Jason Halstead - Parasites

Kira’s eyes rapidly took in the state of Jeremy’s clothes. “Where’s Synnamon?” Her stride towards him was strong and intimidating.

Jeremy opened his mouth and shut it, then shook his head. He glanced down and to his left, searching for words. When he looked back up Kira was right there, her fierce stare piercing him and leaving him feeling exposed. “She’s dead,” he said. The words came out weak, so he repeated them. “Those bugs. They trapped us. I shot one but they kept coming! The rifle didn’t recharge in time so I hit one and it… They got her. They tore her leg and then they swarmed her. She screamed but I couldn’t help. There were too many!”

Kira’s response was to explode. She grabbed his shirt and yanked him off balance only to drive her knee into his stomach. Almost before the air could explode out of his mouth she’d release one hand from his shirt so should draw it back and slam it into the side of his head. Jeremy heard the pops in his neck as his head twisted from the power of her punch. He fell to the ground retching out his last meal and gagging as he tried to breath. The world spun around him even though everything was growing darker and more distant by the moment.

The next thing Jeremy was aware of was the background noises sharpening themselves into words. He knew they were words, he just couldn’t make sense of them. He blinked, letting a brilliant spear of sunlight plunge through this eyes and into his brain. The cry of pain he let out silenced the warring voices and restored his own ability to understand them.

“You’re alive!”

Jeremy moaned in response. It sounded like Fiona had been the one to speak. Through the slits of his eyebrows he thought she was the blurry form standing next to him.

“You’re lucky,” Kira spat out. It was definitely Kira, there was no mistaking her voice or the anger in it. “We’re the endangered species on this planet. You do what I say, when I say it or you go your own way. You risk the life of another human and your own life is forfeit.”

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Fiona snapped back.

“I’m the one that keeps you idiots alive! The rest of your settlement is gone. In a month the ruins will be overgrown and falling apart. In a year you’ll be lucky to find any evidence this base was ever here. The creatures here don’t fear you, and your weapons don’t do much more than piss them off. If you pull your heads out of your asses I’ll take you back to my people. We know how to survive. It’s your only chance.”

Jeremy started to roll but somebody put a restraining hand on him. A shadow fell across his face, shielding him from the sun’s glare. He opened his eyes slowly and saw Wes looking at him. “Lay still, we thought you were dead. It sounded like she broke your neck when you fell.”

Jeremy started to nod then stopped himself. If his neck was broken, nodding would be one of the worst things he could do. “Okay,” he said through barely parted lips. “I can feel my fingers and toes though. I feel really loose and weird, but I can feel.”

Wes nodded and offered him a shrug, then glanced up.

“Great, so now he’s going to slow us down? Better to leave him for the animals!” Kira growled.

“What’s your fucking problem? I saw him in there, he was scared shitless! I don’t know what you think you saw but-“

“No, I don’t know what you think you saw,” Kira’s sharp voice cut her off. “When I found the two of them right here he was about to shoot her. She talked him out of it, then I let them know I was here. She insisted on going back for her logs or something. We got separated and he used the opportunity to take care of what he couldn’t do the first time!”

“He wouldn’t do that!” Fiona insisted. She raised her gun to her shoulder and pointed it at Kira. “You back the fuck down and take us to these people you’re talking about, at least until another shuttle is sent for us.”

Jeremy felt the wetness rolling down his cheeks. He hadn’t killed Synnamon, the bugs had. He’d just been trying to get them away.

“You really think that’s going to work, Marine? Technology’s got a way of failing around here, haven’t you noticed? The guy taking care of our weapons used to be one of yours. Well, he was more than that, he was a FIST. He made regular Marines like you look like a security guard on a budget class starliner. He lost them one after another, until after ten months he couldn’t even put enough spare parts together to keep one of them working.”

“You want to test this one and find out?” Fiona dared her.

Jeremy risked turning his head a few degrees to see the confrontation. He realized that Fiona must have found some clothing while she was looking for other survivors. She’d slipped on an oversized armored vest, a loose fitting pair of pants with the regulation camo print on them, and a pair of combat boots. His eyes had barely taken it all in when the two women went at each other.

Fiona’s rifle discharged its lethal beam into thin air, Kira had already slipped under it and to the side. She came up grabbing it with both hands and ripping it free of Fiona’s hands. The rifle swung around and into the ground, bending it so badly that there was no doubt the internal workings had been fried. A spark and a puff of smoke from the broken circuits added an air of finality to the weapon’s status.

Fiona was quick, she kicked out, trying to crush in the side of Kira’s knee. Kira twisted away from the kick, making Fiona’s foot glance off, then she completed her rotation and smashed the broken rifle into Fiona’s side and hip. The high tech club broke apart, showering Jeremy with pieces of the shattered circuit boards and a few larger screws that flew loose. Fiona slammed into the ground beside him, grunting at the impact.

She rolled and tried to come back to her feet but never made it. Kira dropped on her and locked her arm and her neck in her grasp. She spun the Marine around, putting her between Kira and the other survivors, then picked both of them up using only the strength in her legs. She moved with a smooth grace that should have been impossible, considering her load.

“I won’t mess up this time,” Kira hissed. She had her other hand around Fiona’s head, ready to twist it at an angle that would guarantee a broken neck.

“Stand down!” Fiona wheezed to the other Marines. “I’m the senior NCO, stand down!”

They glanced at each other then nodded, lowering their weapons. Unlike Fiona they were dressed in their regular combat uniforms, but AJ was only a private and Alecia a Private First Class. Fiona outranked them, even out of uniform.

“You going to behave or do I need to set an example?” Kira hissed at her.

“I’ll behave,” Fiona growled after a moment.

Kira let her go and stepped away quickly. The Marine pulled her vest back into position and stretched her neck before rubbing it. She glared at Kira a moment, then turned and met Jeremy’s eyes. “He’s coming with us,” she stated.

“You’re a feisty bitch,” Kira remarked.

“You don’t want to know what kind of bitch I think you are!”

Kira smiled, then took a deep breath. She let it out and nodded. “Yeah, you’re right, I don’t. This place brings out the animal in us all. It’s that or die. You’ve got ten minutes to get him ready to go, otherwise I’ll kill him myself and make sure he stays dead.”

“Thanks,” Jeremy whispered when Fiona knelt next to him.

“Did you kill her?” Fiona asked.

Jeremy blinked back the blurring in his vision. “No! I…we tried to get away. They got her. My gun was broken, I couldn’t save her! I had to get away or we’d both have died.”