A breath of fresh air

<Planetside>
Zack stepped off the Starbug, battling the urge to scratch the
thousand imaginary itches. The bulletproof jacket was both stylish
and practical, but Zack appeared to be having some sort of mental
allergic reaction to the material. For the hundredth time, he peeked
under his jacket at his chest, but found no festering rash.
Looking around, he noticed the small clearing was littered with
snapped-off branches. He thought that there had been a windstorm
recently, until he also noticed the large branch still wedged in the
Starbug's landing gear. That explained the bumpy ride.
He unslung the power rifle and examined it again. He was fairly
certain which end to point at the enemy, but it didn't hurt to
review. Bringing it up to his shoulder, he sighted in on the
treeline fifty yards away.
Joe cast a critical eye on his posture. "You'll blow your
shoulder off like that. Turn it around."
Zack flushed. "Ah, yeah. Right." Hastily, he pulled the
barrel out of his shoulder and flipped it around. The trigger
placement suddenly felt much more natural, and the scope made
everything look bigger instead of tiny.
-----Snip-----
"What have you seen Schweeble?"Asked Whitewolf.
"Well, Whitewo..i mean sir...err..captain. There seems to have
been some kind of fight or something here, i can see traces of blood
and from the looks of how widely spread it is, i think that it was
more than two things fighting. And if that blood is human then
whoever we've come down hear to rescue may already be dead." said Joe.
"Dirk (Maybe), we need you to hurry with that analysis, i've got
a bad feeling and my hackles (is that the right word?) are up" Said
Whitewolf.
-----End Snip-----
Zack swallowed. This was no longer a fun-filled jaunt. Blood
was something Zack avoided, because if people around him were
bleeding, he might be invited to join in. He reached for Cubie's
control panel, but decided that he'd wait until they had set camp
that night to reveal the silent tenth member of the away team.
~Zack & Cubie~