Excerpt: The Immortality Clause

[ Some explicit language ahead ]

I opened my eyes.
It seemed a little warmer than before, but I was still comfortable, and I was still under the shade of the trees around me, hidden away from the supposedly damaging rays of the sun. I looked at the space suit laid out next to me. I felt so comfortable without it, and I’d survived my way through a nap in just my t-shirt and jeans. I didn’t need that bulky thing. I could just live here in the shadows. Here, next to the big blue and black plants. Here, away from the sunlight, away from the only thing on the planet that could kill me.
Or so I thought.
After just a few short minutes of relaxation, I felt the ground rumbling underneath me.
Was it an earthquake?
Earthquakes didn’t phase me so much. We experienced them on occasion when Soror orbited close to Earth, so I guessed it would be the same on Soror.
But no.
This was different. I’d felt plenty of earthquakes before, but this was different.
There was something coming up from underground. It was moving towards me.
I jumped up and attempted to climb up one of the tall black trees nearby, hoping that would save me from whatever was coming. In doing so, I touched a branch that immediately emitted some kind of dark black goo. I felt it spread across my skin. At first, it felt fine, but as I placed my hand back on the tree to attempt to climb up again, it started to both sting and itch. Poison? I wiped the goo off onto my jeans as quickly as I could.
I could feel the thing, whatever it was, coming closer and closer from underground.
Fuck.
I started to panic.
I hastily ripped a bunch of tiny branches off the little tasty blue-leaved shrub, in case I couldn’t find that plant again for a while. Then, I ran.
With just the pile of blue branches in my hand, I ran as fast as I could towards where I thought I’d come from. But was it the right direction? I didn’t know my way around. I assumed it was right. It seemed right. I must have come in the direction on the other side of the blue bushes from where I was sleeping. Yes, I was running the right way.
But where was I running to? The ship? I couldn’t go back into the clearing. Not without my space suit.
Fuck, my suit. I couldn’t leave without it.
I took my chances and stood as still as I could, hoping the thing underground would pass, and I could go and get my space suit. It was a stupid decision. My heart was beating so fast. I wasn’t thinking properly.
It came closer and closer. It didn’t stop.
I figured it out. I would jump. My plan was to jump as soon as it was near. I would jump, and because of the gravity, I’d be able to jump for long enough to at least see what it was. Maybe I could even grab a branch from a tree above me and hold on long enough for it to leave me. I looked above to see if there were any suitable branches for me to hold on to.
And then, before I even realised it was underneath me, it came up from beneath me, burrowing upwards, and it shot through the soil. It grabbed hold of my right foot with what felt like dozens of sharp, tiny teeth, and didn’t let go.
I dropped the branches, and let out a scream.
What the fuck was that thing?
It looked like a long black mole. I could see no eyes on it, and it had no fur, or anything to cover its gross looking skin. It was long, and it wriggled about as it bit into me. It seemed to have tiny little grippers with claws on the bottom of its body, the opposite side from where the teeth were. Or was that the top of the creature? It was so bizarre. It made no noise as it frantically jiggled about on my foot. Its teeth bit sharply into my blood vessels. I could feel the blood rushing out from underneath me, seeping through my sock and out onto the mole thing itself.
In an attempt to get rid of it, I lifted my foot up then stamped it into the ground. It clamped its teeth down into my foot even tighter, and didn’t let go. The pain was becoming almost unbearable. I continued to stamp my foot down, as tears ran down my cheeks. It was difficult to stamp forcefully with such light gravity. I wasn’t getting anywhere. It was going to eat my foot.
“Fuck! Let go!”
As I screamed at it, it loosened its grip somewhat. And then, I could see a tiny bump in the ground move towards me. Fast.
Another one was coming.
If that one got my other foot, I’d be done for.
I ran.
Still with the first black mole clenching its teeth into my bleeding right foot, I ran; stamping my right foot into the ground as hard as I could with every step I took. My foot wasn’t hitting the ground very hard. Fucking gravity. With every time I attempted to slam my foot into the ground to get rid of it, the pain got worse, and the creature held on. I couldn’t keep it up.
I started leaping in tall bounds, rather than running. It seemed to be faster than running as I would on Earth, but I felt as though the mole would be able to hold on forever.
Swearing at it seemed to loosen its grip before. I screamed at the gross little jiggling black mole as loud as I could manage, as my breath ran low and the pain got worse.
“Get off me!”
It loosened a bit. I continued screaming at it, just yelling with all my might, as I leapt through the forest, back in the direction I hoped would lead me to the ship.
I waved my right foot about in the air mid-jump, and it finally let go. I heard its small body hit the ground beneath it. I didn’t look where it went. I continued moving as fast as I could, weaving in and out of the trees around me as I leapt through them like I was the character in some sort of strange computer game.
I thought I recognised one of the trees I leapt past. Was I going in the right direction? Was I actually heading for the ship?
My foot was numb, and it was difficult to put weight on it. I started leap-hopping; using one foot to leap as high as I could every time I hit the ground. It wasn’t so hard to hop that way, with the gravity being so light – each hop on my good foot lasted long enough for me to balance myself for the next hop. But I couldn’t keep it up forever.
I stopped for a moment to catch my breath. With my left foot, the foot that still had its feeling left, I was able to feel the ground rumbling beneath me. The fuckers were following me.
I let out an angry grunt of frustration as I took off again.
The environment around me, the great big blue and black forest, was slowly becoming lighter and lighter. Was I almost at the clearing? I kept moving, in bizarre leaping hops, as fast as I could. After a while, as my left foot contacted the ground, I felt that the texture of the ground beneath me had changed to that of the squishy moss that I’d slept on the night before. I was getting closer.
Everything continued to become lighter around me. I could feel the hot sunlight on my body as it shone down through the parts of the sky that weren’t covered with the canopy of blue and black trees.
I could see the opening.
I kept hopping.
I could see the ship. It was fucking lucky for me to have gone the right way. My body was invigorated with a boost of adrenaline as soon as I saw it. I had to get there. There were spare space suits in there. I just had to get there.
The clearing wasn’t so far away. During one of my big leaps, I turned my head to look behind me. There were now three mole bumps following me under the ground. Three of them. My heart skipped a beat and I turned back to face the ship.
I was in the clearing.
Immediately after making it to the clearing, I felt the harsh rays from the sun, burning into my skin. In some bizarre fuckwit of a reflex move, I looked up to the sun to see where the damage was coming from.
Fuck.
I screamed. All I could see was white. The light was so bright, the heat was so intense. I felt like I was a fucking vampire, conquered by the sunlight.
I squinted, trying to see the ship in front of me. I could see its rough outline, but nothing more. Where were the others? I couldn’t see anyone.
I yelled as loud as I could.
“Hello? Something’s chasing me!”
Were they sleeping in the ship? Why weren’t they responding?
My eyes still hurt like hell, but I continued hopping. I was now able to make out a little more detail of the ship and its surrounding area. I could see the little camp area they’d set up with lots of chemistry equipment. All of it had just been left there in the open. No one was there. No one was answering my cries for help.
I was alone.
I got to the ship, and jumped inside.
No one was in there.
What the fuck?
Why had they left? Where had they gone? Why had they all gone together? Why didn’t they leave someone there? Surely they would want someone to stay and guard their equipment against these fucking hungry moles.
They had just left it all behind.
They had just left me behind.
I was all on my own, on an alien planet, with my burning skin, my bleeding foot, and my blinded eyes.