Raising the Past

by Jeremy Robinson

  Norwood scratched the back of his head and let out a chuckle. “Just typical Eddy, hogging all the glory.”

  Eve snapped her attention to Norwood and shot invisible laser beams through his head. “He’s trying to save our lives. If we had stayed with him, all of us might have died. You’re not moving very fast, Brian. He could’ve taken you with him so that when the Ferox are chasing you down, they’ll catch the slow guy first. You ever stop to think that if they had found us again, you’d be the next to go? He’s trying to save your life.”

  Norwood pursed his lips and offered no defense. Eve looked away from him and squinted her eyes. She turned to Steve, “You still have a map?”

  Steve nodded, careful not to shake his head too hard, and pulled the map from his pocket and stretched it open. The map glowed to life, displaying glowing green lines and text in English.

  “Where are we?” Eve asked.

  With darting eyes, Steve took in the entire map, retraced some steps and then pointed to the map. “Staging area.”

  “For what?” Eve asked.

  Steve shrugged. “Don’t know. But the other end of this room looks to be connected to the arena floor at the base of the coliseum.

  Eve shook her head as though in disbelief. “Well, that’s not very comforting.”

  Kevin looked Eve in the eyes. “Why?”

  Eve nodded with her head, motioning for them to look back into the room in which they sat. The staging area was full of racks similar to those of the armory—only the weapons that lined the walls of this room were more primitive. Swords, spears, shields, netting and even tridents lined the walls. Mixed in with the mash of weaponry was an array of armors, from solid metal to wire mesh, and several ornate helmets. What Eve found most disturbing was that while the majority of this citadel was constructed for creatures of enormous size, this staging area was built for human beings.

  Walking to the back of the room, Eve felt her legs growing weak with fear for what she might see. Then she saw what she had hoped wouldn’t be there—a barred gate. They were standing in a room where human beings would be dressed and armed before entering the coliseum to do battle. Eve looked through the bars and saw the giant arena stretched out before her. It looked even bigger than before. She could only imagine the absolute terror someone might feel, looking through these bars at a race of giant aliens, preparing to do battle for their pleasure.

  “This is not good,” Kevin said, as he stood next to her. “The implications of this room are ominous at best.”

  Eve nodded.

  Kevin turned his gaze toward Eve and said, “We should find Eddy.”

  “No.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  Eve turned to Kevin. “We don’t know which way he went, and if the Ferox catch us out in the open, we’ll never make it. The only way for all of us to survive is for us to stay put.”

  “Like kids lost in a grocery store?” Kevin asked.

  Eve nodded.

  “I hated being a kid…helpless.”

  Eve motioned to Steve and Norwood, who tended to their wounds on the harsh bench. “We can’t leave them behind. If the Ferox found them here, they wouldn’t stand a chance. They need us.”

  Kevin nodded and looked back out at the arena. “I’ll tell you, though; I seriously hope I never have to see this view from this perspective again.”

  Eve smiled the same fake smile she’d offered Eddy earlier. She felt a pain in her chest as a surge of anxiety rose up her spine and threatened to burst her mind. Come back, Eddy. Come back soon.

  ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

  Five minutes had passed and Eddy was halfway to his goal. He was moving quicker than he had with the group and was glad to be making good time, but his legs were beginning to burn. He had forgotten his earlier several-mile trek through the frozen wasteland outside and was beginning to feel a weight in his legs that had been masked by adrenaline and fear. But now he was just running, moving down endlessly long hallways of enormous scope. No one was chasing him. The fear of an excruciating death faded, and he felt like a marathon runner with no crowd to cheer him on.

  He was beginning to sweat profusely, and he felt his thighs chafing beneath his layers of pants and thick thermals. It was much warmer inside the citadel. Not like the dry forced hot air of a house in the winter; more like the natural heat of a rain forest, though less humid. Then a strange thought struck him. His legs showed signs of wear and tear brought on by running against the will of gravity, but his lungs were fine. The burning that usually filled his chest while running long distance wasn’t there and his thoughts were inexorably clear. The air…it was thick with oxygen. The atmosphere was being filled with oxygen, well beyond the needs of humans.

  Eddy thought back to his summer internship when he’d met Eve and almost ended his career. That last question on the pop quiz. The easy question he knew the answer to and still knew the answer to: “What is one possible atmospheric change that could have theoretically wiped out the dinosaurs?” There were, in fact, several different answers, but the one that made most sense to Eddy was lack of oxygen. Larger creatures such as dinosaurs required larger amounts of oxygen to support their massive bodies. For some reason, whether it was an asteroid impact that filled the atmosphere with carbon dioxide or the Ice Age that killed off much of the oxygen-producing plants, the dinosaurs ran out of oxygen to support their massive bodies. It was one of the reasons smaller mammals flourished in the wake of the thunder lizard’s rule of the Earth.

  An atmosphere this dense with oxygen told Eddy that the Aeros were indeed massive creatures. They’d need more oxygen to keep themselves alive. Without it, they’d asphyxiate; in theory, of course. They could breathe sulfuric acid just as easily. But he believed it was most likely that oxygen was a common denominator for life. Hopeful scientists had protested the idea for years, expecting to find life in the most inhospitable environments, but they weren’t being practical. None of that mattered now, anyway. It was apparent that life in the universe was flourishing, oxygen dependant or not.

  Eddy’s feet slowed as he came to a dizzying revelation. The atmosphere was being modified. When they first entered the citadel he hadn’t noticed the air. It felt normal. But in the past minutes it had grown thick, and Eddy had felt his energy level rise. But if the atmosphere was being adapted for Aeros anatomy…that would mean that the Aeros were there now; unless they were preparedness overachievers, believing that Eddy would be successful and the citadel would be prepped for their imminent return.

  A noise in the atrium ahead made Eddy’s slowing legs stop. It was a voice…feminine. Human. Eve.

  Eddy picked up his pace and ran into the circular atrium, which was the meeting place of four long red hallways. At the center of the room was a pool of water so deep that Eddy imagined it must be a direct opening to the ocean, a thought that was reinforced by the cool air swirling through the room. He stopped at the entrance of the room and saw Eve standing on the other side of the pool of water.

  She turned and faced Eddy when he entered. “Oh, Eddy!” Eve started around the wide pool, looking very concerned and frightened.

  Eddy didn’t budge. “What are you doing here?”

  “It was awful…”

  “Where are the others?”

  Eve came around the bend, hobbling toward Eddy with a visible limp. It made Eddy cringe to see her injured and he wanted to do nothing but run to her and hold her tight, but his legs protested and remained glued to the floor.

  “Eve, stop,” Eddy said, as he held out his hand. She slowed and looked at Eddy with a painfully twisted face. “Where are the others?”

  Eve sobbed. “They’re dead! The Ferox ate them alive. I couldn’t watch! I ran…I’m so ashamed.”

  “How did you get in front of me?”

  Eve looked confused. “I—I’ve been running this entire time… Have you noticed the change in oxygen? I could run for hours.”

  “You weren’t followed?”

  “I don�
��t know! I didn’t check! Oh, Eddy, hold me…please.”

  Eve held her arms out to Eddy, desperate for him to embrace her. Eddy stifled the urge to weep for his dead friends and hold Eve in his arms, but there were a few things he couldn’t shake. He knew Eve. She would have died fighting with their friends. He would have, too. But she ran… It didn’t make sense. Eddy gasped as he looked into Eve’s crystal blue eyes. Blue eyes!

  Eddy pulled what he knew was a lightning gun from its holster on his hip and got off a single shot that sent “Eve” jumping through the air like a gymnast on steroids. The lightning cracked through the air and struck a barren wall. Eve landed like a cat, twenty feet back. She brushed a clump of smoldering hair from her shoulder and casually clapped her hands. “Well played. I can see why she’s so taken with you.”

  “You don’t know anything about us,” Eddy said with a sneer, offended that this beast would take Eve’s form. It felt blasphemous.

  “Ahh, but I do. You see, we’ve been following you, monitoring your progress. Really quite impressive.”

  “So you keep saying, but now there are only three of you left. I can’t help but wonder why you continue missing the target.”

  “Ever the antagonist. Attempting to force my hand, draw me closer so you can use the weapons of our enemies against me.”

  “Your enemies,” Eddy corrected.

  Eve’s form changed and became Marutas, the Inuit. Then he laughed. “Ignorance is bliss. You know, it was a Ferox who coined that phrase. You see, from our perspective, it is very humorous.”

  “I’m still not impressed.”

  “You will be.”

  Marutas strolled toward Eddy, who kept his weapon trained in Marutas’s general direction. Eddy backed away, attempting to put himself on the side of the room he needed to be on. If he needed to make a run for it, better it be in the right direction.

  “You have noticed the atmosphere, haven’t you?”

  “It’s thick with oxygen,” Eddy said. “No doubt in preparation to support the large size of the Aeros.”

  Marutas smiled. “Your deductions are correct. The Aeros, while lacking in numbers, are massive creatures who use their size to impose their will on the universe.”

  “Just as you use savagery to impose yours.”

  “A technicality.”

  “You’re wasting your time,” Eddy said, as he aimed the weapon. “You’ve shown yourself to be a deceiver of worlds. What makes you think I would take your word?”

  “A valid point,” Marutas said, dropping his shoulders.

  Marutas jumped into the air with incredible speed. Eddy paused as he witnessed Marutas’s human body disappear and reemerge as a hellborne beast. As Marutas’s six red eyes zeroed in on Eddy and his body shifted to grab hold, Eddy dove forward, rolling beneath the razor claws and barrel chest. Eddy squeezed the trigger and a streak of electricity shot up, for a moment passing through Marutas’s torso then streaking toward the roof.

  The weapon malfunctioned with a burst of sparks and grew too hot in Eddy’s hand to hold. He dropped it to the floor and it shattered just as Marutas’s giant form crashed down and slid into the wall. Wasting no time, Eddy pulled the sword from its sheath on his back and held it in his right hand. With his left hand, he drew the weapon holstered on his left side.

  Marutas flipped over onto his feet and shook his body like a wet dog. A cloud of burnt hair fluttered to the floor and filled the room with an incredible stench. He hissed at Eddy and charged forward, ignoring any threat that Eddy’s raised weapons might pose. Eddy pulled the trigger of the handgun and the force of the projectile that rocketed out from its muzzle threw Eddy’s hand back. The weapon flew through the air and splashed into the pool of ocean water.

  The thick netting caught Marutas in mid-air and yanked him back, tangling his limbs and pinning him to the floor. He ferociously clawed at the wires and began snapping through them. Eddy could see that Marutas would be free in mere moments, but he was still wary of doing battle with the beast at close quarters, even while it was tangled up.

  Eddy headed for the exit, running in the direction he knew the transmitter was located. He turned as he entered the hallway and shouted, “I can’t see how your species has lasted so long. If the rest of the Ferox fight like you, it’s a wonder you’re not extinct!”

  The roar that Marutas unleashed billowed down the hallways and made the hair on Eddy’s neck stand on end, even though the fear he felt was subsiding. He had faced Marutas three times now and had escaped twice, relatively unscathed. Though with no ice to crack beneath Marutas’s feet and no projectile weapons to fend the beast off at a safe distance, Eddy wasn’t sure how their next encounter would turn out. He knew taunting Marutas would only enrage him more and perhaps even inspire him to escape from the netting sooner, but he felt the more Marutas gave into his feral side, the more Eddy might be able to outwit him. Eddy knew he needed every advantage. This was an uphill battle that began at the base of Mount Everest, and he still had a long way to climb before reaching the summit.

  30

  GLADIATORS

  Twenty minutes. That’s all it had been since Eddy had left them in the Aeros staging area. Eve thought about how the Romans used their coliseum. Humans battled beasts to the death in the early days, but the Roman populace soon became desensitized to human goring and animal slaughters. Men began to battle men—often criminals or Christians were forced to square off against each other. She wondered who would be persecuted in this arena. Ferox sympathizers? Would they have to battle Ferox? Aeros? Or some other kind of alien creature they had yet to encounter? The prospects of the giant arena made her arms shake.

  Eve squeezed her arms around her kneecaps in an effort to ease her twitching muscles. She was much warmer now, even after shedding her snow gear. The temperature had risen and the atmosphere had become thicker. It made their thick clothing uncomfortable and sticky. The four of them had stripped down to pants, T-shirts, and long john tops. All had taken their alien armor off as well.

  “I feel like a kid who got locked in a department store over night,” Steve said, as he leaned against the wall next to the set of doors that led to the outer hallway. “Like I should be having fun, playing with all this stuff, but not able to shake the feeling that I’m going to get in trouble for being here.”

  Kevin nodded as he strode toward the back of the room, looking over the racks of weapons. “Or like someone is watching you?”

  “Right, like through those little black domes that stick out of department store ceilings and you can’t tell if there’s a camera inside or not. I hate those things.”

  Norwood grunted as he stretched his legs, standing next to the bench that had supported his weight for the last twenty minutes. “Though I prefer them to the hovering black death orbs.”

  Steve smirked. “Death orbs? It lacks your usual wordy descriptiveness, but I like it. You guys think someone is watching us now?”

  Eve shook her head. “Being watched implies that someone is around to watch, and I haven’t seen any Aeros around…and the Ferox…well, this place wasn’t designed for them, so if there is a security system, I doubt they’d be able to access it.”

  A sound that reminded Eve of childhood came from the other side of the staging area’s doors. It sounded like her first dog, Argus, sniffing at her bedroom door in the morning. She had always found the sound to be a pleasant greeting in the morning, but this time it caused her heart to slam in her chest, pumping blood audibly past her ears. She froze.

  “What’s wrong?” Steve asked in a hushed, very tense voice.

  Eve stepped away from the doors and spoke, “Something’s outside the door.”

  Everyone fell silent and listened.

  “I don’t hear anything,” Steve said.

  It came again, a light sniffing that ran up the center of the door along the seam where the two sides came together in the center. The sniffing was followed by a gentle scratching at the door.

  �
�What if it’s Eddy?” Steve said.

  “Eddy wouldn’t sniff the door!” Eve said with a look of frustration.

  “He could be hurt,” Steve added. “Just cause it sounds like sniffing doesn’t make it sniffing. What if he’s just sliding against the door? What if he’s sniffling? Like, crying or something?”

  “Steve,” Eve said in an authoritative voice, “that is not Eddy. That is sniffing.”

  Steve’s looked concerned. “What are we going to do?”

  Kevin walked to the front of the room. “It might not know we’re in here, but it can probably smell us,” he whispered. “I think it will figure out that we’re in here sooner or later. Right now we have the element of surprise on our side. I say we open the doors and hit it with everything we have.”

  “Sounds foolhardy to me,” Norwood said. “A plan almost worthy of Eddy.”

  Eve, Kevin and Steve glared at Norwood.

  “If it wasn’t for Eddy, we’d all be dead,” Kevin said. “The only reason we’ve had any success is because we’re not thinking the way we’re programmed to think. They’re the most God awful things any of us has ever seen, and they scare the crap out of me. They know this and expect us to respond like any normal person should: with fear. Opening this door ourselves is the best chance we have. Whether Eddy is successful or not, we need to kill these Ferox before leaving this place, or we’ll never be leaving at all.”

  Norwood sighed and walked toward the door, drawing one of his alien weapons. “Fine.”

  The group gathered in front of the doors, each wielding a weapon they weren’t sure how to operate. Steve walked to the imprint of a human face and prepared to unlock the door by placing his face inside. “Ready?”

  Eve nodded.

  Kevin gave a thumbs-up.

  “Open it,” Norwood said. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Steve thrust his face into the lock and when he heard the sound of the doors whooshing open, he jumped back and took aim through the open doors.