FFF - Investigate the noise in the woods

Cleaning up is non-essential. With a longing look at the calm waters in the golden light, you gather your things and hurry for the trees. Once you’re out of the open, you slow down and move cautiously. You’re traveling uphill and you keep your rifle at the ready. Every passing second reminds you how suspicious it is that this place isn’t spoken for. Those creatures aside, this forest and that lake would make an excellent basis for some kind of settlement.

But if that was possible, someone would have tried it by now. You wonder if that’s what Maggie is up to.

Ahead is a much steeper slope. More like a cliff. There are lots of rocks and roots; you might be able to climb it, but there’s not much light in here at this time of day. And you can’t take too long if you’re going to get back to your makeshift camp with Chastity and QT. You sling the rifle over your shoulder but stop and frown. You hold out your hand and dirt patters into your palm. You look up to see something crashing through the trees, leaving you barely enough time to leap out of the way. You land hard on the dirt, but not as hard as the object, which hits like a meteor. The impact leaves you dizzy and seeing stars.

You pick yourself up to see that the object is a huge, gray suit of armor, half-buried in the soft ground. It’s badly damaged. Metal groans and sparks fly as it tries to move, but one arm is clearly inoperable. The steel helm turns, looking up.

You look up as well, seeing a shape up there in the gloom. You can’t make much out, but you hear a frightening growl and freeze, not wanting to draw attention to yourself.

The armored suit lifts the massive weapon in its right hand, but you can see that the gun has malfunctioned: a bent casing is sticking out of the ejector. With only one working hand, this person can’t clear the jam.

There’s another growl, this time closer. That thing up there is climbing down. And this gun? This must be what you heard a minute ago. You see big claw marks on the metal of the armor. What could have done this to something like this? The armor is eight feet tall. It has to weigh as much as a house.

You impulsively leap forward to throw your weight into yanking the big gun’s charging handle. The bent casing spins out and the armored person lifts the gun and fires several deafening shots into the trees. You hear a growl of frustration and the sounds of retreat. That makes you a breathe a sigh of relief, although that doesn’t last.

The… monster up there might have been scared off, but your ears are still ringing from the noise. That’s going to bring trouble this way. You don’t know how much time you have. You move closer to the armor and raise your rifle, squinting up the hillside, but you can’t see anything. You turn and take in the forest, unable to stop yourself from picturing a hoard of those creatures sprinting toward this spot. The last of the daylight is fading.

The hum and grinding noises from the armor draw your attention. Something’s wrong. The armor can’t move. Whoever’s wearing it is in trouble.

Hide?

Or try to help the pilot out of the suit?