A Dangerous Accident

[Gaia Sunaris Cadera]

Beth held his hand tight. They were mostly safe. And hopefully the loud, explosive noises from outside would keep any stray creatures or sentient life occupied rather than snooping around an abandoned building. Hopefully, anyway. Cleru had already passed out- hopefully, the bacta would heal his injuries up by morning. Hopefully… They’d be alive by morning.

Her eyes drifted to [member="Cleru"] as she watched him carefully, occasionally checking his pulse with her hand. Just to be safe, to check for signs of infection. She’d change his bandaging in the morning. She looked up to the ceiling, which had vines and other growths expanding over it. Where were they at…? She closed her eyes…

Morning came too quickly. She groaned, thirsty, as she opened her eyes to the ceiling once more. It wasn’t a bad dream. She glanced over to Cleru, seeing him still breathing with a sigh. She groaned as she pushed herself up – ribs healed, at least. Just… Sore, very sore… Probably still bruising. And her head… Pulsed, with pain still. She touched her head, realizing she had never put the bacta patch on the gash, likely which had dried up blood that had dripped down the side of her face. Kark.

 

[Mandalorian Prophet]

Cleru's breathing was light and fast as he slept. He was barely asleep, his consciousness constantly fighting against it as he tried to rouse himself. He proved unable until finally morning came, and he jolted up to a seated position, sweat on his brow and his red eyes wide with panic. Falling unconscious against his will was something that terrified the Agent, and it showed. Eventually the panic numbed, just as his pain had, and he reached for the patch over his wound. She had done a good job.

Right. [member="Beth Cadera"] . His gaze turned to hers immediately as he realized she might be in danger, though a wave of relief washed over him as he saw she was up and awake. He reached out, touching her cheek gently. "You're okay.. Well. Mostly." His eyes scanned to the wound on her head and he reached for the pack to pull out a patch. "Here, let me.." He'd apply it, not sure if it was too late or not but knowing something needed to be done.

 

[Gaia Sunaris Cadera]

Beth stared ahead of her at the door to the main part of the building. Where were they? Why hadn’t it come up on their map? Would… The nebulae block any of the emergency signals? Knowing the answer, she didn’t want to admit it. It definitely would. They were likely trapped, stuck on a planet in an abandoned city with almost no idea of what to do.

She tried to keep her breathing calm. She barely even noticed [member="Cleru"] waking up. Beth jumped as she felt his hand touch her cheek before calming down once she realized it was him. In somewhat of a daze, she nodded. “Yeah… Are you okay? Mostly healed?” She let him place the patch and bandage over his head. Beth sighed. “That was… Most of everything I have left of my dad was that ship and in it,” she said after a moment.

She had lost it all, like how he had continued to screw up and lost his family. She reached for Cleru’s hand as her mind started working, licking her now chapped lips. “W-we… Can go look and see if there is any food and water in the ship, still. There was a kitchen… I don’t know if it’s destroyed or not but that should be our top priority I think.” She grabbed the table, using it to pull herself up and offered her hand to Cleru.

 

[Mandalorian Prophet]

He squeezed her hand, hard. Beth rarely ever talked about her father, but the fact that the ship was one of the last things she had connected to him? When she made mention of them returning the Chiss nodded. Food and water would be important, but if she could find something to salvage, that would be even better. That, and weapons. They were gonna need weapons. Something brought this city to ruin after all.

Cleru pushed himself up from the ground, groaning as the dull ache of his bruises washed over him. He was still in quite a lot of pain. But, they needed to get a move on. Once they were actually safe they could rest. "Lets head out that way."

 

[Gaia Sunaris Cadera]

Beth had to shake her emotions off. The shock, the worry, and the consequences of what might happen. They didn’t have a lot of time, probably. And… How would they survive this… Place? They needed to find a place to hide once they found some food and water. And then… Find out how they can get off this rock.

Beth rubbed her eyes as she stepped onto the grassy concrete. “Wow… Look at this place, Cleru,” she whispered as she looked over the forest of a city. She took a large breath of the somewhat fresh air. Smoke, fire, and the likes still consisted of the shipwreck. She walked towards the rubble, carefully stepping up on it as she tried to search for the kitchen. “There! There it is... Most of it looks gone, though,” she muttered, as she stepped down through a small hole in the rubble. It was slightly buried, but there was just enough space for her to get in and get it. She ignored the screams of pain her bodies gave her.

So focused, she hadn’t yet saw Melissa Westerbroke’s body, one of the engineers who always stayed on the ship, ripped to shreds with bite marks all over her. She had curled up under a piece of metal, thinking she was safe.

 

[Mandalorian Prophet]

Cleru walked with [member="Beth Cadera"] , his eyes ever on their environment. He needed to make sure they would be safe. He squeezed her hand as they moved on. "It's.. Oddly beautiful." He muttered before he went back to looking for danger. Soon enough they found the wreckage of the ship, smoldering in the city. He hadn't even noticed where they were when he had dragged her out. Truly, it was a miracle they were alive.

It was when he saw Melissa that his heart dropped to his feet. They were the lucky ones it seemed. But.. What had torn her apart? "Beth, where are the weapons in the ship?" There was worry in his voice as he began looking around the ship. "Something's killed Melissa."

 

[Gaia Sunaris Cadera]

Really, this was tremendously dangerous. She was halfway under a bunch of rubble, trying to get to the cabinets, which clearly were burned with some hope that water or food was under it. She kicked some rubble away, when she realized how bloody and messed up her dress was. Really, they needed new clothes, too. Several water bottles, she threw them up to the top. No food, though.

Then she heard @Cleru. No, not Melissa… Beth quickly crawled out as she finally caught her. Beth went to her knees as she took her hand in hers, staring at her body. “Oh Gods… Melissa, no,” she whispered as she stared at her deformed corpse. “W-who could do this?” She said, her eyes swelling up with tears. She should have been preparing for an attack, in truth. But Melissa had been constant on the ship. More constant than some members of her family, even.

They wouldn’t even be able to give her a good burial. "We... We got to go," she whispered as she used one hand to wipe the tears that had ran down her cheek.

 

[Mandalorian Prophet]

"I.. Don't know." He mumbled as he stared at the corpse. It was.. Brutal. Needlessly so. Something mindless had done that. He turned his gaze to [member="Beth Cadera"] , shaking his head. "We need weapons. And food." It was Cleru's turn to try and get into the rubble. He knew what he was looking for. His Charric Pistol. The Chiss slipped his way through the rubble, gritting his teeth as he felt his skin scrape against the bits of metal. It didn't take him long to find his pistol, he had kept it close to the kitchen.

With that in hand he returned to Beth, slipping the pistol into his waistband. He gently set a hand on her shoulder. "Come on. We have t-" He stopped. There was someone standing close by, just watching them. Someone he didn't recognize. Someone who didn't look right. "Beth, we need to leave." Cleru whispered, pulling his pistol back out into one hand. Something wasn't right.

 

[Gaia Sunaris Cadera]

Beth wiped her cheek to try to get rid of the tears that tickled her cheek. Some of the blood which had dried on her hand got wet and rubbed onto her cheek. “We… We do,” she whispered as she held the woman’s hand in her. How could someone do something so terrible to someone? Beth bit her dry lip as she stared at her.

She felt his hand on her shoulder. They needed to leave, she knew what he was going to say. “We can’t just leave her like this…” She whispered, before she heard him pull his pistol out. She perked a brow, her ears still depressed as she saw the person. Beth stared at the person. Humanoid, but not human. And something… What was wrong with his skin…?

The things head twitched to the side, showing bright orange eyes with what looked like growth coming from it. A weird growl. Beth didn’t need to wait to see what was happening. “Run,” she whispered to [member="Cleru"], “Run!” She said as she grabbed a couple of the water bottles as she prepared her body to sprint, then she first waited for him to go before she began to sprint across the rubble.

She noticed another one of the creatures that was coming across the rubble to their right, running straight for them.

 

[Mandalorian Prophet]

She didn't needed to tell him twice. Cleru snatched [member="Beth Cadera"] 's hand as he began to sprint, pulling her along with him as he peered behind him at the.. Creature. That's all it was. A creature. Who ever it was.. Wasn't anyone anymore. He turned his head back forward as he saw another barreling towards them. Without any hesitation he brought his pistol up and fired it three times. Twice in the chest, once in the head. The creature crumpled on it's run forward, thrown back from the Charric's raw power.

"We need to find a place to lay low. Now. Someplace with food." As he ran his eyes were already scanning. More creatures began coming out. Some without faces, just.. Mushrooms? They needed to get far. Very far.

 

[Gaia Sunaris Cadera]

What in the galaxy was that thing? So… Sentient, yet not. It was hungry for them. That’s what happened to Melissa. They got her and tore her to bits. She held onto [member="Cleru"]’s hand tightly as they sprinted away from the rubble of her ship. She stared as he shot one of the creatures, there times. Finally, it seemed to die.

Her attention went to the others, with large, mushroom looking heads. And… A horrible clicking sound. She scrunched her face, the noise giving her goosebumps. “What the kark...” She said as she tried to get her breath during the run. “There,” she pointed to a bunch of rubble they could climb onto the second level of a building. And there was a sign, unreadable, but it was clearly food looking. Maybe they could find some answers in there. Hopefully, at least. Like... What in the Gods names are those things?

 

[Mandalorian Prophet]

Cleru quickly helped [member="Beth Cadera"] up first as one of the creatures came up. Another rapid series of shots dropped it before he pulled his way up after her, gritting his teeth as the rubble scraped his bare skin. He needed to get clothing if they were gonna continue like this. Still, they were at least safe. The creatures below made no attempt to follow them once they disappeared out of sight.

He panted in pain, doubling over as he tried to regain his composure. "Safe, for now. What.. The chit.."

 

[Gaia Sunaris Cadera]

Beth winced as she crawled up the rubble. She turned, helping [member="Cleru"] onto the second floor with her. Once she made sure he was in, she peered back out to see if they would try to come up with them or not. The fast ones had stopped, while the ones with the clicks and grunts seemed to have stopped.

She fell onto her butt as she leaned against the wall, dropping the water bottles that she somehow had kept. “I… Have no idea. Let’s see if there’s anything to eat here? And maybe… Maybe there will be something that’ll tell us what the kark is going on.” She stared at Cleru for a moment, using the wall to help herself up.

She took a moment to orient herself in the room. Several shelves with what looked like price tags Graffiti that she couldn’t read. And the books and papers she was able to find were in a language she didn’t understand. “I can’t read any of this,” she muttered with a sigh as she slammed her fist on the counter, beside what looked like some type of cash register.

 

[Mandalorian Prophet]

"I don't understand this language either." Cleru frowned as he joined [member="Beth Cadera"] , glancing among the shelves. Nothing made sense. Where ever they were wasn't a planet he knew, and not with a people he knew of. This.. Was bad. "We gotta find food. Clothing. The works. My pistol isn't going to last forever. I might have another.. Forty shots. Hopefully that's all I need." He inspected the pistol, a frown on his face.

"Right. So. We need a plan. The ship is toast. We gotta figure out how to get off world. But first, we need clothing. Think there's anything inside?" He stood up, moving to the closed door to set his ear on it, listening. So far, quiet. He slowly opened the door, his pistol up as he prepared for the worst. Nothing, thankfully. "Clear." Inside was the rest of the shop, untouched by the rubble just outside.

And, clothing. Cleru immediately went to where the shirts were, looking for one. Something to help keep his skin from being scrapped. "Got some clothing. Nothing really good. Tourist Ts, though I've no idea what they say."

 

[Gaia Sunaris Cadera]

Beth sighed as she shifted through papers, walking behind the counter and messing behind. She found something with pictures. “Cleru, look. It’s… A disease? Of some sort,” she said as she showed him the picture. There looked to be about 5 stages. The first was like what they had saw at first, then what the others. “Different stages, I think.” She folded the paper after he looked at it. “I think so, this was a big building,” she said quietly.

She followed behind him carefully. She needed a weapon, too. She would eventually have to protect herself, and [member="Cleru"] couldn’t do all the shooting. Beth followed him into the clothing store, where she searched for her own clothes replacement. While the weather seemed temperate right now, who knew how it would be at night or tomorrow, so Beth decided on an unfashionable but workable outfit. It looked like some of it had been modified by someone at one point.

She quickly changed clothes, wincing at her bruises. “This might be like… A mall, I think.” She sighed once she had the jacket adjusted well. “The emergency signals, if it made it, wouldn’t even make it out of the system. We’re in the Hapes nebulae, signal is just… Junk. So… I don’t know. There has to be a way,” she said somewhat optimistically as she pulled herself up on a desk. It was darkish, but enough sunlight made it through to see well enough.

 

[Mandalorian Prophet]

"A disease? No, a parasite I think." Cleru took the pamphlet from [member="Beth Cadera"] , glancing through curiously. What ever this was seemed to have taken over *all* of the planet, by how the story went. He tossed it back after getting some sort of idea on what they were dealing with. Handy that, the pamphlet. He tugged on what ever else he could find, getting some sort of workable outfit for himself to protect his skin.

"A mall? Well. Those tend to have a lot of what we need. So.. Let's see if they have some weapons somewhere. And hopefully nothing dangerous. Just, stay behind me." Cleru pulled his pistol up in a ready position. Until they got more he'd take point. Right to the exit of the shop he went, slowly opening the door. So far, nothing. He really hoped it stayed that way.

 

[Gaia Sunaris Cadera]

Beth gave a nod. Parasite, yeah. That fit it well. Some kind of parasite that took over the host and turned them into frenzied lunatics with weird mushroom things sticking out of their heads? Beth thought of rakghoul plague, but even that was different compared to this.

It didn't matter. What mattered was that they found a way to survive until they could get off this Gods-forsaken planet from hell. Beth gave a nod, "Yeah, I mean, let us hope these aliens were like most other aliens," she said quietly as she followed behind @Cleru.

They exited the shop, creeping down the dark hallways before they came out to an area where skylights let the sun light up the building. Beth took a deep breath as she stared. "Look," she whispered as she pointed to what looked like a bloated mass that was clearly merging into the ground and dirt. "I bet that is one way of infection," she said quietly. But, she saw birds flying around. Probably wasn't easily transferable to other species, at least. What looked like a hunters shop showed up on the left. She let Cleru lead them into the store, since he had the weapon.

 

[Mandalorian Prophet]

"Not.. The best sight. Honestly." Cleru peered at the downed mass. And the corpse. Below the fungal mass he could see the skeletal remains of.. Someone. So that's what it would evolve to, eventually be reduced to nothing. He shuddered at the thought. Once they made it to the shop he kept the lead, nodding to [member="Beth Cadera"] over his shoulder before he entered the building.

Still empty.

Or so he thought. As he stepped through the isles the sudden and ominous clicking sound they had heard from some of the creatures earlier. From behind the Chiss one of the beasts jumped out, roaring in a blood rage as it lept upon Cleru! He gasped in surprise, pulling his gun around as he struggled. Whatever this thing was quickly overpowered him, pushing him to the ground. "Chit!"

 

[Gaia Sunaris Cadera]

She nodded her agreement. Yeah, that was not a good sight at all. It was nearly nausea inducing. Is this what this planets society was brought too? Had anyone survived? Was it natural or self-destruction? Perhaps they would never know. They definitely couldn't read their language.

Their technology was still fairly modern but no where near as advanced as most planets. Beth let out a small scream as the creator shoved [member="Cleru"] to the ground, biting and trying to get him. Beth did the only thing she knew to do - she tackled the creature, the force of her impact making her groan in pain but at least forcing the creature off of Cleru and onto her, which...

Maybe wasn't the greatest idea, but Cleru had the gun. She used her arm, pressed at the creatures throat. Had it... Stalked them? She let out screams as she heard its mouth chomp down, trying to get to get to her skin.

 

[Mandalorian Prophet]

Cleru had grit his teeth as his bruised ribs quickly acted up. The creature was slamming into his chest, and it took everything he had to keep it from tearing him apart. It was truly astounding on how strong it was. At least [member="Beth Cadera"] could get away if he had it like this though, so he took some peace from the idea he wouldn't survive this. Until Beth suddenly tackled it.

With the weight suddenly gone the Chiss let out a gasp of air, blinking to where the two went. He didn't hesitate and slammed his blaster into the creatures mouth before it could bite down on the Mandalorian and pulled the trigger, blowing out the back of it's head. Silence again took over the shop as the screaming creature fell still, and Cleru let himself slack. "You alright?" He turned his gaze to Beth, worry clear in his eyes. That, and adrenaline. Probably why his chest didn't hurt as bad as it soon would. "We gotta keep moving. Find a place to hide out. Find you a weapon."