Planet 49

Part 2

"Y-yeah, we should probably run.." Said Luke, who was trying to stay calm without much success. Jordan, stunned, quickly nodded "Way ahead of you!" She shouldered her backpack and took off in the other direction. The others were right next to her. The beast behind them was ,unfortunately, close in pursuit.

They tore trough the trees, which wasn't easy. There were a lot of trees, and they were close together. Jordan kept tripping on roots and fallen debris. Branches seemed to show up out of nowhere and claw and her arms and face. But she didn't stop. She couldn't stop. Either fear, the new oxygen, or the fact that she couldn't think kept her going.

They all scrambled over dead logs and under giant roots that created huge arches over the ground. As much as she wanted to, Jordan couldn't stop to examine and admire all the new amazing species of things she was sprinting past. She silently thanked Lectus though. Putting her in all those classes really built up some muscle. Jordan checked behind her. Sure enough all four people( and one very hungry creature) were all still there. Charlie was running next to her. He had a slight smile on his face, like this was a fun adventure or he was racing his friends down the corridors. Maybe he is crazy. Jordan thought as she reached behind her to unzip her backpack an pull out the rope.

"I have an idea!" She shouted to Charlie over the creature's immense roaring.

"Great!" He shouted back. "Well, it's probably not great!" She panted, "But it just might work, assuming this thing is really stupid!" She tossed him one end of the rope. As he caught it, he seemed to understand just what Jordan's plan was. He nodded then turned to the rest of them, he made it look easy considering they were sprinting through a jungle being chased by a deranged monster.

"Get in front of us!" He yelled and motioned for them to speed up. With a pained and angry look, Luke sprinted to the front with Alex and Penny in tow. He then nodded to Charlie and kept running forward. Jordan gripped the rope. " Ready?" She shouted.

"Yeah, lets do this!" Charlie shouted back. They sped up.

"One!...Two!...THREE!" Jordan yelled. The each turned sharply in opposite directions and pulled the rope tight. Jordan focused all her strength on wrapping her end of the rope around a small tree. She could only hope that Charlie was doing the same.

The creature chasing them may have been huge, but it's brain certainly was not. It thundered toward the rope, but didn't pass it. With a crash, it's feet tangled in the rope and it fell to the ground. It was heavy. The rope was jerked so hard from Jordan she felt like her arms had been ripped off.

She watched as Charlie ran to the monster and began looping the rope around its long scaly legs. All six of them. Jordan began helping him. They tied knots, knots, and more knots until she was sure the thing wasn't going to get up.

The other three joined them again. Everyone was beaten up and tired. Their faces were cut and bruised. Jordan's throat felt like she had swallowed fire from all her heavy breathing. "What is it?" Panted Charlie. " I don't know, looks kinda like the biology teachers pet lizard. But bigger. And uglier" breathed Penny. Alex laughed. Or tried to laugh. Everybody could hardly breath after that wondrous stroll through the woods. "We can't leave it here." Said Luke. "It could wake up, break out, and next time we wont be so lucky."

" Yeah," agreed Charlie. The girls nodded. Alex reached into her bag and produced the same knife Jordan also had. "Here" she handed it to Charlie, who quickly gave it to Luke. " You do it man," he shook his head, " I can't." Luke looked at him. " And you call yourself a man?" He laughed. There was a glint in his eyes that made Jordan uneasy. Luke walked to the other side of the animal. Is he really going to do it? Jordan wondered. And not feel even the slightest bit remorseful?

They couldn't see Luke, but they could hear him. There was a grunt, then a ripping sound, then a rushing noise like water being dumped from a bucket. A pause. "It's done!" Luke yelled. They all cautiously walked around the creature, careful not to touch it. Sure enough, Luke had killed it, slit it massive throat. His hands and legs were covered in a blue substance. The same stuff covered the ground. It also happened to be dripping out of the beast's neck.

Jordan listened for possible signs that it was still alive. It wasn't. At least it didn't suffer. She thought. " Is that blood?" Said Charlie, wiping some of the blue gunk off of Luke's arm. " Dude, nasty" he wrinkled his nose and wiped his hand on his pants. Jordan noticed that the hair he had in a ponytail had fallen out. Surprisingly, he looked good with hair down to the top of his shoulders. Why is he so handsome. Thought Jordan. No, he is not the focus. She told herself. It is to find Lectus and bring him back to the main ships, can't get distracted. "So.. we should find a place to make camp." she said, interrupting the guys who were trying to smear blue blood on each other.

"Yeah," piped in Alex, " Fire, water, shelter, remember?" Then Penny slowly said " I think we should just focus on getting off this planet."