by Jay Riverton
He reached the door and turned back to them.
“What are you up to, Benjamin?” Lycanere said. He took another step forward, trying to hold his shoulder.
Benjamin stalled for a second before saying, “Are you guys sure you want to do this? I heard those gunshots, too. Everyone probably did. You’re going to be found and killed pretty soon.”
“You’re not killing us,” Kakine said.
“I should be, but that’s not why I’m here.” He turned to the keypad. The two got closer to him, moving slowly, Kakine still aiming the gun at him.
“Sixteen, thirty, twenty-three, twenty-eight,” he said as he pushed in each pair of numbers.
“GUNS,” Lycanere formulated. He understood it immediately. Mike had hinted to it. Twice. He’d been trying to help them, and wanted this to happen.
Benjamin threw open the door and flicked on a lamp inside. There was a huge arsenal of them. A closet of guns and grenades and knives and all types of weapons that Lycanere could dream of lied inside.
“They’re not very creative, but I wouldn’t have thought of it before seeing Mike put the code in.”
Lycanere looked inside the room.
“In case of an emergency, they could kill everyone on this planet. In case of an emergency, they could protect this planet,” Benjamin said.
“From who?” Lycanere said.
He faced them again, his face stoic and strong. “Me.”
“You?” Lycanere heard people running outside. He noticed the others had heard it too.
Benjamin turned to them and began to speak quickly. “No one volunteers for this shit unless they are the most self-deprecating, patriotic piece of shit out there. I may be short, but I am not that. I am a human being, and my worth is more than just being some thrown away soul that no one wants. More than just being some type of civilizer for a planet that normal people will take over in due time. If you see it as I do, you’ll know there’s no hope for us. The normal people will continue to spread and breed for as long as they can. Our kind will be ousted and destroyed, sent further and further into the universe until we reach the edge of something we believed was infinite. I will not be one of those people who is involuntarily thrown into a universe-wide eugenics movement. I will not be someone who is just thrown to the wind because of my deformities and differences.”
Lycanere could hear people running up to the Center. They were close. Benjamin motioned for them to enter the gunroom. They entered under his discretion.
“In truth, yes, I’m up to something. I was hired to come here by people like us to find out the secrets of this place and destroy it from the inside out. So, I had to play the part. I had to volunteer and act as loyal to the Scouts as I could. You guys only aided in helping me.” He then slammed the door closed.
Lycanere saw the gunroom’s lamp’s light peeking out underneath the door. He flicked it off. He could feel Kakine’s eyes on him though he could not see them.
The Center doors opened.
“Benjamin!” they heard Mike yell.
“Scout Master Mike!”
“We heard gunshots. The two Scouts out there are both down. One’s stunned and the other’s unconscious with a bloody nose.”
“I was wondering what was taking them so long.”
“You didn’t hear anything?”
“Of course, I did, but after no one came in here I figured everything was okay.”
“We should hide,” Kakine whispered.
“No. We might knock something over if we move,” Lycanere said.
“So, no one came in here?” Scout Master Mike asked.
“Nope,” Benjamin said.
“And you just sat here doing nothing?”
“I was just walking around. Pacing. Trying to think about what I’m going to do to those four traitors when we find them.”
There was silence. Lycanere heard Kakine move.
“Stop moving.”
“If we find a grenade, we can kill them all right now,” she said. He heard her begin to feel around on the ground.
“Scouts, go search for them outside,” Mike said.
“Yessir!” they shouted. Lycanere heard the Center doors open and the Scouts rush out. Kakine began to move faster and then…
The code was quickly entered, and the door opened. Scout Master Mike looked down at them, his face blank. Lycanere saw Kakine on the floor, her hand right next to a grenade.
“They’re gone,” Mike said. “Come on out.”
Benjamin stared at Mike in shock. “What’s going on here?”
“I told you if I found you I was gonna have to act against you to the fullest extent I possibly could,” Mike said.
Kakine didn’t hesitate. She stood back up and aimed her gun at Mike. Lycanere shook his head and pushed the gun down.
“He would’ve left them in here if he wanted to kill us.” He turned to Mike. “Why aren’t you holding up to your promise?”
Mike smiled. “I will be. Just wanted to give you a fair chance.”
“How’d you know they were in there?” Benjamin said.
Mike turned on him, a new light in his eyes. “I may seem stupid, but I’m not. No one volunteers to come here, Ben. No one wants to do this. You were just too enthusiastic. So, I knew I could trust you to hide them for me.”
He motioned for Kakine and Lycanere to come out of the room.
“What if the Scouts come back?” Kakine said.
“Then I’ll pretend to have found you and hopefully you can escape again.” Once they were out of the room, Mike stepped in and pulled out a few handguns and a couple grenades.
“Bring these back to Mister Copher and Miss Lowe. Please, only use the grenades if you have to, and keep the guns on stun,” he demanded, giving them the guns and grenades. Lycanere took two guns and a grenade and Kakine took the remainder, both attaching a gun and grenade by carabiners to their beltloops.
“Why are you helping them?” Benjamin said.
“Because what we do here is immoral, but maybe we can start changing things on this planet now that the Tank is gone,” Mike said. “I don’t like making kids participate in this organization, but I’d love to have volunteers. Actual volunteers who want to be here not because they’re unwelcome in society, but because they want to start a new one. A true Discover Scout should be discovering who they are and what it means to be part of a larger society, not discovering how much their own people hate them and how useless they are.”
Mike sat down at a bench and looked at the three. “Don’t get me wrong, some of us deserve to be in these positions of sadness. We’ve gotten rapists and murderers and… pedophiles. I don’t think they should be here furthering our civilization either, but they should be elsewhere. Even farther away from society. People like you three don’t deserve this. You’re at the times you should be accepting who you are, not being weighed down by it.”
His eyes fell to the ground. “Next time I see you, my Scouts will be with me. Get out of here before then, if you can. All three of you. Get everyone you can to help. The Reformed Scouts will come swinging at full force, and I must act like I’m on their side or I will lose my life. This is the time to start the change.” He stood up and gazed at Lycanere’s shoulder, bloody and throbbing. He cringed.
“I want all of you to get out of here without another shred of blood being dropped. Make it fast, make it quick, make it silent. If anything, just make it.” He turned around and began to walk out. When he reached the doors, he stopped. “Please, come back for me if you can.”
He left. The three looked at each other before moving.
Benjamin grabbed his gun. “Let’s move.”
They exited the Center and the night sky above was beautiful, though Lycanere knew the beauty was just hiding the ugliness of Scouts’ Honor. He also knew he was going to have to use the gun in his hands soon, though he didn’t want to.
Kakine led them with her assault rifle up, running into the trees by the path. Once inside
the forest, they moved swiftly like deer through the woods. Kakine led them back to where Pirelavs and Martia had been, but the two were not there.
They stopped and examined the area for them. Within seconds, they heard many others in the trees with them and knew that the Scouts were nearby.
“Guys!” they heard a loud whisper. They turned and saw Pirelavs hiding behind a tree close by. They ran to him and hid behind their own trees. Martia was still passed out in front of him.
Pirelavs glared at Benjamin the second he saw him. “What’s he doing here?”
“Helping us,” Lycanere said.
They froze as more Scouts ran behind them. Pirelavs waited a few seconds before speaking again.
“They were coming towards us, so I moved. I didn’t want to go far. I didn’t want to lose you guys.”
Lycanere smiled. He withdrew his extra gun from his belt and gave it to Pirelavs.
“Stun them if you see them,” Lycanere told his friend.
“We might as well take them out of their misery,” Benjamin said.
“You could say that about us, too,” Pirelavs retorted. Lycanere was happy the burned man was on his side.
Pirelavs turned to Lycanere. “You got all of this from the Center?”
“Mike,” he clarified.
“What? Why?”
More Scouts ran by. They would be on them soon.
“He’s on our side. Come on. Let’s get the others and get to the ship.”
Pirelavs slung Martia over his shoulder and they began to move through the forest away from the path in the same direction as the path from the Reformation Center to the cabins.
“Do we even know if going this way will lead to the cabins?” Pirelavs said.
“Where else would it lead to?” Benjamin said. He turned to Kakine. “You have your joystick, right?” All eyes were on him, the creeper who knew too much about their plan even though he was the only one they hadn’t wanted in on it.
“Of course,” she said.
“Give it to me. I have a plan.”
“Now’s not the time,” Lycanere told him.
“Just trust me. I’ll save us all if you just give it to me.”
“Why should we trust you?” Pirelavs said.
“I’m the only one with resources on the outside, and I can get us help. Give it to me now, or I’ll find some way to just take it from you.”
Everyone looked to Lycanere. He felt like their leader, the person who held all of their lives in his hands. They had to go now, and he felt he had to trust Benjamin. He nodded to Kakine and she handed Benjamin the joystick.
“Thanks. I’ll be right back. I promise.” Benjamin ran off. He was fast. Pirelavs went to run after him, but Lycanere grabbed his shoulder. He didn’t know how to feel about this, but he knew he had what he had to say.
“We need to trust him.”
They started to move farther down through the forest, hoping they’d come out on the backside of the cabins.
“What happened to your shoulder?” Pirelavs asked.
“Got shot being risky. I’m lucky to be alive.” They ran on, Lycanere holding his throbbing shoulder with his burned fingers.
Lycanere glanced behind him and tried to see if they were being followed as they rushed on. They’d be found soon enough. There were many more Scouts than them, and they weren’t exactly being silent.
They saw the edge of the forest coming up quickly and the backs of the cabins were in their sight.
A red laser flew by Lycanere’s head and scorched into a tree in front of him.
“I thought they were supposed to stun us!” Kakine yelled.
“Stun or kill, we need to get to cover,” Lycanere said.
More lasers followed. Lycanere looked to his friends as they ducked and ran around the trees.
He turned and saw a few Scouts in the distance. He aimed and shot. A small yellow laser flew from his gun at a Scout. Headshot. Down. He was great at this.
More Scouts emerged amongst their brethren and shot at the four. A laser flew past Lycanere and knocked a Scout out. He turned and saw Kakine, firing away with no remorse. He looked back to the Scouts who were being shot down one after another by her. Lycanere was beginning to consider she truly could beat Conqueror’s War if she ever played.
“Run!” she yelled at him as she took off. He took another shot, knocked a Scout down, and ran after Pirelavs who had reached the back of the cabins.
More red lasers flew by, just missing them. Lycanere’s heart raced. One good shot and that was it.
“COME ON!” Pirelavs yelled from beside a cabin.
They made their final strides and reached Pirelavs. They hid in front of the cabin and listened to the Scouts all approach from all directions. The ship was only a few yards from them, the loading dock already down though Lycanere was sure it had been up before.
Lycanere moved quickly and kicked open the cabin door. He led them inside, shutting it behind them. It was their cabin, and the only person in it was Genevieve.
“I thought you guys were dead,” she said.
“We escaped,” Pirelavs said, “but the Scouts are coming for us.”
Lycanere looked out of the window ahead at the ship in front of the campsite. They could make it if they ran.
Pirelavs spoke his thoughts. “Let’s run for it.”
“What about the others?” Kakine said.
“We can’t save them,” Pirelavs said.
Lycanere watched the Scouts enter the campsite and approach them. He got an idea, and he knew he was going to hate himself for it. But he had to. “Get cover.” He opened the window.
“What are you doing?” Kakine said. Lycanere pulled a grenade from his hip, the pin flying off.
“Get down,” he demanded. They all dropped to the floor. Lycanere turned back to the Scouts. There weren’t many of them, no more than thirty, but it was enough to do damage to their army. “Hey drones!” They all aimed their guns at him. He launched the grenade and ducked.
Lasers flew through the window, singeing the cabin interior, but the lasers stopped as soon as they began.
“RUN!” a Scout barked.
The sound of the grenade going off was earthshattering. It erupted, and Lycanere saw a bright light emerge through the window as if the sun had somehow manifested itself onto the planet.
They all waited a few seconds, silent and breathless. There was nothing at first, and then there was running.
“He’s in there!” someone yelled.
“Get ready to fight,” Lycanere said.
A rumbling sound shook the ground beneath them. Lycanere knew that sound, as he was sure everyone else did. The Ship.
They all looked out the window. Most of the ground was a hole littered with body parts, blood, and guns from the destroyed and dismembered Scouts. The sight was disgusting, and Lycanere felt sickened over what he had done, but it was only one of the horrible sights of the moment. Lycanere saw Scouts and his fellow Troop 10 members all outside with their eyes on a glowing object in the sky: the ship elevating higher and higher towards space.
“No way,” Pirelavs said.
Lycanere glared at the ship. “That dwarf.”
He saw Scout Master Mike run out into the middle of the campsite and look up at the ship. He threw his arms like a child having a tantrum.
“NO! NO! NO!” Mike yelled. He sharply turned and spotted Lycanere. Their eyes met and Lycanere saw pain and tears on Mike’s face. He and his friends ducked back down under the window though he knew Mike was already approaching the cabin.
“Scout Master Mike,” one of the Scouts said.
“Shut up,” Lycanere heard Mike respond as he reached the door. Pirelavs aimed his gun at the door, and Lycanere pushed the gun down.
“No,” he told Pirelavs. “Not him.”
The door was kicked open and Mike entered followed by a couple Scouts who had their guns aimed at the group.
“Execute on command, Scout Master,” one Sco
ut said to Mike.
“I told you guys to stun them. STUN.”
“Corporate says—”
“I don’t care what Corporate says, Piper. And you can tell ‘em I said that. Now get the fuck out!” Mike demanded the young female scout.
“But—”
“Let me deal with them myself! I’m the Scout Master, not you. Now get out! NOW!” The Scouts ran out of the room.
Mike shook his head in anger and glared at the group.
“What the hell have you done?” he growled.
“We were just trying to get out of here like you told us to,” Lycanere said.
“Yeah, but I didn’t expect you to leave me. I thought that you had the decency to…” He stopped and blinked a couple times. “Wait… You didn’t leave.”
“Nope, we didn’t,” Kakine said. “And I’m pretty sure we thought you wanted to stay to keep your job anyway.”
“I was hoping you guys would have abducted me or something. Anything.” He sat on a bed in defeat. “But, you didn’t leave. So… who did?”
“Benjamin,” Pirelavs said. “He stole Kakine’s joystick and got away.”
“How did that tiny man get through the ship and everyone in it and pilot it away?” Mike asked.
Lycanere shrugged. “Your guess is as good as ours.”
Mike sighed. “Do you think he’s coming back?”
Lycanere nodded. “Most likely to destroy this place and everything it stands for. He’ll get the law on his side. People will join him in anger. They won’t like what this place truly is.”
Mike chuckled to himself. “He’s gonna have quite the time then.”
“Why’s that?” Pirelavs said.
“Corporate will be on their way once my Scouts report this to them. They’ll relieve Scouts’ Honor of us six for the problems we’ve caused, and either take the rest to Jovial-10, or rid of them too. By the time Benjamin gets back, there may be no one left to save.”
The words sunk into Lycanere, digging into his skin and soul.
“Corporate can’t do that,” Kakine said.
“They can, and they will,” Mike said. “And that’s not even saying if Benjamin can get people on his side to come and protect the youth that they excommunicated from society.”