Jason Halstead - Parasites

Two pulse laser turrets whirred to life. Both rotated to bring their cannons on line with the approaching creature, but the one closer to the east facing gate shuddered and ground to a halt with a metal on metal screech. Smoke rose up from the motor housing, giving probably cause to the failure.

The third and fourth turrets had no line of site, being on the southern and western walls. Jeremy watched as Marines were running to the barricades and falling into position, their rifles at the ready. Some still held their laser rifles but the heavy gunners in the fire teams had either plasma rifles or, in the case of Sergeant Whiskers, the Marine squad leader, a modified slug thrower.

Ever since they’d learned how resistant the native creatures were to the focused energy weapons many Marines had been trying to come up with alternatives. Grenades were popular, but finite. Ballistic weapons were the next best thing but they were in limited supply.

The lone unit opened up, letting loose a powerful hum that raised the hair on Jeremy’s arms as the capacitors charged and released at roughly one second intervals. The creature let loose a roar Jeremy suspected he’d be hearing in his right before he woke up in a cold sweat for the next several weeks. What amazed him was that it kept coming at them.

Pulse lasers possessed enough focused energy to burn a hole through a quarter inch steel plate with a single pulse. The creature was smoking from where the invisible beams struck it, but still it kept on. A preliminary study conducted by Dr. Rice — Synnamon — had shown the hair follicles of the beats they had encountered and some other smaller creatures that had been acquired for study were partially crystalline. The crystallization process was theorized to break up the energy weapons destructive power much like a military grade diffusion shielding, only the organic version seemed to work better.

“I thought the ultrasonics would keep these things away?” Synnamon cried as it closed to less than fifty yards of the turret.

“I think it just pissed this one off,” He replied. He backed away as it thundered on, fresh smoke coming as new pulses struck against it. “We need to go!”

Synnamon hesitated. They stared as the cross between a tyrannosaurus and a few other creatures he couldn’t place smashed one massive front limb into the turret and tore it off the raised dais it was on. The head lunged forward, powerful jaws crushing down on it and squashing the Marine trapped inside before he even knew what had happened. Or so Jeremy hoped, he didn’t want to imagine what it would be like to feel the teeth of a beast like that eating him alive.

The remains of the turret flew through the air, rolling and hopping along the ground past the gate. The creature swung its head, cold avian eyes sweeping across the compound and the people within it. Jeremy felt Synnamon grab his arm but he couldn’t bring himself to look away from the monster.

“Godzilla,” Jeremy muttered, remembering the latest in a string of monster vid remakes that had originated on Earth.

“What?” Synnamon asked.

“Light it up Marines!” Sergeant Whiskers shouted, then led the charge by aiming down the barrel of the collector’s item he called a weapon. It was a Century Arms magnetic accelerator rifle. Jeremy had no idea what the specs were on it, but he’d heard Fiona talk about it once and she’d sounded like she admired it.

Godzilla, as Jeremy had dubbed it, roared again. Fresh tufts of fur or feathers or whatever it possessed burst free or burned up in puffs of smoke. Grenades rolled in or bounced off of it, detonating with either subsonic concussive effect or the intense kinetic energy of a incendiary blast. It smashed one of the pillars aside with an arm, then kicked in the physical layer of the wall that rose to a height of four feet.

“Run!” Jeremy said in a whisper. He felt almost afraid that speaking loudly would draw the monsters attention, ludicrous as it sounded. The explosions and sounds of men fighting and, occasionally, dying, was far louder than anything he could have done. He turned and grabbed Synnamon’s hand, then pulled her after him as he ran.

“Where are we going?” She yelled loud enough for him to hear her.

“Anywhere!” He said. “I don’t know, just not here!” Ahead of them others had the same idea, all of them civilians. Only Dr. Bronislav stood still as he watched the butchery unfold.

“There’s nothing that way but the ocean!” Dr. Rice said, yanking her arm out of his hand. “We can’t go that way, we’ll be trapped!”

He stopped beside her and looked back. For a moment his heart leapt into his throat. The creature had taken a step to the side and fallen. It rose up a moment later screaming in outrage. It wasn’t defeated, it had only tripped over one of the powered carts they used for excursions outside the outpost. Now the cart was crushed beyond repair and the goliath was limping, but that only seemed to make it more furious.

“Supplies!” Jeremy said, then he yanked Synnamon after him as he ran to the main building of the outpost. Behind them the beast roared again, adding an extra spring to their step.

“I don’t think we’ve got time!”

Jeremy glanced again and saw that it was moving again — and heading right towards them and the building he’d wanted to enter.

He hesitated a moment longer, cursing as the creature bore down on them. Synnamon yanked her wrist free of his hand then grabbed on to his arm and pulled at him. “Now! Come on!”

He let her pull him away.

Jeremy felt the lump in his throat as they ran. The very ground thundered under the feet as the creature bore down on them. He couldn’t make himself look back, once he’d given in to running he was positive that the beast was bearing down on him and death was only seconds away.

The seconds stretched out and turned into minutes. Distantly he heard a crashing noise. Synnamon slowed but he pulled her with him, continuing to run. It wasn’t until they’d crossed the chest high grasses of the plain to where the grasses turned to shrubs and trees. Beyond the trees hills rose and turned into a ridge of small mountains. On the other side of those mountains the scans had shown signs of the wreckage of the other human ship or ships. To Jeremy’s knowledge, no easy path had yet been found through the mountains.

“Jeremy, stop!” Synnamon finally pulled her arm free and stumbled as she slowed. Her foot caught on something and she fell, grunting as she did so.

He took several paces until her realized what had happened. Turning nervously, he saw the Vitallian dinosaur was still in the base, wreaking havoc as it smashed buildings and hunted down the remaining humans. He wondered, briefly, if Fiona had made it out. Movement ahead of him returned him to the present. Synnamon was sputtering and trying to get back to her feet.

Jeremy rushed back to her and knelt down to help her up. She looked up at him, her lips curling into a surprised smile. She stood, favoring one leg, then turned to look behind them. Her gasp took away anything he could think to say. It was just as well, an echoing roar from the monster washed over them. He wanted to run again, but he held still while Synnamon clung to him.

She buried her face against his shoulder and let her body quake as a single sob turned into several. Awkwardly, Jeremy put his arms around her, but that only made it worse. She let go, soaking his shirt with her tears. She dragged him down as her legs gave out. They sat on the ground for several precious minutes.

“Picked a hell of a time to get romantic!”

Jeremy jerked himself away from Dr. Rice, rolling to his feet as he did so. Lance Corporal Kate stood there, dried blood on her bare arm. There was no mistaking who she was or that she was a Marine from her stance or the rifle held in her hands, even though she was out of uniform. She wore a skintight pair of shorts that were torn in several places. A loose halter top kept her decent only thanks to the straps that crisscrossed her torso. Straps that held weapons or spare equipment.