INTERSTELLAR NIGHTMARES - DISTANT TERROR

Chapter 20

Panic struck my heart. A swarm of praetorians? What are we gonna do to defend against all of them? My mind raced with thoughts before being ripped back to reality by the strong voice of Kurt.

"What the fuck does he mean by that?" he questioned. Despite my panic, Kurt seemed resolved, at least from the outside. "Whatever, we'll have Morris get his gun up, Fredrick deposit, and we'll make a mad dash to the pod," Kurt planned.

The plan seemed dangerous, but the bugs were slower than us. The only issue would be our own speed. Kurt would be fine, despite the heavy gear and weapons. Morris seemed like he'd be okay too. The issue was Fredrick, as he was compromised, bringing down the speed of all of us. It's a gamble we have to make, I rationalized.

"Gentlemen!" I shouted into the darkness, "Hurry it up! We're gonna make a break for it!" Kurt was taken aback at how quickly I'd instated the claim he'd not been fully sure on. "Sorry," I apologized. "Nah," he responded with a twisted grin, "it'll be more fun."

"Praetorians are here! Prepare for a fight!" Mission Control barked. "Damnit, come on..." Kurt mumbled. Fredrick shot down from the vantage point to the M.U.L.E., dumped in the minerals and fossils, and held the button down. "Good work team. Drop pod's coming in. Good luck to you, hope to see you make it out..." Mission Control worried.

Morris began to build his sentry as the rumbling surrounded us, and massive bugs plowed through the walls. "We got company!" Fredrick shouted, holding his stomach. A distant horn called to us and as soon as the M.U.L.E. popped up, we began to run for it.

A stray jet of acidic vomit splattered Morris and Kurt just before we got moving. Kurt grunted and Morris panicked, running ahead regardless and catching the attention of some of the praetorians. Seeing no clear path out, I decided to make one with fire.

I pulled up my CRSPR and aimed for the group chasing Morris. With the pull of the trigger, the familiar furious hum of the weapon pushed against my hands as it doused the bugs in sticky fire. This turned their attention to me and they went to charge, but the continuous heat of my flamethrower crumbled them to ash.

"Kurt! This way!" Fredrick shouted as he ran past the fire the best he could. I swept the flame across in the air to startle some, but to no avail. I then adjusted my aim and swept my arms back and forth to spread the flames as much as possible. It was starting to get hard to breathe...

"Come on, son!" Kurt boomed as he ran past me, "We got a pod to catch!" I turned back after stopping the fire. He started to run into the dark, and behind him I followed, coughing from the smoke, gas, and lessened oxygen from the flames.

As we ran, more came from the walls to meet us. A panicked yell and gunfire echoed nearby as we were blocked from ahead by a group of praetorians. "You melt them! I'll keep the ones behind us back!" Kurt yelled. "I gotcha, I gotcha!" I shouted back and jogged a bit forward.

The large bugs ran towards me, but they were swarmed by fire. Despite the heat, they still kept coming. I backed up as they got closer. Oh shit, I thought repeatedly in my mind as the hulking, flaming mass of bug continued pressing towards me.

"Kurt!" I shouted behind me. After the call, the roar stopped and started again, but the red hot line or lead tore into what was left of the praetorian's ahead. "Go, go, go!" he shouted as he began to make a break for it. I joined him, and we broke into the next cavern.

Morris and Fredrick had just gotten done with defending themselves from a horde of their own, and they ran out into the next tunnel. What was left for us was a massive field of green smog. "Cover!" I commanded. I shot fire into the gas cloud for a couple seconds, then it all caught alight with a loud fwoom! "Got it, let's go, let's go!" I shouted back, but I saw that the praetorians were pretty much right on him.

I went in haste back to support him. It was then, as I watched the pattern of his weapon, that I realized that the Leadstorm is devastating only to one target at a time. The time it took to tear it apart was small, but every second counted. The CRSPR on the other hand is better with groups.

With that in mind, I blanketed the approaching force of arachnids, startling Kurt with sudden, intense heat. "Thanks, brother! Let's go, while their ablaze!" he cried before running again. I retained fire for a few seconds before retreating as well. We both slipped into the next tunnel.

I tossed a flare, lighting the area ahead. "We're almost there!" Kurt shouted. As we ran, we were ambushed by a praetorian. In an act of desperation, Kurt grabbed it by the horns. "Run for it, Will! I got it from here! Go!"

I stood there for a moment, but I definitely wasn't leaving him. I realized my drills could also mess up anything in its way, so I picked them from my bag and ran behind the bug. I used the drills to tear into the abdomen, which dropped it surprisingly fast.

"Quick thinking, I like it!" Kurt laughed. We both continued out into the next cavern, a withered force of praetorians behind us. We broke through to the last cavern, the light of the drop pod flooding the cave.

"Come on, fellas!" Morris hollered to us. We came running out, Fredrick and the sentry gun firing and covering our approach. "Molly's gotta get here!" Morris informed, "Damned robot! R&D needs to invest in some better equipment!"

Despite my curiosity on what R&D was, the praetorians were upon us. Kurt began to fire, prompting Mr to turn and see how close they were. I took aim and unleashed the waves of heat onto them as they came closer.

It was a couple minutes of us just firing until we got the message. "Praetorians wiped out! Good work, the drop pod is waiting," Mission Control praised. I wiped the aweat from my forehead again. "We did it, lads!" Morris laughed in joy, "We're alive after all of that!"

The firing eventually ceased completely. The silence seemed to gage welcomed in the M.U.L.E., as it came waddling in after we were told we were halfway through our time by Mission Control. The M.U.L.E. went to the side of the drop pod, was picked up, retrieved, and locked into the pod.

The doors shot open, as if arms of an embrace were opened wide. Morris packed up his sentry and we all ran in, Fredrick pressing the button to close the doors on the way in. The safety of the drop pod was more comforting than usual.

"Alright boys," Kurt called for our attention, "good shit out here today, quickest mission yet. Let's get the fuck out of here. To a nice shower!" We cheered as we buckled up. The slight change in Gs and the noise coming from the outside of the drop pod made it clear we were on our way out.

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