Nathan Hystad - The Survivors - Books 1-3

“What should we do?” I asked, fighting to stay upright.

From a few yards away, Mary fiddled with her map. “When I zoom, I see hills a couple miles to the east. Let’s head there and hunt for some reprieve from the storm. If this is anything like a tropical storm, it may only last a short time.”

I agreed and followed her lead, the wind pushing hard at our backs now.

The ground changed from swampy moss to something a little firmer-looking as it became unlevel, small hills protruding from the surface. Moments later, we stopped on the far side of a large hill, with a flat cliff on the east side. We were protected from the wind and most of the rain as we stepped off the scooters and leaned our backs on the soft wall of the knoll.

“I guess we wait it out,” I said, wiping my face mask with a gloved hand. The night vision was on, and it gave me a basic view of the dark swamp that stood before us. It went on as far as my eyes could see, and I tried to step farther away from it, remembering the creature that had pulled me under the last time we were on this planet. I didn’t want a duplication of that, especially at night in a storm.

Mary got off her scooter and started to walk along the hillside, looking for a spot for reprieve from the onslaught of rain. I joined her, jogging to catch up.

“Doesn’t look like much… wait, what’s that?” She pointed to a crevice where two hills met up. They were pushed close together, but there was enough room to walk between them, and trees grew from both sides at angles, creating a makeshift canopy.

“Looks good to me. Better than standing beside this swamp.”

We grabbed our supplies and brought them over to our new resting spot. My stomach rumbled as we settled along the wall of the opening, small splashes of water dripping down from the trees above, giving way to the torrential downpour.

Unclasping my helmet, I set it to the side and reached for my pack, when I heard howling. Mary was moving around, and I raised a finger to my lips. She stopped, and the howl rang through the night air again, this time closer.

“Can’t we find a liveable world with no deadly animals on it? Just once?” I joked, grabbing my pulse rifle.

“Let’s just hope they stay away, and the rain subsides sooner rather than later so we can keep going.” She passed me an energy bar. “Here, take this. We may need it.”

We sat back to back, watching each end of the opening we sat in, guns in our laps, and chewed on our bars.

“Just once, I want something to be hassle free. Remember our old lives? We used to complain about having to get up in the morning to go to work. But at the end of the day, we could just relax and watch the game on TV with a cold one. I guess those times are gone.”

“I never felt that way. I was in the Air Force and loved doing it. What’s that old saying? ‘If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life’? That’s how I felt,” Mary said.

“I was an accountant, so working on small business ledgers wasn’t something I could classify as loving. Though there was something calming about going through the sheets and balancing on the first try. It acted like a meditation for me at times. There were worse careers I could have chosen.” I shifted closer to Mary, moving away from a drip from the rain above. “Do you miss it?”

“I do. I miss the schedule of it all. Waking up at five in the morning, working out before breakfast. But even though we’re in a crazy situation, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I met you. I needed to meet you.”

“Do you think our first marriages even count?” I asked.

“How do you mean?”

“The way I see it, we were duped: married to aliens. That can’t really count.”

Mary laughed and leaned her head on my shoulder. “I suppose you’re right. I like that idea. How about you? Could you go back to pushing paper and doing someone’s books?”

“No way. All of those years of practice, and now I don’t need the skill.”

“Every skill makes up who you are. You think a certain way because of it, and that’s proven to be valuable. I won’t be flying F-16s any longer, but that training allows me to succeed in our new universe. One that’s rapidly expanding.” Mary stretched her legs out.

“At least you can still fly ships. That’s one skill that’s transferable.” The wind was decreasing; the pools of water outside rippled less and less as we talked. “I think the storm’s dying down.”

We sat there chatting, waiting to hear another howl, but we didn’t. It was a half hour before we got up, seeing the rain was nothing more than a light patter now. Mary made for her scooter, her rifle on her back, her pack in her hand. As she strapped it to her seat, I walked out, looking at the sky to see if the clouds were still moving on. To the west, I saw amnesty coming in the still-dark night.

Mary was almost done and had fired up her ride when something jumped into my view.

“Dean, look out!” Mary called, but it was too late. The thick creature hurled itself off the canopy above the hillside and landed with a squishing sound right in front of me. It sank a couple feet into the soft ground, giving me just enough time to roll out of the way before its large paw wiped my face from my head. I felt the swing just clip me as I rolled to the wet ground, my rifle all but forgotten as I scrambled to evade the second swipe.

The thing reminded me of a bear, but its face was smaller, more human, making the whole attack that much more terrifying. It released a long howl as it came at me. I fought to back away from it, but my hands sank into the mossy ground, handcuffing any movement. This was it for me. There would be no saving Earth from the Bhlat, and after everything that had happened in the past two years, I was going to die by the paw of a monster on a planet I didn’t even know the name of.

The creature stood on two legs, an angry scowl on its tortured face, and it growled as its right arm came flying toward me.

“Dean, get your head down!” Mary’s voice yelled, and the smell of burned fur and blood hit me like a brick. I ducked and got a hand out, rolling to the side as the huge thing fell beside me, surprise crossing its face before it smacked into the swamp, water splashing a yard high.

The whole attack had only been a few seconds, but I was out of breath. My hand shook so hard, I had a hard time taking Mary’s when she offered it to me. She pumped a couple more blasts from her pulse rifle into the hide of the dead monster for good measure.

“We need to go. If there’s one, there are probably more. I don’t want to be around when they show up.”

“Why do I get all the terrible attacks on this planet? Good thing I have people to help me, or I’d be dead twice already.” I made the joke to cover my dread. I’d thought I was going to die, and it wasn’t a feeling that shook off in a minute.

Howls came at us from every direction as we got onto our hover scooters. “Which way?” I asked.

“No idea.” Mary put her helmet on, and I did likewise, turning the night vision back on. “I’d suggest keeping your rifle at ready.” She started to move north, and I joined her getting around the hills. More creatures cried out in the night as we raced away, hoping to not come across any of them.

T he two-hour trip took its toll on my body. The wind was still blowing, and we passed through a couple more areas with inclement weather, reluctant to stop either time. We plowed through, ending up near the spot where we’d first landed on the planet all those months ago. We rode by the swamp where I’d been pulled under, and I recalled Mae saving my life. I shook it off as we rode, until coming to the town. It had expanded since we’d been there. More log cabins were erected, but few beings lingered on the streets as the sun started to rise, pushing through the thin clouds. Mist rose from the damp ground as we shut the scooters off.