Next Up

Track 11

"Palmer!" Melody squealed, running over and hugging his leg.

"Melody! Not the time!" He growled, still looking down the sight at Yahd.

Yahd didn't know what to do. 'Wait, huh? What is happening? He's from the compound, right?'

"It's okay!" Melody grinned, "They like you!"

"Like me?" Palmer asked, a whirlwind of confusion wracking his mind. He pulled his eyes away from Yahd, looking down at Melody, seeing her big smile.

"She says she was rescuing me. All these other people are going to take us away from here!"

"It's true," Zoe said, walking forward, keeping her hands in the air. "We are not here to hurt either of you."

"Our job was to rescue her," Kalimba spoke up.

The mercenary rubbed his wrists, looking down at where the bindings had been; deep red marks covered his forearms. He didn't know what he saw back before he had escaped from the helicopter; he wasn't sure he could put it into words even if he wanted to. "One second it was barren, the next it was like a jungle oasis..."

He sat behind a dead tree, leaning against it, his coat covering him like a blanket. Not sure where else to go, he had followed some car tracks, hoping it would bring him to a nearby village. He took out a small flask and shook it; a small splash could be heard from inside. 'That won't last me till morning,' he thought.

He spun around, alerted by the crunching of sand behind him. Rising to his feet, he retrieved the pilfered gun from his pocket, squinting to discern a black figure against the backdrop of the moonlit and star-studded sky.

"Hello?" he called out. "Are you an animal?" Startled, he fired into the darkness. In that fleeting moment, a large red creature with bloodshot yellow eyes came into view, towering yet hunched, bipedal, with muscular ripples traversing its bipedal form.

He aimed precisely where he had glimpsed the beast, firing several rounds, yet none found their mark.

In a swift motion, the creature ripped the mercenary's head off, consuming it along with the rest of his body. His fingers crunched like pop rocks in its mouth as it chewed and swallowed.

The beast stopped; it stood tall, fixing its hunched-over posture.

It gazed down, reaching for the blood-stained pistol, scrutinizing the small object in its oversized hand.

Slowly, it wrapped its fingers around the pistol's handle, encircling the trigger and squeezing it. Startling itself, a resounding bang echoed through the desert as the creature discharged the weapon.

"This ground seems pretty fertile, considering the forest over there. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a town close," Zoe said.

"You know," Palmer said, her words sparking a memory from many months prior. "I think she's right. Maybe like ten to twenty miles away, there's a town. More houses than people, but it is habitable. Running water, and gas."

"No," Kalimba shook his head. "I'd rather we just power through and go back to the ship."

"Wait," Asher said, looking at the map. "We went pretty out of the way, and between us and the ship is the colony. We can call Damon and tell him what's happened and see what he wants to do from there."

Palmer looked over his shoulder, pointing to a dark spot on the map, "And between us and 'Outback,' is the town I was just talking about."

Kalimba sighed, "Okay, fine."