EvrinKai
It's ya boi
[ An old WIP I had in my files - please tell me what you think about it! Action isn't my forte, critique is greatly appreciated.]
Sand and rocks as far as the eye could see.
Coarse, gritty sand blanketed the ground, vast and unending over the horizon. Pillars and piles of dark rock were the only breaks in the monotonous landscape, rising high into the thick slate clouds. A lonely, bleak, hopeless-
WARNING : OXYGEN AT 25%
That depressing train of thought was interrupted.
The lone pilot, donned in dented and blackened gear, helmet cracked in a jagged line down the side, cursed for the thousandth time in an hour.
“System Mute, damn it.”
The annoying blip of the warning ceased, and shrunk to a small number to the right of his visor, pixels jittering by the damage it had received. Tapping it in a vain attempt to clear it up, he swore yet again.
He had landed- correction, crash landed here only a few hours ago. His stupid, incompetent ship lay in pieces right behind him. Damn thing got caught in a debris cloud and managed to hit every rock, diving into the atmosphere as he screamed like a little bitch the whole way down (and landing it with excellent precision, of course, he wasn't a pilot for nothing.) It had crashed badly, regardless, torn in half by the brute force. The front half (where he was cowering in) took the least damage, while the rest had been shredded to bits. Nothing too important inside, besides the engine and some containers he was supposed to deliver (who orders ten boxes of bubble wrap?)
He salvaged what little he could- the broken helmet, his emergency kit, and his precious Adel, the thirty round clip auto rifle that was strapped to his back. It had, miraculously, survived the crash with nothing but a little chip off its orange paint, although he had lost a few ammo packs. Unstrapping it now, holding it like a baby in his hands, he sighed. This rifle had saved him plenty of times, from fending off space pirates to a particularly determined duck.
But on this empty, godforsaken planet, he doubted it would be of any use-
Toppling rocks.
He threw himself out of the way as boulders struck the ground where he had been before in a deafening explosion, sand thrown up in billowing clouds of grit. Rolling sharply, rifle still clutched in his hands, he jerked upwards towards the top of the structure, looking through the scope, heart pounding in his chest.
A blur of movement vanished behind it, claws scraping against slag faintly reaching his ears. Too fast to track. Damn it, what the hell was that thing? He repositioned himself quickly, scrambling for cover and diving behind a boulder, propping the rifle upon it, fingers gripping the handle so tightly they trembled. The noise was still there, screeching like nails on a chalkboard-his knees felt weak.
And when the source revealed itself, he nearly screamed.
It was not a big creature. What he could make out, it was about the size of a panther, skin smooth like river stones that wrapped over its bony, disfigured frame. Six scrabbling legs dug into the side of the structure, some large, some pathetically small, but all were donned with ragged claws. Its two gaping jaws drooled sulfuric yellow saliva, a foul smoke curling around the lips. And only one, milky white eye stared him down. It reared its head, a blood-curdling screech echoing across the land as it threw itself down upon him, claiming its prey.
Without thinking, he threw himself onto his back, snapping the rifle up sharply and squeezing the trigger. Bullets scorched through the air, tearing through the creatures forelegs and shoulder with a spray of disgustingly yellow blood. It didn’t stop, god why didn’t it stop-
He cried out in pain as it crashed on top of him, the cracking of bones audible as it gripped his left arm like a vice. The smoke that billowed from its jaws clouded his vision, throwing him in a miasma of darkness. Gripping the rifle in his right, he swung it with all his strength, connecting with the side of the creature’s face with a sickening thud.
It was not undeterred-unbearable agony searing through his left as it was crushed even more. It attempted to clamp its jaws down over his head-glancing off from the thick glass. Cracks deepened on the already-damaged visor with every attempt. He was going to die, here, torn to pieces by this horrible, awful thing.
A hoarse cry erupted from his lips, a scream of desperation. He kicked, struggled. Beat the rifle over its head in a panicked frenzy. Once, twice, three times. Every time he swung, the teeth bit down harder. He could see the horrible cracks, deepening, spreading, it wouldn’t last long.
The monster pulled back for another strike, and he was flung into darkness.
.
.
.
.
WARNING! : OXYGEN AT 10%
An annoying blip, a familiar flash of red light across his eyelids.
He was...he was alive. How?
The monster still pinned him to the ground, agonizingly heavy. For a second, he thought it had simply paused, but it was-
Dead. Its head was smashed in.
He laughed hysterically, shocked by his own dumb luck. The rifle had done more damage than he thought.
Pushing with a renewed vigor, he crawled out from underneath the damn thing, sprawling out on the sand with his rifle to his chest and staring at the sky.
His arm was a crushed pulp. His visor was severely damaged.
But he was alive.
He laughed again, tears streaming from his eyes, as the blip rang ever louder in his ears.
Sand and rocks as far as the eye could see.
Coarse, gritty sand blanketed the ground, vast and unending over the horizon. Pillars and piles of dark rock were the only breaks in the monotonous landscape, rising high into the thick slate clouds. A lonely, bleak, hopeless-
WARNING : OXYGEN AT 25%
That depressing train of thought was interrupted.
The lone pilot, donned in dented and blackened gear, helmet cracked in a jagged line down the side, cursed for the thousandth time in an hour.
“System Mute, damn it.”
The annoying blip of the warning ceased, and shrunk to a small number to the right of his visor, pixels jittering by the damage it had received. Tapping it in a vain attempt to clear it up, he swore yet again.
He had landed- correction, crash landed here only a few hours ago. His stupid, incompetent ship lay in pieces right behind him. Damn thing got caught in a debris cloud and managed to hit every rock, diving into the atmosphere as he screamed like a little bitch the whole way down (and landing it with excellent precision, of course, he wasn't a pilot for nothing.) It had crashed badly, regardless, torn in half by the brute force. The front half (where he was cowering in) took the least damage, while the rest had been shredded to bits. Nothing too important inside, besides the engine and some containers he was supposed to deliver (who orders ten boxes of bubble wrap?)
He salvaged what little he could- the broken helmet, his emergency kit, and his precious Adel, the thirty round clip auto rifle that was strapped to his back. It had, miraculously, survived the crash with nothing but a little chip off its orange paint, although he had lost a few ammo packs. Unstrapping it now, holding it like a baby in his hands, he sighed. This rifle had saved him plenty of times, from fending off space pirates to a particularly determined duck.
But on this empty, godforsaken planet, he doubted it would be of any use-
Toppling rocks.
He threw himself out of the way as boulders struck the ground where he had been before in a deafening explosion, sand thrown up in billowing clouds of grit. Rolling sharply, rifle still clutched in his hands, he jerked upwards towards the top of the structure, looking through the scope, heart pounding in his chest.
A blur of movement vanished behind it, claws scraping against slag faintly reaching his ears. Too fast to track. Damn it, what the hell was that thing? He repositioned himself quickly, scrambling for cover and diving behind a boulder, propping the rifle upon it, fingers gripping the handle so tightly they trembled. The noise was still there, screeching like nails on a chalkboard-his knees felt weak.
And when the source revealed itself, he nearly screamed.
It was not a big creature. What he could make out, it was about the size of a panther, skin smooth like river stones that wrapped over its bony, disfigured frame. Six scrabbling legs dug into the side of the structure, some large, some pathetically small, but all were donned with ragged claws. Its two gaping jaws drooled sulfuric yellow saliva, a foul smoke curling around the lips. And only one, milky white eye stared him down. It reared its head, a blood-curdling screech echoing across the land as it threw itself down upon him, claiming its prey.
Without thinking, he threw himself onto his back, snapping the rifle up sharply and squeezing the trigger. Bullets scorched through the air, tearing through the creatures forelegs and shoulder with a spray of disgustingly yellow blood. It didn’t stop, god why didn’t it stop-
He cried out in pain as it crashed on top of him, the cracking of bones audible as it gripped his left arm like a vice. The smoke that billowed from its jaws clouded his vision, throwing him in a miasma of darkness. Gripping the rifle in his right, he swung it with all his strength, connecting with the side of the creature’s face with a sickening thud.
It was not undeterred-unbearable agony searing through his left as it was crushed even more. It attempted to clamp its jaws down over his head-glancing off from the thick glass. Cracks deepened on the already-damaged visor with every attempt. He was going to die, here, torn to pieces by this horrible, awful thing.
A hoarse cry erupted from his lips, a scream of desperation. He kicked, struggled. Beat the rifle over its head in a panicked frenzy. Once, twice, three times. Every time he swung, the teeth bit down harder. He could see the horrible cracks, deepening, spreading, it wouldn’t last long.
The monster pulled back for another strike, and he was flung into darkness.
.
.
.
.
WARNING! : OXYGEN AT 10%
An annoying blip, a familiar flash of red light across his eyelids.
He was...he was alive. How?
The monster still pinned him to the ground, agonizingly heavy. For a second, he thought it had simply paused, but it was-
Dead. Its head was smashed in.
He laughed hysterically, shocked by his own dumb luck. The rifle had done more damage than he thought.
Pushing with a renewed vigor, he crawled out from underneath the damn thing, sprawling out on the sand with his rifle to his chest and staring at the sky.
His arm was a crushed pulp. His visor was severely damaged.
But he was alive.
He laughed again, tears streaming from his eyes, as the blip rang ever louder in his ears.