“I don’t know what she’ll do… Keep away from Sue!” It’s been three days since my encounter with the Wolves. I’ve managed to form a zipline straight to the pond below, and then build a mechanical hook to zip me back up right after I was done. This got boring though, so I took some cutting tools one day last week and cut myself a path into the next side of the jungle atop the hill. Here, we’ve hunted all manner of creatures. It’s gotten far colder, now. I’d suspect it to be atleast 40°F out here, but I still have to wear shortsleeves. I got used to it. Ashes has been putting on some muscle, and Squiggles… Well, his cautiousness got the best of him. He locked himself in a room, and hasn’t come out since. He remotely helps us from inside by manning the repaired machinery. He says he didn’t want to catch a pathogen.
Understandable. Apollyon was getting much more unpredictable. At the rate we were going, even with my badassery, Ashes’ muscle, and Squiggles’ brains, we won’t last much longer on this hellhole. I can assure you that. In other news, I’ve been training Ashes more. I can whistle some specific notes, and he’ll know what they mean. Well, not exactly, he just knows what to do upon hearing some melodies.
I happily skipped across the mud, Ashes close at my six, shades transfixed on my face. I held tight to the 10 gauge Winchester sitting on my shoulder, headphones blaring some music that I thought I wouldn’t hear for a while. I clicked and hummed along with the song as I strolled past a pile of dead creatures. This thing made reaping much easier than I’d ever have imagined. So much so that I had Squiggles scan it just incase I ever lost it. When it came to ammunition, I told him to repair and send out the scouting probes. Repurpose them for finding the materials found in these shells, and then mass produce them at the printer. The system was nigh foolproof, and not only was I swimming in ammunition for what may be the deadliest handheld weapon in the star system at the moment, but food. Ashes has never been happier, and has even began to drag some of the animals home for me.
As we passed the pile of corpses, I heard a sound. It was like a sonic boom. Just enough to break the badassery I was in, a shiver was sent into my spine. I turned. In the distance, I watched as one of those dropships from before descended into the treeline in the jungle next to our hill. It seems as though the idiots were back. I watched for the longest time, squinting. Then, the dropship ascended, now missing its back compartment. It aimed up, and took off for the skies. What the hell just happened? Only one way to find out.
I whistled to Ashes, and he turned and stormed out toward the clearing infront of the ship wreckage. I followed close behind. We stopped at the dropoff of the hill, and watched the jungle closely for any movement. Nothing. I whistled a tune to Ashes, and he turned and ran off into the ship. I then swivelled and stared into the treeline. There was a cold, unforgiving silence that bit at me like monsters in the dark. This was the final straw. I’m going to escape this godforsaken planet.
“…come get me.” I whispered to nobody in particular, reaching into my bag and pulling out a zipline hook. I attached it to the line, holstered my shotty, made sure the hook was attached to my armor plates (which I had recently sewn together with fabrics that Squiggles had onboard to make a harness), and when everything was secure, I hopped, and was jolted forward as the mechanized hook carried me down into the darkness at a steady pace. Dangling above certain death was terrifying. Even more so that, if I survived the fall, I’d be eaten alive. The things us Humans do for survival is astonishing.
After about four minutes, I touched down near the pond, and unhooked myself from the zipline. I unholstered the Winchester, and leaned forward, looking around cautiously. Whatever was down here, it wasn’t going to be happy to see me. Slowly, I made my way to the pond, looked around, then bent down and took a quick drink. Then, I heard a rustle in the trees. I bolted upright, and saw something odd. It was like one of Squiggles probes, hovering above the ground. Me and the probe had a prolonged amount of contact, before the speaker on it crackled to life.
“I see you’re alive.” It rang, and I stumbled back, Winchester at the ready. It floated around the pond, eerily, like a spirit, before stopping right above the center of the water. “That’s good. I want my pet to kill you, not whatever lives on this place. Surely you’ll make a match for it…. That’s a lie. Prepare yourself, monster. This is revenge.”
There was a rustling in the trees behind the probe. I focused in on it, waiting to see what was going on. What happened next had me fucked up for longer that I could remember.
The trees were pushed out of the way like grass, and I set my eyes on what closely resembled a dragon from ancient mythology. Snout, teeth, wings, the real deal. What made it even more interesting was the fact that all of its limbs were prosthetics, and the claws glowed. Was I literally about to fight a cyborg dragon with lightsaber claws? There were two guns mounted on its back, and it curled back. Its mouth opened, and a bloodcurling roar filled my ears. This thing outdid any concert I saw on Youtube while learning how to tie a noose (or something, I can’t remember all the details. My last name is a prime example of that).
“This is Wrath. This good boy has a neural inhibitor we stole from some Corti a while back, and wow, is he a good helper! Wrath, show our friend some affection, yes?” The dragon snorted a heavy breath at me from across the pond. As rapid as machine gun fire, the guns on its back lined up and rotated to aim at me. I dived out of the way as what appeared to be plasma burned up the landscape. “Wrath cost us a fortune, and a lot of disassembling vehicles and stealing. It’ll all be worth it watching the life fade from your eyes…” Shut up, you edgy space-dog! Not making this any more fun! For either of us!
As soon as I saw what the plasma did to the ground, I lost all hope…. And then the intro to Danger Zone began blaring in my headphones. Whoever owned this MP3 player was very musically cultured, I’ll tell you that. My hope was quickly restored–time to show this fucking wench who I am.
I began to bolt across the ground faster than I can even remember Ashes ever going. The guns tracked me, but not fast enough to splash me with plasma, as I ran up with my pipe tool. The dragon roared as the guns retreated, and swiped its plasma claws for my head. I dropped to my knees as they passed. What a legendary dodge! Not enough though, as the dragon effectively headbutt me back fifteen feet into a tree. Pain filled my body, and the dragon before me snorted. Slowly, I came to my feet. The guns were back.
Sprinting and fighting had become my forte. I launched forward like lightning, as the guns cut down the tree behind me. I watched the dragon’s limbs as I ran, and noticed that there were power boxes near the joints… A battle plan had been formed. I leaped forward, doing a nearly perfect roll underneath an oncoming lightclaw attack, curling back the pipe tool and slamming it onto the power box of its left arm. It let out a guttural cry as I saw electricity arc around its body, but it wasn’t done yet. That arm was gone, though. One down, three to go. The other one came swinging and I ducked as the lightclaws tore off the cyborg left arm.
“WRATH! NO! GET HIM, YOU FOOL!” cried the probe. I turned back and dived, breaking out into a sprint as the guns fired for my back. I ran all the way around the pond, and the dragon turned to face me. I dropped into a slide, pipe tool at the ready. Then it did something unprecedented–the cheeky fucker lifted his leg up and I passed under its paw! I stopped, and watched. Then, a thud came from my back as its right hind paw slammed into me, knocking me forward onto my back under its right arm. I rolled onto my back, and saw the paw coming for me. I barrelled away, and pulled out my Winchester, quickly aiming and taking a shot for the power box. Direct hit. Sparks tore into the creature, and I took off from underneath it.
“Let’s give Wrath a helping hand, yes? Get him!” Four orange, pimple covered multi-arm alien soldiers came from the trees armed with what looked like light kinetic pulse rifles. They opened fire, and I dived behind a tree as they thudded on the surface. I peeked around the corner as the dragon opened its eyes, and pulled itself back on its hind legs. The guns, like before, made their re-run, burning everything from the pond to the sticks infront of me. Expecting this, I was already dashing in the other direction. The four alien soldiers opened fire. Like I had seen in a movie, I spun the shotgun in my hand from the lever, cocking it. I aimed as I ran and opened fire, knocking down two of the soldiers. Actually, I lied, these things were atomized. It was like taking a .50 BMG to a cockroach.
I flip cocked the shotgun again, and stormed away as the plasma and kinetic guns followed hot on my trail. Now or never, now or never, now or never… You can do this, Daniels!
I stormed toward the dragon, which stopped firing because of proximity. I got closer, then hopping onto a large rock and vaulting off of it, trying to land on its neck to climb on its back. This was a big mistake, because it turned its head and butted me into the ground, which fucking hurt more than I can tell you. Triumphantly, it roared, and opened its mouth, shooting down to swallow me whole. Not on my watch; I grabbed a large branch from a Widowmaker tree just a few feet away and held it vertically in front of me at an angle.
“I’m on the highhhwaayy to the Danger Zone!” Right you are, Mr. Loggins. The dragon clamped down expecting to take off my torso. Instead, it got stuck as it chomped on a branch, holding its mouth pried open. I fumbled at my side, my legs holding the branch in place, finally hoisting the Winchester off the ground. I aimed up, and with a grin on my face, pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang, and I watched as the dragon went limp, its entire body leaning to one side as it collapsed on the ground, going entirely limp. My body was wracked with pain, I couldn’t slow my breathing. That. Was. Havoc. As much as I had developed an attraction to danger on my time here, I’m not asking for a second helping of that in any forseeable dimension. Thank God it was over.
I could barely move my body. Forcing through the stinging at my nerves, I traced my arms less than gracefully across the ground and coughed, hoisting myself into my feet. I gripped my Winchester, albeit very loosely. The remaining two orange alien soldiers watched in what I could only assume was pure terror. They dropped their rifles, turned, and ran off into the trees screaming at the top of their lungs. Through all that, I still had my shades on. Smooth, Daniels. Smooth.
I turned my head slowly toward the probe hovering above the water as I flip cocked the shotgun on my right arm. I stared at the probe in silence for what may have been the longest time, before a crackling static came from the speaker.
“…what are you…?” It asked. I smiled, eyes still locked onto it, as I raised the shotgun toward it. Dramatic build up, dramatic build up, don’t say anything for fifteen seconds!
Okay, now.
“I’m the fucking Terminator….” Dramatic pause…!
“You’re terminated.”
BANG