Chapter 7: Lenolyn lending a ... hoof? Claw?

I knew I could not turn back and began to head north at a trot. I used the bushes to hide me from sight and hoped they would not bring any shuttles in. I passed another herd of Simeron eating bushes and kept going. I rounded a bush and froze before backing up. It was a group of four Lenolyn eating beside a wide stream. I looked around and then slowly started heading west.

I began a wide circle around the Lenolyn and finally started moving a little faster. The second group of Lenolyn was not as much of a surprise. I turned and started to head around them as I heard a shuttle heading this way. I did not hesitate and dove towards a thick bush. Even as I wiggled deeper into the bush a huge Lanolyn came around it and stopped above me to rip the top leaves off.

I froze and a moment later the shuttle flashed overhead. The Lanolyn looked up and bellowed before moving away. I moved out from under the bush and headed away. I made it another mile before I heard another shuttle. I crawled under another bush as it flew over and then crawled out to started jogging. I heard them before I saw them, all I had time for was to dive for a bush.

The large group of Cariss came around another bush and came closer. Before I could think of firing a group of four Lenolyn was suddenly roaring into the group. The Cariss never had a chance, they were ripped apart. Even after they were dead the Lenolyn stomped them into a bloody paste. One actually glanced at me before they wandered away.

I rolled out from under the bush and started off again. I was under a bush by a herd of Grecan when the next shuttle went over. I left quickly, heading east and had only gone a couple of miles before I stopped. I moved into a thick clump of bushes to see a large group of Lenolyn on the other side. The group of Cariss that suddenly appeared aimed at the animals as if to start shooting.

I did not hesitate, I started shooting the Cariss. They were caught completely by surprise and dropped to the ground looking for me. They did two things wrong, they could not find me and they forgot about the Lenolyn. The giant Lenolyn spun and charged as the Cariss panicked. Only one got a shot off at a Lenolyn and it did not even hit anything.

With the death of the last Cariss I pushed back through the bush and started jogging east again. I hit open forest a few minutes later and slowed to a fast walk. I turned to head back to the south, staying in the open forest. I heard the Cariss before I saw them and moved towards a thicker patch of brush. When I stepped through the line of brush I froze.

In front of me were four Lenolyn young in a shallow pond. When the Cariss started into the brush I dropped to the ground and brought up the sights on my rifle. I knew they would try to kill the young Lenolyn. When the first armored Cariss stepped through the screen of brush he brought up his rifle to shoot into the pond. I aimed and fired before he could kill any of the young ones.

As he died the other Cariss fanned out and rushed through the brush. I killed each one as the Lenolyn young roared and then sank under the water. After the last Cariss fell, I was up and running just in case momma Lenolyn was close. I was thinking about how many Lenolyn I had run into lately and shook my head. Normally you only saw a few but I had already seen a dozen times the normal number.

I finally made it back to the cliffs north of the colony. I was tempted to take the flier and head back to the other refuges. I crawled into a narrow crack between the rocks on the cliff face and relaxed. I sipped water from a bottle I carried and chewed some smoked Grecal. I woke to darkness and the slight crackle of my comm. “Simon?”

I hesitated before answering, afraid it was a trick, “Yeah.”

“There is a fleet scout headed towards the landing pads.”