Chapter 19: Screams Across the Green Hell
Levi folded his parachute with steady hands, but his eyes darted across the dark forest surrounding him. The sunlight didn't reach this place—the canopy above was thick, suffocating, like a burial shroud.
He activated his White Jacket's scanning system.
> [Area Scan Initiated…]
[Lifeform Detected: Category – High Threat]
[Colony of Giant Hornets – Adaptive Sensory Kin-Swarm Detected]
[Recommendation: Immediate Extraction or Concealment]
His blood ran cold. He tapped the side of his helmet and whispered through gritted teeth,
> "Why the hell am I always this unlucky?"
The dropship cargo was miles away—beyond the main hornet nest.
Worse, the creatures here could sense foreign intrusions across wide distances—a nightmare for any survivor.
The distant hum of wings pierced the air.
Buzzing—sharp, rising fast.
> "Shit."
He dove into the nearest underbrush, vanishing just as two massive shadows darkened the forest floor overhead. The hornets were the size of motorcycles. Their stingers were bone-white and quivering.
They hovered briefly... and passed.
But Levi knew better.
This was only the beginning.
---
Elsewhere Across Earth Prime...
The land welcomed no one. The ecosystem did not forgive.
> "NO! NOOO—!"
A man screamed as a giant praying mantis grasped him mid-run. The creature began to feed—starting with the legs, chewing bone and meat while the man screamed, watching himself be devoured.
Another participant, a woman, had no better fate. She ran into vines—not ordinary vines, but parasitic roots. They writhed to life, violated her body mercilessly, drained every drop of fluid from her being, then buried her like compost.
Gunfire echoed.
A man emptied a clip into a beautiful butterfly—too late realizing it had evolved. Its long, needled tongue pierced through his visor, draining him even as he screamed into the open comms.
> [Screaming] "I-I can't move—I CAN'T MOVE!" "Please! Someone help me, PLEASE!"
Those who encountered parasites suffered worse.
Their suits healed them.
The parasites preferred it that way.
The longer their hosts lived, the more fertile they became.
Otto—chubby, cheerful Otto—was pinned against a tree. Giant mosquitoes pierced every artery. His blood sprayed into sacs above their backs like wine into goblets. The suit tried to seal his wounds, feed him nutrients, but it only made his body more appealing.
He was still alive… when they stopped drinking.
Across the sky, white dots on scanners vanished one by one.
Hope flickered like faulty static.
---
Linus – Directive Mode
Watching the feed, Linus clenched his jaw.
> [White Jacket AI]: Survivor count: 41… 36… 30…
> "Open a line to all remaining units—now."
A soft tone beeped as all remaining helmets linked up. Static buzzed. Dozens of breathless voices answered—some crying, some silent, others screaming in the background.
> "To all survivors—" Linus began, voice steady, but sharp with urgency.
"—Those who can move, proceed to the following coordinates. North. Get there before sundown. If you're immobilized... I'm sorry. You'll need to terminate yourself before they do."
His words echoed cold and final.
Then he ran—his White Jacket surging with energy as he tore through the underbrush like a missile. Each step broke roots, each leap launched him meters forward.
But something was chasing him.
> [Lifeform Detected: Unknown Hybrid – Speed Level: Class B]
Roars echoed behind him.
Jumping from tree to tree were beasts—monkey-shaped, gorilla-sized, with bright red torsos and too many teeth. They moved like predators but thought like killers. They were coordinated.
They carried weapons.
> Swoosh!
A sharpened bone-spear whistled past Linus's head.
He ducked, rolled, and hurled a grenade behind him.
Boom!
Several creatures were flung like ragdolls.
He spun, aimed, fired.
His rifle barked light, but the bullets weren't strong enough. The creatures flinched but didn't fall.
> [Incoming Call: Velvet. Accept?]
He ignored it. Too much heat. Too many eyes.
Another roar. Another leap.
He kept running.
---
Velvet – The Cliff and the River
"Why isn't he answering!?" Velvet growled, darting between twisted trees.
The helmet AI buzzed in her ear:
> [Pursuer distance: 23 meters. Increasing velocity. Suggestion: Evasive maneuver.]
She broke through the brush—only to see a cliff.
> "No—!"
She tumbled, lost footing, and plummeted.
Splash!
Water engulfed her as she sank deep into a dark river. She looked up—her visor cleared—and she saw it:
A black six-legged jaguar glaring down at her from the cliff's edge. It didn't move.
It waited.
Minutes passed.
Velvet didn't resurface.
> [Aquatic mode activated. Oxygen reserve: 3 hours]
She exhaled slowly, letting the suit regulate her breath.
> "Three hours under here… that might be long enough."
But then—movement.
The jaguar was back.
It paced the cliff, searching for a way down.
> "Persistent bastard…"
She turned and swam with the current—trying to follow the terrain mapped in Linus's last transmission. The water was cold, murky, and strange particles passed through her fingertips like live ash.
> [Warning: Motion detected – Aquatic lifeform approaching]
She turned.
And there it was.
A crocodile—but not Earth's version.
It had no eyes. Its snout was wide, flat, lined with jagged black bone. It pulsed with veins of bioluminescence, and its limbs moved more like a centipede than a reptile.
Velvet's instincts screamed.
She kicked off a submerged rock and launched herself deeper, twisting through weeds, dodging debris, her HUD pulsing warnings every second.
Above and below, the planet was closing in.
---
Across the Intercoms...
> "They're in my suit! GET THEM OUT—!" "PLEASE, PLEASE, ANYONE—" [Gunshots. Gurgling. Silence.]
The survivors screamed, begged, wept into the comms.
One by one, voices fell quiet.
The only sound that remained was Earth Prime's quiet hunger.
.
— To be Continued