“Are they dead?” Aira asked.
“They are, but why would anyone murder Eek at a time like this?” “There are worst things then space monsters.”
“Your beginning to sound very anti-human,” I replied watching as she
shrugged. I was trying to lighten the mood of a very bad situation. Aira moved closer to me and peered at the dead Eek over my shoulder. “Gross,” she said shaking her head and spitting in disgust. The Eek weren’t just shot and killed. They were executed. We spent another fifteen minutes sitting on top of the building hoping that whoever had killed the Eek would be far enough away by now that we wouldn’t have anything to worry about. When we reached the ground we swapped our Eekan rifles for the M44 rifles they were carrying. We took them right off their dead bodies prying their grip free as rigor mortis set in. The feel of the carbon fiber gun was lighter and easier to handle then the sweating black organic guns we had been given. It was almost a relief to have a weapon we felt more familiar with and even though we were kids we had the basic understanding of what any weapon could do. Safety was taught to every child at every grade, every year. Only our safety and the safety of Hayden was a priority now. If deserters were killing Eeks they would easily kill human children too. I imagined whoever did this would probably get some sick satisfaction being so different from us. If they hunted us down they would probably skin us and put our flesh on display. Once this was all over humans would probably get the blame.
We continued to make our way through the alleys. We could see the drop ship factory. Actually, It was more a repair shop. It was a gigantic square building with spikes extending from the sides of the roof which acted as a landing bay that could open up and let smaller ships come and go. Errikus had all the drop ships it would ever need. They were only used to transport the upper class, scientists, explorers, and others who meant more to society then the lower and middle class. I doubted if any of that upper class made it out of ground zero alive. They wanted to be the first to see the Tritan appear. Their stature had become their undoing.
“Poor bastards,” I said. My words felt like they were more of a sporadic thought. I didn't really care. I was just trying to talk. I just wanted conversation. Aira didn’t respond. I doubt she felt the same way I did. She had compassion for all living things, even those that looked down on us. There was no real class system where we were going to be going so none of it mattered anyway. The only class system we had on the Erebus was that of the elders who were in charge; aside from that there were the users and anyone else that had a specific role to play stayed awake while the rest laid in stasis. It was a dirty system to most but for thousands of years it worked well. I guess some would say we were socialists but we were just doing what we had to so that we could survive. It was that system that kept humanity alive. I wanted to share my thoughts with Aira. My mind was latching onto everything. From the cast system of Errikus to Erebus to the things I had read about the Earth that once was. I was blocking out the chaos that surrounded us.
“How are we going to find Hayden in all this?”
“We’ll just have to search until he finds us.” she said finishing with “or until the leviathan finds all of us.” Aria looked at me and took a deep breath. We had a long road ahead of us.
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Several hours had past. We were outside the factory now. It stood in front of us like a massive stone monument. I felt like any second now it would stand up and step on us just as the leviathan had done to so many others. I imagined the entire city coming to life and swallowing us whole. This wasn't a place we would normally visit. In fact I think both Aira and I had only been to this side of Errikus once before and that was with several adults. Adults who had been trained to defend themselves. Trained to survive. What the hell were we doing? We were just kids. Everything we had seen had been in holos, videos, and simulations. The only world outside Errikus we knew was virtual and fake. The doors were shut but there was a sound coming from inside. “Could there be people inside?”
“If there are I don’t want to find out... let’s stay out here.” I said. This was my big plan wasn’t it, to “stay out here.” I felt so stupid. Without the monitor guiding us we really were on our own. We knew Hayden had some tracking skills passed to him by his parents. Maybe they were with him searching for us too. I had no way of knowing. For the first time in my life I felt lost. I felt isolated and couldn’t think of any way out. I began to think of Dom. Maybe he was lucky that he died. He didn’t have to live through any of this.
Aira and I were eventually going to be hunted by dogs by our own forsaken kind well before we would find Hayden. He would probably find our bodies mauled and torn to ribbon’s when it was just too late. The Aelita would come and they would find Errikus burned with nothing left but the hellbeasts and charred remains of the city. My stomach turned. I was hungry again. This time I didn’t think I could stomach the ration snack.
“There is a shop down the corner, we could go get some food,” Aira said reading my mind, “If Hayden will find us anywhere it will be there. It’s a Drok shop.” “Year lets just walk in place an order and be on our way,” I said sarcastically, Aira replied, “Seriosuly, they will have food even if its not cooked we can eat it raw.”
A few minutes passed as we made our way several blocks down towards the shop. When we opened the door it was pitch black inside. As we walked inside small motion sensors flashed and an automated lighting system turned on. A little further up we saw what looked like a small food pantry space. Besides that, a bar. We walked to the pantry, checking the expiration dates for any salvageable food. Almost all of it was still good even the smoked meat still sitting inside a cold locker.
“I bet Hayden will smell his way here,” I laughed. I had finally given into fatigue and hunger. I let the world around me float on by and I ate like I was the king of mankind. I had my eyes closed and I was savoring the smoked meat when we heard the door slam shut. I still had meat in my mouth when I grabbed Aira and my M44 and moved us behind the bar. It wasn’t a runner or a deserter, an Eek, a Pok, or even a Skrav. It was a Drok and we knew him. It was one of Hayden’s kin. I vaguely recognized him. His lower jaw was broken and slit open in several places. He was shirtless and covered in tattoos. His skin was glowing red. His tattoos were his symbols of pride and maturity. A part of me was ready to jump up and say “Surprise! Thank you for rescuing us!” but there was something wrong. He was walking hunched over. He had something strange on his back. I moved myself around the bar to try and get a better look at him. When I did I must have made just enough noise to get its attention. I heard a clicking sound. It was like the sound a tick would make, click, click, click. It was getting more and more high pitch. The clicking soon became so intense that I gave up trying to hide.
“DROK,” I yelled pointing my ri fle at him. I was going to yell STOP but it lounged itself at me over the bar. Aira pulled the trigger on her rifle and saved my life. “This is the second time I’ve saved you from yourself,” she said. She didn’t even drop a hint that she felt sick but after we walked out of the restaurant her eyes filled with tears and she threw up every ration and every chunk of meat we had just feasted on. I rubbed her back hoping to calm her down. I knew there was nothing I could say - but I tried anyway.
“You ok,” I was continuing to rub her back.
“Yeah,” She answered. It was some time before her stomach settled. She coughed out the last bit of vomit and rubbing the remained bits of vomit from her mouth with her sleeve. “Just never easy,” she said. “Killing someone.” I asked. “Everything,” She answered without delay and I understood just what she meant. The kingdom had fallen. This wasn’t a colony anymore.
A parasite that looked much like a giant tick crawled outside the shop and followed us. It was at least a foot long. Aira was throwing chunks again. I recognized it immediately. It was just like what I had caught a glimmer of on the Drok's back. It was a parasite. I blasted it with my rifle before it was c
lose enough to us to attack. Was that the reason he attacked us. Where the hell did this thing come from? This parasite wasn't natural to the environment on Errikus. I picked up what was left of the parasite. My insides squirmed. Its legs still kicked and reacted like it was alive but it had no face and the rest of its body was bleeding on the ground. Aira had finally stopped long enough to catch her breath but then she saw what I was holding and she was back in the corner again. “It must have come from the creature,” she said. That made sense. They lived with or on the leviathan. Like fleas on a dog. Maybe it was even a larva of some kind. Ideas ran through my head. I set it on the ground and poked it with a stick. Its insides were a mix of black and blue. I wondered if it was sucking blood from the Drok. Whatever it was doing, it had turned its host into a zombie.
“I wonder if that Drok was the one that killed the Eeks we saw?” I said. “It would take more than one to put down a squad like that,” Aira was now sitting back against a wall, drinking one of the waters she grabbed from the store. “That means there must be more...” And that made me even more afraid.
Size doesn't matter. What mattered were the screams we heard. Blasting this Drok had drawn a crowd. There must have been dozens. A mix of Drok, Eek, and human swarming around each other heading down the street towards us. Each one under the control of that parasite. Each one a zombie. I grabbed Aira’s hand and ran. “It’s my turn to rescue you now,” I said. Both the Drok’s and Eek could run two to three times faster than a human. We would never make it. We would never get out of here alive. We had to think of something fast. I still had my M44 though Aira had ditched hers. I switched the safety on mine off. The M44 used kinetic energy and radiation to create a stream of energy that would fry your enemy. The fail safe mechanism that would shut down the weapon if you held the trigger too long. The fail safe off switch meant the M44 would become a bomb! I pointed my rifle towards the sea of bodies swarming towards us and pulled down the trigger, sticking it into position. It was like a flamethrower. Bodies began melting in front of me while others that evaded the bombs blast too pushed their way through the mass of blood and vile. I jammed the trigger. I could barely see anymore. My own pain had caused me to sweat. I was having trouble catching my breath. Then I let the trigger go and everything went black. Just a few moments after I lost consciousness.
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When I finally woke up I could see the sun setting through a broken window. Aira greeted me with a smile and even some tea she had scavenged. “Go big or not at all,” She said at last as I slowly looked around. I knew what I had done. I had killed all those people – even if they were infected by that leech, who the hell am I to play God with their lives. We were all just walking corpses waiting to die.
“After you blacked out. They didn’t stop coming. The ones that were alive trampled over the dead. They didn’t care that they were crushing skulls
- they didn’t care whether their own bones were rotting away from radiation. Their own flesh was burning. We were trapped and I couldn’t move you,” she paused and took a drink.
“You saved my life. We’re almost even now,” she said.
Aira looked like she was glowing.
“Why are you smiling so much?” I asked.
“We’re all alive,” she said smiling larger then before.
Trinity “God, you are fucking lucky, I couldn’t even lift you and they were almost on top of us when..” She stopped and smiled brighter, as if our current crisis had come to an abrupt end. “Hayden came out of nowhere. He had two of his families swords and he cut through the horde like they were nothing. Like us he was making his way towards the factory hoping to grab a drop ship and fly to the outskirts of the city. He was a mess to show for it but he saved both of us.” “Hayden! He’s alive! Where is he?” I exclaimed.“Hayden found us after all. I guess we stirred up a big enough mess to get his attention,” I began to laugh in disbelief (with my rib still broken it hurt to laugh, I felt like my lungs were full of sewage). Aira gave me a drink and told me to swallow. “You have minor radiation poisoning, it’s from turning the failsafe off. You risked everything to save us, a few more minutes and you would have been toast,” she smiled again and this time leaned in and kissed me on the lips. I felt my pain subside as I took in our moment of victory.
“Where is Hayden now?” I asked. “Fixing a drop ship. You’re sure you can still fly one right?” she said. “Yeah,” I smiled and passed out back to bed thinking ‘today is the day we find out whether or not the Aelita arrives’.
The sun seemed to shine through the broken window brighter than usual. Maybe I just wasn’t use to the morning on this side of town. Hayden had come back during the middle of the night. He had primed a drop ship and had everything ready for us to leave. I owed him my life. I still couldn’t believe it, the three of us united at last. Hayden was wearing Drok battle armor above his normal clothes given to him by his parents. The armor was made up of grey metal shoulder blades that extended upward, away from his face. He had a matching chest plate and wrist braces. It seemed very primitive but at the same time was very intimidating to look at. The Drok must have been fierce warriors on their home world. If I remember right they were like humans , always at war with each other and nature. Many Drok came from different tribes. The Drok almost went to war with us but we had hundreds of years of technology on them. They thought we were Gods. Now, hundreds of years fighting beside each other we are equals.
It wasn’t long after meeting the Drok the Skrav followed. We took as many of them with us as we could and like our people who watched our own world burn, they too watched the Skrav destroy their world. It must have been a nightmare. What did we do that was so wrong that the Skrav feel the need to destroy an entire civilization? Why would they sacrifice so many of their own to try and defeat us? We already lost. At the most we were a species now numbering in the thousands, running for our lives. How the hell did they still consider us a threat? Hayden’s blades were made from black stone, carved from an element similar to a diamond but something only found on their original home world. His blades would sell for millions on the black market. They were lethal enough to be considered ‘weapons of war’ and were only to be used at such time. Hayden’s parents had trained his daily in handto-hand combat and with kendo sticks but this was the first time Hayden had ever touched a real blade. Discipline and honor, those were the two most important attributes for a Drok to have. In many ways their culture was similar to that of the samurai.
“Where are your parents? Shouldn’t we be meeting up with them?” I asked. Aira walked out of the room. I had never seen such a look on Hayden’s face. I knew then as Hayden began to speak that I had said something horribly wrong.
“The three of us went searching for survivors. We weren’t just searching for the two of you, though you were the highest priority on my list. We were searching for anyone we could find. We opened an underground shelter. The monster was so far away that it seemed like a good idea - we couldn’t imagine those people starving or suffocating. We knew our actions would be justified. We just didn’t know that when we opened it everyone inside would already be dead. Those that were still walking around had been infected by those tick things and they were mutating. Eek and humans had sprouted limbs that looked like wings and smaller limbs that covered their faces and bodies. The ticks were deep inside their bodies, tapped into their spines and chests. We killed them. We killed them all adn when it was over.. When the final body fell my mother and father were gone.” Hayden paused. He was too strong to cry. Hayden knew I was here but he didn’t need nor want any of my sympathy, that was a part of the Drok way. His parents had died honorably.
Hayden had searched for hours in the underground shelter crawling through piles of the dead trying to find his parents but they were nowhere. The worst kinds of thoughts crossed his mind. What if they had mutated? What if they were buried under rubble? What if he himself had killed them during the battle? Hayden ran. He ran away from the
shelter as fast as he could and towards the side of the city that he knew we would be or at least where he thought we would be. Had he arrived a moment too late he would have been mourning both his parents and two best friends.
Aira described to me how Hayden dropped down from the side of a building just like a superhero swinging his swords and protecting the two of us. “We’re all orphans now,” I said. Hayden and Aira shook their heads. Even though Aira knew she still had a father he was an elder and she knew little to nothing about him aside from the fact that his duties onboard the ship would prevent him from raising her as his own.
The drop ship Hayden found was in relatively good shape. It was exactly like the ones I had flown in the simulator. We were a perfect match. It was meant to carry six to eight passengers which meant it would be easy for the three of us to crawl inside the cockpit together. The ship itself resembled a grey phoenix. It had two great wings, a nose, and a tail that was as long as the ship was wide. It used anti-gravity technology to lift itself into the air. I was almost sad we couldn’t just take the ship and leave the planet – only the more exotic drop ships could handle atmospheric flight and even if we could I was nowhere near ready for that kind of flying.
We took off with no problems, it was just like the simulations had been aside from an oil like smell. When we hit the sky and clouds we could see the leviathan in the distance. It had begun to change form. Its arms and tentacles had stretched out to massive wings; four, maybe five in all and its body had grown more and more slender. It was as if it was taking the form of an asymmetrical human angel. Its tumors were gone. I wondered if they carried the ticks. My brain was trying to come up with theories. I began wondering if it was adapting to the world or maybe it was taking the persona of the people it had killed. It was using it's own mass to reconstruct itself. It was adapting.
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