by C. O. Amal
“Yeah. I am hungry too. What about you guys?” Eric looked at Ruben and David.
“I could use some food.” Ruben said.
“I want food too. I can’t see clearly due to hunger.” David said.
Eric and team took off their masks and they went near one of the air hostess. That air hostess gave them a light meal from the small kitchen. One air hostess took some food from the counter and she walked towards the cockpit, probably to feed the pilots.
Before long they filled their belly. And they all used the toilet and they refreshed themselves. Then Eric and David slowly walked towards the cockpit. Once they reached near the cock pit, the pilots welcomed them.
“So, where in Russia?” Tom asked.
“Rostov.” Eric said.
Tom quickly typed in the name ‘Rostov’ into the screen and suddenly a detailed aerial map got displayed on the monitor near the pilots.
“Emma, take the map and come here.” Eric called Emma.
Emma quickly took the journal and map from the back pack and she came near Eric. Eric grabbed the map from Emma’s hands and he gave it to Tom.
“We are going to the place marked in red circle.” Eric said.
Tom quickly examined the map.
“At this speed, we will reach Rostov in the morning.” Tom said.
“Okay. And please warn us when we are going to land. I don’t want to be in the plane without gas mask when we are landing.” Eric said.
“Okay, we will warn you.” Tom said. Sammy nodded.
Eric, David and Emma quickly left the cockpit. Before long sun went down in the horizon and all the places plunged in darkness. They hope that they will reach in the morning when sun is in the sky; otherwise they are afraid that the runway lights will be out of order.
* * * * *
Chapter 20
Rostov, Russia
In the morning, the plane landed in the Rostov airport. The airport is dead silent and there are no creatures nearby. Eric and team exited the plane wearing gas masks. They took some canned food and mineral water in a back pack, though they are not planning to eat or drink anytime soon.
The eleven survivors slowly walked through the runway and a few minutes later they reached near the airport’s main building. They entered inside the building and they walked towards the front exit. There are no creatures nearby and it seems that all the nearby places are in dead silence. Before long they found the exit door. They passed the metal detector and moved forward. Suddenly the metal detector began to beep loudly. It must have detected Ruben’s gun. So, the power is not out of order here, yet.
Suddenly a sharp moan came from within the building. Then they saw two approaching creatures. Without further thought Ruben pulled the trigger.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Both creatures went down with a bullet hole in their head. Suddenly the whole place exploded in moans and screeches.
“Run.” Eric shouted.
The creatures are coming from various levels of the airport. Eric and team quickly exited the airport building and they entered into the road. Fortunately the sound of gunfire didn’t escape from the airport building. A moment later creatures began to pummel at the glass wall in the front entrance of the airport, from inside. They still haven’t figured out how to open the door. That’s actually a relief to the survivors.
Eric looked at the map and he led everyone in the north direction. The road is completely empty of vehicles and there are no creatures nearby. They pushed forward. Before long they exited the block having the airport and now the road is through a city. This must be the Rostov city. Then they started to see stray vehicles here and there. All vehicles’ doors are opened ajar and windows are broken. Before long they reached near the middle of the city, and here the road is completely blocked by vehicles. Here also all vehicles’ doors are opened ajar. And there is no building with intact glass windows.
Suddenly a screech came from nearby. Then they saw the creatures. The creatures must have detected Eric and his group’s footsteps. About ten of the creatures rushed at them from nearby buildings.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Ruben without further thought pulled the trigger.
“You, idiot. More of them come attracted by your fucking gun shots.” Eric yelled.
Suddenly the whole place exploded with screeches. Then sound of flapping of wings came from the sky. Then the horror struck them. A big pack of infected birds are in the sky and they rushed at Eric and team. Eric and team quickly ran inside a nearby building. They got inside the building and shut the door just in time when the birds reached near the roads. Eric peered outside through the peek hole in the door and the sight on the road horrified him.
Like locusts, the birds are everywhere and they are cutting down the infected humans. So, the birds don’t care whether it’s infected or not, as long as it’s flesh. David and Ruben also saw the horror on the road. Fortunately the birds didn’t bothered to check the building in which the survivors are in.
Eric and team quickly ran towards the stairs and before long they started climbing the stairs to higher levels. From the third level Eric peered outside through the broken window and saw the birds retreating into the distant sky. They actually cleaned the streets from infected humans. Here and there Eric saw white skeletons, which must have belonged to the creatures.
When the last of the birds retreated from the scene, Eric and team took a deep sigh of relief.
The journey to this secret government facility would be much more tedious than they could imagine, that’s certain.
* * * * *
Chapter 21
Rostov, Russia
A few minutes later they got outside the building, and they slowly continued their journey. On the way they saw the skeletons of the creatures. The birds actually cleaned everything. What sort of birds does this kind of thing? There is no doubt that these birds are infected.
They haven’t reached further, when a swoosh came from the sky. First thought that crossed the survivors mind is the infected birds. They quickly ran towards the nearest building they saw. Before long they reached the second level of the building and they peered outside.
Then they saw it. They couldn’t first believe what they are seeing. It’s a flying saucer. It hovered over a small building for some time. Then it landed on the road! Survivors carefully looked at the flying saucer. Then they saw two men exiting the flying saucer through a doorway on the lower part of the flying saucer. They are wearing gas masks. Survivors watched the scene with excitement and confusion. The men from the flying saucer entered inside the small building.
“They could help us. We could go there and ask help?” One of the air hostesses said.
“Remember what I told you guys? These men must be from plant Nibiru, and they are the one who created this sickness. For some reason they don’t like us. We should be careful around these guys.” Eric said.
“They hate, you Martians. According to Ruben, this sickness started here because of the Martian’s body NASA had found on planet Mars.” That air hostess said.
“You do what you like. You can either come with us to find our ship or you can ask help from these guys. Anyway we are going to same planet.” Eric said.
“I am going with them. They already have a ship.” The air hostess ran out of the building.
“Does anyone else have this crazy idea?” David looked at others.
They all didn’t said anything. Eric and team watched the running air hostess through the broken window.
“Help ...” The air hostess yelled when she approached the flying saucer. The men who got inside the building came outside and they stared at the air hostess. The men are carrying something in a bag. Then it happened. One of the men took a gun from his waist band and he trained the gun at the air hostess.
Pop!
The air hostess fell down never to rise again.
“What the?” One of the air hostesses said in shock.
The men got inside the flying sa
ucer, and a few minutes later, the flying saucer flew up. Then the flying saucer disappeared into the horizon. Suddenly two creatures came from behind a building and they started feeding on the fallen air hostess’ body. Eric and team waited a few more minutes and after the creatures walked away from the road, they exited the building and continued their journey.
“They killed her. Are you sure they won’t hurt us if we do get there?” An air hostess asked.
“That planet is our only hope. We will figure out something by the time we reach there.” Eric said.
They all nodded. Eric looked at the map. Before long they exited the city and entered into a road whose both sides are filled with trees. They followed the road for some time. A few minutes later a muddy road met the dark main road. Eric looked at the map again and he led everyone through the muddy road.
A few minutes later, far away, they saw the form of a huge building.
“We are there, guys.” Eric said.
* * * * *
Chapter 22
Rostov, Russia
They reached near the facility when sun moved to its highest position. Then they began to see stray creatures here and there. This facility is no exception to the Marselia disease. The facility is deep inside a rural region, yet the disease got here. Most creatures are in white lab coat which is filled with blood stain. Eric spotted the front door of the facility which is closed, probably locked from inside.
“What should we do?” Tom asked.
Ruben looked at Eric.
“Ruben, don’t you dare shoot this time.” Eric said. Ruben nodded. “We will throw stones at that small building. Probably the creatures near the front entrance will go near that small building. That will give us some time to get inside the facility.” Eric said pointing at a small building nearby the huge building.
Everyone nodded.
“Okay, take the stones then.” David picked up a stone from the muddy road. This road is made by sowing small stones. Most stones are loose.
Everyone took stones and they carefully threw the stones at the small building’s roof. The stones collided with the metal sheet of the roof and made a bang. As presumed, all the creatures began to go near the small building.
When last of the creatures moved away from the front door, the survivors silently ran towards the front door. They reached the door quickly. Eric tried the knob and the door quickly budged.
“Get inside.” Eric whispered.
Everyone quickly entered into a dark corridor. Eric closed the door and he dead bolted it from inside.
“Ahh ...” Suddenly an air hostess screamed. In the dark nothing is visible. Then they began to see the silhouette of creatures.
“Ruben.” Eric shouted.
Ruben quickly came to the front line and he pulled the trigger.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
In the slight light of the roaring gun, they saw the bloody faces of the creatures. The air hostess stopped screaming. She might be dead. Then a series of screeches and growls came from the other end of the corridor.
“More creatures inbound.” Ruben shouted.
Eric and team desperately looked at Ruben who continued to fire. Ruben is the only one in their group with a weapon. If creatures do break the door from outside, they have no other choice but to surrender.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Ruben changed the magazine several times. But, there is a limit to his supply of magazines and soon he will run out of magazine.
“Use the grenade, Ruben.” Eric said.
Suddenly creatures outside began to pummel at the wooden door. The door began to shake violently. Ruben quickly drew out a grenade and he pulled its pin. Then he rolled the grenade towards the approaching creatures in the corridor.
Boom!
Fire engulfed the other end of the corridor and the flow of infected stopped. Ruben quickly led everyone forward. There are rooms on both sides of the corridor, but they didn’t bother to check inside. Before long they reached the other end of the corridor and through the broken glass window they saw the ship.
The ship is huge and is in a dark silver colour.
“How big is it?” Ruben asked.
“It carried hundreds of people during its last journey.” Eric said.
Ruben quickly found a broken door which leads to the wide room where the ship is parked.
“The roof could be a problem.” Ruben said.
“Roof is made up of metal sheets. It will not stand in our way.” Tom said.
They quickly entered into the wide room and before long they found the front entrance of the ship. In the entrance they saw the name of the ship.
“Mars Enteropeda?” Ruben asked.
“Yeah. That is its name.” Eric said.
“Can you fly this thing?” Ruben asked Eric.
“It’s fully automated. Ship is controlled by an artificial intelligence and this AI can understand everything we say. And it’s powered by nuclear energy.” Eric said.
“Then, let’s get inside.” Sammy said.
“Yeah. Let’s get out of here.” Emma said.
They all nodded. They quickly marched towards the ship. Before long they entered inside the ship and Eric led everyone to the control room of the ship. It’s like he know everything about the ship even though he hasn’t seen this ship before. When they reached inside the control room in the second level, Eric pressed a red button near captain’s chair.
“WELCOME CAPTAIN ...” The ships AI said.
“Yeah.” David said with excitement.
“Guys, we need food for our journey.” Emma said.
That’s when everyone thought about food.
“I saw several vending machines outside, in the room where this ship is parked.” Sammy said.
“We have to search around here. There must be bottled water too.” David said.
Quickly everyone exited the ship and they all found vending machines nearby the ship. Sammy and Ruben concentrated in moving vending machine foods to the ship. They broke all the vending machines for that. Eric, David and the air hostess searched nearby and they found cartoons of mineral water nearby. This facility must be designed to support all the staffs and there must be food materials for up to a month in here.
A few hours later, Eric went near the window and peeked outside. There is only one window in this room and sun light is entering inside through only that window. When sun began to set in the horizon they finished moving all the food materials to the ship.
Then the nine survivors entered inside the ship and Eric closed the opened doorway from the control room. Before that Ruben and David searched throughout the ship and found it to be an infected free zone.
Then they all seated inside the passenger level. Eric and David are inside the control room. Eric looked at David from the captain’s chair.
“Let’s get out of here.” David said.
“Yeah. We have nothing to look back now.” Eric said.
In the bright white light, inside the passenger level, Ruben, Sammy, Tom, Emma and the three air hostesses closed their eyes and they began to pray.
* * * * *
Chapter 23
Rostov, Russia
Mars Enteropeda slowly rose from the floor. A few moments later its top met the roof and the roof slowly began to break apart. The ship slowly pushed outside, and on a monitor, in front of Eric, the front view of the ship is clearly displayed. Eric and David stared at the monitor. They could see the evening sky and the clouds in the monitor.
“Mira, do you know planet Nibiru?” Eric asked the AI.
“Yes. According to earthen records and my data log, it’s a planet in this solar system. Its position is ten. But, according to earthen records its position is nine.” Mira, the AI said.
“Mira, I want you to plot a course to planet Nibiru. When could we reach there?” Eric asked.
“We could reach there in approximately two days, depending on the planet’s current position in its orbit. The course has been plotted and transferrin
g the data to the control panel ... Data is now on the control panel.”
Suddenly the wide control panel on the wall came alive and it began to show a map to Nibiru. So, Eric’s ancestors did knew about planet Nibiru. They must have chosen planet Earth since people of Nibiru were the one who released the epidemic on Mars. But, the real question is why. Martians were peace lovers and they never threatened any planets, until of course the people of Nibiru released the epidemic on Mars.
Before long, Mars Enteropeda broke away from Earth’s gravitational field and it started to glide through the everlasting dark space. Survivors quickly removed their gas masks and they breathed a sigh of relief. They are safe, at last.
* * * * *
Chapter 24
Inter-dimensional Space
“Opening space tunnel in 4, 3, 2, 1 ... Space tunnel opened.”
A worm hole appeared in front of Mars Enteropeda. The space tunnel lies in the inter-dimensional space like a black well having numerous light sources on the wall.
A moment later, the ship entered inside the space tunnel. Through the space tunnel in which time and space co-exist, the ship travelled at lightning fast velocity. A few minutes later the ship ejected out of the space tunnel. Then the ship started to glide through the everlasting space. Here and there Eric saw numerous tiny stars.
A few minutes later Emma and Ruben came to the control room.
“When will we reach there?” Emma asked.
“Soon.” Eric said.
“Come on. Let’s eat something.” Emma said.
“Right, I am really hungry.” David said.
Eric nodded.
They slowly left the control room to the passenger room where they stock piled their food supply. Before long all the nine survivors filled their belly with food.
“Vending machine food is not so bad.” An air hostess said.
“Yeah. We need to find other food when we reach there.” Emma said.
“Yeah. If we do encounter any of them, don’t tell that me and David are descendants of the Martians, okay?” Eric said.