Crawler Scouts Down

Jace whooped as the creature dropped. “Oh, yeah!”
Markus scowled. “Not cool, man. Captain said we’re strictly observe-only.”
“He’s not here, is he?” Jace scanned the treeline, spotted another of the strange rabbit-bird hybrids and pulled the trigger. The turret-mounted stingergun coughed and the creature dropped next to its mate. “These things are everywhere and I’m bored.” The stingergun coughed twice more.
“I dunno. You see those hooked beaks? I bet they jump, too.”
“Damn right they jump. Right into the stingers.” Cough.
Cough coughcough.

* * *

They found the crawler days later, roof gashed and peeled back. There were no bodies.

As a rule, I try to make my stories stand alone, so that you don’t need the picture prompt for the story to work. This story may be the exception. I think the picture given to us in this week’s challenge gives the last line its full potency, don’t you?

I’m not very happy with the title of this story either. There is a reference here I’d like to keep but…meh. You know? Meh. If you have a better idea in keeping with the reference, drop it in the comments. I’d love to know what you think.

In other news, the e-mail stories have not gone away forever. March was not a kind month, but it was a month full of…distractions. I have a story in the works and it will be to the inboxes of subscribers soon. So, subscribe, please!