Darkwind - Viewing Topic: Bad News

*JD_Basher*
Gearjammers
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Gregs' well exercised caution and scouting ability served him well.
The dust plumes he saw leaving Badlands were members of the Badlands Rudeboys. He needed to get past the last of the Pirates surrounding the Truckstop.

Greg stopped on top of a rocky outcrop and watched them through his binoculars as they stitched their way past him, running the 'lows' of the dunes looking for any possible vehicular prey. These were 'Fast movers' meant to kill.

They made it to a large cliff and were stopped side by side, nose to tail.
The drivers obviously talking.....Possibly planning their next travels.

The movement in the cliff was what drew Gregs' eye first. He swiveled the binocs on the movement and let out a "HEY!" before he realized the drivers of the Rudeboys could not hear him.

There were 2 caves in the side of the cliffs next to where they stopped. One closer, within 20 meters of the pirate patrol and the other farther, at least 50 meters from them.

The near cave literally erupted with 'insect' like creatures scrabbling over each other to get out.

The two drivers of the Rudeboys didnt event see them until there were at least eight of the six legged monsters on them, each one as long as their Phoenixes. The 'insects' Greg saw were scorpions like he saw in the school books, but different.

One of them reached into the driver window of the farthest car, with a 1.5 meter claw and pulled the poor driver out. His seat harness held him until his right arm was ripped free of his torso. The screams could be heard from here, where Greg watched. Not the low gutteral moans of a fast death. These were the high pitched, screeching sounds of an agonized, delayed, wrenching of life from the living.

The second car moved with a start.....and stopped. The driver could be seen hitting the dash as he tried to find the starter button.
The seven other unoccupied 'scorpions' surrounded the stalled Phoenix.

Greg saw the movement before he heard it. Two rooster-tails of dirt sprayed the two 'insects' behind the stalled driver. Then the sound of a well tuned V8 motor roaring. The driver turned hard right, directly into and under one of the scorpions. This scorpion sidestepped the Phoenix while raising its tail over its back. Just a sparkle was all Greg could see. Then the sound, 'Ponk---------Ponk'

The car kept moving away from the six-legged monsters until it got about 15 meters away. ALL of the scorpions had regained composure and aimed their tails at him..Their tail tips opened in wide three way clamps.

Greg saw two ground flares where two projectiles hit. One, 1 meter from the car and one directly underneath the bumper.
He saw the others etch a dotted line up the trunk, over the roof and off the hood to the ground in front of the car.
The car swerved, hit a small dune, and rolled on its top and stopped moving save for it's tires.

He couldn't watch any more.

The high scream filled his ears until he fired the engine and turned back toward the Badlands Truckstop.

Greg looked at the bright blue color of the Aurora. "Good GOD! Where the hell did these monsters come from?!" He thought to himself.

"Goodness had nothing to do with it.... HOPEFULLY, God didn't either!"
===============================

Mike Lefave looked sheepishly around the crumpled hulk of his Apache, the Badlands were a BAD place to be on foot.
A movement caught his eye and he focused on it.

"Sue...... Is that you?" ......... "Yeah" came her reply grunting softly as she crawled out from the inside of the overturned SUV. Susan Mayer swiped her arm across her eyes to wipe the sweat and grime from her tearing, salt stained, dust covered face.

"What the hell happened Mike?"

"We got our asses kicked is what happened 'Captain Obvious!'... I TOLD you not to slide off the ridge of that dune!"

She took two steps toward and pointing at him said, "DON'T go there right now 'ya freakin weenie!..... We have more to worry about than who is at fault dammit!" She dropped to her belly trying to work her way back into the overturned Apache.
Mike watched her crawl into the wreck then stood up and looked around at the bleak landscape looking for signs of the 'Rudeboys' who recently put them in their current situation..... Nothing now.

He looked at Sues' feet, her boot toes digging into the sand. Toes jiggled left...... then right...... then turned toes up.... "HEY!...gim..my feet a pull... lets get outta here."

He grabbed her legs above the ankle and slowly pulled Sue out of the wreck. She was dragging two sub-machineguns and one rifle with a 'musette' bag of ammo for the handguns over her head as her dusty smiling face emerged from the upside-down back window of the wrecked Apache.
"Bingo" She puffed, waving her hand in front of her face.

OOC: Keep reading the upcoming story.

More to come.... JD

......................... vet marshal wv cont
Posted Jan 24, 2009, 5:00 am	Last edited Jan 24, 2009, 5:53 am by JD_Basher

Bytten
The Bytten Squad
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"A trio from the Bytten Squad encountered these lovelies not long ago, on the way to camp from Somerset."

James "Incoming" Reese looked out across the wilderness, to the last known approximate location of his team mates. The story was based on very limited information and he suspected had become embellished over time - Andrew "The Lurker" Zurcher's addition about the twenty foot high King Scorpion was probably not true. Still, the facts were fairly evident - the old camcorder that "Eagle Eyes" Audrey Lake had got partly working and carried with her had managed to get a few shots amongst the chaos - much like the team themselves. When another camp run had found the bones, they'd almost ignored them. But he'd recognised the camera.

"They seem to be fairly widespread," he added. "Poorly armed and still shaken from the vicious assault that had left them vehicleless, all three quickly fell to the eight or so monsters that surrounded them. Since then, we're chucking out the pistols and shotguns and stocking up on rifles."

A cloud passed over his face. Audrey had been their best scout, but Boss had managed to sneak up within a hundred metres before she spotted them. He didn't believe the rumours that she'd been drinking, or worse - Audrey had always been clean.

"Only thing is," he mused, "that the scorpions in the images we salvaged had eight legs, not six... Damned mutations everywhere, I guess."

James sighed and turned away from the wilderness. They couldn't afford to dwell on the past. They had to keep on surviving the present.

......................... vet wv
Posted Jan 24, 2009, 10:42 am