Chapter VIII

January 2nd-2:11am

I awoke with a start. The small trickle of blood that was running from my temple was what had woken me up. I looked around for the escape pod'a manual release button. As the hatch opened, I hoped for my foot to hit solid ground. Unfortunately, touched nothing but air and found myself falling out of a tree.

As I hit the ground, I looked up behind me and saw that the escape pod was caught by a tree.

The night was slightly chilly. I looked at the heads up display on helmet and it read 42 degrees Fahrenheit. Even though I had my light bodysuit on that hugged my body somewhat tightly, I could still feel the slight chill in the air.

"Chris?" I said as I flipped on my comm link.

" Chris? Hello? Hey...Chris...come in! Nathan? Trinity...? Anyone?"

I felt my heartbeat increase significantly. Was I lost? Lost on another planet with no way out? I knew that I couldn't stay here, so I began to walk...I didn't care where, I just walked toward the city.

_______

As I walked toward the heart of the colonized city, I noticed several footsteps behind me.

As I turned around, I noticed that the footsteps were from five marines, just like me.

"Who are you?" I said cautiously.

"Captain Jason Smith."

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Chapter IX

January 2nd-2:30 am

"Well, look what we have here." Jason said to me almost cockily.

"Who are you exactly?" I asked again.

"We could ask you the same thing. But we're going to ask you to take your helmet off." Jason said.

"What? Why?"I said, obviously confused.

"Just take the damn helmet off so we can see if you've been hurt an infected by those things." He said somewhat harshly.

"Fine." I said as I took my helmet off and shook my hair lightly to get the strands out of my face.

"Hey boss. She's kinda hot, I think she checks out just fine." Said one of the members of the team.

One of the female members gave the flirter a look from behind.

"Hey Lee, do you ever listen to the shit that's comes out of your mouth?"She said, obviously annoyed by his behavior.

So Lee was that asshole's name. He gave a cocky remark.

"Maybe your just jealous I never said you're hot. Well, just so you know, you have a great rack." He replied. I could almost see the smirk behind his helmet.

"That's enough you two." Jason said, cutting their conversation short.

"Now, what's your name miss?" He asked me.

"Stephanie Morgan. Sergeant." I replied.

"Nice to have you with us." He pointed out his squad.

"We're graceful squad. That's Lee, my explosive expert." Lee took his helmet off. I really didn't want to see his face. But now I understood why he was so cocky.

He wasn't that bad. Although I hate his personality. He had short black hair and hazel eyes. He still had that same smirk I imagined.

Next Jason pointed to one of the females. In fact, it was the one Lee had talked to earlier. She took her helmet off.

"That's April, my scout." Jason continued.

"Hi Steph." She said. She already guessed my nickname. Her hair was long and a dark brown. Her blue eyes made her look more of a rich girl rather than a soldier.

Finally, Jason pointed out the last female. I expected her to take her helmet off, but she didn't.

"And that's Krystal, my sniper. She doesn't say that much, but she's a great shot." Jason said.

Krystal gave me a slight nod and uttered one word. "Aye." She said in a slight accent. It sounded Australian.

"Well, cmon."Jason said, walking away.

"Wait. I have a question." I said shortly. "What happened to the city evac? Shouldn't we be headed there?" I asked, putting my helmet on.

Jason took his helmet off. He reveled his dark face and curly black hair. He stated at the ground.

"They already left..." He said in a low voice.

"So we're stuck here?!"I said, a little louder than I intended to.

"...hopefully not. I'll figure something out..." Jason said putting his helmet back on. "Now cmon. It's not safe here...those...things could be anywhere." He said walking off.

We all walked in silence.

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Chapter X

January 2nd-2:55am

The walk about 20 minutes. Just to the outskirts of the city. We walked into what seemed to be a nest of 4 escape pods.

"Well, here we are." Jason said.

"It's not much, but it's shelter."

The squad went to their respective pods and settled down.

"Um...not to sound rude..." I started.

"But where do I go?"

Lee walked out his pod and leaned against it, a smirk in his face.

"Well, you can always bunk with me." He said in a flirty way.

I rolled my eyes and looked over to April who mouthed the words:

"He's a dumbass." I then turned over to Krystal who was polishing her sniper rifle and saw her shake her head lightly. Jason then came and stood next to me.

"It's okay Stephanie, you can take my pod. I'll stand guard tonight. Then we'll alternate." He said. How nice if him.

"Thanks Jason." I said as I glanced over to Lee, who looked defeated. I laughed slightly under my breath.

"No problem." He replied. "Now Stephanie, do you know where your pod is?" He asked me.

"Yeah. It's on the other side of the city." I said.

"Okay. We'll move out about 10 o'clock." Jason said. "We need supplies."

"Okay." We all said in unison. Except for Krystal, who just nodded.

I then climbed into Jason's pod and settled in for some needed rest.

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Chapter XI

January 2nd- 6:23am

The night was kind of cold. I woke up to the early morning sunrise. Even though I knew we had until 10 to be ready, I sat up, ran my hand through my hair a few good times, yawned, and the hopped out the pod. I saw Jason still sitting in the same spot I saw him in 4 hours ago. I knew he hadn't slept. I came and sat next to Jason.

"You should get some more sleep. We had a long night." He said as he looked at me with dark circles under his eyes.

"Its okay Jason, you don't have to put on the "tough commander" look for me." I said giving him a slight smile. it was amazing that I could still smile, given then situation we were all put in.

"I'll keep watch the rest of the night. Plus, I think might be nice if I just watch the sunrise."

"Okay. Thanks Stephanie." He said as he got up and headed to his escape pod.

"No problem."

I sat alone, thinking, and watching the sun rise for about 30 minutes. I thought about my team. I remembered the previous missions we went through. I missed all of them, even Trinity. I wondered if they had gotten out of the city safely. I wondered if they missed me. What was I saying? They HAD to miss me. Especially Nathan.

As I became somewhat lost in my thoughts, they were interrupted my movement to my right. As I looked over to the row of escape pods, I saw Lee carefully stepping out of his pods. My eyes met his. He smiled. I awaited his next cocky remark.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked.

"Sure." I said softly.

"Thanks." Was all he said.

As he came and sat next to me, we stayed silent for some time. Then Lee finally spoke, breaking the silence that I was beginning to enjoy.

"So...uh...Thanks for letting me sit with you." He said awkwardly.

I chuckled slightly at his awkward comment.

"No problem." I said.

"You don't make much conversation, do you?" Lee asked.

I glanced over at him, then I continued to look at the sun.

"You flirt a lot." I said, catching him off guard.

"I uh..." He stammered. "A guys gotta get his somehow. Right?" He said, regaining his confidence.

"I guess." I said smiling slightly.

This caused Lee to burst into a confident, hearty laugh. I rolled my eyes at the loudness and ignorance of his laugh. How could he be so happy?

"Hey Lee, mind if I ask you something?" I started. Still staring at the sky.

"Yeah sure. What's up Steph?"

"How..."

"Wow. Lee. Are you hitting on Stephanie again?" I heard April's voice come from behind.

"What? No!" Lee exclaimed.

"It's ok April." I said on Lee's behalf.

"I was just talking to Lee about the sunrise."

"Yeah. I bet." She said, smirking at Lee.

We spent the next 3 hours chatting about previous missions. Eventually, Krystal had come out and sat with us, her helmet still on. She seemed to be interested in our conversations, but when I asked for her input, all she did was shake her head no.

Finally, Jason walked out and briefed us on our objective for right now. He stated dat we needed to get to my escape pod to obtain any supplies that were left. As well as do a quick supply check in the colony. Although he quickly reminded us of the zombie hybrids. After he was done, I asked a question.

"Do we have a plan for a way to get out of here?" I asked.

"I have a few ideas." He started.

"But for now, it's important that we have enough supplies to carry out those ideas."

"Oh." Was all I said.

"Look guys, I know things seem bleak, but we have to have some confidence. We WILL make it back to earth. No matter what." Jason stated.

This gave everyone a huge confidence boost. We packed up and prepared for the walk to the city.

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Chapter XII

January 2nd-11:18am

As we walked through the dangerous and once prosperous mining colony, we looked for anything useful, we didn't find much, except for a couple magazines of ammunition, so water, and a little food. As we were almost to the the place where my pod had crashed, Krystal reacted and took a reaction shot with her rifle out of instinct. As we all looked up, we saw the body of a dead, zombified hybrid on the roof above us.

"Holy shit..." Was all Lee could say.

"Nice hot Krystal." I added.

She nodded in her thanks.

Suddenly, 3 more hybrids emerged from the shadows, along with the same bug-like creatures I had encountered with Trinity on the back on the Winter Rose.

"Oh shit! Look out!" April shouted.

"Pull into formation! Back-to-back!" Jason ordered.

We all backed into each other so that we could see all around us. Soon, we were surrounded in flying bullet shells, shouting, screeches, and alien blood. After a hellish 5 minutes, the battle was done.

"Everyone okay?" Out if breath from the trill we all received.

"Well, no one was hurt as far as I could see." April said.

"Thank God for that." Lee added.

"Well lets move out before more show up." Jason said.

"Good idea." I said, my heart still beating fast.

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We finally reached my pod after about another 20 minutes of walking. Jason gave orders for Krystal and I to stand watch at a ledge to make sure no "buggers" as he called them, sprang up and surprised us. Lee and April raided my escaped pod and took the first aid kit and the little food that was provided in all escape pods. Suddenly, we felt what seemed like a small earthquake.

"You guys feel that?!" I said loudly over to April, Lee, and Jason.

"Yeah! Stay sharp!" Jason yelled back.

Suddenly what seemed like a giant worm burst from beneath my pod and sent it flying. The force of the worm bursting from beneath us sent Krystal flying to the edge of the cliff, me along with her. As she held on, I fell from atop her, I looked for something to grab. Her leg was the closest thing. A I hung from her leg, I heard her grunting to hold on, she was losing her grip. I also heard the sounds of the rest of Graceful squad shouting and the sounds of gunshots. Then, I felt Krystal drop suddenly, she was holding on by one hand! I felt her trying to use all of her might to hold on, but it wasn't enough.

Then, we began to fall.

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T/C:

There's act II. What did you think? I left it on a cliff hanger.

What did you think of Graceful squad?

Who's your favorite team member?

Now, the story is in full gear.

What's going to happen next?

What did Stephanie want to ask Lee before she fell?

In the next act we'll find out what happened to the rest of Stephanie's team.

Trust me, there will be A LOT of action in the next act.

I hope you guys like the book so far.

I appreciate the amount of reads so far.

Until the next part.

-ProCrow