Fear

[Deep Six]

Fear

“Fear is a product of an over active mind in situations that you can't comprehend. Master fear and the possibles are endless.”

    “Lux, your heading out to Quad 4.” Lux swallowed, he drummed his fingers on the file detailing his assignment.  He was unfocused,  eyes never staying on one point.  Quad 4 had been uninhabited for more than 400 hundred years after the wars,  The effects of chemicals and waste had turned quad 4 into a living nightmare for the populace and fear of the place had become a deep rooted seed that no one could contain.
    The populace had exploded and now expansion was needed to keep the fragile state of the country from deteriorating. The higher ups had put the corp  in a tight position, either make quad 4 inhabitable or deal with the collapse of everything they knew and  held dear.
In response they had sent ten of the finest scouts to find holdable positions within the quad, only two came back. Their mental state far from normal, they couldn't sleep  and if they did they awoke screaming. In the day they stared at the walls with a dazed look on their face. There  was word they had tried to kill themselves, but that was only speculation.
Lux swallowed again,the tapping of his fingers grew louder, he coughed and shifted nervously in his seat. He was one of the few in the corp that wasn't a high born or in the middle class. He had made his way from the back streets and alleyways of one of the most undesirable districts to live in.

    “ Lux, do I need to reassign you to a more.... shall we say, comfortable assignment?'' the sergeant's eyebrow lifted .“No doubt he's made a bet that a street rat wouldn't take an op like this”   Lux smiled, placing his feet on the table, and the file in his hand he skimmed through it, feigning nonchalance.  “No sir, just wondering when I leave” with an impish grin he stood to his full height, towering over the sergeant. “Well” shaken, the sergeant took a step back, clearing his throat “y-you'll be leave tonight with a companion by the name of  Cadimere, is that clear?”  “Crystal” gathering up the papers he walked out to get ready for the nightmare on earth.

     Suited up he walked to the launch bay his nervousness returned “why did I have to be so cocky, I should have just transferred out.”  “Having second thoughts?” a figure came up beside him “ hi I’m  Cadimere” compared to Lux she was a dwarf, in truth she was 5' 6'' lithe and lean, one of the few who had passed training.
    Staring at her in shock Lux's mouth gaped open “your a girl!” Cadimere gave him  a sideways glance “what do you think I am, a pixie?” she continued on “were you debriefed?” “I don't want to have to deal with a blundering idiot when we get to quad 4.” Lux mumble something unintelligible, “yes, are you always so....” he couldn't find the words “like this?” coming up on the ship,Cadimere stop him by placing a hand on his chest. “ Yes, get use to it, the scouts that went to quad 4 didn't listen to me when I said to be careful or read the files that we have on the quad, so in light of their failure they assigned me to you, I'm not one to let someone die because of their stupidity.” On the ship they strapped themselves in and Lux found the courage to ask “ Cadimere how come you know so much about quad 4?”  She turned to him, her green eyes filled with a torrent of emotion “How did a street rat make it to the corp?”
They glare at each other, neither one giving ground  until Cadimere looked down, “nice socks”. Lux laughed and  move the conversation to another subject, but he wondered what made she react the way she did.
         
        Landing, they stepped off and Lux instantly wanted to turn back around and board the ship. Cadimere grab his arm “oh no you don't, this is a two man job and your not leaving me because of the dark.” Lux looked at her “how did she know I wanted to leave?” he shook his head “ but your not a man”. Cadimere looked at him, unsmiling “let's get going” and she lapsed into silence.
    The forest itself was alive, years of radioactivity had evolved it into something dark and dangerous, the trees were stunted, twisted in odd ways. They groaned and creaked even though there was no wind running through the branches. The forest floor was dense, it seemed to try to grab you and pull you back.  The night sound were different to instead of the chirps of crickets and the movement of nocturnal animals, there was yips, howls and many other things that sounded unnatural.

   A scream to the left of Lux made his hair stand on end. He went into a defensive position his sword out of it's scabbard. Wide eyed he looked, around for the source of the sound, “ the Casgore is miles off Lux.” Cadimere stood there, her sword it in it's scabbard, “slow your heart rate and lets keep moving. We need to find camp.” Cadimere continued to amaze him “how can she be so calm, I’m scared out of my wits here”
  They made camp in a stand of trees, Lux didn't like this, he felt like the trees were trying to grab him and bury him under their dark roots to feed off him, he wasn't far off. The scream of the Casgore echo off the trees and the trees groaned. Cadimere set her sword on the ground beside her and crouched “Lux  what ever you do don't run, Casgore's are near blind and have no sense of smell, but their hear is leagues above ours, they can shift into anything and in their dealings with humans have found that posing as a young child with draw in their quarry faster than anything” she looked at him “we're their favorite prey.”
Anger surged through Lux “They sent us out here on a suicide mission” Cadimere laughed humorlessly “yes, it doesn't look good for the higher ups to have a street rat and a mutant for their personal guard now does it?” Lux stopped and went cold “ Mutant? They were sent here to........” “die” Cadimere finished for him. “ That's how I know so much about this place, in the purge they gave us a sword and sent us here, I’m the last of my family.” Lux stared at her dumbfounded “then how?” “I’ll tell you if we get out of here alive”.
   There was a crunch and Cadimere went silent. A young girl came into view, her dress was in tatters and  her face was tear streaked “Please help”. Her voice was raspy as if she hadn't spoken in a while. “Cadimere, surely not-” that's all he got out,the young girl's skin rippled and shed like water. Before him stood a beast it stood taller him on all fours, long and skinny it looked half dead. The Casgore head was a mix between a human and a bird, large milky eyes with a jagged looking beak like protrusion coming from it's head. It's body was no better, twisted around and upon itself, claws that could easily rip him in half and to top it off the beast smiled at him “why is it smiling at me?”. The Casgore lunged for him.
   Cadimere in one smooth motion was upright stabbing it in the eye, it screamed. The scream was answered by four more. She cursed, “LUX RUN” and took off weaving in and out of the trees.  He followed her. Fear giving speed to over take her, there was a crash behind them and he swerved left. Stopping he found himself trapped, the wall of stone boxing him in. A few minutes later Cadimere was beside him, breathing hard “why, after I told you not to make a sound you do, why?” “The Casgore would have moved on.”    


   There was aloud snap, she looked up. “Lux when I attack them, I want you to move to my left flank and defend me there.”  The Casgores were pacing “ what are they waiting for?” He turned toward her, his palms sweaty. “they're toying with us,they want us confused and fearful”. One lunged, without thinking Lux stabbed upward through the eye the beast fell dead before him. He then moved to Cadimere left side, a tree branch poked him in the back, he looked back to see what it was, turning back around he came face to face with a Casgore, a scream echoed in his ears, at first he thought it was the beast, but then why did he feel light headed.