On Solid Ground - Part 5
Prologue Chapter (Complete)
Part 1
Part 2
Chapter 1 (Complete)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Chapter 2 (Current)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
The thing continued to scramble forward. With no one in control, it chose to close the distance of its own accord.
"Open fire!" Thorann shouted as he switched firing mode on his rifle and let off a hail of shots.
Doc and the recruit started shooting too, but the creature wasn't phased by any of the hits. Another shot cracked the air like a whip, much louder than their combined fire, and even that didn't effect the thing. It still came. It had angry fervor for the slight damage it sustained.
"What do we do!?" The recruits voice was breaking from the weight of his own words.
Thorann noticed that he had stopped firing, and as he glanced at him, the recruit seemed to be fighting the thought to flee. He held his rifle low, and bounced back and forth light on his feet.
Another crack split the air. Lags was somewhere concealed in the tree line. The bullet landed and caused a small spurt of green blood to leak from the things neck.
"Stand your ground!" Thorann shouted as he looked back at the recruit. "Keep firing!"
"It's hopeless!" The recruits fear stricken voice cried over the gunfire.
The swish of murky shallow water grew louder as the creature wade through it. Low wheezing growls resonated from deep within its stomach. Clicking noises ticked over the shooting when the thing opened its mouth. A swarm of insects grew loud in the distance. It overtook the sound of them. It was louder than the creature still.
With a bonecurdling roar the things head jerked back. It's body launched from the shallow water. Thorann was struck in the face by a thick glob of sludge and he felt rain on him. The sounds of splats against rock, tree, and them, became clear.
He wiped the sludge away, and saw that the thing was utterly distracted by the swarm that continued to buzz. It lashed, and lunged, but the swarm of bullets were relentless. He lowered his rifle and watched as the creature tried to fend off the onslaught. A red mist engulfed it. A cloud of blood. Skin, scales, flesh and bone flew from it in small parcels and still the bullets came. It let out one final yelp and fell.
As it landed, Triple came into view standing atop Tera with the turret in hand. From the distance it was hard to tell, but it almost seemed like whisps of smoke trickled from the barrel and blew away on the wind.
"Impressive," Doc said with a relieved sigh.
"That was close," the recruit said as he threw the strap of his rifle over his shoulder.
"Triple," Thorann said into his wrist-link, as he opened his mouth he couldn't find the words to thank him. "Good job." He finally stated.
"Don't mention it." Triple laughed on the other end of the communicator. "Birds running diagnostics," he continued after a moment.
For all the good it would do, he thought looking grimly at the ship laying dead in the swamp. "We'll be over now." Thorann finished as he glanced over the tree line behind them, hoping to spot Lags.
He couldn't and he knew there was no point calling him down to join them. He was far better off staying where he was.
The swamp water smelled like rotting death. Many pools were seperated by small bridges of mud. Thorann done his best to stay above water, but some of the bridges only led to another pool. He tried not to think about what swam beneath the water.
The creature was mostly submerged, but much more of it remained above water. They passed it and Thorann couldn't help but note the sheer size of the thing. It would have made short work of all of them, there was no doubt about that.
As they got closer to the ship, he could see the body of the Triskani rider. It was laying with its legs in the water while its upper body was hunched over a small bit of land. Thorann stared at it, and could see its shoulders move with shallow breath.
Its face was concealed in its forearm. Thorann raised his rifle, gesturing to Doc who was already aware of it. As he reached it he prodded the Triskani with the barrel of his rifle. It let out out a wheezing cough and looked up. Its eyes rolled loose, barely taking any notice of them, until it stared at the barrel aimed at him.
With a hiss, it raised its eyes and locked onto Thorann. "Human," he said, barely audible. Its eyes fell to the creature laying dead not far from them. The Triskani started to laugh. It came out slow, wheezing and strained, but soon it got much louder.
"What's it laughing at?" The recruit asked.
"I don't know," Doc replied. "If I was faced with the destruction of my homeworld, I wouldn't be laughing."
The thing coughed, and revealed its hand to Thorann. He looked at what he was clutching and then back to its eyes. "What is that?"
"Is it a bomb?" The recruit asked, as he backed up, swishing through the swamp as he did.
"Hardly," Thorann said. "It's too small," he reached down for it. The Triskani struggled to keep a hold of it but soon opened his hand. It was a small device with a pulsating light.
"Human," the Triskani coughed. "If you think that was bad," he glanced at the dead creature and started to cough.
"Lets go," Thorann said as he dropped the device. He lowered his rifle, shot it, then raised it to the Triskani's head and fired. "The reptile set off a beacon. We don't have long."
They got to the ship and Triple was still standing on top of it with the turret in hand. "Saw you took out the Triskani," he said, gesturing to the body laying in the swamp.
"It set off a beacon." Thorann stated. "Tell Bird to finish up with the diagnostics, we have to move out." He started to climb up toward Triple, followed by Doc and the recruit.
"Without the ship how are we supposed to get off this mud ball?" Bird called out, her voice echoing around the large mass of steel.
"We'll have to call for evac, or find another ship down here." Thorann replied. "Lets just grab whatever supplies we can carry and move out." He said as he held the side of the opening and climbed into the ship.