Mama Kat Thursday: The Final Report

     The Mama Kat prompt I chose today is to write a post using the word: final.

For this one, I turned to my collection of writers prompts in Pinterest: "the last entry of an explorers journal" and thus this short  fiction was born:

The Final Report

by b.nickerson.

Allen turned on the logbook and rapidly began tapping keys, composing his final report, quite certain he would not survive the night.

     “Of the seven of us, I alone am left,” he typed, then paused to reflect on events since they landed on this planet.Ethan had been the first to disappear. Right after they landed and were hacking their way through thick jungle. Ethan had been in the rear, but then suddenly he wasn't there at all---and they hadn't heard a sound.             They called for him and scanned around, but nothing. The Ship wasn't due back for four days to pick them up, so the Captain ordered they proceed. They had survey mission to complete. They found a suitable clearing at the base of a sheer red cliff and set up camp and perimeter alarms. 

     Then, the next morning, they split up into three 2-man teams to to do preliminary scans for mineral deposits. The plan was to scan for 2 hours, then rendezvous back at camp.

     Only two teams returned: himself and the Captain and Oliver and George. 

     Mickey and Clyde never did.

     They grabbed meal bars and ate, everyone on edge. The Captain ordered they all four stay together to do the soil specimen collecting; two on guard while the other two worked. Afterwards, they returned to camp without further incident, though they all had an unnerving sense of being watched.

      In the morning, they discovered George was missing. Oliver said he thought he'd gotten up to go to the privy, which was set up at the outer-edge of camp.

     The Captain swore and forbade any further night trips to the privy. They checked the perimeter alarms, which should've gone off and didn't, but no life form signs were registered.

     Now they were down to just three, but soil specimens still needed collecting from other areas. So Allen and Oliver stood guard while the Captain did the collecting. They returned to came without incident.

     They night the sounds started. Eerie, haunting, unnatural sounds somewhere between a baby's cry and a dog's howl. They at huddled together in the center of the shelter, gripping their weapons, wide away all night listening to the sounds.

     The Captain decided it was important to determine what sort of creature they were up against, since the Company would want to know that if the mineral tests proved promising. So, he took Oliver, weapons and thermal sensors to try and locate the beasties.

     They never came back.

     Allen was alone and it was his duty now to upload the log to the orbital beacon for the Ship to collect when it returned. Such beacons were always left at a survey location because it was hazardous duty.

     “An unknown native entity has killed all the Survey Team, except myself,” Allen quickly typed, “And without extreme intervention to eliminate this dangerous life-form, mining here should not be attempted. Do not send another Team.”

     Then Allen clicked the “send” button. That done, he clutched his weapon in the darkness of the shelter, waiting. 

     They would be coming for him soon.

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(photo from Pixabay)