Shortcomings

"mark, six, ten, and cross you're with me, We'll scout point A while the rest of you scout point B. We'll meet at the checkpoint here."

"Yes!"

"Alright cap!"

As I pointed at the checkpoint on the map my eyes trailed towards the vehicles close to us, both stacked evenly with supplies. It was the most reasonable thing to do, incase we lost contact with one of the vehicle, we would have to pull through with half the supplies and there was also the emergency supplies that we planned to bury at the spot where we camped just in case everything went haywire.

"Joe will lead the other team in the meantime as captain and in the case of an encounter beyond your control you are to escape first then signal with a maroon. Remember guys, your safety comes first." I emphasized, with a worry laden voice.

"Yes sir!"

They all answered in unison this time and it made me feel good that everything was going smoothly without any resistance whatsoever. I tried the comms device once more before glancing at the time and recording it in my journal. We had spent only sixteen hours in this strange planet and it felt like days.

We drove off soon after, when the sun was already up and the clear sky could indicate that it was already midday . Everyone was already preparing their gears as we drove, except mark who was on the wheels. We had to be ready at all times especially when we least expected and since these negrons where naturally dumb and lacked intellect, it would make it easier to fight back.

Cross began humming a song and mark started singing out aloud. I was surprised he could tell the song even though her humming was quiet. It was an old song we sang in military camp and I wondered how cross knew about it even though she definitely didn't serve in the military. 

"How do you know that song, hummingbird" Mark enquired tossing her playfully while smiling.

"It's cross and my dad used to sing it whenever he worked out at home when i was a kid" She barked, slapping away his hands as she repositioned herself.

After about fifteen minutes of singing aloud, everyone seemed to grow accustomed to the song.

I just sat there staring and smiling, wanting to join in on the singing but stopping myself each time.

"Come on cap, I know you know it too" Mark beckoned, raising his voice in order to match the rest of the team that were now in unison.

"Yh cap it wouldn't hurt to just sing!" Six added, tugging at my seat lightly.

"You know, I always knew he was uptight but sheesh" Ten noted, giggling as she spoke, her brown hair dangling on her head.

They all laughed after Ten spoke, she didn't seem like the murderous type but the intense stares she always gave me everytime I looked at her made me think otherwise.

"You know I also thou-"

BAM!!

Something hit our vehicle with so much force that it caused the metal motor to tilt to one of it's end. I quickly looked around the vehicle before screaming on top of my voice.

"Drive!"

How could I have missed this?? Since when had they been following us??.

I had become too complacent during our conversation that I forgot to pay attention to our surroundings.

"4,5,6.... Woah that's a lot, cap" Mark yelled as he caught sight of the anomalies heading at us at top speed.

Thier numbers kept increasing and so did their pace. With their current speed they would inevitably catch up with us unless something was done.

But it was already too late for that; mark missed a turn and then his immediate response failed to pull through which saw all of us toppling from inside the car and onto the bare land that was already filled with a handful of negrons.

My ears were still ringing by the time I got up and the screeching of the monsters never seemed to end, I touched my forehead as I felt blood trickle down my face. Thankfully I didn't suffer any concussions. 

They had us beat and only one option was left for us and sadly it wasn't going to end well for us. I turned around and before I could even utter the words that hung on my throat, the gory sight I saw shut them off instinctively; Mark was dead, the car was on top of him and the negrons had already descended on his barely moving body.

"Shit,shit, shit, shit!!" Cross screamed at the top of her voice, rattling her hair as she pulled on it forcefully.

We were all losing composure and things were about to get a lot worse. I never expected us to get attacked and not by surprise as at that. I reached out to my symbiotic blade that laid on the ground and clenched the hilt so hard I felt the blade quake.

Two negrons were approaching me at top speed, both spaced out finely so they didn't collide with themselves in the process. The one on the left got to me first and swung it's claw directly at my face in the instant, I barely made an evasion but at least i got my balance right and launched a counter. 

Their movements lacked skill and was crude, very easy to counter and by my fourth strike I had already killed one. I dashed backwards and decided to use my ability on the second but before I could set my concentration straight, the mindless beast already came charging towards me.

I put some more distance between us and when it was in blast range I just let it out; a powerful shot of cosmic energy in the form of a beam.

The embers of violet and blue light filtered through the entire air around me, forcing out a cry as it pierced my enemy and killed it.

I got up panting and amazed as to how much explosive force my attack possessed, everything within a square kilometer had been completely wiped out. 

Since cosmic energy existed freely and made up pretty much the entire universe, I had the ability to freely manipulate this energy without restrictions but the only one's present at the moment was the fact that I couldn't set my concentration straight and I was still juvenile to my powers. 

I remembered John's statement from the day of our ability evaluation.

"With the right amount of experience and compatibility, you would be able to attain feats beyond human comprehension"

His eyes glimmered when he spoke those words, almost like a proud father watching his child crawl for the first time and if I lived long enough to reach that stage, I guess it would come in handy for the sake of humanity.

I shrugged off the memory, visibly moving my sides and reinforced my stance for the incoming attack. One on the right and two on the left, their huge bodies tracking as much dirt as they raced towards me. 

'concentrate'

I breathed in deeply, obviously with only a few seconds to spare and clapped both palms instantly; if my theory was correct, then this attack range would be narrow but precise. 

"Huuu!!!"

I let out the air bottled up in my lungs and with it; an overwhelming surge of pure energy ripped through the first two negrons that pranced on me. The next was a walkover as I simply rolled on it, slashing it's legs and neck all in an instant. My speed had increased slightly and I could hardly believe how sharper my reflexes had gotten.

"That's the feeling!" I reassured myself, beaming in joy at the fear I had just accomplished.

I had felt a little bit rusty at first but now, I could go on a killing spree and still come up top. This zeta fluid was intense, and even though I was yet to experience the drawback, I still treaded with caution.

By the time I reunited with the rest of my team, they had already taken care of the negrons that attacked them. Cross was on the floor bleeding from her gut but luckily it wasn't life threatening as no important organs had been harmed. Six and ten were already administering first aid and they lifted her before placing her on a piece of metal scrap which used to be a part of our car.

"For now let's regroup with the rest of the team. Hopefully they will have supplies for us and then we'll be able to proce-".

I halted my statement immediately I saw the firework signal, bursting to a million bright multicolored pieces as it hit the sky, red dust spreading as if coating the clouds and dispersing almost immediately.

I had never expected in a million years that they would have been attacked almost immediately after we took heavy damage and from the signal they let out at least two of our men were dead.

"Shit!".