Chapter Eleven: Taylor Henderson

I brought the machete down hard on the harpoon tongue of the creature, severing it from the rest of the beast and sending it hopping off in defeat. I looked down at Jennifer's still form, the point of the harpoon sticking up from her abdomen. I thought back to before remembering the time at the Elmendorf Air Force academy when our team failed the relay because I had a leg cramp and she had defended me, saying she had slowed down because she was out of breath, she had defended me then. All the shy looks, the requests to be in whatever unit I was in, it all made sense now. I was torn between hating and loving the one who had shown me up for years. I'd never had success with girls, and here I was rejecting the only one who couldn't get enough of me. I didn't know whether to hate her for beating me every chance she had or feel bad I had hated her for loving me.

In any case, she was part of the crew and I couldn't leave her to die. I picked her radio up off the ground and radioed the Lieutenant. His harsh voice hissed from the radio

"What's taking so damn long?"

I pressed the talk button and responded immediately,

"This is Private Henderson speaking, we were attacked by a large animal, I'm wounded and Richarson is badly hurt."

The radio was silent for a second before he replied harshly,

"Can't you do a simple task without messing up? We'll be there in half an hour, don't let her die."

I dropped the radio, bending down and feeling for a pulse. Her pulse was weak, but present. She hardly bled due to the harpoon still stuck in her back.

When I felt her pulse, her eyes snapped open and she gasped, wincing and clenching her teeth in pain. I gently wrapped an arm under her and lifted her to her feet. I wrapped her arm around my shoulder and we staggered towards the wreckage. Only a short time later, She went limp again and I set her down gently.

The harpoon stuck out the front of her uniform, just under her rib cage on her left side. I didn't have the expertise to remove it, so I left it where it was. She faded in and out of consciousness for a while, then she looked up at me and sudden recognition filled her eyes; then fear.

She shoved me back with her feet and scrambled backwards. I spun around with my machete at the ready, but found nothing behind me, nothing that would have scared her like that. I turned back around to find Jenny running towards the wreckage. I took off after her, shouting her name. She slowed and fell to her knees after only about 100 yards. I caught up to her and she screamed, kicking at me and trying to back away.

"You're hurt, calm down."

She choked out a sob as she scrambled backwards,

"Don't hurt me, I'm sorry!"

I froze as I realized what was going on. She thought I had stabbed her and was trying to finish her off.

"I'm not going to hurt you, you need to calm down."

She stopped moving and went limp. Breathing heavily. I looked up to see Lorries and Andrews sprinting towards us. I waved them over and they stopped, ignoring me and setting Jenny on a stretcher. We quickly made our way back to camp.

We brought her to Andrews, who studied the harpoon for a moment before he pushed it through her back, pulling it out the front. Jenny screamed as Lorries and I held her down. She sobbed weakly as Victor applied antibiotics and disinfectant before bandaging her up.

"She'll be fine, pierced her kidney, but no severe damage. She's got minor internal bleeding, but nothing fatal."

I held up the sample for Lorries to inspect. He took it and strode off scowling, entering the third of our small constructs, which was being use to house all of the salvaged equipment, including the large 3d printer, the bio scanner and a chemical analysis scanner, only the second was currently functional, but the other two were possible to repair without special equipment, as they had only sustained minor damage.

The 3d printer was by far the greatest asset to us, as it could be used to make anything out of any material, assuming you had said material. It took much longer to use than normal printers due to its nature, but it was vastly superior.

I glanced back at Jennifer's still form. She had said she loved me. She didn't hardly know me, so it couldn't be true, could it? I thought back to the many times our officers had compared the two of us, telling me to be more like her. I also remembered times she had stuck up for me or covered me. I had always assumed she was trying to prove she was better than me, but the evidence said contrary.

I felt bad for all my hostility towards her over the years, how could she possibly love someone who was always so cruel to her? As I pondered over these questions, I was taken by surprise when Lorries spoke from directly behind me.

"Well done, you found fresh water."

He didn't look happy though, so I just saluted. He made no indication to my response, he only strode back into the shabby shelter and began welding the corners to make it more sturdy. What was I doing here? This planet had done nothing but try to kill us since we got here.