by Timothy Cox
Jack shrugged his shoulders and looked at the driver. He had his one arm on the steering wheel and the other on his gun. His head cocked to the side, all cool, relaxed; like a man driving to heaven.
‘I wonder if we’re sharing a bathroom.’
The thought made Jack’s stomach clench. He was starting to realize that spending time with his new, companion, meant a lot of different things. His impulsive behavior was something that he was going to have to get used to. It already got him into trouble.
The car came to a halt. The driver looked behind. ‘I’m going for a piss. Don’t move.’
When he climbed out, Raccoon exploded with excitement, startling Jack. ‘Ok so. Tell me what you really think.’
‘You need to stop this.’ He shook his head and peered out the window.
‘I think they’re hiding something.’
‘What makes you think that?’
He rummaged his pocket and showed the tip of the unknown object. ‘This.’
‘Where did you get that?’
‘I stole it.’
‘I know you said that, but where?’
‘From the escort.’
Jack waved him away. ‘Ok Raccoon, I mean it, no more.’
‘Jeez what got into you?’
The door opened, he threw his gun on the passenger seat and grunted. When he climbed in, he opened the cabinet and searched for something. A few seconds later, he frowned, shut it, and started the car.
(13)
They drove up a hill so steep that it felt like going up a rollercoaster. The engine coughed and stuttered; having a hard time going up. While the wheels spat gravel, the hill was coming to an end. Jack looked in front and felt as if they were going to drop off some cliff. When they rode over, the view was a surprise.
It was a wide open view of their new world that looked more like a famous painting, than real life. Insects, thousands of them, swarmed the dark green sky as bundles of black balls; changing into different shapes like a world class ballerina. The landscape was a vista of green vegetation that had the most beautiful lighting: scattered balls of yellow/red/blue wisps hovering just above tree tops, changing color.
The car went down and the coughing engine disappeared, it now hissed with speed.
Jack wished his mother could see all of this, the beauty, a massive landscape unscathed by human hands. The more beauty he saw – the more guilty he felt. He could imagine his mother sitting in the living room, peering out the window; while steam rose from her cup. Or maybe she already joined the Community Program, the place where family members left behind were urged to go, to spend the rest of their lives with a group of loners just like them. He relinquished the thought, nothing hurt more than imagining her in solitude: the wretched woman with gray hair thinking of her long lost son.
‘Who did you leave behind?’ Jack asked.
Raccoon pondered. ‘My father in England. He’s probably sitting all alone, somewhere, brooding, throwing a stick forward and fishing.’
The car bumped up and down, Jack looked at his seatbelt. ‘Your father is a fisherman?’
‘Hobby of course. He usually goes fishing at night, don’t ask me why…he says that they’re more active during that time, but I don’t believe him.’
‘So what does he do?’
‘He was an engineer, specialized in rocket repairs. He did that for ten years and then left it for a pursuit in biology. Animal behavior, that kind of thing.’
‘And your mother?’
‘Tragic story.’ He said calm. ‘The story goes that my mother and dad were high school love hearts, but she was a year older than him.’ He inspected his fingernails. ‘Her birthday fell on the unlucky year. She was shipped away.’
‘Sorry to hear that.’
He nodded. ‘Apparently they appealed against it, filled in the forms and everything, told the government that they were getting married and had plans to help the cause with new ideas. But the government had none of it. They refused their appeal, stating that they were low on recruits that year and that everyone had to go.’
The car’s intercom buzzed: ZERO FOUR. CAN I PROCEED?
‘That’s a negative.’ He said. ‘I’ll patch you through to silent, give me,’ he touched his head. ‘I’m all ears, proceed.’
Jack noticed that it was getting darker, the sky was turning from dark green to muddy brown. Insects were also disappearing; pummeling down to earth in the thousands.
‘Can you confirm that again?’ The car drove slower. He leaned forward and looked up at the sky. ‘We are about thirty minutes away.’
Raccoon jumped up ‘ouch!’
‘Hey you alright man?’ Jack looked at him rummage his pocket. He pulled out the stone from his pocket. It was pulsating orange.
‘Damn thing is hot.’ He whispered.
Jack’s worst nightmare was going to come true, the driver was going to find out that Raccoon stole his damn whatever-it-was, they were going to get another pep talk.
‘I told you that you were stupid taking it.’ He looked at the driver, making sure he didn’t hear him. The driver was way too busy nodding his head and looking out the window.
The oval kept pulsating; dark to orange.
‘It’s damn…hot. I can’t even–’ he stopped talking as the car came to a halt. For a second he thought that the driver heard him. But he didn’t. He climbed out.
‘Why the hell do you think it’s glowing like that?’
‘I have no idea, touch it feel it.’
‘No.’
‘Just touch it.’
Jack put his fingers on it and winced. ‘Christ, throw it on the floor or something, just don’t let him see it.’ He watched the driver walk in front, peering at the floor, nodding. ‘Think something is up?’
‘What?’ He looked at where Jack was looking. ‘No, he looks fine. Now let’s try and figure out what this is.’
‘I told you, throw the god damn thing on the floor, under his seat, so he thinks he dropped it.’
It started pulsating faster.
‘Look.’ Raccoon said. He tapped his finger on it. ‘Wow.’
‘What?’
‘It’s ice cold now.’ He picked it up and threw it up and down on his palm. The throbbing light turned into flickering.
‘Ok I don’t like the way it’s–’
The windscreen cracked into a hundred lines – something flung against it – something that made the white cracks bleed red.
‘What the fuck!’ Jack screamed.
Raccoon didn’t move – he just stared hypnotically at the window in front.
‘What the hell was that you alright man?’
‘I-yeah I’m fine.’ He reached for the door handle.
‘What you doing?’
‘I want to see what hit–’
‘No don’t.’
The door opened. He climbed out.
Jack watched him walk with snail like speed towards the front. He disappeared in front of the white cracks. Thirteen breaths later and with a forehead tapping down with sweat, he couldn’t wait anymore. He climbed out.
(14)
His skin was a ripple of red bumpy spots. Flesh that had air pushing up from the inside making them protrude like a bad case of goose bumps. This is where all the blood was spewing out from: thousands of minute holes. His gun lay far away from the car; something that didn’t add up. His clothing ripped apart.
‘This isn’t happening.’ Jack said. He looked at Raccoon who stood far away from the car, overlooking the mess with hand on mouth. ‘What the fuck is going on?’
Far in in the distance, swarms made a strange shifting noise. Jack figured it was them flying against each other; the sound of silk. The sky was losing color. The brown misty heaven was making things come alive all around them; black shadows crept from trees, the long road ahead dim.
‘Ok we need to think.’ Raccoon said. ‘We need to think this over very carefully.’
‘Look around you!’ Jack ran his finger
s through his hair. ‘We are in the middle of nowhere trapped on a fucking alien planet.’
‘I know, that’s why we need to–’ he looked behind him, thinking he heard something. ‘Let’s try and contact someone.’
‘I think he spoke through his headgear – but I’m not touching–’
‘There was a radio in the car.’
While Raccoon searched the car, Jack walked around with his hands on his head. He couldn’t understand what just happened, one moment the driver was outside talking, the next he’s kissing the windscreen – all bloody – all– Jack had to look away, the sight of so much red liquid made him want to puke. He saw the gun in the distance which brought up another question: how the hell did his gun travel so far? He walked towards it.
Raccoon analyzed the controls, trying to figure which one to press. He heard the sound of slithering: which were either the blood sliding down the windscreen or the swarm in the distance.
Found anything? Jack shouted outside.
‘No not yet!’ He pressed a few buttons which did nothing. It didn’t take long to figure that the car was off. He tried turning the ignition a few times. ‘Dammit.’ He climbed out and saw Jack in the distance, walking away. He thought what to do next. Then it struck him, that the only thing left to do, was to pry that ear piece from the man’s body.
‘It’s just blood, you know, that stuff that’s in your body.’ He said to himself. He walked towards the bloody mess with the calmness of a professional plastic surgeon. But his cool composure broke when he saw things he didn’t like.
There had to be more than a thousand little holes on his body – and they were all moving; skin wiggling around.
‘Uh Jack.’ He mumbled. He turned his head. ‘Uh hey Jack!’
‘What is it?’
‘I think you need to get back here – now.’
Jack came running with the rifle (bobbing it around like a novice). He saw Raccoon hold his mouth. ‘What’s it?’
He pointed.
At first he didn’t see it. The more he focused and a few steps closer – it became obvious. He raised his lips in disgust and backed off. ‘What in world is that?’ The gun dropped from his hands, he quickly picked it up. ‘That can’t be–’
‘I think it is. There are…things under his skin.’
‘What…things?’
‘I don’t know but I have a very bad feeling, and when I get a bad feeling.’
‘Did you check the car?’
He nodded. ‘The car isn’t working, it’s off, I tried. We need to get that ear piece from his head.’
‘I’m not doing it.’ Jack said.
‘There’s no time for games look around.’
‘No I mean it Raccoon, I can’t, the blood.’ He could feel the metal slide from his hands. He wiped the sweat on his trousers. ‘Just…do it.’ He glanced around. ‘We don’t know what night is–’
‘I know.’ He said shaking his head. ‘They said everything is harmless on this planet.’
Jack thought he heard something.
Raccoon stared at the body. ‘I’ve been putting the puzzle pieces together and this doesn’t surprise me.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Remember when they found us wandering around? Why did they have camouflage? Why did they carry so many guns? It doesn’t add up, and not to mention that certain places are restricted.’
Jack felt like telling him he was wrong, but his gut told him otherwise. The sky was now a filthy bronze; with not a single insect. Jack didn’t know what made him more scared: the approaching darkness or the lack of insects.
(15)
‘So how do you think this thing works?’ Jack asked, rubbing his finger along the strange ear piece. He had never seen equipment like this in his life. On earth it was compulsory to study high-tech equipment in school, but this was different.
Raccoon studied the ground with kindergarten curiosity. He acted like he didn’t hear Jack’s question but he heard it very well. They decided that the best course of action was to walk down the road they were driving; with the hopes that somewhere down the trek, artificial lights would appear and the voices of the Resistance.
‘No I don’t know how it works. But, I do have a few ideas flowing.’
‘What is it?’
He took the chip. ‘See these yellow and red wires sticking out?’ he lifted them like strings of sloppy spaghetti. ‘These aren’t normal. These are different.’
‘In what way?’
‘These are Neuron Webs. Designed to coincide with the nervous system.’
‘So we just ripped his brain out.’
‘Just some tissue in his ear, nothing serious – he was dead already – what you worrying–’
‘Why am I worrying?’ He looked at the quiet alien sky, the ill-lighted road, and a forest way too still. ‘How are you feeling Raccoon? Because I’m not really feeling–’
‘Don’t mistake my composure for not shitting my pants.’ He shook his head and looked up for any visible stars. ‘My dad always said: if you ever find your way lost in life, go make a sandwich and eat it in solitude.’
‘Fantastic. Now let me think where I can get some bread and–’
Silence.
‘What is it?’
‘You hear that?’
‘Hear–’
There were exploding sounds nearing; like somebody popping bubble wrap.
‘I think it’s coming from inside the forest.’ A few seconds later, and as if on cue, light emerged from the dark woodland. The stuttering light coincided with the exploding pops.
‘What the hell is it?’
‘I don’t know but I think we need to check it out.’
Jack grabbed his arm. ‘Don’t be stupid. We need to keep walking down the road.’
He jolted his arm free. ‘No we don’t, you may think it’s safer walking down that path but I don’t think it is.’
‘You’re wrong,’ Jack said. ‘Now let’s go.’
‘I’m going this way, I want to check it out.’
Jack shook his head. ‘Then good luck.’
(16)
An hour later, Jack walked strong. He was actually feeling empowered for some reason, maybe it was because he wasn’t shackled with another human anymore; that responsibility of making sure the other person was ok, the needless talk, and one hundred percent focus. He was in control now. There was no more: are you ok? What do you think? Where do you want to go?
He did however, feel a pang of guilt in his chest. He doesn’t think his mother would have approved of leaving another person behind. The thought of her made him want to puke. It was becoming too much, the thoughts, it was eating him from the inside out. He shook his head and this brought another important question: with everything that had been going on, all the excitement, the new world, new faces, the stimulation, he wondered for the first real time about his father and brother – who should be on the same planet.
There was something wrong with the sky, Jack thought. The dark heaven started raining red shooting stars. They didn’t hit the planet, they just skimmed the atmosphere and shot back into space. Jack didn’t know if this was normal, or some freak occurrence; but it looked seductively beautiful. The red ball had a pink tail that disappeared into nothingness only to be replaced by more.
‘It’s probably just normal night time.’ He said rubbing his wrist. He carried on walking.
Walking in darkness became easier. The constant reiteration of: everything will be fine, convinced his mind that everything was just that. Fine. There were two things he was going to do when he gets to safety. Eat and sleep. He also thought about looking for his father, the man that left when he was a young kid–
He pulled the toy from his pocket. The touch of it made his skin warm; it was something that brought comfort amid uncertainty. He couldn’t believe it, but for the first time in his whole life, the thought of his father made him want to cry. Life was cruel, he thought. How it keeps ripping your soul until there
’s nothing left; and it’s only when there’s nothing that it reveals what you’ve been truly missing.
The toy slid back into his pocket. The sight of a campfire made his heart sing.
He ran as fast as he could, which wasn’t much because he had to stop a few times to catch breath. As he approached the crackling flame his singing heart turned into screams of death.
The smell of rusted copper filled the air. The fire spat embers; asking for more wood. There were a few tents that made Jack think that this was once a relaxing camp. Now, brush strokes of red painted the walls and the floor littered with the dead. They all had one thing in common which made the hair on Jack’s arm stand up; blood oozing from dotted skin, guns scattered, and faces that said: get-the-hell-out.
Jack stepped backwards. His mind and heart told him to run. But what frightened him the most was that he didn’t know what he was running from. Until he turned around.
The most amazing thing about it, was that it didn’t make any sound – not a buzz. There were so many of them, that it would take a hundred years to count each one individually. They were clumped up into one big ball; a vibrating blackness is what stared. It was almost as if it was thinking, even contemplating about this little thing before them. And then it came to a mutual understanding: the man must die.
There was blood. Some resistance. But no screams. Not one. It was hard to scream when things forced itself down throat.
(17)
Raccoon sliced branches with his arm like he was an Amazonian explorer on a mission. Some branches had weird glue on them, which made him think that it were either tree supplement or shit. He chose to think that it was some kind of tree supplement; maybe some kind of alien cream that was good for the skin but bad for the nose.
He wondered where Jack was now, probably still walking down that dark road – the one he advised against. He couldn’t articulate why someone wouldn’t heed his advice. There was a logical reason for not walking down that dark road: when there’s light somewhere, follow the light. It’s simple.