CHAPTER 6
LOG ENTRY 932
We've been walking for what seems like hours. Along the way, the terrain has become more and more hostile. The trees are getting smaller and are turning brown colors, and we rarely see any wildlife, save insects and the occasional reptilian creature. Maybe Cade had a point when he decided not to enter this cave…
Lita out…
"Around this ridge, we should see where the cave was," Cade said.
"…or IS," Lita said as they passed the wall of rock.
Before them stood a spire of oddly colored mud. It didn't look like rock, it looked too moist. It was easily fifteen meters high, and in the front, a rigid, gaping hole.
"….no matter what you say, I'm not going in there…last time somebody went in there, they didn't come back, and I don't know about you, but I'm absolutely comfortable out here living like Tarzan…and it wouldn't be bad to have a Jane…if you know what I mean…" Cade rambled.
"In your wildest dreams. You aren't exactly my type, you know. Your cowardice might keep you alive, but it definitely won't get you women. Now if you aren't planning on going in, then give me your weapons. I'll probably need them more than you will," Lita replied.
Cade handed over his rifle, pistol, and one of his knives.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," he cautioned.
"I won't," Lita shot back as she ventured into the opening.
Before long, the darkness swallowed Lita. Even after a time, her eyes could not adjust to the impenetrable black.
She reached for her hip. When she found a thin cylinder on her belt, she shook it, and then snapped it. A green glow emitted from the stick and lit up the area around Lita.
The walls were red and corrugated. They dripped of what seemed like a mucous-like substance. It reminded Lita of pictures of a colonoscopy.
Lita felt a cool rush of air from behind her, and she felt the floor beneath her feet begin to move a bit.
Suddenly, in a wave of peristalsis, the cave behind her collapsed and threw Lita down the tunnel on a wave.
While being jostled down the passage, Lita wondered to herself if this was the end…if it was the fate that Samus and her crew had suffered…being swallowed up by some cave creature…just as she began to have thoughts of suicide, Lita was tossed upon a sticky floor of a rather massive room.
With the limited visibility from her glow stick, she looked behind herself. Her supposed entrance was nowhere to be seen. The sight threw her into a fit of memories…
i The walls are turning a blood red color and look to be turning moist…
None of our communicators seem to be working, and there doesn't seem to be a passage out of this room…including our point of entry…which seems to be nonexistent…/i
"This IS it," Lita said to herself, "this IS the place from those visions…that means…"
Lita's thoughts were cut off by a strange sound, then a weak moan.
Instinctively, Lita grabbed a mucous-soaked blaster from her belt and rushed toward the sound.
She seemingly flew in the dark, but as she neared the noise she caught a glimpse of something…right before it hit her.
What felt like a metal pipe caught her across the collarbone and sent her in a backward flip, landing on her stomach. As she hit the floor, her hand flopped and landed on something.
Struggling with being stunned, Lita lifted her light toward her arm…and saw another human arm!
"Ghhhh……" was the sound that escaped the mouth of the other person.
"I'm here to help," Lita forced herself to say.
"Heh…cough…that's…what I thought…cough…I was doing…" the person replied in a feminine voice.
Lita began to raise the light toward the face of the other person, but as she extended her arm, it was slammed to the ground by a claw that pierced her forearm.
She cried out in agony as a crimson flood poured from her arteries. She dropped her blaster and glow stick on the other victim as she could no longer control her hand.
She heard a voice hiss next to her head.
"Sssssssoooo….another….ssssssss…human!" the creature said, "Thissssss…issss a very good…sssss…day…yessssssss…"
"An excellent day," said the other person.
Lita saw the glow stick raise and the pulse rifle blast. Upon impact, the foul being pulled its pincer out of her arm and tripped over her legs.
It screamed in its alien tongue as Lita heard sizzling of flesh. Before she knew it, she was being lifted off of the ground.
"Look, I don't know who you are, but I'm glad to see you. The name's Aran. Captain Samus Aran, of the Galactic Federation Marines. Because of you and your little glow stick, that's the first time I've been able to catch a long enough glimpse of that bastard to kill it," Samus said.
"Sa…Samus?" Lita asked, still in shock from her wound.
"Do I know you? Eh, let's not bother with that right now, if that thing's as feisty as I think it is, it'll be back up and at its old tricks again in no time, let's try to find a way out of this pit," Samus continued.
The two walked steadily around the edge of the room until they found a small hole with air moving in and out.
"Hmm…I never noticed this…" Samus remarked.
"I….think it's alive…" Lita stammered, "maybe if we plug it up…something might happen…"
"Good idea, I've been saving this for just such an occasion," Samus said as she pulled a solitary plasma grenade from her hip pack.
She shoved it into the hole and engaged it.
"Now is when we move," Samus advised as she took Lita and guided her to the floor a few feet down the wall.
There was a flash, then a tremendous explosion of flesh and fluid into the room.
Massive exits opened along the walls, each of them with light shining through.
"No time to be picky, we've got to get out of this place while we can," Samus said as she helped Lita up one of the tunnels.
They were nearly out when they heard a hiss from behind them.
"SSSSSS…I WILL SEE YOU DIE!SSSSSSSSS!" the creature bellowed.
Just as Samus and Lita had reached the exit, Samus felt a splash on her back.
Lita turned to look, but the cave had already disappeared again.
Before long, Samus collapsed along with Lita onto the ground.
Samus went into convulsions as Lita managed to work her way out from under Samus' body.
On her back was a bubbling brown liquid that looked as if it were eating Samus' skin.
"What the heck happened?" Cade yelled as he ran over.
"She's got some kind of acid on her back, do you have anything to help her?" Lita asked urgently.
"Well, yeah, here, put this water on it," Cade said as he poured the water directly on the acid.
The brown liquid diluted and ran off of Samus' back. Her convulsions stopped and she sighed.
"Uuugh…thanks…that's much better…" Samus forced.
"Is this…" Cade started.
"Your commanding officer," Lita finished.
"Oh, crap…" Cade said.
