This was impossible.
Not only had the entire fleet been wiped out, but both Thrukrol had been killed within mere moments of being deployed. There was confusion and indecision in all corners of the bridge. With all the destruction, it wouldn't be long before the fleets would refuse to venture down onto the planet. The last fleet had flooded the bridge with reports of hazardous flora and giant creatures, but these were still vague. Both were not entirely unheard of back on their home planet, and they had conquered both with their technology. The Thrukrol, large predators that they were, almost as big as the Recon Ships, had been their most dangerous threat for
years, but they too had fallen. What even were these giant creatures that had been encountered? So far, all they had seen in videos grabbed were the humans, who seemed to be dominate species on the planet by miles. If there were some massive creature down on the surface was it not attacking the humans? Had they just been unlucky? Or were the humans somehow the giant creatures? This last hypothesis had not even occurred to the Commander until one of his scientists
happened to bring it up. Was that why they had failed to bring the first human girl they had spotted onto the ship? Was the constant failures of the fleets due to a single assumption? More information was needed, but the Commander could not risk sending any more ships down right now.
Instead, the Commander ordered that more Thrukrol be prepped to be sent down onto the surface. Three more specimens would be used, as well as Thrukras, an evolutionary cousin of the Thrukrol. The Thrukra were smaller than the Thrukrol, about half their size and much shorter tails, but they had evolved wings,
making them much more mobile than their siblings, and their poison was deadlier. An aggressive campaign had been launched against the Thrukra back on the home planet to control their numbers, and now they were endangered breed. As such, only one would be sent with the Thrukrol. The Transponder was fired up and a new location was picked to send the monsters, the scientists making sure to select a place far away from where the large fleet of fighters had been sent. But the monsters had to be sent somewhere populated, somewhere they could still cause carnage to the human population if given the chance.
Once one the surface, the Thrukrol, suspicious of their new surroundings, sniffed the air. They winced at the smell, which was unfamiliar to them, further increasing their unease. The monsters hissed softly as they began to slowly began to pace about the foreign environment. Large structures littered the cold ground, some of them emitting strange odors. One of the Thrukrol cautiously approached one of these massive things, and sniffed at it. It only was able to do for a moment before a immensely loud booming sound erupted behind it.
It was only half way turned before it was completely wiped off the face of the Earth.
…
Ariel Bradson stepped out the Emergency Door of The Rowdy Lantern and into the dank, musty alley next to. Her temper was riled, her hands clenched into fists, the soles of her thick boots clamping down onto the old cement as she stormed out of the bar. The fire alarm attached to the metal door, which Ariel propped open by kicking an old soda can in the jamb. She immediately dug a finger between her ample bosom, extracting the pack of long, slim cigarettes that were always snugly tucked in there. She needed a smoke now before she actually killed someone. Mere moments ago, she had tackled Brian Irving, one of her “managers”, after finding out that he had had sex behind her bar (which she had strenuously cleaned) last night, discovering a used condom. They had struggled for at least a few minutes before Clark Randall, the owner of The Lantern, and Jake Reilly, the cook, were finally able to pull their new bartender off the battered “floor manager”. Her employment at the Lantern was barely two weeks old, and yet it had been marked by various confrontations with the incompetent dickheads in charge, none of whom she had even an ounce of respect for. The tension had now apparently come to a climax today, as this was the first time she had physically assaulted one of them. Once she had finally been forcibly separated from the target of her ire, she had stormed out of the kitchen.
Her anger was so much that her hands trembled as she clawed at her cigarette pack.
…
The two remaining Thrukrol, as well as the single Thrukra, were blown away by the sheer force of the towering beast's rapid appearance. The sole Thruka immediately took flight, while the other two specimens could only get back to their feet. They had no idea what was going on. The knowledge that something big had appeared was not lost on them, but their primal minds were incapable of fully understanding the situation. Despite scanning the area all around them, their tiny perspectives were unable to process the immense creature above them as another living organism, but rather just another part of massive landscape. As far
as they knew, whatever had coming crashing through was invisible to them.
Eventually, one of the Thrukrol looked up just in time to see something falling from the sky right on top of it. By the time, it realized this, though, there was scarcely anytime to react. The cigarette fell completely straight on top of the alien monster, trapping him inside a new environment of rank tobacco leaves.
The other Thrukrol was far enough away to completely avoid this. It began to turn towards its trapped brethren when another sound stopped it dead in its tracks. A low roar of a beast filled the air. Whatever it was, it was massive, the deafening sound of its guttural utterance shaking the Thrukrols very bones. Frightened, the Thrukrol turned back in an attempt to find out where this immense threat was coming from.
An instance later, it ceased to exist.
…
The cigarette slipped out of her fingers as she pulled it out of the slim box.
Ariel, her temper already spiked, involuntarily let out an angry scowl, stomping her foot hard enough to send many old, crushed cigarettes from past breaks scattering from the force. Jamming the box back between her tits, she bent down and snatched the cigarette off the dirty ground. The five second rule applied to cigarettes, right? Fuck it. Who cared? It seemed incredibly stupid to worry about germs on what was notoriously called a “cancer stick”. Plus, she had a good immune system, unable to remember the last time she had been genuinely pretty sick beyond a minor cold.
She stuck the cigarette in her mouth and dug into the pocket of her plaid jeans, pulling out her lighter, which almost fell out of fingers too. Fortunately, she managed to reestablish her grip before that could happen. If it had fallen, minor inconvenience as it was, it probably would have been enough for Ariel to kick one of the metal trash cans across the alley.
The lighter was quickly lit and she held its flame under the end of the cigarette, her free hand cupped around it to protect it from the wind.
…
The Thrukrol didn't know where it was. It had felt the violent movement but remained trapped in its smelly prison. But what it did know was that fire was coming for it. It saw the smoke, could feel the heat, could see the light behind it as the flames engulfed the dry foliage around it. With nowhere else to go but forward, the beast crawled ahead, but it almost didn't even have to. Immediately, it felt its body being pulled forward by an incredible rush of air. The packed leaves prevented it from being sucked in too far, however, the flames slowly catching up to it. Panicked, the Thrukrol clawed frantically, desperately trying to keep ahead of the heat.
…
Ariel inhaled a deep drag before blowing a large puff of smoke out of her mouth.
It would mean that Valerie would have to get involved. Her older sister knew people. A lot of people. Some of them were pretty influential people. It was entirely possible that Ariel would never see the inside of a cell over something small like this, and if she did, it would only be for a night. But at the end of it all she'd have to stand and listen to Val deliver another annoyed lecture about having to clean up yet another of her 'little sister's messes. And a part of Ariel wasn't sure she could stomach that. She loved her older sister, she truly did, she also harbored deep resentment. Everyone expected the worst of Ariel Bradson. She was the one who'd been to jail. She was the one who was violent. She was a wanna be thug who didn't respect authority. She drank and smoked and swore at people. She was a “bad person”, a disrespectful punk. Most of this was either false or grossly exaggerated. Yes, she had made mistakes, yes, she wasn't always the most “ladylike” of gals, but she had grown so much and was working so hard to make her way in this world. But no one noticed it.
All they noticed was Valerie.
Valerie was the college graduate (Ariel had dropped out). Valerie owned a successful business. Valerie had never been to prison and didn't have a reputation for punching people she didn't like. Valerie wasn't some punk, but rather charismatic and friendly. Finally, to top it all off, Valerie was the “hot one”. True, Valerie had a bit of an ego, but that was easy to overlook. After all, a little pride in a person wasn't a bad thing, right? But Ariel knew her sister better than anyone, perhaps better than even Mary-Jean Leheron. It wasn't that Valerie didn't break the rules, the rules just had a funny way of not applying to her. She also just never got caught. Her boyfriends did her homework for her, they offered her money and paid her bills. Valerie Bradson didn't need to get physical to get back at someone who wronged her. She had connections. There was always another person to take care of that for her, and in ways that would make a blow to the face look like a walk in the park by comparison. Ariel at least felt that she had a code of honor for herself. She would bloody someone's nose if they wronged her. Valerie had the means to ruin someone, financially or through reputation, if she wanted to.
Bitterness beginning to flood back into her, Ariel took another drag on her cigarette.
…
Though it crawled as fast as it could, the flames touched the back of the Thrukrol's long tail. The pain tore into its mind, halting the beast as it tried to wrench its tail out of the flames. The cramped space meant there was hardly any room to move, and the fire quickly ate up the dried leaves and quickly enveloped the Thrukrol, which began to screech in loud wails of pain.
The corpse was eventually encased in a cocoon of ash, which was flicked deftly flicked off the tip of the cigarette, sending it fluttering down towards the ground.
Meanwhile, the Thrukra was busy. Unlike its cousins, it had the vantage point of the sky, allowing it to see the towering punk rock chick as a living thing rather than just some extension of the landscape. It had spent this time fruitlessly attempting to sting the massive human. Its skin however was remarkable resilient, especially around the feet, which seemed impossible to penetrate. The legs were equally unsuccessful. Though the stinger was able to pierce the “flesh”, injecting its poisons seemed to do absolutely nothing. With no other means of attack, the Thrukra continued, eventually making its way up to the belly, a small amount of actual flesh exposed under the hem of the cropped top. A perfect spot to try its sting yet again. But as the tiny monster approached, the belly responded with a deep, low rumble that froze it in mid hover. It might have continued, but then one of the hands was raised, scaring off the lowly beast as busily rubbed the belly.
The Thrukra continued upwards before finally being faced with two immense mounds of flesh. A wide valley of exposed skin to inject! But, as it began to approach, a suddenly torrent of smoke was suddenly blown over it, surrounding the tiny creature. The cloud blew into its eyes, effectively blinding it. It was forced to inhale the mass amount of smoke, its toxic contents filling its lungs. Its breath cut off, the Thrukra began to plummet from the sky. Dazed, but realizing its situation, the alien predator buzzed its wings in attempt to stop the fall, causing it to aimlessly fly in the air, eventually colliding back into the belly again. Its limp body almost fell into the narrow gap between the flesh and jeans, but managed to latch its legs onto the hem and pull its weak body atop it. The belly growled again, the sound startling the tiny lifeform. It was no longer concerned with stinging, it simply wanted to escape. The collision had hurt it, one of its wings now ached painfully. It began to crawl along the hem in an attempt to escape the deep, intimidating roars of the belly.
Eventually, it made its way around to the opposite end, the wide top shelf of the rear stick far out below. The Thruka struggled to breath, the toxic smoke still inside it, its vision continuously fading and restoring in a dizzying cycle. The pain in its wing was beginning to subside, however, and the prospect of flight slowly began to seem possible again. So, the Thrukra attempted to take flight, but within seconds a shot pain ripped through its wing and it fell again. It rolled along the long slope of
the shelf that was the ass before finally beginning to fall down in entire length. Halfway down, the tiny predator, instinctively knowing that it was life or death, buzzed its wings, ignoring the pain, halting its descent, hovering motionless in the air.
The belly rumbled again in the distance. This time, it was followed by something that was not the guttural roar of a larger predator, but rather a booming sound. It was like the thunder of a particularly powerful storm following the strike of a nearby bolt of lightning. Alarmed, the Thrukra began to soar away from the sound, its pain quickly forgotten. But as it fled, it began to realize that it was suddenly struggling to catch its breath, and suddenly found its vision fading again. The Thrukra plummeted out of the sky and landed with a heavy thud on the ground, the delicate bones it its wings snapping.
It lay there one the ground, writhing, dying. When something landed near it, the Thrukra was in no state of mind to take any notice, nor did it realize the shadow that loomed over it. Of course, it didn't matter. Just like the rest, it would soon cease to exist.
…
Ariel dropped her boot down onto the stub of the cigarette and ground into the concrete, rubbing her stomach as she did. Jake had offered her some food last night before she left and, against her better judgment, she had taken it home with no real intention of eating it. She should have just thrown it away, but, for some reason, she had not. Perhaps it was because a part of her remembered she didn't have anything to eat at home. It had been almost a week since she'd gone to the grocery store. So, this morning, with scarcely anything to eat, she'd given in and eaten Jake's offering, of course checking it to make sure it was actually fully cooked before consuming it. It had been incredibly bland and unenjoyable, and her stomach sure didn't seem to like having to process it, but at least she hadn't come down with food poisoning.
Finally, she walked back into The Rowdy Lantern, where she found Jake and Clark talking. They both entered an awkward silence when Ariel reentered the kitchen. Brian had been sent home, she would come to find out. Clark made a halfhearted attempt to discipline her for what she had done to his “floor manager” but, other than that, wasn't prepared to pursue the incident any further. Ariel felt her spirits suddenly soar. Not only had she dispensed her own personal brand of justice, but she wouldn't have to worry about spending the night in jail for it. Maybe today would be a good day after all!
After half listening to whatever else Clark had to say, she turned and headed back towards the bar. As she went, she punched Jake hard in the arm, telling him that his cooking sucked before exiting the kitchen.