INFESTATION OF TORIA PART II
(Based on the Infestation RPG)
Comment: Alright, this is it. Part Two. I hope you enjoy this segment of the tale, for I put much more work into it. I have separated it into parts instead of chapters and will do so from now on.
**
The terrain was rocky. Prison 4A was in one of the rockiest areas on the entire planet. The five men had to travel slower due to this. It was hot, they were, after all, on a desert planet. So this didn’t help much in the traveling. Matt led the way, and despite all the loose rocks and sand, he walked without making a sound. The others tried to follow the procedure, without much success. This man Matt seemed to have had much more time in these situations then the others.
Michael Zitel wiped the sweat off of his forehead and sighed. This was very difficult indeed. Michael had been in that prison for four months, and he was pleased to see that he was out, although this wasn’t much of the freedom he had hoped for. He had ended up on this petty excuse for planet because he had made a wrong move. Like James, he was a smuggler, but he wasn’t caught the same way James had been. A Confederate commander known as Zare had been secretly working with Emperor Mengsk. Seeing that he didn’t want the Confederacy to know he was dealing with Mengsk, he sent smugglers to do his dirty work.
Michael had been smuggling for him for a little over a year before the Confederacy began to suspect Zare. Afraid that he was going to be caught, he sent forces to stop the smuggling operation, so that it would look like Zare had nothing to do with it. They believed him, of course, and all of the smugglers working for him were either killed or captured. Michael wished he’d chose death back then, he’d never of thought it’d end like this. On a planet that was quickly becoming infested by the Zerg. That was the problem, the Zerg could take over a planet within days. Michael wouldn’t have been surprised if when they left this rocky area, there would be Zerg Colonies everywhere with Zerglings and Hydralisks roaming the desert.
He had seen on the news about what the Zerg could do. Michael never thought he would actually have to be dealing with them though. He wasn’t a skilled fighter, he wouldn’t be much help to the others with him. He didn’t know how to live away from civilization. He was sure they would be able to survive on this planet a day or two at most before the Zerg finally got them. There was also the fact that…
“Do you hear that?” Matt asked cutting off his thoughts. Matt motioned for everyone to stop.
“Hear what?” James asked.
“Listen.”
They did. At first they heard nothing, but then after about thirty seconds, machine guns sounded in the distance. There are still Terrans battling the Zerg here!
“I don’t believe it,” Kyle said quietly.
The 6’7” man Matt turned to them. They got a good look at his face. Black hair with brown eyes, and Michael could tell that face had seen many battles. Scars covered it. Nobody had actually looked directly at his face. He would mostly be covered in the darkness. He had always sat in the same corner and had never left the cell.
“Now we must move quicker,” he told them. “It won’t be long until the Zerg overrun everything.”
“Think anyone from 4A is out there?” Zack asked him.
Matt shook his head. “I doubt it. The guards there were ignorant.”
Then Matt turned back around and began to walk stealthily once again. The others followed.
**
“Retreat you fools!” Captain Williams shouted at the fourteen men that were still alive. However, they did not listen. They stood their ground and fired at the largest Ultralisk anybody had ever seen. It had taken out three of his men already, and despite being shot at with hundreds of bullets, seemed unscathed. Williams lifted his rifle and fired.
The Ultralisk crushed another one of his men under its foot and then slashed another one completely in half before they could react. Not only was it the largest, but it was also the fastest he had ever seen.
“If you’re not going the run, the least you can do is keep your distance!” he shouted over the gunfire and the Ultralisk’s roars.
The Ultralisk leaped high into the air and smashed four more of his men, while two others had managed to evade the blow. His men were grouping. The battlefield was surrounded by a steep mountain all around, and there were large boulders sitting on the ground in it. Williams knew he could use the tall mountains as an advantage, but his men wouldn’t listen. He saw another man go down and decided it was enough. He left his men and started to climb up a section of the mountain that wasn’t too steep. While doing this he heard a loud scream from one of his men and then it was cut short. He didn’t stop though, and the gunfire stopped before he had even reached the top. He looked back and saw that the Ultralisk was standing on its hind legs and roaring. As if standing in victory.
Williams spit and continued his ascent A minute later he had made it to the top, and fortunately, it was completely flat and covered with sand. He ran from the edge and collapsed to his knees when he was sure the Ultralisk couldn’t see him from the ground. He was breathing hard, and sweat covered his face. His lip was bleeding, and his left side had a large slash mark in it. A Zergling had managed to hit him, and it had caused him to fall and hit his mouth on a rock.
His canister rifle was strapped in a way that went around his shoulder and chest. It bumped against his back. He hadn’t used much shells. He looked at his wound for the first time and sighed. His small med kit couldn’t treat that, and if it wasn’t treated soon, he would die from it. Captain Williams unstrapped his rifle and reloaded it with fresh shells. His hand was shaking, and his vision was getting blurry. Not a good sign. Once he was finished reloading the weapon, he dropped it onto the ground and fell to his back. He hadn’t felt the wound before, but now he could really feel the pain it giving to him. He wiped the blood off his lip and closed his eyes, and immediately Williams was asleep.
**
Kyle knew what he was doing. While in the academy to become a soldier for the Protectorate, they taught you everything there was about the Zerg. The way they worked, the Overmind, their history, and how to fight them. The Protectorate had a liking toward the Protoss, unlike the rest of the galaxy. Although no real alliance was made, Kyle was sure the Protectorate and Protoss alike could join forces.
Although the Umojan Protectorate was considered a pirate militia, they were respected by many. Kyle took great pride in his people, and that had been what had gotten him captured. It had been on a small Confederate backwater station. The planet had been secretly producing nukes, and when the Protectorate found out about this, they sent several saboteurs to try to destroy them. Kyle was one of those saboteurs. At the first silo, they had planted the bomb, but when an alarm went off and armed guards came running to find out what was going on, Kyle distracted them so that his friends could escape. He was brought to Toria after that. Kyle later found out that it was all in vain. The Confederacy had stopped the saboteurs before they could do any damage.
“Do you have any idea how much longer we’ll be in this mountainous area?” Kyle asked Matt.
“Not a clue, but I do know this. The fighting has stopped,” Matt replied.
“I didn’t even notice. Since it was very faint,” Zack said.
Matt nodded. “Of course you didn’t. All you were was a low class soldier of the Combine. You weren’t taught to use your senses as good as I was.”
Zack didn’t have any idea Matt had known he was part of the Combine. If Matt knew that much, then he might know more. How interesting. He didn’t like being called a low class soldier though.
“It’ll be dark soon,” James observed. “Dark isn’t good.”
“Indeed. The Zerg seem more active during the night. Believe me, I know,” Matt said.
James nodded in agreement. He could believe that. Personally, James didn’t think they would have made it far if it weren’t for Matt. The man was just incredible. He made the quick decisions, and his leadership skills was better then he had ever seen. James assumed that Matt had been a strategic genius in the military he served in, and that led to another question. What military organization was it?
It couldn’t be the Confederacy, because he was a Confederate prisoner. He was also sure he didn’t work for any pirate militias. So whom did he used to serve under? This man was clouded in mystery.
“We’ll have to find some sort of small cave when it gets dark,” Matt said. “We won’t have to worry about the Zerg then. They don’t tend to like to dig through rock.”
Kyle nodded. “Indeed.”
An hour later it had been dark, and fortunately they had found a small cave. They went inside and found no traces of Zerg there. They didn’t seem to like to roam this rocky region.
“Each one of us will stand watch,” Matt said. “I’ll go first.”
“Alright, but I doubt I’ll be getting any sleep,” James said.
They all lay down on the ground. It was brown dirt, not exactly comfortable. However, they had slept on the ground at Prison 4A, so this was nothing for them. Nobody thought they could sleep, but soon enough, everyone but Matt did.
