Chapter 3

My eyes turned to the sky as the roar of a Trilobite's engines broke the rhythmic thumps that echoed through the landscape. The rectangular craft turned to face into the center of the settlement and a large triple barreled turret came into view. It spun slowly, more cannon than machine-gun, despite how it appeared. As few glass slugs slammed into the side of the craft, adhering to the side and threatening to knock the mag-jet rotors off their hinges. In response, cracks of lighting erupted from the barrels and magnetically charged, magnesium core, tungsten charges rained down onto unseen targets. The rounds were horrifically effective both in and out of atmosphere, fired by electromagnetic energy and detonating on contact. They could rip lightly armored vehicles apart or turn humans into pink mist, so I doubted even these aliens could stand up to the cannons. A single craft descended towards the earth as two others hovered above, slag continuously pouring down towards the alien attackers.

"Major Gregory, is that you?" Captain Kane's voice rang in my ears.

"Yes, Captain," I answered into my headset.

I watched as the ship came to a hover twenty feet over the surface of the ground. Now protected from the silos and granary the ship could safely expel any passengers. The ovular troop-doors depressurized and swung open, blocking out the sun from where I was standing. Four large humanoid forms emerged from the craft simultaneously, leaping out into the sun and plummeting towards the ground. Just before striking, large thrusters on the back used for maneuvering in zero-gravity environments fired off downwards, stopping their descent for only a second but long enough to make their landing smooth. Well, smoother at least, considering each of the forms left considerable imprints in the grass.

One of the forms approached me, having the Captain's insignia etched onto each shoulder and over the left breast. I had never actually seen an active Power Suit up close until now, and certainly not four of them at once. They were almost as tall as the aliens, standing easily two feet taller than I. Completely encased in the same opaque white armor as me and the buildings, you could compare the outfit to that of a 20th century astronaut. The bulbous golden visors each armored figure sported and the square 'backpack' certainly brought the image to mind. If it weren't for the fact that each suit was heavily armored and brandished a downsized version of the Trilobite's cannon they'd be almost identical. Upon closer examination I could see a knife strapped to his chest, though it might as well have been a sword as it was oversized to compensate for the bulky armor.

"Major Gregory?" Kane questioned me as he approached.

A low hum was audible from his armor up close, each movement being preceded by the faint sounds of the internal components flexing and whirring. I fathomed at the amount of work that went into building such a device. The first power suits were originally designed for construction and manual labor in space; it also made humans incredibly more efficient as both workhorses and killing machines. Allowing a man to lift a metric ton over his head as well as being able to fight and work in vacuum and zero-gravity, there were infinite uses for such a suit beyond civilian. When military models were first issued their performance records made them staple-points in heavy combat. Two suits were just as effective as an entire squad of men if used correctly.

The golden visor rose up to reveal a heavily altered man, pale and bald with obvious scars from various cerebral implants. Veins bulged from the skin and the man probably stood a foot taller than me even without his armor to give him the extra height. Most of the men who pilot the suits had to be altered to a degree, allowing for faster reflexes and various implants for an easier synchronization with the suit. Despite all his genetic tampering and micro-chips, it was still a human inside the armor. The suit just made him ten times the man he already was, and it was likely he was a far more capable man than I would ever hope to be.

Upon Kane's face was a mixture of surprise and disgust as he waited for my response. By now, the thick coating of blood and minced flesh had dried to my armor and skin. Most of the bloody veneer was filled with small globules of flesh, organ, and bone that had clung to my armor upon contact. It was if someone had dumped a bucket of partially coagulated paint over my head. Or at least I tried to pretend that was the case. How pathetic I must have looked to the armored men, clutching the deceased woman's shotgun, red from head to toe, and trembling profusely.

"Yes?" I rasped in response.

"What happened down here?" Kane questioned.

"I… I don't even know where to start," I whimpered while shaking my head slowly, "we were ambushed by that…"

I pointed back to the crumpled corpse of the alien. By now the three other suits had gathered up behind the Captain and all their visors were now pointed directly at the crumpled tree-like shape. Nobody spoke as they just stood there, dumbstruck by the sight of the strange being slumped against the silvery cylinder. The thick amber sap that acted as the creature's blood had dried like the layer that coated me and was now a dull brown similar to that of the alien's skin. The roots had slumped down towards the ground, already drying up as leaves began to fall from the branches. It was just so strange to see such a thing. It was like a bush and a turtle had been smashed together in some horrific experiment. Only there were more of them, and they all looked just as different as one plant did from the next when it came to their growths. However the same general bipedal structure remained evident in all of them.

"Form up; we're pushing into the town. Shoot anything that moves," Captain Kane barked and his visor snapped shut.

I was tempted to call him nuts, but what other choice did I have? He was the one in the fancy armor; I just had the better paint job. My stomach turned again as I reminded myself of what had just transpired. So many people were dead and we only managed to kill one of the enemies from what I could tell. My body refused to move despite the fact that my brain urged them to. The Trilobite that had dropped off the quartet of rapidly retreating power suits was gone as well as our air support, telling me that I was stuck on Tandiko for now. I had nowhere else to go but back into the fight.

"Major, sir," the Captain said. He stopped as his group disappeared into the complex, "you had better come with us."

"It looks like I don't have much other choice," I replied still looking up to the sky.

"They're not coming back," Kane must have been referring to the Trilobites.

I replied with a grim expression under the bloody face paint, "I'm waiting for more of them to come."

Kane must not have been expecting alien reinforcements. Or at least hoping they weren't on their way already. Still, I wasn't about to argue with the guy holding the five foot cannon and decided to follow him into the mouth of hell. There were no other options available and if anything these guys might actually be able to do some damage. If anything I was just going to slow them down if the fighting got more intense. Power suits could outperform even the most genetically augmented humans; titanium would always be tougher than flesh. So why Kane even considered bringing me along was beyond me. If I were him, I would have left me behind.

Following the much larger figure into the granary, we passed more than a few crumpled red forms. We didn't find any alien bodies and my stomach dropped. Was I really that lucky? Clutching the shotgun in my hands even tighter I remembered how dangerous the weapon still was at close range. Even something this primitive was effective, though the large slug it fired likely had some factor in its lethality. Still, I would have to avoid getting shot at all before all that. One hit and I was toast. At least their weapons weren't incredibly accurate at a distance. But considering the tight formation the four armored forms were now huddled together in I was thankful and alarmed at the same time. Tall silos sprung up all around as we finally approached the opposite end of the facility. Something groaned behind one of the silos. An ambush, how predictable.

The first rounds fired were from our side, only the death rattle of the point man as branches suddenly obscured my vision and he was gone behind another silo. The creature emerged again around the other side of the metal canister. In the blink of an eye the alien tossed the oversized corpse at another of Kane's men and sent the two suits crashing to the ground. Kane dropped the turret he was carrying, bindings on the armor snapping open as the two-hundred pound weapon smashed to the dirt. Drawing the blade from the sheath on his chest, Kane charged the creature with surprising speed considering the apparent cumbersome nature of the power suit. He was met with the alien's own weapon, a single arm stopping all of Kane's strength despite the 'power' suit. The other man jumped into the fray, slamming into the tree creature and sending it staggering back as it was forced to grab onto the second suit with both arms. Before it could go any further, Kane jumped onto its shoulders and drove his blade down into the shape that seemed to be the head of the creature. It groaned, howled, recoiled abruptly, and crashed to the ground. Both of the armored men were sent flying, Kane slamming into a silo and his companion crashing to the ground just beyond the granary.

I heard the crack of earth behind me and my stupor was broken. Unable to do anything to help the four men, my helplessness was only further aggravated as another of the aliens emerged only feet from me. I heard the man still trapped beneath the other armored suit call my name but I was already in motion. My desire to live kicked in and I fell backwards. The alien's massive root infested fists smashed into the ground just inches from my feet and I scrambled to escape from the horrifying beast. It snarled at me, revealing a gaping maw as the bark split open in a triangular shape just below the glowing green orbs that I perceived as eyes. Its mouth was a sickening orange, with a deep purple tongue extending from orange gums and jagged yellow-white teeth lining the three mandibles that extended towards me. My eyes went wide and I did the only thing I could think of. My right arm shoved the barrel of the shotgun forwards and the creature bit down hard on the titanium shaft. I pulled the trigger and the gun leapt from my hand, my wrist almost broken from the kickback. Once again, I was bathed in sap and mulched wood.

The corpse gurgled and slumped over, almost crushing me as I pulled my shotgun from the creature's shattered face. A foul stench caused me to wretch as I noticed that my gun was now coated in a bubbling, charred layer of sickly brown tar. Strands of amber dangled between the barrel and the eviscerated skull of the alien, like bubble gum from your fingers after you'd pull it from your mouth. Taking my boot, I scraped as much of the goop off as I could before stuffing the stock of the wepon into my shoulder. I hoped that the weapon would still fire, but figured there was little to worry about. Weapons were built to withstand the most insane of environments. Shotguns like this could virtually be fired underwater, or inside an alien as I just proved.

"Damn, they got McMellan," the other unnamed suit pilot commented.

He pulled the corpse off his still alive squad mate and set the armored cadaver down as gingerly as he could. They were well over a thousand pounds, making the fact that the alien threw one even more intimidating. Considering I was thrown a few meters without any real effort on the alien's side, I had to imagine they weighed at least a ton or two. It would explain why they were so hard to bring down. The wood-like flesh that covered their more squishy insides was incredibly dense and heavy. Each time one of the globs of their flesh hit me it was like a slab of clay slamming into my shoulder.

"Stow the chatter. Show him some respect," Kane barked, "Major. You okay?"

"I'm alive," I responded, being the best thing I could make of the situation, "let's move."

I pulled myself to my feet with a wince. My chest flared in pain as the adrenaline began to fade from my system. I made it this far, I could make it further. Judging by the aliens' behavior thus far, it wasn't like they were going to let anyone live anyways. How I managed to live so long was beyond me. Perhaps the creature that kicked me got cocky and figured I was dead. Or it wanted me to suffer. I would have believed these things were sick that way. They didn't even give us a reason for attacking; they just started blowing up planets.

" We're not out of the woods yet," Kane reminded his men.

Finally breaking out of the shadows of the granary, the small town that accompanied the settlement was already being razed. Marines scurried about the white structures while bounding branches chased them down. I couldn't see many of the aliens, only the leafy sticks that shot up from their backs swaying to and fro as they moved behind the cover of the buildings. The aliens were smart. They stayed in cover and knew to hide their large shape from direct sight. Even with all their physical might they still preferred ambush tactics. Or at least that seemed to be the case.

I followed Kane and the two other suited men closely, essentially hiding in their shadows. We approached the town from the opposite side of the marines. Rather than strike the aliens from behind as we had hoped we ran almost head on into an even larger one. Standing several feet taller in actual height than his fellow tree beasts, reaching almost twenty feet altogether if you counted the brush growing up from his back. I presumed the alien must have been the 'leader' of the aliens we had encountered so far judging by his behavior. He seemed to be watching over the others rather than actually partaking in the fight himself. Maybe it was for the best. I'd rather have not had to piss the thing off.

"Stay down," I snapped over the short range radio, "we can't risk taking it on directly. Let me investigate."

The three remaining power suits crouched down low behind the first building we approached. Being the fool I was, I crept out near the edge of the opaque white residence. There was gravel 'road' that ran down the middle of the parallel housing structures and the alien was standing not ten meters away in the center of the street. The settlement was organized as a ten house subdivision, each house identical to the last and directly opposite of another with equal space between each building to park a car, though none were visible. Maybe some people actually managed to escape, but to where I couldn't imagine. Any other settlement or city would likely have faced the same fate as this one considering they were taking the time to attack such a small one.

Now that I had a closer view, I could see a few details that made this alien all the more different from the others. His shrubbery, as you might call it, was cleanly trimmed, unlike the uneven and more natural appearance of the past aliens I had encountered. The leaves on his body were also much larger, and there were even strange brightly colored flowers that glistened like the ocean in the sun. From this angle, the creature was actually quite breathtaking. Its skin was smoother, the bark curving and swooping with the shape of the creature's body rather than forcibly overtaking it and possessing a much lighter color than the others. I began to wonder why this creature was different than the previous ones, but considering how much larger it was I had to assume it was merely older.

My heart leapt as the creature turned to face my direction. It didn't break stance, only craned its head as if it had heard something. That was if the creatures even heard anything in the first place and didn't use some other strange sensory organ to detect us. Either way, I was able to see the front of the beast now. The wooden growths were much thicker than on the previous aliens we had encountered, encasing the body of the creature in bark-flesh armor. My legs went weak as I essentially met eyes with the being, the glowing yellow-green orbs that dominated their "face" boring into my very existence as I felt a hypnotic sensation overtake me. The alien and I stared one another down for what could have been years, it certainly felt that way. Finally, it turned and resumed watching the other tree-like monsters as they hunted down the remaining marines.

Upon retreating into the secure shadows of the small house I noticed that one of the power suits were missing. Kane was gone and I couldn't find him anywhere. Before I could ask his subordinates, one of them pointed upwards with a sausage shaped white armored finger. There I could see the Captain, standing upon the top of the small structure and leveling his cannon on the alien creature. Before I could protest the idea, Kane opened fire. I rushed to the edge of the structure again and watched as the explosive tungsten rounds rained down on the large alien. Several chunks of light-brown bark were blown off the creature's carapace but it had already spun to the right before the second and third rounds were even hitting it. I couldn't believe the alien's speed considering how large it was. Kane didn't even have time to realign his barrels before the creature was charging into the house. It leapt casually onto the structure, almost caving the roof in as it landed next to Kane. With a single arm the power suit was sent flying overhead and crashing into the earth about fifteen meters away. I fumbled for my shotgun, but the creature was far too fast.

"Kane!" one of the other suited figures called out, "DAMMIT!"

The alien jumped down onto the duo, slamming one into the earth and crushing the armor into a pancake. Red goo oozed out of the shattered armor and the man inside went silent. As a futile attempt to bring the alien down, the last suit shoulder checked the alien to put it off balance. The suit grappled with the creature, only to be thrown to the ground without much effort on the alien's end. With its back towards me, I begged my legs to move. Shakily, I took my first step, then another, and another. Before I knew what I was doing, I had jumped onto the back of the alien. Gripping onto the branches that spurted up from its spine, I noticed that the fleshy wood was quite warm to the touch. The alien growled, spinning around in an attempt to shake me off. My legs bounced hard against the unforgiving wooden growths and I struggled to keep my grip. Every time the creature moved I felt my ribs become more and more agitated and at one point I was sure I would pass out. Closing my eyes, I waited to be thrown off the alien's back.

"Gregory! Let go!"

How I was ever able to hear the words was a miracle. Releasing the branches, I was sent tumbling across the grass before coming to a stop face down. I was barely in one piece but I still managed to push myself up enough to see what had become of the alien. It was now crumpled in a puddle of orange with jagged wounds riddling its body. My eyes were the only part of me to move as I finally spotted Kane's armor standing not far from the alien corpse. His visor was shattered and several of the white coverings on his suit had been damaged or completely torn off. But he was still alive. For the first time today, I felt relieved.

"We need to get off this planet, sir!" the other suited man spoke up.

Kane didn't respond. He started limping towards me, his armor barely holding together let alone functioning. Each step was proceeded by the grinding of gears and hydraulic fluids leaking from ruptured portions of the armor.

"We have to contact the ship, sir!" the unknown man's voice was becoming more and more uneasy, "something! Anything! We can't stay here!"

"Shut up," Kane finally responded.

"No way! We're screwed man!" the other man began to grow hysterical.

"Shut up and calm down," Kane replied without breaking his gait.

"No! Fuck this! I'm getting out of here!"

The fearful power armored man turned and stomped off, heading away from me and Captain Kane. He turned the corner and disappeared from our sight and the air grew uncomfortably silent. A few seconds later, a scream could be heard even through his armor. Snarls of alien monsters followed and then nothing but CRUNCH CRUNCH SQUISH as the armored man was pulverized by tree monsters. Now alone and surrounded, me and Captain Kane stood uneasily together in the blood soaked grass.

"Gregory," Kane rasped, "My suit is trashed. There's no way I can run and fight."

I was shaking and staring down at the dirt in front of me when the Captain finally addressed me. My head jerked in his direction as if expecting him to suddenly and violently attack. Still, I managed to at least keep myself from loosing it altogether like the other man. The aliens were just waiting for us to move. I could hear them moving around on the other side of the house, the ground shook with each step they took. Now that I knew what to look for, I could hear them coming. That only made me more paranoid than I already was. Why couldn't they just come kill us already?

"Major, did you hear me?"

"What?" I snapped my head back around to face Kane.

"Run back to the granary. Call for backup. Leave me to deal with these," Kane almost ordered me.

I didn't respond. What could I say? The Captain was right. There was no way we were both going to get out of here alive. In truth, I almost didn't want to at this point. Death was beginning to look preferable to fighting. Who knows, maybe the aliens would make it quick if you asked real nice.

"You're right," I found myself saying the words that I doubted I could.

"Go." Kane said before raising his chain-gun into a ready position, "I said GO!"

My body jumped as if struck by lighting and I began jogging up the short hill back towards the tall silver silos. I spared Captain Kane one last glance as he charged off towards the aliens. Gunshots from both sides filled the air and I turned away. Even though I was exhausted and broken, I found myself running through the processing plant. Passing the two dead aliens and power suited corpse alike, I knew I was headed in the right direction. I kept running. My veins pumped acid and I felt like my lungs were about to jump right out of my broken ribcage, but I kept running. I ran as far as I could. Past the silos. Past the farming equipment and the gore filled shack. Past the fields of grain and even past the spot where I first landed on Tandiko.

Eventually I found myself alone in the woods that bordered the farming settlement. My legs gave out and I fell into the dirt on my back, hidden in the shadows of a large tree. I stared up at the softly swaying branches, my eyes watching the leaves flap and twist in the cool breeze. Leaves. I couldn't believe something like that would instill such fear into me but it did. Laying there on Tandiko, covered in blood, watching the leaves on that tree, I had never been more afraid in my entire life. I don't know how long I spent sprawled out on the dirt, but by the time I finally realized I was still alive, the sun was already starting to make its way back down towards the horizon. My blood soaked body eventually forced itself up and I set a distress signal at my location. Every instinct told me to give up there. To just lay in the dirt and wait for death. But I didn't.

If only I had listened to my gut.