The Phoenix Colony

“Stupid woman should just climb a tree,” Cull grumbled under his breath taking up the rear of the small group.

He didn’t bother to hurry after them, he needed a little time to calm himself. He’d never had a way with women they more or less had a way for over riding him. He sighed thinking about moving into the mountains. Would it be any different from the crash site? He thought it was a bad idea. W0ouldn’t they be easier to find if they stayed near the ship?

 

As Fox's group walks through the field, with Viva and Pasha following them, they heard to something to the left side. When they look to there left, they see five large creatures heading their way.

These creatures appear to be about the same size and shape as a gorilla. Their skin is green, about the same shade as the grass, and scaly, like a reptile. They have three horns on thier face. One above each eye and one on the nose. Their eye horns are about four inches long and curve up. Their nose horn is about six inches long and also curves up, at the same angle as their eye horns. Their fingers are only about half the size of a humans, but at the end of each finger is a six inch, razor sharp claw that looks almost like the blade of a knife.

They close in too quickly for Fox's tribe to attempt to get away. One of them jumps in through the air at Fox.

As it goes through the air, her body seems to move on its own, in an attempt to dodge the creatures claws.

Blood runs down Fox's face as the creature lands about five feet to her right. The creature gave her a cut that starts about two inches above her left eye and goes diagonally across her face. Fox falls to her knees and thinks "How the hell did I dodge it. I'm quick, but not that quick." Keeping a close eye on the creature that attacked her, she yells "You guys deal with the other four, I'll kill this one."

The creature that attacked Fox lets out a loud, high pitched scream. Revealing two rows of long, sharp teeth. The four on the other side of Fox's group lowers their heads, so that their horns point directly towards their prey and slowly get closer.

"Damn it, they have us surrounded. These creatures are smart hunters." thinks Britney.

Britney's body begins heats up. "What the hell. I feel like I'm on fire." thinks Britney, as her body quickly cools back down.

She shakes her head, and then says "Get ready everyone, they're coming in for the kill."

 

They kept following the river and slowly moving upward. Grass slowly gave way to dirt and rock. Harold’s left arm still hung uselessly at his side. Bird chirped and bugs crawled underfoot as the mobster kept looking for anything that looked like a cave. He kept thinking about the guns. Why didn’t he grab one? Too high too think straight – again.

“We need weapons,” he said to himself. “First shelter and then weapons.”

As if answering him, a low roar cut through the air.

 

The hike was blessedly peaceful except for Viva’s occasional chatter which Reva tuned out. Birds had even ceased to sing.

Reva’s brow knitted, why had the birds-

In the next instant huge green gorrilla like things had dashed toward them as though the grass itself had become malignant with the desire to kill the women. Reva froze in horror, watching as one of the things leaped high and sliced its claws at Fox.

Reva felt the white-hot surge of adrenaline and out of the toolbox of instinct immediately chose ‘Flight’. Screams bursting from her throat she raced away from the group, blindly beating the brush out of the way, running along fallen trees, leaping boulders.

She could hear one of the things pursuing her, crushing brush out of the way, skidding over the rocky patches and she stopped screaming, saving her breath for leaping and running flat-out.

 

The thing roared again. All four convicts froze looking around. Even Juan’s head tilted trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. HArold looked at the green and blue bud skittering over his shoe and began to wonder just what other surprises the planet had.

“Hey Doc? Do you think that’s thing is as big as it sounds? "

 

Raylene took a fighters stance, discarding her sling on the right arm and faced one of the gorillas. She knew that her chances of defeating it were highly unlikely, but she sure as hell would die trying. As the thing charged her, she manuvered a round house kick as it passed and she grabbed ahold of one of the horns. The beast stopped in it's tracks, swiping with it's giant claws and shaking it's head.

Raylene manages to swing herself up to its head and wraps her legs around its neck. She holds onto the horns like handles, squeezing with her thighs, choking the wind out of the gigantic beast. The shanking and swiping slows. The thing drops to its knees and falls flat on its belly. Raylene squeezes still, ensuring that its good and knocked out before releasing her hold.

 

"I sure as hell hope it isn't," Derek interjected. "I'm pretty beat up and I could use some rest." He kicked at the rock beneath him with the toe of his prison boots. "If only we could dig into this s**t. What's the plan if we get ambushed by whatever's makin' those damn annoyin' screams? If we have to hear it any closer I think I'll kill myself just to avoid the pain."

 

HArold looked around and picked up long, thorny branch. Thick spikes poked out at strange angles and tears of green sap dripped. "Anybody else got a weapon?"

 

"I don't need a weapon," Derek said. "Til' we find somethin' light like a bow or a knife, I'm gonna go ahead an' just use my fists. I move quicker that way. Let's just keep movin' for now, I still don't see anywhere to camp out for the night." He began to scan the horizon, seeing the slope of the ground get steeper the farther ahead in their path. To the sides, there were the river and open plains. He took out his package of cigarettes and counted them. 19 left. He resisted the urge to take one out barely, put them back in his pocket.

 

Fox pulls out her gun, but the creature closes in and slahes her in the side. She falls to the ground, with a thud. Blood pouring out of the five slash markes on the left side of her ribs. The thing put its hand on her chest, pressing down with all of its weight. By the amount of pressure on her chest, she figures that it was around three hundred pounds. It quickly bites into her right shoulder. Fox lets a scream. She grabs her improvised knife with her left hand and james it into the side of the creatures neck.

It stands up and yells out in pain. Then falls to the ground, dying, as silver blood pours from its neck. Upon hearing the yell, the one that was after Reva turns around and begans to head back to where the other four are.

Britney grabs her stungun, but as soon as she does the creature charges her. Its nose horn pierces her thigh. The creature flings it head up, sending Britney flying into the air. As she comes down, it grabs her side and slams her to the ground. Some how, she manages to hold onto the stungun and shocks the creature. It lets out a yell and quickly backs away, Readying another charge.

After killing the creature, Fox searches for her gun. After finding it she looks over and sees one of the creatures about to attack Britney, as she lays on the ground. She quickly shoots it in the head three times. It falls over. Silver blood pouring out of the back of its head.

Fox looks over in the direction that Reva ran off. She sees the creature that was chasing Reva, running back towards the group. She grabs the piece of metal out of the side of the one creature's neck and readies herself for the next attack.

 

The mobster touched the green sap. It stung but for a few minutes but didn't do anything else. A second roar reached their ears. HArold grabbed Juan by the collar and tugged. "Let's make for that ridge. maybe we can find something there."

Juan whimpered. All he could see was a pair of legs choking the life from him.

 

"Sounds like a plan," Derek responded. "I'll run ahead and scout around, keep an eye out for that howlin' banshee."

With that Derek trotted away, moving quickly but conserving his strength in case he had a moment where he needed it. He looked around, seeing nothing but rocks laying around. Keeping his stride, he picked up a small, solid rock and carried it in his hand.

 

Cull couldn’t agree more with Harold, he burst into a sprint hurrying after the men towards the ridge, his pulse thumping in his ears.

“Lets try not to look back.”

 

Raylene looks down at the creature between her thighs. She grabs the two horns above its eyes and quickly jerks its head, twisiting it as far as it will go. She twists harder and hears a crunch. She quickly leaves its body and searches for the others.

Two of these creatures are left, one is charging at Fox and the other is circling Pasha and Viva. At this point, Raylene looks down and sees blood gushing out of a gash the length of her forearm.

 

"It sees us!!!" said Juan.

Harold picked up the pace. "Hey Doc, anything in your bag of tricks to knock something out?"

 

Pasha yelled, his eyes turning angry as one of the beasts leapt toward Viva. He knocked the creature to the side with a quick, powerful thrust from his stick. He quickly jumped at the creature, only to be greeted with it’s claws at his chest. He yelled, rolling to his side. He quickly grabbed at his knife, going for the creatures chest, only to hit earth. He yelled in frustration as the green of the creature seemed to zoom by. He quickly thrust his stick in front of hit, watching as it expertly jumped over.

He began to run after the creature only to be knocked down. He yelled out, whamming his stick into the creatures face. The claws of the animal came from his back, as it screeched in pain. He came down at it’s chest with his knife. The knife barely sunk in when it’s strong arms tossing Pasha to the ground. He recoiled, his stick coming down at the creatures legs. He heard a crack and another screech from the animal. He quickly flung down, jamming his knife into the creatures open mouth. In quick intervals, the creature stopped moving. Pasha got up, running to help the others.

 

"It sees us!!!" said Juan.

"Hey Doc, anything in your bag of tricks to knock something out?"

Cull poked about in the pouch until he found a syringe and the bottle of sedative medication. Cull cursed as he had to stop and fill up syringe then ditch the packet after he was gone he started to run again. His nerves were on fire as he realised if he trip he’d be the one getting the eternal goodnight.

“Sure, I‘ve got a big syringe of nightie night. Lets hope whatever it is doesn‘t mind becoming our new door mat.”

 

As the last of the creatures charges her, Fox decides that she had to go ahead and use the gun. She puts her knife in her belt and pulls out the gun. One quick shot later and the creature falls down dead. She quickly looks at the bodies of the creatures. She says, "We should rest here for a little bit. We need to tend to our wounds." She looks over to where Reva ran off and yells "Reva, if you can hear me, come back to the group."

Britney lays there, curled up in a ball. She feels a hand on her shoulder. "Hey are you ok." says a voice. She rolls onto her back and sees Fox standing over her. She smiles and says "Yeah, I'll be ok. I'm really happy that your safe." "Don't worry about me. I didn't avoid assassination attempts by the goverment, just to get killed by some alien ape. Lets call these things ceaders for the time being." says Fox. Britney lays there and thinks to herself "Why am I so happy that she's safe, she is just a terrorist."

 

A shape was moving in the distance. "Keep running!!!" said Harold. "Great Doc, when we get an opening go for it. If I don't drop dead first." When the hell did I get so out of shape? wondered the mobster. His fingers tightened on the branch he would swing low, just like in Brooklyn.

 

Derek looked back while he was running, and realized he'd gotten farther ahead of the group than he intended. Not paying attention, he tripped over a rock and fell flat on his face, turning the fall into a somersault to avoid too much damage. As he got up, he saw a large blue snake, nearly as big as the mob boss, with a mane like a lion, that had just leapt over him, missing as he tripped. It let out another loud roar then began to charge towards Derek. As he rolled to the side to avoid being bit he yelled "Ah s**t! Damn Banshee has some bigass teeth!"

Derek stood facing the Banshee, rock still in hand. As it charged, he threw it as hard as he could at its head, but it didn't even phase the monster as it attacked. He attempted to knock it off balance with a kick to the side of the head, but swung too early and was knocked to the groud by its snout. He lay on his back, holding it by the mane in an attempt to keep its large, sharp teeth off of his head.

 

“Right, this isn‘t going to be easy though, once he gets in close, I need to get in close to him, I could lose my F****** arm in this.” Cull stumbled and he heart caught in his throat thinking of the lethal injection he was holding. He regained his balance and tried to move faster.

 

Allen worked as he walked. He only paused a moment to punch two holes through the cloth oval with his sharp file then started moving again. As he pushed through the bush he tied the two two-foot leangths of tubing through those holes, then he tied a loop in the end of one of the cords. He had fashioned himself a workable sling. He fitted a rock into the pouch and silently glided through the forest. It was time to get some food.

 

Raylene makes her way back to the rest of the group, digging the first aid kit out of her makeshift bag. She scoops up her sling in case anyone needs a tourniquet. By the looks of the blood coming out of her arm, she's the one that will be needing it.

"Who's hurt the worst?" She asks as she nears Fox and Britney.

 

The first thing HArold saw was a mangy bunch of fur and scales burst from the ground below. Thick fangs and long ropes of saliva glinted in the light. It dove past the other three and landed on Derek. Harold ran up and slammed the branch into the beast’s hide. The shock ran up his arm, nearly knocking the branch out of his arm. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Chrys attacking the thing. The mobster came around and slammed the branch into the thing’s mouth. The thorns sank deep into the creature’s soft, grey gums. It howled evilly. “Could use a hand Doc!”

 

Pasha walked towards the rest, as Viva came into site. She didn’t say much as she sat near the group. She was rather silent, and seemed to be in thought. Pasha’s back throbbed painfully, and blood came from the wounds on his chest. He cursed under his breath as he came near the girls. He wasn’t about ask for help, but her surely would need someone to clean the wounds on his back. He could feel the deep clawmarks that had gone into his flesh. The bruise seemed to not matter anymore.

He sat down next to them, pulling some of the meat from their makeshift bags made from the fur of the animals.

“We’ve got an entire antelope. We cooked some during breakfast, and we left a lot of it uncooked.” He muttered, “Help us, we help you.”