Authors: Jason Halstead
Ling was trying to keep his own heart from leaping out of his chest. The deer may have been the ones to run away, but the sudden activity had startled him almost as badly!
“There’s a balance on this planet,” Klous mused aloud. “They accept that some of them have to die so the rest can go on to live. We altered that balance when we showed up because we’re smart enough to know we don’t want to die.”
Ling grunted, testing his lungs to see if he could talk yet. “I don’t think that bulldog the screecher killed was too happy about dying.”
“Probably not, but the screecher was fed and the other bulldogs stopped running as fast.”
“But because we’re trying to protect our species, we threaten the balance?”
Klous chuckled. “We almost sound like Kira. Throw in a couple references to the great spirit of the planet and I’d have to push us both off a cliff.”
Ling frowned. It did sound like something Kira would say. Perhaps she was right? Humans were the aliens on Vitalis, not the other way around.
“We’ll survive here, Ling. No, we’ll thrive here!” Klous said, the light of the stars casting shadows that made his eyes seem like empty pools. “And if that means we have to sacrifice a few for the good of the many, so be it!”
Ling smiled back until Klous turned away, then he gave in to the shiver Klous’s words caused. As long as he was in good with Klous he knew he wouldn’t run the risk of being one of the sacrifices. Or so he hoped.
They climbed into the hills, saving their breath for the arduous climbing. Ling had spent most of his time and skills in construction since coming to Vitalis. On top of what living on Vitalis had a way of doing to everyone he’d grown strong from the work. Long climbs and forced marches, he was learning, were something else entirely.
They reached the top of the one of the ridges and stared across the starlit plain. Making out shapes and movement was difficult in spite of the cloudless sky. Ling looked around, marveling at how severe the landscape looked at night. Shadows were everywhere, plunging so many places into a blackness that made the hair rise on his arms. Were there predators hiding in the dark holes of the hills? Another shadow swept across the plains, forcing the muscles in his throat to lock up.
Ling looked up and saw one of the giant flying creatures swooping low across the night sky. It blotted out the stars as it passed, looking for a midnight snack.
“Where to?” Ling whispered once he’d forced himself to breathe again.
“Look around, the shuttles crashed all over the place. Hopefully we can find them on this side.” Klous didn’t need to explain why he felt that way. If they had to cross over the plains they’d be walking through the spitters backyard. Even with only the starlight to guide them they could see the massive mound of dirt in the middle of the grassy plain the spitters used as their home.
They headed down the natural pass, leaving the ravine behind and looking for signs of the crashed shuttles. Minutes turned to hours as they searched. Soon the eastern sky grew brighter, heralding the approach of dawn.
“Be able to see what we’re looking for at least,” Klous muttered. Ling noted how Klous’ mood darkened as the night wore on without any success. The former pirate grinned, casting his foul temper aside as he pointed ahead of them. “Near that small rise, that looks like the outline of a shuttle!”
Ling stared at it and found his head and shoulder felt lighter. He shared Klous’s grin. “I think you’re right, Captain.”
Klous clapped him on the back and they hurried across the ground towards the promising hulk. Grasses and small bushes grew around the shuttle, making it appear older than either of them. Vitalis was misleading like that. On top of the incredible life force of the animals and plants displayed, Vitalis had a way of breaking down and consuming anything that wasn’t natural to it. That or, in the case of the survivors, it became a part of them and cast aside the impurities it found.
“See what you can use, I’ll keep an eye out,” Klous said, standing outside of a gaping hole in the side of the rusted shuttle.
Ling ducked under a sagging metal strut and stepped inside. He paused to let his eyes adjust, taking in both the total chaos the crash had caused as well as the way that Vitalis was staking its claim on the shuttle. Grass and small wiry plants were growing throughout, some even sprouting from metal surfaces. He shook his head and turned to the smashed cockpit, hoping he could at least find wiring and circuit boards he could use.
“Klous, I don’t think we’re going to find anything we can use,” Ling called out after several minutes later. He’d wrenched aside panels and pulled out multiple bundles of wires. In nearly every case they’d fallen apart in his hands or proven to be damaged beyond repair. Once a large bug that looked like a beetle with a stinger had tried to sting him. He jerked his hand back just in time then crushed the bug with one of the metal plates. The plate snapped in pieces as it hit, but the bug was nothing more than a smear and a memory.
Movement behind him in the bay of the wrecked shuttle made him sigh and turn around. He prepared to explain to Klous the rubbish he’d found and why it wasn’t viable. Instead he saw one of the four legged spitters entering the open aft of the shuttle. It looked up at him, it’s dripping mandibles opening wide.
Ling spun around, his heart hammering so loud in his chest he was sure either it would burst or his ribs would crack. Something splashed against the crumbling bulkhead behind him. He looked up through what remained of the shattered viewports of the cockpit and jumped towards them. His legs scraped against broken metal as he tried to escape the deathtrap. The metal plating was so weak it shattered against his skin. He left bloodstains behind but escaped the ruined shuttlecraft with nothing more than flesh wounds.
“Come on!” Klous hissed, grabbing him by the vest he wore and trying to yank him upright. Ling lurched to his feet, falling twice in his haste, and then saw there were several more spitters fanning out around the shuttle as they approached them.
A harsh cry drew their attention. The spitter furthest on the left shuddered and collapsed, an arrow transfixed in its head. Covered only in painted bands of colored mud, Kira paused and loosed another arrow, then sped towards them while she fitted a third arrow to her bow. The second arrow cut into the stubby neck of the next spitter, making it growl angrily and turn to find the source of its pain.
Ling needed no more urging. He ran, having no clue how narrowly he avoid two streams of venomous spittle that were sent his way. Klous scrambled after him, sprinting with all of his might. They were so badly outnumbered it didn’t matter who was the slowest, they had to outrun the nightmares behind them.
“Go!” Kira shouted, sending another arrow into the shoulder of the spitter she’d hit in the neck. Both men ran behind her with the spitters giving chase.
They seemed faster than before, catching up to Kira by the time she’d fired her fourth arrow. She succeeded in killing the second spitter but four more were coming for her. She dodged two streams of spittle then tossed her bow at the one leading the charge. Her spear met it after the spitter smashed the bow aside with its head, cutting a deep gash across its shoulder before she yanked the weapon back.
“We’ve got to help her,” Ling managed between gasps for air. He and Klous had stopped to watch the battle. As terrified as Ling was he couldn’t let Kira sacrifice herself for them.
Klous slipped his bow off and fitted an arrow to it. Ling nodded and reached for his own weapon, only to find it missing. He looked around, confused, and remembered laying it on the floor of the shuttle cockpit while he was trying to gather usable parts. His spear was in there too, leaving him defenseless and useless.
Klous’es arrow missed badly, drawing a sharp glance from Kira. “Run!” She snapped, leaping away from the lethal mandibles of another spitter. She kicked it in the side of the head and slammed her spear into the head a third one. The crystal glowed brighter through the ichor coating it when she wrenched it free.
“Come on,” Klous said, lowering his bow.
“We can’t leave her!”
“Kira can do things you and I can’t even dream about,” Klous shouted at him. “There are more of those things coming, we’re leaving now or we’re not getting away!”
Ling followed Klous’s gesture and saw more of the carnivorous creatures emerging from the taller grasses at the base of the hill. “Kira!” Ling cried out to her, “Hurry!”
Ling turned back and saw Klous was already running. Ling took off after him, imagining a horde of spitters snapping at his heels. His long legged stride allowed him to pass Klous in no time, his earlier exhaustion forgotten. His back was on fire, had one of them hit him with their spittle? He gasped, ripped at the laces holding his vest on. He yanked it off and let it fall to the ground as he ran.
Ling didn’t stop until he ran past Klous. Klous was standing at the base of a trail that would take them to a pass over the ridge. Looking back they saw Kira still fighting, though she was nearly surrounded. She disappeared for a moment, causing Ling to hold his breath, then she’d rear up again. Sometimes she even leapt into the air over or between her opponents. Her dance of death left them both speechless. The crystal tip of her spear grew brighter and brighter until it rivaled the rising sun.
She was running towards them then, her path through the bushes almost random. She reached them a few moments later, breathing hard and stumbling to one knee. She jammed her spear into the ground and pulled herself up, a fire in her eyes that matched the intensity of her crystal.
“Go back!” She said, her words containing the barest of slurring. “I’ll lead them away.” She shuddered, then stiffened her back and stared hatefully at Klous. Her next words sounded thicker, as though her tongue was swollen. “Pray I don’t make it back, Klous. Pray!”
She swung her spear at them, slowly for her, but fast enough to make them both jerk back. Ling stared at her, looking below her fierce gaze and saw the cuts on her hips and legs. None were enough to cripple her by themselves, but he’d heard the toxin in the spitters’ bite acted fast.
Klous grabbed Ling’s arm and yanked him after him, turning and running toward the ridge. Neither looked back to see what became of Kira, though they heard her let loose a primal scream of that echoed across the plains.
Chapter 6
“I’ve got better things to do than go hunting,” Elsa grumbled.
“Gunny, wasn’t you the one telling me we all gotta pitch in?” Barry, her hunting partner, asked.
“Yeah, but I should be helping out. With Ling and Klous missing this isn’t right.”
“Tarn’s staying close too,” the large Marine pointed out.
Elsa shrugged it off. “That’s his job, defending Treetown.”
“And yours is running around in the jungle trying to find people who don’t want to be found?”
“Why not, we’ve done that mission before.”
Barry chuckled. “Yeah, guess we have. Current mission is find us something big and meaty to bring back.”
Elsa nodded. Barry was right, that was what they were supposed to do. Before she’d come to Vitalis she’d have accepted that. Now she knew better. “Yeah, guess so. Let’s get this over with.”
“Ain’t seen no critters yet, you think this is going to be quick and easy?” They’d already travelled miles to the north. If they went to the west another hour they’d be at the pits.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find something,” Elsa reassured him. “Nobody ever comes out this way too far.”
They fell silent and moved through the woods. Elsa watched Barry out of the corner of her eyes, impressed with how well he’d adapted. His nickname was ‘Meat’ because he was right up against the edge of how tall and large a Marine could be and still qualify for service. He’d been the strongest in First Insertion Special Tactics team three for as long as he’d been a part of it. Now that they were on Vitalis Elsa was giving him a run for his money. He’d been working hard to regain the crown, she noted, and the bulging muscles on his upper body were a testimony to it.
More importantly, to her, was that she was still “Gunny” to him. As far as Barry,
Gresham, Jess, and Ben were concerned she was their boss, even if Captain Sharp was calling the shots in Treetown. Other than a wry smile when she stripped off her clothes and smeared the mud on her body for camo, he deferred to her the same as he always did.
They split up, staying within constant visual range of each other but allowing a better chance of spotting game or spooking it towards the other person. They took care to avoid the infrequent beams of sunlight that penetrated the jungle canopy overhead, hoping instead to find something sunning itself in one of the shafts of light.
The sunlight was a bust, as were the watering holes they wandered across. Even a small glade filled with flowers, insects, and some fruit bearing plants was barren. Circling around it Elsa understood why, she saw one of the Vitalian termite mounds. They made ready to head away from it when Elsa stopped and jerked her fist in the air, signaling a halt.
Barry waited, his eyes searching the jungle around while Elsa studied the natural garden. She motioned him over after a moment, then waited for him to walk around the garden and join her. Rather than use words, she pointed into the undergrowth until she heard Barry gasp.