-Starcraft

--Dead on Delivery

---Chapter 3: Sleep Deprivation

The sun was just making its way over the horizon when I woke up. Everything was pretty blurry, and when I struggled to make out the clock time on the dashboard, I found out why. It was damn near 2:00 in the morning. God, no one wakes up that early for any reason out here. I sat up and looked out the window to see the rest of the camp. Everyone else was still sleeping as far as I could tell. Hell, even the Goliath guys turned in. I couldn't see their walkers anywhere near so they must have parked them. Before I could see much more, I was forced to rub my eyes and wake the rest of my body up. Hell, why was I up in the first place?

The truck shook suddenly, and that pretty much answered my question. It felt like someone just walked into it on accident. Either that or they were testing the shocks. Believe me, I could vouch for them, they worked just well. When I looked through the rearview mirrors, I couldn't see anyone on the drivers side, so I scooted on over to the passenger and looked there. That's when I saw something scoot by the trailer. It appears I wasn't the only one who couldn't get good nights rest. Made my truck cab not seem so bad when I thought about that.

I scooted back on over to the drivers side and was about ready to roll down the window when a low growl emanated from something ugly. I froze up, and slowly looked over my shoulder. And there it was, right in the middle of the camp sniffing the air like it was hunting for a lost bone. A Zergling. The saying went that if Zerglings were in the area, so was your free ticket to hell. Soon there were five of the little bastards, keeping low and tiptoeing around with their scythe-like arms bobbing up and down. They took extra precaution not to bump up against each other and spread out. It wasn't really hard to see any of them, because of their purple carapace coloring.

By now I had gotten the #$% down in my seat, and was only sticking my head up high enough to see through the lowest part of the windshield. It didn't take long before I saw Hydralisks. The snake-like monsters were scooting into the area as the Zerglings spotted for them. They were marking each tent occupied with Terrans they could slaughter and pretty soon they had the whole grounds sniffed out. Well, except my truck. I locked the doors, as stupid as that sounded, and took out my six shot revolver. This was the moment I never expected myself to be at. Shoot them... or shoot myself.

Of course, I had forgotten what a coward I was. Especially when this was my first Zerg encounter.

It only got worse when the ground began to shake a tad. I thought an elephant was coming through, but it was actually a smacked-up Zerg known as a Lurker. These things got in the ground and impaled people at a distance while they were picking their noses. I'd heard from drunken passer-bys these things could tear through tanks, buildings, hell, anything they could reach. They looked like some twisted spider with a brutal Hydralisk-like head. Then there were those claws... When they weren't burrowing, they were tearing things in two. But I had heard they really aren't good at that kind of stuff. It could have fooled me.

I had no idea why they were sneaking around without tearing the whole place down... and why hadn't that god damn siege tank done it's job and blasted these suckers before they got up on us? The mirror had my answer. I could see a hole just below the cannons. It looked like something burrowed into it and went after the driver and gunner. It was just my luck I could see two blood soaked thingamajigs crawl out of the hole and follow after the Hydralisks. Oh shit. Did they do the Goliath guys like that too? I couldn't say I expected these things to act so professionally. I always imagined they'd tear in like someone set them on fire and butcher everyone. That was normal Zerg behavior right?

But now they were just waiting. Why? Holy hell. What the #$% were Zerg doing on Arid Col anyway? No one paid any attention to this planet. Why should they now? In my panic I managed to successfully lean up against the horn and blare it as loud as mechanically possible. It wasn't a long sound, but it was enough to turn the attention of every Zerg in the camp on the truck and I. I cocked the hammer back on the revolver and waited for one of those Zergling things to go leaping in through the window. I'd blow its head off before it could breathe on me...

Of course, the horn also woke up some of Fahren's men. One stumbled out of his tent and looked around. I could hear him utter one of the ugliest cuss words on his mind, before the twisted cry of a whole Zerg army erupted to signal he was a dead man. Now the whole camp was afire with bullets and the Zerg's organic artillery. I could hear ricochet after ricochet bounce off the trailer behind me. Thank god Derringer wasn't joking about how tough that thing was. Somehow, I managed to talk myself into watching the whole bloodbath outside. I don't know. I guess I just didn't want to feel left out.

I saw a Zergling carcass roll across the sand until stopping up against my bumper. A Lurker tore up a whole line of guys with it's row of spines. One Marine threw a grenade and decapitated this one Hydralisk. Hell, I stopped counting bodies after that. So far, no one had bothered to check the truck, but that would only last so long. I knew it. I knew it so badly; I was clutching that revolver like it was my soul trying to escape. Almost fired the damn thing off in nervousness. And just when I had calmed myself down as far as I could for a Zerg attack, someone opened up the passenger side door and caused me to point my weapon while white faced with fear.

"Holy shit man! Put that damn thing down!"

It was Crick. He had some kind of Zerg organ stuck to his left arm, and his gun was still smoking from a recent blast of hot automatic death. Soon after, Orange got in, howling like a wounded animal. Well, mostly cause he was wounded. Crick had to shut the door for him since his right arm was pretty messed up. It still didn't keep him from rolling down the window and letting it hang while he shot more flames all over the place.

"You little sons of son of a mother's great-" Orange yelled in a blind rage.

What the #$% was he talking about? I was just staring at him while Crick almost punched me.

"What are you staring at you skinny bastard!? Step on the gas! Get us the hell out of here!"

"What about everyone else?" I stuttered.

"This ain't a fight we can win man! They got burrowed Lurkers out there! You know what the survival rate for engaging burrowed Lurkers are? Zip! Now move!"

Those words got my feet and hands in gear as I started the truck. That was a bad move. Cause it seemed like it turned on some Zerg alarm and before we knew it, they were swamping the truck and jumping in the way to keep us from moving out. But I didn't plan to go forward. I put the truck into reverse and peeled out backwards. That still wasn't very fast, but it was faster than the Zerg response. The window groaned as the Hydralisks were shooting at us with their spine crap. Might as well been green paint, cause it wasn't doing too much at the time. Luckily I had the wheel yanked just right to avoid the Siege Tank parked behind us. I probably even avoided some Lurker attacks.

I spent no time trying to find the road and just took off in any random direction. As long as there weren't any Zerg in my way, that's the direction I went. And these were tenacious bastards too. Just when I thought I could step on the gas, they were all over us. I think I hit a couple with the truck while doing donuts in that little valley. Hell, I was so panicked I probably nailed a couple of Fahren's guys on accident. I just remember going in circles, desperately trying to find a way out. I just... had to get the hell out of there. Away from them. Away from the Zerg. That was probably because I thought I'd never see them in my entire life and here they were, live and in color.

"What are you doin'? Performing for a car commercial? Get us out of this hellhole!" Crick bellowed.

He took hold of my hands and kept them straight so I wouldn't turn the truck anymore. Now we were just mowing down Zergling and Hydralisks and punching a way out of the big melee. Then there was this Defiler... for the love of God, what didn't the Zerg bring out here? I almost lost my lunch as it was currently choking down a Zergling for some reason. Good thing the truck was on the move, or I might have watched the whole cannibalistic frenzy. Or... good thing Crick was still holding my hands down likes a madman.

"I got it! I got it!" I screamed.

Crick was cutting the circulation out of my hands with his death grip, and now I had an opening. The rearview mirrors spoke chaos as bullets and acidic slime weaved it's way all over the place.

"Keep your eyes on the road, punk!" Orange demanded.

What road? We were driving through the desert right now... but who cared? We had Zerg to run from. They'd literally eat us alive if we didn't keep moving. Of course, there was still some Zerglings in the way. I made no attempt to dodge them and just steamrolled them like I had before. There'd be his huge thump, and it felt like the truck hit a ramp or something. Then we'd crash back on the ground and speed up again.

"Come on come on! Move! Move! Get this thing going faster!"

Back to the mirror again. Now they were chasing after us. With feet and undulating bodies pushing them as fast as they could possibly go. I mean... there was no way this bulky truck was going to out run Zerglings and Hydralisks smacked up on alien adrenaline sacs... I mean... there was no way...

"I'll hit the brakes! Make them go headfirst into the trailer!" I thought aloud.

"You stop this thing and we'll feed ya to the Zerg!"

When I went back to look and see how much closer they had gotten... They were gone. I looked over to the passenger side mirror and didn't see them on that side either. Where the hell had they gone? Who knows and I really didn't want to find out. I kept driving, I had the truck up to 110 or something. We were really flying. Just as fast as that truck could go. So fast we ramped a couple dunes and didn't even realize it until the large rolling sand hill was behind us. So fast that it was in the afternoon when we finally slowed to a stop.

We were speeding by this oasis when Crick and Orange began to yell out to me.

"Stop the truck! Stop the truck!"

"We're safe man! Come on! Slow down! Slow the hell down!"

I was still frantic from seeing the Zerg first hand and didn't even think about what it would be like when I slammed the breaks. When I did, I almost threw myself and the two guys next to me into the windshield. But I quickly eased up and made a slow and steady stop. Right on up the oasis with the funky hook shaped trees. Silence. Now, picture this. We're sitting there in a hot truck after surviving a Zerg attack and right in front of us is a large pool of crystal clear water. It looks pretty cool too.

"Well..." I began.

"Figures. Somehow the Zerg would show up." Crick groaned. "Did you see the color of their carapace? Purple."

"Why does that matter?" I asked.

"What? You been living under a rock? Those purple Zerg belong to the Queen of Blades' personal brood. Those things are not to be messed with. They took on the UED, Terran Dominion, and the Protoss at one time and put them all in a world of hurt. Probably the most intelligent, cutthroat, diabolical Brood ever."

We are so screwed. There wasn't a single person in the sector that hadn't heard about the Queen of Blades. She was some... Terran Zerg hybrid with a bad attitude and tons of Zerg to run errands for her. As of right then, it seemed like she was queen of the universe the way no one could touch her.

"Come on man, help me fix up my arm." Orange sighed.

We all got out of the truck and headed for the small pool of water. I remember, there was this sound like the wind came through... only with no wind. I looked around confused, until I spotted Scratch on top of the truck.

"Whoa, Scratch. You're alive too?" I exclaimed.

He shrugged. Knowing him, he probably wanted to say "Thanks for the obvious".

"Pretty close." He mumbled while getting down from the top of the trailer.

Hey...

"Come on down Scratch. Sit down. We gotta figure out what the hell we're gonna do now that we're flying solo and the Zerg are after us."

Crick said that with such ease you'd think it was a joke or something come to think about it, it was pretty funny in the end. Heh heh heh... That's funny. Yeah. It's real funny. Heh heh heh. Why ain't you laughing? It's funny... I stood up and threw my hands out, about ready to have a nervous breakdown.

"For the love of God! What the hell are you sayin' man? Are saying they're after us? But why the hell would anyone come to this planet after ignoring it for so long and-"

It was about the middle of my rant when I picked up on what I was saying. Crick, Orange, and Scratch figured it out too, and soon enough we were all looking at that goddamned truck. Soon enough we were all standing in a nice little line, Crick and Orange to my right, and Scratch to my left. Such a pitiful little thing with a trailer and covered with dust and blood. There was even a Zergling leg hanging from the bumper. You'd hardly expect it would be something an alien race would be after. Hell, looks like something you'd take to the scrap yard to get twenty credits for.

"Hey guys. Did we actually check to see what was inside the truck?" I asked.

"We never had a reason man." Orange muttered.

"Look don't even think about it. We're being paid to drive the thing, not crack it open." Crick warned. "Let's get some more sleep. I didn't sleep a wink back at camp and now it looks like we'll need it more than ever."

"Hey. You're just gonna drop this thing? The Zerg man... the freakin' Zerg of Zerg just tried to burn us back there and you don't even want to find out why?" I continued to push.

"Yeah, so life sucks. But the less we know, the better."

"Ever hear of that sayin' 'knowledge is power'?"

"Ok wheelman." Crick was now in my face. "Who's got the bigger gun?"

Son of a bitch... With that, Crick shot me a satisfied smile and a nod like "yeah, that's what I thought" and turned toward the oasis. Looking at Scratch and Orange, I could already tell they were taking his side. Come on! This is like... one of those season finales on Universe Network and you gotta wait a whole friggin' year to find out what the hell happened... I want to know now. I want to know what the Zerg are going to cut my head off about. It sure ain't about fuel or resources. The Zerg own over half the sector, and owned it like they lived there all their lives. They got no problem when it comes to making ends meet. It's us and the Protoss that are the ones in real trouble.

"Aw come on..."

We said nothing more and waited for night to fall. All of us were looking towards sleep since we were woken up so early at Fahren's camp. Even though Crick and Company were in no hurry to inspect the truck, they knew it was bad news and decided to sleep around the small pool of water instead of inside the cab. Even though I more or less joined them. I didn't sleep. I wanted to, but I couldn't. It was just the fact that we didn't have a clue why the Zerg were after us. We could have found out, but didn't. So halfway through the night after they had gone to sleep, I slowly stood up and moved toward the back of the trailer.

Now it was time to find out why the Zerg found Arid Sol so appealing all the sudden. Cause if Derringer had stuffed some PSI Emitter in this thing for some reason... I was going to wring his neck... then shoot him... then feed him to the Zerg... then shoot him again.

Damn, even when the truck was stopped and turned off, it's creaking gear shafts and drive chain made a whole hell of a lot of noise. So, you can imagine with that ruckus and the three guys still sleeping, I felt pretty safe when I slowly tiptoed to the back of the truck where this huge nozzle was. You know, one of those things you hook up to hoses and cables to drain the tanker. Cept' all I was going to do was release a little of it out onto the desert sands. I was going to find out... then there was a click sound. A weapon had been readied to fire.

"Keep it up, I dare ya."

I looked up to see nothing, and when I turned around I was surprised to still see nothing... until Scratch turned off his cloaking device. Man, although he was pointing a semi-automatic pistol at me, it was still cool to see a Ghost appear after just being invisible. It's like... the wind came by and painted them in or something. Then there was that whoosh sound...

"Scratch? I thought you were asleep..."

"What did Crick say?"

"He-"

"Exactly."

"Aren't you-"

"No."

I could barely get a word out before he cut me off. But somehow, I just knew he could quote me word for word before I even said it. Talking proved to just dig myself deeper. I'd try to say more, and he'd just shake his head then drive his gun closer to my face. I'm pretty sure he would shoot if he had too. Scratch has probably killed so many important Terrans that killing me would be like swatting a fly from the air. You couldn't see his face but it's not like you had to. You felt him whether you wanted to or not.

"You going to shoot?"

"Step away from the nozzle." He ordered. "Orange is recovering. We still need a driver so Crick and I can keep our eyes peeled."

What a lame reason...

"Hey. Do you want to live or not?"

"Fine. I won't touch it." I told him.

I stepped away. But when I stopped, the sound made by my feet going through the sand didn't. It was all around us. Sounded like someone was pacing around us. Then I saw Scratch gulp and knew something was very wrong. You know something is very wrong when a Ghost gets nervous. The truth was, someone was walking around us. They were invisible somehow... Other Ghosts maybe?

"Hey Scratch. How many other Ghost agents were there with Fahren?" I whispered

"It ain't Ghosts." He muttered back. "Dark Templar."

Oh shit. We just couldn't get a break out here...

-To be continued...

--Next Chapter: Shadow Play