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 Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:36 pm
It was frightening and boring all at once. An attack, silence for a few hours, and then nothing. Now what? And why is it always north? Is north special? There was nothing to distinguish from the background. No landmarks, large tress and now no footprints. What could cause them to disappear. "You know, I'd give anything for an expert tracker right now. And I mean Anything. But, without one, I'd have to go with the forward option. Or right. You can't go wrong with right." Lo replied lightly. Really, there's not much to do...so few options. Lolita's stomach growled at her. She blushed.
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:59 pm
"Guys! Where are you?!" Private Marcus Marcellus called into the dense fog, searching for his squad. "C'mon, guys! This isn't funny! Where'd ya go?!"
What felt like an eternity of walking alone, was actually just a matter of minutes, but Marcus couldn't tell and just wanted it to end. "Okay, Marc, don't panic. Don't panic. It's just like at boot camp when we got sent out into the woods alone and had to survive for three days, remember. Ya, I remember, I also remember that spider that found its way into my sleeping bag," Marcus said to himself. His hands were shaking now. "Just find the rest of your group and---wait, what was that? I heard something. Was that a growl? No, it's nothing. Just calm down and things will be fine."
"Dammit, guys! Stop messing around, we have to get to work!" he called out again into the fog, trying to sound confident. There was a sound behind him. "Okay, that one I know was you, Mich! Mich? That is you right?" His hands were shaking now. He gripped his gun tighter. More growling. It was then that Marcus saw something. It wasn't Mich. It was about twenty feet out, and he could barely make it out, but it did look somewhat dog like.
"Nice....doggy?" Marcus said in a quivering voice. It turned to look at him, and then growled once more, showing off rows of large teeth. It started towards him. Marcus got more frightened. It sped up.
"Oh...s**t," Marcus said, he couldn't take it anymore, and then he turned and bolted in the other direction. "s**t. s**t. s**t." he repeated over and over again as he did one of the few things he was really good at. Running fast. He chanced a look over his shoulder to see if it was following him. He didn't see anything, but, just as he looked forward again, he saw the figure of a person appear out of the fog. He did not have time to stop, and he barreled headlong into the person.
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Straken Lord Riverine Crew
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:18 pm
Lolita had trailed behind a little. For all her earlier uneasiness and high alert she was now a little apathetic. The heavy gunner's gaze was a little distant, and she thought she heard something. But Lo hardly cared. So few options. Forward. Left. Right. Back. Back? Behind her? Lolita suddenly froze, the little hairs on her skin standing stiff. Feet stomping the ground. Closer. Closer! She whirled around, raising her weapon. Too late; there was no time to fire. So Fast! Lolita was completely winded as it collided with her, sending her sprawling spread eagle, Heavy Machine Gun out of hand and reach! It was right on top of her chest, oppressive weight pinning her. Lolita thought she could smell it's fetid breath, slobber oozing down her collar. Her visor fogged up as the thing exhaled. She screamed high and loud. "NOOOO!" Her left hand instinctively grabbed it by the neck, massive right fist colliding with the helmet. Wait...helmet?! She stopped and loosened the vice like grip she had around the neck. "Oh. Um. Sorry about that! You surprised me. Its...a little early for this, don't you think?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:39 pm
Marcus began to regain his senses after getting thrown through not one, but two loops. "Ouch. Well, I was gonna be the one to apologize, but then ya kinda punched me," Marcus said as the world came back into focus. "Let me help you..." he started, but then paused as he noticed the awkward position he was still in relative to the woman he knocked over. His face turned a bright shade of red and he quickly rolled off of the woman. "Christ, I'm for sure sorry about that one!" he said in an almost paniced tone.
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Straken Lord Riverine Crew
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:46 pm
Versa Ran over at the sounds coming from behind him. "Eh, p***y in boots. Hands off the new kid. That marcus?" he asked, moments before his helmet confirmed that it was. "Well, looks like we found another one. Hey, Marcus! Anyone back that way?" the sniper asked, inspecting the trail behind them for anything.
He couldn't remember when Marcus had disappeared, or really when everyone else had. All he could remember was this stupid fog, and being around the few people with him. But for some reason, something told him to keep going forward. like there was something there. "How about we just keep moving forward?" Versa asked the group.
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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:51 pm
“Huh? Back there? Nobody as far as I could tell. I thought y'all were just playing a joke on me, but then that dog-thing appeared. Thing looked like it wanted to eat my shebs! That is when I bolted and ended up running into Miss Sartre,” Marcus said as he stood up and brushed himself off. Then suddenly remembering the situation that he was in just minutes earlier, he quickly picked up his rifle and held it at the ready. “Look, I don't know what the Hell is going, but moving seems like a good idea.”
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Straken Lord Riverine Crew
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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 4:16 pm
"Hmph! That's uncalled for Versa." Lo got back up to her feet and picked up her HMG again. If it weren't for the chat, she'd look like any other stormtrooper of doom. Funny we find ourselves staring right at it. She patted the dust off herself and shivered a little. "You know I haven't laid exactly hands on anyone yet." Lolita clenched and unclenched her fist to check if it was alright. "It looks like even he's got the same notion. Forward it is." Forward, to our salvation, or doom? She shivered in her armor again. Pointing out the obvious, temperature controls were just fine.
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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:22 pm
"Hey, I just call 'em as I see 'em. That's my job and all." Versa defended, thanking the group that they were decided on moving forward. "Anyway, let's get a move on." he said, brushing the previous event off, and looking forward. They all began moving heading forward toward the point where the footsteps ended.
It was like passing through a wall. The Fog was gone. looking behind them, there was none. The footprints resumed here, and kept moving onward. Sensors were still messed up, but their view was much greater, on a barely lit landscape covered in little rolling hills, slightly taller scrub brush, and, every once in a while, large depressions in the ground. The footsteps led to the nearest of these, a huge crater that looked to be part of a fairly recent meteorite impact.
"Whoah...." Versa said.
And from nowhere, the wind picked up into a howling shriek, blowing straight at the group, ruffling anything loose. The wind bore upon it a voice, as if someone yelling, or screaming in pain, or suffering of some kind.
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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:11 pm
Corporal Hume had had about enough of his squad by this point. "Hey, can we focus here?" He sounded agitated, but Karl was in control of himself for the time being. No need to knock anyone's lights out... yet.
And so there they went, just walking. And walking. And next thing they knew, WHOOSH. No fog. At all. "What... the... ...hell?" Karl wasn't much for swearing in any way at any time, so even uttering the word 'hell' was proof that the situation was beginning to get under his skin. That unholy dirge coming from the crater only made it worse.
Despite that fact, Hume felt a strong curiosity (as was natural to him) to discover its source and sort out this situation. So he was the first soldier to the lip of the crater, braving the small gust with a jog. At the crater's edge, he crouched to peer below. He hoped to spot the source of that racket, but really anything that would explain this mess would be nice.
Or another living, breathing, sane marine. Preferably armed and dangerous.
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Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 10:31 pm
Lolita shrunk back a little as though she was struck. The tint of agitation in Hume's voice was easily heard by her straining ears. It was horrible to be running blind, with no idea what would happen next. But now she had to worry about her friends snapping at her? "Just. Trying to lighten the mood here. That's all." Lo spoke, voice softer.
Harsh wind blew by, the fog lifting. She instinctively covered her eyes with an arm, but with much pointlessness. Lo's visor protected her face from any flying dust or dirt, and also showed that sensors were still royally messed up.
Her bones seemed to ache in pain from the scream. Her knees wanted to give, and she really, really wanted to...Hume started to advance first towards a crater recklessly. Lolita was visibly trying to decide if she should follow him. "Wait for backup!" she hissed, feet moving.
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Straken Lord Riverine Crew
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 4:01 pm
Marc stayed where he was, as he was perfectly content to not go rushing over towards the strange craters. Easing up a bit due to the lifting fog, he finally spoke up saying, "Hey guys, I will watch the perimeter while you guys, uh, play geologist." From there he started to pace a bit, but really staying in pretty much the same spot. "Hm, it's not so bad when you can see past your own nose," he said to himself as he began to bolden up and venture a bit more. "Still wish I knew what in Hell's name is going on." Now that he thought about it, the more he remembered that he still didn't know anything about what the guys he had run into were doing. "Hey guys, what should I be looking for anyway? I mean, besides those dog-thingers." he asked, his pacing bringing him closer to the tree line.
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Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:14 pm
Versa followed Karl and Lo to the Caldera, looking at Bill and Marcus first "You two stay here and , uhh, provide cover or sumthin" he said, following the other two. Bill shrugged and looked at Marcus wondering what was eating him.
******
As the three looked into the crater, they saw something disturbing. It was filled with deeply stained earth, a sort of reddish-brown. It smelled a lot like Iron. In the bottom of the pit was a pile of what appeared to be Terran uniforms, but there were no weapons, nor armor, or helmets, just the uniforms, laying in tatters as if something had ripped them to shreds.
Almost as if on cue, the weapons and armor of all five marines began dissolving, slowly being blown away by the wind. Versa shook his rifle, only to have it fall apart even faster. Things were not looking good.
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Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 11:32 pm
Karl realized now that following the bootprints had been the wrong idea. They'd all marched to their deaths, and now whatever the hell was going around murdering them all was prepared to make its final sweep. They were unarmed, and out in the open. Fog or not, they were screwed.
Into the fog would be suicidal. Into the crater would be to welcome death... or would it? Logic and fear and taboo would discourage this, but his survival instinct said, "Jump."
"Down the crater!" he shouted, and gave no time for dispute. As soon as those words escaped his lips, Corporal Hume was over the lip of the crater, sliding toward the pool of mud and blood and soiled uniforms.
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Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 11:51 pm
Lolita dove into the blood mud of the crater. It was like being naked! Naked! No guns, no armor, no grenade, no god damn easy way out! 'I'm screwed, I'm screwed! I'm screwed! I'm going to get torn apart and eaten by dogs, and I...' Lolita vomited. Her eyes started to fill with tears. "I'm fine. It's just...gross." Her arm reached up to wipe her eyes, only to smear the mud and blood over her face. She retched again. At least the lizards were quick about it, but this...It was wrong! All wrong! "I'm sorry guys, I'm sorry."
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Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:03 am
"shitshitshit!" Versa cursed, turning back a moment to yell at Marcus and Bill. "HEY! GET YER ARSES OVER HERE!" he bellowed, jumping into the crater with the others, even though it went against everything he knew, but what did he know? everything was just wrong in this world, and none of his instincts had worked yet. he slid into the crater on the heels of his boots, dodging projectile vomit from Lolita, the heavy stench of Iron and now stomach acid and bile filling his nostrils. This was a bad idea and he knew it.
That voice again. Or was it a voice? he could feel it smiling, as if happy about something, all through him he felt so very wrong, so very exposed and helpless, and every hair stood on end. Was this it? Would he die? Here? On this accursed planet with no name? Hell no. Versailles Nova was the best Scout in the Terran military!He'd be damned if he died here.
******
The sky above the crater grew dark, the wind swirling into a huge vortex. Within the vortex, shapes could be made out, but they were indescernable as anything other than abnormal for a tornado. Bill tumbled his way into the pit, obviously scared for his life, something was off about him, having had no helmet on, it looked as if his face had started to change, he looked older, whiled away, his skin not quite fitting his face anymore. he was hacking and coughing, not sure what was going on.
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