Free Star Force: Survivor (SF52) by Aer-ki Jyr Page B

as told but knew that was bad.
So far the aliens had been coming up at them from the rear, but now it seemed
that they had gotten ahead of them somehow…maybe even cut them off.
    He pulled out the stun pistol from the holster he wore,
the first time he’d touched the weapon since he’d been given it. It couldn’t
kill the enemy, but it could knock them down long enough for him to run and he
clung to it now with a fierce grip as he kept his body melded up next to the
tree trunk. He didn’t dare look around, so he watched what he could from his
position, especially the area behind him where he’d expected the enemy to come
from, and waited while the commandos did what they did best.
    After what felt like an eternity of adrenaline-laced
torment, the plasma fired died down but did not entirely quit. Frozen in place
Chad jerked when the commando came back and yanked him onto his feet.
    “Run!” he yelled , pointing
ahead as the armored suit headed the other way.
    Chad didn’t know what else to do so he turned and ran
forward, not having anyone to follow. He spotted the pilot to his left and ran
towards him, unable to keep up pace but visually following him and dropping
onto his path as much as he could. Ahead and to his right there were explosions
as plasma hit wood in a variety of places, none right nearby but still loud
enough to send shivers up and down his spine.
    Chad just kept running, not thinking, just running.
His muscles had stopped complaining, for somehow they knew how close to dying
they were so they shut up and seemed to work with him, but still failed to give
the necessary speed. Another suit of commando armor shot past him, this one
coming from the left and cutting across diagonally in front of him about 2
meters away. Chad hesitated, then forced himself back
into a full run as plasma fire broke out behind him. A few steps later and his
shoulder exploded in pain and he lost his coordination, with his own legs
tripping him up and sending him crashing into the soft ground.
    He turned right side up and started to get back to his
feet, smelling the charred flesh of his own body but refusing to look at the
wound just as a pair of aliens came into view. Chad grabbed the stun gun in his
left hand and fired twice, missing the first and hitting the second time as
plasma flashed by his head. One of the Hobbits went down, then the other one sent a shot directly into the man’s forehead, killing him before
he even hit the ground.

 
    When the commando told him to run, Davi didn’t hesitate. He knew how bad the situation was and he didn’t want to be in
the firing line any more than he had to be. He took off sprinting in the
direction he was told and didn’t look back, relying on years of training to
deal with the fatigue creeping through his body. His legs, arms, and lungs were
burning but that didn’t matter. He’d been through tough workouts in order to
get his fitness level up and he knew he could take it and more…the problem was
he was running a race against plasma, and unless the enemy was simply bad shots
he was going to lose out.
    His only hope was putting as many tree trunks between
him and them as possible. He wore a pistol on his hip but didn’t bother to pull
it out, needing every arm swing to carry him further away from the Hobbits.
They were slow as far as foot soldiers went, but he wasn’t all that much faster
and this terrain suited them well. Lots of trees, mostly
flat, soft and moist with wisps of fog. He wished he had armor with a
sensor helmet, but at the moment he was just going to have to rely on the
commandos’ guidance.
    Not long after he took off running one of them came up
on him and flanked him for a few seconds, redirecting him slightly more to the
left, then she tore off and headed for some unseen enemy. There was weaponsfire
everywhere, mostly heard, but some flashes were visible through the trees. Davi desperately hoped he wasn’t running right into the
enemy, but for the