Truehearts & The Escape From Pirate Moon

by Jake Macklem

  Ace half turned, lifted her leg, and snapped the officer’s kneecap in the wrong direction. He screamed as he fell onto her bed. She slipped her hand over his belt as she walked by, effortlessly lifting a small cylinder from one of his belt compartments. Standing in the doorway she flicked her wrist, extending the collapsible stun baton. Leaning out of the room, she glanced around.

  Down the hallway, Ace saw the club’s patrons scrambling to escape as the police marched through, arresting everyone they could catch. Patrons and professionals were rushing the exits and service areas, while the music continued to pump through the sound system, setting a beat to the madness. Ace hurried deeper into the club. “There’s one here!” An officer shouted as he stepped into the hallway.

  Ace tapped his leg with the baton; the crackling electric charge snapped and the man convulsed, dropping to a knee. She clubbed him on the helmet with the pommel and he collapsed back into the room. Glancing in she saw more cops.

  “I got her.” Another officer, larger than the last, rushed forward.

  Ace did not wait. She ran, took a sharp corner, then hurried up the stairs, pushing past wayward patrons. She heard the lumbering officer behind her and she knew he would not be able to keep up. At the top of the stairs, she rushed down the hallway to the second level landing. Below her, she saw customers and girls alike getting arrested, bound, and dragged out the door. Police were dragging more people into the bar, some clothed and others not. She sprinted across the room and down the hall toward Mick and Shonda’s room.

  An officer was flung from their room, hit the wall on the other side, and fell to the floor. Shouts came from the room.

  “Damn it, hold him!”

  “Don’t let him attach the metal arm!”

  “Who is this guy!”

  “Hit him with the stun again!”

  Shonda stumbled out of the room followed by an officer, makeup running down her swollen and bruised face, her arms handcuffed behind her back.

  Ace swiped the stun baton behind the officer’s knees, the shock instantly taking out his legs. Shonda looked over, surprised, while Ace found the keys for the handcuffs. Grabbing her wrist, Ace undid one cuff, leaving the key in it. “Get out of here!” she hissed.

  Shonda glanced back at her room, where Mick fought half a dozen police. “Help him, Ace.”

  “I am.” Reaching down to the officer at her feet, Ace pulled a second stun baton. Flicking it open she walked into the room. Mick spared no expense in her education and training. Ballet, gymnastics, even back alley brawling; all lessons she had learned. Confident and serene, she strode into the room.

  The chaos stormed around her, a vortex of shouting, fury, and fists. Officers rushed her, tried to hold her back, but she wove past them all, a hummingbird in a meadow. Dual batons twirled around her as she struck without looking. Her focus was reserved for Mick. She fought to his side, heedless of the officers around her.

  In a blur of motion and violence, Mick and Ace worked together as a single fighting force. Where Mick would create an opening, Ace would take down the officer. Together they cleared the room in a moment. He looked at her and winked. She smiled and nodded.

  I actually thought we were going to make it.

  The doorway filled again and even more officers flooded the room. Mick fought and kicked as several men grabbed Ace. They pulled, lifted her off her feet, and began dragging her away. “Mick!” she screamed, reaching out toward him, her fingers extended.

  Mick spun toward her. His face slackened and for the first time, he showed fear. “Ace!” With a fierce kick, he sent a man flying to crash to the floor. Stepping forward he grabbed another officer by his throat, lifted him into the air, and slammed him to the floor, a snapping sound ringing out from the man’s back. “I’m coming, Ace!”

  Mick charged across the room as officers threw themselves in his way. A half dozen men fought to hold him and drag him away from Ace. He reached out his hand and found hers. They interwove their fingers and held on. Tears streamed down her face as she screamed. They fought, trying to stay together, even when Ace thought her fingers would break, but eventually, the officers won the tug of war, breaking their grip.

  “Mick!” She cried out.

  “It’s okay Ace. It’s okay. I love you!” Mick shouted. An officer stepped in front of him and brought down his baton, cracking Mick’s head with a sickening thud, knocking him out.

  &

  The raft rocked. Ace opened her eyes and saw Cam looking around. He felt it too. Carefully, she sat up and scanned the surroundings, they still floated along the three-hundred-foot wide river. The sky was turning pink. We made it through the night at least. The only thing visible to the south was the massive rock plateau. Maybe sixty meters away, it was closer now than it had been before. To the north, about thirty meters away, walking along the water's edge in a long line, was a herd of three-legged animals. Five meters tall, covered in thick red-brown fur, with a tentacle-like appendage protruding from their chests. She pointed and whispered. “Not-buffalo.”

  Cam turned to look and nodded. Then his eyes widened and he pointed. The water rippled in a “V” shape, approaching the shore and quickly building speed. Covering ten meters in a blink of an eye, one of the leviathans erupted from the water and crushed its massive jaws down on one of the Not-buffalos.

  The injured beast cried out an agonized squeal but the monster’s jaws were sunk into muscle. The rest of the herd backed away, squealing warnings to each other as one of their own died. The massive beast used its front legs to push while it thrashed its long slimy eel-like body, dragging the corpse back into the water.

  Thunk. Ace felt the jolt as a leviathan swam beneath the raft, bobbing along the surface. Thunk. Thunk. More creatures bumped the raft, their wakes spreading behind them as they swam toward the shore. The smooth water exploded when two leviathans broke the surface, each thrashing while holding onto the dead Not-buffalo with sharp teeth, tearing it in two before they splashed back into the water. The waves made by the violence lapped against the edge of the raft, gently pushing it.

  The sun continued to rise as the duo sat in silence, tensing with each ‘thunk’ on the raft. An hour later they saw the Not-buffalo herd again, clustered in a group, bumping into each other, nudging closer and closer to the water. They began to whine as they crept closer to the waves. Ace whispered, “What are they doing?”

  Cam watched in silence for a while, Ace following his gaze. He looked at the trail left by the massive herd, watched them at the shoreline, and then looked across the hundred-foot gap of water between the shores, and the well-worn path up the side of the plateau. Looking back at the animals in a quiet voice he said, “Damn.”

  “I don’t like it when you swear.”

  “I think this is their crossing. It must be shallower here.” Cam looked down into the water and his eyes widened in fear. “This is gonna be a feeding frenzy.”

  Following his gaze, Ace saw dozens of the monstrous fish swimming in quick jerky motions. “That doesn’t sound good.” Ace felt a strange cool sensation in the pit of her stomach.

  Slowly and quietly, a leviathan pulled its massive body into the shallows. Its tail wiggled slightly then stopped. A moment later the massive creature erupted from the water, chomped down on a Not-buffalo's tentacle, and dragged the beast into the water. That sparked it. With a squeal and thunder of hooves, the Not-buffalos stampeded into the water, stomping the creature to death as they charged ahead. The shore surged with spraying water and blood.

  The Not-buffalos thrashed and fought to cross the gap. When the tall creatures were about twelve meters from shore, the water became deeper and the Not-buffalos started to swim, desperately splashing, chest tentacles flailing just under the surface.

  “This is our chance, Red,” Cam said as he grabbed his paddle. “We have to get to the plateau. Are you ready to do this?” He fixed Ace with a look. “Just remember─ slow is smooth, smooth is fast.”

  Ace nodded and
picked up her spear. Cam thrust his paddle into the water and pulled. The raft started moving toward the shore. The Not-buffalos continued their frantic scramble for the far shore, those in the lead starting to find footing again. She noticed a ‘V’ shape heading toward the raft. “There’s one coming, Cowboy.”

  Cam stopped paddling and the raft continued to drift toward the shore. A ‘V’ circled the raft—under the murky water, Ace could see the massive leviathan that was making it. Its mottled skin blended perfectly with the murky water, it slid beneath the waves. It looked straight at her with one violet eye and blinked. Oh no. “I think it knows we’re up here,” she blurted.

  “How? Cam asked while he watched the carnage twenty meters away.

  “It looked at me.”

  Cam grabbed his rifle and scanned the water for the beast. “Where is it?”

  Ace spun a circle, desperately looking for the leviathan. “I don’t see it.”

  Both stopped and froze. At the same time, they shouted, “It’s under us!”

  Ace felt herself lifted as a massive force slammed into the raft. Cam’s eye widened in shock, his arms out to his sides, trying to keep his balance. The water was far below them, at least five meters On either side of the raft, large teeth and jaws lifted it out of the water. Cam’s pack was flung away from her out of reach. His metals! Gravity took hold and everything fell back down to the water below, the leviathan’s jaws snapped shut. The sharp teeth piercing the polymer shell with ease, crushing the raft under the force of the bite, wedging it in the beast’s gaping maw.

  Gear and pieces of the raft rained haphazardly into the water. Cam held his rifle in one hand, and his hat in place with the other as he splashed down. Ace fell back toward the water. I don’t want to be fish food.

  19: Cam

  Cam hit the waves and went completely under the water, he opened his eyes. I have to get it! He saw his backpack. The precious metals and extra weight carried across the red iron moon of death was sinking rapidly to the bottom with his family's dreams of escaping Earth.

  Then he turned to the commotion—the monstrous fish splashed into the water. Ace swam toward shore drawing the attention of the leviathan and it swam after her.

  Damn it!

  20:Ace

  Ace splashed into the flood. Forcing her eyes open and ignoring the sting, she saw the beast fall back into the water. With her spear in one hand, Ace swam to put distance between her and the monster. The beast flailed, chomping its jaws. The raft was ruined, but the polymer shell was stuck in its mouth.

  Ace broke the surface and gasped for air. Swimming straight for the shore she heard and felt the splashing behind her. They can come onshore. They can come onshore. Feeling the ground, Ace got her feet under her and ran. There was a scraping sound behind her. I don’t want to be fish food!

  Leaping she spun in the air to face the gaping jaws and thousands of teeth. She landed on her back and braced the butt of the spear against the ground. The leviathan arched and came down, impaling its long jaws on her spear, gouts of foul-smelling ichor poured over her, hot on her face. Ace rolled away, desperately trying to clear the creature’s thrashing body.

  The ground vibrated and rumbled under her as she pulled herself across the ground. The screeches seemed as though they were chasing her. Breathing heavily, she risked a glance over her shoulder while she crawled. Her spear had penetrated through the lower jaw and into the upper parts of the creature’s long crocodile-like mouth, like a strange piercing. The creature could only open its jaws so far before being forced to stop by the spear’s shaft and the pain. In frustration, the creature rolled over along the shore. Slamming its jaws into the ground, the spear broke free, shattering the haft.

  Its focus once again fell on Ace. I don’t want to be fish food!

  A rock hit it on the face. Then another. It shook its head as yet another chunk slammed it on the ear. The beast turned and thrashed its way back into the water.

  Cam’s strong grip helped her to her feet and he half carried her up the slope toward the cliff wall. “You okay?”

  “Yeah.” Ace smiled as they passed a shiny glint in the dirt. She picked up the metal point of her spear. Must have broken off when it was rolling around. “This thing has been so handy,” she said as they continued walking.

  Cam just stared at her, then a moment later gave a peculiar chuckle.

  “So, do you feel as lucky as I do to be alive?” Ace asked.

  Cam nodded. “Yes.” He stared at her.

  “Your pack! Where is it?” Ace asked exasperated.

  “Bottom of that lake.” Cam motioned over his shoulder.

  She stopped. His metal… it's all gone. “We can go get it, Cowboy!”

  He had the strangest look on his face when he turned back. “You really are crazy, aren’t you? Ain’t nobody making it back out of that lake.” He continued walking. “It’s only by the Will of the Verse we’re still here.”

  I can make it. Below them, the lake’s once smooth surface was replaced with the froth of purple Not-buffalo blood from the churning of the leviathans gorging themselves. Nope. He’s right. It’s gone.

  He chose to save me instead of getting his pack. Rage boiled in her as she followed after him. “Hey! Did you let your pack sink to save me?”

  Cam kept walking to the cliff.

  “Hey! Answer me!”

  Cam spun around. “What else could I have done?”

  “Get your family off Earth!”

  “And let you pay for it by getting eaten?” Behind him, the surviving members of the three-legged Not-buffalo herd were walking up a path toward the top of the Plateau.

  It’s what I would have done. “Yes. You should have accomplished the mission.” She stopped in front of him shaking.

  “Getting off this damn moon is the mission, Red!”

  “What about your family?” She fought back the tears.

  “We’ll find another way.” Cam put his hand on her shoulder. “Maybe you can help.”

  A moment later they sat against the cliff. Cam surveyed the shore. “I lost most of my gear,” he said. “All I have left is my rifle, knife, and armor. Hell, I don’t even have my helmet.” He chewed his lip in frustrated contemplation.

  “I still have this.” Ace held up her trusty metal spike. Her mouth went dry and she felt faint. “How are we going to find the pickup zone without the GSS?”

  Cam reached to his waist and lifted the device. “Well, of course, I have that. But I gotcha didn’t I?”

  Ace felt the smile spread across her lips. “You are a real meathead.”

  He looked over the Not-buffalo. “We’re gonna have to go up the path after the herd.

  “Didn’t you say it was dangerous to travel next to the herd because of predators? I think that theory might have been right,” she snarked.

  “I don’t have ropes or harnesses, let alone pitons to scale the side of this thing. You very well might be able to free climb it, but I ain’t as stupid as I once was, so…” Cam pointed to the worn path less than four hundred meters away. “That’s my way up.”

  In the back of her mind, she heard Commander Diaz: “Accomplish the mission. Any means necessary.”

  Break his neck. Take the surveyor and rifle. Climb to the top of the plateau. Reach the pickup zone. Extract. Commandeer ship. Report to Command. It all played out in her mind’s eye in a moment. It won’t be hard.

  No! Ace shook her head, breaking herself from her thoughts. From her training. I’m not going to be that person anymore.

  Cam looked from the herd and back to her. “You okay?”

  He’s a good man. Maybe the best I’ve ever met. Mick wouldn’t think he was a sucker. He’d consider himself lucky to know him. And an honor to be his friend.

  “Yeah.” Ace smiled. “I think I’m going to be. So… The path up is over there.”

  21: Cam

  Cam led the way up the path, his sweat clinging to him in the humid air. He glanced behind to make sure
Ace was still behind him. She was, but even watching her he could not connect her movements to any noise.

  Climbing the steep path was much more exhausting and time-consuming than he thought it would be. The herd had made it look easy, but some of the obstacles were three meters high.

  As he looked out over the reservoir that they had drifted across through the night, he felt relief, grateful he had not known how many of those leviathans there were. They probably swim upstream and spawn in the lake like salmon. If I ever have to come back to this moon, it’ll be too soon.

  Cresting the path, he saw clumps of tall wheat-like grass ending in purple-colored buds. They were scattered across the plateau, spread out as far as the eye could see. The open sky was completely unobstructed. What drew Cam’s attention were the dead Not-buffalos.

  He swallowed as he watched very large, purple- and blue-scaled reptiles drag fresh kills away. Several others were doing the same a bit further off. With a motion to Ace, he lay on his belly, scanning the plateau.

  She moved up next to him and settled in. “Tree-knockers,” she whispered

  Five Tree-knockers each dragged one of the Not-buffalos. Occasionally one would look around and hiss at the closest rival. They’re not a pack, that’s a good thing. Cam glanced at the scales on the clothes he made for her, then at her metal spike. How did she kill one of those things with that? Shaking his head, he looked back over the plateau

  The Not-buffalo herd was miles ahead of them, heading east, a plume of dust kicking up from their feet. “Let’s give those lizards a little space. We’ll loop around them that way.” He motioned. “It’ll take us downwind.”

  Ace nodded. Together they moved across the plateau, dashing between the sparse vegetation. Even at this distance, his nose wrinkled at the overpowering scent of the strange plants. The pungent odor reminded Cam of flowers and hot metal. He did not like the smell but was grateful it was strong enough to cover their scent. Taking a few minutes, Cam rubbed the buds over parts of his armor and Ace followed suit, rubbing it on her Tree-knocker hide. Once they had smeared themselves with the sticky plants, they readied to move again.