by A.L. Svartz
"Come on Kaj!" Phos yelled out. "You're falling behind." He tried talking over the howling of the wind. Phos stopped and waited for Kaj to make his way up the short, sandy hill. In his hand, Phos held a pair of binoculars. He looked through them. "Well, well. There it is."
"What ... is ... it," Kaj said, trying to catch his breath. Phos handed the binoculars over to Kaj. As he looked through them, he could make out a city in the distance. He became excited. That was United City Kaj was looking at. He could see the shield that protected the city. Also, he could see a ship prepping for launch. "The ship!"
Phos quickly snatched back the binoculars to get a look at it for himself. "Dammit! We've got to hurry!" Phos put the binoculars back in his sac before running down the hill with Kaj.
The two darted across the sand, every step taking them closer to United City. Even with the mechanical legs that Phos had, he ran far better than a man his age should have.
"Come on Kaj!" Phos yelled again. Kaj was still trying to catch his breath and wasn't running at his full speed.
As Kaj was finally catching up to Phos, something stopped them both from going any further. Phos dropped to the ground, hiding behind a large rock that was in front of them.
"Get down," Phos instructed Kaj. He also dropped to the ground.
"What is it?" Kaj asked, peering around the rock. He spotted two rows of identical looking huts with a long path in between. The small village was right in front of the translucent blue shield that protected United City. Kaj could see what looked like Daj roaming around the village. They appeared somewhat different to Kaj though. Not as clean and healthy as the Daj that lived in his village, but more buffed out and filthy.
"They're called Outsiders," Phos said. "Once normal citizens of United City, now turned to bandits. Most of them were banished from United City, depending on the severity of their crime. I read a little bit about them while I was stranded in that cave. There's no way to get into United City except to go right through the village."
"Will they harm us?" Kaj asked. After what he just went through, Kaj didn't know if he could take much more of this.
"Not if we don't provoke them," Phos said. "As long as we just keep quiet, and proceed to go forward, we should be alright. But if we're going to do this, we need to hurry. That ship could leave anytime now. Just follow my lead, and stay close to me."
Phos and Kaj rose up from the sand and began to walk down to the village. Kaj, extremely nervous, was walking very to close to Phos. He had fought the usual bullies in his village, but nothing to the extent of these bandits. They would kill Kaj the second they got the chance to.
"If anything goes wrong, I brought my rifle along," Phos said to Kaj. "I'm not afraid of anything now … after what we both just went through. The only ones that should be afraid are them."
They continued to head towards the village. For some reason, Kaj knew that something bad was going to happen. He had a strange feeling in his stomach.
As they entered the village, dirty looks were being shot at them. Kaj slightly turned his head to look at a nasty Daj, leaning against one of the huts, sharpening his sword. He snarled at Kaj, which made him jump.
"Just keep your eyes forward," Phos instructed him. Kaj quickly snapped forward. They noticed that someone who seemed to be important in the village was approaching them. Both of them stopped. "Let me do the talking," Phos whispered to Kaj.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" a chubby Daj in front of them said. He stood a little bit taller than Kaj, but not as tall at Phos and held two daggers in his hand. The red facial hair he had covered most of his face, with his beard nearly touching the ground. His muscular arms were exposed and covered with tattoos of strange symbols. "Looks like we have a couple of guests." He walked in circles around the two. "Right boys!" The crowd of mischief Daj laughed and yelled.
Two more goons walked up next to the chubby Daj as he stopped in front of the two again. "Well gentlemen, my name is Toris," the chubby Daj announced. "And I proclaim myself the leader of this village."
"Thank you for having us in your village, Toris," Phos said, without moving a muscle. He stood completely still. "If you may, we only wish to pass through and enter the city. We mean no harm to anyone here."
Toris glanced back at the city. "Ahh, I see," Toris said. "You two are making your way off this rusted out planet. Well, let me tell you something, if we're forced to be destroyed along with this planet, I think it's only fair if you stay." Toris stuck out one of his daggers, pointing it at Phos' throat. "You two aren't going anywhere."
"We don't want any trouble," Phos told him. "Just let us pass." He began to grow irritated. Phos knew that he didn't have time to waste. The ship could leave any minute and he wasn't going to let some chubby Daj stop him and Kaj from escaping.
Kaj looked around. It seemed as though every Daj in the village had gathered. He noticed that a few Daj were riding some sort of giant lizard creature. They were covered in armor and it kept on snarling, sticking out its long tongue every time it did.
Phos then slightly tapped Kaj's foot with his own. Kaj looked up at him. He was signaling Kaj to open up his sac. Phos continued to distract Toris as Kaj unzipped the sac. He knew that Phos wanted his rifle.
"This is your last chance," Phos proclaimed. "Let us pass!" Phos didn't want to harm anyone. He simply just wanted to pass through, letting the corrupt Daj go on with their lives.
"Apparently, just like your legs, your ears are rusted out too," Toris snapped.
That was the breaking point for Phos. He lifted his arm around him, reaching into his sac. In the second that he did, he brought around his assault rifle, firing off three bullets at Toris. The three bullets hit him in his shoulder and he fell to the ground without another word. Phos then pointed the rifle at the other two goons, firing a few bullets at each of them. They too fell to the ground.
"Come on Kaj!" Phos yelled as he dashed towards the city with Kaj following close behind. Kaj nearly tripping as he tried to catch up with Phos.
The entire village rallied and chased after the two. Kaj saw the lizard creatures that the Daj were riding, gaining on them. They ran in a zig-zag formation.
"Phos, behind us!" Kaj yelled. Kaj was worried that the lizard creature would take him down with its tongue, letting Phos run off without him.
Phos turned and saw the lizard creatures following close behind. He carefully aimed at one of the lizard creatures, firing a couple of bullets at its front right leg. The creature fell over, knocking off the Daj that was riding it before rolling over him.
Kaj was impressed that Phos still had a good set of skills, even for being the age that he is.
Phos aimed his rifle back at the crowd of Daj chasing them. He fired a few more bullets until his ammo ran out. Dropping the rifle, he reached into his sac. "Here!" Phos yelled, handing over a small ball that Kaj grabbed. "Throw it at them!"
Kaj looked back and lobbed the ball into the crowd of angry Daj. When it made contact with the sandy floor, it exploded, forming a cloud of smoke around the Daj.
The two finally made it to the front of the shield. Behind it was a Galactic Soldier standing at his post. He held his rifle down.
"Stop!" he instructed. "I cannot let you in unless you have the necessary passes." Phos pulled out his badge and showed it to the soldier. He studied it for a second before pressing a button, creating a small opening that would let the two pass through. As he pushed the button again to seal the off the opening, the angry crowd of Daj appeared out of the smoke. They screamed and yelled as they continued to charge up to shield. When the shield closed up, their screams were silenced. "You two better hurry if you wish to catch the ship. I was just about to head over there." The three made their way towards the ship. Thei
r freedom was just steps away.