Chapter 9: Barely Human

I ran and didn’t look back. Even with the predator perk doping my hormones and the music screaming in my ears, I knew that if I turned to face Gabe, I’d be fucked.

A harpoon-tipped tentacle jetted past my head, nearly taking my damn ear off. It twisted and tried to wrap around my head, sticky mucus globbing into my hair, but I was too fast and dropped to slide through two standing stones. A tear of hair and scalp, a bolt of pain, blood pouring down my shoulder and I was out of the ring of stones and sprinting for the tree-line, still hundreds of yards distant.

Another earsplitting screech came from right behind me, inspiring me to bloody leap down the mountain rather than run. In the lowered gravity, I was pretty sure my body could take it, and now I covered yards at a time.

Ahead a pack of those Uzbeki things scurried from the trees. They hesitated when they saw me. I assumed they saw what was chasing me too, but couldn’t risk a glance back. A few chirrups from the large one at the head of the pack and the group scattered, climbing the trees and preparing to dive.

I angled my trajectory slightly to avoid them, but a crash from behind changed my mind, the thing was right on my fucking tail.

An idea struck me.

I ran right at the pack of Uzbeki, they let out whoops of excitement as I approached and launched themselves from above, riding their tails like spears. I ducked and slid as they fell, jabbing into the dirt all about, missing me by inches. Two collided mid-air, impaling each other, and then I was past. Cheering morphed into horrified squeals a moment later and I risked a glance back. The little buggers screamed like Gazpacho when we clipped his nails.

The nightmare had a half dozen of them held aloft, impaled on a multitude of harpoon tentacles that sprouted from where a man’s arms would be. It stuffed one into its flower petal mouth, needle teeth forcing it down, while the others were attached to its shoulders somehow, like a grotesque, furred collar. The remaining Uzbeki scattered, I guess they were intelligent after all.

I made it into the trees, zig zagging between fungal trunks and leaping over spiked sporish growths as large as my fist. I wasn’t sure whether that thing, Gabe, would pursue the Uzbeki pack, or continue after me. But I wasn’t going to hang around to find out.

I hadn’t seen a single alien highlighted by my infra-vision all day, nor could I see anything outlined through the trees. With the swarm of mindless Gosporian Drones out of the way, still high above the tree canopy, I wondered if any other creatures had made it through the first day without killing and levelling up. The thought made me uneasy, and my eyes darted about as I ran, expecting to see enemies behind every tree. I hadn’t realised how much I had relied on seeing my enemies coming.

I ran for what felt like hours, but had to only be minutes. I could still hear crashing and the occasional screech from behind, but couldn’t tell how far the nightmare was, or whether it still pursued me. A crash came from my left so I swerved and angled away from it, but then I heard a scream. I stumbled and nearly fell. Had it been human?

Thus far it had just been me and the monsters, and though I had seen the hundred thousand filling that stadium with me, I’d felt like I was alone on this planet. The scream came again, young, feminine and laden with fear. I skidded to a halt.

My predator perk tried to make me not care, but I’d truly be damned if I left a kid to the nightmares of this world. Hell, I’d barely be human.

I flicked open my inventory and the obsidian war axe appeared in my grip. Once again my body surged with power, like I was un-fucking-stoppable. I sprinted towards where I had heard the screams, and when the dense fungal growth blocked my passage I cleaved my way through with the axe. My cheeks hurt and I realised I had a wide grin plastered to my face and try as I might I couldn’t wipe the damn thing away. This fucking place.

I burst into a clearing swarming with different aliens, but I only had eyes for the kid. She was perhaps fifteen and skinny and was half way up a lone tree in the very centre, kicking down at a slug thing that oozed up at her. Three more of its kind ringed the trunk. A group of Uzbeki were there too, diving down at the slug things and some spindly, humanoid-tree looking aliens with a leathery ballsacks for heads.

I hesitated, there had to be two dozen enemies in that clearing. The kid screamed and kicked the slug thing in what I thought was an eye-stalk. Good for her. But her foot stuck to the stalk and the slug used her foot as an anchor to rapidly climb to her level, trapping both her feet in its mass. I was half way across the clearing before I, or the aliens really knew what was happening and swung with all my strength at the treelike alien that barred my path. It felt like I’d struck stone, the blade stopping dead and the haft bruising my hands. The thing tilted its ballsack head down to look at me and I braced for whatever it was about to unleash upon me, but then an audible plink came from where my axe still pressed against its side and the thing shattered into dust, its head rolling away.

An Uzbeki used the distraction to ride its tail into another of the tree-like aliens, its adorable quokka head snapping forward as it stopped dead. It fell free then scurried away. A second Uzbeki hit a moment later but this time I heard a plink as it hit and the tree thing disintegrated. The fuzzy little alien hollered a YEEEHAW and ran for a tree.

I’d been fascinated with Prince Rupert’s Drops when my science teacher had first shown them to me. Practically indestructible unless you hit them just right. But if you did, then they, like these aliens would shatter into powder.

I ran to where three of the slug things ringed the base of the tree. Above, the girl struggled to break free and swiped with a rock at the one that had her feet. I swung my axe into one of the slugs and the blade sunk a few inches into its body. It was like the things were made from molasses, I tried to wrench my weapon free but it was stuck fast.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

An icon appeared in my HUD. I tried to swipe it away, but it remained persistent.

Eligible Lifeform Detected: Form Tribe?

Again the presenter started yapping. Did she not get that I was fighting for my fucking life here?

I slammed on Yes to make it go away.

The slug twisted, yanking the axe from my grasp. Strength drained from my body, leaving me feeling suddenly vulnerable. A flicker from the corner of my vision, I raised my armoured arm reflexively and ducked as a Uzbeki hit, its spear-like tail deflecting off the chitin plates fused to me. It hit the ground with a cheer and scurried a few steps towards a tree until one of the slugs reared up and body slammed it.

Something struck me from behind and I fell to a knee. Too much, there was too much to keep track of. It grew dark for a second and I rolled to the side as a slug landed where I’d been a moment before. I staggered to my feet and opened my inventory, looking for some advantage.

What had I been thinking? Wading into battle against these odd was suicide. One of the tree aliens rammed its fingers into the slug that had tried to bodyslam me, my axe was still sticking out of its side. The digits branched into thousands of spikes in an instant, they riddled its gelatinous form and the slug compressed into almost nothing as the tree sucked it dry. My axe hit the ground, and I snatched it up, power flooding me.

The kid shrieked again, she was peppering the slug with rocks that she pulled from her inventory. They sunk in, and already the things body was distending, drooping down where all the rocks had settled. I saw her plan, smart kid.

Another group of the tree things waded into the clearing, silent as death. Then a moment later, a pack of the Uzbeki scurried in, cheering like they were at a rock concert. This was getting out of hand. I eyed the kid, she had this right? She’d be ok if I ran, I mean, she’d made it this far. I didn’t owe her anything. Then my eyes met hers, and they were the exact same shade of blue as Elena’s. My heart lurched in my chest, I couldn’t let her down, not again.

Transferring my axe to my left hand, I withdrew a Gosporian corpse into my right and flung it at the slug in the tree. It stuck to the distended lower of its body and was absorbed. I continued throwing bodies and the kid kept up her hail of rocks. The slug sunk ever lower, like a fat teardrop, only a few inches still covering the kid’s feet.

Combat raged all around with ever growing ferocity. Then I heard the sound I had been dreading. A high pitched screech that nearly deafened me. We all stopped, every damn one of us in that clearing turning as one to watch the horrific form of Gabe slither into the clearing.

The slug attached to the kid came free with a *pop* and fell to the dirt.

Gabe attacked.

The girl shouted something and leaped from the tree, right at me. I dropped my axe and caught her, but even with the reduced gravity she smashed me to the ground.

I watched from my side, dazed, as Gabe shattered tree after tree with its harpoon arms. Their ballsack heads dropping and rolling away. An Uzbeki rode its tail right into what I assumed passed as Gabe’s neck but its tail skittered free without causing any injury.

Blonde hair and a pair of blue eyes blocked my vision. I blinked.

“Wha?” I asked

“I said.” The kid replied. “Are you just gonna lay there, or are we going to get the hell out of here!?”

“Right, yeah.” I shook my head, clearing the stars from my vision and climbed to my feet. Something crunched inside me, that couldn’t be good. I picked up my axe and staggered in a circle. We were in the middle of the clearing, totally surrounded by the melee, so I chose the absolute opposite direction from Gabe, pointed, and ran.

The kid kept up easily and she withdrew a pair of Gosporian forelimbs from her inventory, holding them like daggers. We wove between the combatants, and nearly made it to the edge of the clearing when a wall of the slug things emerged to bar our way. I swore and looked about. More and more creatures entered the clearing with every moment that passed. Strange lifeforms that I didn’t have time to understand.

I looked down at the kid, her blue eyes were narrowed, teeth bared, daggers raised as she swore in what I was pretty sure was French.

I looked at the creatures all about, at Gabe as it cut a swathe of death and destruction. There was no getting out of here.

The kid looked at me with Elana’s bright blue eyes and I made my decision.

“You’re going to have to run kid. Run and don’t look back. I’ll be fine. Ok?”

“What are you-” She cut off with a squawk as I bent down and grabbed her by one ankle. She toppled. I spun about, using the weight of my axe as counterbalance for the girl and with the help of the impossible strength it gave me, and the reduced gravity I flung the kid right over the top of the wall of slugs, into the jungle beyond.

Holy shit, I thought. I’d just chucked her like twenty yards. That had to be some kind of a record.

I turned just in time to see Gabe charge a group of tall, oddly beautiful creatures that looked to have come straight from a fairy tale. They stood in a row, shoulder to shoulder holding identical spears at a precise angle. Gabe ran through them like they weren’t even there. I shuddered and ran a little, trying to find a way out.

I turned back to face the chaos, gripping my axe tightly. Gabe’s hulking form loomed larger than life, snake body propelling it along, man-like torso raising its eyeless hammerhead high and obliterating everything in its path. Slugs, Uzbeki, the ball-sack trees, even those fairy-tale creatures. A swipe of its harpoon-arm shattered the final tree standing between us, and even though it didn’t have eyes, I knew its gaze was locked onto me.

It screeched, a piercing sound that rattled my skull and made my knees buckle. Every creature in the clearing froze, heads turning toward me like I’d just become the grand prize in this bloodbath. A message flashed onto my HUD in glowing red text.

WARNING: CRITICAL THREAT DETECTED.

No shit.

Gabe lunged, tentacles outstretched. I raised my axe, knowing damn well it wouldn’t be enough. My muscles screamed as I prepared to strike.

Then, the kid’s voice rang out behind me, her French accent sharp and furious.

“Oi, Sac à Merde!”

I glanced over my shoulder. She stood at the jungle’s edge, holding something in her hands—a glowing device, pulsing with light. It was unlike anything I’d seen before, and the moment she activated it, the air around her warped and crackled with lightning.

Gabe stopped mid-charge, its hammerhead swinging to point in her direction, harpoon tenticle arms twitching erratically. She threw the thing, a thread of electricity marking its path and connecting her to the nightmare.

“What the hell are you doing?!” I shouted, my voice cracking.

She grinned, her blue eyes burning with defiance.

The ground trembled, and the jungle around her and Gabe seemed to collapse inward, folding like paper. Then, in a flash of lightning, Gabe was gone—and so was she.

“NO!” I shouted, the word tearing from my throat.

I staggered, blinking against the afterimage burned into my retinas, the clearing suddenly eerily quiet.

Every remaining creature turned to me, their intelligent eyes gleaming with the same question.

The jungle trembled.

And I realised.

Gabe wasn’t the only nightmare on this planet.