That Which Devours

“Wind,” said John, but he didn’t sound certain.

I swallowed hard, my mind flickering back to when I had been stuck in the cold sleep tube and the ship was trembling. The numb feeling, being unable to move, then everything going dark when I hit my head. The worst part was waking up and not being able to breathe.

“Maybe I should land… What the?” His voice snapped off as something crashed into the jungle in the distance. Dirt and leaves went flying.

“Fucking meteorites,” growled Greg, dodging back toward his seat.

The shuttle bounced hard as a rock flew by, glowing as it flashed across the dark sky.

“Hold on!” John’s voice was filled with determination as the shuttle cut hard to the right, and then the left.

My fingers dug into the armrests even more, pain lancing up my hands. This couldn’t happen. Not again. The harness straps holding me in my seat cut into my shoulders as I was flung in different directions. The little shuttle jerked randomly as John tried to fly us away from the worst of it. I snapped my eyes closed, but that was worse, not being able to see what was happening out of the window.

Greg wasn’t in his seat when I opened my eyes, and I saw he was struggling to get back to it and buckled down. One of the nastier twists must have knocked him off his seat, and now he was closer to the cargo in the back. Across the window I could see the sun peeking out from the horizon, but the streaks of rocks continued. The rising sun made them harder to see.

Suddenly, one of the blazing rocks sliced into the back of the ship, spilling light into the cargo hold, which had been very dim until now. Light blazed in from a hole above and below. The holes were smaller than a golf ball, but the light of the outside made the point well enough.

“Get us close to the compound!” yelled Greg from that same area. It wasn’t clear if the rock had hit him or not.

The shuttle almost tilted to the right, orienting itself away from another rock that was hurtling through the sky.

“I think we got this!” John’s voice rolled across the shuttle, and I tried to force myself to relax.

Greg scrambled up from the back, crawling on all fours, though it looked like he’d injured one of his legs. “Don’t you dare jinx us!” His voice filled with panic. Everywhere he placed his right leg he left blood behind.

I swallowed hard, seeing the blood. Saliva filled my mouth, and I prayed my stomach wouldn’t reject whatever was in it.

The sun crested the horizon and bright red light flooded the cabin. John held up a hand, and I closed my eyes against the glare.

A meteor slammed into the side of the shuttle, and we twisted through the air, my eyes snapping open again. A crack appeared in the window's corner as something else hit us. John groaned as we spun about like a toy, and all the lights on the panel went out. “Oh, no…” John’s voice was hoarse as he frantically pounded on something. “No, no, no no...” I only glimpsed his fist moving up and down, slamming into the dash. All the noise around me felt muted.

The light from the sun flashed as we spun, and for a moment all I could see was the glass of the cold sleep tube in front of me as I listened to the sirens going off. Then I was back in the shuttle, just as we straightened out. The tops of the trees were getting closer, filling the view. “Brace yourself!” John yelled.

My hands gripped the armrests like we were going to die, but I forced myself to keep my eyes open. I couldn’t watch the first time, this time I’d see my death coming to me, my stomach be damned.

Giant leaves slammed into the window of the shuttle as we skimmed across the treetops. They slowed us down a little. A long branch pierced the window where the crack had started, and small pieces of glass went flying.

Then there was a terrible impact.

My eyes closed as we slammed into the bottoms of trees, the shuttle still not stopping, but taking a terrible beating.

[Welcome to Class selection.]

The message popped up as I opened my eyes, just as we hit something and finally came to a complete halt. I was shocked to find myself still alive. The taste of blood filled my mouth, and I wanted to make sure my brother was still alive.

But I couldn’t move. Everything went suddenly white, the shuttle disappearing from view.

I sat at an empty table with various colorful text boxes floating in the air.

“Congratulations on your journey so far. You have earned skill categories, stats, and titles that all affect what classes you are offered,” whispered a soft voice. “Each box in the air represents a class that you may choose. Warning: whatever class you select will be your foundation for your future. Take the time you need to make the correct choice, but remember that while you are here, your body is still in the physical world, and time is passing normally.”

Panic filled me.

The colony worked hard to make sure everyone was in a safe space during class selection. It was a hard lesson, learned during one of the first dinosaur attacks. I had only heard stories, since I’d still been locked in my tube.

I had seven boxes floating above the table. 5 were a blue color, 1 was a green color, and the last was a bright gold color. No one talked about class selection, but I knew that people usually had 2 to 5 classes to choose from. Yet, seven were here in front of me. My eyes kept going to the gold box. It almost sparkled.

In the distance, I heard my name being called, and the table flickered for a moment.

“Oh, shit - John!” I thought to myself. I didn’t have time for this, I had to select a class and get back to my brother.

I selected the first blue box and the word ‘Fighter’ popped up, with the image of a sword. Then I moved on to the other blue boxes, one by one. Hunter had a spear, while warrior had an ax, rogue had small daggers, and the archer had a bow. These blue options were all pretty normal, common types of classes: fighter, hunter, warrior, rogue, archer.

All good choices, but standard.

I selected the green box: Close Combat Specialist. Instead of a picture, it had information.

[Close Combat Specialist: Excels in melee combat and warfare tactics. Has leadership potential.]

My eyes grew wide, and I held my breath. The table flickered again.

I hit the gold box: Devourer. Nothing happened.

All seven classes floated up in the air with the rankings next to them. Close Combat Specialist was uncommon. The green color twisted and turned, compared to the common blue class. Yet, Devourer sparkled in gold. It was a legendary class.

An actual legendary class.

I selected the Devourer class again, and this time the gold writing grew bigger.

Nothing else popped up on the screen, which confused me. I’d gotten more information on the other classes before I selected them. Yet nothing came up with the legendary class. Maybe it was one of those risk, reward moments.

“Alex!” My body shook and I could feel someone touching me. The table flickered again and I wanted to growl in frustration.

[Do you select the Devourer class?]

The green text popped up as I stared at the golden box.

“Yes.” Go big or go home, after all.

The white room with text boxes vanished, which was unexpected.

John’s face was next to me, tears streaming down it as he shook me again. “Alex, please!” He saw my eyes open, and a crack of a smile appeared before he collapsed to the floor.

Notifications flooded the corner of my screen, but I muted them for the moment. I tried to catch him as he fell, but the harness stopped me.

“John!” As I called his name, blood dripped out of my mouth. I scrambled to remove my harness, snapping the buckle and kneeling behind my brother. Glass had cut through his uniform in three spots on his left side, along with a thick metal object embedded in his thigh.

I froze for two seconds.

Everything we had learned about first aid came to mind. I needed the first aid kit, to stop the bleeding. I launched myself to my feet, moving faster than I was prepared for. I slammed into the far wall as I tried to move to the cargo hold. The large med kit was on the right side of the cargo cabin.

Greg came into view. His body was crushed under one of the cargo boxes in the far back. I wasn’t sure if he was breathing. That didn’t matter, all that mattered was my brother. The med kit was attached in place, right where it should be. I unbuckled the straps and pulled the case off the wall before getting back to my brother’s side.

The largest cut was bleeding into his shirt, against his left side. Inside the med kit, I took out a disinfectant spray and doused the wound, before using the glue to hold it together. Saliva gathered in my mouth, but I focused on the cut. It needed to stop bleeding. The glue and spray went to work, and I turned to the smaller cuts. Only a few still had pieces of glass to remove, and none of them were deep. The spray and glue closed them up fast.

That left the metal object sticking out of his leg. I knew that as soon as I removed it, the bleeding would be bad. Everything in the med kit was emergency use only. The smaller cuts I should have ignored, but he was the only pilot we had left.

The med kit had a hooked needle, and a spool of waxed thread. Tools for stitches. That learning unit during colonization prep had been the worst. People had actually volunteered to get stitches, to make sure everyone could do them in a real-life situation. Memories of John and Benny walking me through each of the steps to do the stitches whispered through my mind. Their confident voices that I could do it had gotten me through the exam. I had barely passed, which I was thankful for, because if I hadn’t, I would’ve been left behind.

“John, now would be the best time to wake up, but probably also the worst,” I whispered, checking over the supplies I needed. I wasn’t sure we had enough thread to close the hole. The kit wasn’t brand new, and it wasn’t like we had backups to replace things. I had to remove the shrapnel and stop the bleeding, though. Stalling wasn’t going to help anyone. My hand found my crystal knife still at my side, and I pulled it out with a frown. I could cauterize the hole after spraying it to disinfect the wound. It was worth a try, before trying to make stitches work.

Making sure everything was laid out, I placed a hand on the metal bit, and yanked. I moved as fast as I could, spraying the deep hole and getting the disinfectant inside. Then I wiped the blood away and got to work with the knife. I focused on making the crystal tip glow the bright yellow, when it was hottest.

John moaned, but didn’t fully wake up as I placed the glowing crystal against his skin. The smell of burnt meat filled the air, making me shake. Blood dripped from the wound, but I closed it as fast as I could. It was like I could smell the copper puddle of blood beneath him. After what seemed like forever, but was probably only a few seconds, the bleeding finally stopped. I put my knife away to make sure I didn’t lose it.

I fell back, landing on my ass after kneeling for so long. That’s when the shakes hit me, along with the hunger.

My eyes stayed focused on the blood on my hands.

“Blood is bad… We are in the jungle…” The smell filled the shuttle, and my head snapped around to the window. The corner had a large hole in it. The smell would drift. This had to get cleaned up. Fast.