The Protogen Generation

Unfamiliarities

LUCAS'S P.O.V.

Now that we were on the ground, we set up camp under the EX-5's wing. None of us knew when help might arrive, or if it would arrive at all.

Garrett and I were busy trying to figure out where we had landed, but even after a couple hours we still didn't figure out anything.

"You need to look at this-" he says, waving me over, "Don't these plants look odd?"

I jump up and walk over to Garrett. He was kneeling by a small bush with flowers on it. There he was holding a medium sized flower, with a green stem and pinkish red petals, wrapped around each other in a bowl shape.

"Aureon doesn't have these types of flowers" he says, "This just makes things more confusing"

"Are you sure you aren't mistaking it for another type of flower?" I ask him.

Then he turns to me and gives me a funny look. "You are a pilot, and I am a Biologist. So no, I'm not mistaken."

"You have a point" I tell him, "But there has to be an explanation for it."

"I agree with you, but right now that explanation is beyond me." He says, still examining the flower under a flashlight.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Avera walking up to us.

"Michael is starting to get worse, she says, "And we don't have the supplies here to do much more"

"ah, fuck!" Garrett curses to himself. He quickly gets up and sprints his way over to Vita and Michael.

Now it was just Avera and I standing there.

"I should be the one that he blames," she says, "I let them do the EVA."

"Look," I tell her, "you can blame yourself all you want, but your little pep talk from earlier is what got us on the ground in the first place."

"I appreciate that, but I-" avera says, before getting cut off by Vita.

Vita calls out to us, "Avera! Come here, this is urgent!"

She quickly turns around and runs to Vita, and I follow closely behind her.

"There is shrapnel in his chest.. If we don't get it out soon, I won't be able to stop the bleeding." Vita says as she unrolls new strips of bandages.

"I couldn't find any surgical equipment, The cargo bay was a mess" Garrett says, "And I don't think there is anywhere we could take him for surgery"

But then it hits me. We might have passed over a house right before we landed, why haven't I thought of that?

"Wait!" I blurt out, "I think I saw the outline of a house a couple seconds before we crashed, but I'm not sure-"

"Well if there is, we should be going there right now" Vita says.

"She is right" Avera says, "We need to get to that house."

Garrett Nods, and quickly runs inside the EX-5's cargo bay. After a couple seconds he comes running out with a scrunched up stretcher.

Vita helps him lay it out besides Michael, and together, they lift him onto the stretcher.

"We are ready" Vita says, slinging her medical over her shoulders.

"Alright then, Lucas, show us the way." Avera says to me.

Before I started, I took one last look toward a nearby tree. In front of it, a mound of dirt that was topped by a broken helmet.

It would be Scott's final resting place. A great friend, who was passionate about his job and was willing to help his crewmates at his own risk.