Chapter 4

Several hours had passed and sleep was a welcome escape from the pain and horror of reality. The alien attackers had not destroyed Tandiko like they had Crucible so at least there was that much to celebrate. I had no clue on the status of the rest of the planet though. My helmet was gone; meaning I had no way of directly contacting the Cry Havoc or any other detachments on the planet. I had a small transmitter that I had activated, but it could be hours more before anyone came in range of it. At this point in time the events prior to running away from that town were the last thing I wanted to think about. I wanted to think about home. Home before I joined the military. I'm sure at this point anyone would be reminiscing to their loved ones. Or at least when you had some in my case. That was part of the reason I joined up with the military in the first place, I had nowhere else to turn.

A nagging series of beeps pierced my nostalgia. I looked down at the small device that was sitting in the grass beside me. An emergency transmitter. It could send out a distress signal several miles on its own and allow for short range communication. Whoever was trying to get in touch with me was close. I picked the device up with a dirty and blood stained hand, my mind remembering the horrific events that got me here. Almost reluctantly, I brought the small radio towards my lips.

"This is Major Alan Gregory," I rasped, "does anyone read?"

The device let out a buzz of static to confirm that the message had been sent. My body had become stiff and I rolled my shoulders, the feeling of bark and the rustle of leaves sending a jolt up my spine. Suddenly my body jumped forwards almost instinctually, grabbing the shotgun in my hands and falling to my chest. For a second I lay there, staring at the tree I had been leaning against. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest that my fractured ribs began to ache. It was only then that I realized that I wasn't hearing just one branch move, but many. My eyes slowly looked up and I saw a disturbing stillness among the leaves of the tree I had been sitting under.

There was no wind.

"Major Gregory?" the device buzzed from beside the tree.

I didn't go for the device. Not immediately. For a second I sat there, staring at the device, then the tree, then back to the radio, and back to the tree again. My panic stricken mind finally allowed me to crawl forward slowly and I reached for the transmitter. My gloved fingers took the device and I shakily brought it to my lips. It chimed out my name again before I could respond and I jumped, dropping the device.

I snatched it up quickly and whispered a reply, "yes."

"Holy crap!" the man exclaimed and I snuffed the sound out with my other hand, "your whole squad got wiped out along with all of Alpha Seven. How'd you escape?"

I dropped the device as the rustle of leaves turned into thunderous footsteps. The tree I had been hiding under splintered and cracked as one of the aliens charged out of the woods, plowing the tree over and almost uprooting it. Had I been sitting there, I would have been smashed to pulp. Before the creature could fully turn I snatched up my shotgun and pumped two rounds into its chest. The first cracked the thick wood as the slug punched a hole in the wooden skin and the second caused the whole chest to essentially explode open with a sickening crack. The creature was sent falling back over the fallen tree screaming in pain as orange goop splattered the area around its squirming body. I sat there staring at the dying beast, my fingers white knuckle tight on the grips of the shotgun. More branches cracked and snapped all around me as more monstrosities closed in.

Before I fell victim to another surprise attack, I turned and took off into the woods in a desperate sprint. My ears rang from the deafening gunshots of the aliens behind me. Glassy slugs slammed into the trunks of trees all around me, causing the wood to explode violently and shower me with splinters. Thankfully my armor was tough enough to shrug off the sharpened wood though I was forced to shield my unprotected eyes. Running blind through the forest turned out to be a horrid idea and I went crashing to the ground soon enough. My shotgun fell into the mud several meters off and I listened as the creatures held their fire. Looking up, I could see most of the smaller trees that had been hit were completely toppled, while others has massive holes punched through the center of their trunks.

I scrambled for my shotgun. The weapon was quickly crushed by what looked like an uprooted tree trunk, though the roots wriggled and flexed like toes, pushing dirt between them as the weapon was flattened. My body froze in fear, as if hoping the alien wouldn't see me. Inch by inch, my eyes moved up the shape of the creature, following the roughly shaped bark covered skin. I was so close I could hear the beast breathing, so close I could see the rise and fall of its chest with each deep and almost pained breath. An oversized arm reached forwards as the colossal fiend reached to grab at me, the creak and groan of bending branches audible as the gargantuan being moved. Instinct forced me to recoil, sending me kicking against the forest floor in an attempt to escape the creature. Another tree blocked my retreat and I pressed my spine against the warm timber as if seeking comfort. Unfortunately I found my trust quickly betrayed and the tree shifted forwards.

Before I could realize what I had backed up into, the creature stepped forwards with disturbing swiftness. I was sent flopping forwards between the two aliens, landing hard on my chest and winding me. I lay there, writhing in pain, waiting for the two creatures to do whatever horrific thing they had planned for me. Would I be stomped to death, or would they execute me with some dignity? As of right now nothing these creatures could have done would have surprised me. Or so I had thought. When death didn't come, I opened my eyes to look up at my attackers. There were now three of the creatures standing over me. Six green orbs stared down at me, though none of the aliens made a move. I watched them from between halfway closed eyes, still bracing myself, anticipating a strike that never came.

There was no way of telling how long passed before I looked up fully. The creatures didn't move from their statuesque positions, looming over me along with the rest of the forest. I pulled my arm away from my face and realized how futile my attempts to remain identifiable were. These things could tear me apart without batting an eye, if that term even applied to such monsters. My arms trembled as I put my hands to the dirt and pushed myself up to get a better look at the creatures. I tried to imagine what they were thinking but soon found myself in sheer awe.

They were bigger than the ones I had encountered before, their heads reaching well into the branches of the trees around me. Much like the one earlier, they appeared more organic and symmetrical than most of the others, as if there was a true cohesion between the plant and animal rather than one attempting to overtake the other. Colorful star shaped flowers sprouted from their heads and back, as well as thick teardrop leaves bushing out from all parts of their body. One of them shifted, the leaves and flowers twitching and shuffling as it fell to one knee as if to get a better look at me. The ground trembled as its massive leg dug into the dirt, a single arm reaching out as it supported the heavy beast while its face moved ever closer to mine.

The stench was awful. It was the first thing I noticed. In my panic earlier, I must not have registered the smell but now, it was as if I were in a pit of rotting corpses and moldy cheese. The worst smells imaginable combined to make my head swim as my stomach churned to try and force out anything left inside. I managed to hold myself together as the tree creature examined me. In the cool air of the evening there was a visible aura of steam around the beast from the sheer heat coming off its flesh and from within its maw. The sound of snapping branches and cracking bark foreshadowed the expanding jaws as the creature opened its mouth and roared loudly into my face. Bits of black and putrid flesh spattered onto my face but the part that got to me was the heat. It was like facing a furnace at point blank, hot air blowing me back as I fell onto my ass.

With a single swipe of its hand I was sent flying into the air. It had picked me up and thrown me clear over the tree tops. For what felt like a lifetime I tumbled through the air, green and blue blurring together as my body spun circles. Branches snapped and broke under my weight before I slammed back into the dirt several dozen meters from where I had been before. Blood bubbled out from my mouth, my kneecaps were shattered, and my elbow stuck out through the skin. Between adrenaline and shock I couldn't feel a thing. I tried to look around, my eyes being the only thing I could move. The ground shook beneath me. No doubt the creatures were moving towards me to finish the job.

So this was it. I was going to die bloodied and broken on some backwater planet just as I expected. My one good arm twitched as I tried to drag myself forwards pathetically. So I wasn't crippled yet. Maybe I could still get out of this. If only the reinforcements could arrive. Another roar deafened me as I was scooped up by twisted roots. The creature held me like a doll, my limp body flopping lifelessly in its hands. I began to feel pain but couldn't cry out or show any signs but spitting out more blood onto the creatures hand. It looked at me with what I could only imagine as malice. The ridges above its eyes wrinkled, its jaws splitting open and a wriggling purple tongue writhed in my face. Then its head exploded.

I fell to the ground in a bloody heap and coughed as I listened to the sounds of gunfire from both human and alien weapons. A trilobite passed overhead and I watched as it descended into the trees. The sides opened and two power suits fired down into the tree-line. Exotic armored men descended afterwards, throwing down ropes before propelling themselves from the aircraft. Three human shaped figures landed firing weapons I had never seen before. One of them approached me and I got a better look at him.

It was then I realized they weren't armored but rather it was actually their bodies. The one that approached me wore a sleeveless version of the typical OBG armor but his arms were cybernetic replacements. Aesthetically similar to human anatomy there were a number of glowing lights still visible within select portions of the replacements. By now my eyes were wet with tears from biting back the pain from my injuries so it was hard to get a clear look at the figure.

"Goddamn," a metallic sounding voice came from the helmeted figure, "this guy's still alive."

The cyborg waved over his companions before kneeling down to get a better look at me. His reflective black visor showed me the extent of my injuries and I had to avert my eyes. I hardly recognized myself anymore, nothing but a pile of bloodied rags and ruined armor. Gingerly as he could, my savior scooped me up in one of his massive arms before slinging me over his shoulder. I winced and gurgled blood from the pain but soon found myself fading into darkness.

"Fall back. We're done here. There's nothing else we can do for the others."

I blacked out as the man attached himself to the hanging cord he used to jump down on. A flash of blue static emerged from the bulky square connector and we were suddenly flying upwards. My body felt weightless as the cyber-soldier carried me upwards into the trilobite. The last thing I remember is seeing the ground retreat away beneath me. We broke free of the branches as I faded to black.

"Al?! AL!" a female voice flooded into the darkness, "get up! We're going to be late for brunch!"

I groaned, rolling over in my sheets and pulling them close to my face. The smell of my wife's shampoo, a pungent lilac fragrance, engulfed me as I dug my nose deeper into the wrinkled linens. Yawning and stretching out in the bed while simultaneously pushing the excess bedding off the end with my feet, I eventually forced myself to sit up and scratched my bare chest. I swallowed hard, my mouth dry from a night of undisturbed sleep and loud snoring.

"Allan, get your butt down here already. My parents will have a cow if we keep them waiting!" my wife Nicole called out to me again, her impatience clear.

My feet hit the carpet floor and began digging into the light shag carpeting as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I pulled a pair of pants on that I had worn the day before before digging through my drawers for something reasonable. A collared washed out yellow shirt, thankfully it was folded neatly and without any prominent wrinkles. Sliding it over my head I plodded out the bedroom and down the adjacent staircase. The landing turned sharply before expanding out into the lower floor of our apartment.

Roughly twelve hundred square feet, it was fairly high end for the area. Nicole's parents had more money than they knew what to do with and had set us up comfortably. Their contribution to our marriage ended there however as they had anything but positive opinions of my lifestyle. A college drop-out that worked part-time as a mechanic while trying to get my career as a writer off the ground, I didn't stack up to my doctorate wielding spouse. She worked as a professor at the local university with a degree in both anthropology and sociology. You could consider her quite the liberal and I guess that would be the reason we fell in love.

Both of us were quite the passionate activists in our time. If you could call getting drunk and talking about how they had the right idea back in the nineteen-sixties. It was funny how even a thousand years later that turbulent time had such an impact on society. Hippies never really died, they just continued to evolve with the times. Nicole grew up, I didn't, but she stuck with me none the less.

"Al!?" Nicole hollered as I rounded the corner of the landing.

She had been standing at the base of the staircase and jumped upon seeing me. I smiled and descended towards her. Nicole was only a inch or two shorter than me, and yet could without a doubt put me to shame in any contest. She was fit but not muscular, her bone and tissue density increased from genetic intervention and her reaction times probably twice as fast as mine. Her features showed the same signs; unblemished skin, perfect complexion, flawless bone structure and impeccable symmetry in her features, dark and lush hair with radiant luster that supermodels would envy and nearly glowing hazel eyes that shimmered in the light. By comparison, it was almost as if me and her were of two separate species. Needless to say, I didn't come from the illustrious background she did. My family could barely afford a child bearing license let alone any post natal gene-therapy.

"There you are," Nicole said with a relieved sigh, "what took so long?"

"Sorry," I pushed my dirty blond curls away from my face with reply, "I just couldn't shake out of this crazy dream."

I padded down the stairs and pecked her on the cheek. My hand took to her forehead, feeling a familiar warmth from her skin. She had been complaining of headaches and had been running a temperature for the past month or so. None of her physicians could find any reason for her illness, assuming she might have a rare form of gene-therapy rejection. If that was the case, well, it was likely she might be this way for the rest of her life. Any further genetic alteration would surely result in fatal symptoms. It was a price some payed for their vain lifestyle though serious cases popped up every one in a million, with most treatable through pharmaceuticals.

"How are you feeling?" I asked concernedly.

"I'm fine," Nicole took my hand and pulled it down between us, "really."

"Are you sure? We can always call your parents and reschedule this thing. I'm sure they'll understan..."

"No!" Nicole cut me off harshly, squeezing my hand. She smiled to try and cover up her outburst and keep off the subject, "you really think they'd do that? It's unbelievable they'd even call in the first place. This is our last chance to make things right."

She sniffed the air around me before frowning. Her hands went to my curly hair as she fumbled helplessly against it, trying her damnedest to tame the unruly mane. "Did you even take a shower this morning?" She griped, pulling at my shirt to straighten out the collar and folds, "For heaven's sake, Allan, take something serious for once in your life."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" I pulled away, knowing she was only doing more harm than good when she went back for my hair, "But in my defense, it's not like I needed one. I was watching films all day yesterday."

"As if I didn't already know that," Nicole griped, "that's all all you ever do is watch those lame old movies and write about them. Who even reads that stuff?"

"Plenty of people," I crossed my arms over my chest defensively, "are we seriously going to do this now?"

Nicole huffed before turning away from me, "let's just get going. We're going to be late."

I watched as my wife snatched up her purse, storming out the door into our garage. My eyes traced along the shelves and cabinets of our apartment, not a single speck of dust visible thanks to Nicole's watchful eye. Bone white walls contrasted against the dark-red antique wooden furniture she had picked out when we first moved in. I marched over to the opaque white door that led to our garage. Slipping on a pair of tennis shoes, I closed and locked the door behind me as I looked down at our car.

A silver bullet if there ever was one, there wasn't much to say about the vehicle. Aside from their components, the overall design of the automobile hadn't changed much in the past thousand years. Sure, electro-magnetic powered engines with most of the materials used were nigh unpronounceable but it was mostly for cost sake. Even sporty little models like this didn't break $250,000, a few weeks salary for Nicole.

She was stuffing her purse under the passengers seat before I walked in. "Nicole," I said in a low tone with a frown on my face, "let me drive."

"I'm f-fine," she stammered before leaning against the car as if out of breath.

I darted to her side and caught her free arm by the shoulder. She was shaking, sweat visible above her brow, and felt frail in my hands. Where normally she could have pushed me aside without any effort, Nicole was hardly able to stand on her own two feet before me now. Something was wrong and I was through letting her commit suicide for her parent's sake.

"We're going to the hospital," I said before helping her over to the passenger side door, "you're not fine, Nicole."

"My parents," Nicole pleaded before I closed the door and sat beside her, "we have to call them at least."

"I can call them from the hospital. They'll just have to deal with it ."

My hand dug the keys from her purse and stuck them in the ignition. The car hummed as a tingle ran through my body, almost causing Nicole to vomit. She gagged and held her mouth in her hands as she held back her urges to spew bile over our car's interior. The static shock that coursed through your body when starting a magnetically powered vehicle must have upset her condition. I put the vehicle in reverse as our garage door lifted to reveal the sun baked streets of our home planet.

White, opaque, modular houses lined the concrete streets of Isle, our home planet. Made of tough plastic plates that are fixed onto the framing of the structure, the spherical shape of the structures protected them from the powerful winds and heat that Isle could produce. Similar to the American Southwest during the Great Depression era. Even now the wind pounded the car with dust reducing visibility.

"Son of a bitch," I muttered under my breath as I backed out of our garage and onto the parched concrete roads, "It's going to take forever to get downtown in this weather."

"T-Take the 2-20. The traffic shouldn't be buh-bad this time of day," Nicole stammered out while cradling her head in her hands.

Torquing the wheel around, I depressed the pedal and the car hummed as another jolt of static shifted the gears and engaged the engine. My wife gagged again but I tried to have a positive outlook on this situation and opted to ignore it. Gripping the wheel so tightly my knuckles grew white I hoped I might have a stroke from the stress before her, as selfish as that sounded. I turned onto the freeway and headed towards the city that loomed on the horizon. First we had to pass over the San Puco gorge, a massive dry valley that spanned nearly two miles across at the narrowest point.

"Fuck me..." I said noticing the long line of red taillights that filled the bridge, "we're not getting anywhere fast. There must be an accident up ahead."

Slowing down as we approached, I glanced over at Nicole half expecting a smart-ass remark. Instead, I could saw my wife foaming at the mouth as she began going into convulsions. Completely forgetting the line of cars ahead of me, I screamed her name and put my hand to her shoulder to try and stop her.

"Nicole!" I called out as blood began bubbling up through her saliva, "Baby?! Speak to me!"

I was smacked in the face with an airbag before I could try and think of what to do next. Our car slammed into the vehicle in front of us going at least forty miles an hour, enough for a fatal accident easily. Glass painted the inside of the car, cutting my face and arms. When I came to, Nicole was motionless in the seat beside me, though she might have just been unconscious. I pushed against my door a few times before it gave way with a ear splitting metal screech. Falling out of the car onto my hands and knees I could see a few drops of blood hit the pale concrete.

"Sir? Sir," I could hear someone repeating the words, "you okay?"

"My wife..." I coughed falling back against my car door, "she..."

"Just stay still, sir, I called 911," my would be rescuer said.

I looked up to see a dark skinned man putting his hand to my shoulder and kneeling beside me. My vision got blurry as blood dripped down from my forehead and into my eyes. Going for the door to try and see what came of my wife I was stopped by the man. Slapping his hands away I pulled myself into the cab. My wife's legs were pinned between her seat and the dash, which had been shoved forwards and into her body. Blood stained her clothes and the seat, and dripped from her mouth and nose, her skin pale.

"N-Ni... Nicole..." I muttered before being pulled out of the car by emergency personnel.

They dragged me into an ambulance and stuck me on a stretcher. Before I knew what happened, I was being whisked away to a hospital. I stared blankly up at the roof of the truck, letting the paramedics treat my wounds. Even I could tell she wasn't going to make it. Nicole was dead, and it was my fault.