<USS Avalon> Survivors: It's gonna be a long long night...

"bugs..." Rosas muttered frantically. "I hate bugs..."
 
"Yeah, well, Burgess ain't too fond of 'em either," Lt. Portman replied, 
sitting as close to the fire as he dared, within the perimeter of lights. "No 
way I'm going out like that." 
 
Mac said nothing as he finished wrapping the body, not daring to try burying 
him before sun-up. 
 
A low growl issued from somewhere close by on their left. Hissing could be 
heard to their right. The night teemed with sounds of malevolence and the 
counterpoint of whispers and sobs. 
 
Few slept.
 
"Mac," Raven approached him carefully. "You want something to eat?"
 
Mac just shook his head. After a moment, he admitted. "I'm not sure what to do 
here, Rae. We've got everyone up off the ground. We've got the lights, and the 
fires, and it's still...it don't feel like enough. They're not safe." He looked 
at her desperately. "How'm I supposed to keep them all safe?"
 
"You can't." Rae admitted sadly. "Nobody can. We just have to do the best we 
can until help comes."
 
"If it comes," Mac interrupted. "We're way out in the middle of nowhere, on a 
planet nobody's explored in a region nobody goes. If the SOS got out, which is 
a big if when you consider how fast it all  happened, they still might not find 
us."
 
Rae frowned. "When did you become a defeatist?"
 
"I'd say right around the time my wife left me, saying she needed more than any 
one man alone could give her...ie, tits...and my kids weren't really mine." 
 
"hey, a lot of us like tits, you included. Can't hold that against her. Well, 
not unless she'd let me." Rae quipped, hoping to lighten the mood. "Now, no 
more doom and gloom. You're the example they'll all be following. Make it a 
good one."
 
"It'd be a hell of an example just surviving, and getting them to following 
that." Mac told her honestly. 
 
"yeah, it would." Rae agreed wholeheartedly. "Make sure you do that." Smiling, 
she tossed him a lemon and cardboard flavored MRE. "Start with that." Winking, 
she wandered back toward the others. 
 
Mac smiled in spite of himself, taking a bite and chewing slowly, trying hard 
to choke down the wood pulp textured morsel. Whoever invented this shit should 
be shot, he thought to himself as he pocketed the rest. Guy'd have to be way 
the hell more hungry than he was to actually eat more than a bite or two of 
that.  He looked back at the motley crew assembled around the fire and squared 
his shoulders. "Okay, guys. Of the twenty three of us here, we've got exactly 
seven who aren't wounded so bad they can actually stand guard, that's including 
me. Linc, you'll be busy with the wounded, and you'll need some rest at some 
point, so I'm gonna exclude you from perimeter guard. Leaves Xavier, Rosas, 
Tran, Portman, Fielding and me to take shifts. Rosas, how much longer we got 
before daylight?"
 
"Um...about seven hours, sir, as near as I can tell." she answered timidly.
 
Mac nodded. "alright.  Fielding, you and I will take first watch. Rae, you and 
Tran, sleep now. You'll both take over in two and a half hours. Rosas, you and 
Portman get some rest, too. You've got third watch." He listened to the odd 
sounds that seemed to be closing in around them. "Make sure you're weapons are 
at ready, and monitor your tricorders. Nothing gets close we don't know is 
coming. We're not losing anyone else tonight."
 
"Yes sir," they agreed in unison, each seemingly glad to have some sort of plan 
of action. 
 
Mac settled found himself a place on the perimeter, phaser in hand, and set 
about scanning the area. 
 
It was going to be a long night.

Other related posts: