Author note: First week back has been pretty easy so I had some time. Pretty excited to get to the actual plot of my story.

Anyways, have a nice read!

Grace had made some pretty poor decisions in her life, but this had to take the cake. Walking into a creepy, foggy jungle with nothing but a torch in search of Ricardo was her first mistake. Stumbling and continuing on even though she felt the immediate sense of danger was her second mistake. (Author note: Cliche horror tropes ftw!) Not to mention that she’d just had her wound recently cauterized. It was amazing that she was even able to walk on her left leg after two days.

Back on Earth Grace had been valued for her smart, accurate ,and dedicated work on the job. She was prone to take her work outside of the job and research whatever she was interested in, in her tiny room aka The Cave. Outside of studying plants and animals she had lived a relatively lethargic lifestyle. Sleeping in and transforming into a coach potato were some of her favorite past-times. She just wasn't cut out for making important decisions when it really mattered on the fly in such a dangerous place. Being assigned to work on the Sublime was really her first time traveling beyond the borders of her country and gaining real world experience.

Finally, after a while she realized that just waiting at the campsite would of probably be for the best. She turned around without hesitation ready to get back to the comforting fire that had saved her life. Her eyes immediately fell upon three shadows that moved aimlessly in the fog. She could barely hear or see them through the gloom, yet their presences seemed to exude an aura of pure malevolence whenever her eyes swept past them. She slowly turned around to slink off as stealthily as possible. Grace moved quietly forwards leaving behind a trail of vapor in her wake.

Wincing slightly she reached into her wrinkled and dirty lab coat to grab something. "Oh, fine" she whispered before she downed two painkillers from the medical supplies she had put on her person. To her right she managed to spot two more of the creatures. "What strangely terrifying creatures...They look almost mindless when they move through the fog." She turned left trusting in her poor sense of direction just to get away from the fog creatures. "They have a similar body shape to humans. I just hope they aren't on the same level of intelligence as us." To combat her growing fear of the unknown she had decided to uncover the secrets behind the shadows that hunted her. She continued to creep to the right keeping her eyes on the two silhouettes.

All of a sudden she heard a small hissing sound to her immediate left. Startled out of her scientific reverie, she glanced there only to see black eyes. She crouched in panic and searched for anywhere to hide. It was only about 3 meters away before she noticed a small hollow in a tree. The tree was extremely pungent inside and was filled with a wet rotting smell. Eventually, the black dripping creature arrived near her tree. The thing came close enough for her to reach her hand out and touch it. It swung its head around and continuously hissed and sniffed as if it knew she was there, but couldn't detect her. After a while the black creature calmed down and wandered off in the direction of the others of its kind.

"It should of seen me, however it seems to be as blind as a bat." *sniff* "And it probably relies heavily on its sense of smell and vaguely on its hearing. Their sense of smell and hearing probably aren't as acute as a dogs or else it would be able to smell through the tree rot easily." Grace immediantly started searching around for any smelly plants that she could find.

P.O.V: The Defense Chief

*Ah, why does it have to happen tonight!*

The chief thought as he looked at the encroaching fog. It followed and fought the air as it tried to move beyond the borders of the jungle.

"Sir, all Nisse (Author note: Pronounced knee-say) of the guard division are in position." An approximately 1.5 meter creature reported in an extremely rigid tone.

*hmmm* "Wait for my signal. We don't know how many of those things will come out of the trees this time. If any of the infected come out we'll be ready." The chief responded. He scratched his long beard and looked back at the diminutive creature. "Also, bring out some of the unique's from the hunter division in case any powered infected's come."

"Roger chief!" The chief observed as the small Nisse ran off towards the beginning of a wide stone bridge that spanned across a calm black river. The small fellow eventually tapped onto the body of another of his kind and began rapidly talking. On the bridge assembled behind the two figures stood a group of roughly a fifty hardened warriors all armed to the teeth with a variety of weapons that had a distinct steam punk feel to them. They huddled behind torn up barricades made from metal and wood that looked they had seen better days.

The messenger ran back to the Chief who stood on a raised platform of ancient stone. An uncomfortable amount of silence and desperate straining of the ears later and the first of many monsters came out of the fog hissing all the while. "Initiators, raise those shields! Here they come!" The chief of defense bellowed to the troops under his command.

Grace P.O.V

"This variant just won't let up! Thank god it navigates almost as badly as me in this dense undergrowth." Grace limped through the forest followed by a crackling monster that occasionally ran into a tree. "This creature reminds me of the way hammerhead sharks detect their prey on the seafloor. (Author note: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroreception) Luckily for them they don't have any trees to navigate around. Hehe." She managed to wheeze out as she attempted to flee from the creature. "It must have some pretty strong electroreceptors in its head to sense me from so far off." Grace dodged a tree and continued her whispered banter to lighten the move from the reality of her situation.

"Also I can't believe how many electric organs it must have in its body!" Grace noted how electric currents seem to gather near its hands and some other parts of its body. Occasionally, an electric current connect outside of its body lighting up the surrounding darkness. She managed to outpace the creature that seemed determined to investigate the electrical signals coming from her body.

Grace was feeling something she hadn’t felt for a while. She knew she should be scared of some walking electric monster chasing her through the fog. Anyone in their right mind would. But, Grace was feeling something else. She was feeling excitement. She hadn’t had this much excitement and curiosity when she had learned about the existence of dinosaurs when she was six. Her bubble was broken a brief moment later after her parents patiently explained that they hadn’t been alive for millions of years.

Twenty years later and she was being chased by strange creatures in foreign land. All she wanted to do study whatever hunted her. Grace hid her gleeful smile behind a frightened face. *Don’t want to confuse the monsters in case they are intelligent and hear me laughing at them!* Grace thought as she outpaced the electric creature. Eventually she managed to outpace the creature to where she could only barely here its occasional thumping as it hit a tree every now and then.

After a while of gimping through the smoke and something appeared in the distance through the trees. “Light? Will I finally get out of this dark and dreary place?” She was half happy and half remorseful as she left the domain of the creatures. As she approached closer towards the light. The sound of yelling and bloodletting. It was the sound of battle. She broke through the tree line and immediately saw a stone bridge. Immediately afterwards, an extreme pain developed in the center of brain.

Author Question: Am I switching P.O.V's too much or is it just fine?