by C. F. Harris
Another snap. This time it was closer, and this time it was moving towards me. I stopped and listened. That wasn’t the tiny rustle of some cute woodland critter coming to investigate me.
Cute woodland critters, Disney movies notwithstanding, usually didn’t come to investigate people. If something out there was coming to investigate it usually meant trouble. I thought of stories my dad told me about rabid raccoons, though I’d never listened to those warnings.
I thought about them now, but whatever was out there sounded a hell of a lot bigger than a five fingered trash bandit.
I laughed. “Okay Rachel, very funny. You can stop screwing around with me now.”
That had to be it. She’d come back to play a trick on me. It wouldn’t be the first time we’d done our best to scare the crap out of each other with a prank, though I didn’t appreciate it in this strange place.
More snapping and crashing. Whatever was out there sounded big. Bigger than Rachel even if she was slamming into every twig and branch on her way through the woods. Not that I thought she’d do something like that. She was a city girl through and through. It was wishful thinking to hope that this was all a prank.
The first thing I noticed about the bear when it crashed onto the path in front of me was how skinny it was.
Not good. Those things were all supposed to be asleep by now, and a long forgotten speech from a park ranger on a visit to Yellowstone drifted up out of the fog of my past.
A skinny bear is a hungry bear. A skinny hungry bear in winter is one that didn’t fatten up enough to go to sleep.
Fuck.
Not. Good.
The second thing I noticed was its fur. I guess it was too much to hope this would be a black bear. I wasn’t even sure if they were native to the mountains around here.
A black bear could be chased off. Maybe. If they weren’t starving and willing to attack anything. Only this one was very brown and very big despite being skinny. When it reared up on its hind legs and bellowed at me I knew exactly what I was dealing with.
I’d never seen a grizzly bear outside of the zoo. I have to say the up close and personal experience wasn’t something I’d ever hoped to experience either.
Shit. What was I supposed to do? Should I play dead? The thing was obviously starving. Would anything I did matter if it was starving?
I knew I shouldn’t run. Running was bad. Running would make me look like prey. Running would kickstart the predator instinct in the big furry monster with claws and sharp teeth and the last thing I wanted was for it to think of me as lunch.
I glanced around. Saw a big thick stick that had fallen on the side of the trail. I was still fucked, but it was better than nothing. I needed to make myself look big. Make it look like I wasn’t going to be an easy meal. Like the thing was going to get hurt if it fucked with me. The thought was laughable, but it was all I had.
I grabbed the stick and waved it around. I heard a strange noise and realized I was screaming at the thing at the top of my lungs. I had no idea how this stick would save my ass, but I was clinging to it like the lifeline it might literally be.
The bear dropped down to four legs. Huh. I couldn’t believe it. Hope rose in me. Had I actually scared that fucker off by waving a stick? That would be a story to tell while I was getting drunk off my ass at the resort in a few minutes because you bet your ass I was going to get blitzed after this pleasant little walk through the woods.
Or not.
The thing charged. Of course. It was getting down on all fours because that was how they moved the fastest. That was how it was going to make me into a snack.
Fuck. I missed the woods back home. I didn’t have to worry about fucking apex predators trying to turn me into a meal back there. I didn’t have to worry about moving up and down massive hills since glaciers had come through and flattened everything a few thousand years ago.
I held my stick in a white knuckled grip, but I knew it wasn’t going to do a damn bit of good. This thing was going to run me down and eat me. I’d maybe whack it a couple of times and that would be that. Someone would find me later and maybe they’d send some cops or rangers or something out to track the bear and kill it but a fat lot of good that would do me if I’d already been converted to bear shit by then.
Fuck it. I screamed and ran at the thing. It was a last desperate gamble. Maybe if it saw me coming for it it would think twice. It was a crazy game of chicken with an animal that weighed an appreciable fraction of a car and I knew I was going to lose but I had to do something.
Maybe I’d hit it with the stick before I went down. Like that was going to work.
I squeezed my eyes shut as I ran. I didn’t want to see the inevitable barreling towards me. I just hoped it would be over soon.
There was a loud thump. I waited for the claws and teeth to sink into me. It was odd. I felt like I was still moving forward but that thump had to be the sound of the bear slamming me to the ground. Only I didn’t feel like I’d been slammed to the ground. Maybe it was shock?
I opened my eyes. Looked around. The bear was gone. What the fuck? A bear that size didn’t just disappear.
A loud crash to my right. I turned and saw the bear roll end over end and slam into a tree. A moment later a strange figure with broad shoulders and an impossibly muscled body contained in some strange outfit that could only be described as the color of brushed metal stood over the thing. The bear scrambled to its feet but its attacker was too fast. It…
Holy shit. The thing disappeared. I wasn’t seeing things either because the bear stopped and cocked its head to the side as though it was wondering what the fuck had gone wrong with the world today that something like this was happening.
The attack came from behind the bear. There was a shimmer as though something was moving there. Almost as though the light was bending just the wrong way around something. Like a cheesy special effect from one of the old sci-fi movies my dad had sitting around on ancient VHS tapes when I was growing up. The shape slammed into the bear and it went flying through the air.
I knew I should probably be terrified. I knew the sensible thing to do was to run as far and as fast as I could away from this strange thing that could throw around a full grown bear like it was nothing, but all I could do was stand rooted to the trail and stare in wonder at this strange creature that was saving my ass by kicking the bear’s ass.
5
Jiorj
I felt more alive than ever as I slammed into the giant creature and sent it rolling through the strange frozen water that had settled on this world. Things were warm enough on our world that this sort of weather wasn’t normal except in the far extremes at the north and south end of the planet, but I’d seen it occasionally on other worlds from afar.
Seeing it from afar and experiencing it directly were two very different experiences though. The frozen water crunched underfoot and it was treacherous and slippery which added to the thrill of combat.
The large furry creature stood on its hind legs and bellowed at me. I risked a glance to the side. Towards that strange local creature that had been running at this monstrosity with a stick of all things in her hands.
Normally I wouldn’t get involved in local affairs. Normally I’d allow a creature to die a natural death even if she did appear to be a member of the intelligent species that dominated this world.
I couldn’t very well allow a creature who was courageous enough to charge a large animal like this armed with nothing more than a large stick to die though. That was intriguing. That was worth saving.
Frozen water was starting to really come down from the skies above. Overhead dark malevolent clouds roiled as the wind picked up and threw the frozen water in all different directions and even kicked some up from the forest floor below. This weather was going to make it very difficult to fight this creature very soon.
The creature got down on all fours and charged at me. Just as it had with the human. At least I thought that was what they called themselv
es in this part of the world. I guess this clawed monstrosity was a one trick creature and charging at anything it didn’t like was the extent of its ability.
That was fine with me. At the last moment before it reached me I dropped to the ground and rolled over. The thing’s momentum kept it running for a moment and then it was over me.
The thing was heavy. Really fucking heavy. If I wasn’t wearing reactive armor reinforced with a bunch of inertial compensators then I would’ve had a very bad day when the thing stepped on me.
As it was the thing had merely exposed its underbelly to me. I punched up with all the strength I could muster plus the added strength that came from my hazardous weather combat suit.
The monster flew up and slammed into a tree. I stood and turned to look at my audience. I figured she might have run when she saw me appear out of nowhere to do battle with the creature, but instead she stood staring with her mouth hanging open.
There was just enough visibility that I could make her out, which meant there was just enough visibility that she could probably see me and all the impressive things I was doing here toying with this massive creature that had tried to kill her.
I assumed the creature was a her. It had a smaller build and the more delicate features of the females on this planet, and right now those delicate features seemed to have trouble believing what she was witnessing.
I grinned. Good. I always liked to have an audience when I was doing something impressive. If you did something incredibly amazing in the middle of a strange alien forest and no one was around to see it did it really happen?
I didn’t have to worry about that now. I turned to the creature. It had snapped a tree in two when it landed and was pulling itself back to its four paws. The thing looked a little worse for the wear even aside from the damage I’d just done. It was thin, as though it hadn’t gotten enough food.
Oh well. That was this thing’s problem, not mine. It charged at me one more time and I had to admire the creature’s spirit. It was a pity I was going to kill it, but this encounter also had me looking forward to the possibilities this planet offered once it was brought into the kingdom.
I might have to accelerate that process just a little if for no other reason than parts of it would make a wonderful hunting preserve.
I moved a hand down to the plasma pistol at my side. That would take care of the creature easily enough, but it also had the drawback of potentially vaporizing the thing if I used too much power. I had no idea how thick the creature’s hide was or whether or not I’d do damage to my trophy so it looked like I was going to have to do this the old fashioned way.
So I did one of those impulsive and stupid things Rtukh was always complaining about. I allowed the creature to finish its charge. More and more of the frozen water was falling from the sky making it difficult to see. When the thing was on me it loomed out of the darkness like some malevolent spirit in one of the children’s tales nan always went on about when I was younger.
Only this thing was very real and very dangerous. At least it would be dangerous to one of the creatures on this world. It wasn’t particularly dangerous to me, but it hadn’t learned that lesson yet. That or it was so desperate because of the lack of food that it didn’t have much of a choice.
The thing slammed into me and I grunted as the inertial compensators went to work pushing out tiny forcefields all along the length of the suit to make absolutely certain I didn’t bear the brunt of having such a heavy creature landing on me with all the force it could muster. The thing swiped at me with a paw and it registered in one of the displays telling me how much pressure was applied and how much longer the suit could withstand similar blows before it became troublesome.
I had plenty of time. The thing bellowed and it would have been deafening if not for the suit. I really was going to have to track down whoever had designed these custom units for me and my men and give them a ridiculous amount of money when I got back to my world.
Assuming I could get back to my world, that is.
Right now, though? There were far more pressing matters. I couldn’t sit here and allow this thing to swipe at me and try to bite me, even if the teeth glanced harmlessly off my neck as it tried to snap it. The thing seemed to be confused, but it was also raging and that rage was overriding all rational thought.
Though I didn’t think this was a creature that was capable of much in the way of rational thought even on a good day.
I held my hand up. It was difficult with the thing on me but the suit’s strength added to my own. I made a quick gesture with my eyes since none of the other controls were available to me at that awkward moment and a massive knife sprang out from a sheath at my wrist and into my hands. I shoved the thing as deep as I could into the creature and the suit registered a change in temperature as the thing’s blood splattered against me.
I felt a moment of regret that I had to kill this creature, but it was a case of this thing’s life or the life of that human walking the trail just before a frozen water storm like an idiot. When it came down to it I had to choose the sapient creature over the impressive walking furry killing machine.
I slammed home right about where thermal imaging told me the thing’s heart was, but it kept going. Impressive. These things truly were formidable opponents, but there was one last trick I had up my sleeve. I gave one more command with an eye gesture and the suit responded by sending out a small spherical device into the creature and detonating it.
The explosion registered against my hand unit and I frowned. That used up a good deal of that piece of armor’s ability to take punishment and I was going to have to get a replacement from the ship. It also had the desired effect though. The thing went limp and fell down on me.
Magnificent creature. Truly this was a world of wonders if it bred predators like this. Truly I would have to come back here when I had more time to appreciate these things.
Besides, I’m sure this world had never conceived of an alien hunter moving invisibly through the forest hunting the local dangerous game. I would be safe enough if I could land without being detected by the damnable military that had ruined this trip.
I heaved the creature off of me. It was actually more difficult to move the thing around now that it was dead weight than it had been when it was facing me with its full fury. Still, I was able to roll it off and I gestured for my visor to flip up. I looked around in the gathering darkness and felt the sting of frozen water hitting my face as I surveyed the field of battle.
That had been a good hunt. One of the best I’d been on in ages. That creature had been magnificent.
And it wasn’t the only magnificent creature I’d found on this hunt. I looked through the gathering shadows towards the human woman whose silly walk through the forest necessitated me stepping in and saving her in the first place. She stood rooted to the spot staring at me through the darkness.
Well then. It was time to meet the woman I’d saved. I moved towards her, looking for any sign that she might try to run, but that didn’t happen. Instead as I approached she looked up at me with something very close to fear. Her eyes, a deep green that looked like captivating pools, exotic because we didn’t have anything approaching that eye color on my world, stared into my own.
Then those captivating and oh-so-exotic eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell to the frozen water covered ground. I stared down, perplexed, as the frozen water falling from the sky gathered around her and almost covered her in the short space she was down there.
Right. I should probably do something about that. She looked like she was dressed for warm weather, but that wouldn’t help her if she was covered in frozen water. I wasn’t going to go to the trouble of saving her from a giant monstrosity only to have her killed by something as novel as frozen water falling from the sky.
I knelt down beside her and grabbed a small force generator from my belt. I hit the thing and hoped it would have enough power to push away the bad weather. It had been designed to pu
sh away torrential downpours and make staying out in the elements comfortable in far worse conditions, but I wasn’t sure if the designers had considered frozen water since that wasn’t really a thing that happened on our world.
A force shield sprang to life. I looked up and the small bubble that was just large enough for a couple of people to comfortably kneel or lie down in seemed to be doing a decent job of keeping the frozen water away. It had also compressed the stuff beneath us.
Of course that did nothing for the cold.
Damn. The designers just hadn’t conceived of a situation like this. Our world was a warm climate and we tended to operate on worlds that had warmer climates. I was going to have to have a word with the people who designed these things, but for now I pulled out a small heater and flipped it on. It provided some warmth, but not much.
Damn it. The human was shivering. I reached out to touch her clothes and realized they were wet. Maybe landing in the snow and having it fall on her, or even standing still while she watched me take on that creature, had been enough to soak them. Either way the shivering didn’t look good.
I suppose it could have been worse. I could’ve been protecting one of the intelligent undersea creatures that never came to dominate this world despite all our experts and probes watching this world thinking they were the most likely to rise to power.
I didn’t like the cold. I really didn’t like working underwater.
Well then. I’d trained for situations like this. The trainers thought of everything even if the designers didn’t. Still, I wasn’t sure how well this human would take it, but it’s not like I had a choice.
I hit a button and my suit melted off of me and down into a container on my utility belt which would have the added benefit of running the thing through a cleaning cycle and removing all that pesky monster blood that had spattered on me. I shivered as I knelt before the human naked except for my combat shorts, and I felt the tingle of the force shield pressing up against my bare feet.