Nathan Hystad - The Survivors - Books 1-3

“Clare, you’re sure you know how to fly this thing, right?” Mary asked for the fifth time.

“Yes. I did help create it, after all,” Clare answered, impatience thick in her voice.

Nick stayed back, looking relieved that we didn’t ask him on the away mission.

“We’ll keep in radio contact. Any sign they’re leaving in the Kraski ship, you tell us and come pick us up,” I said, slinging a pulse rifle over my shoulder. I was thankful for the time Slate had spent with me, familiarizing me and the others with the vast array of weapons we had. My confidence holding the gun was much higher than it had been a year ago, when it was new and alien to me.

Mae had her EVA suit on, the door closing between her and us as the ramp lowered. A hand-held tablet in her hand, she walked down the ramp.

“Readings shows the air is breathable,” Mae said, and I felt my shoulders loosen. Skulking around without the suit on was going to be much easier.

The door opened, and I felt warm air rushing up the ramp and into my face. A strange smell emanated from outside, a mixture of barn and swamp.

Stepping on the ground, I felt it give ever so slightly. The grass was more like moss, the water table evidently very high. The high humidity was almost a shock after spending a couple of weeks on a closed-system ship, where climate was controlled to a tenth of a degree. My uniform started to stick to my sweating body nearly instantly, and I looked at the others, seeing much of the same. Slate was the only one who kept stone-faced. He was a soldier on a mission, and his mind was extremely focused on the task at hand. Being on a strange planet with terrorist aliens on it, I was more than happy to have the gigantic soldier alongside us.

“Clare, come in,” I said, testing the comm-system.

“Go ahead,” the reply came.

“We’ll keep our trackers on. Just don’t leave us hanging if things get hairy,” I said.

Slate took the lead with ease, and we followed him. I finally got a look around, which was hard in the dark. We were hesitant to use flashlights in case we were spotted, but Slate had night-vision goggles on. I felt mine strapped to my thigh and considered wearing them. Instead I followed the others, trying to not be distracted by the brand-new surroundings.

We were on another world, walking on the mossy ground. It was an amazing feeling to see the strange massive trees looming around us, a moist musky smell lingering in the air. The river was close, but I suspected smaller ponds or swamps nearby, judging by the dampness.

As we got near the tree line, I stopped to touch one. The bark was smooth, slightly sticky. The branches were thin near the lower end of it, with slim leaves unlike any I’d ever seen.

“Dean, let’s go. We can look at the flora once we nab Terrance and Leslie,” Mae said.

I just shrugged and kept moving. The village was a couple of miles away; we’d expected to take fifteen minutes to get there at a good pace. Reality was different.

Three minutes in, the ground was too soft to walk on. Slate’s substantial bulk sank in as he stepped down, and we had to help him pull his right leg out of the mossy hole. A smelly mud stuck to his boot when he pulled free, and Mary wrinkled her nose at the stench.

“That’s not something you want to walk in. Let’s see if there’s a way across this way.” She pointed north, and we found much the same issue. Doubling back took valuable time, but the ground was eventually firmer, and soon we were making our way to the village in the right direction.

In a few minutes, we could see lights from the town: a soft glow in the darkness of an ominous world. It called to me like a beacon, and suddenly I remembered the time my car broke down on the highway in the winter when I was first off at college, right before the days when cell phones were in everyone’s hand constantly. It was the middle of a snowstorm, and after seeing no one else was crazy enough to be on the main roads, I spent an hour walking down a gravel road seeking a house. Just when I thought my toes were going to fall off, I saw a light in the distance. I ran, more stumbled, toward it, and the family let me call a tow truck and stay there until the driver picked me up.

When I saw the village light, the same feeling hit me, and I ran ahead. A few steps into my sprint, I felt the ground make way for water and I fell forward, going under.

It happened so fast, my brain couldn’t comprehend it. One second I was moving in the warm air, the next my head was under water, a thick sludgy liquid. I flailed my hands, trying to find something to push against, but they just sank into the muck on the bottom of the ground.

I finally swiveled my legs out under me and pushed up, my head breaching the muck.

Laughter shot at me from behind, and I turned to see Mary’s outline snickering at my epic fail.

“Laugh it up, chuckles,” I said, angry I was so stupid to get into this situation. That anger was heavily mixed with embarrassment. “Can you guys just help me out?”

It looked like I was in a small pond, only thirty feet across. All we would have had to do was walk a few steps to the left and avoid it. If I hadn’t rushed forward, I would be up there with the rest of them, dry and clean.

Slate stepped forward and reached a hand out, when something brushed against my leg.

“W hat the hell was that?” I asked, shaking my leg.

As I stretched my hand out to grab his, I felt it again, this time harder.

“Guys, something’s in here with me.” Panic was creeping into my voice, the embarrassment all but forgotten. Slate grasped my wrist and that was when the creature underwater made its move. It wrapped around my ankle, pulling at me. I still couldn’t see it, but it was constricting tighter by the second. Another tentacle twisted around my waist and before I knew it, I was gasping in murky water, flailing for air.

I hadn’t even noticed, but Slate was still holding my arm, tugging at me, a tug-of-war where I was the rope. I could hear shouting as my head ducked in and out of the water, me just trying to get air when I was able to. There were multiple tentacles now, and I had no idea if it was one multi-limbed attacker or a group of snake-like animals.

This was it. I was going to die my first hour on a new world. Water gushed into my nose, and I tasted the stale muddy water as I was tugged under it once again. The strong hard grip of Slate’s hand was gone suddenly, and I was pulled down and away from my friends. Clenching my eyes shut, I tried to stave off the panic, and fought to pull one tentacle from its crushing force on my abdomen. Nothing worked.

The water muffled sound, and I thought I could make out Mary’s voice from the ground a distance away. The swamp area was far larger than I’d initially thought, and I kept being pulled farther in. My lungs burned for air, and I knew it wasn’t going to be long. Light flashed in my closed eyes, and my body went from tense and flailing to calm and serene. The light was there for me.

Something splashed nearby, and I felt a surge of hope. The pressure on my waist ceased, and before I knew it, I wasn’t being pulled any longer. Next the grip on my ankle was gone, and an arm was under my chest, lifting me to the surface. My feet found muddy purchase on the swamp floor, and my weak knees helped keep me in an upright position. It was dark, and I retched out water, bile mixing with the thick stinky liquid.

“Are you okay, Dean?” Mae’s voice asked in my ear. She was panting, and my eyes made out her form beside me in the dimly-lit night sky.

“Mae,” was all I could muster through my clenched teeth.

“Oh, thank God,” she said quietly.