Collateral Damage - A Sudden Detour Part VIII

Posted on Tue 1st Dec, 2020 @ 1:40am by Lieutenant Elliot Jericho & Lieutenant Commander Kiara Lena

2,102 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Denouement
Location: Uncharted Planet in the Thetacron Sector
Timeline: MD:17 1538 Hours

Previously on the continuing adventure of Kiara and Elliot...

There it was again, the growl, but this time it was much louder, like a grizzly bear on earth. Elliot looked back again at Kiara to see if she had heard what he did and he noticed movement behind them. A large bulk of fur, dark brown had come out of the tree line behind them about 25 meters. It had the form of a grizzly, but the face and head were different. This thing had tusks and was almost pig-like in the face. It noticed them and began running towards them.

Elliot stopped and pulled his phaser while putting a hand on Kiara's shoulder so he could shoot past her. He squeezed the trigger...


And now to see what happens.....


The phaser shot hit the creature squarely in the chest, but even on heavy stun, it didn't seem to bother the thing at all. Elliot quickly tapped the controls on his phaser and move the setting to kill and fired again. Even on stun, the creature didn't stop. It seemed to cause him to miss a step, but there was no time to keep firing. Elliot grabbed Kiara's hand and yelled, "Run!"

"We can't outrun it. We have to get somewhere it can't reach us," she countered, looking for someplace that would be safe enough. "Can we scare it?" There was a narrow opening between two thick clumps of trees and she headed for it, hoping they would fit through and the creature wouldn't.

Kiara was surprisingly strong. When she ran at a slightly different angle than Elliot, she nearly spun him and almost jerked him off balance, but he caught himself and only stumbled. He followed her to the narrow opening in the trees, but if the creature was smart, he would only have to go farther down about 10 yards to where the trees opened up. For now, he didn't seem to be too smart.

She slipped through the opening and looked around. "Still too open." She slipped between two more trees and carefully wove her way into thicker areas, always mindful of where the mountain was, and where the bear creature was. At least it wasn't quiet like a cat. "Up here," she said, finding a tree that looked large enough to climb. "Bears aren't known for climbing trees, but if this one tries, we can shoot it."

Elliot began to climb the tree, "It's not a bear and for all we know the thing can probably fly." He continued to climb after her, "It's getting darker by the minute, we may have to stay up here a while."

She settled in between several branches where she would be high enough to hopefully evade attack and still under enough foliage to keep away from some of the rain. Once she was sure she wouldn't fall, she looked around. It was indeed getting darker. "That's not a good sign." She had no idea how bad the storms were here.

"We should probably get some sleep while we can." Elliot pulled some climbing rope from his pack and cut off a six-foot piece for himself and one for Kiara. "Tie yourself to the tree so you don't fall while you are sleeping." He said while he was handing her one of the pieces of rope.

"Good idea." She lashed herself to the tree and got comfortable. She was doubtful she would sleep, but if she closed her eyes and rested it would be beneficial. At least, she hoped so."

Unfortunately, the creature wasn't sleeping. She could hear it moving around in the brush, no doubt looking for a way to get them.

Elliot had tied himself to the tree so he wouldn't fall if he fell asleep, but he knew that with the noise of the creature down below that he probably wouldn't be able to sleep either. The rain continued to fall on them, causing Elliot to shiver.

The creature chuffed and dug around the bottom of the tree...until lightning struck nearby.

Elliot must have dozed off because the lighting startled him and if hadn't been for the rope tied around him, he would have fallen from the tree. He looked down and tried to get a look at the creature, but because of the darkness and the tree limbs, he couldn't. He wasn't sure if it was still there or not.

"Careful," Kiara said quietly. "I'm tracking the lightning. I know trees are not a good place to be in a storm, but I'm not sure if it's safe to get down yet." There was another lightning strike followed by a roll of thunder and the smell of smoke.

"Well, safe or not, we need to get out of the trees." She untied her rope and slipped it into her pack. "I don't know which way the fire will spread, but I don't want to take any chances. We should find a cave or a hole in the ground."

"Even if we find a cave to escape flames, we would have a high chance of dying from smoke inhalation. We should stay ahead of the flames and smoke." Elliot said as he untied his own rope and put it away. It was still dark, but the flames of the fire were still obscured by the trees. "I think we should keep moving up the mountain until we have reason otherwise."

"Only if we can move at an angle," Kiara said. He was correct about the cave. Unless it had a large cavern or went back a long way, it could be dangerous. At the same time, their chances of outrunning the fire depended on how fast it moved and in what direction. A tunnel, on the other hand, would get them below the smoke and if there was no grass to burn, below the flames, too. She glanced in the direction of the fire. The flames were now visible. She headed off at an angle, hoping to get out of its way.

The fire was downhill from their location and thankfully so since they needed to go uphill to get to the area to position the beacon. It was still raining hard, but the fire was unfazed and continued to move and grow. from behind them, Elliot heard the low guttural growl from the creature that had stocked them earlier. "Are you kidding me? This thing never gives up. Elliot handed Kiara his pack, "Take the beacon and set it up when you find the right spot, I'm going to lead this thing away and try to lose him. I'll catch up to you when I can." Elliot turned around to face the creature and said to Kiara in a calm voice, "Run."

"Shoot," she said back. "I don't think we can outrun it." Kiara carefully reached for her tricorder. She might be able to make a noise loud enough to scare it off if Eliot didn't have a weapon.

Elliot reached for his phaser, but the holster was empty, “Lost it.” He called out before adding, “Head up the hill and set up the beacon, I will draw the monster away and find a way to lose it.”

"No. We stay together," she countered. She set her tricorder to emit a shrill, pulsating tone to scare it off. She wasn't going to let him risk his life for her. They were in this together. Besides, he had a wife to go back to.

The creature reared back and roared in anger. The sound seemed to only piss the thing off. It began to come at them much faster and more determined than ever.

Elliot cursed softly for not making some kind of weapon when he had time. He looked around frantically for something to use as a weapon, anything and then he saw it. There behind him was an old branch that had been downed for a long time and had no leaves on it. He hoped that it wasn't brittle and rotten because if it was they would probably be dead.

"Get behind me!" Elliot yelled out as he held the branch up at an angle towards the fast approaching creature. The larger end of the branch, he stuck almost into the ground and used his foot to brace it. He lowered himself to keep the angle of the branch shallow and waited for the creature to impact with it. He yelled out as the creature ran at him, something like a warriors cry. He wanted to run but knew he had to face the creature here and now. The yelling kept his feet planted.

Kiara ran behind him, looking for something she, too, could use as a weapon.

The large creature plowed into Elliot. Nearly a half-ton of meat slammed into him and took him another twenty feet or so before the creature stopped moving, impaled by the sharp limb. The creature lay dead on top of Elliott. Elliot lay there with his head turned to the side where he could breathe, barely. The weight that was now upon his chest made it difficult, but not impossible. His twisted and squirmed, but the huge ball of fur kept him pinned.

"Now that is definitely a predicament," Kiara said.

"I could use a little or make that a lot of help." Elliot managed to get out, but it was a bit muffled.

She tried not to laugh, but couldn't help herself as she approached the creature. "I'm sorry, but after all the stress that thing caused, this is pretty funny." She walked around, looking for the best way to help Elliott. Finally she decided a rope might be best. She had one in her pack in case they needed it for steep climbing. She tied one end around the creature's neck and wrapped the rope over a thick branch to make a sort of pulley. All she needed to do was get enough leverage for him to slip out from under it.

Elliot heard Kiara moving around doing some things and after a few minutes, the weight of the creature seemed to lessen. He tried to wiggle himself out but as the weight eased he felt pain in the right side of his chest, probably a broken rib or two. The creature had hit him pretty hard and he was actually thankful that he wasn't hurt more. With some effort and pain, he continued to grunt as he slowly slid himself out from under the creature. He lay there on the cold ground for a few minutes holding his ribs as he tried to catch his breath. The pain he endured with every breath was excruciating. "I think I have some broken ribs. I need something for the pain and I also need your help to put a wrap on, but first something for the pain."

She lowered the creature back to the ground, then wound the rope as she walked back to Elliott and put it away. "I have an elastic wrap, but I'm not sure it'll be adequate for ribs. We have a medical tricorder and some basic first aid. Let me see what I can do."

With the tricorder in hand, she carefully examined Elliott. "You're in luck. It's just a couple of broken ribs. I think I can mend them." She'd been saving the medkit for an emergency, and with broken ribs, this definitely counted. He wouldn't be able to climb well, even if she wrapped them. She ran the bone regenerator, pausing to check the tricorder from time to time until it showed that the ribs were mended. "You'll need to be careful, but I think you're good."

Elliot smiled back at her when she was finished, "Thank you, it feels much better." His ribs were very sore, but at least they didn't have the awful pain of feeling bad like they were broken. Sore he could deal with. "We better get moving before more of those things show up." The rain continued to come down strong as the darkness helped to hinder their vision.

"Hopefully the carcass will keep any other predators from following us tonight." She glanced at the sky. "Maybe we should find a dry place to sleep and wait for morning to continue." It wouldn't do any good for them to send for help only to have the rescue team find their bodies at the bottom of a ravine.

"I must agree, let's find a place to sleep." Elliot said. They did need a safe and comfortable place to rest out of the weather before they continued their journey.

 

RSS Feed

Comments (1)