Tales from the RimWorld - "Zodiac" (Tale 1), - Day 2

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Day 2

M was the first to get up, even before sunrise. He had not slept well. Not just because of Roady’s snoring and a slight belly ache, but because he heard strange noises from outside all night. Granted, this was an alien planet and strange noises are to be expected, but this sounded like someone sneaking around outside. But they were alone. Weren’t they?

He thought about it while having a breakfast consisting of last evening’s potatoes and resolved to make base defense a priority, just to be on the safe side. Of course, they didn’t have much to defend themselves with, but at least they could make and pile up some sandbags for cover around the house.

When Bill and Roady woke up an hour later and reluctantly munched on some more half cooked potatoes, M told them of his plans. They agreed in principle, but Roady was more concerned with finishing the field and building a roof over the stockpile. Some of their more sensitive items such as food and medicine were already degrading due to being exposed to the elements. Plus, he was giddy to get started on his research.

“I agree with Roady”, Bill said, “Getting a food supply going and protecting what little we have is just too important. I think I should continue clearing and planting the field, and M, maybe you could build that roof first?” M nodded. Bill got up and made his way to the field, but stopped at the door, leaned against the frame, and clenched his stomach. “I don’t feel so well”.

M rushed over, looked bill in the eyes and frowned in worry. “Bill, you look very pale. Sit back down. Roady, have a look at him, will ya?”

Trusty flashlight in hand and ready to blind Bill, Roady sprung to action. But before he could fully examine Bill, he suddenly sprinted a few feet and unloaded his breakfast in the nearest bush.

“Food poisoning”, Roady diagnosed with a little bit of a bad conscience as he was the one who managed to fail at cooking potatoes. There wasn’t much he could do, as Bill had already executed the correct medical procedure for treating a mild case.

“It’s okay, I feel a bit better. I really need to finish that field, or we’re gonna have some food problems soon. Or M, you’re gonna have to learn to hunt.”

“Are you sure you’re able to work? Okay, but Roady, go with Bill and keep an eye on him”.

The three set off and went to work. M started on the roof with a new found respect for Bill, and during short breathers watched him cut down trees and plow the field with a piece of the Zodiac’s hull.

Soon, the roof was finished, and M got to work filling bags with sand and piling them up in a square shape between house and field. Bill seemed to feel a little better and now that all that was left to do was planting, was adamant that he could do it alone, so Roady went back to the house to start his research on how they could build a smithy from what they had.

M placed the last bag and took a deep breath. He would sleep well tonight. It was noon now and his stomach was growling. After Bill’s incident, they had tossed the rest of the potatoes so it was survival meal time again. He whistled to signal lunch time, and sat down on some rocks near the house.

They didn’t have enough food until the first harvest, no matter how he stretched the rations in his mind, so he had to come to terms with going to hunt soon. He wouldn’t admit it to Bill and Roady, but while it made sense that he, as the best marksman would be the group’s hunter, he really had a hard time finding it within himself to kill an animal. Especially something as cute as a rabbit, or as intelligent as a boar. He was also aware of the hypocrisy since he wasn’t a vegetarian. But cooking a delicious steak and killing the animal that produced it were just not the same experiences.

But the topic didn’t have time to come up yet, when Bill jumped up, pointed to the horizon, and sharply whispered “there.”

There was a figure moving between the trees, inching closer to the camp.

“Slowly get your guns ready to fire and move towards the sand bags.” M took command of the situation. Bill and Roady followed, but as soon as the three started moving towards the bags, the figure started sprinting towards them. And so they ran, jumped behind the bags, and took aim.

Now they could see it was a woman. A big, fat but muscular woman with a pink Mohawk, wearing a torn leather jacket and grimacing as she ran towards them. They could now also see she had no weapons on her except for a rusty knife, and yet she was willing to risk attacking three men aiming two guns at her. She must truly be desperate, Bill thought, as Roady fired and grazed her shoulder.

She yelped, clutched her shoulder and dove behind a nearby rock. From there, she sprinted around the other side of the house, out of view. Bill and Roady took different corners of the sand fort now, to cover both sides of the house.

Silence. It has been a little too long. Was she still behind the house? M was just about to go investigate when they heard a growling, a yell of pain, and cursing. The furious mountain of a woman appeared from Bill’s corner of the house, screeching as she sprinted towards him, knife raised.

Bill got off a few shots, but only managed to hit the house behind her. From his corner, Roady shot at her in rapid succession and hit her several times in the lower torso and foot. But though she yowled, it seemed to serve only to further enrage her.

She climbed over the bags and lunched at Bill, who dropped his rifle and tried to cover his face with his arms, as she threw her body at him, knocked him to the ground, and raised her knife to finish him off. Osamu had come to the rescue of his Master, but in her fury she didn’t seem to care about him biting and tearing at her leg.

But while Roady was still frantically reloading and dropping bullets left and right, M kicked her in the chest, off of Bill, jumped on top of her and stabbed her repeatedly in a frenzy.

“Stop! Stop, it’s done, it’s over!”, Bill yelled as he pulled M off of her and pulled back his arm holding the bloody knife. He held M’s shoulder as he sank to the ground and sat down, dropping the knife and staring into the distance. He didn’t even seem to notice the cuts and bruises left on his arms and chest while the raider tried to defend herself in vain.

But there was no time for rest, as they smelled smoke. It seems while she was out of sight, the attacker set fire to the house, perhaps as a distraction, the waiting for which was interrupted by Osamu’s teeth. They grabbed water and blankets and put out the fire quickly, before it could spread.

Now that they had some time to breathe, Roady examined them and himself. Bill was surprisingly fine, but Roady and M had suffered some flesh wounds in the tumble.

“We need to bandage these wounds and take some antiseptics and tissue regenerators. I didn’t like the look of that rusty knife.” Roady said. “The only downside is that these regenerators have to be taken as soon as possible and they will knock us out while they work, so we’ll be out of commission for a few hours. We’ll have to leave you alone for a while, Bill.”

Roady bandaged their wounds, they took their medicine and went to bed, leaving Bill to deal with the situation. He decided to deal with the body before he lost his nerve, but when he got to the sandbags, he was in for a shock: She was still breathing! Shallow, and weak, but she was alive. Osamu was munching on her cut off ear, a content look on his face, but she was alive.

He sprinted back to the house, but Roady was already out cold, and all the shaking in the world didn’t wake him up. What could he do? He wasn’t a doctor, but from his books he knew he had to stop the bleeding if she stood a chance of survival. He ripped open a med kit and put pressure bandages on her worst wounds. That surely gave her a bit more time, but he knew she’d die soon if he couldn’t get Roady’s help. He had done everything he could and had to wait now.

He wasn’t oblivious to the fact that this woman was trying to kill him just an hour ago, but he couldn’t let her die. She was still a human being. Or at least he thought she was. Nevertheless, it was probably not a good idea to nurse her back to health in the house, lest she wake up in the middle of the night and slice their throats. If she would ever wake up again that is. So he started building her a little prison cell.

Bill was not good as a construction worker, but he picked a spot between a close by rock wall and an ancient piece of sturdy looking wall next to it, minimizing the work he had to do. When he started hauling some logs, M stepped out of the house, already fully healed, and after Bill explained the situation, he joined in. This was a good thing, as Bill really had no idea how he was going to get these logs to hold together, much less how to build a wall and roof that could contain a furious gorilla of a woman.

By the time they finished their new prison cell, and the sun was already setting, Roady finally awoke from his beauty health sleep. He was reluctant to waste any more medicine on her, seeing as he estimated her chances of survival as slim at best, and he wasn’t sure he wanted her to survive at all. She was a threat and should have been dealt with permanently. But as M made clear to him, this was what needed to happen, so they hauled her to the cell and Roady did his best to save her.

He worked on her for hours. Pulling bullets, stitching up cuts, cleaning and bandaging wounds, and administering various medication. When he finished tending to her wounds, and had a little bite to eat, the others had already fallen asleep. It was a long day and the day ahead didn’t promise to get any easier.

Next Day (Don't forget what you wanted to do first ;-))