Alien Scum

A 7-foot man with nothing but his white boxers in the middle of the jungle of nowhere. Clueless, shirtless, pantless. If anyone had seen him in this state, they might have mistaken him for a madman or perhaps one of those eccentric survivalists. The kind who advocates for primal living, believing that true human freedom lies in shedding the layers of modern society, literally.

But there were no human eyes to witness him, only the four gruesome alien corpses scattered around him. One alien, still alive but writhing in agony as its arms were crushed beyond recognition by the primal man himself. As Faith got a closer look at the creature, he noticed it appeared younger than its dead counterparts. Its stature is slightly shorter, about 5'6, its frame smaller, and its facial features less developed, almost childlike, and especially its whimpering voice higher-pitched and strained with pain.

Faith warned the alien not to escape. The alien, though it didn't understand Faith's exact words, seemed to grasp the intent behind them. It had witnessed Faith's terrifying strength firsthand and understood that defiance meant certain death. Its trembling form remained rooted to the spot, the pain in its shattered arm keeping it grounded.

Paying no heed to the squirming alien creature, believing it wouldn't dare to escape, Faith began inspecting the corpses one by one. He quickly discerned that they were soldiers, each outfitted with a musket, their weapons oddly archaic compared to what he was accustomed to from historical documentaries of ancient Earth. The design of the muskets and gunpowder bandoliers reminded him of Earth's early-modern period, at least according to the documentary he remembered, unless his memories served him wrong. He was not an expert in that historical era, or any ancient earth history for that matter. Still, whether this planet's civilization matched that level or if it was just the gear of these particular soldiers remained unclear.

One soldier stood out from his inspection, the sword wielder, who donned a leather hat adorned with a crest and a leather cuirass, though the cuirass had a bloody hole on it. Upon further inspection, Faith also noted a pistol with a mechanism similar to the musket concealed in a holster at its side. This combination of gear suggested he was likely the leader of the squad.

What was their purpose? Had they been pursuing the human girl before their gruesome encounter with Faith? Whatever their goal was, the absence of survival supplies like tents or backpacks indicated that the dead bunch was a small search party, implying they were part of a larger group nearby as traversing this vast forest without necessary supplies seemed unlikely.

After thoroughly inspecting and scavenging the corpses, Faith, due to his towering 7-foot frame, found all the uniforms too small for him. Because he had nothing to wear, he resourcefully fashioned a makeshift skirt from several layers of their wool-like blankets, secured with a belt made from one of their ropes. He crafted a tight-fitting shirt from one of their rain ponchos, and because of his massive chest, he had to extend two sets of leather bandoliers with additional rope. 

Taking his time to familiarize himself with the weapons, Faith studied the mechanism of the muskets. He examined the trigger, lock, flint, pan, and frizzen, realizing that each shot required a manual reload through the breach! The process was slow and cumbersome, especially with the added frustration that there was a slight delay between pulling the trigger and the bullet exiting the barrel! After ensuring that each rifle and pistol was properly reloaded, Faith slung all four muskets across his back and secured the pistol holster and sword to his belt.

"Right, this outta do it," Faith muttered in satisfaction before turning his head towards the surviving alien. The creature had remained silent throughout, watching him with a pained expression as it huddled against a tree, its arms tucked close, writhing in agony.

"Alright, you stand up. Lead me to your base," Faith ordered, pulling the miserable alien from its resting place and forcefully pushing it to its feet. While the alien was clueless at first, it gradually realized Faith's intention, to guide this towering, brutal, and overconfident superhuman to its camp. Despite its fear, the young alien did not protest, clinging to the slim hope that it might somehow survive this ordeal and find a way for its comrades to kill this savage.

As they walked upstream along the trail beside the river, Faith noticed the peculiar flora and fauna around them. The trees here were not native to Theliane, as far as he could discern. Theliane, being a terraformed planet, used the P-39 seed, which consisted of specific flora and fauna species, to populate its environment. Given his familiarity with the numerous tree types included in the universally common P-39 seed, Faith found that none of the tree species here matched those he remembered. The leaves of these trees exhibited hues of orange and yellow, and the trunks appeared more solid and robust. Even Faith took time to punch one of the trees and found it very solid!

Faith theorized that these were probably adaptations to the intensified light from the two suns, indicating that the flora and fauna here were native to this planet. As far as he knew, he was not familiar with any naturally habitable planet with a binary star system, making this observation particularly novel to him!

Faith encountered a variety of intriguing animal species. He saw several unfamiliar quadrupeds drinking from the river. Their fur was extremely thick, and their mass unusually dense. As Faith tried to get closer, the quadrupeds quickly fled at the sight of him. Iridescent bugs flitted about, while thick-furred birds with striking plumage perched nearby. Most startling were several primates clinging to the forest canopy with a nearly human-like appearance, though Faith could tell they were a different species from the young girl he had met previously. These primates, however, resembled the alien soldiers in some ways. It's probably their evolutionary relatives, he thought, though far from reaching their level of intelligence.

As the binary suns reached their zenith, Faith and the young alien captive had been walking for several hours. Amidst the loud sounds of the flowing river, the chirping birds, and the rustling foliage, they both began to discern distant, muffled conversations and what seemed to be female screams. Despite the noise, neither of them made a sound, instead, they proceeded to follow the source of the sound. While Faith intended to stay hidden from any potential enemies, the young alien captive appeared intent on something else.

As they drew nearer to the source of the sounds, they finally spotted a group of aliens in the distance. Suddenly, the young alien captive beside Faith bolted towards the group, shouting in an unfamiliar language. Its voice echoed loudly, desperately trying to get the attention of its comrades. The sheer volume of the alien's cries made it impossible for the group not to notice them.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Shut the fuck up! Oi!" Faith barked, but the young alien ignored his demands, sprinting as fast as it could. Despite its speed, it couldn't outrun Faith. Within moments, he caught up to it, grabbing the young alien before it could get too far. Yet, the captive didn't stop. Its shouts only grew louder and more frantic.

"Fuck off." Faith's patience snapped. In one swift motion, he slammed the young alien's face against the nearest tree. The rough bark tore into its flesh with a long 'KRRRRRKKKK' sound, smearing blood across the trunk as the alien's cries were brutally silenced. 

Before the group of aliens could approach, Faith quickly sought cover, trying to conceal his massive frame, hoping to gain a slight advantage in the inevitable confrontation. He knew that when he crushed the young alien captive against the tree, any slim chance of negotiation dropped from 1% to 0%. A fight was now certain!

Moving swiftly, Faith realized the sheer amount of equipment he had taken from the dead soldiers was making him clumsy. The sword, pistol, and four muskets slung across his back rattled noisily with every step. However, he managed to find refuge behind a massive tree trunk just in time.

Peeking out, he spotted seven aliens cautiously approaching the injured or possibly dead alien he had just brutalized. As the alien soldiers noticed the scene of violence, their demeanor shifted immediately. Two of them rushed to attend to the fallen alien, while the remaining five stood on high alert, muskets at the ready. The five quickly began to fan out, scanning the area as they cautiously spread out, determined to locate the perpetrator.

While the aliens approached, Faith quickly primed all four of his muskets and his pistol. Five bullets, five advancing targets, and two stationary ones. He knew each shot needed to count. Once he fired, he would have to rush the remaining two and finish them with his blade as swiftly as possible.

Just as he solidified his plan, three more aliens emerged from the foliage. This new group dragged two female humans behind them, each bound by chains around their necks, forced along like rabid dogs. The aliens holding the chains wore distinguishable metal breastplates and helmets, and their fabric uniforms were more colorful and elaborate than the others. The third alien, however, stood out even more, clad in an ornate breastplate and uniform, clearly marking it as of higher rank. This makes it 10 alien soldiers to deal with.

"Fuck, are those humans?" Faith muttered under his breath, taking extra time to peek from behind the tree, ensuring his eyes weren't deceiving him. The two female humans looked young and vulnerable, their naked bodies trembling with fear. Their eyes were bloodshot, and swollen from tears, and their skin was marred with bruises. A glance at their lower bodies told a grim story of being used. The sight churned his stomach with disgust and fueled his rage so much, but before he could dwell on it, Faith quickly pulled back. One of the aliens was already too close, and any further peeking would surely give away his position.

"Alien scum," he whispered through gritted teeth, rage boiling in his heart as he prepared to strike.

To ensure he remained silent and his equipment made no rattling noise, Faith left his muskets, pistol, and sword on the ground behind the tree. He arranged them so that he could quickly access them when needed.

Faith's artificial muscles tensed as he prepared himself while the closest alien approached his position. With swift, silent precision, he slipped out from behind the tree and seized the unsuspecting alien from behind. One arm wrapped around its neck, while the other gripped the musket, preventing it from dropping or firing. With a single, powerful twist followed by a soft crack, the alien's body went limp. Faith lowered it gently to the ground, quickly retrieved the musket, and returned to his concealed position. This makes his fifth musket.

Wasting no time, Faith shifted his focus to the group of aliens. He aimed his first musket at the alien leader, distinguished by an ornate breastplate and uniform. He steadied his aim on the leader's center mass and pulled the trigger without hesitation. The shot rang out, and moments later, the leader collapsed, followed by the echo of the bullet impacting against the armor. "DINGGG". Chaos erupted among the remaining aliens. The two armored aliens beside the leader flinched, their attention momentarily diverted as they rushed to attend to their fallen leader.

Faith was already on the move. He discarded the spent musket and retrieved another fresh one. He quickly aimed his second musket at the furthest of the remaining aliens who had spread out. The shot echoed through the trees and the distant figure crumpled to the ground. Again, he swiftly discarded the spent musket and retrieved another one. He fired his third musket at the next furthest alien, felling them before they could react. All this happened in 10 seconds. Only two of the original five that split remained, and Faith was determined to eliminate them before they could take a shot at him.

His fourth musket shot rang out towards the furthest of the last two that spread out. This time, however, the bullet missed by a close margin due to the horrible precision of the musket.

"FUCK!" Seeing that the shot didn't drop it, Faith was pissed. But it didn't stop him from rearming himself with the fifth and last musket from his arsenal.

By the time he aimed from the fifth musket. The two remaining spread-out aliens took cover behind the trees. With no time to wait for them to peek out, Faith instead diverted his musket on the two alien soldiers that were previously tending to the one he smothered to a tree earlier. One of them was running to take cover, while the other one stood still, dumbstruck. A sitting duck that Faith gladly took a shot on. The bullet dropped the soldier to the ground.

After all his muskets were spent, he took the sword and holstered the loaded pistol, then rushed with superhuman speed toward the two remaining spread-out alien soldiers. It was quite a distance, but Faith was very swift. By that time, one of them realized that Faith was rushing him, it was too late!