the shit out of you. And they're coming, coming
this way for us, for the entire human race! The government wants to harness
them, like some new bio weapon. But they're so terrible, so horrifying,
they're something I'd never wish on anybody.
"But that don't matter now. Nothing matters anymore. There'll be a
Dropship outside in a few minuets, and I want the whole squad on it, sir.
See you on the other side." With that, Joe pointed the gun in his mouth
and fired, his brains splattering on the wall behind him. Mason watched
as Big Joe fell face forward, a big gash on the back of his head. Taking
in everything the sergeant said, he said good-bye to his friend and ran back
to the others.
Chapter 8
Most of the jungle was engulfed by flames, lighting up the usually
dim forest floor. Even during this firestorm, Nick acted in his usual,
calm self. Kneeling on his left knee, he followed a large set of tracks
into a dense packet of trees, which presently were burning to ashes. Hearing
a noise above the roar of the flames, he turned with his rifle drawn, aiming
at an out-of-breath Shawn. "What do you think you are doing, Nick?" Nick
was about to answer when his right shoulder burst open, a spine shooting
right through it. Shawn watched as Nick fell to the ground in pain, then
looked up to see the monster that did it. It was just like Mitch said,
the lower half of it's body a snake's tail, the upper half kind of like
the smaller creature he saw, hard carapace with claws and fangs. The front
of it's upper half was opened up like two swinging doors, and Shawn could
see the rows of spines sticking out. Another one spat out, just missing
Shawn by an inch.
"Go, get out of here! I'll hold them off," shouted Nick. Clutching
his rifle with his other arm, he rolled over to face the thing and fired,
armor piercing rounds striking the beast. The first few bounced off as
the rest punctured the brute, which gave off a screech and feel on it's side.
Nick lifted his head up to Shawn, "I said go, NOW!" Giving thanks to the
brave soldier, Shawn took off back towards the base.
All around him he could hear the cries of the beasts mingle with the
roar of the fire. Shawn dodged falling debris and jumped over burning trees
when he realized he was being followed. Several spines flew by him and,
turning his head and seeing out of the corner of this eye, saw several of the
small creature running towards him. At last he reached the base and saw.....a
Dropship! But it was leaving!
Maria was with the pilot, the Dropship slowly rising up when she saw
Shawn running out of the jungle. "It's Shawn! Quick, put us back down!"
"Sorry, miss. I've got orders to take us back now." "Screw your orders,
I said-" but she stopped and almost broke out in tears. Before here very eyes
several spines shot right through her man, and watched as several creatures
jumped him and began tearing away at his ragged corpse. She would've let loose
the floodgates if several of the spines hadn't shot through the cockpit screen,
one slicing open the head of the pilot.
The dead pilot fell forward on the controls and the Dropship lurched forward
into the jungle. It skimmed the tops of the trees as Maria feel backwards into the
main compartment with the rest of the squad. In the jungle below hundreds of spines
were shot up at the Dropship, many striking it's underside. One of them cut the fuel
line to the number one engine and plasma began spewing out. The Dropship was leaving
a trail of plasma gas behind it as a speck of gas was ignited by the adjoining number
two engine, which started a chain reaction. The entire left side of the Dropship was
blown to pieces, killing most of the squad. Alex, the last one alive, sat against the
wall with a chuck of steel in his stomach, watching the world outside spin around and
around. Slowly he too slipped into a coma, as the Dropship slammed into the jungle,
leaving a huge fireball and a crater in the wilderness.
Above all of this chaos, in orbit around the planet, sat a colossal
Explorer-class Science Vessel, it's every instrument trained on the jungle world.
And at his desk, a scientist watched his monitor, which showed an image of the Dropship
crash site. He was thinking for a bit, and started on his notes:
PROJECT FOXTROT-TANGO-7-8-3-1.6 IS A SUCCESS. DEVICE ATTRACTED ZERG COLONY
ON BETA-9 AT 14.9 LIGHT YEARS AWAY. NEW ZERG COLONY GROWING ON WORLD BELOW.
ESTIMATED COLLATERAL DAMAGE DONE IS LIGHT WITH FEW HUMAN LOSSES. RECOMMEND INCREASE
PRODUCTION OF THE PSYCHIC AMPLIFIER DEVICE. END OF REPORT.
