Into the wasteland
Theo had been running for a long time, but it seemed like the creatures kept getting closer with each second that passed. As his terrible luck would have it, he stepped on a sleeping trash vermin welp and now about 10 or more were after him. A number he wasn't sure of because stopping to count seemed like a very bad idea. His waist injury threatened to reopen with each laboured step he took but stopping was not an option. The only way was to leave this trash dump as soon as possible and he could hear his pursuers right on his heels.
Theo tripped on a rusted pipe and fell to the ground. Before he could get his bearings one of the creatures had landed on him and was reaching for his face with its sharp fangs. Quickly grabbing a rod on the ground Theo used it as a brace as the vermin struggled to take a bite out of him. Hot spittle poured on his face as a foul scent assaulted his nose, he could barely hear the sounds of the approaching horde closing in on him. With great effort, he pushed the creature off him and struck it as hard as he could with a loud thwack. The creature reeled from the strike as he pulled out his pistol and shot at it. With a loud bang, the creature dropped dead as Theo breathed a sigh of relief which was cut short as he noticed the other creatures rushing towards him. He struggled up to his feet and continued running away.
Theo thought about shooting at the other vermins but realised he didn't have enough ammo and even if he did with how shitty his aim was he'd be shocked if he even killed one, the noise of another shot would probably attract even more of the creatures to his location quickly overrunning him.
"Fuck Fuck Fuck there are more on me now" the noise from the gun had attracted more of the creatures and he wasn't ready to see how many more of them had joined the ranks. Luckily the trash started thinning out marking the end of the trash dump as he got closer and closer to the wasteland, but this still presented a new issue even if he escaped to the wasteland there was nothing there but dirt and rocks for miles. How would he survive or even live well? That would have to solve itself when he got there.
As Theo struggled to reach the edge of the wasteland it seemed like some of the vermins still chased him."This fuckers don't give up do they" Theo could feel himself weakening, he could barely take a breath without feeling pain. Some of the creatures caught up with him during the chase, and he had to knock them away with the pipe but that was after getting scratched and bitten a few times.
The ground shifted from uneven and hard to the coarse sand of the wasteland, a sigh of relief escaped him at least as most of the vermin for some reason gave up as soon as he left their "habitat". Theo wasn't sticking around to see if they changed their mind as he continued hobbling away trying to move further from the trash heap.
Thinking the worst was behind him he slowed down as the fatigue and pain hit him. He drew ragged breaths and was sweating profusely. His shirt was wet with more than sweat and he noticed he was bleeding from the gunshot wound. During the whole ordeal, his wound had reopened but on the bright side, it seemed like the drugs were keeping the situation in a manageable state. Tearing his shirt he tied it around his waist to apply pressure to the wound to try to stop the bleeding.
'Fucking space rats,' Theo thought as he looked back.
If not for the expired drugs he would have been dead a long time ago. Now all he had to do was find a settlement before his predicament got any worse.
Theo had been walking through the wasteland for about 8 hours and still didn't see any sentient lifeforms during this time. Several times he had to re-route or hide when he saw some unknown creatures in the wasteland. As he kept moving his wounds healed noticeably due to the drugs and walking became easier as the pain reduced. He approached a ravine as a familiar sound of running liquid graced his ears as a stream of water came into view.
Theo ran quickly towards the stream. Getting down on his knees he reached for the water but stopped immediately, as he remembered a story his dad always told on how he nearly died and was in pain for 3 days straight making him cry out to whatever god he knew from history to save him. His only saving grace was one of his team mates who helped him get treatment.
"If not for my father's warnings I might have just signed my own death warrant", especially on this unknown trash heap of a planet where he had little to no knowledge of the native creatures or parasites, especially parasites. On certain planets, some parasites can turn their hosts into vegetables and some have nasty reactions to human beings due to the chemicals they release. In some bad cases during the earlier era of the mass settling, many colonies were wiped out due to parasites on uncharted planets.
He shivered with the thought of parasites that might have been in the water and kept on moving. The sun had set for awhile but Theo kept walking and hoping he was moving in the right direction.
"It is getting really cold. I need to find some sort of shelter for the night". With no way of knowing how cold it got at night, he didn't want to find out with his body. Neither was he keen about the nocturnal creatures in this wasteland. Finding a small cave that seemed empty he crawled in and quickly fell into a deep dreamless sleep.
Theo woke up freezing from the cold, he stood up and kept walking following the stream upwards. After a few hours,streams of light announced the rising of the sun ,using the new found light he began to see pieces of massive rusted machines littering the landscape in the distance.
The planet Langen 6 from what he knew was once a mining planet in which precious metals and other resources vital to space travel were mined. At first, the resources almost looked infinite and due to that private corporations mined recklessly without regard for the ecosystem polluting the water bodies with the run-off from factories in which the ores were processed, deforestation and destruction of the environment. When the planet was finally stripped dry for all it was worth, the corporations pulled out and left a desolate planet with wastelands and poisonous swamps where only a few of the planet's original wildlife existed as many went extinct due to the loss of their natural habitat.
Hunger and thirst assaulted Theo in waves. He was extremely low in energy as the healing drained a lot of nutrients and energy. His steps grew heavy and laboured.
" Wouldn't it be better if I died instead of getting stuck in this wasteland? If only that job wasn't a setup, if that fuc.. fucker Deez hadn't scammed me" Theo roared and kicked a bunch of metal equipment in a fit of rage."Maybe this is where I die on a desolate planet hungry, tired, thirsty and alone " tears streamed down Theo's eyes " Maybe mum was right maybe I am just way over my head here"
Theo looked up and noticed that some bird-like creatures had been trailing him for some while. " Well it seems while I am dying from hunger some creatures are preparing for breakfast" Theo could not help but laugh at his predicament. Picking up a pipe he had kicked up and began using it as a makeshift walking stick he kept walking towards the factory he could see in the distance.
An armoured vehicle was speeding at a breakneck speed through the wasteland. In its front driving sat a grizzled-looking man with tanned skin, his body was covered with scars but looked quite healthy and strong. Beside him sat a woman who seemed to be in an intense argument with another occupant of the vehicle.
"James you nitwit I keep telling you if you didn't shoot that security bot we would have gotten out without detection you fucked up the mission".
"Well we escaped didn't we and we still got the haul, in the end, lighten up Sarah" James said with a smirk.
"We lost time and Nick had to use his special ammo to blow up the place and give us a chance to escape, you fucking know how expensive it is and money isn't what we have right now."
"Well all that matters is we got the job done, isn't that right Nick" James turned to seek confirmation from the driver but received no answer. "Yo Nick, are you still angry about using that weapon, I promised I would make it up to you so what do you say, hey why are we stopping".
"James will you shut up and come see this " Nick pulled out a pistol and shot at some birds surrounding something. "Fucking rahks" he cursed " well I would be damned it's a kid out in the wasteland."