“All right,” Lena said, and came to a slogging halt in the middle of the swamp, no matter that the water came up to her thighs and she was damned afraid she might be sinking further. “Stop it.”
Matt waved his arms to avoid a collision, which managed to splash swamp water over the rest of the group.
Lena wiped mud from her nose and flicked it toward a curious toad. “Look, we’re all slogging through this mess, wondering what else could go wrong. So let’s stop wondering, and figure it out.”
Ingrid raised a tentative hand, as passive as her pale, shadowy form, then pointed. “Perhaps we could move to that lump of slightly drier land, boss?”
She sighed. “Fine. But we talk as we go.”
As usual, Matt was the first to complain. “We crash landed. Immediate mission kill.”
“But we lived,” Lena countered grimly.
“The transponder’s dead. Cracked beyond repair.”
She grabbed a vine and pulled herself up, then silently congratulated herself for not strangling Matt with the sturdy creeper. She gave him a hand instead. The slug didn’t even notice her unusually tight grip.
“But the ship knows we’re here, and we left sign that we’re alive.”
“Which we had to destroy thanks to the locals who are chasing us anyway,” Ingrid casually offered. The lithe woman made the mud look like an accessory she’d chosen to apply.
Seth followed her, tall and blocky, squelching as mud fell off in clumps. “Including that tentacle thing. Though I’m more worried about the locals not following us in here.”
“We’re still alive,” Lena said through gritted teeth. “So let’s figure out how to stay that way. Start problem solving. They’re waiting for us.”
“I think our training suggested that toad is edible,” Mike said with longing.
She handed him a nutbar. “Let’s save that for when we’re more desperate. Food poisoning isn’t something we can afford right now. And everyone hydrate!”
***
Hmm, how does our team get out of this one? Perhaps it’ll continue next week. Thanks to Leigh for the prompt on what else could go wrong – the most dangerous question!
My prompt went to Becky on desperation. Find the links to everyone’s sites and more, via More Odds Than Ends, the free and open challenge where you, too, can play along. See you next week!
