Monster

It has been 3 years since I saw human civilization. I had been on a mission to the planet Asina in the Delta Galaxy. A planet that was supposedly like ours. My crew and I were supposed to figure out if it really was.

Bobbi, our pilot, was the best in the world. She liked to have her long blonde hair up in a ponytail. Her deep blue eyes were always scanning for danger and once she found it she would run headlong towards it without any thought to the consequences. Peter was the complete opposite, which might be why it was surprising to find out that they were in love. He had short wavy brown hair with eyes to match. He was our scientist. He was tasked with taking the readings and assessing it Bobbi had to get us there and I had to keep us all alive and well long enough to get the information back to Earth. Safe to say things didn't quite go according to plan.

We had been flying for over 3 months when... complications arose.

"Boss," Bobbi yelled over the roaring engines.

"What," I yelled back.

"We have a slight problem, our tank is leaking fuel faster than you can say, Down like the titanic."

"How long do we have?"

"A little over two hours by my calculations," Peter yells to both of us.

"That is a problem. I'll go down and check. Bobbi, you and Peter stay up here."

I went down to check the fuel and couldn't see where it might be leaking from. Bobbi told me it's because I didn't know what to look for. So she left me with the autopilot on and went to try and fix what was broken. That's when it all went wrong. I heard a loud bang then a sputter after. Autopilot started failing, the ship was spinning out of control, and things were flying around. It was about that time that I blacked out.

When I awoke, the front window was broken. Starting to pull on my seat buckle I quickly realized that it wasn't going to budge. I pulled out my pocket knife and started cutting it. When I had finally gotten all the way through it I stumbled out of my seat. Heat and pain sliced through my leg. I looked down and barely muffled a scream. Something had cut my leg leaving it with a big gaping hole. Whimpering I tore off some of my shirts and wrapped it around my wound.

Looking around I saw that the ship was a complete mess. I limped over to the console to try and send out a message.

"Commander this is B13." nothing but static came back.

"Commander this is B13." again nothing but static.

If only I could get this working then we might have an idea of where we are, I thought bitterly. Giving up I went to look for Peter.

I found him still slumped in a chair near the science station.

"Peter." I shook him "Peter wake up."

His eyes opened groggily "Wha... what happened? Where are we?"

"I don't know. The last thing I remember is..." I shot up "Bobbi! Bobbi where are you! If you can hear me give me some kind of sign."

No response.

"Wait here I am going to try and find her," I told Peter. He slowly nodded back.

I pushed my way through the wreckage in the halls. When I got to the mechanics room I saw her. Eyes glassy and chest completely still. Blood pooled around her head. I turned away, disgusted with myself. My first job and I failed, I thought. Peter and I left the ship shortly after that not being able to stand the idea of staying there a second longer.

After hours of wandering around this desert-like planet with no end I saw that the burning ball of the sun was starting to dip below the horizon.

"We are going to need to find shelter soon cause if this planet is anything like the desert on Earth the temperature is going to drop drastically and there are going to be things more dangerous than sand starting to come out," I said to Peter.

We searched until the sun was almost hidden from our view. That's when we found the cave. It was damp and gross but it was also hidden and the only thing that we could see for miles around that would offer a measure of security.

"Do you think that anyone will come looking for us?" Peter asked once we were inside.

"I don't know but I do know that even if they do we will have to survive on this planet until they arrive. To do that you are going to need your sleep." I said to Peter.

2 years have passed since I first realized someone was following me. We had just about run out of ration packs and were needing food. I had built a poor excuse for a spear and was out trying to find something to eat. I was a good mile or so from the cave when I heard Peter scream. By the time I had gotten back all, that was left was a bloody trail and a mess to clean up. I started seeing and hearing things after that. Like a shadow here or footsteps there as if someone or something was following me. I also started having nightmares. I would wake up in a cold sweat only remembering the way Peter called for my help or the way Bobbi snickered as it was me being dragged away by the mysterious monster.

It had been about a half a year when I heard it coming.

It was the middle of the night. I had just woken up from one of my nightmares. Shaking on my ledge I tried to recover from the terror that had just taken hold of my body. Then I heard it. Just a soft rustle coming from outside. Slowly I got off of my ledge creeping closer to the entrance.

Then I saw what had been following me; it was unearthly tall. It was covered in red-colored hair. Its eyes were cobalt blue deep and intense. Long, sharp teeth daring and white. Hands as big as my head, feet twice the size of mine. Muscle rippling beneath the skin even as it stands there as if trying to remind people that it is power.

Fear crept up my spine paralyzing me in that spot. Then a small animal shot across the ground in between us. It followed the little creature with its eyes giving me the time to run.

Sand flew in the air as I ran away. Whatever it was that had taken Peter and had been following me was now chasing after me as I ran over the sandy ground.

Minutes, after I had started running my legs, I started to feel weak and numb and my lungs as though they weren't getting enough air. That's when I fainted.

"I woke up here with you. Are you even listening?" when she looked over at her captor she saw some things she didn't the night before.

Scars crisscrossed his face. Part of a pointed ear was gone. His once solid blood-red coat was now crimson with underlying tones of ruby red.

He was preoccupied with getting a fire started so the girl yelled: "Hey creature."

It roared with incredible force then went back to stoking the fire.

"Well, there's no reason for that kind of attitude. If you are going to be my last companion you can at least tell me your name."

"My name is Ravenol." she tilted her head in surprise that the monster could and did answer her.

"I was fully expecting you to just roar at me again," Clara said, only getting a grunt in response "well could you at least tell me something before you eat me."

The monster only turned and stared at her in a very unnerving fashion.

Clara cleared her throat "Where am I?"

"Your people call it 'Asina'."