Hunted Part II By Nathan Carlisle The flashing sensor on the console blinked in a desperate manner, indicating that something was heading our way. The commander noticed this as well and ordered the crew to take their positions as he scrambled up to the main turret. I jumped into the driver's seat and prepared to start up the engines. Dog, the mechanic squawked onto my headset to inform me that the number two engine was not at one hundred percent and if I could take it easy, I should. I nodded in agreement as sweat started to run down the back of my neck. Tin Man, the navigator was sitting in the position next to me cussing up a storm in a whispered but all to audible level. Boxer, the Commander piped in telling everyone to shut their traps and to pay attention. He did not like the position that we were in so he ordered me to find cover for the ATV. A wind started up and we could all hear it as it buffeted the armored hull of the ATV. The only other sound was the motion sensor that clicked away in an eerie and taunting manner. Outside the sand was kicking up, making visibility extremely difficult and limited. I was inching the ATV along as quickly as I could without having the turbines punch in as well as to not run into any obstacles outside. Boxer was checking out the area trying to find a good spot to hold up and possibly defend ourselves if needed. Usually we were a pretty aggressive team, but having our dropship blown out of the sky and running across two completely decimated military outposts took the wind out of our sails. It did make us sharp though. Our focus was good and the team seemed to be working well. I think that we all just wanted to make it back to base and as far away from this planet as possible. The dust outside reduced my visibility to only a few feet so progress was slow going. I was about to give the throttle a little more when I had to slam on the brakes. Tin Man uttered some expletive as well as questioning what I was doing when he looked outside. There in front of us was the mining headquarters, blown to hell. Bodies were lying all around the entrance and bullet holes littered the structure like some sort of plague. The site before me took the wind out of my lungs. I had to remind myself to breathe again. With the military outposts, we saw bodies of soldiers and blown away barracks, and that was enough to scare the crap out of us, but this was different. This time it was families, men, women and children, all lay lifeless on the ground like so much driftwood or debris. That is when the motion sensor changed tones, indicating that whatever was out there was getting closer.