Chapter Sixteen: Taylor Henderson

I could pull my hair out. The sudden affection I felt for Jennifer came from nowhere. I hated her, but at the same time, I felt a connection to her I couldn't deny, a strong, emotional connection. I desperately wanted her to be up and moving again, but at the same time, I didn't, because she would show me up again, and I didn't want that because I was in Lorries good graces at the moment. 'Not there yet?' I had said yet, like we were going to be romantic partners sometime. I gagged at the thought, where the hell had it come from? I wanted to scream, what was happening to me? I didn't know what to do, so I did nothing, despite the maddening urge to do the opposite. At the moment, I was the only member of the crew awake, Lorries snored softly behind me, and everyone else was silent. My throat was parched, and we had bottled and purified water in the lab. I quietly clambered to my feet and crept to the opening of the scrap shelter. I froze when I saw something just outside, by the ashes of the campfire. A fluffy white shape the size of an elephant. Six inch claws jutted out of fluffy paws, and it's mouth was wide open, revealing razor teeth, each the length of a pencil. It sniffed the ground, searching for what I assume was it's offspring, killed by Lorries after it had attacked him. I silently stepped back inside the shelter, gently rousing Lorries. I held a finger to my lips as he opened his eyes and frowned at me. I pointed a finger outside and Lorries eyes followed it. He recoiled in shock when he saw the massive creature outside. He slowly reached to his left, raising the cannonlike rifle Victor had printed for him. I covered my ears as Lorries sighted the creature. The following explosion from the end of the rifle reverberated off the shelter walls and threw Lorries back. I gasped for breath as the reverberations raised the air pressure, making it difficult to breath. The effect was fortunately temporary, and I sat back up when it subsided, glancing outside to find the furry shape gone, most likely having fled after being struck by the bullet. I heard shuffling as the rest of the crew got up, woken by the thunderous rifle shot. I held out a hand to Lorries, pulling him to his feet when he took hold of my outstretched arm. When he was back up on his feet, he pulled back the bolt on the rifle, sliding in another bullet before sliding the bolt back into place. He strode straight out into the middle of the camp, as we'd grown to call it, where he stopped, doing a quick 360 on his heel, confirming his target had fled. He strode back to the shack where we all slept, striding past the groggy and confused crew and laying a hand on my shoulder,

"Good eye private, we may have use for you yet."

He wrapped himself back up in his blanket, keeping his prized rifle held close to his body as he did so.

…

Morning came far too quickly. I found sleep impossible because I knew the creature from last night was still somewhere out there. I cautiously made my way outside, looking everywhere for the behemoth, relaxing when it was nowhere to be seen. I made my way to the lab, looking for Lorries, but instead finding Victor, who was already awake, working on something with the 3D printers. I heard him talking to someone as I neared, carefully listening in(kind of rudely) to what he was saying,

"...Doesn't even know, and we best keep it that way until we're ready."

I spoke up from behind him, causing him to jump in surprise,

"What're you up to Vic?"

He turned around, face flush and hiding something behind his back,

"I'm, uh, printing a chemical freezer to keep the extra meat from the worms we catch, the cryo pods provide everything we need."

I decided to keep a closer eye on him, but nodded and left him alone. I think he was talking to Xero, the shipboard AI, as the AI computer had been tucked between the printers. In any case, I had good reason to be suspicious because he had tried to hide it. I returned my attention to my original task of finding Lorries, searching around the mouth of the crashed ship and around the scrap pile. I finally found him on the edge of the dirt disturbed by the crash, inspecting a large paw print. I bent down beside him,

"Creatures like that will learn to fear you, that one knows you can deal some damage already."

He chuckled,

"Gotta let them know their place, beneath our boots."

"What's the agenda for today sir?"

"We're working on the camp today, we've got food, water and metal, so exploration isn't necessary right now. find Freeman and tell him to find me, we're catching breakfast."

"Yes sir."

I snapped a salute before heading back into camp to find Freeman. He was trying to get a fire started from a pile of dead twigs and grass, wisps of smoke rose from the center of the pile, where he was rubbing two sticks together violently enough to generate heat. I tapped him on the shoulder as a lick of flame appeared,

"I'll get that for you, the Lieutenant sent for you, says you two're going hunting."

He rose, brushing off his hands on his pants and nodding,

"Don't let my fire die."

He grinned at me as he picked his spear up off the ground and began jogging in the direction I had approached him from. I tossed a few scraps of wood into the small fire. It hungrily chewed at the wood, starting to grow with its newfound fuel. I watched as the wood blackened from the flames, reminding me of the campfires we used to build back in Alaska and cook smores over. It felt like a lifetime ago, which it really was. Lisa came over and sat down in the dirt next to me. Her lower face was blistered and burned, her mouth bandaged shut with a small hole to feed a straw through so she could eat blended food through a straw. I was still shocked at her reckless stupidity, there were fruits on Earth that could kill you, why would she eat a fruit we knew nothing about on an alien planet that had proved to be nothing but a death trap? I almost jumped when a dull thud came from just to my left. I turned to find a glistening axe sitting next to me. I looked up to find Victor staring down at me. He wordlessly turned and left, leaving me alone with Lisa and the axe. I picked the heavy tool up off the ground. Holding it in both hands, I made my way over to the dead tree on the edge of the treeline. It took only one swing of the axe to shear a tree limb three inches in diameter clean off. The axe carried through with the momentum, sticking deeply into the dirt. I jerked the axe back, but it didn't budge. I tried again, throwing the full weight of my body into the action, still to no effect. I tried manipulating it in every direction, but no matter what I tried, the axe was still stuck. I gave up, grabbing the severed limb and carrying it back to camp, snapping pieces off on my knee. I threw pieces into the fire, eventually managing to get the entirety of the limb into the small blaze. I heard an echoing boom from the east, which meant breakfast was now on it's way to us.