Red Mist
Terryl felt ill, a gnawing in his stomach that had started in the hours following his return from Orion Prime’s surface.
The mission was uneventful, a ride through the red tide mist to the Orion-Beta mine site where the landing party deployed new communications boosters and completed routine software updates on the mining bots.
No one else from the team was reporting anomalies but several days later Terryl sat in sickbay awaiting his fourth assessment; his previous scans had come back normal, but he was certain something was eating away at his insides.
Later that evening and with another battery of negative tests under his belt Terryl tried his best to eschew contact with the crew and although he felt no hunger pangs the Captain insisted he join the others in the mess hall.
The evening had gone better than expected and Terryl had forgotten that feeling in his gut, laughing as each tale became more outrageous than the previous, when suddenly he stood up gasping and clutching at his gut, his skin crawling in the moments before millions of miniature red mist aliens spewed from his abdomen with the force of a volcanic eruption.
As the crew faded through the swarm a sense of dread filled him as he realised they’d be overwhelmed in a matter of minutes; in one last heroic gesture Terryl dragged himself to the nearest comms console and sent out a warning beacon for those who would come looking…
The Daily Spur’s Word of the Day Challenge.
Prompt Word: Stomach
Date: 2022-06-21 | Tags: #wordoftheday
Fandango’s One Word Challenge.
Prompt Word: Eschew.
Date: 2022-06-22 | Tags: #fowc
RagTag Daily Prompt.
Prompt Word: Hunger
Date: 2022-06-21 | Tags: #rdp
GirlieOnTheEdge’s Six Sentence Stories #217.
Date: 2022-06-19 | Word: Eruption | Tags: #sixsentensestories
Cyranny’s Word of the Day Challenge.
Prompt Word: Fade
Date: 2022-06-22 | Tags: #wotd
Photo Credits: Shutterstock
Copyright 2022 Greg Glazebrook, All Rights Reserved.
Greg's Blog 
Oh how dramatic and tragic. Well written Greg.
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Thanks Sadje
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You’re welcome
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Was Terryl’s character in the movie played by John Hurt? 😂
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Oh my God just watched the scene on Youtube, that is hilarious. I was too young (11) to see Alien when it came out in theatres. Me and a few buddies tried to sneak in once but got caught. I have watched some of the sequels but I never did go back and watch the original on Beta, VHS, LaserDisc, DVD, HD-DVD, Blueray, Netflix, or any other format I may have missed.
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We don’t know what is waiting for us …. out there. But there will always be those who will be willing/wanting to find out.
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If I wasn’t an overweight 50 something I’d sign up for the Mars mission!
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I am glad he was able to give a warning to others.
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Ooh… nasty, Greg. Hopefully the warning will be enough!
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Well done
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You know yourself best, always, if something feels wrong it probably is. Excellent story, i do hope the warning beacon is heeded.
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Goodness, a horror tale–great visuals!
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Oh my! No way of avoiding this alien invasion…it doesn’t look good for the rest of the Universe!
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