by Aline Riva
“For you, Mack,” he said as he stood there shirtless, the blade still in his hand. Then Mack watched as Jinx began to carefully run the edge of the blade along his own skin, showing no pain as determination burned in his eyes.
He was carving himself scars, identical to his own scars earned in battle...
As the blood ran from the fresh markings, Jinx laid down the blade and went over to Mack, knelt beside him and smiled down at him tenderly, oblivious to pain as blood ran from the fresh wounds.
“Now I'm a warrior too,” he said, “I'll fight for all of us, Mack. I'll keep us all safe...We just need to find a new way...What ever it takes..Adapt and survive...”
Mack gave a gasp, closing his eyes to block out the scene... then he looked sharply to the doorway, thinking of his best friend, who was just about to land the ship.. Had that been real, or was it just another waking nightmare?
Mack leant heavily on his cane as he made his way to the flight deck, caught between doubting his own sanity or that of his best friend and quite possibly, the rest of the crew, too...
The ship soon descended into the planet's atmosphere, then down past a blue sky as far below, a wide field was visible and beyond it, a white structure.
“That,” Jinx said, “Is our house! Our palace! The only house built on this planet since purchase - before Cora's dad changed his mind about the project. It's great, I've been stocking up the kitchens and getting the pool ready – it's always warm here, too...No excuse not to skinny dip!” and he laughed, and so did Cora.
“And I have tons of supplies on board the ship too, we could stay here for a few years if we wanted to...”
“Years?” Mack said in surprise.
Jinx glanced around from his seat, casually reaching for the controls as his fingers danced over the buttons, keying in a well practised landing sequence.
“Only if you want to, Mack,” he said, and smiled.
Then he turned back, watching his descent, moving in for a perfect landing.
After the ship had touched down and the engines had fallen silent, Mack followed the others off the ship and across the lush green lawn, towards the back of the palatial house, around the edge of a swimming pool and through wide open doors that led inside to a house that was luxuriously furnished.
“I flew everything here myself,” Jinx said, “From the sofas to the tables and the beds... you should see the bedrooms, Mack! You will later...the bedrooms are lovely! And when we get bored here, we can spend some time on the ship, take the Princess for flight around the local star system...This is the life, isn't it just!”
As he laughed, Cora and Zeke carried sealed containers of food that had been cooked on the ship, and headed for the kitchen.
Mack paused on reaching a wide hallway, there was a sweeping stairway behind him and in front of him, closed double doors. The windows either side were wide and high and looking across the field that surrounded the house, he saw the gleaming ship, looking black and glossy as the sunlight bounced off its sleek exterior.
“I'm going to set up dinner out the back in the court yard,” Zeke called back,
“Great idea,” replied Jinx, then he opened up the wide double doors and put his arm around Mack's shoulder.
“Welcome to paradise, my precious friend,” he said, and he smiled fondly and Mack smiled back as they walked together out of the house.
“I just want you to step back from the house for a minute,” Jinx said, “Just walk with me… careful of the steps...I'll have to put a rail up for you with that cane, can't let you fall.”
“Really I'm okay, you worry too much about me.”
“No, I don't. I need to look after you, Mack.”
They had reached the bottom of the steps that led up to the house, the only house on the lonely planet, his best friend's paradise. And right now, there was a look in his eyes that Mack felt unsettled about as Rik looked at him intensely.
“I will never stop worrying about you. I will never stop caring for you, I remember after the crash...watching helplessly, feeling useless, all I wanted was to keep you alive!”
Mack thought on all he knew to be accurate about the crash, and spoke kindly to his closest friend.
“You couldn't save everyone, Rik.”
His eyes widened in surprise.
“Too right I couldn't! There was only enough meds left over from the crash landing to save one person, it had to be you!”
Mack blinked.
“What?”
“We all decided...well, I was captain in your absence and I made the rules...”
A strange feeling was coming over him as he looked into Rik's eyes. There was something about that look, something off, something changed, something that reminded him of that nightmare image of Rik carving scars into his chest, identical to his own...
“You made the rules?”
He nodded.
“Of course I did! In extreme circumstances, sometimes we have to adapt to survive...Whatever it takes, right?”
That phrase that had wormed its way into his nightmare suddenly opened up recollections as the fog cleared from his mind and images flashed clearly as Mack's memory was sharply jogged:
“No...please don't...please!” Tina had screamed.
Then he saw Rik grab Zeke by the hair, tugging his head back as he hissed in his ear:
“Adapt and what?”
“Survive...” Zeke had whispered as he trembled, a look of terror in his eyes.
“Then get on with it!” Rik had shouted, as Zeke tugged down his zip, looking pale and shaken as he took in the sight of Tina, partly clothed, wounded from the crash and a long bladed knife stuck through her chest.
“But she's dead!” Zeke protested.
“Then she won't mind if you're crap, will she? Get some practise in! Next time Cora wants it, you'd better say yes!”
Mack blinked, drawing in a shocked breath...
“Tina...she was screaming...”
“Not for long!” Jinx said, as amusement danced in his eyes.
“You killed her?
He paused for thought as they stood outside the house on the unspoiled planet, while a short distance away, a ship Mack did not know how to fly sat gleaming in the sunlight, as if serving as a reminder that there was no escape from this insanity...
“She was dying anyway,” Jinx replied, “And then Zeke wouldn't play...Wouldn't fuck Cora, and she really liked him! How could he turn her down? Bonding and togetherness and all that brings about is very important! So I made him practise...”
“On Tina, after you killed her?”
“Do you get it now?” Jinx asked as he chuckled, “Stuffing a dead bird? That'll teach him! Now he's happy to please Cora when she gets her urges. He's done Jody a couple of times too and both the girls love going with me, too. Don't worry, there's enough to go around. We love each other. We share everything. We share each other. It's what we did after the crash.”
Mack's face had paled.
“You went insane after the crash!”
His words were lost on Jinx.
“I evolved,” he explained, “We had to. We all welcomed new ways because the old ones were gone – could have been gone forever. And when you cross a line, sometimes there's no turning back...You may not recall much, but I tried to include you on your better days.”
Mack stared at his best friend.
The dream of the alien savages now made horrible sense:
There were no droids in jelly skins. The only savages had been his own crew...
Then the final piece of the puzzle slid into place, making for a sickening picture.
“You said supplies were low...what did you really do when Jules and Tina died?”
Rik didn't hesitate to answer.
“We ate them,” he replied, “You ate them, too. I fed you, I made sure you ate before anyone else...”
Mack's mind flashed to Rik holding him up, his arm around his shoulder as he spoon fed him broth cooked over the campfire:
“Come on Mack,” he said with tenderness that now seemed so out of place after all Jinx had done, “Drink this...you have to, I need you to get strong. It's nice. It tastes like chicken...”
Mack looked to his best friend, drawing in a shocked, shallow breath as Jinx smiled fondly at him.
“You all went insane while you waited for rescue!”
“Not at all,” Jinx replied, “We adapted and survived, humans are great at doing that...we just needed to find our primal instincts and we did that through sex with each other and eating our dead...it's no big deal.”
Mack was still staring at him.
“No big deal?”
“We're still alive!” Jinx reminded him, “That's what matters – and we have bonded in a way few people ever bond, it's so deep, its so unique...It's special!”
Rik placed his hands on Mack's shoulders and looked into his eyes.
“While you were fighting for your life, all I could think about was wanting you to live!” he said passionately, “And while you couldn't be there for us and be strong for us, I had to do it...I had to become a warrior like you! Look, see what I did?”
And he pulled open his jacket proudly.
Mack stared. Beneath his jacket, Jinx was shirtless. He bore the self inflicted scars that matched his own war wounds, and about his neck was a thin leather necklace of human teeth...
Mack drew in a sharp breath, his face growing pale as he realised exactly where his vivid nightmare had come from, all of it...That terrible dream had come from reality, from the snatches of moments he had recalled after the crash whist struggling with his head injury...
“I thought it was just a nightmare,” whispered Mack.
“Sometimes real life is far better,” Jinx said warmly, and then he put his arm around him, turning him towards the house.
“Look what I did...I gave this place a name!”
Mack stared in horror at the fancy lettering set into stone above the entrance to the only house on the planet:
Shyra-K1.
“Wasn't that clever of me?” Jinx said as he led Mack back up the steps and into the house, “I made the fairytale come true! Zeke told me the urban legend...In fact it was a great source of inspiration in the days after the crash. I finally stopped crying and giving up and I realised, I needed to be a warrior.”
As he explained, his voice echoed through the palatial hall, and then he led him out to the back of the house where plates were laid out on a long table, pale meat in light gravy with herbs and spices...
“Just in time for dinner,” Zeke said, putting a plate of food down on the table nearest the comfortable chair that Jinx helped him into as Mack looked on in alarm.
“What the hell is it?” he asked quietly.
Cora stepped naked from the pool and called to Zeke, who abandoned his food and hurried over to her.
“Yes, of course, yes,” he said obediently, falling to his knees and pressing his face between her legs as she gave a sigh of contentment.
Jody walked up to the back of Mack's chair, paused to hug him, then kissed his cheek.
“After dinner, I'm taking you to bed,” she promised him, and as those words swam in his mind, all else seemed to blur together in a strange sense of acceptance. This was something he could not fight...maybe he didn't want to fight it, because these were his people...
Memories of horror and savagery flashed through his mind, and this time, not from the nightmare. Mixed into it was a sense of belonging, a deep love for his crew...and Rik, who was looking at him with such devotion, how could he turn his back on them now? He had been a part of this right from the start, just hadn't recalled it, yet as much as he wanted to fight it, he knew he belonged here, as if their madness was covering him, but it felt like a blanket of warmest belonging and safety.
Mack felt a slight shiver of pleasure run through his body as Rik reached down between his legs, tugging down his zip, then he slid his hand inside, giving Mack's groin a pat, before withdrawing his hand again.
“I bet that feels more comfortable,” he said, and as he handed him a plate of food, Mack hesitated, looking at the pale meat in the light gravy.
“The Princess has a huge deep freeze,” Rik told him, “Bodies are easy to come by...for the right price. Exotic meat, I call it...Eat up, Mack...you'll need your strength for Jody, she's waited a long time for you!”
Mack looked to Jody and smiled, then he reached into the food on the plate and drew up a sliver of pale meat. He took a bite, and it wasn't bad at all. It was familiar, reminding him of the taste of the broth his best friend had fed him to keep him alive after the crash. It was comforting, reassuring, just like the feel of his hand on his shoulder as he smiled warmly, meeting Mack's gaze with affection.
“It's good,” said Rik Jinx, “Tastes just like chicken!”
Mack smiled back at his best friend, accepting the sense of belonging that overwhelmed him as their eyes met. Yes, this was a close family indeed, one that came out of disaster, adapted, survived, left old ways behind and embraced new ones...a line had been crossed and like the others, he wasn't going back now...
“You're right about everything Rik,” he said honestly, “I do belong here.”
Then they ate together, as Mack savoured the meal and the sense of belonging, as he looked to Jody and they exchanged a glance that promised much, he knew they would finally be together, and stay together. He had a life here with her, and with his best friend, and the others, too. It was a life the rest of the world would not understand, but the rest of the world didn't matter any more:
Adapt and survive, whatever it takes...
They had all done that, and so had he, because he remembered now. This was home and it was good to be here. Rik was right, sometimes, reality was far, far better than the nightmare could ever be...
End.