Snippet #2473927

Xander had seen the sandstorms in the distance, he didn't care. They weren't moving in his direction and even if they were he was leaving for a little sand. He was in the perfect natural blind, it was pure luck he stumbled on the rock formation over looking the Phyn herd he'd been tracking. "These damn things are sly sons o' bitches but pure gold when you find em." he said to himself as he loaded a single bullet into his rifle. That was all it would take, "one shot. one kill." the retired sniper said to himself as he zeroed in on a rather large Haltik. He took a moment to study them, the Phyn were as diverse as humans and no two Phyn ever looked the same.



In this herd, it looks like every member was covered in a plate, a pair of tentacles jutting from under their plates. They weren't too big and they seemed docile for the most part so Zander kept the silencer off, "no harm in a little noise." He went through his motions, doping the scope, checking wind, doing everything by the book. It was all pointless when hunting but four years as a sniper tends to start habits. Besides Xander didn't wanna take chances on a rogue gust from the distant sandstorm blowing the shot wide.



Xander took the shot, and a millisecond later the Phyn he had been studying fell. Xander smiles as he began to search for a new target, "Ill eat great tonight if this keeps up." Suddenly a chill nearly freezes Xander's neck, "cold, out here in the desert. what the fuck.." he looked up as the cold chill went away and realized that it wasn't cold. The cold chill meant Xander was scared, he just didn't know it yet.


He looked up at the sandstom and noticed it seemingly stop. He zeroed in with his rifle, noticing a dark figure in the sandstorm, turning to him, like it knew he was there. Xander gasped, he knew that wasn't a sandstorm. Something was IN that storm, causing it. It began to move toward him and Xander finally realized what his body was telling him. He was scared, deathly afraid of what might be in that sand.

Xander's hands began to shake as he reached for the cartridges beside him, trying to load one into the rifle as the storm drew closer. His hands shook as he began to feel the wind now, blowing the cartridges away. He now had only the one he palmed in his hand. He looked down at the Phyn herd being swallowed up in the storm. As the sand began to smack what bare skin was on his body he pulled pack the bolt. Xander finally managed to calm his shaking hands enough to load the rifle but it was too late. The sand sucked his up and everything went dark.

Xander's eyes opened to the sky, he saw he was laying on the ground, He could see the rock formation he had been hidden on in front of him, and he was no longer on it. The sharp pain in his back indicated that whatever was in that storm threw him from the formation. Xander stood up to look around, but found a disturbing detail. He was in the middle of the herd he'd been tracking, but it was no longer a herd. He looked around at the mauled bodies, some ripped to pieces others whole but surely dead. But for ever dead Phyn he could see dead, he could find none alive.



Xander looked over and spied his rifle. Gasping for joy he barreled to it and picked it up. He checked the chamber to find the round he'd loaded was still there and the gun was not jammed up in sand as he was. He looked around, "no use finding any more rounds here, the sand had to have blown them all over the desert." He shouldered his rifle and looked around, "I guess there's no harm in seeing if any of the meat hasn't been tainted." Xander pulled the field knife he kept to skin and dress. He began to cut into the dead Phyn.