Chapter-XVI

January 2nd-12:12pm

The fall was long and hard.

The screams of fear I heard from Graceful squad disappeared into faint echoes. I rolled down the cliff with Trinity, everything was a blur.

Suddenly, I hit the ground and everything went dark.

________

I awoke with another start.

Several slaps met my face over and over again. Even after I was conscious again. I looked up to see my attacker, it was Krystal.

"I'm okay Krystal, just a little bruised up." I said, thankful that I hadn't broken anything.

Krystal extended a hand covered in a dusty glove. As she pulled me up, I said:

"You okay?"

She nodded and replied:

"Fine" in a blank, emotionless voice.

So we were both okay, that's good. I looked up to the cliff from which we had fallen from. It was about a 30 foot drop. I'm just glad we survived.

Then I glanced at Trinity, who stated back at me through her helmet. Her visor was tinted, so I couldn't see her eyes.

"You have any ideas on how we can get back up there?" I asked Krystal.

After she looked around for about thirty second, she pointed to a small hill that led back to the top of the cliff we had just fallen from.

After giving the hill a quick look, I looked at her and said:

"You sure? It looks pretty steep."

She shrugged and began to slowly trek up the hill. After about 10 seconds, I followed her up the small hill.

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Chapter XVII

January 2nd-12:20pm

As Krystal and I reached the top of the cliff, we took a look around and saw that Jason, April, and Lee were nowhere to be found. Krystal took out her sniper rifle and tossed me her pistol that was on her hip. As we searched the small area, we noticed nothing except a puddle of blood in the sand. however, this was not human blood. This was alien blood. It a somewhat blue-ish hue to it. This made me wonder.

Was the rest of the squad okay? Had they injured the giant worm-like creature we had encountered earlier? And if so, where was this creature now? Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted by the cock of Krystal's rifle.

As I turned around, I aimed my pistol in the direction Krystal was aiming and prepared for the worst.

Suddenly, my fears were eased. I saw April step behind a small pillar!

"APRIL! Your okay!" I shouted as I ran to her and gave her a hug.

"Where's Jason and Lee?" I then asked.

"Those two are still off looking for that worm thing. We managed to injure it pretty damn good and it burrowed away." she replied. She then switched on her comm link. "Jason? Lee? You'll never guess who I found."

"Well I'll be damned." I heard Lee's distinct voice come from the comm link on April's wrist. "Hey Jason, Kryst and Stephanie are alive!"

"Really? Let me see?" I heard Jason say.

"Hello? Steph? Krystal?" He asked.

"We're here." I said.

"That's good. We'll rendezvous back at base camp. I think we've had enough adventure for one day." Jason replied.

He sounded tired.

"Okay. Will do." April stated.

With that, we all began to walk back to our makeshift base camp made of escape pods.

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Chapter XVIII

January 2nd- 9:22pm

We spent the rest of the evening chatting about the whole human/hybrid war, and sharing war stories. Even though we had been stranded on another planet, we still managed to laugh and find a way to have fun.

After we had eaten and finished story time, Jason spoke.

"Okay. We gained some pretty useful supplies today. I'm glad that we didn't lose two people today. And with these supplies, we should be able to survive a few more days."

My heart raced. A FEW MORE DAYS?!

"So uh, instead of surviving, do we actually have a plan for getting off this rock?" Lee asked impatiently. He took the words right out of my mouth.

"In fact, we do." Jason replied.

"So you guys know the tallest building here? That's a communications tower. Tomorrow, were gonna move out there and see if we can communicate with any War Frigates in the area. Or better yet, Earth."

We all looked at him with surprised looks. As risky as it was, it WAS a good plan.

"But, since that's the tallest building, Wouldn't it be covered with those hybrid zombies and bug things?" April asked nervously.

"Your right. It probably will. But would you rather stay here?" Jason replied, eyeing April.

"No...I guess your right." She said.

"Okay. Now we should all get some much needed rest." Jason suggested. We all agreed.

"But who's gonna stand watch tonite." He asked.

"I will." I said without thinking. What did I just say? I NEEDED my rest. But I didn't want to back down after already volunteering.

"You sure Stephanie?" Jason asked worriedly. He remembered that I filled in for him this morning.

"Yep." Was all I said.

After that, everyone else settled into their pods for some sleep. I took a position with my pistol next to the fire we had made earlier an prepared for a long night of watchman.

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Chapter XIX

January 3rd-1:15am

That night, things were still and extremely quiet. I looked around for anything, nothing made its appearance. All of a sudden, there was movement to my right.

Krystal stepped out of here pod. She spotted me and at first she hesitated, but she finally came and sat down next to me.

"You okay?" I asked.

All she did was sit up and star at the stars that were twinkling above us, they were so still.

"Thanks for...saving me back there..." I said. Not expecting for her to respond.

After a couple of long, silent seconds. She replied:

"No problem."

I looked over in her direction. She looked back at me. She brung her hands up to her helmet an removed it from her head.

What was she hiding? It wasn't like she was hideous. She was gorgeous. She had long, beautiful blonde hair. Her eyes we an iridescent sky blue that shone in the night light. All I could do was just look at her.

She glanced at me for a minute. Then she looked back at the sky. She only said one thing before she returned to her pod:

"Stephanie. You're a good person. We're going to make it out if here."

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T/C:

So there's act IV...

We finally know what Krystal finally looks like.

What did you you think I this act?

I'm getting to the midpoint of the story.

Things are gonna get good....

-ProCrow