June 25, 2420
8:52 PM
Oh god, how did this happen.
Just three weeks ago, everything was fine, at home, having fun with my family, in the living room playing charades. Then I got that dumb phone call, the one that brought me to where I am right now. I should probably explain... two weeks ago, when I was playing charades with my family, I got a phone call from work. I work at NASA, what my job is I will not disclose. My phone started ringing, so I picked up and stepped outside, and that's when I was told that I had a choice for a very large promotion. I had an opportunity to go to Mars! I, of course, said yes, not knowing the amount of trouble it would bring me.
So two of those weeks were spent preparing, and training, and coming up with some believable lie to tell my family, so they wouldn't have to know of the possible danger I was being put into. 8 And boarding the Spaceship that brought me here, I had no idea of what I had been getting myself into.
Stepping off the ship may have been the worst decision of my life. No scratch that, it was walking into the large, dark, ominous cave with my team. My team and I had explored the cave, but not for long. Stepping into a new section of the darkness, with only a small lantern lighting our way, we stumbled upon IT. It being a large, flat wall, covered in weird, complex drawings and unknown symbols. What caught our attention was four words in a bright white chalk, contrasting against the light blue chalk covering the walls. The white chalk almost glowing in the lantern's light.
Can't see, can hear.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Asks one of my teammates,Terence. I just shrug in response, still trying to figure it out myself. Another one of my teammates is taking photos of the markings and words, another is standing by looking at the words, while the other two are looking at the rest of the wall.
"It's odd, isn't it?" Asks the photographer, Claudia, "Were supposed to be the first living beings on mars. Oh god what if there's aliens?!" She asks loudly.
"Shush, there's no aliens. The bosses sent people here years ago, did you not do ANY research before coming here?" Rowan grumbles.
"Well, no, I'm not one of the higher ups so I don't have access to stuff like that" replies Claudia, as she screws the cap back on the lense of the camera. Suddenly I hear a rumble.
"Are they just letting anyone work here then?!" Reeve yells. I start drifting away from the conversation, listening to the rumbling. All of a sudden something burrows through a blank wall and aims straight for Rowan, but the two who were examining the rest of the wall pull him out of the way. Their names are Jenny and Scott. The creature burrows into the ground, out of sight.
"What the hell WAS that?!" Yells Terrance
"I dunno, looked like a giant spider, but mixed with a scorpion!" Yells Scott. The thing jumps out of the ground, grabbing Scott and dragging him through the ground. His yells can be heard echoing across the walls, then they just stop.
"Oh god, Scott!!!" Jenny yells, I think they were lovers. Jenny's digging at the ground, screaming and crying. I look back at the four words on the wall and it suddenly clicks. I walk over and pull her up, and immediately pull her into a hug. Hushing her and letting her silently cry into my shoulder. The others just stare in shock at where Scott once stood.
I snap my fingers, effectively grabbing their attention. I put my finger up to my lips, signaling them to be quiet, and point at the four words. It takes them a moment but they all nod.
"So, whatever that thing is, it can't see us, but it can hear us?" Rowan asks. I shush him again and grab a rock from the debris left from its burrowing and throw it far away from all of us. The creature breaks through the ceiling and lands on top of the rock.
Now having a better view of the creature, it has eight sharp legs, the front ones ending in huge claws, probably for burrowing. It's face is terrifying, it doesn't have a nose,and in place of its ears are giant holes with a rim around them, but where it's eyes are supposed to be, there's one huge hollow space that takes up the whole eye area. When it's mouth opens there's a putrid scent and rows upon rows of teeth.
None of us move, except Jenny, she looks at the creature and backs away, tripping over rocks. There's no time to react, the second she trips over the rock and falls, the monster is already next to me and grabbing her. My eyes widen as I hold my breath, trying not to make a sound. I
I can't hear Jenny anymore. The monster stands back up, re-entering my peripheral vision. It turns towards me, and it screams, it sounds like multiple voices overlapping. My ear is ringing and all I can do is stand here, holding my breath while watching it.
Claudia throws a rock away from all of us, and the creature rushes to it, burrowing back into the ground. I let out a breath as Claudia, Rowan, and Terrance quietly rushed over to me. We all look at each other, and with out saying a single word, we all walk out of the cave, hoping we are quiet enough to not be heard.
When we get to the entrance of the cave, Terrance speaks.
"What now?" He asks. We all look at him, with dread in our eyes as he realizes what he just did. He backs away, with a look of terror in his eyes. The ground starts to rumble and the look of panic in his eyes is all I can focus on.
"No.." he faintly whispers. Then the creature erupts for the ground right under him and pulls him down into the darkness. Rowan, Claudia and I all look at each other and briskly walk out of the cave with a different look in our eyes than when we walked in with.
Still unsure of whether it's safe to speak or not, Rowan points to the area where the ship is. Me and Claudia nod and we start walking there together.
After almost 10 minutes I realized something. It didn't take us nearly this long to get to the cave, something was wrong. I stop moving and take a look around me. This isn't right, we're going the wrong way. Rowan and Claudia look at me, confused. I opened my mouth to speak but quickly shut it. I furrow my eyebrow as I look around and then back at them.
Leaning in towards them, I nervously and very quietly whisper, "We're going the wrong way." Suddenly the ground rumbles and we all freeze, not daring to move. The beast jumps out of the ground a few feet away from us looking in the opposite direction of us. I let out a shaky breath, trying to be quiet. It whips its head around and stares directly at us, but is unable to see us. Its ears somehow stretched open even more, as if it were looking for any source of sound.
Then it happened, I messed up. I was reaching for Claudia's camera and when I grabbed it, I almost dropped it, being able to catch it in midair made a slight noise and the beast stopped all movements, and stared directly at me.
It rushed at me and I barely rolled out of the way, with the camera still tight in my grip,
I ran. My teammates looked at me with worry but quickly ran with me toward the ship, with the creature chasing after us, targeting me.
Thus bringing us here. Being thankful I was on the track team in high school, I ran as fast as I could, with the creature following and gaining speed. The ship was just barely in view. I ran faster, and so did my teammates. Hope fills our hearts as we quickly approach the machine that can send us back home.
All of a sudden my feet are swept out from underneath me as I fall and scream. My leg is in extreme pain as the monster pulls me towards itself and I try to grasp onto anything to keep me away from it. Claudia and Rowan stop and look at each other as they start grabbing tools from their belts and hurling them at the beast. Rowan landed one in the hollow spot in its face, making it scream and back away, clawing at its face. Claudia grabs my arm and with Rowan's help pulls me to safety behind a large rock.
I nod appreciably towards them and take a quiet breath. Looking down at my leg I see that my suit was ripped a bit, making me panic. Somehow not dead though, I stand up with my remaining teammates and we slowly but surely walk back to the ship.
Walking aboard the ship was such a relief. Sitting down in my seat at the front, so I could massage Houston, I finally breathed out and relaxed. I know that Claudia and Rowan would have left me for dead if it wasn't for me being the captain and the only one who can properly pilot the ship, but I feel good knowing that I'm at least alive.
