DOC:
It's hard to believe that the bug war had actually come home, let alone to a place like THIS. It was like a winter wonderland. On the bright side we still hadn't found anything but a lot of cliffs that dropped away into the water and neither had the other squads on the Islands, (they had radioed about our status recently).
"I wish it would snow," Dizzy said, way too happily considering that we'd been taken out of our R 'n R prematurely, but I guess that's Dizzy for you.
"Why?" Higgins asked, "wouldn't that just make this more difficult?"
She rolled her eyes, "sure, if you look on the DOWN side. It's Christmas, it's supposed to snow!" She punched his shoulder lightly.
Rico grinned down at her. "There's already snow on the ground, Diz."
"Yeah, but still..."
"Sure," he mimicked, "look on the DOWN side."
Laughing lightly she rolled her eyes again.
Higgins and I glanced at each other but kept our mouths shut. I wondered why I hadn't noticed how much closer they were standing to each other than the rest of us. I DID exclude the fact that I was in a marauder, but still, poor little Higgins was all on his own. . . Somehow I had the feeling he'd get over it.
I glanced again at my monitors, as I'm required to do periodically no matter how pointless it seems, and stopped short. "Shh," I cut into their conversation, which had continued though I'd stopped listening.
Everybody froze and stared at me expectantly, hands inching nervously towards their rifles.
"There's someone," I began, "or someTHING coming this way. It's on it's own and it looks. . .um, it looks human."
"Oh great," Higgins groaned under his breath.
"No, I mean it has vital signs and everything," I replied.
"You have machines for stuff like that?" Higgins questioned, startled. "Like you could tell if my heart rate sped up or slowed down or anything like that?"
I shrugged, "um, yeah, I guess so."
"It could be one of the people who works here," Dizzy suggested.
"I don't care HOW human it looks," Rico said, "keep your guards up."
HIGGINS:
"You gotta help me!" An obviously female voice screamed as the bushes and shrubbery in front of us began to shift.
I froze and an eerie shiver pricked along my spine. Sometimes I feel safe when I'm with the squad on a mission, but more often I feel terrified out of my mind and I wish that I'd never taken this dumb job, however this feeling of not knowing anything except that something was up and coming my way was worst of all.
All of a sudden the leaves directly in front of me broke apart and a blonde streak flashed before my eyes. Seconds later I lay flat on my back and despite my frantic gasps I couldn't seem to breathe.
It's hard to believe that the bug war had actually come home, let alone to a place like THIS. It was like a winter wonderland. On the bright side we still hadn't found anything but a lot of cliffs that dropped away into the water and neither had the other squads on the Islands, (they had radioed about our status recently).
"I wish it would snow," Dizzy said, way too happily considering that we'd been taken out of our R 'n R prematurely, but I guess that's Dizzy for you.
"Why?" Higgins asked, "wouldn't that just make this more difficult?"
She rolled her eyes, "sure, if you look on the DOWN side. It's Christmas, it's supposed to snow!" She punched his shoulder lightly.
Rico grinned down at her. "There's already snow on the ground, Diz."
"Yeah, but still..."
"Sure," he mimicked, "look on the DOWN side."
Laughing lightly she rolled her eyes again.
Higgins and I glanced at each other but kept our mouths shut. I wondered why I hadn't noticed how much closer they were standing to each other than the rest of us. I DID exclude the fact that I was in a marauder, but still, poor little Higgins was all on his own. . . Somehow I had the feeling he'd get over it.
I glanced again at my monitors, as I'm required to do periodically no matter how pointless it seems, and stopped short. "Shh," I cut into their conversation, which had continued though I'd stopped listening.
Everybody froze and stared at me expectantly, hands inching nervously towards their rifles.
"There's someone," I began, "or someTHING coming this way. It's on it's own and it looks. . .um, it looks human."
"Oh great," Higgins groaned under his breath.
"No, I mean it has vital signs and everything," I replied.
"You have machines for stuff like that?" Higgins questioned, startled. "Like you could tell if my heart rate sped up or slowed down or anything like that?"
I shrugged, "um, yeah, I guess so."
"It could be one of the people who works here," Dizzy suggested.
"I don't care HOW human it looks," Rico said, "keep your guards up."
HIGGINS:
"You gotta help me!" An obviously female voice screamed as the bushes and shrubbery in front of us began to shift.
I froze and an eerie shiver pricked along my spine. Sometimes I feel safe when I'm with the squad on a mission, but more often I feel terrified out of my mind and I wish that I'd never taken this dumb job, however this feeling of not knowing anything except that something was up and coming my way was worst of all.
All of a sudden the leaves directly in front of me broke apart and a blonde streak flashed before my eyes. Seconds later I lay flat on my back and despite my frantic gasps I couldn't seem to breathe.