The baboon-hawks were big. Much bigger than he'd thought. But not quite as big or forward as the damned dogs. The hawk cawed and circled him, jumped towards him whenever he looked away.

'Go away!' James shouted, and stepped towards it, the rifle aimed at it.

The hawk jumped back, its small wings fluttering, the big head and beak snapping and turning. They seemed more careful than the dogs as well, James thought. He didn't want to waste the ammunition unless he had to. They only had four shots, after all.

'James?' Rebecca called from somewhere close.

'Here!' He didn't dare look away from the beast.

'Watch out for the monsters, they're everywhere.'

'I've noticed,' he called back. 'I've got one right here.'

'Watch out for the other two!' Olivia's rounder, deeper voice added. 'They were here just a moment ago.'

Did they hunt in packs, like the wolves of Earth? James didn't like it.

Rebecca and another baboon-hawk came out of the fog almost simultaneously. The monster rushed towards James from the other side of its friend. He spun around.

'No!'

The bang of the shotgun had Rebecca dive to the ground, covering her head, and the hawk in front of him fell screeching to the ground.

'I got it!'

The words were barely out of his mouth when something smacked James hard in the back, and he fell forward. He rolled and got up into a crouch. A third and fourth hawk had joined them, cawing and screeching excitedly. Fuck.

The creature charged him again, and James dove to the side. Rebecca and Olivia ran at it, both with their shovels raised.

'Back off, you beast!' Olivia barked and swung her shovel at it. It bounced back, flapping it's wings.

Rebecca's shovel connected with a loud thunk, and the baboon-hawk scrambled back from them. James used their attack to get back up and ready the rifle again. As one of the monsters tried to attack Olivia from behind, James fired at it. It slumped down without a sound. Olivia yelped and looked back at him. But seeing the creature, she immediately went back to flailing the shovel at the remaining two hawks.

It seemed something happened then, as the monsters suddenly turned tail and fled. Their loud caws echoing around in the darkness.

Panting and sweating, the group looked around, waiting for another attack. But after a few seconds, it was clear they shouldn't waste any more time.

'Get the loot,' James ordered, and followed Rebecca and Olivia back a few metres to grab the things they had dropped.

Then they ran back to the ship.

As soon as they were all inside, Rich closed the doors and Bill pulled the lever. The shuttle roared.

'Wow, that was intense,' Olivia said as they had caught their breaths. 'I've never seen anything like that. What were they?'

'Baboon-hawks,' Bill said.

'They tried to take our stuff!' Olivia said, and huffed. 'I didn't work my ass off just to get those things stolen by... those things. They can back all the way off!'

'I didn't expect you to be so aggressive,' Rebecca laughed weakly. She looked absolutely destroyed. Her hair hung in dishevelled tufts, her pale face shone with sweat, and her eyes were wide. Still, it seemed that Olivia had boosted her confidence a lot, James thought.

'I have to admit, I'm impressed as well. After you screamed like that at the Company, I didn't think you'd make it.' He chuckled. His entire body was on fire. The adrenaline rush still hadn't left his system, and he felt clear-headed, alert and oddly happy.

Olivia beamed. 'Thank you. I was surprised as well. I didn't know I'd be so good at shovel-duty.' She soured and looked at her hands. 'But this is gonna hurt in the morning.' She held out a hand for the others to see. Red bruises and cuts everywhere.

'We've got some first aid stuff in that box over there,' James said.

'Here?' Rich asked, and opened it.

They all inspected and patched themselves up, then they relaxed with some canned food.

'Hey, we did well everyone,' Rich said.

'Yeah,' James agreed. 'It was a close call there, but that's only to be expected.'

'Totally getting used to it. I'm like an expert now,' Rebecca said.

'No, you're not,' Bill snorted. 'But you're holding up.'

'No need to be mean,' James pointed out. 'I thought they did great.

'And you finally got to use the gun,' Rebecca laughed then.

James grinned. He had indeed wanted to use it.

'We didn't finish our section, by the way,' Rebecca said. 'There were many rooms filled with scrap. We should all go to the same place tomorrow. Get all that stuff.'

James and Bill nodded.

'Who's on ship duty tomorrow then?' Rich asked.

'Who's the most tired who knows how to use the computer?' Bill asked.

'I think we all can do it, except Olivia,' Rebecca pointed out.

Rich and James nodded.

'But I'm fine, so someone else should do it,' Rich said, somewhat defensively, James thought.

'If you can't decide, I'll stay on the ship,' Bill said.

'Alright. Do that, the rest of us will go together,' Rebecca agreed. 'Then it's my turn.'

They agreed.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

The discussion flowed over to less important things, like what they'd worked with before the Company, what flavours of ice cream they enjoyed, and the fact that Rich seemed to find the loot bugs harmless and cute.

That night James had his first good sleep since he'd started working for the Company. A night free of nightmares.

The next morning they exited the ship to the ooh's and aah's of everyone. The sun rose above red cliffs, the trees stood tall and green, and the lush underbrush gave it all a lively touch. Animals chirped and called from the green canopy.

'It's so pretty,' Rebecca said.

'Refreshing,' James agreed. 'But let's focus and get going.'

'Nice weather for a walk in the woods.' Olivia smiled.

She didn't appear to be too traumatized from the first day, James thought. Good. They needed people who were good at adapting. 'Just keep your ears and eyes peeled.'

'Yessir.' Rich gave a mock salute in passing.

James smirked. He wondered how long this mood would last. Probably until their first meeting with something, he guessed.

As they came to the ravine, he noticed there were two bridges. The sturdy one they'd used the previous day, and another rickety looking thing to the right. Why'd anyone in their right mind use that, he wondered. Especially since it looked like it was possible to walk around the ravine just a short distance up from the bridge.

'Look, there's a fire escape down there.' Rebecca pointed at a red door below the sturdy bridge.

'We can have a look there later,' Rich suggested.

'Yeah, but let's stick together and go there when we're done up here,' James said.

'This is a dam,' Olivia leaned out over the far side of the concrete bridge.

'Really?' James walked up to the bridge and looked over the side. Deep water lapped at the side, making it obvious the ravine on the other side was actually part of a natural river or lake. He wondered why it was placed like that though. Since the water didn't get through, it wasn't used for energy. Maybe it was about structural stability? He shrugged. They had other things to do.

As soon as James entered the facility, something came out of the right-hand doorway. He sucked in air, then relaxed as he recognized the large, grey insect.

'Shoo. You scared the crap out of me,' he muttered. The thing looked at him for a second, then vanished back down the corridor again. This place seemed to be crawling with them.

'Alright, lead the way,' he said and looked at Rebecca.

She nodded and stepped confidently into the right corridor. After just a short distance, they came out into an open place and the concrete gave way to a mesh walkway. In the large room, their footfalls echoed. James looked over the yellow handrails, shining his flashlight down. A deep fall. Machines of some kind stood silent below, a red light glowed somewhere in a far corner. Maybe a door? Other walkways stretched across the room. There were five doors in total. They came back to a normal corridor, and went through a storage area and down a wide stair.

'Here,' Rebecca said then. 'We haven't finished exploring here.'

'Alright, keep on your toes,' James said and pulled out the scanner.

'There's at least three creatures nearby,' Bill's voice came from the comms then.

That didn't sound promising. Everyone had paused, looking at the walkie-talkie in James' hand.

'What are they? Over,' James asked, his stomach tensing.

'Not sure, but they appear fast and small. Possibly bugs.'

'Loot bugs? We can deal with those. Over,' James said, feeling a lot safer again. Nothing to worry about, just the little buggers.

'You just have to offer them some loot, and they'll take off with it,' Rich said and smiled, as if he recalled some funny memory.

'Yeah, but we need the loot,' James said, trying to keep the annoyance from his voice.

'Just a key, or a small thing is enough. Don't give the big things away. That'd be silly.'

Yeah, you do seem a little silly, James thought, but kept it to himself. 'Keep looking. And be careful. Stay at a safe distance.'

'What's a safe distance,' Olivia asked, her eyes wide.

'Uh... a few meters.' James didn't actually know, but they didn't seem to be too easily aggravated, unless they had loot.

They walked about, picking anything worthwhile, and quickly passed through several rooms and corridors. Bill often checked in and gave them directions to loot and warned of the bugs. But then, he contacted them again.

'There's something else in there with you. It just appeared on the scanner. Not sure what it is, but it's bigger and very fast.'

'Alright, we'll be careful. Over,' James replied.

'And there's something from the direction you came from as well. But it's sitting still. Possibly a centipede.'

'Great. Over.' This place was clearly crawling with creatures. Not good at all. They'd better be quick. He peeked out through the door, and swept his eyes up and down the corridor before checking a door on the other side. It opened easily, and he found a large area with big machines.

'Oh?' He looked up. The walkways above must have been where they'd been earlier.

'What are you looking at?' Olivia had followed him.

'Just the walkways.' He pointed. 'This room looks promising. Have you tried the scanner yet?'

She blinked, then she pulled it up from her belt. 'This thing?'

'Yeah. Let me show you.'

James showed her how to use it, and several items in the room lit up on the little screen.

'Oh! There's one over there!' She rushed over and picked up a red tray full of glass bottles. 'This is heavy. I think I'll go back to the others with this.'

'Yeah, good idea. I'll take the rest of the items, if I can, then I'll join you.'

She nodded and vanished out of the room.

A loud crash and a shriek.

James stiffened, adrenaline shocking his system into a standstill for a second. Then he rushed to the doorway and looked out, his shotgun ready. Olivia stood, like rooted to the ground, the tray with bottles on the floor. Some bottles had broken. He saw nothing else. And that made him almost sick with fear. He knew what behaved like that.

'Olivia, take the tray and go. Look behind you often. We have to leave. It's too dangerous to stay here.'

She didn't respond.

'Olivia!' He barked, and she visibly jumped.

'Yes, yes, sorry. Something... there was something–'

'Yes, I know. Leave. Now. Go, go, go!'

She snapped out of it, yanked the tray back up and ran. Good. James glanced both ways, then hurried back into the room. No way he'd leave all these things. They had a quota to reach, after all. He ran around the room, snatching up cords, bolts, batteries, spools of wire, and a few more things. Then he carefully approached the door, shotgun ready. Peering out into the dark corridor, he saw nothing. He hastened across and into the opposite room. The others had left, probably because of the shadowman. He swallowed. His throat had gone dry in an instant. He hated that one.

'Just look around often,' he whispered to himself, just to hear a voice.

'Hurry back, James,' Bill said on the comms. 'The Bracken is after the others right now, but there's something more coming your way. Could be another one. Go.'

James didn't need spurring. He ran, back through the corridors, through the emptied rooms, up the stairs, out onto the walkway.

A dark figure crouched on the other side of the mesh, white eyes glowing in the darkness. James halted. The thing growled and backed out the door.

Sweating, James stood rooted to the floor. What should he do? The thing was where he had to go. He remembered Bill's words. There might be another one. He looked over his shoulder and met two white eyes, only centimetres away.

With a strangled intake of air, James bolted forward, his feet banging loudly on the mesh.

He whipped his head left and right as he rushed past the doorway, and heard another deep growl. He didn't see it this time though. But there were TWO of them. One mistake and he'd never see the light of day again. He glanced back, and a shadow retreated.

'Fuuu...' James breathed as he dashed towards the entrance.

A loud growl ahead again. The first one stood by the doors out, leaning forward as if ready to rush him. James skidded to a stop.

The thing stepped towards him.

James raised the shotgun.

The door opened.