Seasons

Note: Might take a little more time with the next chapter, in the meantime, there’s a nice painting of the characters on the homepage. Warning: Chapter contains disturbing scenes of violence and some sexuality. Enjoy:

___________

After moving the C2 prototype to the back entrance, a few of the soldiers had felt a sense of relief. It was the relief so intense that it could only be equated to a soldier’s experience. Agent Corriano bit his bottom lip as he kept his gun aimed at a spot between the smoldering foliage, dark eyes fixed on the range. After hearing the strict ordering of the C2, some part of him became lax with comfort. That was the exact kind of relief he remembered feeling when back-up had come rearing up behind him in a desert battle overseas. The sand had been sprinkled with blood, the dirt caking and drying into a crusty mixture under the bright sun. He remembered it like it was yesterday. Several of his fellow soldiers had attempted to rush the barricade of enemy troops perched behind the rocky hills ahead. To his horror, they had ended up blown into chunks of flesh, some small enough to be considered bites. Sure enough, that day he’d convinced himself that he was a goner and had even finished saying his last prayers when he’d heard the purr of strong new engines. He’d turned, peering over his shoulder to spot about half a dozen tanks climbing the slopes, the wheels kicking up enough ground to leave sandy clouds in their wake.

The dark-haired man sighed. He reveled in that feeling as he turned his thoughts toward the present. With a smile, he blinked, adjusting his night-vision goggles. He was beginning to think that with the slight sliver of dawn on the horizon, he wouldn’t be needing them soon at all anyway. Perhaps the C2 would turn the situation around, many pondered as the thickly built robot-like weapon stood guard. It looked more like a toy to him than a weapon, the large cube like extensions reminding him of squat little action figure made of metal building blocks with a humorously round head shielded by an equally humorous-looking helmet. Its arms ended in rounded weaponry, barrels large enough to fire something the size of a cannonball. Now that the government could see that they needed more than just a few rash men with guns, they might have a shot at doing this right. They just needed something, anything at all to even the odds…

___________

After crashing through another concrete wall, he'd dived into a roll before hurrying to his feet. He’d not only managed to give K’tch the time he needed to make a break for it, he’d also left his signature, a trade-mark explosive within the center of the facility, set to go off in less than several minutes. He’d just finished crashing through the back door when his scanner picked up the signal of a weapon locking onto him and he jerked his gaze in that direction just in time to notice the missile-shaped bullet headed straight for him.

He immediately jumped out of the way as another shot past him, exploding into the woods beyond with a thunderous boom. Several humans were standing guard among the entrance to the woods straight ahead, guns aimed on him, strangely unaffected by the tremor of the explosion nearly a block behind them. He chuckled, grabbing the disc from his right hip as he dove for cover behind an armored dumpster. All he needed to do was clear a path to the woods, mainly by sweeping away the humans littered around the perimeter.

The gunfire continued, many afraid of what would happen if the bullets stopped. It was like a game. The longer they kept shooting, the longer they could delay being faced with the score. It was the exact same mentality behind fighting a losing game. If they kept the game going, maybe, just maybe there’d be a chance that they could somehow still win…


____________


The soldiers were firing still when a disc-shaped object spinning a dozen times faster than a centrifuge darted out from where the creature had hidden. It effectively sliced through five men one after the other in an assembly-line of blood and destruction, leaving scattered appendages and shredded bloody clothing in its wake before returning as though summoned back toward the dumpster. Eyes bulged as the creature quickly rose and caught it like a boomerang. That he was even able to command such a weapon was morbidly fascinating.

It hooked the smart disc back to a spot it somehow located on its waist between the gory trophies that were dangling unabashed from the belt, some of them still dribbling blood down his hip and thigh. The large robotic creation in the corner suddenly began to move with an eerie hum of the engines encased within it. It suddenly fired several both high velocity missiles and bullets, one catching the tall warrior in the shoulder as he leapt out of the way and behind a nearby tree trunk, gritting his teeth. To his surprise and anger, it actually managed to put a dent in the armor. He cursed to himself. The metallic alloy that he had custom made for his armor was a bitch to get dents out of… Sighing, he reached back and drew forth his combination spear, quickly pressing a key in the side of it that extended it to an impressive and very spiked several feet. His mandibles quickly poked at the controls in his mask as he adjusted his vision to spot the robot. He scanned his surroundings once more.

There were only three humans in his way, one machine and three approaching from a side entrance to his right. He growled in pleasure as he looked down at his belt.

How many more heads did he have room for?

_________

Agent Jane screamed into her walkie-talkie as she was escorted by military to a side entrance. Nearly all non-combat trained personnel had been ordered to evacuate. Her blood boiled beneath her pale skin. A blind man could tell that the abnormally tall and fierce creature with the devil’s voice was winning. It was not only winning, but kicking their asses, to their embarrassment, with little to no effort.
All of that time, all of that effort and money. Their best technology had been reduced to scrap one prototype at a time. The tranquilizers were having zero effect and two of the aliens had already practically escaped. Knowing this, she was still convinced that she could make a difference. If only she knew how wrong she was… She frowned. After all, she’d captured one before. Reports were that the new one being cornered at the back entrance was significantly bigger than their earlier captive.

She smirked. What was that old saying? The bigger they are, then the harder they fall….

__________

He’d just finished checking inventory when he realized that he was being targeted once more. He simply threw himself to the ground as the rotted wood above his head exploded, splinters of wood flying as it cracked with the force of the missile’s impact. With little left for balance it creaked eerily as it was sent crashing to the ground. In the commotion Arug’rak had jumped onto the rising roots and started down the trunk, running the length of it down as it fell towards the C2, the robot’s programming dancing between its safety in the trunk’s size and targeting the alien. The tree was more important as it shifted to safety.

That was all the distraction the strong warrior needed as he wasted no time in putting his extemporaneous plan into action. The plasma caster on his right shoulder fired once, hitting the robot square in the face, searing a hole straight through it and three trees. The robot paused. At that same moment he’d thrown his disk once more to take out the two men closing in before turning his attention back toward the machine. He flipped out of the foliage of the downed tree, his body a blur followed by a rain of dried leaves as he launched his spear into the robot’s center. He kept on running as the livewire crackled, small devices within it exploding and beginning to smoke as he hurried toward it. The large equipment began to convulse and it made a strange sputtering noise as it began to fall back.

One minute he was on the ground, the next he was in the air, catching his smart-disc with ease just seconds before flipping forward. There was a loud thump as Arug’rak landed on the C2’s torso, quickening its fall as he pulled his spear from it, snapping a mass of colorful wires and leaving the jumbled damage of sparking cables and circuitry behind. His masked eyes caught the fair gaze of the woman standing shocked at the building’s corner and he stood up triumphantly over the defeated weapon. Pausing just long enough to enjoy her whimpers of fright. The men at her side had immediately drawn their weapons in practice, only he was quicker. There was a blinding flash of pale light and the man on the right was gone, his brains littering the ground beyond. The individual to the woman’s left looked up just in time to see the creature several yards closer. He jolted as something hard, sharp and tight wrapped around his torso, pinning his arms as he dropped his gun.

Seconds later, his torso was lying opposite his legs. Arug’rak yanked back his dark whip before snapping it forward a second time, catching the woman left around her waist. Everything she’d worked so hard to attain and maintain would suddenly be over and there’d be little to show for it. In that brief moment when her life flashed before her stern eyes she was able to admit the one thing she’d never imagined she could. For the first time ever, she’d lost the game.

Arug’rak pulled gently at the sharp restraints, stepping back slowly with a snarl.

The flesh below his waist hardened even further at the sound of the scream that filled the air….
He reached beneath his belt gently, right hand steady on the whip as his left hand closed over his pulsating erection and he squeezed it once, emitting an animalistic growl of pleasure. When he was just about ready to burst he tugged on the whip, the woman screaming louder.

__________

Agent Corriano was hot on the trail as he and three other men quickly climbed through foliage. "Targets one and two have breached our defenses and are quickly moving out of range! Target three has completely destroyed the C2 prototype and disappeared into the woods!" "General Sumner has ordered all available personnel in possession of a C4 flamethrower to form a stage 2 barrier. We need everyone in and out of the woods in five minutes flat! We're gonna smoke the bastards out!"

Arug'rak momentarily adjusted his belt before tying his auburn-haired trophy to the last space on his right hip. Just three more minutes left, the numbers flashing across his mask warned. He shook off the last wave of arousal before making a bee-line toward the safety of the hills beyond.

__________

Tzukra stumbled weakly as K'tch practically dragged him along. Thick dark smoke mingled with the smell of burning wood and leaves had begun to cloud the air. The smaller warrior huffed behind him before collapsing to one knee with a growl. K'tch stopped at his frustration, turning and jumping to kneel before him. He was in bad shape, chest heaving with labored breaths. He'd been deprived of the nitrogen mix that his lungs had been accustomed to for too long a period of time for someone so young. K'tch himself gone through rigorous conditioning in order to lengthen his dependency on his home world’s environment, knowing for a fact that he could survive a week before the feeling of lightheadedness would begin to manifest and he required a mask. Tzukra coughed thrice, hard enough to make the eldest of the two move faster. Beneath his medical supplies was a smaller mask that he detached from the case, pulling the sides back and finding the thick wire needed to pull back as he strapped it to his face. The breathing apparatus stopped just below his eyes, the hard ridged designs on the outside of the dark device resembling a muzzle more than a mask.

Tzukra sucked in three more breaths, relieved by the technology's efficiency, his body grateful. K'tch watched him cautiously, contemplating on giving him another minute's rest before the heat of the flames blown by an already hot wind licked at his back, reminding him of the danger they had yet to escape. As he quickly hauled the young clan member to his feet, he paused to type a few codes into his wrist device, waiting just seconds for his leader's response. His frown deepened in reaction to the words that scrolled down the left side of his screen. He didn't have to hear the tone behind them to know that they had been urgent as he read them quickly.

"Rather busy now...."

He scoffed. There was a shit-load of sarcasm in the words and it made him regret the limitations of their communication. What he wouldn't give to be able to verbally snap at the proudest warrior and get away with it... Instead he typed back, “I’ve got Tzukra.. Rendezvous behind the third hill, west.”
About thirty seconds later, he received the reply:

“Stop talking. Move your ass. There is a bomb…Two minutes.”

K’tch grunted as he responded. “Yeah, whatever…”

He was just about to close the connection when it signaled another message that flashed across his screen.

“I’ll tell your female how get us… P.S: I know you’re fucking her, and we WILL talk when we get back….”

His eyes became impossibly wide behind his mask, Tzukra tempted to question his long and silent pause before he found himself being yanked along toward an unknown destination.

____________


Words flashed across the large monitor in her language and she sat up with a start, heart beating fiercely.

“This is your leader and these are your instructions. To reply, press the long cube-like button on the far right of the control panel. Respond now.”

Carefully, she pressed the button, eyes widening when it refused to budge. She pressed it again with a little more force, trying to squelch the panic that suddenly arose in her gut. What the hell? This wasn’t her shit. Why wouldn’t the button budge? Was it broken. In that case, they were screwed if they were depending on her. After all of the instruction Arug’rak had given her before he departed, she was still uncomfortable with the controls. She was just about to apply more pressure to the button when the screen beeped, more words scrolling.

“That’s enough. It’s fucking touch sensitive…Idiot…”

She was too worried to be angry just yet as she waited for the next response.

“Now press the round button to the far left of the panel and stand back.”

She hurriedly did as instructed, curious when a small drawer slid out from beneath the panel top. It appeared to be a black keyboard. She approached it cautiously, glancing up at the screen for more instructions before taking a seat.

“Press the rectangular button on the top left of the text panel. It will translate the keys. Press enter immediately afterward.”

Sharon licked her lips as she reached out with her left index and pressed the key, praying that she didn’t screw anything up. The last thing she needed was to damage something that she had no idea how to fix. Immediately the board lit up, each key resembling a small screen. The strange linear symbols disappeared and up popped new ones. Her eyes nearly bulged as it configured to the arrangement of a typical keyboard, letters and numbers displayed in English.

“Damn…. That’s cool…” she breathed as she simply admired it.

Another set of words flashed across the screen. She could imagine how they were punctuated as her brows drew down, jaw working angrily as her eyes ran across them.

"Hurry the fuck up..."

"Oooh!" she fumed at Arug'rak's rather rude request, making her face flush with fresh anger. This wasn’t her forte, her interest, her life or her duty. He was lucky she cared enough to even listen to him. Quickly, she found the enter button and pressed it.

“P.S: Buckle yourself in….”

The craft suddenly lunged and she raced to find the seat-belt like buckles…

______________


He’d just made it over the hill when he’d adjusted his vision to find the cloaked ship. It settled carefully over the hill, pushing through a few small trees as though it were merely parting grass before the hatch opened.

Arug’rak was already approaching from somewhere off to the left, K’tch’s eyes wide in shock as several trophies dangled from various parts of his armor, some tied up by their hair, others speared onto the hooks on his sides. Neither looked the other in the eye as all three simply raced up the ramp and into the ship. There was about five seconds left before the explosion, the ship ascending as the first shockwave barely missed it and it shook slightly.


_________


Agent Corriano had ignored the feeling in his gut just moments before the end came. He’d just given the signal for back-up to retreat after reporting that the targets had escaped when he looked up and suddenly saw white. That was the last thing his eyes saw before the blast seared the skin off of his bones and reduced them a powdery ash that would be lost to the burning wood and leaves.

Just seconds earlier about two miles down the road several vehicles were steadily making their escape.

Gary could barely keep his forehead dry as he pressed a napkin to his flushed face to catch the sweat. He’d looked over at Garber whose expression mirrored his disappointment. The bastards had escaped again and caused even more damage and casualties. He looked to the sky toward the rising sun once more, shoulders sagging as he spoke mentally, thoughts laced with regret.

It was over. There was no way they could defend against the power that the giant aliens possessed. They’d managed to catch another one and seem to pay sevenfold for the act of defiance committed against it. He shook his head as he prayed to a nameless deity before apologizing.

“I’m sorry Jones, buddy….. We just couldn’t do it….”

He didn’t have time to blink, let alone light a cigar to comfort himself when the vehicle along with the several trailing behind him were blown from the pavement, tires bursting as they were tossed to the side of the road and exploded, unnatural fire of the bomb consuming them completely.

__________

The older warrior breathed a sigh of relief. No survivors. Anyone within range was immediately disintegrated. He headed back down toward the control room just in time to miss the commotion.

Tzukra was just catching his breath from the urgent trek they’d made to the ship when he looked up, only to see K’tch’s fist flying toward him. The strong warrior said nothing as he threw his fist toward Tzukra, punching him straight in his left mandible and causing him to lose his balance, momentarily, stumbling. Tzukra coughed, turning to the older warrior angrily, eyes wide in shock wondering what the hell that was for.

K'tch sneered as he spoke in their language.

For leaving him stranded with a female in season....

Tzukra shrank back almost sheepishly, having forgotten entirely about that... He coughed, deciding a punch was way better than anything else he knew K’tch could have concocted.


______


He’d been out of her sight for less than a day, but the danger of the situation, seeing the large machine and watching the rounds of bullets that had likely come his way the duration of the mission still managed to make her breathe a sigh of relief upon his return. He had sauntered down the hall, Tzukra less-graceful as he dragged his sore body down to the treatment room beyond their quarters, knowing he'd be spending the rest of the night and morning there.

K'tch had glanced at him once, numb to any feeling of guilt whatsoever at having struck him so soon after their ordeal. He shrugged the thought off. He was tougher than he looked...

His thoughts then turned to Arug'rak who was standing by the end of the hall, watching him, his bloody trophies gone from his hips. He may have been there to help him but he'd still done the work of rescuing Tzukra. He had been the one to infiltrate the base and sneak into his room after stealthily taking out several armed guards. He had been the one to navigate them out of harm's way in order to bring the young hunter back safely. Arug'rak had merely provided the necessary distraction.

He was just commemorating himself silently, gaze averted when he was startled by the feeling of being practically pushed, arms going about his waist, a soft cheek pressing into his chest.

"Oh... You’re soooo lucky to be alive.." Sharon exhaled as she hugged him with a soft smile. A sense of bewilderment was plastered across his face as he looked down at the woman, eyes wide. Lucky to be alive? Was this a joke? He’d been in way worse situations…If permitted, he might be tempted to tell her about some of them…

She sighed with relief, slight smile widening as she looked up at him.

He opened his mandibles a little, gesturing as he prepared to speak, instead, making a strange babbling noise as if he'd gotten caught in his words, the sound making her give him a questioning look. Her eyes stayed focused on his as she realized that he was confused. With a slight frown, she withdrew her hands far enough to find his wrists, hands closing around them gently as she lifted them and placed his hands up against her shoulders.
"You're supposed to hug back," she declared flatly. He glanced down at her once more before his gaze shifted to the larger figure standing in the corner, hand on his right hip as he merely waited for him to finish his exchange.

K’tch swallowed as he rested his hand on Sharon’s head in acknowledgment, sifting back through the dark locks once before gently moving her aside to approach his superior. He lifted his gaze slightly as he followed his superior out of the room. It was about time Arug’rak had that talk with him….and he was in no way looking forward to it….