Survival: Death

Landfall

The whirl of various alarms rippled through the air in a cacophony. Searing heat threatened to drown out all life in boiling sweat. A torrent of rocketing air blanketed all other sounds.

Wet... discordant mind... chained by pain; Death shot his eyes open in shock. The walls around him quacked. The sounds nullified his ears. He slid across the bouncing chamber in a pool of slim. His body refused to move, except the parts that were lively and undulating.

Moving his eyes to the accumulations of pain, Death found an alarming sight. Large, purple, and toothed tentacles protruded from breached exoskeletal plates. Black sludge oozed between the holes and tentacles, his own blood.

He realized his tail was outstretched, a common parasitical attitude; but what it was doing was not. It was slashing open the pod, causing air to rush out, and moist clouds to flow in. He searched the methane sensor on the ceiling, but what he found instead was the Light Board still attached to the floor of the pod.

Death realized why, and instead looked for the Methane sensor under him. Alarmingly, it was flashing red and making lots of ear piercing noises. He then found the O2 meter and found it at 25%. Anxiety instantly rushed through his conscious body. He was suffocating in oxygen.

He frantically searched for his gas mask, finding it as it slid toward the gaping holes in the pod. Death wrenched himself forward, ignoring the exploding pain. He reached out just as the mask flew out of the pod, catching it by a hair. He quickly put the mask over his snout, covering most of his face. The mask pressurized, allowing Death a moment to breathe. But the pain wouldn't allow it. The tentacles writhed with life, Death's head ached, but he would not allow himself to pass out from it. He had to survive. His entire race counted on him.

Death looked out the debris shield from under him. He had crossed the cloud barrier and the ground was approaching fast. He needed to get control back. His tail swiped at the outer walls, opening them wide and letting all the air rush out.

Driving his claws into the metal, Death held on for his life. The tentacles had a different idea. They wrapped around his legs and ripped them free. Death tumbled from the pod and out into the open sky. He and the pod quickly grew apart, falling toward the planet at deadly speeds. Death aimed himself toward the pod. The pod swiftly came at him and Death slipped through the holes, anchoring himself to a halt.

Death quickly grabbed a small deceive with a long needle on the end and slowly jammed it into his chest, wincing in pain. He then activated the device, and the tentacles called down. The pod was upright again, allowing him to quickly assess the damage to the communications and other important devices. He found it all sliced to pieces. The parasite had been trying to kill him while he was unconscious. Death had lost a lot of blood and he was running purely on adrenaline. Once that ended, he would die. He needed to stabilize himself. Death didn't know how close he was to the ground, but he searched for the med kit anyway as he tried to keep himself awake and stable. He found patches and needles, which he quickly injected himself with then wrapped his wounds in just before the pod made contact with the surface. Death bolted as fast as his weak body could carry him. He jumped from the pod as plant life flew past in a blur. He landed in a large tree as the pod violently smashed through everything in its path until it slowed to a stop.

Death looked around, aside from the ruined ground, the area of the planet he was on was beautiful and strange. Flying creatures rose in shock and little critters hid in fear.

Death made his way down the large tree. When he touched the ground he fell on his back and let himself loudly shriek in unbearable pain.