─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Pieces of the spaceship had started raining from the sky in flames, like falling stars. It was eerily beautiful and equally devastating. Archie and Mariah were already outside, staring above them in shock. Eli came out soon after, his face pale. Time seemed to stop for a moment before the heavy realization eventually set in.
The burly German man fell to his knees with an anguished, wounded cry, "Frederick!"
Mariah was embraced by the lean mechanic as she buried her face in his chest and sobbed. A few tears slipped down Eli's cheeks, his lips wobbling as he tried to hold back the full force of his grief while giving comfort to his girlfriend.
At first Charlie was numb, her thoughts a jumbled mess as she watched the debris scattering far across the forest. It was lucky none of it seemed to be headed in their direction, but that was as far as their luck went. It was gone—their home, their only way back to Earth, their mission.
No. Their mission was still not lost. As long as they still had the cargo crafts.
As hard as it was, Charlie tried to push aside her feelings of panic and loss; she had to be a pillar of support for her team. She wiped away her tears and knelt beside Archie, resting a hand on his shoulder as the man wept, beating the ground with his big fists. The chittering tree piranha, Darling, crooned worriedly into his neck, still perched on his back.
"All the shuttles were launched, Frederick could've been on one of them," she reassured him softly. "Until we know for sure that he's dead, we must assume he is alive so we can look for him. We have to look for all of them."
Archie nodded with a sniffle. It took him a moment to compose himself but he managed to do it, standing up and putting on a brave face. They all looked to her, waiting for guidance. She would not stumble under the weight of this responsibility the Captain had entrusted to her. The worst had happened and now it was time to act.
"We have to hurry or else whatever hunts in the night will get to them first," Charlie said, looking towards the cliff side. "It's unlikely the people on that shuttle survived, but if there's a chance someone did, they will need immediate medical attention. That's where we'll go first. Tük'hala?"
The big lizard grunted, all his attention on her.
"Would you help me find the survivors?"
"Yesss," he replied without hesitation. "Must stay close. It is not sssafe."
"What do we do?" Mariah asked tremulously after she was able to stop her uncontrollable sobs.
Charlie looked between them. "Mariah, you set up the medical equipment in the shelter. Eli, you continue working on the replacement part. We might not have a ship to go back to, but we can still use the shuttle for transportation if needed."
The couple nodded, Mariah with tears running down her face and Eli trying his best not to cry.
Archie shuffled his feet. "What about me?"
"Protect them and set up the beacon so that if anyone from our ship is out there and able to walk, they'll know where to go."
"What is a beacon?" the creature rumbled.
"Our beacon is a bright, flashing red light that goes on the top of the dome," she answered, pointing to the top of the temporary structure
The team started moving to accomplish their assigned roles as Charlie began to walk in the direction of the cliff with Tük'hala following closely. The alien suddenly moved in front of her, dropping to his knees.
"Ride on my back," he offered gruffly. "I will reach your people faster."
Charlie nodded, stepping closer and climbing onto his back. Her legs and arms wrapped around him and his big hands grasped under her thighs, hoisting her higher on his back as he stood up. Then he started running.
The sudden jolt forward and the way he quickly avoided obstacles in a blur had her holding onto him tighter, breathing faster against the scales of his neck. Her heart pounded against her ribs and she was sure he could feel it against his hard back.
Despite his size, each step that hit the ground was near silent. She was reminded that he was a predator in this wild, unknown world. He showed no fear even when danger was all around them. There was no reason for the big alien to fear.
In just a few minutes, they arrived at the crash site. Scraps of metal littered the ground at the base of the cliff and Charlie swallowed the lump in her throat as she looked around for anyone—living or dead. She tapped the alien's shoulder, indicating she wanted to be put down and he obliged.
When her feet hit the ground, she wandered around the wreckage. She gasped when she came upon a partially charred and very broken body. From the wisps of curly brown hair and the gentle curves now twisted gruesomely, she recognized her friend, Laura.
She tried not to fall to her knees in anguish. Her tears fell silently and her fists clenched. She felt a warm hand on her back and a soft, guttural clicking. She realized Tük'hala was trying to comfort her and it helped a little.
Sniffling, she turned away from the body and kept looking. She found one more corpse but this one was burnt and broken beyond recognition with some limbs blown off. Then She looked up from the ground and noticed how many branches were broken in the trees. It must have been a bigger piece of the shuttle that crashed through here but she needed to be sure.
Waving over the alien, she walked into the denser woods. Not too far away she saw a medical pod and she hoped the white coffin wasn't holding a corpse inside it. She approached and Tük'hala let out a cautionary growl. This had to be Frederick considering he was the only injured one when they left.
Charlie placed her palm on the surface of the pod and the solid white top shifted into a see through material. She gasped. Luca?
Her eyes traveled down his unconscious form and she was disturbed to find one of his legs was cut off at the start of his calf. This injury happened while he was still on the ship, but how?
She pulled herself out of her shock and turned to the lizard man. She pointed at the white pod. "Would you be able to carry this back to camp?"
Tük'hala was peering into it, an obvious frown on his face when he saw the male. He gave a grunt and then proceeded to lift the pod like it was nothing.
They started walking back to camp, now slowed down by the medical pod since he couldn't safely carry both her and it. Soon enough, Charlie saw the beacon blinking in the distance. Hopefully the survivors saw it, too.
Tük'hala stopped suddenly and she nearly bumped into him. She was about to ask what was wrong but when she looked up at him she knew she should be quiet. There was something nearby.
Then an earsplitting shriek pierced the air and the alien put down the pod and pushed her away right before a big ugly thing smashed into him. It was pale and grey with tiny beady eyes too small for its leathery face and a big grinning mouth full of sharp black teeth. Its spindly arms slashed at Tük'hala but he jumped out of the way just in time.
Then the creature turned its attention to her. Charlie's eyes widened and her heart beat harder as she backed away. The thing seemed to be smelling her and its grin only widened, no doubt scenting her fear.
Before it could lunge at her, Tük'hala roared and grabbed its arm, swinging it around until it collided heavily with a thick tree. He didn't stop there even as the thing was disoriented. He tore into it viciously, mercilessly, as if something had possessed him.
Limbs came flying off its bloodied body, at least she assumed that black goop was blood. She had to look away when its chest was ripped open as it was brutally gutted. She didn't look even as the ripping, snapping, sickening squelching sounds stopped.
It was silent for a moment besides the sound of shuffling feet, then a grunt as she assumed he picked up the medical pod. She felt his hand lightly touch her shoulder.
"Come. Must be fast, others are coming," he warned and she listened, trailing closely behind him, not daring to make a noise.
Not long after, they were back at camp. Mariah gasped when she saw the medical pod in the alien's grasp when they came into the shelter, along with the black goop dripping from his claws.
"Is that Frederick?" she asked hopefully. Archie perked up behind her.
Charlie shook her head as Tük'hala set down the pod. She placed a palm on the top like she had done before and the white faded to clear.
Mariah frowned. "Luca? But... How?"
"We'll have to ask him when he wakes up. It looks like the pod protected him from the crash. No one else made it. We found two bodies and one of them was Laura, I couldn't recognize the other," she explained, trying not to cry at the mention of her deceased friend.
Mariah didn't hold back her tears. Laura had been her friend, too. She was kind to everyone, and a very talented doctor.
Charlie rubbed her eyes under her glasses then turned to the lizard alien. "What was that thing?"
He looked down at her, his amber eyes alight with the same intensity as when he tore open that creature. "They are called Etja. They hunt only in the dark," he answered in a scratchy rumble.
"What? What did you see?" Archie questioned, one hand rubbing Mariah's back as she silently cried.
Charlie shivered. "Something terrifying. It was big and grey and lanky, its eyes were tiny and black and its mouth," she paused, unsettled by the fresh memory. "It was smiling."
Archie hugged Darling to his chest and shuddered. "I hate this place."
Mariah sniffled and wiped her tear damp cheeks. "Maybe you shouldn't go out there again until morning."
The alien clicked in agreement. "There are too many Etja nearby. Char-lie must ssstay here. I will deal with them and bring your people here."
Charlie faced him and crossed her arms. "If I'm staying then so are you. Besides, if anyone else saw you they'd shoot at you unless I was there to tell them you're on our side."
"They cannot shoot if I am not seen," he replied with an impish flash of fangs, looking down at her.
She raised a brow. "So you were thinking to do your little invisibility trick then lift them up one by one like a ghost and bring them here?"
He grunted. "This would work, yes?"
Charlie laughed. "That would terrify them."
"Better to be terrified than dead," the alien huffed.
"You said there were too many Etja nearby. You're not invincible and right now you're our only protection," Mariah said.
Tük'hala took offense. "No Etja can win against me. I am not a weak Chébi'lo."
Everyone looked at him, confused.
"What is a Chaybeelow?" Charlie asked what they all were wondering.
"A young Daki whose fangs have yet to grow in," he answered, then remembered they wouldn't know what that is either. "Daki is what I am."
So Daki were what seemed to be a warrior race who took offense in anything that insinuated weakness. Good to know.
She tried to word it a little differently, "I agree with Mariah. I know you're not weak, but it would make us all more comfortable if you didn't face off against a whole horde of Etja alone. We need you."
A pleased clicking sound emitted from him and it seemed like his chest puffed up a bit. Perhaps being needed was a compliment to him?
"Then I will stay if Char-lie needs me," he said. So that was it.
"It's like we are invisible," Archie muttered to Mariah who hummed in amused agreement.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
What seemed like an hour passed when they suddenly heard screaming outside—followed by a familiar bone chilling shriek. It was close.
Without thinking, Charlie grabbed Archie's ray gun and bolted outside, ignoring the warning growl from the reptilian alien.
She ran into the bioluminescent woods, getting closer to the commotion until she saw a figure in the distance. Charlie slowed to a stop when she saw Stacy leaning against a tree, groaning in pain and holding her bicep. A mixture of black and red seeped through the gaps between her fingers.
"Stacy!" Charlie whispered and the other woman looked up with wide eyes, surprised to see her.
"Charlie? What—" she stopped and screamed when an Etja lunged right for Charlie with its jaws gaping wide.
Tük'hala roared and rammed into it but this one seemed smarter than the one they encountered earlier. As the two fought wildly, Charlie came up to Stacy and had her lean against her side for support.
"Our camp is just over there, come walk with me," she said and the other shivering woman nodded.
Charlie and Stacy managed to get a few paces away before Tük'hala and the Etja tumbled in front of them, growling and clawing and tearing at each other. Charlie's hand covered Stacy's distressed shriek and she guided her around the creatures, moving as fast as they could.
The women made it further away from the chaos but a rustle in the foliage drew their attention. Another Etja came into view, advancing slowly towards them with its grinning maw wide open, dripping black. Stacy sobbed hysterically and Charlie reached for her laser gun.
There was a flash of red and then its face blew off before the body hit the ground heavily, its spindly limbs twitching.
But she hadn't fired.
Turning around, they saw Frederick holding up a smoking gun with the one hand he had left. He threw them a cocky grin when he saw their stunned expressions. "What? You thought you could get rid of me so easily? And my Bruder called me der Dummkopf."
Charlie couldn't hold back the huffed, joyful laugh that escaped her. "Come quickly, your Bruder has been missing you."
Some darkness behind his eyes lifted when he heard his twin was alive and he eagerly walked with them.
"This planet is crazy," he whispered. "First those grey demons and then that big lizard! What's next?"
"Tree piranha bunnies," Charlie mumbled.
"What?"
"Nothing. Um, that big lizard is on our side, by the way. His name is Tük'hala," she informed them quietly as they finally came into view of the dome.
The burly man breathed a sigh of relief. "It is good we have one of those on our side or else we'd all be kaput!"
They came to the first door and quickly entered. The final door was wrenched open by Archie before he stared at his brother wide eyed.
The next second he had pulled him into a tight hug, relieved tears falling down his face.
"I thought you were dead!" Archie cried.
Frederick returned the hug the best he could with one arm. "Oho! Careful, or you might crush the present I've brought for you."
Archie pulled back, curious. "Present? What present?"
Frederick reached into his pocket and pulled something out. He opened his fist, revealing a solid clump of dirt. "Just like I promised!" he said and laughed when his brother smacked him upside the head.
"You! I could kill you!" he exclaimed, but his tearful laugh belied the words. He accepted the dirt rock and pocketed it.
Darling peeked its head above Archie's shoulder, having been clinging onto the back of his shirt that whole time. Frederick screamed.
"What is that?!"
"A demon bunny," Mariah chirped as she sifted through the medical supplies to patch Stacy's wound.
Frederick's lip curled as he stared at the big-eyed, floppy-eared creature clinging to his brother's back. Then it bared its fangs at him and hissed.
"Ah! Archie, I don't like it," he whined.
Archie chuckled, scratching beneath the creature's chin affectionately and it purred. Frederick looked appalled.
"Don't worry, Bruder, this is Darling. He is a good boy, he won't bite," Archie reassured him.
The big, dead-eyed stare Darling gave the other twin wasn't very reassuring.
Frederick grimaced. "Did it just... Lick its eye?"
"Oh, yeah, it does that," Charlie answered, sitting next to Stacy as Mariah cleaned and dressed the bite on her bicep.
"Is... Is its tongue stuck there?"
Sure enough, Darling was still staring, though with its long tongue slapped onto one of its enormous eyes, unmoving
Archie patted his back. "Don't worry so much about Darling. This is just how he is. Isn't he adorable?"
Frederick couldn't look away from its wide, evil stare. "I don't think Darling likes me."
"What? No, he loves you! Don't worry anymore, come come, sit, have some food!"
Soon they were all seated around the stove at the center of the dome, eating the food Mariah had prepared earlier. Charlie's brows furrowed as she looked closer at Stacy's bandaged bicep, noticing darker veins peeking out beneath the gauze.
Everyone's attention whipped to the metal door when it was shoved open and a screaming, squirming Beckett came floating inside.
"Help me! Help me! Aaah— oomph!"
He dropped to the floor. Immediately he turned and scrambled away from the invisible attacker on his back.
A balled up wad of cloth suddenly appeared in the air before it unraveled. Charlie looked on in amusement as the air dressed itself in a loincloth before the culprit shimmered into view.
"Ahh!!" Beckett screamed. "What is that?!"
Darling hissed and Beckett screamed again.
"What is that?!"
"Calm down," Archie laughed. "We're all friends here."
Beckett tore his gaze away from the alien and looked between everyone, perplexed by their lack of reaction. "Do you not see that... Thing right there?" He pointed at Tük'hala.
The alien growled, "This thing can hear you."
Beckett screamed and Charlie covered his mouth. He looked up at her accusingly.
"Sorry for Tük'hala's bad manners," she apologized and the said alien huffed. "He's on our side. He brought you to safety, though his way of bringing you here must have been... Terrifying," she chuckled sheepishly.
"No shit!" he said once she removed her hand, visibly calmer as he looked around again, sitting up straighter. "Michael is still out there. We were separated and that's when your... Friend took me."
Tük'hala grunted. "I did smell another tiny male nearby."
Beckett snorted, "Michael is not tiny. Trust me."
Charlie blinked and a couple coughs were heard among the group. He didn't mean that, did he? But his smug expression only confirmed it.
"Okay, well... Tük'hala maybe you should go get Michael now," Charlie suggested. "And be careful, please."
"I am not a Chébi'lo," he grumbled, but moved towards the exit obediently.
"Thank you!" Charlie called after him as the door closed.
Once the alien was gone, Beckett stood up and walked to the stove, smelling the food. Mariah gave him his own plate and he joined the group sitting around the center.
"Where is Eli?" he asked.
"In the shuttle," Mariah answered. "A part is missing so he's building the missing piece from scratch."
Beckett nodded, swallowing a mouthful of food. "We're lucky to have him."
Mariah smiled, gazing off to the side. "Yeah."
As the night continued, Charlie's eyes flitted across the faces of her crew mates and she thought how lucky they all were to have each other. Archie and Frederick were laughing together while Darling squeaked for attention. Mariah and Stacy were chatting while Beckett joked with them all.
How lucky they were to still be alive. She frowned as she wondered how many more of them were left out there.
And how many might they lose in the coming days.