The Man of Many Names

Bait sighed. Then blinked. His head snapped up and he headed for the camp, worried beyond imagining what could have happened to his brothers. He staggered into camp and half of them jumped to their feet, alarmed at his torn appearance. "Dayum, Bait," Hero drawled, moving over to give him a hand prop up, which Bait leaned on gratefully. "What happened to you? You find a squirrel too much for you?" The others snorted as Bait just exhaled. Nothing was amiss; what the hell had happened then? Did he really just imagine the attack? Joat gave him a strange look, but was strangely silent, not joining in on the jeers as Bait was led to his own tent. Karo helped, his eyes demanding a full report. Bait could only shake his head helplessly. "I don't know what happened, Kar," he exhaled. "I was just gathering my 'weeds' as you call them when I was attacked by what looked like a wolf. A rabid, mutated canid. It was nearly larger than I was, Karo." Karo shook his head with a frown.

"There aren't any canids that large here, Bait, you know that more than I do." Bait could only shake his head. "He attacked me, but.... I don't remember anything else. My  mind just...blanked." Karo grunted in disgust, but seeing Bait was relatively all right, left him to recover himself. "You're staying in camp, Bait," was his parting shot, letting the tent flap drop. Bait sighed, but over the course of the next several weeks, became increasingly frustrating. He was still the medic, that didn't change, but his usefulness dropped a good 50% being unable to move with them. One of the other squad members muttered that his name should be Useless, but thankfully, it didn't stick like everything else had. At least his squad just remained silent on the subject.

oOoOo

The rumors were half-true. There were no experimental weapons, but something was out there. It started about mid-afternoon, the place was quiet, the sandy dirt was dry, despite the mess that was the camp. They'd relocated for the third time, but the mutated canids had begun attacking in earnest. Ripping objects apart in their path like rabid animals, leaping over broken equipment as if with spring-loaded feet. Bait managed to get a good look as one pinned him, desperately holding slobbering jaws inches from his face before a snarl echoed from his own throat. He heard an answering snarl rip from behind several containers and hoped that wasn't the sound of another brother lost, but he'd long since given up hoping. Rolling, the trooper managed to kick the half dead beast off him, slicing the knife down its throat, just about gutting it from the inside. The death screams hurt his ears and Bait staggered away, leaning heavily on a broken container. Trying to regain his breath, Bait wiped the back of his arm across his face, but it only smeared it further, making him wince as several bruises twinged, his back protesting the mistreatment.

None of Alcar Squad survived the initial assault, their bodies strewn about like a macabre sort of doll party. They'd moved deeper in the ravine, only to be picked off, one by one. Karo and Factor were wounded and Hero was dead, having just bled out in the medic's hands moments before. Grenade and Laser of Zero Squad were covering the medic as he slammed a fist into the ground in frustration. Their supplies had just been destroyed by the self-same canids, who were entirely too intelligent, knowing the area better than the troopers. The canids didn't have any weapons, but they didn't need any, their claws and speed were enough to compensate for the trooper's blasters. They couldn't get high enough or far enough away to use their rifles. Joat seemed more excited, with a knife in each hand, not seeming to notice or care when a brother fell next to him, but only slashing back at the canid that leaped the barrier, tearing it apart with a laugh that bordered maniacal. They had no time to worry about his unusual reaction to their losses. Bait flinched at the sudden pressure of the air and reached over, eyes narrowed as he responded instinctively, yanking Zark out of range of a swipe from a wolf that just materialized out of nowhere. "Woah!" he staggered, but hit the ground with a gasp. Joat gave a snarl and launched himself at the wolf, riding it to the dirt as the blood sprayed across the front of the man's armor.

A little while later, they had a breather, but Joat was nowhere to be found. Bait's memory was fogging in and out constantly. The strange pressure was always preceded by something happening in the near vicinity. Bait had no idea what was going on. He certainly wasn't Force sensitive; the trooper shook his head. Something was going on, something Bait didn't entirely like. He was abnormal as it was. Now this? He looked around, mentally counting who was left. He slipped over to Factor and tugged out some more bandages, re-wrapping the still bleeding gash in his brother's leg. "Just..." he gasped, "leave me...behind." Bait looked down at him with a glare and a shake of the head, but Factor attempted to push him back weakly. "Shut up, Factor," Bait muttered. "I'm the bait here, remember?" Factor just grimaced. Karo leaned over a canister and flung a grenade in the middle of several beasts, which immediately dived for cover amidst snarls.

Two seconds later, Karo was hauled into the air and ripped apart, the howling snarls echoing off the rocks, drowning out Factor's exhausted vituperation. Laser was nothing more than a pile of bloody pulp on the ground as Bait hauled Factor up, dragging him with him as Grenade covered their escape. Zark slammed a fist into a canid face that got too near and helped pull Factor's other side with a grunt. "Fodder is not going to slow them down," Zark grunted, tiredly. "We've got to get back to the LZ and report this in!" Factor and Bait looked at one another, but Bait only closed his eyes briefly. The last thing he remembered clearly was trying to hold Zark's intestines back as his vision flickered a brilliant blue.