Fear and Regret

It’s amazing, how your training can kick in and push everything from your mind. One minute I was back on Earth, scared, alone. The next Jamie was lying there and I was back, treating him for his wounds. How he survived an explosion like that, let alone crashing through a building as well, I’ll never know. Maybe it’s his time served on Fernando’s? Eve was twitching like a rabbit in a fox den, talking to herself and tearing strips off her clothing. I have to admit it didn’t make me any more comfortable about her mental state. Sometimes I do wonder how the girl passed basic training at all.

Jamie came back to himself as the rockets sailed overhead.

“Ow.” He grumbled, slowly sitting up. Good, at least he wasn’t stupid.

“Take it easy. You’ll be fine. Just minor wounds, but still need to get you a dose of antibiotics and a tetanus jab. Cass is getting them now. I just want to be better off safe than sorry.” Mentally, I added ‘there aren’t that many of us left anymore’ and instantly felt guilty. Guilty and horribly lonely. I miss Alex. He was a grumpy, alcoholic, ass sometimes, but on his clear days… Yeah… On his good days he was a nice guy. I shook myself a bit and helped Jamie to his feet as Eve looked about and clung to his good arm like a limpet and cringed for Jaxx.

“Yeah. Good plan.” He stretched out a bit, performing some odd Ssalan moves to test his body.

“We need Jaxx, he can protect us…” She whimpered. Now, I’m generally a nice person, but it was getting beyond a joke now.

“You know that there are more people than Jaxx who can handle these aliens right?” I said, as nicely as the creeping darkness, fear and annoyance would let me. Which, given my training, was still rather saccharine.

“Yes, but…” Thankfully whatever excuse she had was tempered with Cass and Jay returning. Oh dear. Cass. I felt myself colour at the memory. I thought she had been Abbie, and was pouring my heart out to her. Crying… No, sobbing on her shoulder and opening all those old wounds. All those scars that I thought had healed all re-opened again by that mind affecting alien.

Tony…

I shuddered wondering what she would think of me as Jay pulled himself up to his full height and began his Captain thing again.

<Snip>
“Not necessarily.” Jay said “Plisken's been here before. The Pyramid you and Cass found earlier was put him by humans…and I’d bet whoever fired on us is connected to it…chances are there's some kind of spacecraft we can use to get off this planet…at worst we can hope for and interface of some description that I can remote-fly a Blue Midget down from the ‘Dwarf with…I say a group of us meet with Plisken at the pyramid and see what we can find – with any luck we’ll run into Artemis, Boyd and the others and some of us can break off and follow the direction the missles came from, up into the mountains, to find out who’s firing on us and why…”
</Snip>

"But we saw the aliens fire missiles." Eve bleated.

"We saw, nothing that small could have destroyed the bug. These were proper surface to air missiles, not ones from a hand launcher." Cass said, I could tell, having spoken to her long enough now that she didn't mean to sound derisive, but it came out that way anyway. Eve pouted.

"You mean like those ones?" Jame said, pointing upwards. We all looke dup and saw another three missiles arcing into the air. The slowly pivoted and began their descent towards the small group.

"It's heading for us!" Jay yelled, heroic action figure mode engaging "Get to cover people!" He ushered the girls towards the treeline. Chauvinist idiot, poor Jamie was wounded already.

"No..." Cass tapped on her pad and looked up in horror as the two robotic creations of hers headed towards the group. "No. No, no!" She tapped more furiously as she slid into cover of the treeline behind me.

"What?" I asked the question everyone was thinking but to scared to ask in her feverish state.

"Not us... Them!" She said, pointing at the robots, who turned and began to march away. Cass grimaced as she tapped in the command and they began to clear away. "I think the missiles are targeting our technology."

"What about Artie!" Eve gasped, hands to her face in a typical damsel expression of shock and worry.

"We can hope that it's only large objects can't we?" Jay said, observing tablet computer that was almost permanent feature with Cass. Just then the missiles detonated with a violent explosion that left my ears ringing slightly. Lighting up the darkness like a beacon of hope, then dying away to a burning pile of metal and slag. I shuddered and tried to push the darkness out of my thoughts. There were torches, and Cass and Jay were here. It was safe enough.

Apart from the fear aliens.

And the missiles.

And the exploding crystals in Eve's skirt.

And the other myriad dark horrors in the blackness of night.

I couldn't do it. I took a step closer to Cass and swallowed my fear. Well... Tried to.

<Tag>

OOC - I've been lacksidaisical in my posting duties for which I apologise profusely. Please forgive me the fact I've been busy lately. I will try to post more often again now things are slightly quieter.