Authors: Jason Halstead
He laughed, a simple chuckle at first then it grew louder and more maniacal.
“Shut your hole, Marine!” Elsa hissed at him. “This is hostile territory and you’re giving away our position!”
The laughing continued to get louder.
Kira was there, making Elsa gasp in surprise at the woman’s sudden presence. Her hand drove into his throat and stayed there, squeezing his laugh out to less than a wheeze. He struggled, his hands coming to her arm and tugging at it. She didn’t budge in spite of the strength his manic frenzy gave him. He slowed, his eyes rolling back into his head and his hands slowing.
Elsa reached for Kira’s arm and pulled on it. She found the woman’s strength inviolate. It was as if a bar of steel built to hold up starship was connecting his throat to her shoulder. She looked up at Kira and saw the woman glaring at her. Reluctantly Else let go. Moments later the fallen Marine went limp. Only then did Kira remove her hand and check the body for a pulse.
“He’s alive, just unconscious,” she whispered. She turned to Fiona. “Pick him up and head back. I’m going to look for other survivors and lead the spitters away. Especially if they heard his cackling.”
Fiona moved over, arranging her bow over one shoulder before she grabbed the sleeping soldier. She picked the limp body up with an ease that impressed Elsa, then hung him over her other shoulder. “You lead,” Fiona said to the FIST.
Elsa rose up and looked around. She spotted the pass they’d came through, then realized heading in that direction was far from prudent. She twisted to the west, spotting the distant peaks and passes she and Tarn had used. It would add time to their travel but she judged it a necessary risk. Especially if the survivor had alerted the animals around them. The only problem with her plan was crossing through the plain that the spitters had made their home.
Elsa turned back towards the hills. Visibility and cover were better that way. She started off, not bothering to check and see if Fiona was behind her. Her senses told her she was alone but she knew the other Marine was only paces behind. The hills first, then west to the higher passes. Loaded down as they were she expected they wouldn’t make it back to Treetown for a day, perhaps two.
With the potential threats between them and safety Elsa hoped Fiona had a fraction of the skill with her bow that Kira had, because Else knew she’d be lucky to hit the broad side of a starship and that was if she was standing inside of it!
Chapter 10
Elsa and Fiona made slow progress with their awkward loads. Much to her surprise the persistent discomfort of the ropes didn’t turn debilitating over time. Normally that kind of irritation wore away at a person—even a Marine. Vitalis at work again.
Moving slowly and waiting whenever Elsa suspected one of the enemy creatures was ahead of us, they finally made it to the cleft in the ridge that Elsa and Tarn had first climbed up. It was only half a week ago but it felt like a lifetime. This time she planned to avoid the valley the screechers had been in. Dinosaurs were supposed to be stupid animals with tiny brains. The monsters on Vitalis she’d learned not to underestimate. If mama screecher remembered what had happened to her babies she didn’t want to be anywhere near her.
The Marine paused at the top of the natural pass and looked back on the plains behind them. “Any idea where she went?” Elsa asked.
Fiona studied the plains, noting the unnatural way some of the grasses moved against the wind. “No idea,” she said, adjusting the heavy load on her shoulder. “I thought she was crazy when I met her. Sometimes I still do, but I’ve seen her do things no human being should be able to do.”
“All this talk about Vitalis makes me wonder if she’s gone off the deep end,” Elsa risked. Marine to Marine or not, she didn’t want to overstep her bounds and alienate herself.
Fiona tried to nod then glanced at the unconscious Marine on her shoulder. She scowled at him. “Sometimes I think she’s got so much Vitalis in her she is Vitalis,” Fiona admitted. “It scares me a little, but the others that have been here just as long aren’t like that. I won’t speak for Kira but I will tell you that she’s a very dedicated person. When she latches on to something there’s not a force on this planet that can stop her.”
Elsa looked up at the afternoon sky above them. An occasional flying reptile passed in the distance ahead of them but otherwise only a rare wisp of cloud marred the perfect blueness. “Unfortunately there are things coming that aren’t on this planet.”
Fiona nodded. “I know. An expeditionary force is one thing, but the volume the TCS can bring to this planet can’t possibly be stopped.”
“You think the planet defended itself too?”
“What else could it be, Gunny?”
Elsa smiled. “We’re never going back, ranks don’t mean much anymore.”
“Old habits,” Fiona smiled. “I was a Lance Corporal. I’ve accepted that we’re stuck here, but I still hold out some hope, you know?”
“Give it up. I’ve changed enough already to know. The last mission before this one I had a broken back that left me a paraplegic. Modern medicine took care of it, but the pain never goes away from something like that. Now my scars are gone and my body feels incredible. Even the ones in my head are fading.”
“Scars in your head? You said you broke your back?”
“I meant the emotional ones. The memories of what happened. You know, the lessons you learn from mistakes you made.”
“Oh, you mean fear?” Fiona said with a grin.
Elsa returned the smile. “Yeah, exactly. Fear comes from surviving and realizing what could have happened. I had it pretty bad when my screamer crashed but the training keeps you going. If I’d have made it back to the fleet with my armor and recorder intact I bet I would have been kicked off the FIST teams. Oh I’m still a bad ass, I just wasn’t fearless anymore. It slowed me down and made me question myself.”
Fiona shifted her load again after a chuckle. “Kira likes you, that means you’re still a badass. I feel sorry for you. She’s going to beat you black and blue a hundred times.”
“What?”
“Being on Kira’s good side comes at a price. When she’s through you’ll probably be the second or third toughest thing to kill on this planet, but getting there is going to hurt.”
“Can’t wait,” Elsa muttered. “Let me guess. She’s the queen bitch and you’re number two?”
“Close. Nobody picks a fight with Kira. Nobody. Number two is Tarn. Nobody messes with him either.”
“That’s right, he used to be a FIST. He got old and lazy though, Captain Sharp said? What was that all about.” Elsa wasn’t sure she wanted to be Kira’s double agent. She needed to know a lot more about the man first. More than just that he looked like he had the medicine she needed to chase away a lot of loneliness.
“I don’t know.” Fiona turned to look away from the dangerous plains and back to the wide shelf to the north where massive animals still roamed.
“You’re lying,” Elsa observed.
“Yes, I am,” she admitted. She sighed. “Look, Tarn’s a cocky son of a bitch but he’s been a good man with the right priorities, as far as I’ve seen. The original crew all give him a lot of shit and he lets them. I expect there’s a history there. I’ve heard a few things second hand but I’m not going to pass them on. I seen how you looked at him and I saw that look in your eyes when Kira told you what she wanted. You talk to Tarn yourself – get it straight from the source. He may be a braggart and a pervert, but I never seen him do anything but shoot straight with people.”
Elsa nodded. “That’s fair. Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“We need to get going. This guy’s not getting any lighter and we’ve got a long ways to go. You picked a good path, coming this way, but it’s going to take a while for us to get back to Treetown. Do you know the way from here?”
Elsa shook her head.
“I’ll right, I’ll lead. It’s a ways off but there’s another cache of supplies Kira and I hid on the way. We can get some clothes there.”
Elsa glanced down at herself and barked out a laugh. “I’ll be damned, I forgot all about it!”
“Bet you never thought that would happen, did you?”
“We have to go naked in our FIST armor. Took some time to get used to but I guess I’m not all that surprised. Happened quick though. I blame it on the post traumatic stress!”
“Now you’re a commando going commando.”
Elsa groaned and followed her fellow survivor down from the peak towards their new home.
Chapter 11
“Coral, get Wes, we found a survivor!”
“The vet? Get Jess, she’s a medic.”
“Get them both. He’s messed up.”
The ‘he’ in question was the Marine who walked with them. Elsa kept correcting his course through the jungle with nudges and prods. He was distracted the entire time and occasionally given to fits of talking to imaginary friends. At other times he would stare at Elsa or Fiona and grin so broadly drool would run down his chin.
The women were glad he hadn’t woken up until after they’d stopped at the cache Fiona led them too. Now they wore hide vests and skirts that Elsa found irritating and constricting in spite of how short they were. Each step grated on her nerves as the material rasped against her skin. She understood the attitude Fiona and Kira had towards clothing, even if it did go against the social norms she’d grown up with.
Vitalis was a chance to start over. More than an opportunity, it was a requirement. Her very survival required she adapt and accept her environment and new lifestyle. Even her chosen career path was only a building block to move forward from.
Coral, a maintenance woman that had survived the destruction of the research outpost, slung her bow over her shoulder and hurried back to Treetown. Fiona and Elsa followed her, shepherding the delusional Marine between them. He’d said his name was Private Azarin Irons, but they hadn’t been able to get a straight answer out of him about what had happened to him.
On their way down from the plateau Elsa had the opportunity to see how dangerous her new teammate was. In typical super-sized Vitalian fashion a creature had burst out of hiding. Its skin was mottled light and dark browns, blending it in perfectly with the loose rock and dirt of the ravine. The head had a reptilian mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. The body was snakelike with the exception of its twelve pairs of legs.
It curved its body around them, blocking their forward movement. Fiona dropped the Marine taking enough care only to insure that his head didn’t smack into the ground when he hit. Elsa’s bow hit the ground at the same time but Fiona was already moving.
The Marine jammed her spear into the foremost shoulder of the creature and used it like a pole to vault up onto its tubular back behind its head. It reared back, trying to throw her, but Fiona had repositioned the spear and pushed cross-wise into the alligator / centipede hybrid’s mouth. It chomped down but the placement of the spear prevented it from bringing the full strength of its crushing jaws to bear on the overgrown toothpick.
While the beast tried to snap it into kindling Fiona held on with one hand and pulled one of her arrows out of her quiver. She jammed it into the creature’s eye, pushing it in until it convulsed violently and threw her free. The convulsion provided the extra power needed to snap her spear into three pieces, but that was the only damage it would ever inflict again.
Fiona picked herself up and brushed the dirt off, then took Elsa’s offered spear. Dinner for them that night had been allipede meat. Elsa’d found the flavor strong and the meat chewy, but her body had craved it even if her brain had been repelled at the thought of eating the raw meat.
“Over here!”
Elsa was roused from her musings by the sound of Tarn’s voice. Several people rushed over, including Tarn and Klous as well as Jess, Wesley, and two of the other survivors from Elsa’s FIST team, Barry “Meat” Mitchell and Ben “Shorty” Stevens. All of the men were shirtless and carrying primitive weapons. Jess was dressed as she’d been before, in a primitive halter top and skirt that was downright modest by Vitallian standards.
“Where’d you find this guy,” Tarn asked when he led the group to meet them.
“The spitters missed him,” Fiona said. “We figure he was thrown from the shuttle when it crashed.
“Spitters missed him?” Tarn didn’t sound convinced.
“He’s alive, isn’t he?”
The large man grunted and turned to where Jess was conducting a basic examination of him. She looked over at Else to get a nod of approval before she spoke up. “He’s burning up,” she said. “Dehydrated too. His pulse is hammering away and it looks like he’s suffering from a concussion. He’s muttering gibberish, nothing he says makes sense.”
“It’s not even English, just moans,” Wesley added. “What the hell happened to him? I haven’t seen anybody get sick here yet, but if this is a virus it could wipe us all out!”
“He was talking earlier,” Elsa said. “Claimed he was Private Azarin Irons. But he hasn’t been with it very often. Usually he’s staring into space or talking to ghosts.”
“Let’s get him to the creek and get some water in him. That’ll help. If he hasn’t had anything to eat or drink, might be he just needs to get more of the local bacteria in him.”