Signs

Joint post between Thaen93, Red_sword7, Omni

7.3.5 SW
Early Evening SW-CP-Local Time
North Matron’s Coast > Ghost Forest Beach

Not even 10 seconds later, Greg Sargent, Cameron Baird, and Officer Carson arrived at the foot of Comms 1 Outpost which was perched on a rocky island-like outcropping on the beach and housed the giant communications dish as well as a few small utility buildings.

They had suited up in tactical gear, for ease of equipment, but also for protection against the elements. Their shoulder lights shone in the gloaming as lightning flashed across the ocean sky in a blue-white burst before rumbling violently.

Red turned to Blue. "Start a sweep. Check the area."

Blue nodded, heading for the Comms interior as Red and Officer Carson swept the perimeter.

It was Blue who found signs first. He pressed his tag against the reader, going straight for the cameras. As much as Red had said he would not be here, he checked regardless. It only took a few seconds to zip through them.

"No one inside. So, outside?" He mused.

With a flick of a switch, the CCTV flickered to the outside.

Grunting slightly as he let loose some built up gas, Greg Sargent huffed and sighed as he glanced out. His shoulder light paved a cone of sight for him as he searched methodically.

*tzzt* Blue to Red. No one entered. But cameras DID catch someone going by. Over. *tzzt*

~tzzt~ Copy that. Get down here; which way? Over.~tzzt~

The radio snowed a bit. *tzzt*-orth it looks like. Over. *tzzt*

As Red was scanning the perimeter he came across the corpse of a Cervine Fox, a species of the local fauna reminiscent of a wolf or fox with very long legs and russet-red fur. They were generally skiddish omnivores who stalked the coastline for easy prey in the shallows, however they could be dangerous when their pack was threatened.

This particular exo-solar / xeno animal lay on its side with a gaping hole in its chest. If Red didn't know any better he would say it had exploded from the inside. He didn't know this species birthing methods but he was pretty sure it didn't look like this.

-----

300 yards Northeast, inside the tree-line

"Hey, you ok?" Gauss asked as Roberts paused.

"Fine." Roberts said as he shook away his flashback of Tommy. He activated his laser dot sight and the tactical flashlight touching the pad on the slide. The storm clouds were making it darker. Roberts had never trusted shadows... you never know what's hiding.

He walked beside the truck and up to the passenger window where he stepped out and turned to point the shotgun light throw the window. The truck was empty. Roberts looked down into the truck and tapped on the glass to see if anything jumped. He could see that the truck door was unlocked which told him the teen was planning to come back.

~tzzt~Wolfhound to Red found the truck it's empty no sign of the Teen,~tzzt~ reported Roberts over the radio.

Roberts continued to walk forward he motioned for Gauss who was walking on the other side of the truck moving to follow. It started to sprinkle through the canopy. Roberts touched the hood of the truck. The engine was not running and had not been for some time. He spotted a hanging canvas canopy just a few more yards beyond passed one of the broad conifers. Roberts used hand signals to let Gauss know what he had spotted.

Kneeling down, he scanned the tree line and pumped the shotgun, jetting the shotgun stun round and loading the frag-12 shotgun round. He picked up the stun round and put it in a pocket on his gear. Scanning, he saw some tracks leading toward the canvas and started to move that direction.

There he found two old greenish-gray crates, one was opened from the front like some sort of oven or dishwasher. It had to have been some sort of cryo-refrigeration unit. If the Weyland Corp logo hadn't been worn away by the years, the Marshal may have linked it to the Cronus. Inside the open crate was a putrid leathery husk of some kind. Roberts quickly closed the door scanning the area again with his shotgun. He listened to hear if there was a lot of wildlife in the area.

The woods were not all that quiet. There were sounds of wildlife but none he could see immediately or place but it was most likely the sound of bird and insect-like exo-solar animals. Alien life, technically. He guessed that the husk was an egg. The thought of what may have hatched from it unsettled him.

He saw no signs of the boy but Gauss' P-DAT showed his phone was somewhere deeper in the woods off to the east.