Mist

Illegal Gas Leak

I wake up groggily and nonchalantly walk to the Service meeting. I find my usual seat next to Como and Pulchra (who doesn’t wear any Blackcoat armor.) Como and Amicus talk with Pulchra who seems to be nervous as the two comrades talk to her. I just listen to her because I'm too tired to talk and her voice is sweet and soft. After a few minutes, the generals come in and brief us on a new mission of sending troops through Mist easier.

It’s pretty interesting, so I listen. “ We will use these small submarines filled to the brink with troops, ammunition, and supplies. It's supposed to go through deep river systems and long ones. They sent one yesterday to a Vendetta base and it worked. So, they plan to spend a lot more today and evacuate the whole base in three days. The subs can fit seven people, and we’re sending 10 subs today, 11 tomorrow, and 9 the next day. Which sub we’re placed on is based on how much we need to leave. I realize that the sub I am on, doesn't have anyone I know and is on the last day…

    I wake up to silence. I throw on some under armor, grab my armor, and find a new weapon. There's no meeting because the generals left yesterday. I stroll to the cafeteria, where I grab all my favorite items and stuff them into the only backpack I can bring. I pretty much loot the whole base. Nobody's stopping me because they are looting with me. I grab all the necessities like extra ammo and medicine, lots of medicine. I make my way to the substation, a.k.a. makeshift garage built over the river near our base.

Everybody’s waiting in the sub and it takes me a few minutes to find a seat. I put on my helmet and try to sleep. But, I soon discovered that the sub is too shaky and uncomfortable. Looking around, I can barely see my own feet with all the stuff packed into here. I try to polish my weapon, a shotgun. I’ve never fired one, but hopefully it's fun. I glance up and see a tiny humanoid creature resting on top of the stuff. I envy him so much since it can stretch whenever it wants because it's so small. I also learn that a 7 foot tall and 3 feet wide creature has to sit on here too. I don’t envy that.

I start to scratch my initials into some boxes near me. I get bored, so I try to move the boxes away. After I move some, I can see the guy sitting next to me. It's a human and he's stuffing his face with fruits. I look at him and he looks at me, He has bright blue eyes, blondish hair, and he looks like he just witnessed his mom die in front of him.

I examine him and the fruits, confused, as he awkwardly grabs a fruit and gives it to me. I accept and taste it. It’s pretty good and I give him a thumbs up. He smiles and gets right back to his gluttonous act. I have nothing better to do, so I stare at him eating for a good two hours.

Then I realize I need to pee. I scan the area for a good place, but I can’t see three inches in front of me because of the packing. I look down and see a hole the size of fist. I mouth, “I need to pee,” at the stranger.

He peers at me, points down, and mouths, “Down there *can't read his lips* good.”

I mouth, “Don’t look.” He nods and turns away. I unzip my under armor and take it off. I'm completely naked. I pee as silently as humanly possible into the hole. I nervously check around and see the tiny creature just gaping at me. I stop peeing automatically.

I wave. It doesn’t wave back. I try to shoo it off. It doesn’t move. I throw something. It blocks, makes a small noise, and looks at me more. I feel creeped out, so I just try to pee through it. Every second feels like hell. When I’m done, the creature still studies me, but it looks more happily.

After I get dressed, I turn around and find the fruit guy naked, haunched over the hole, trying to poop. I almost scream, but block my mouth and my eyes. I move away, still covering my eyes. I look up and find out the creature is gone. I take a breath before turning back to the fruit guy to see if he's done. He doesn’t look done at all, he actually has a really pained face. I feel bad for this guy. I move a few boxes to block his nudity and mouth, “Are you okay?” He shakes his head.

Then smell a foul stench in the air. My eyes water and my face feels like it's shriveling up. I grab my helmet, which thank god has a gas mask. It doesn’t work very well on keeping odors out. I take off the mask and block my nose. The fruit guy looks embarrassed.

I finally hear other people. They’re screeching and crying, trying to get the smell out. I search my bag for anything to help this guy. I find a laxative and hand it to him. He takes it and I find myself blacking out because of the smell. He looks super weak because he's been pooping for about two straight minutes now. I cough and try breathe. I  last 10 seconds. I feel like death has finally got to me. I can tell he feels the same. The others in this vehicle might have died too.

The sub comes to a screeching halt. A red light flashes and warning sounds blast off. A light grows above of me. I climb towards it, the top door, to freedom. I climb through the opening. We are in the middle of what looks like a giant lake. I inhale the fresh air...

Turns out the fruit was an illegal alien fruit that hasn’t been genetically modified to be edible for humans, and it causes a human body to react by pooping out the human’s insides. Luckily, I only had one, so I just took an aggressive poop into the silent white waters. The fruit is actually quite popular on Mist, so there's been medicine made to help people not die. Someone in the sub is a medic and gave the fruit guy the medicine.

Everybody gives him mean looks because the sub has a system that causes it to go to the surface if there's too much unexplained gas in it. It has to filter out the gas slowly, so we have to wait for the sub to give the green light. The good thing is I get to see everyone on the sub. The Blackcoat is here too, which makes things better.

I talk to the pooper and I learn his name: Probus. He's one of the survivors from Mist and lived near where I used to live. He became a civilian a few months after his tour with the Human Military. He’s a normal person, and I kind of like that about him. He gives everybody in the sub food, and even though it sucks, it’s the thought that counts.

Our group talks for a bit until the tiny creature signals us to be silent. We all look around and some duck. A bright light flies past us. We all duck now. We’re under fire from a sniper. We frantically scurry towards the door. The bright light comes faster and in more quantities.

Me, being the hero I am, stay outside and help the others get in before I do. I have no idea why I do this because I could die at any time and the other people would have no trouble getting in without my help. So, I think of a better Idea. I jump around wildly to distract the snipers, It doesn't work and one of the humans of the group gets his head blown off.

I call off the dancing and go to the door, but the 7 foot alien is having trouble fitting inside. Two Service Soldiers try to push him in. One of them gets shot in the arm and dies. The big creature is shot in the shoulder. It looks nasty, but it still lives and tries its hardest to fit in. The other guy helping is trying his hardest to push the creature in. A shot comes out of nowhere and hits the creature again, this time leaving the creature immovable.

I smack the sub, trying to signal it to move. The other guy still tries to help the creature fit in. He gets shot in the leg and screams. The bullets come from everywhere. The big creature thing has pockets on its armor, so I open them and find what it looks like a smoke grenade. I place it on the ground and pull it. It's a flashbang.

I can't hear or see. The sub moves. I scream as the creature by me screams too. I shake my head and try to focus. I stand in confusion and cough. I try to walk, but trip and fall off the sub. I grab the edge and try to pull myself up. I wave my hand on top of the tank, and the creature helps me up. I nod, and it nods back.

I search more of the pockets and actually find a smoke grenade. I press the button and release it. I shield my face and wait through the smoke. Since we’re moving, the smoke shows a perfect trail of where we are going. When I realize this, I throw it off. The creature looks at me with a look of sadness. I look the same. The sub doesn't go down, so me and the creature sit silently as we wade through the water.