'No, get back!' James yelled at the top of his lungs. He couldn't fire if someone entered.

The bracken twisted around, looking away.

A scream rang through the entrance, echoing loudly. James saw his chance and threw himself forward at the cracked open door. He dove under the long arms of the creature, felt it scratch his back. He landed hard on his belly, twisted around and kicked the door shut. The boom of a metal door closing had never sounded so good in his entire life.

'Are you okay?' Rebecca shouted, grabbing at his arm and pulling at him.

He stumbled back up, still eyeing the door. 'Yeah, I think so. Maybe.'

'Let's go.'

He backed off from the door, panting heavily. The he finally looked at Rebecca, gave a sharp nod in thanks, and ran towards the bridge. He didn't wanna risk it, and took the closest one. The rickety bridge shuddered and swayed as their heavy footfalls hit the metal plates and woodwork. But it held, and they reached the treeline on the other side.

Once under the shadows of the trees, James and Rebecca stopped for a moment to catch their breaths. He looked back at the large facility on the other side of the ravine.

'Well, I'm not going back in there.'

'I saw the eyes... was it the... uh... bramble...'

'Bracken. Yes.' He shuddered. They were freaky as all hell. Just sneaking behind you. What'd they do if they got to you? Probably kill you, but still. Some things are worse than simply dying.

He took in the forest around him. Hilly, some shrubs, some large rocks jutting out of the ground, manticoils fluttering among the branches, the odd call and tweet here and there, the sunlight strafing down through the canopy. Actually, a pretty quaint place, when he thought about it. Not bad at all. He drew in a deep steadying breath, even though he only had the stuffy air in the suit. No fresh outdoors air. Could they breathe here?

'Should we go?' Rebecca smiled at him when he snapped out of it.

'Yeah, sorry. I was admiring the view.'

'It's nice,' she hesitated, 'but a little too full of monsters for my liking.'

'No shit! I hadn't noticed.'

She blinked in surprise, then laughed. 'For a second I thought you were serious,' she giggled.

He smirked and set off towards the ship.

As they had walked down another hill, shouts reached them from ahead.

'Ow, ow, ow! Get away from me!'

James looked at Rebecca. 'Is that Rich?'

'I think so.'

A primal scream followed by more expressions of minor pain echoed through the trees.

'Hurry, he might need help.' James set off running, but not at full speed. He'd learned that it might be a bad idea to draw too much attention. But if Rich needed help, they had to speed up.

As he got up the next hill and could see ahead, he stopped in confusion for a moment. Rich ran about, flailing his arms, as Bill and Olivia stood on the ship's walkway, by all appearances, cheering him on.

'What the...?'

Something flashed sharp blue-white around Rich, and he yelled again, running around the ship and disappearing from view.

'What's going on?' James called out as Rebecca climbed up the hill beside him.

'You're safe!' Olivia waved at them.

'Rich is playing with the bees,' Bill shouted back. 'Stay clear.'

'Bees?' James followed Rich as he loped out from behind the ship again. Something small, like a cloud, followed him. Tiny lightning-bolts appeared to zap him from time to time, drawing more shouts. 'Electric bees?'

Rebecca watched in silence for a while, then she drew out the scanner and sneaked closer, a determined look in her eyes.

'Rebecca, what are you doing?'

'Sshh.'

She approached the bees, and held out the scanner. The cloud of bees made a sharp U-turn, going straight for her. With a loud shriek she bolted, straight towards James.

'Don't come here!' he yelped, and dashed away from her. The buzzing and crackling from the bees as they shot past him had every hair on his body stand on end.

'Help!' Rebecca yelled.

The others laughed, but Rich laughed the loudest.

'Thank you!' He waved at her, and climbed up the ladder to the walkway, joining the other two.

James stood a way off, thinking that she was definitely gaining headway. She was a fast runner after all. She ran a few laps around the trees, and then she slowed down to a walk. Had she shaken them?

'Do I dare approach?' James shouted.

'Yeah. They... stopped... following...' She stooped forward and rested her hands on her knees, heaving visibly.

James couldn't keep a grin from invading his face. The laughter from the other three was infectious as well, and it had looked quite amusing.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Once back on the ship, Rich explained he'd spotted a beehive just a few meters away. 'They're really valuable, but they're a little hard to get. The bees are electrical, and really sting. If you get stung too much, you risk being immobilized. Hurts like hell.' He pulled off the suit to be able to show his arm. Several red and purple bruises marked his skin.

'We said he shouldn't do it,' Olivia explained. 'That's why we laughed when he did it anyway.'

'Stupidity should hurt,' Bill said. But he didn't sound nearly as angry as James had expected. Rather, he looked mildly amused.

'Well, I'm staying clear of those in the future,' James said.

'They were not fun!' Rebecca added.

'At least you didn't get to play with them for as long as I did,' Rich grunted and pulled the suit back on.

They all chuckled.

'It was your own choice,' Bill commented. 'We warned you.'

'It was worth it though, wasn't it,' he grinned. 'Scan it.'

Curious, James did. He checked the scanner twice. 'That's really good, actually,' he agreed. 'Maybe it's worth some pain to get them, after all. But perhaps we should have a better plan than simply picking the hive up and running away with it next time?'

The others nodded.

'There's still time. Should we check out the fire exit?' James asked, ruining the good mood.

'Do we have to?' Rebecca asked.

'Not if you don't want to.' He looked at the others. 'Anyone?'

'You should,' Bill agreed. 'But don't waste any time. There's only a few hours left.'

'Alright. Who's coming?' James asked.

All but Bill decided to go, and they set out. But they'd only gone a few hundred meters when something made an odd noise. Something between a groan and a creak.

'What was that?' James asked.

'I don't see anything,' Olivia said, slowly spinning around.

Rich pulled out the scanner. 'I don't see anything.'

'Alright. Probably nothing then,' James huffed. Every new sound set off their nerves, everything that moved scared the crap out of them. 'Let's hustle.'

The group made it to the fire exit, went in and explored shortly. But the chittering of loot bugs and growl of another bracken had them retreat in haste. They climbed back out of the ravine and entered the forest as the sun's last warm rays cast long shadows.

'Well, that was worthless,' Rich pointed out.

'Yeah, but we didn't know that,' James said. 'It was still worth a try. The quota is higher than the last time. And I'd like a little extra money so we can buy better gear. Don't you?'

'Sure. I never said we shouldn't.' Rich looked at him, a little too long.

James averted his eyes. He was being unfair. 'Sorry, didn't mean to snap. It's been a a long day.'

Rich smiled. 'Don't sweat it.'

They passed by a grove of large trees, standing close together. The comms hissed, and Bill's voice called out a warning. Something moved, and James twisted his head to look at it.

Nothing. Odd. 'Wha– ?'

Olivia screamed, ear splitting. James froze.

'What?'

'Run!' Rich hollered.

He spotted it then. The tree. The largest tree in the grove. It moved. The fat trunk spun with surprising speed, revealing its face. A large mouth hole and two enormous eyes sat in the middle of the trunk. It stared at them for a moment, without moving. Two branch-like, long arms reached out towards them.

'Seven Seas,' James breathed. He backed off, and stumbled over a small rock. The thing was huge.

'Jaaaames!' Rebecca yelled.

He fled.

They ran through the forest, up and down the hills, round rocks and tree trunks. The ground shook with the heavy footfalls of the monster. They tried to shake it off by going around a red stone cliff that jutted out of the ground in one place. But as they rounded it, the monster waited for them.

'It went around!' James shouted. 'Get back!'

They ran back where they'd come from, taking them further away from the ship.

'We have to get back, guys,' Rebecca panted. 'We're going the wrong way!'

'Don't stop!' James barked without looking back. The thumps of the thing's footfalls were enough to know it was too close.

'We need to hide,' Rich yelled. 'Maybe it'll give up if it can't find us.'

'Maybe!' James yelled, not believing it.

The ground shook, and Rebecca screamed. James glanced back and stopped in his tracks.

The giant tree had smashed its branch-hand to the ground, close enough to Rebecca to topple her with the impact.

He hesitated for a second, then ran towards her.

She got up on her feet.

James strained towards her, reached out a hand.

Too slow.

Rebecca took a step towards him, then she was encased in long twig-like fingers, and snatched up from the ground.

It happened so fast.

James roared, pulled out the shotgun.

The giant raised her to the large hole in the trunk, its mouth presumably.

James pulled the trigger.

A loud crack, flashing light. Splinters of wood rained over him. The giant rumbled. The noise so loud and deep, he felt it through his entire body. But it didn't stop!

He fired again.

Rebecca screamed, and silenced.

James stared at it. Couldn't believe it had happened.

She was gone. Swallowed whole.

The thing looked at him. He stared back.

Time stilled.

Pain, greater than what fit inside his being, beat him to his knees. He couldn't even scream. Couldn't breathe. Had that really happened?

Someone grabbed him from behind and yanked him back just as the giant's hand tried to snatch him too.

'Go, go, go!' someone shouted.

A push in the back. Someone grabbed his arm and pulled. James stumbled forward, numb and cold.

'Not that way!'

They ran, dodged back and forth, stopped, ran again. James wasn't aware of where they went, only that he had to keep moving. He couldn't look up from the trembling ground rushing past. But somehow, after an eternity, someone placed his hand on a metal rung.

'Climb, you fool!'

Pushed in the back again.

'Reach!' A hand in front of his face. He took it, on auto-pilot. Climbed up.

'Run! Get in!'

He forced his heavy legs to move. Just a little more. Everything would be over soon. It was just a terrible dream. He'd wake up soon. He'd wake up.

'Close the door!'

The hands that had kept him up let go, and he pitched forward. His entire body protested, his stomach hurt, his throat burned. He pulled at his helmet, got it off.

Heaved like a fish on land, retched, and emptied his guts on the floor.

He couldn't breathe, his throat burned, his eyes stung.

Rebecca. Gone.