Elsa had taken a special interest in him when he’d been appointed to her platoon. She was the Gunnery Sergeant, it was her job to make sure everybody knew what they were doing. That young and inexperienced, she knew he was going to be trouble. It turned out aside from being naively arrogant, the kid didn’t have a flaw she could find. She searched hard too, or at least that was the excuse she’d used the first time she’d slept with him. She didn’t have the luxury of an excuse the other times, it was just that he was as good in the sack as he was at everything else.
She sighed and cleared the wistful smile from her face. Only thoughts of Darren on his back beneath her could distract her from the deadly perils Vitalis had thrown at her. She glanced at her arm to remind herself of the dangers of distraction. She moved on, focusing on the scenery and looking for threats. She considered deploying a solar recharger for her suit, it was down to just under three quarter full chare, but she figured with the missing arm it would use less power. Besides, it put a large collector on her back that could get in her way if she needed sudden mobility. Elsa trudged on, climbing over rocks and vegetation that was growing less awe-inspiring to her by the minute.
She spooked several smaller life forms. Smaller as in not as big as a house, but still often her size or larger. She figured they weren’t meat eaters, they were on four or six legs and seemed more interested in getting away from her than investigating or chewing on her.
Inside of ninety minutes she approached the entrance to the ravine. She studied it carefully from a concealed position between trees before hopping down to walk into it. Bones, both large and small, littered the ground. She began to question the wisdom of her route but figured her options were limited. Besides, she was so close to her unit — her family — that turning back would have made her want to run and jump off the cliff she’d climbed.
Elsa slipped through the rocky canyon floor as quietly as possible, gluing herself the shadows of one rocky wall. Occasional alien vegetation managed to eke on an existence by finding a chink in the rock wall or surviving amongst the dirty puddles and patches of dirt the broke up the rocks. She was glad her visor was down and her air recirculated, the piles of bones promised that she was in a very stinky place. She passed through clouds of large insects, doing her best to avoid them. Strange birds, some looking more like lizards with wings, hopped from rock to rock or rib cage to rib cage.
The ravine widened and the skeletons were mostly left behind. Scattered bones still dotted the trampled earth. A glance to her right helped explain why. A large creature lay on its side, parts of it torn away to leave exposed meat and other less than savory looking parts. Insects and birds flocked above it, trying to get their piece of the feast. Strange yodeling cries kept the birds at bay, as well as the occasional snap of jaws that came too close.
Elsa stared in horror at the five creatures that gorged themselves on the beast. They were babies, she realized, but they were each nearly as large as she was. Two legged and featherless, they were nevertheless predators like the ones she’d seen stalking the herd of grass grazers on the plain. And where there were babies, she knew there had to be a momma.
Chapter 11
Elsa turned quickly, expecting to stare into the open fanged maw of her imminent demise. Nothing awaited her. She glanced back at the macabre feeding, noting the range at one hundred forty feet. There was room enough for her to pass them by and continue down the pass, but for all she knew this pass was a breeding ground. Or perhaps mama was ahead of her, looking for the next meal.
Elsa swallowed down the fear in her throat, noting that it tasted a little like bile. So close, she was so damn close! One hundred forty feet, but if she tried to sneak past them it would narrow to less than sixty. They’d be sure to see her and come after her. Even if they weren’t hungry she’d make a great plaything. Then again, judging from the way they were eating she suspected hunger was a constant for them.
Maybe they’d fall asleep after gorging themselves? That’s what a Marine does when they’re safe and able to enjoy a good meal. What more dangerous predator was there than a Marine? Elsa frowned, suspecting she might have just found the answer to that question.
This was it then. All or nothing, just like everything else had been on this miserable planet. “Eat this,” she muttered, aiming down her rifle and triggering the first shot.
It took three shots to drop the first of the four babies. Using the primary fire mode the X109 recycled almost as quickly as she could pull the trigger. In that second of time the first baby carnivore had time to screech in agony. Its brothers spotted her instantly, two of them running around their dinner while the third hopped up on it to come straight at her.
It was on her fifth shot that the gun let loose a burst of flame from the energy pack. Acrid smoke smelling of burnt electronics curled out of it. Elsa let if fall to the ground and pulled her last grenade. She thumbed the grenade to the proximity burst mode as she was throwing it. The wounded baby Marine-eating monster was limping towards her, screeching with its high pitched voice. It was overtaken and passed a moment later by the one that had climbed over the dead animal.
The third thundered towards her, toothy beak opened wide and dripping blood from its prior feast. The grenade went off, sending a pulse of low frequency sound across the narrow ravine. Elsa and the baby dino closest to her were outside the effective range, though her suit still registered the shockwave. The other two mini-dinosaurs were sent tumbling from the concussive effects of the blast.
Elsa spun away from the charging creature, drawing her combat knife as she did so. One of its arms clipped her shoulder, sending her stumbling away as she spun. By the time she recovered it had stopped and turned to face her again. It was on her almost before she could plant her feet.
Elsa’s knife dug into it, glancing off a rib before it slid between them and into the tissues beneath. She ducked her head aside to avoid the snapping beak then was knocked to the ground by its powerful haunch. Through it all Elsa retained her grip on her knife, twisting it as it tore free.
She tasted blood from where she’d bitten her cheek. She rolled onto her knees and lunged forward, the powered armor driving her legs with greater force. She hit the beast in the side, wrapping her unarmored arm around its thick neck to hold on. It staggered from the impact, then tried to twist and throw her when her knife stabbed into its neck.
Elsa held on, not realizing until it was too late that it was throwing itself onto the ground. She squeaked, unable to generate any more air from her lungs, when it landed half on top of her. The impact also drove the knife in deep enough to cause a burst of scalding blood to spray onto Elsa’s arm. The beast convulsed on top of her, pounding her deeper into the ground before it went limp and lay still.
Elsa pulled herself out, pushing and rolling the dead creature off of her. She started to stand up in time to see the unwounded monster shriek at her from less than an arms width away. She raised her armored arm in time to intercept that snapping beak, but the force of the snapping maw caused fresh alarms to go off in her helmet. She didn’t need the alarms to feel and hear the form fitting armored plates breaking under the force and driving jagged edges into her flesh.
She barked out the command to release a burst of energy into the damaged armor before all the circuits were broken. Her command turned into a grunt that ended as quickly as it had begun. The electricity locked her jaw and stiffened her muscles from the brief but powerful jolt.
The baby dinosaur let her go, stumbling back and snapping its beak as it tried to spit out the painful burn. Elsa’s arm was broken, she could feel it even without looking to see the unnatural bend in her forearm. She grabbed up her knife in her other arm and staggered to her feet. She tasted fresh blood, this time from where she’d nipped her tongue.