Fanfic Attempt: Race for Survival

[Meynari Ke'nawm]

Chap. 1 (Waiting)
  Kalis stared at her watch. 4:15 A.M. Location: Hell's Gate: Ground Force quarters. She sat in her bunk thinking about the hours to come. Kalis Surtair came to Pandora looking for a better job, one on the fabled green planet full of untouched wonders. She had the best grades in her entire region and was looking for a job studying Pandoran fauna. However, when she got there after 7 and a half years, the tide had changed and she was assigned a job working to destroy the beauty she came for. As a dreaded ground soldier. Inthat short period of time, both her parents had died, and she was broke. She needed money more than anything, so she was forced to stay.
     Kalis shifted her position on her cardboard pillow. However, those feelings of helplessness had disappeared. Thad been 297 days ago. She had killed innocent people and animals. She had lost half of her left foot. She had seen her friends get speared and shot. She had changed her mind. She had a plan, a plan for escape. Her bunk-mate, Tom, was a gun-happy murderer. He fought ruthlessly and with a sense of false righteousness. Fortunately, he was sound asleep. Five minutes until, with any luck, final departure. She gathered up her gear: she had an exopack, three weeks worth of C-rats, iodine tablets, three heavy-duty, military-quality blankets, a K-bar knife, a hand-pistol with ten rounds of ammo, a first-aid kit, a solar-powered flashlight, extra clothing, and her few personal items. Her water-proof watch sent an electric charge down her arm: a silent sign that meant it was time to leave.
    She smiled and pulled out an all-access pass to the gates. The 97 days she spent sucking up to her superiors had payed off. A kind-hearted girl named Lyssa Bentz was the step-daughter of the evil general Jack Bentz. She wished to run away from him, his life, and his violence. So, Kalis promised to take Lyssa with her if she grabbed an all-access pass and some extra gear from his high-security office. A second buzz went down her arm. Lyssa was at the door. The watches were something "Liss" had snagged. The watches were how they communicated.

[Meynari Ke'nawm]

Chap. 2 (Escape)
     They silently ran down the corridor towards the AMP drivers' bunks. The only way out of the facility that had even the slightest chance of succeeding was either by helicopter, or by AMP. Since Kalis happened to know one of the AMP drivers since kindergarten, they had agreed to leave together. He also had a degree in engineering and had rigged the bedrooms of all the security officials with knock-out gas. Evan Pine opened the door and slipped out carrying a pack double the size of Kalis and Lyssa's. Good, she thought. We might actually have a chance of making it.
     All three of them ran towards the giant AMP armor bay. Evan took the pass he obtained from AMP training and opened the door. Lyssa snipped the surveillance camera's wires. While Evan and Lyssa stuffed the three packs in the AMP and climbed in, Kalis kept her pistol pointed towards the door. Even whispered, "Clear!", out of habit and Kalis climbed in.
     Now was the final hit-or-miss moment. What ever happened, Kalis reminded herself, was for the best. However, her heart was beating so loud she thought it might wake up the whole base. The AMP whirred to life. Evan took a step and the machine copied him. He pushed a button on the screen and the AMP door opened to reveal the training room. He walked inside and remembered something crucial. For defense purposes, you need a pass to get in and out of a room. Unfortunately, he hadn't thought about that. The door shut them in. "Shoot," Evan muttered under his breath. "Guys," he said,"you're not going to like this, but we're trapped."
     "Just," Lyssa stumbled over her words, "just do what ever it takes."
     "Okay, but it's a long shot."
     Evan took a step back. "Fasten- I mean brace yourselves." There were no seat-belts. AMPs were made for one. He pushed a button and the AMP raced forward through the wall to reveal the cafeteria. Their hearts sank. Every moment of time they spent lessened their chances of escape. There was nothing left to do but go forward.
     They heard a shout. The machine surged forward. It got louder. The alarms blared. They saw a face. It was Tom and he had a rifle. Evan froze. Tom fired and it hit leg of the AMP, but did little damage. He never was a good shot. Seeing the danger of the situation, Kalis sprang into action. She lunged and pushed Evan's trigger finger. Bye Tom. Sure won't miss you. Now there were tens of people up. No other option remained. Evan took the gargantuan flamethrower and set the place ablaze. They shared the single oxygen mask, each taking one large breath at a time, until Lyssa just recommended they use their exopacks. The robot marched through one final wall to show, at last, daylight.
     But, it wasn't over yet. The guards at the watchtower fired their guns and, as if no one had noticed that they were escaping until now, set off the alarm. Lyssa took her grenade-gun and shot noxious gas into the towers nearest them. The guards fell unconscious, and in the process turned off the alarm. Unfortunately, more people were already aroused. Soon there was whirring and a chopper appeared in the air. They shot it down, but shrapnel pierced the windshield. Glass went flying. The bot pierced all three levels of fences, and they sprinted towards the jungle.

[Meynari Ke'nawm]

Chap. 3 (Running)
     They shot down a couple more helicopters, but they figured that the soldiers were concentrating more on the raging blaze that was once their military base. "Do you really have any idea where you're going?", Kalis asked Evan.
     "Away," was his reply. They had never really planned out that part. It was a miracle that they had made it that far. The machine ran farther and farther into the jungle, causing a bioluminescent path and scattering fanlizards and prolemuri. They came across waterfalls and giant trees, a couple sleeping hexapede and direhorses. Gosh, those things are big. They had been taught to tell the time by the position of Prolethemus, and, of course they had their watches. By the looks of it, they had been moving for over 2 hours. Time was different here and it would be light in 4 or so hours. It was late, but adrenaline surged through their body, making it impossible to sleep. At least for her and Evan - Lyssa was curled in a ball. Her slumber was disturbed, though, and she mumbled.
     "In an hour, I say we stop for the night. We need to get some sleep, and we need to conserve fuel anyway." Evan was right. They would have traveled over 400 miles by then. That's a long way to travel by foot, considering most of the choppers were totaled. Plus, their second wind had come and gone. The wind howled. Every second was either spent watching and waiting for danger, or trying to stay awake. Kalis sat and ran her fingers through Lyss' silky blond hair. She was beautiful, even in her sleep. She saw Evan rummaging through his pack. He pulled out an energy drink and winked at her before chugging it down.
     She listened to the rhythmic sound of the mechanical legs... Back and forth, back and forth. Whir, whir, whir. She had no idea how tiring almost dying was. Her work had mostly been killing Na'vi who approached the base. With her armor made out of a material stronger than Kevlar, she had never been in any real danger. But now, seeing her co-workers turning on her with loaded guns, she felt like prey. Worse than prey. Like the Na'vi she was forced to kill. It was draining. She couldn't help thinking how much this whole thing felt like a dream. With the lead-like feeling of her limbs, the gentle rocking motion of the vessel, and the whole stressfulness of the situation, she fell asleep.

[Meynari Ke'nawm]

Chap. 4 (Surprise!)
      Kalis woke up on a patch of moss to beautiful rays of sunshine. The air, although unbreathable, was clear and free of smog and pollutants. She sat dazed, as if in a dream. Then a thought went through her head. I'm on Pandora, she thought. Oh, my gosh. After waking up in a metal room for almost a year, the environment change was startling. She got up, alarmed, until she saw Lyssa and Evan next to her. The battered AMP was ten or so yards behind them. She walked over to them and nudged them with her foot. Lyssa rolled over and got up, but Evan was out like a light, tired from staying up the whole night before. They decided to let him sleep.
      Lyss suggested that they take inventory of their supplies. They sorted through Kalis' pack first. She had, again, an exopack, three weeks worth of C-rats, iodine tablets, three heavy-duty blankets, a K-bar knife, a hand-pistol with ten rounds of ammo, a first-aid kit, a solar-powered flashlight, extra clothing, and they found some vitamin pills, and some survival string capable of holding 600 pounds. Lyss brought her exopack, six weeks worth of C-rats, a bigger packet iodine tablets, her rifle, her Pandoran "Meat Manual", the grunts called it, extra clothes for her, a compact wood saw, a can opener, and rare xenotrauma kit, with all the antivenins for stingbats, Na'vi arrow neurotoxins, and Pandoran air exposure. You had to be real important to be treated with something like that. Usually, in the field, they just knocked you out and you could hope for the best. There wasn't much else you could do. It was just too expensive. Kalis put her pack back on. It made her feel more secure.
      They would go look at Evan's pack after they got up. But, to pass the time, they opened a can of C-rats labeled steak and beans, ate it one bite at a time, and began to talk. "Hey, Lyss?", Kalis asked.
      "Yeah?", she answered.
      "What do you think it's like to be a Na'vi?"
      "I wouldn't know, but I bet it would be nice to not have to murder them all the time."
      "Do you want to study Na'vi?" They had both been Na'vi supporters back on Earth, dreaming of ikran, the vast culture of the Natives, and even becoming an Avatar.
      "Sure."
      "Okay, what does 'kelku' mean?"
      "Home." Home. Where exactly was home? She wasn't sure. Lyss was about to give Kalis a question when all of a sudden, an arrow flew through Evan's neck. He jerked awake, his throat spurting blood.