The D&B Adventures - An Alien Anthology

Technical Difficulties

It was always a pain understanding Bruce over the radio. "Can you repeat that, Sergeant?"

"I said, the fr—pack's com'ing over the h'ill from the –west q'uadrant!" A tapping sound on the other end, accompanied by an irritated growl. "Are you s'ure this –ing rork's?"

Patricia, lying on the mound next to me, stifled a chuckle. I ground my teeth. "It won't work better if you keep prodding it! Look, just join the rest of us. Those monsters will be here any minute, and we could use your firepower."

That was the fun of traversing the unexplored environs of an alien planet: you got to experience delightful new wildlife every day, a large percentage of which was happy to eat you. Add in the constant supply shortages, technological issues, and now a pack of thunder lizards picking up our scent, and we were having a regular summer camp experience. I rubbed my temples, cursing the day I'd ever stepped off Terran soil. It was a comforting habit of mine.

"I' he—r ya, Sparky. Over –and o'ut."

Now Patricia was outright laughing. I glared at her. "Quit it! This is serious!"

"S-sorry! It's just... Sparky," she gasped, shaking with giggles. I grumbled and turned to check my rifle sight. Just because we aren't a military operation, people think they can goof off.

That wasn't fair, and I knew it; even soldiers need humor to offset the pressures of life-threatening combat situations, not unlike what we were about to face. While Patricia's outfit wasn't military, they'd been doing an admirable job surviving out here even before they'd "invited" me and Bruce into the fold. But even though I'd decided to work with them – for my own survival as much as theirs – it didn't mean I had to act happy about the situation they'd landed me in. I could be back on Earth right now, free from anything and everything extraterrestrial, instead of bracing for an attack from the depths of an alien nightmare jungle.

Rustling sounds from the blue-leaved trees across the clearing jerked me from my thoughts, and my hand shot up. This time, everyone froze, plunging the camp into eerie silence. Even the alien insects had gone quiet. I glanced left and right to double-check our defense squad, and felt an unexpected ripple of pride at the sight of them all focused and ready. Not bad for a bunch of civi eggheads.

And thank heaven, because those crazy lizards were fast.

Purplish-orange gunfire cracked across the field as the horse-sized, black-mottled reptiles burst out of the dense foliage, freakish squeals pouring from their tooth-lined throats. "Left flank! Watch that one going for the tents!" I roared, and men and women tilted their guns to cover it. The hollow boom of one of our precious rocket launchers preceded a crater that filled the air with dirt and the smell of burnt flesh. There were way more than we'd planned for.

Hot rage swept through me as one of my men – My men? – screamed, a lizard tearing a bloody gash in his leg. I turned my barrel and added a few shots to the rain of photon fire and standard bullets that dropped the beast, leaving Evans moaning under its carcass. Flashbacks of blood and graves and six-limbed monsters tore at my focus, and for a moment, I wasn't shooting at lizards – I was on a dark, muddy field, surrounded by the dead and dying, the screams of pain and rocket fire deadening my ears, blood running down my hands as I knelt over the prostrate form of Corporal Stan, firing blast after blast at the towering beast pounding towards us. The brightening glow of the alien's weapon pointed towards me, and then Stan was shoving me, pushing his body between mine and the burning blue fire...

I barely heard the scream ripping from my throat as I gunned down two more reptiles. Nobody else is dying on my watch—

"DENNIS!"