INTERSTELLAR NIGHTMARES - DISTANT TERROR

Chapter 5

   After turning the glyphids into charcoal, me and Kurt ran to Fredrick and Morris. Morris was panting heavily as he looked at his leg. His leg was bleeding a lot more than expected! Fredrick had put a tourniquet around the upper calf, above all the holes, and the holes were plugged with gauze.

   "That'll do it... for now," Fredrick sighed, "Thank R&D and Management... that's why we got these down here, I took one from the Rig." Morris looked up while still panting, pursed his lips, and nodded a couple times. "Okay," he said weakly from fear.

   "I'll carry him," Kurt stated, "I'll be holdin' you. Your arm will go over my neck, and I'll get you where we need to be." Morris nodded, then his gaze shot around. "The leg... where's the leg?" he said shakily. "Right here," Fredrick answered, carrying the leg over. "Give it here," Morris held his hands out.

   Fredrick gave the leg to him and Morris weakly shifted, grunting in pain and sucking the air through his teeth as he got onto his knees. He plugged the leg into place, and it simply plopped over with the port. "They need tightening," Morris growled as he looked around at us, "... where's the next one?"

   Fredrick pulled out his Terrain Scanner and took a look. "Farther out, but same direction as the last," he answered, looking back up at Morris from the glowing screen, "it'll be a nice jog." Morris scoffed slightly with a small chuckle following. "Fuck you," he chucked, causing Fredrick to chuckle as well. "Get better soon, nerd," he nodded, "Don't need you bleeding out in a place like this."

   Kurt walked over and offered a hand to Morris, saying "Let's get up. We got work to do." Morris took his hand, and was quickly lifted. His arm was placed across Kurt's shoulders and held on the other side.

   "Alright... Freddy, lead the way!" Kurt shouted with direction in his throat. "Let's get it done!" Fredrick replied, beginning to walk in the direction of the leg.

   As we went along, I looked around at the surroundings. The moist, warm air caused a slight fog to cover the ground which also seeped into the air a slight bit. It also made the stay down here miserable for all of us.

   Through this fog I saw a purple shimmer in the dark. "Wait, guys," I called and they all stopped. "What is it?" Kurt asked. I tossed out a flare of mine and it lit up a vein of what we came for: croppa! Again! Kurt had a shocked expression for a second before a grin grew on his face. "Go mine that for me," he told me, "As you can see, I've got my hands full."

   I nodded, got out my pickaxe, and walked. Along the way, I took note of my surroundings. An odd fungal structure stood tall next to the croppa vein, along with smaller little mushrooms around it.

   I realized our second mission for today and the desired mushroom looked like the one glowing in the dark. "Hey! Found a Boolo Cap here!" I announced, which seemed to have kickstarted their brains, as Fredrick echoed back "Shit, the Boolos!"

   I continued to dig through the croppa vein before hearing a rumble nearby. I immediately shifted my gaze to where the rumbling came from, not even halfway through the croppa vein. I held my gaze for a second before tossing a flare in the direction of the noise. A circular hole laid open in the ground, which had me confused. What? I though as I tilted my head at the hole.

   Just at that moment, dirt shot up from just at my feet with a scream. I jumped and stumbled back after, having felt something barely puncture my thigh, then swung around and ran a bit before turning back to face what had bit me.

   A smaller glyphid was charging me, having little feelers on its face and abdomen, a more flat body build, and even some fancy digging claws compared to its normal brothers. I yanked up my CRSPR and covered it in napalm, illuminating the area and showing more glyphids were after me.

   Kurt had blew one off the wall with his Bulldog as he held Morris. "Behind you, Moleboy!" he shouted in warning. I wasted no time, recollecting my pickaxe and swinging it as I turned, I nailed a praetorion in the side of the head, causing it to skitter away while blood seeped from its head.

   Another glyphid took that time to nip my arm, scratching my elbow to drawing blood. I swung at the glyphid that bit me, pulverizing its carapace and immediately killing it with a crack. Another boom rang out and with it another glyphid flipped into the air and crashed into the wall.

   I ran towards Kurt to gain distance and to better prepare. "Kimojie's sake!" I shouted as I fumbled to put away my pickaxe. I took up my CRSPR again and looked into the dark. Fredrick ran over and tossed a flare of his own, lighting up the bulge in the cave once more.

   The praetorion and a couple grunts of varying types remained. Fredrick and Kurt opened fire on the few as I waited for them to grow closer to us. One glyphid dies off, then another... then another. A last one dies before the remaining few are within my reach.

   I pull the trigger, and with a mighty push and a bellow of flame, it covers the praetorian and completely engulfs the few grunts. The praetorian continues to push as its allies turn to dust, vomiting poison our general direction. Kurt loops ahead of Morris, taking the poison to his back. I back up while keeping the flame on it. Before it finishes coughing up the rest, it twitches, drops, and quickly turns into a mixture of glowing orange and tinging black before it crumbles to dust.

   "Ugh... fuck's sake," Kurt groans in pain. I apologized as I ran passed, Kurt returning a look of confusion before he shrugs it off. I ran back to the croppa vein and extracted the rest from it. "There we are!" I said to myself in accomplishment.

   I turned and ran back, thinking how... our M.U.L.E. has been rather... absent? I looked around for it before running straight into them. With a grunt, I fell to my back. Kurt erupted into laughter. "Not the only 'ne, huh!?" He roared in his fit of laughter. I sat up and wiped the sweat from my forehead. "Nope, not the only one!" I replied with a bit of a laugh myself. Guess she's not used to moving this much, I thought.

   I got up as the M.U.L.E. sat down, I deposited my minerals and the mushroom, and we got back to walking towards the leg in the very near distance. We continued before coming to the end of the bulge. The leg pinged slowly as we approached.

   "I got it," I announced as I dug into the dirt, pulled the leg out and flung it over my shoulder. "Alright!" Kurt groaned, "All the way back!" We then turned around and made our way back to the Mini-M.U.L.E..

   As we walked, I kept my eyes peeled for more Boolo caps. I looked up after some time of walking and realized one was above us this entire time!... on a cliff. "Aye, Freddy," I huffed as I looked back at him. He was wiping sweat from his forehead. "Yeah?" he asked. "Up there, Boolo Cap," I said as I pointed up at it, "mind grabbing it for me?"

   "Not at all!" he confirmed, yanking our and aiming his grapple gun just above the ledge. In a split second, he was launched up and over the ledge, causing the other two to look back. "What're you d--- oh," Kurt shouted before cutting himself short. "Getting this, doofus!" Fredrick laughed as he tugged it out of the ground. He soon grappled back down after storing it and continued the walk with us.

   We then trudged across the slime-dirt path and made it to the Mini-M.U.L.E. I plugged the leg in and Kurt let Morris down. Morris plugged the leg in, and it again flopped over onto its side. "One more," Morris sighed, "One more god damn leg and we're done with this one."

.

.