Savage World

by Jennifer Slusher

  “You never said she was hot,” he nudged Tom as he glanced at the woman in the nearby distance. She was gorgeous. He didn't blame Tom for the lie but he sure as hell wasn't going to let his friend live it down. It was too much fun.

  “I might have left a few things out,” Tom was not at all repentant.

  “You mean flat out lied, you Aussie bastard,” Derick accused good-naturedly.

  Laughter caught his attention, bringing Derick's gaze to where Orphan Annie and Mayday had their heads together. They were staring at the herd, taking pictures like frigging tourists, and who could blame them? It was the first extra-terrestrial species they'd ever seen on this world. Not little grey men but alien cows. It was worth commemorating.

  “Just make sure your brother keeps his hands off Orphan Annie,” Tom served back, aware of the younger Rickman's reputation with women. Of course, it was just possible this particular Rickman didn't know the girl preferred him.

  Derick's eyes narrowed, and a muscle ticked in his jaw and he looked away from Ren and Maya.

  “She's not his type,” he shrugged, going for nonchalant and hoping he passed muster. Why did everyone give him crap about Ren? He wished he could tell them to stop, that what they found oh so funny wasn't helping his predicament, but then that would mean discussing said situation.

  He simply couldn't entertain such thoughts or the dreams that he fought hard not to have. She was his subordinate, a Corporal to his Gunnery Sergeant and anything outside of a familiar friendship was against the rules. Not for the first time, Derick cursed the urge to follow the rules and regs bred into him from the day he was born. His desires were completely unprofessional. Sometimes, they were downright disrespectful.

  “So, the Captain says there's a storm coming?”

  “Yeah,” Tom nodded and glanced at his watch, an old-fashioned thing you had to wind up. It had been his father's and one of the few things from the old bastard he bothered to keep. “It should hit in about forty minutes. Give the squints another twenty and we'll start to round them up and get them inside the hopper. Jules reckons we can sit it out for an hour and then resume the surveying again.”

  “Good,” Derick made no comment on Tom's familiarity with the Fleeter. He took another deep breath, as he had been doing since they landed and frowned, head coming up to scan the horizon. “I smell ozone…”

  “Captain Curran?” Dr. Hall's voice interrupted him on the all-call channel. “We're detecting heavy ionisation in the atmosphere, higher than the norm.”

  Jules touched her headset and looked up from her conversation with Hanae. She turned to the darkening horizon, body language returning to all business.

  “How heavy?” she asked, turning back to head towards Tom. Hiccups in communications and atmospheric changes were two very different readings.

  “Heavy enough to suggest you calibrate the frequencies if you have difficulty reaching the fleet. It might become worse with this storm. I believe it is a naturally occurring element of the planetary ozone.”

  Jules reached Tom, both frowning at the same time.

  “Bugger,” Tom cursed. “We're going to have to get the engineers to reinforce all our communications equipment with some kind of shielding if we want clear transmissions.”

  “It's something we'll have to think about when we begin colonisation,” Jules said with a sigh, glancing back towards the darkening sky. “Any idea if it's tied to those rain clouds heading our way?”

  There was a pause before Olivia's response came through. “Possibly. We'll need a few minutes when it hits to get more specific scans. I'd like to interface the atmospheric readings from my slate with your sensor array for more accurate data.”

  “I don't know whether I like the idea of our communications being disrupted during the storm, Captain,” Tom said to Jules, switching to a more formal tone now that others were around them.

  “We may not have a choice.” Jules could appreciate his concern, especially since it mirrored her own. A breeze gusted up off the river, stirring the grasses around their feet. “If worse comes to worst, we can take off, get out of the storm and into the atmo to send a signal that way.

  That sat better with Tom because the storms like everything else on the planet were a mystery. While the squints might claim it was comparable with what was found in Sol, the truth was they just didn't know where those similarities ended.

  Assuming nothing would go wrong was just tempting fate.

  * * *

  “Holy shit, those are some big flowers.”

  Tonie lifted her digital recorder to her eye and moved closer to the plant that stood almost waist high and six feet in diameter. The stamen was a bright maroon bud surrounded by clusters of florets in colours of yellow, amber and green. Standing above it, she felt like she was looking down on a dome of vibrant hues and she leaned forward to take a few shots, still awed she was the first person to ever see these flowers.

  As ordered by the Sarge, she and Colin reached the outside edge of their prescribed 25-yard perimeter. The clearing had thinned out and the remaining space between the thickets of massive trees were taken up by the enormous plants. In the distance, they could see large leaves hanging off thick branches high overhead. They would provide excellent shade from the sun when they began surveying.

  While Tonie's fascination was with the flowers she was currently taking pictures of, Colin was moving through the flower bed towards the trees, trying to get as close as possible without Sarge or Gunny tearing him a new one. The trees seemed even taller than his home state's massive Redwoods. Taller but not as thick, although he knew his fingers would not meet if he hugged the trunk. Not that he would do that, what with the thick, ugly, thorn-covered vines winding up the bark. They looked oily and nasty and instead of pointing outward, many of the hand-length thorns were buried in the wood.

  Glancing over a shoulder to check on his partner, Colin frowned. “Hey, don't get too close,” he warned, “let the squints scan it first.”

  “What's wrong, afraid of some flowers?” She reached down and ran a finger over one of those clustered petals. Warm and leathery, not like a plant at all. Tonie sniffed as she studied the plant. “Do you smell that?” she asked Colin, nose wrinkling as the odour thickened in the air. It didn't smell like a flower at all. Instead, it smelled like curdled milk or something rotting.

  “Jesus that stinks,” Colin grimaced as he backed away from the plant. “Smells like an old slaughterhouse.”

  About to ask him how he knew what a slaughterhouse smelled like, she froze when the bud in the centre of the thing fluttered open. Craning her head to look at it, Tonie jumped back when a thick, slimy appendage shot from the opening and paused in the air, wavering like a stalk of grass in a breeze. At the very end of it, small feelers rolled out of the opening, as if testing the air.

  The surface of the flower shuddered and opened even more. Several seconds went by before Tonie realized she was staring at a gaping mouth, lined with rows of serrated, jagged teeth.

  “Ohshi….” The appendage snapped forward, coiling around her body, arms and all. “COLIN!!!!!!!” she screamed, struggling against the tentacle lifting towards her. “Shoot it!” Fetid air wafted upwards from the opening, making Tonie gag even as she screamed again.

  Without hesitating, Colin opened fire, aiming for the area where the tongue (it was a fucking tongue!) emerged from the main body. The bullets shredded the meat around the mouth, tearing huge, wet gashes into its flesh. A pained, outraged keen filled the air as Tonie was flung to the ground, landing on her side with a crack of bone that was surely her ribs.

  Struggling to her feet, she spotted Colin hurrying towards her just as a second of the 'flowers' seemed to awaken. As its mouth opened, she tried to warn him but lightning quick, the tip of the tongue speared through his neck and out the other side in a burst of blood. For a moment, he looked like he was wearing one of those ridiculous novelty arrows you wore on your head.

  Suddenly, Tonie realize
d Colin wasn't on his feet on his own. That thing was holding him upright. “Oh Jesus…Colin… shit…!” Snatching her link, she thumbed the line open. “Edwards to base! Macon's down!!”

  VIII

  Audreys

  If things can get fucked up, they usually will.

  Another Pod gem, Tom thought as he, Derick and Jules, not to mention the rest of the expedition, heard the terrified message through their headsets. Even as his well-trained ear zeroed in on the source of the gunfire, a massive flock of birds lifted noisily out of the trees to mark the spot. Bolting from the river in a dead run towards it, Tom felt like he'd dropped his guard.

  This world was their salvation, but it could also destroy the remaining dregs of the human race. One minute they were talking about ionisation and link frequencies, oohing and aahing about the skewers like a bunch of fucking tourists and the next, they were racing to reach a Shark under attack by something native.

  Easily clearing downed trees and zigzagging around others in his way, Tom realized Edwards had gone silent, save for the distortions against the mic on her headset and the dying bursts of gunfire. A shaky flashback of watching Lisa burn made Tom put on an extra burst of speed. Derick appeared at the corner of his eye, nearly even with him. Who he didn't see was Jules.

  Slapping his link, dropping off the main channels where Derick was busy barking orders to various Sharks, he hailed the Rutherford's Captain. And damned if it wasn't Lisa again, screaming in eternal death. “Jules? Jules, luv, where are you?”

  Three heartbeats went by before she answered. Her voice nearly made him stumble. “On my way, back to the Firefly!”

  Good, he didn't want her anywhere near what they were heading into.

  * * *

  When Edward's screams ripped through the relatively quiet background, Ren, Maya and Jag were playing escort to a squint team.

  They weren't too far away, Ren figured, since it was only twenty minutes or so since the duo passed her team and the small group of squints they were assigned to babysit. Maya and Colin had swapped some flirtatious barbs with Tonie making gagging sounds before the two headed off. Maybe it wasn't exactly professional but who was Ren to get on her friend's case just because her own crush was someone she couldn't have?

  “Colin!?” Maya called into her headset before Ren could give orders.

  “Mayday!” Ren called to her friend, grabbing the other woman's battle harness as they both glanced towards a renewed burst of gunfire. “Maya, get everyone back to the Firefly! Jager, with me!”

  “What?!” Maya stared at her friend, trying to work the redhead's grip off the webbing of her harness. “Ren, Colin and…”

  “Do it, Mayday!” Giving her a slight shove, Ren hoped her friend would forgive her later. Especially if something terrible had happened to Colin.

  Even though Maya might claim she and Colin were 'just shag mates', Ren knew he meant a lot more to her than that. She wanted to spare her friend the nightmare of finding a loved one dead. Not to mention keeping their only medic and her best friend from losing her shit if the worst was revealed. “Take them back and come on when you're done, Lance Corporal!” Not giving her another chance to argue, Ren took off after Jag towards the fight.

  Conditioned to follow orders, Maya still couldn't help the sting of her friend pulling rank. She watched them disappear into the trees before turning back to the science team. “Leave it!” she snapped at someone trying to throw things into a backpack. “We need to get back, NOW!”

  * * *

  Ren didn't stop running even when the gunfire stopped. If anything, the silence made her run faster. Within moments, she broke into a clearing with Jag right behind her and they both skidded to a halt in horror.

  “Edwards! Macon!” Ren yelled, scanning the ringed clearing as she firmed her grip on her rifle. The entire clearing was filled with massive, leathery looking plants, one of which was shredded into a white, pulpy pile of chunks that looked like something her dog used to hork up. Movement to her right caught her attention. One of the plants was shuddering and twitching. Using hand signals, she motioned Jag to move around to the other side. “Toni! Talk to me!”

  Ren circled to the left, her boot squelching in something smelly and viscous. She looked down and grimaced. “That's nasty…” she groaned, dragging her boot on the grass to clean it off.

  Jag's blistering curses in Hebrew made her look up to find him staring at the ground.

  “What is…?” Ren stared past Jag, where he had dropped to one knee. Behind her friend, one of the plants… who the fuck was she kidding. It was not like ANY plant or animal she'd ever seen. The body of the thing rising behind Jag was shaped like a bulbous onion, covered in glistening scales and set atop black rows of undulating, articulated legs.

  A dark opening appeared in the middle of its leathery 'petals' and the sunlight glinted off something hard and sharp. Lots and lots of very, very sharp pointies. “DOWN!!!” Ren bellowed, giving Jag a split second to obey before she opened fire on the creature about to grab a very kosher snack.

  As if a call to arms was sounded, the remaining 'plants' in the clearing awakened at once, each of them rising up on those ugly legs and opening their nightmarish mouths.

  Watching them in horror, Ren's first thought was not for her safety or that of Jag's but how much these things looked like some mutant version of Audrey the alien plant in Little Shop of Horrors. Audripede Renee Whattheholyfuckidaii.

  “Richards!” Jag threw a hand into the air and Ren followed him, to find Tonie Edward's limp body dangling in the air, impaled on a spear-like tongue extending from the mouth of the creature. There was no sign of Colin and Ren's stomach sank as she imagined what might have happened to him.

  Oh God, Maya. I'm so sorry.

  When the tongue began to retreat, drawing its meal into its open jaws, Ren snapped back into action. Tonie was NOT going to end up as this…this…Audripede's food! No Shark deserved to go that way.

  Pulling the trigger on her blast rifle, she was remotely aware of Jag doing the same, except he was shooting behind her. Something splattered against her cheek and her neck, soaking the collar of her uniform shirt. As the creature behind her collapsed to the ground, Ren swiped the mess off her neck, glancing at it. Thick, milky white fluid covered her gloved hand. As Ren shook her fingers to get it off, the beast holding Tonie screeched in anger, whipping her body about with an ear-splitting screech.

  In retaliation, the remaining Audripedes shuffled towards Ren and Jag with speed that belied their bulk. Out of nowhere, a speared tentacle thunked against the chest plate of her body armour, hard enough to throw Ren to the ground on her back. Another creature shuffled forward, it's 'tongue' rising high in the air over her. She rolled quickly, just in time to avoid impalement by the javelin-like tip. Instead, it buried itself in the dirt beside her.

  Rolling again to her back, Ren swiped her pistol and fired at the beast. Its flesh erupted in more of the nasty white fluid, but it screeched a retreat that allowed her to get back on her feet.

  She stood up with the intent of finding Tonie but suddenly she was overcome with a wave of dizziness. Shaking her head, Ren tried to clear her mind and failed.

  Focus, Richards! Gunny's voice barked in her thoughts, but not even her conditioning to obey him cleared the fog in her head. There were two of everything, just like it was when they went through the Ribbon and the ship had been shaking so hard.

  As soon as the first creature died, Jag found a second target and was firing at it when he realized there wasn't enough noise. “Corporal?!” Turning, he spotted Ren and instantly knew something was wrong. The redhead was wavering on her feet, her gun silent as she swayed and shook her head. “Ren!”

  When she didn't answer, Jag started towards the woman as she staggered back a step. “Richards… CORPORAL!!!” he shouted, when he realized he wasn't going to make it to her side in time.

  Her lack of a scream as a speared tongue pierced her thigh was something Jag was c
ertain he would never forget. “She's hit!!” he yelled into the link, tracking the tentacle to find the monster it belonged to and firing at it. “Major!! Gunny!! Richards is hit!”

  “We're here!” Tom yelled as he skidded into the clearing, Derick right behind him.

  “REN!”

  Tom barely managed to grab Derick's harness as his friend shot by. “Go that way!” he ordered, indicating for the big Gunny to skirt the clearing. “I'll distract it, you grab her. Jag keep the others busy!” He'd never be able to stop the big bloke from going to Richards' aid, so he might as well make it something he could use.

  Waiting until his friend was in place, Tom took aim at what he determined to be the king beast and opened fire on the round, fat body.

  As bullets ripped through it, Ren was whipped to the right and then into the branches of a tree before Tom saw Derick make a grab for her. Once he did, the limb holding her yanked hard, trying to free its prize from the nasty creatures hurting it.

  Grabbing Ren about the waist with one arm, Derick yanked his machete free and slashed at the limb, severing it. As it snaked away, he scooped Ren into his arms and hurried out of the kill zone.

  With the world swimming in a haze of pain and something else, Ren blinked as her eyes finally focused on the face above her.

  “Hey, Der…ick.” Her words were slurred and the smile she gave Derick was weak and tired.

  She'd never used his first name. He'd always been 'Gunny' or 'Sergeant'. He'd never called her 'Ren' to her face, until today. No matter how much they teased, joked around, or took digs at each other, they'd never breached that one protocol. The only protocol Derick suspected they both kept in place to keep them from going to places that would only end in trouble.

  Seeing her this close to death destroyed that last barrier. Derick pulled her against him and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Shh, baby, I'm here,” he murmured, carefully lowering Ren to the ground to assess her injuries. Swiping gently at the blood swelling from a cut on her cheek, Derick was horrified when he spied the large, bloody hole in her thigh. Clamping a big hand over it, he reached for the link with his free hand. “Mayday, I need you on site!” he ordered sharply.