07-15-2016, 10:34 PM
The haze of dust and debris clouded the limited visibility that remained. Under normal circumstances, Abner would have no doubt that such a decisive artillery barrage would be sufficient to eliminate any threat, but everything about this island was far from normal. Instead, Abner stepped backwards and drew his shotgun, listening for any movement within the cloud.
Colonel appeared to share the same train of thought. Upon the soldier navi’s landing near Kristen, the young woman instinctively wrapped her arms around one of Colonel’s. Though she felt safer in his presence, Colonel merely brushed the girl aside, for she would just slow his ability to use his beam emitter if he needed it.
As the crumbling of the destroyed bricks quieted down, both primes could hear a pained wheezing coming from the smoke. The monster was alive, but it was also hurt. Abner stepped back a few paces, while the secondaries retreated even farther. As the dust settled, they saw the fangs of the monster coming into view. Their view continued to clear, and the monster’s massive head emerged, followed by its large body, covered in grey, matted fur. Patches of hair were missing, replaced by scars on the skin. This thing had been hunting prey on this island for a long time.
The short standoff ended when the beast unleashed a powerful roar, refusing to retreat despite the grievous wounds on its body. Abner raised his shotgun and Colonel activated his beam saber, but the monster had already pounced towards the two of them. This time they didn’t flee. Their opponent was limping and it was weak, so the time to strike back had arrived.
Even in its injured state, however, this bizarre creature was still a formidable threat. It landed between Abner and Colonel before Abner could even get a shot off. The side of its head collided with the ex-trooper, throwing him sideways. Colonel, spared from any immediate impact, thrust his energy saber into the beast’s neck as quick as he could, eliciting another roar of pain.
Trent summoned up the strength to grab Kristen by the arm and move away from the battle with her in tow. They weren’t going to be able to help in any capacity, so rather than stand in awe of creature and the battle with it, he moved his crush away from the chaos that the scene was rapidly deteriorating into.
Abner, meanwhile, landed on the ground with a thud and a curse. He didn’t want to risk damaging Colonel with the spread of his shotgun, so he instead aimed at the monster’s front left leg, and fired a powerful blast of buckshot into it. The creature, already choking on its own blood from the robot's assault, collapsed on the disabled limb with a gurgled whine. It was able to summon the strength to push off the wounded limb, however, and subsequently slam Colonel into a brick wall of a building.
Colonel was pinned against the structure, and quickly deactivated his saber. Reacting quickly, he placed the beam emitter against the open wound he’d created on the beast, and unleashed a charge of energy into the open gash. The monster flinched with the harsh impact, and Colonel repeated the attack a second time as soon as he was able to create a second charge.
The beast desperately flailed, moving away from Colonel in its struggles. The soldier navi quickly reactivated his beam emitter upon attaining the breathing room, and tried to regain his composure. Before the monster could turn around and direct its powerful fangs at the robot, however, Abner charged in from an unobserved direction and stabbed the beast’s left eye with his combat knife.
Once again the monster cried in agony, but still wouldn’t die. Abner knew that it couldn’t be given a second of respite, so he forced the knife into the eye socket as deep as he could. Gnashing jaws wildly searched for a victim only inches from him, and all he could think about, in turn, was how they had turned solid rock into mere pebbles so effortlessly.
In the monster’s limping struggles, it found the leverage to hurl Abner backwards again. As he sailed through the air, the former stormtrooper felt true panic. The two primes had only found a flimsy advantage over this abomination by attacking from a close range, which ended up being a substanstial weakpoint to the beast. With the distance it created by this development, his only, flimsy edge had abruptly deteriorated. Abner knew he'd have to act quickly in order to survive. On impact with the ground, Abner’s pistol was already in his hands, and he began firing wildly at the creature. Colonel enacted a matching plan, bombarding the creature with blasts from his beam emitter as it limped toward the downed ex-trooper.
At some point in the merciless onslaught, the beast finally collapsed. It dropped to the ground just before Abner, who did not hesitate to unload the remainder of his clip into the motionless monster. Once his ammo ran dry, he watched the limp body for a few seconds, looking for the faintest signs of movement.
“Fuck!” Abner shouted as he stumbled to his feet, holstering his pistol once he did. He stood, and cautiously surveyed the downed monstrosity. There was no predicting the movements of this horror.
Colonel approached simultaneously reigniting his beam saber and leveling it in a defensive position. While Abner recovered his dropped shotgun, the soldier navi never let the monster’s head leave his eyesight. Abner cautiously approached, as well, but quickly ripped his knife from its head at the first opportunity and returned the blade to its sheath.
“Did we get it?” Abner asked as he surveyed the apparent corpse. He continued to take nothing for granted here.
Colonel cautiously set his hand on the beast’s neck, intently waiting for the slightest bit of motion. He felt it, just barely. The pulse was so faint that an organic being might not be able to detect it over their own natural motions. Colonel stepped back, shaking his head.
“Barely functional,” the machine surveyed aloud. “Approximately a one percent chance of survival.”
Abner snarled as he pumped another shell into his shotgun’s chamber, and directed the weapon towards the monster’s head. A single trigger pull unleashed an explosion of buckshot that thoroughly disintegrated the creature’s head. His reaction had been instinctive and uncontrollable. While the secondaries yelped in surprise, Colonel remained motionless as blood, hair, and visceral matter erupted in his direction. Instead, he simply updated his analysis.
“Zero percent.”
Colonel appeared to share the same train of thought. Upon the soldier navi’s landing near Kristen, the young woman instinctively wrapped her arms around one of Colonel’s. Though she felt safer in his presence, Colonel merely brushed the girl aside, for she would just slow his ability to use his beam emitter if he needed it.
As the crumbling of the destroyed bricks quieted down, both primes could hear a pained wheezing coming from the smoke. The monster was alive, but it was also hurt. Abner stepped back a few paces, while the secondaries retreated even farther. As the dust settled, they saw the fangs of the monster coming into view. Their view continued to clear, and the monster’s massive head emerged, followed by its large body, covered in grey, matted fur. Patches of hair were missing, replaced by scars on the skin. This thing had been hunting prey on this island for a long time.
The short standoff ended when the beast unleashed a powerful roar, refusing to retreat despite the grievous wounds on its body. Abner raised his shotgun and Colonel activated his beam saber, but the monster had already pounced towards the two of them. This time they didn’t flee. Their opponent was limping and it was weak, so the time to strike back had arrived.
Even in its injured state, however, this bizarre creature was still a formidable threat. It landed between Abner and Colonel before Abner could even get a shot off. The side of its head collided with the ex-trooper, throwing him sideways. Colonel, spared from any immediate impact, thrust his energy saber into the beast’s neck as quick as he could, eliciting another roar of pain.
Trent summoned up the strength to grab Kristen by the arm and move away from the battle with her in tow. They weren’t going to be able to help in any capacity, so rather than stand in awe of creature and the battle with it, he moved his crush away from the chaos that the scene was rapidly deteriorating into.
Abner, meanwhile, landed on the ground with a thud and a curse. He didn’t want to risk damaging Colonel with the spread of his shotgun, so he instead aimed at the monster’s front left leg, and fired a powerful blast of buckshot into it. The creature, already choking on its own blood from the robot's assault, collapsed on the disabled limb with a gurgled whine. It was able to summon the strength to push off the wounded limb, however, and subsequently slam Colonel into a brick wall of a building.
Colonel was pinned against the structure, and quickly deactivated his saber. Reacting quickly, he placed the beam emitter against the open wound he’d created on the beast, and unleashed a charge of energy into the open gash. The monster flinched with the harsh impact, and Colonel repeated the attack a second time as soon as he was able to create a second charge.
The beast desperately flailed, moving away from Colonel in its struggles. The soldier navi quickly reactivated his beam emitter upon attaining the breathing room, and tried to regain his composure. Before the monster could turn around and direct its powerful fangs at the robot, however, Abner charged in from an unobserved direction and stabbed the beast’s left eye with his combat knife.
Once again the monster cried in agony, but still wouldn’t die. Abner knew that it couldn’t be given a second of respite, so he forced the knife into the eye socket as deep as he could. Gnashing jaws wildly searched for a victim only inches from him, and all he could think about, in turn, was how they had turned solid rock into mere pebbles so effortlessly.
In the monster’s limping struggles, it found the leverage to hurl Abner backwards again. As he sailed through the air, the former stormtrooper felt true panic. The two primes had only found a flimsy advantage over this abomination by attacking from a close range, which ended up being a substanstial weakpoint to the beast. With the distance it created by this development, his only, flimsy edge had abruptly deteriorated. Abner knew he'd have to act quickly in order to survive. On impact with the ground, Abner’s pistol was already in his hands, and he began firing wildly at the creature. Colonel enacted a matching plan, bombarding the creature with blasts from his beam emitter as it limped toward the downed ex-trooper.
At some point in the merciless onslaught, the beast finally collapsed. It dropped to the ground just before Abner, who did not hesitate to unload the remainder of his clip into the motionless monster. Once his ammo ran dry, he watched the limp body for a few seconds, looking for the faintest signs of movement.
“Fuck!” Abner shouted as he stumbled to his feet, holstering his pistol once he did. He stood, and cautiously surveyed the downed monstrosity. There was no predicting the movements of this horror.
Colonel approached simultaneously reigniting his beam saber and leveling it in a defensive position. While Abner recovered his dropped shotgun, the soldier navi never let the monster’s head leave his eyesight. Abner cautiously approached, as well, but quickly ripped his knife from its head at the first opportunity and returned the blade to its sheath.
“Did we get it?” Abner asked as he surveyed the apparent corpse. He continued to take nothing for granted here.
Colonel cautiously set his hand on the beast’s neck, intently waiting for the slightest bit of motion. He felt it, just barely. The pulse was so faint that an organic being might not be able to detect it over their own natural motions. Colonel stepped back, shaking his head.
“Barely functional,” the machine surveyed aloud. “Approximately a one percent chance of survival.”
Abner snarled as he pumped another shell into his shotgun’s chamber, and directed the weapon towards the monster’s head. A single trigger pull unleashed an explosion of buckshot that thoroughly disintegrated the creature’s head. His reaction had been instinctive and uncontrollable. While the secondaries yelped in surprise, Colonel remained motionless as blood, hair, and visceral matter erupted in his direction. Instead, he simply updated his analysis.
“Zero percent.”