Predator and Prey Part 2

Posted on Sat Nov 1st, 2014 @ 12:36am by Captain Tim Williams & Lieutenant Commander Horatio Hawke & Lieutenant Commander Ciaran McIntyre

Episode: Orphans
Location: Dreyas Four
Timeline: MD30 0900hrs

The creature crouched down over its meal; merely a limb from the second of the two strange, hairless creatures which it had pounced on only moments earlier. The outer skin of the creature was very strange; it was dry and tasted bland, and it left little fibres on the creatures tongue, but it came off very easily, revealing another layer of skin underneath which was broken through much more easily by the creature's sharp teeth. The flesh was warm and unlike anything that the creature had tasted before. It looked up and considered going back to the body of the creature it had killed, a short distance away, to obtain more of this food to share with its kin, until its ears picked up the sound of something else moving through the trees further away. It couldn't see what had made the noise yet, but there were many leaves and twigs breaking, meaning it was either something big with many limbs, or lots more of these hairless creatures, perhaps coming to look for the body of the one the creature had set its stomach on.

Mac stopped dead as a rustling that wasn't his team picked up from a densely packed patch of forest to his left. He raised his rifle and made a gesture to the team to form up next to him. He pressed forward, his steps slowing with every movement, not daring to think about who- or what- lay in wait.

The snapping of leaves and twigs had lessened... the sound was still there, but the creature could tell that whatever was making the noises had started moving a lot more slowly... and in its direction. The creatures making the noises were acting like the creature and its kin did when they stalked each other for fun, and like the creature had done to get close to the hairless meaty creatures earlier. Its instinct cried danger, despite the fact that it had never been anything's prey in its life, but its curiosity kept it still, preventing the flee reflex that it wanted to give in to. It wanted to see more of these creatures.

"Do you hear anything?" Mac whispered tentatively. He couldn't- which was worrying him more and more with each passing moment. "Stay slow, press forward."

As the grouping of officers crept forward, the leaves around them began to show a few splatters of red. Less than a meter on, they came upon the body of one of the colonists; lying prone on the ground, gashes across his legs and torso, and completely missing his right arm. A few drops of blood led off to the opposite site of the corpse to the direction that the security group had arrived.

"Christ on a bike." McIntyre declared, entirely deadpan. He brought his rifle up to his shoulder and proceeded to scan his arc very, very closely. There was no point checking the colonist's pulse, that much was for sure. He pointed to his eyes and then to the short trail and rose to a standing crouch, moving forward ever-slower.

As the fleshy creatures began advancing towards it, following the trail of fluid that was still dripping from the limb it had taken and from the creature's jaws, the creature knew instinctively that it would be unable to hide and observe for any longer. It dropped the limb, turned and leapt, starting to run on all fours, using its powerful arms to help push it forward, and no longer caring about the amount of noise it made as it moved to traverse the difficult terrain of the forest.

"Contact! Contact!" McIntyre shouted, half at his team and half into the open communications channel. He stopped thinking as the adrenaline kicked in and he began to give chase through the forest.

He gave up after less than thirty seconds as the crashing of the creature became distant. "Did anyone get a good look at it?!" He called out, forgetting the possibility that their target might not be a one-off.

"Negative, Sir." The report came back.

"McIntyre to Hawke." Mac said dejectedly into the open channel.

The XO's voice came back through the comm sounding a little strained. He had been spending too much time trying to calm the colonists and assuring them that they would ensure their safety. "Go ahead, Mac," he said. "Did you find anything?"

"There's definitely something out here. I just don't know what it is."