Walsh and Henderson grabbed their canteens as Tommy started to sit down on the biggest root above the ground. As he bent over to put his hand on the root, the entire root started moving really fast in a circular motion, and he almost fell. Everyone else put their canteens up instantly!
Just as Tommy stood up, there was a snake’s head as big as a small car right in front of Tommy. The ground stopped moving and Dale realized that the snake was big enough to swallow Tommy whole. Everyone but Tommy, who was in shock, had already pulled their lasers from their holsters. Dale yelled, “Fire!” Tommy, in a high-pitched voice was screaming obscenities and having bladder problems.
Both science and engineering cadets fired rapidly at the snake’s head. The snake was slowly repelled backwards. Tommy still hadn’t moved a muscle. He did, however, piss his pants. The snake quickly moved his head behind the tree to protect his eyes from the laser shots, but his tail was still in the battle. The snake had never found this much food in one spot before.
The snake swung its tail in full force trying to knock its prey to the ground. Everybody had dodged the flying tail. Walsh had even stabbed the snake with his knife, but Tommy was still frozen with fear. Dale saw the tail headed for Tommy, so he jumped on him and brought him to the ground just as the tail flew over them. Tommy was still frozen with fear and lying on top of Dale. Once the snake saw its prey on the ground, it raced toward the two humans. Dale, still on the bottom, pulled Tommy’s laser out of his holster, and with two weapons now, shot out both eyes of the snake at point blank range. The snake screamed an ungodly shriek from the cooking of its eyes. It jumped back so quickly that it banged its head on the tree that had given shade to the cadets. That gave Dale enough time to pushed Tommy off him. As he was getting up, the other two cadets helped Tommy to his feet.
Dale felt like cussing when he noticed his pants were urine-soaked. As the hurt snake was scrambling away from the humans, Walsh noticed that a bigger snake was coming after them. It was about thirty yards out and closing fast. "Ssssnns!” Walsh cried out. Dale asked him when he learned Qworn’s language, but then he noticed what Walsh was looking at.
“Time to go people,” Dale exclaimed. As they ran back to the ship as fast as they could run, Dale looked behind him to locate the new snake. He couldn’t see either snake in chase. He then ordered Tommy who was leading the retreat to slow down some.
At the same time as the snake encounter, the lizard hunting party had learned that in fighting the big cats they had to be very swift so as not to be shredded by their sharp claws. As lizard bipeds, Qworn’s people were extremely quick. Some of the cat’s teeth were as big as the knives that the lizards carried for hunting. When the lizard had stepped on a huge leech, the pressure of his weight made a loud splattering noise. When it did, the pack of dogs looked up and saw the lizard men. As they began to run off, the lizard men turned toward the one who had given their position away. When they did, they saw three cats (the screeches) sneaking up on them quickly.
The screeches knew it was time to attack. The closest one jumped at the lizard who had stepped on the leech. The lizard ducked, and as the screech flew over him, the lizard rammed his knife up over his head and gutted the screech from end to end. The cat was dead before it hit the ground. By then, the other two cats had charged the lizards. It was a blur, it happened so fast! The lizards were extremely graceful and quick - flipping, fighting, jumping and stabbing. It was like watching a weird martial arts exhibition. No matter how much slashing or biting the cats did, they couldn’t hit their marks. These hunters had done this many times before.
One of the cats jumped at the lizard at the top of the hill. Just as it was about to land on the lizard, the lizard threw a dog he had captured into the screech’s mouth. He wasn’t able to jump out of the way in time, and they both ended up going over the hill out of sight from the rest of the fight. With only one cat left and it totally surrounded, it let out an ear splitting roar as all the lizards jumped it from all directions. The cat never had a chance.
The captains’ team was walking toward a mountain that was different from the mountain that the science team encountered. Instead of looking at his handheld device, Kirk turned around really fast and saw the shadow that had been following them.
Chapter 9
THE NEW 101, AGAIN
Everybody stopped when they saw Kirk come to a stop. There it was. A little bitty teddy-bear was just standing there looking at everybody. Kirk said, “Ah, it’s just a puppy following us.”
Qworn started licking his lips as he stared at the puppy. Noah, Will, and Kirk all said at the same time, “Don’t even think about it.” Qworn decided to go without so nobody would be upset. He had thought that they were looking for food.
Kirk said, “Jinx! You two owe me a soda.” It was a game they played whenever two people said the same thing at the same time. Whoever said "jinx" first got a free soda.
Kirk knelt down and said, “C’mon puppy … Come here.” He started making kissing sounds. Derek protested, telling his son that it might not be a good idea to call the puppy over. Kirk looked at his dad as if he was crazy and then went back to calling the puppy. It was an adorable canine, maybe eight inches in height, with multicolored long soft hair and the most adorable eyes Kirk had ever seen.
Austen looked at his brother like he was crazy too. Derek said, “I’m not being over protective … New planet, and we don’t know if that puppy has some kind of alien virus or not. Can you imagine what alien rabies would feel like?”
Austen said, “Hermano, we are the aliens.”
The puppy was a little scared, but her curiosity was overpowering, so she slowly walked to where Kirk was standing. Kirk knelt down as the puppy came closer, and then he reached out and started petting her. Noah, seeing that Kirk hadn't been bitten, decided it was safe to pet her himself. The puppy didn’t know what was going on, but she liked it, whatever it was the two humans were doing to her. Kirk was now rubbing her belly, and you could tell that the puppy was in heaven. Guess the puppy had never been petted before, and it’s guaranteed she had never had her belly rubbed before either. This was now all she wanted from life no matter what. She had found a new family whether they wanted her or not!
Austen was looking at his hand held device while everybody but Qworn and Derek was playing with the puppy. He was getting strange readings from up ahead on a plateau. Some of the readings were of metals the enhanced walkie couldn’t identify. Austen said aloud that there was something ahead, but he wasn’t sure what it was. It wasn’t that far, so they started walking again.
Will aimed his scanner-walkie in the direction Austen had his aimed, but before he picked up anything Qworn was yelling, “Flee, Earthers, Flee!” He was hysterical as he passed the captains at full throttle!
Everybody gave their attention to, not Qworn’s English, but to what had scared him so. Unbelievably, spiders as big as small cars were coming from all directions straight for the group. Will dropped the bags he was carrying and took off after Qworn!
Austen yelled, “Follow me!” Kirk grabbed the puppy before he began to run. They raced to the plateau. It was a race for survival. The spiders had more legs and therefore they were faster!
Will yelled out, “It’s not a plateau; it’s a spaceship!” Qworn looked really confused at that.
Austen agreed, “He’s right Derek, it’s a spaceship!” Noah fell and Austen helped him up.
Derek, at the rear of the party, asked, “Can we get inside?” He looked behind himself and said, “Those spiders are right on our six!” They were fifty feet behind the group and closing fast. For some reason both of the captains’ legs felt heavier.
They were making their way over rocks and big boulders which were slowing the party down and letting the spiders catch up quick. Austen yelled, “I don’t know … I hope so!” As they arrived closer to the ship, the spiders were practically on top of them. The captains started