"They've eaten everything!" Tenn cried to her Tallest through the communication screen. It was one of the very few things she'd managed to save as the defective SIR units destroyed her entire base. She needed it, to call for help, for someone to send…something! Something that wasn't more broken robots!
"We're all doomed! Doomed!" she screamed, trying to convince her very apathetic-looking Tallest of the danger she was in.
A missile suddenly flew over her shoulder, colliding with the communication screen and blowing it up—destroying her only chance of contacting anyone at all off of this planet. She groaned loudly as a last bit of hope left her, and she turned around to assess the damage…again.
SIR units were running around everywhere. Lasers and missiles were being fired in random directions, several were digging through what little was left of her base to shove it into their mouths, one was rocketing through the sky and there was definitely no way the Meekrob hadn't noticed all of this commotion by now—
There was a tearing pain in her side, and she cried out, quickly lashing a PAK leg out at her attacker. A defective SIR unit was sent flying, its buzzsaw still whirring and now covered with her bright pink blood.
She looked down at her torso and quickly swallowed down the bile that threatened to rise in her throat. It was an extremely deep injury, one that had her own blood gushing across her side and splattering onto the ground. Just looking at it made her feel woozy…or perhaps that was because of how much blood she had already lost.
Another SIR unit ran past her, on fire, and she quickly jumped away from it. Looking around at the destruction, she knew there was no saving this base. Not when she was injured, the SIR units still rampaging…and with the natives probably very aware of it at this point. She was fortunate the Meekrob hadn't swarmed and attacked yet, but she couldn't count on that lasting much longer.
Fortunately, there was one piece of equipment she'd managed to save at the very beginning of all the rampage—a helmet made out of a relatively lightweight metal. She quickly placed it over her head, pinning one of her antennae underneath instead of it going through the intended hole. It was made of a material that would block her thoughts from the psychic Meekrob…theoretically. It was something she had for emergencies, and hadn't had to test it until now…
But if this wasn't an emergency, then what was?
Protection firmly in place, she darted out of the ruins of her base, nearly tripping over her own feet. There was no saving this, they had already destroyed everything—and the Meekrob were coming.
With blood seeping from her wound and panic filling her mind, she ran. She didn't have a destination in mind, she just knew that she needed to get away from here.
She wasn't sure how long she'd been running—likely not long enough. But she was tripping over her own feet more and more often, her vision was starting to grow blurry…and the pain in her side demanded more and more of her attention. She'd at least put some distance between herself and her exposed and destroyed base.
After a short amount of time, she'd realized she had been leaving a blood trail behind her. She'd peeled off her uniform shirt and wrapped it firmly around her midsection to try and stop the blood flow…at least enough to keep it from dripping on the ground. It had already been torn and sticky with her blood, anyway.
She'd angled a little to the left as she continued to run, hoping that would throw off anyone that might have been trailing her. The feeling of cold air breezing against her bare skin was a rather unpleasant one, the pain grew worse, and she felt more and more energy literally bleeding out of her...
But she had to keep going, or else. Even as her breathing became ragged, her legs refusing to run and forcing her to walk, then shamble, forward…
Her knees wobbled, which was the only warning she got before she collapsed forward and to the ground. She skidded forward a few more inches, feeling more pain in her wound from being dragged across the ground.
She tried to push herself back up and onto her feet, but her arms wobbled and collapsed under her, sending her falling right back to the ground. Even an attempt to bring out her PAK legs resulted in an error, the PAK being in emergency mode and prioritizing healing her over listening to commands. She stifled a quiet whine…she felt so weak. She needed to heal, to hide—
Being out in the open like this was dangerous, and she likely only had a few minutes left before she passed out. She was able to raise her head and look around, trying to find anything nearby that could hide her…and when she spotted a ditch underneath a large boulder, she managed to drag herself towards it with her arms and legs, gritting her teeth against the pain.
She managed to crawl inside the ditch before her limbs finally gave out on her. She grunted as she fully collapsed, the helmet thankfully staying secure on her head. She could only hope that her PAK would heal her enough so she could move again quickly…before they tracked her down.
Her mind raced with everything that had gone wrong, everything she could have done better, before everything went blurry and her PAK finally forcibly shut down her organic body.
With a loud gasp, Tenn came to in the same place she had passed out in. She'd never been so grateful to be lying in a pile of dirt. She carefully lifted her head and glanced around. The sky was much darker…she must have been here for hours. She was also alone, thankfully.
The helmet was also still on her head, which was a relief. She rolled over with a grunt, staring down at her injury. It was…better than it had been before she'd passed out, at least in the sense it wasn't gushing blood. She curiously lifted up the makeshift bandage and saw a new layer of pink flesh underneath, a film of blood pooled within. It was also slightly indented compared to the rest of her skin…and the pain had numbed, though moving still caused twinges of pain.
It still needed time to heal, but at least most of the bleeding had stopped. Time would tell whether or not it would scar over.
She pushed herself back onto her feet, and though her legs wobbled a little, she was able to take several steps forward. There was a small puddle of blood where she'd been laying…the bandage must not have been tight enough, or this had all soaked through it. For this small amount, though, she was at least able to use her foot to push dirt over it and hide it.
After that…she looked up at the horizon. There were a few bright glows off in the distance from the Meekrob cities, but no sign of any actual Meekrob nearby. She looked around, then started walking in a direction that didn't lead to any of the glowing cities.
If she just kept moving, gave herself time to heal, she could survive. And she just had to wait for help to arrive…because it would. Right?
Doubt and panic at the thought of being left crushed her, nearly pushing all the air out of her spooch. She gasped, shaking her head. She couldn't think about that, not right now. She just needed to survive.
Singular goal in mind, she continued to trudge forward.
