Futuristic Into the Dark

[Floodwater31]

Alex was suddenly aware of many sensations, too many sensations. All of them conflicting, pain, joy, sorrow, fire, ice, disgust, wanting, he had no chance to decipher any of them. He lost track of time, the energy washed over for what felt like seconds and weeks. When Alex opened his eyes he saw six more staring back at him, filled with the hate he'd seen from both sides when he'd been a soldier. FIND THE ONE WITH THE GUN. So that's it, I've taken the weak way out, I'm down loony lane, up crazy creek, in psycho... I'll think of something... Alex felt an emotion wash over him, annoyance, or was it anger, maybe amusement? It was hard to tell. Give me a SECOND! Alex quickly drew his knife and lunged at an eye that only he could see, unfortunately, he ended up jabbing nothing. Don't get you're PANTIES in a bunch! He rolled to his feet, and continued to fight his invisible oppressor, even though the eyes had long dissipated. I got a gun, do I win a prize?! His little break down was venting all of his frustrations from the voyage and after, after all, it not like he thought he'd loose his mind.


Alex stood sweating, he hadn't realized it but he didn't feel any pain, whether his pain was simply suppressed or his injuries healed, he didn't care. You want someone with a gun? I know a guy with two, in fact, he'll have three in a moment, four if he disarmed Arthur. Let's go. It was then that he put on his mask*, something he hadn't used in awhile, he hadn't needed to fake it. If you looked at his face, you could tell that nothing was wrong, there was even the hint of a smile. His posture straightened, he slid his knife back into it's hidden sheath. He dropped his crutch, and started towards the med bay, he was going to give Joshua his gun back, after all, he'd earned it. He shouldn't have judged him so harshly. I wonder if we can be friends?


*(not a real mask, it's a figurative mask)

 

[Lenchan]

Joshua sighed after he got no response from the treeline. Even though he knew all along he wouldn’t, he’d still been disappointed. The way things were shaping out, it didn’t seem necessary to involve the woman in a perilous battle with the monsters living in these people’s heads. It made him think twice about the soldier’s crazed response earlier. More and more he was becoming convinced that some looney asshole had crashed their ship dodging flying unicorns shooting lasers from their dick horns. He lowered his weapon and ran his hand through his luxurious blond tresses, expelling a sigh of exhaustion through his nose. Disgusting he thought, feeling how grimy and matted they were becoming. Retreating back to the Elitnaya for a nice warm soak in the bath was sounding much more appealing by the millisecond. There was clearly no helping these people. They were mad and he was no psychologist. And the last of the world’s Percocet belongs to me, thanks, so psychiatry’s off the table, too.





“Look, friends, I know space can be deep and arduous. The important thing is for you all to stick together and regroup yourselves. Form a cohesive unit and thrive.” The words sounded like he was dismissing himself from the situation because that was precisely what he was doing. All this way he’d come only to find this ragtag gang of quacks who probably have been murdering one another left and right and collectively blaming "the monster". Joshua opened his mouth to impart his final words, deciding officially to leave the Russian to the woods - she was better there than with these people, anyway - and to leave these people to sort out their own troubles, when his eyes caught hold of Alex’s, the man he’d given the other handgun to. Luckily he’d thought to put rubber bullets in them afterall. One less threat to worry about.


Joshua flung the rifle back up over his shoulders, yawning audibly, unable to resist the fatigue settling over him. His days were lazy and slovenly, experienced in an endless stream of napping and pampering over a hot meal, warm bath, and an engrossing book. Perhaps playing the piano to an audience of thoughts or lulling the sun to sleep with his harp*. Everything in him was telling him it was time to take his leave. He’d give one quick glance over the ship itself to see if there was anything of interest, but in all likelihood it was just as broken as its crew.


*read: Harmonica





@Kayzo @TealFyre @Pretzel Heart @wizard nibblers )

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

Come give Momma a hug. <3

The two Terrans, Alex and Joshua were mayhaps less than 10 feet away from one another when those golden locks turned with the head they were attached, to stare back at the broken wreck of a crew and ship. That loss of eye contact was its opening, its opportunity, its moment of weakness to strike.


The skin on the back of Alex’s neck bubbles, boils and pulls up and out, parting way to make for the sleek, black, armored, graceful form that was the Dredge. It rose up from behind Alex’s unsuspecting cranium, looming over the two of them, blocking out the rising sun with its body. With its lower body still anchored to Alex, it still had not phased into the 3’rd dimension, its upper torso was seemingly floating behind Alex. Its lower jaw distending, cracking, splitting in two and growing wider, wider, larger and larger, ribs shuffled and moved, chest cavity divided to reveal the truly monstrous maw that no part of Nature which man had ever known could have devised of such.


Someone saw it, someone screamed, pointed, yelled, warned the two of what was about to happen. Alex, walking back with no idea of just what lurked directly behind him, Joshua, poor poor Joshua was about to realize he had been to quick to dismiss his fellow mans account.


Its body rippled, shimmered and twisted in the light, muscles tightened and flowed as the monster jumped from Alex’s body as if he were but a stepping stone to its goals. Leaped across the meager distance that separated the two Men as the childs play it truly was.


Joshua’s vision was filled with a beast of which seemed to have descended from the gods themselves to punish him for his vanity, pride and arrogance.


With the sun at its back, illuminating its body in such a way that the burning stars radiance seemed to be simply an aura of fire around it, the slowly pulsating rhythmic beats of the delicate and in-finitely detailed and intricate bioluminescent lighting which glowed a mix of yellow and orange. Its arms extended, reaching, grasping for him with its vicious claws of which the sunlight gleamed from as that terrible mouth fell towards him. Time had slowed, it moved as if through molasses.


Glee ran thick in those six eyes of which it bore down upon him, only overshadowed by fear, all but two of those blood gems were locked onto the weapons of which the man carried. The heat of its hate scorched and prickled the Terrans skin.


There was but a second, maybe two or three at the most to react and each one more precious than perhaps any recourse or gem that ever graced either of the two mens eyes.

 

[Pretzel Heart]

τ

Darting through the massive tree trunks like the dimming flecks of light, Tau tried to soak up her surroundings without breaking her stride. As she noted the strange shape of the trees, the hallow echoing in the way they stretched far above her head and the scrapped ship she was circumnavigating, it occurred to her that she really had nothing to compare the forest to. The amount of foliage almost seemed excessive when contrasted with the few straggling shrubs that had quantified the woods back on Earth. While Charlie Stross had coined the city as a “concrete jungle,” Tau hardly considered herself qualified to know anything about real greenery. In fact, she was almost certain she had never set foot in a forest before, certainly nothing such as this. But the way the ground grass or moss or whatever it was sank around her tennis shoes was undoubtedly pleasant, as well the smell of wet, fresh, hopefully not-poisonous-spore-infested air.


Botany


Tau added to a running mental list of things that would probably be useful to look into or find an expert in (if one had survived). Someone who could figure out, if the compositions were similar enough which, according to the Periodic Table, they should be, what these strange new planets were, what they did, and, most pressing of all, which ones she could eat.


By this time Tau had navigated around half of the crash site, and was annoyed to find that the quiescence she had slowly been growing accustomed to was beginning to be pierced by the blurry words of man. It was still too far away for her to really tell what they were blabbering on about, but she could discern shouting and general pandemonium from the muffled tone.


More importantly...


“Glad to see you’re alright,” she said, unable to suppress a grin as she tapped Alphy’s shoulder with her free hand. Probably not the wisest way to creep up on someone in the middle of a foreign planet, but a girl who spent most of her day in a garbage dump hardly seemed the type to scare easily. Tau added to that a mental pat on the back for herself for accurately predicting more or less exactly where her friend would be.


She had spotted the grubby read-head, sticking out like a strange plant between charred forest overgrowth and sections of wreckage, perched atop a gnarled root of one of the massive trees. She seemed to be staring off into space, towards where the now not-so-far-off sounds were coming from. Thankfully, her general posture and demeanor confirmed that which Tau had suspected all along: Alphy was safe. At least, physically safe, but whatever had cushioned her fall certainly smelled worse than the corpse Tau had padded hers with. Luckily, prolonged exposure had made the programmer more or less immune to the stench, to the point where she didn’t even need the feel to dip her hand in cleaning solution merely from touching her pal’s back.


“Anything interesting going on over there?” She added, lifting her chin in the direction of the hubbub while simultaneously leaning her violin and bow on the root and replacing her hands into her comfy jacket pockets. Tau wasn’t sure how much longer Alphy had been awake than she had, but it was hopefully enough to have gotten a grip on whatever the Hell had caused their fall.

<

@wizard nibblers >
​

 

[Lenchan]

Who turned the lights ou-ohh, holy- ???? Joshua’s mind was overcome with instantaneous urges to fight or flight – mainly flight, being the get-the-fuck-outta-dangeralist his was. He took a step back and reached down for the handgun strapped to his leg, but there was simply no time to react properly. By the time the others around him had started to react and scream – or was that him screaming? No, a woman. Definitely a woman...- the thing was upon him, snarling and preparing to snatch him away from the world. He could barely breathe. Alright, I can't breathe. Then it was a woman. The relief of not embarrassing himself by squealing was comical in light of the situation but alas, there was no air in his lungs to muster a laugh. He inhaled sharply and took another step back, tripping over his own feet into the dirt. "Oтвали, мудак, бля!" The spontaneous utterance made him seem like he’d cracked, but it was literally all that came to mind. Was he on drugs? Had one of them slipped him something?? Was this man a scene straight out of an old-world horror, when movies where still being made??





Yes, on all accounts. That was the thought that materialized most prevalent in his head as the shadow loomed over him, Alex closing the distance as if he was talking a midday-fucking-stroll over to shoot the shit with his quack job friends. Had they made him one of them?? The paranoia, as ridiculous and swift as it was, didn’t do much to deter Joshua from completing his action and at least getting a hand on the strap of the holstered gun. He noticed then that the beast had several bloodthirsty eyes, not just two. A better look was in session. A female. And monstrous. That was about as far as his assessment got before he shot his hands up in surrender. "I take it back! No dick horns!" Those eyes were trained at his side and back, looking as cross as he felt. Perhaps blindly opening fire was a poor idea as he had no clue what the thing was and what it was capable of. Perhaps cognition? Hopefully cognition. God, please let intelligence reign in the beautiful monstrosity!! He begged the heavens in vanity and possibly in vain.





Indeed a monster. *





@Kayzo @TealFyre )


*Joshua's face for reference

Spoiler

Fuck off, asshole fuck!

 

[Mystik]

Time ot Enforce.

Teal had heard the scream. The chilling sound of the Russian yelling echoing through the canopy sent another tingle going up her spine. Her legs engaged again and sent her flying out of the pool of water. The adrenaline had returned as quickly as it had vanished. Her hands tore the spear from her shoulders, holding it loosely as she sprung from root to root, bush to bush back toward the crash site. Her duty was to these people, whether she liked it or not. The moment she took a step onto the ship she’d become a soldier for those people, even if she had seemed like a villain earlier. She truly had no desire to harm the daughter or the father in a lethal manner, though she was prepared to detain Arthur for murdering another crew member. Whether those who were once aboard the Last Dawn wanted it or not, the Marine would always come back to enforce peace and domestic tranquility.


It wasn’t long before the marine burst through the brush at the same spot she had exited. She’d covered the short distance she was away from the crash site in an incredible time, just under three minutes. Teal saw the looming figure of the Dredge high above the man that had treated her so kindly. This gave her an even larger sense of duty as she knew she owed Joshua. There’s no way I can kill that thing. Her body demanded her to stop running toward the face of imminent destruction, but her years of being converted to a tool of war prevented her from doing so. Height, weight, shape and movement all factored into her rapidly calculating optical nerve, each micro contraction of the beast's muscles registering. When she closed some distance between her and the monster, another loud shot from her pistol sounded. Just eight meters away from the monster she was standing still, her left hand perfectly trained on one of the ruby eyes. The bullet hissed through the air and toward its target, toward the sixth eye upon the Dredge’s skull. She knew the shot wouldn’t kill, but it would at least draw attention to her. “Run, you idiots!” She shouted after she took her shot.


@Kayzo @Ironrot

 

[Floodwater31]

Alex felt something in his head disappear, some feeling, or presence maybe. That would have been fine and dandy except that know he saw something straight from a nightmare materialized directly in front of him. Everything slowed, his mind accelerated to take in every breathtaking detail. The first thought that came to his head was weapon, followed by predator, and finally demon. Whatever it was ignited just about every get-the-fuck-out instinct in his brain. Alex would have releaved himself if he hadn't done so earlier, shortly after the filing cabinet incident. He didn't run though, he began to turn the fire arm he'd been preparing to hand to Joshua, he couldn't shoot it holding the barrel. The thing was on Joshua now, oh well, he's dead, better run before it gets me too. The gun found it's way into his hand, his finger on the trigger. It's a figment of your imagination, it can't hurt anyone. The gun was moving towards it's chest, no, face, rubber bullets won't kill, annoy it. Rubber bullet will hurt whoever you shoot, it's not real! The gun was changing it's course, it was almost pointed at the side of it's... face? For the love of god stop, you'll hit someone! Shoot! You need to give others a chance! He almost heard something, but he was entirely focused. Being conflicted, he almost didn't shoot, but a gun shot pierced his focus, causing him to take the shot. It's real.

 

[Maki]

Caitlyn l, whose gaze was fixed on Arthur and Sally, immediately turned when she heard the screams on the people. She turned her head and noticed the monster standing behind Joshua, preparing to do some strange, alien shit to him, or perhaps just have a snack. Her eyes widened in fear at the sight of the monstrosity, worse than anything in any horror movie she had ever seen. This in fact was like a horror movie in itself, survivors of a crashed ship trapped on an alien planet being hunted by a horrible, horrible creature. What if that thing tries to kill all of us? As she was about to throw a bandage at the creature, hoping to distract it from the others and buy them time to get away, a gunshot rang out, and Teal had reappeared, this time trying to save them. Caitlyn turned to Arthur and Sally, and backed up. "You two need to get out." She told them, mentally preparing herself for shit to go down.

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

A New Challenger

The Dredge towered over Joshua like the reaper, silent, unwavering, judgment made a physical manifestation. There was nothing the man could do to escape this fate, no flattery would breach its ears and register to this creature in the state it was in. Those maroon eyes knew nothing but death, could conceive of nothing else but the elimination of the threats that the weapons he carried posed and by an extension, the Terran himself. That maw filled his vision, drew closer and closer, ready to bring him into its pink, fleshy depths of which there would be no escape from the opal bones which formed its ribcage and as of the moment, its teeth. However it was to focused on Joshua it never saw the other one coming, didn't register the danger so great was its arrogance and sense of triumph, its superiority over man.


In the moment that would have ended the man known as Joshua, a bang, a whistling in the air, the impact, a fountain of blue blood sparkling in the air, forever to be burned into his mind of this moment in time.


The creature jerked to the left violently, the monsters maw closing in with a final CRUNCH just behind his left ear as the view of sky, trees, purple birds flying off in the distance, and a great bit of side boob.


The Dredge Staggered back a foot or two and touched the side of its head with a delicate claw. It brought back down its clawed paw to stare at the blue, crystal blood which shined and glittered in the light, a sharp contrast to the black, obsidian skin and silver armored plate which encompassed its hand. Shock was written all over its face, as if the fact it had just been shot could not be computed into whatever brain it had. The five red eyes, one of which was now nothing more than a bloody mess of leaking fluid and blue blood, which was already cauterizing in the air, flashed from their bone shaking red to a silver gray that darkened back to their normal thundercloud grey. Pain, hurt, the agony of not being able to see out of one of its spectacular eyes registered. Those eyes flickering betrayed a moment of weakness, of the mind behind the instinct, and it was a shattered broken thing. That of which had been broken and remade so many times it lay stretched in all directions from the forgings but ever remained fragile.


As quickly as it had come, that brief moment of vulnerability was gone as the rage overtook the aliens mind, fear rode hard on the mental reigns as the monster seems to take a deep breath in, swell and swell until the armored plates of which covered it stretched out to resemble a pinecone. Then it screamed.


Fire erupted from seemingly every possible angle as the Dredge exploded into a literal cluster fucking of fire. The heat scorched and burned Alex’s eyebrows completely whilst Alex’s opposite flew backwards from the force of that inferno bursting to the surface. Both men were lifted off their feet and tossed back like ragdolls.


The Dredge snatched up two large metal sheets of heat shielding that littered the ground near it from the crash and turned its torso, arced its body perfectly and Discus style chucked both of them, one after the other, at the Russian lass who had shot it. The melting metal Disci shrieked at the female, sparks emitting from its sides as the melting flecks ripped off and flew away from the speed of its turn as the Slabs flew like orange burning saw blades towards the girl.


The Dredge itself gathered its muscles and leapt off the ground, a fiery comet which burned from the atmosphere to where it landed on the side of the ship, hitting the outer hull with a gut wrenching tell tale groan of bending metal and failing super structure.


Its talons dug into the metal as if it were but soft cheese, the plating crumpled underneath the sheer force of which its back legs gripped the steel. It grew taught as a high tension bow string, its eyes miniature super nova’s from where it gripped the side of the ship like a six legged spider.


It was about to do something drastic, they had seconds maybe before it initiated its plan.

 

[Lenchan]

Joshua rolled over and away from the beast as the blue inferno of blood splattered and burned through the ground where he'd just lay, nearly marring his prefect pearlescent skin! His eyes flashed from fear to anger, adrenaline rising in him and propelling his body into action – how dare you mess with beauty of this caliber! He reached in the instant of the beast’s agony and withdrew the handgun from his side. Thank the heavens, sweet militant beauty. He sighed deepily in relief, reveling in the continuation of his own existence, even for just a second longer. He’d kiss her if he got the chance. Probably at the expense of his jaw, so perhaps not… He pushed the thought aside as quickly as it came and cocked the hammer of the glock, preparing to leave his own impression upon the bitch’s horrifying body. Before his finger could successfully grip the trigger, however, a large flame erupted and the sudden energy sent him catapulting backwards, the gun flinging off to the side and skidding across the dirt. A stray round fired and ricocheted into the forest, planting itself firmly into a nearby tree and Joshua, cringing and hissing from fresh burns, ducked his head in protective instinct.


He lifted from his pose, and sat up on the elbow of his unburned arm in time to see the beast powering up with two incredibly large pieces of remnants of the ship, turning them white with unfathomable heat – "А ну съёблась отсюда!!” – and launching them in the direction of the soldier with incredible finesse. He prayed for equivalent savoir-faire in his comrade.


He lifted the rifle that had fallen from his shoulder from off the ground and cocked it as the beast came down on the top of the ship’s metal carcass with a chilling crunch. What cause for creation of such a foul thing could there be?! He glanced over in the direction of the treeline where the woman once stood but all he saw were two large slits in the burning foliage and the subsequent timber that started to fall as a result. He swore under his breath, aiming and firing at the thing in quick succession, calling out to any of the others – he knew at least the murderous self-defender had a weapon, but he wasn’t sure the state of the man, or anyone else for that matter. “For fuck’s sake, bring the bitch down! Shoot her!”*


@all around the med-bay crash

Spoiler

”Get the fuck out of there!!”





*

Perhaps I’ll stop this soon. Perhaps Trin will yell at me before that happens willingly.

 

[Floodwater31]

A visible wave of heat leapt from the creature and rammed into Alex as if it itself was a creature who wanted nothing more than his jugular. Instinctively raising his arm to block his face, he botched the shot, sending the rubber projectile soaring high up to the heavens. When his arm came down, it was in a crouch, and then it was gone. Alex looked around the room, momentarily locking eyes on a similar, but lethal version of the weapon he held. Shots rang out, he saw Joshua up, rifle out, firing round after round. Following his gaze he saw it again, the beautiful terrible predator. Shots continued to ring out, but it simply stood, or clung, still. All five of it's remaining eyes burned with bright light, but it was motionless. "For fuck's sake, bring the bitch down! Shoot her!". Alex brought his gun up, it was still there, within range, a perfect target. No, this isn't right, it's still got us in it's talons. No creature would allow its self to be shot at. Images of suicide bombers became prevalent, No. He went from standing to sprint, taking a step forward. Suddenly the bruises on his leg and chest screamed, having been tired of their previous silence. Fuck. Still in sprint, he took his second step, "GET-". Pain rocketed up his left leg as it touched down for a third, "-DOWN!". Alex launched himself at Joshua, you better be fucking grateful.

 

[Mystik]

Evacuation.

"Get everyone into the woods! Evacuate this area immediately!" Teal nearly screams this order, pushing her vocal chords to their limit. Four bullets. Keep two. One for you, the other for that fucker. Her head ran rampant. There was no way that any special flashbacks would occur here. Nothing but training and instinct could drive her now. "Вы там!Вы не могли бы напугать бабочку вас жир Недоросль!". After rattling off the Russian taunt she reloads the single shot pistol, setting her spear beside her. Her wrist flicks the chamber back into position after she had slid the round into it. This was it. Perhaps, a second shot could at least disable her. She stays at a kneel. One hand rests clutched around the grip of the weapon, her other just beneath it to steady her shot. Processing the seemingly chaotic and random slashing, she soon finds an opening. It was there for just barely over half a second, but within that half second, her shot fires again. Perhaps the bullet wouldn't find its target, perhaps it would. If the Dredge's arm caught it, clearly the shot wouldn't be lethal.


@Jakov Malachai @Kayzo

Spoiler

You could not scare a butterfly you fat oaf!

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

Powderball

The Dredge jumped just before the girl could pull the trigger, its keen eye sight from its remaining ocular sensors watched the Terrans body like a hawk and the instant she was about to fire it knew. It had seen that same motion of the body, the tensing of muscles and flesh, enough times to be all to familiar with it.


The Monster kicked off, but not at the female, but down. It ran down that 60 foot side of metal, claws scratching on the metallic surface as it allowed gravity to do the majority of work for it. Straight down it bolted, like an anvil dropped from the sky. Just before it hit the ground it did an odd hand stand type maneuver, slamming its front palms down onto the surface with the resulting force breaking its forward momentum just enough for it to spin gracefully in the air and with all the kinetic force it had gathered from that break down, landed on its Back legs.


Have you ever seen a spring? The way it bends and condenses the more tension is applied to it? A piston, when the joint is bent from the firing force which caused it to turn the shaft of an engine? For every action there must be an equal and opposite reaction, and that law of physics is what the creature used to its advantage as the bullet ‘pinged’ off of its shoulder plate, the armored chitin jerking but other than mayhaps a bruise there would be no wound to this monster. All that gravitational force applied on it plus its own strength added to it from running down like a madman to his doom was collected in the Dredges powerful hind legs. Their shape was made for running, jumping, its prodigious althetic ability had already been seen by the survivors as well as its brute strength when fearful. But oh it wasn’t fearful now, no… it was simply pissed.


That moment in time when the monster hit the ground, the dry scorched earth cracking from the impact, dust flying up into the air obscuring any accurate sight on the beast. Save for one important feature… those eyes. Nothing could hide those eyes.


A blur exploded from the dust at such speeds it was hard to keep track of and the only indicator something had left was the wispy trail of dust that followed it, the odd bit is that it didn’t go after Teal the human wielding the gun. Not Directly that is.


It went sideways, at a 45 degree angle to the Terran and hit a piece of the ships aft engine deck, ricocheting off of that and straight towards where to little Terrans lay on the ground.


Alex, poor brave Alex, who had decided that against his better judgement he would want to play a hero.


Well the Hero doesn’t have claws grip at his chest, wrenching him off the ground and then grabbing his leg and THROWING him like HE was a human Discus at the Russian chick.


The man he was protecting on the ground just got slapped rather hard by the Dredges tail passing by.


The Dredge itself followed the now airborn Terran rather closely behind it. Its hind legs screamed with the effort of keeping up this ridiculous pace but all was numbed under the thrill of the hunt.


Low toe the ground, all six limbs working in perfect unison combined with its temporary speed boost.


It was already nearly 7 meters away from Teal.


Its eyes flickered up for a brief second in time to something right above her.

 

[Maki]

Caitlyn shielded her face as the dredge spewed it's acidic blue, yet beautiful, blood around the room. Luckily for her, the blood was barley able to reach them, only a couple of drops landed on her clothes and skin. It stung, but was more of a nuisance than anything. So this thing isn't invincible? That's great! Caitlyn thought, hoping that this monster would flee. Much to her dismay, the dredge didn't flee, but instead got very pissed off. She barley had time to react as the dredge literally exploded, the shockwave knocking her off of her feet. When Caitlyn his the ground, her injured leg smacked against the ground, making her yelp in pain. Fuck, I'm so useless! She decided that it would be beneficial to the others if she just stayed on the ground, leaving herself to the dredge.

 

[Lenchan]

Joshua’s eyes cut to the side in time to see the man Alex launching towards him, arms spread in a tackle formation; wide open for a shot. Joshua turned his rifle from its trained position, the beast who’d seemed impervious to the bullets he’d been pumping out in her direction irrelevant now in light of a new threat. By the time he could get a shot off, the man collided with him, knocking him ajar and sending the shot meant to put him down into the sky. A few birds scattered off from the treeline, screeching and squawking in warning to their fellow kin. Immediately Josh coiled his body and tossed the man off, swinging the butt of the rifle towards the Alex’s jaw. Before it could connect, the beast was over them both blocking out the light from the sun and emitting its own heat as if it’d just repaced the star permanently - surely to retrieve its loyal subject Joshua figured, preparing to take another several shots at them both, but instead said subject was lifted from the ground next to Joshua and launched like one would lob a sack of potatoes… Assuming one could throw a sack of potatoes so hard, at such sped with such accuracy. Luckily she’d showed when she did, erasing the doubts in Joshua’s mind about the man. Had she not he might’ve put a bullet in his chest or at least broken the man’s jaw. He cocked the hammer again and used the scope to aim for the beast’s head as she swiftly trailed behind the human frisbee.


“Отступить - Перегруппироваться для захода!” The man squeezed the trigger in rapid succession, sending a fresh wave of bullets directly at the beasts head. “Hurry!” He emphasized the words of the soldier, reflecting them, “Get to the trees!” He launched himself to the side as well, hoping to circle around and make it to the rover. If bullets won’t work, perhaps tranquilizers will. I just have to make it there! His eyes were sharp, counting the limited amount of rounds remaining in his weapon. Soon he would have to reload and be defenseless. He needed to make it to the line before then, but not without the soldier and his spacy, potato-sacked friend. He ran to Caitlyn’s side,noticing her fall in pain, blood covering her leg so much so that he couldn’t tell if it was fresh or not. He shoved the glock into her hand and turned in a crouch beside her. “Get on! Quickly! And fucking don’t stop shooting!”





@Kayzo @TealFyre

Spoiler

"Withdraw - And get ready to sortie!

 

[Maki]

After the shockwave from the dredge went away, Intense pain shot through her leg. Gripping the area around her wound tightly, she felt the uncomfortable, sickening feeling of a warm liquid running down her leg, and her breath became quicker and heavier. She was scared. Scared that this would be her end. The wound had taken a hit and started bleeding again. Any more of this and Caitlyn would soon been rendered useless. She went into her own little place, zoning everything that was going on outside, trying to calm herself down. Tears formed in her eyes, and she wasn't sure if they were from the pain in her leg or from the fear of not being helpful to anyone, and rather a burden.


Caitlyn wasn't in her little world for long as Joshua suddenly drew her out of it. Keeping her finger off of the trigger, she climbed onto Joshua's back and held on with one of her arms, the other by her side, ready to shoot the attacking Dredge.


@TealFyre

 

[Lenchan]

“Pardon my reach, love.” Joshua couldn’t help but flash a quick smile at the young woman before cupping his hand under her thigh, just below her buttocks and hoisting her up properly as he rose to a standing position. If this was the end, it was appreciated that he’d go out with a beauty mounted on his back. He grunted slightly, weak as they come, and bent slightly adjusting the rifle into a one-handed wield. It would be awkward, painful and incredibly inaccurate, but if he had to take a shot to preserve his life, then it would be good enough.





“Hang on, but do try not to choke too hard.” His brilliant teeth flashed another pained smile back at her, before trailing off to see just how дочерью России was fairing. He hadn’t come up with his attack plan yet, but he needed to quickly assuming she would be falling back into defense, as well. Think, damnit. How to get to the vehicle, planted on the opposite side of the wreck? It was times like this very moment where the excessive security of the Elitnaya's equipment revealed just how cumbersome it could be. A beating pulse fingerprint from the individuals registered permission to access. At the moment that privilege was with him alone. Survival Incentive, as if he needed that. What he needed was a re-entry plan. Right now, though, his priority was getting the injured woman on his back and himself out of the line of fire. “Don’t stop shooting! We need to buy the others time! She can’t possibly block attacks from all directions!” He called back over his shoulder to the woman, hoping for the sake of them all that she snapped out of her trance.


@Kayzo @TealFyre

Spoiler

daughter Russia

 

[Maki]

Caitlyn didn't seem to be phased by his remark or where he was grabbing. There were more important things at hand than hitting the man who was saving her. "Yes Sir." She said quietly, and looked back at the dredge. She didn't bother perfecting her aim as t wouldn't exactly be easy when being carried. The trigger was pulled and the sound of the gun rang through Caitlyn's ears, her wrist flinging back from the kick. The bullet missed by a few feet, and she fired anther shot, miracously hitting him this time.


@Lenchan @Jarkov Malachai

 

[Floodwater31]

As Alex tackled Joshua, he tried to break his landing with his left arm, big mistake, pain erupted like a geyser. As this was happening, Joshua was trying to break Alex's face, luckily, or more accurately, unluckily something wrapped itself around his waist, and then his leg. Bad touch, was the only thought he could process before his world became a whirlwind of color, sound, force, and motion.


Fun fact: Alex did 34.6 rotations before colliding with the earth a foot to Teal's left and rolling four feet and colliding with a tree.


The world suddenly became a far away place, still aware yet not fully awake, Alex entered a state of half consciousness. He was only mildly aware of his surroundings as the predator approached the woman he'd just missed. The repeated gun shots failed to pierce his little world, if their aim gets any worse they'll pierce me... ... hey look, the predator, what's it doing, the guns are over there stupid. As one might tell, Alex did not possess his wits at the moment.

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

Challenge accepted

As bullets pinged and ricocheted through the air, the Terrans who were firing may have realized that their firing was for naught, they simply couldn't HIT the beast. There were limited firing angles on the Dredge as there were limited firearms amongst the Humans so all it had to do was remember where they were, and keep moving.


For something so big it was fast, that little boost it had given itself played hell with the injured Terrans ability to track the monster as it moved. Plus, the creature itself simply seemed like an Illusion, those odd looking armored plates which covered it flared up on the axis of which they sat into the creatures flesh and caused a ripple like effect which blurred the monster as it snaked around obstacles, wormed through the underbrush towards Teal. The crash site Terrans understood the unease that Sebastian Islia had experienced themselves when the Dredge was chasing them down with that effortless gait that simply seemed part of nature in the way it flowed over the land.


The monster, as it was barely a few feet from Teal, jumped up into the air and spun backwards in a graceful arc, a perfect half crescent moon with its tail whipping behind it to slice through the large tree branch which stood above the Terran soldier. Both setting it on fire and cutting right through the wood, causing it to plummet to the ground in like a fiery comet.


After that, the monster vanished into the Tree Line, jumping, maneuvering, and all but flying through the upper canopy in a seemingly random order of leaps and bounds from branch to branch. But it had its target in mind, the thought had come upon it suddenly and perfect in its conception. A figure was locked in its sights. It had met its foe and found him lacking, revenge was foremost in its mind for she... would make him pay. If there was any other doubts they were crushed beneath the armor of instinct which it wore over its conscious like a all encompassing blanket that allowed nothing in nor out.


A certain father comforted a little girl who cried over the noises and screams, gun shots and blood which was being spilt outside. But said little girl was not fated to feel her fathers arms for long, safety was not to be hers for she had been chosen by those beyond her and her fathers control.


Maybe it was when the father looked away for a second, he thought to see what happened outside and how the battle progressed, but that was all it took. For in that moment he would turn around and find his little girl gone with no sign she had ever been there save for a small little scrap of fabric from her shirt which drifted down to the ground so slowly. Caressing the metal earth with a slight touch before wind picked it up and blew it past the Father, that little slip of cloth kissing his cheek ever so slightly before being whisked away by the wind beyond his reach.


@Ironrot

(if this is confusing, its supposed to be. There may be some fault in the writing but the overall is supposed to be confusing. Tis the mind of a creature at war both with you lot and itself. ask any questions thy has and I will answer them to the best of my ability. PS Ironrot, if something bugs you tell me, but I had NO idea what your peeps were doing during this)

 

[Mystik]

Awoken.

Teal had kept up her line of fire with the beast even as Alex had been flung right at her. Every minute rotation of his ragdoll body was easily processed, she quickly deducing that he would land approximately one foot to her left, after doing 34.7 rotations. Perhaps she was wrong, but that tenth of a rotation didn't prove to be too much trouble. She had held her ground up until the Dredge was those few short feet away from her. This is when she did the unpredictable, the unimaginable, the probably stupid. As she was just feet away from the beast she dove toward it, snatching up the homemade spear she'd set aside earlier. Just as she came out of the dive with a perfectly executed somersault, she thrusted the spear toward the Dredge's abdomen with the massive amounts of momentum she'd gathered from the roll. Alas, the beast was too quick and had dodged away.


The next thing she saw was the branch that it'd landed on hurdling toward her. Fiery, and bringing certain death to the Marine she did her absolute best to move once more. Though her efforts were to no avail as she felt a searing sensation, accompanied by a cruel and wicked 'Snap!' within her leg. Her adrenaline had prevented her from really feeling the pain at first. That pain that comes with the bone within your thigh splitting outward and through your skin. The pain that comes with your flesh being seared and cooked as if you were the meat for a barbeque. Soon even her adrenaline couldn't save her from the pain. Sobrevivir. Survive.


The girl that was just moments ago playing such a tough role began screaming. Not a scream for help, but a scream of agony. A scream that instinctually alerted every human around that one of their species was dying.


I don't want to see you in the afterlife, Hermana. Jose had told her this just days before he'd taken the micro-explosive for her. She'd promised she wouldn't. Even if she didn't believe in an afterlife, she knew he did. It brought him peace in war. A peace she had envied. But now, she couldn't help but beg to any higher power to save her from this madness. Or any particular doctor..


"Помоги мне! Я умираю! Я не хочу умирать! Я не готов! Я обещал!" The girl plead to anyone that could hear as she squirmed beneath the weight of the massive branch.

@Kayzo @Floodwater31

 

[Ironrot]

Arthur looked around himself, wide eyed. His right arm was wrapped around his chest, holding tight the fractured rib which he had shifted diving to protect the child he had now lost. She had been with him just a moment ago. He had pushed Sally around a corner he remove her from the fighting, then she was gone.


"SALLY!?" His cry blew away on the wind, unanswered.


"SALLY!?" Arthur repeated. This time he thought he heard his daughter screaming back. No, he knew that he had. Arthur sprinted for the torn open side of the ship. The pain in his side was immense. He clenched his jaw and kept running.


Arthur had no plans for when he found her, and presumably, the monster. All that mattered now is that he knew where they were going. In this forest, once she was gone, he feared she would be lost forever. Branches and twigs scraped his left side, Arthur's left eye was still too disabled to see them. He was vaguely aware that he was bleeding, but he paid it no attention. Arthur stopped twice, briefly listening for any indication of his child before turning and throwing himself back into a sprint in the new direction.


He stopped a third and last time, in a clearing. His sides heaved, pulling air into his lungs. Arthur twisted his torso, trying to force his damaged side to stay still. He tried to cry his daughters name, but could only sputter and cough. Arthur heard a cry in russian. The soldier who had held his daughter at gun point was laying beneath a tree, previously hidden behind Arthur's useless left eye. He took a moment to listen, to search the trees for anything that might lead him back to Sally.


The forest was dead and silent.


Quietly, slowly, Arthur limped a little as he walked to the far end of the tree. "You might have to help me a little" He said to Teal as he took a grip on the log. Wrenching upward, Arthur growled in pain. He heard Teal gasp as the log fell back onto her leg. The broken man took a moment to collect himself and reposition. He took a deep breath and held it, gritting his teeth. This time they were successful and the log rolled off of the woman. Arthur looked a Teal for a moment. He considered helping her up but ultimately he did not. Instead he sat down on the charred log and looked at the ground.


He was unsure what he should do next.


@TealFyre

 

[wizard nibblers]

Before she could get a clear view of the commotion down below, she felt a tap on her shoulder. “Oh! Tau!” she responded, “I didn’t know if you’d made it on board okay! After you ran ahead and all.” The more she thought about it, the more her memories became hazy, and her head started to pound, a possible side effect of the crash. But, she remembered that just before they left, her friend spoke to her, perhaps for a moment, or perhaps longer, too quiet to hear over the roaring of the ship, (or maybe it was just her head) before taking off without Rule or her brother. What happened to him anyhow?


Regardless, Tau looked fine, and she thought it needless to ask, but she felt inclined by societal practice to ask anyway, “Did you come out alright? And of all the things to bring with you off the Earth, why did you bring a stupid violin?” She then thought of the things she brought with her, perhaps equally useless, but she determined those rocks she found looked way cooler than that violin. And her crayons could be used to write with. And gum can be reused no matter how many times it had already been chewed. And despite popular opinion, Frank was a highly intelligent garden gnome. An Oxford man, with two children and a wife back at home, and his life was to be treasured.


She fiddled with the crayons in her pocket while listening, turning them over each other. She was listening half-heartedly to be honest, as her mind still lingered on how good the mayonnaise was in her pocket considering it was probably expired, before she was brought back into the present moment by noises in the distance. She paused, wrinkling her nose and squinting off into the distance, “Say, do you hear gunshots and agonizing screams of pain?”

{

@Pretzel Heart }
​

 

[Pretzel Heart]

((I read the very first part first and snorted))

τ

"Yup, in the flesh," Tau said with another grin, "sorry I've been keeping to myself...though I don't recall seeing you at spaghetti time. Don't tell me you've been eating garbage since we left." At this Tau treated her friend with a more disapproving expression, which only deepened at the mention of her violin.


"No need to be jealous you can't play an instrument," she retorted, moving one of her hands out of her pocket to lay on her waist, and the other protectively going back around the violin's neck, "at least I've had something to do. You have no idea how boring life is without the Internet, do you?" Here she moved her hand from her waist up to her forehead.


Lucky is the girl who makes herself happy with nothing but a pile of garbage.


But that was why Tau had continued to come back to Alphy time and time again. She really couldn't explain it herself, but there was just something she liked about the girl, corporate scum product or not. Even if she could afford to live a life rummaging through trash all day, not a care in the world, shielded from the shitstorm that was their Earth by a filter of trash, it was precisely because she chose to rummage that Tau had grown so attached.


"Say, do you hear gunshots and agonizing screams of pain?"


Coming out of her thoughts, which was actually a hard thing for Tau, having very deep ones, she looked back in the direction of the commotion she had noted earlier.





"Now that you mention it...yeah, I do."


For a moment the two just stayed silently staring in the direction of the noise. Neither of them had any clue as to what could possibly be going on. Tau, for one, was imagining that perhaps this "friendly" planet wasn't so friendly after all, and a rare and previously unheard of species of giant carnivorous plant was slowly digesting the remaining crew. That seemed within reason, given they had apparently crash-landed on a random planet they had no way of researching beforehand.





"So...maybe we should get a closer look?"


Tau wasn't sure that she liked the idea of watching a gross plant consume people Audrey II-style, but she figured that if they continued to stare and do nothing, at some point in her life, her conscience would get her back for it. Besides, if herself and Rule were the only survivors, they weren't going to last very long. And as much as Tau appreciated Alphy's company, she sure as Hell wasn't going to be getting a stage or tailcoat out of her.





Stupid violin, huh.


She wasn't going to be forgetting that one any time soon.

<

@wizard nibblers >
​

 

[Maki]

Caitlyn watched as the bullet smacked into the dredge and bounced off, lodging itself into the wreck of the ship. "Oh shit! Bullets don't hurt it." She said to Joshua, firing off a couple of more shots, all of them missing. This beast seemed to move fast. Almost too fast to follow. One moment it was cutting down a tree and in the next it was gone. "Please, Joshua, put me down.


Fuck me. There's no outrunning this thing! Caitlyn thought sadly, her wound soaking the side of Joshua in warm blood. "Hey, Joshua, right? This thing will catch up to us and kill us both. You'll be able to move faster without me, I'll buy you time."


She kept telling people to stop trying to save her. It wasn't because she wanted to die, hell, she's afraid of dying. But she's more afraid of the others dying, especially if it was her doing.


@Lenchan