Slow Burn (Deep Darkness Book 0)

by Stephen Landry

  "Clear as day," I answered.

  "Good, I think I'm going to like whispering in your ear. Now, once you board a shuttle it should take you straight to where Reynolds is held up at. There are probably a few hundred on the ground maybe more. Do it quick as you can, there will be chaos afterward, I don't have to tell you to use that to your advantage now do I?" he said.

  "I got it. Get on the ground, kill the Captain, what do I do if someone recognizes this collar?"

  "Kill them or tell them it's a fashion statement, your family heirloom," he said.

  "Cheap," I said in return.

  "By the way, my name is Miguel," he said.

  I recognized the name. Miguel Hara, a wanted war criminal, insurgent, and a member of Sect-17. I said nothing in return. Miguel already knew my name, my age, everything there was to know about me. I had nothing on him except that I knew he was dangerous and I knew Reynolds wanted him dead. I also knew Miguel had crept his way onto the Erebus.

  "Miguel, can I ask you something?" I said.

  "Anything my love," he replied.

  "Are you responsible for people waking up," I asked.

  "Sorry deary, not a part of my plan," he said.

  "Are you responsible for Slen?" I asked hoping he would answer another question.

  "No idea who that is darling," he said.

  I wasn't sure if I could trust him but Miguel had been straight with me about most everything.

  He was psychotic and blunt.

  "Are you able to get on the elevator yet?" he said.

  "Yes, but there is a problem," I said as the woman I was speaking to earlier came back.

  "Looks like our time to shine!" she said as the elevator opened.

  The two of us stepped inside.

  "So what did you do before joining the crew?" she asked as the elevator began its slow descent.

  I always loved improvising so I did my best. I even faked an accent. I think I told her that I had two degree's, one in human biology and another in botany. I remember talking about the lotus flower. I had always loved gardens when I was little so I didn't feel like it was too big a fib and for the other, I was a biology expert. Anatomy had always been one of my favorite subjects. I knew the human body very well. I knew where to touch someone to please them, to pleasure them, I knew where to touch them to make them numb, I knew where to touch them to make them scream. I didn't say any of that out loud. I simply talked about the lotus flower. No reason to go into any more detail about anything than I had to and talking about the human body with such a stranger would have probably made both of us uncomfortable.

  "That's so sweet, I feel so lucky, so many smart men and women on here," she said.

  I thought it would be a good idea to make small talk, I didn't want to seem distant or cold. The less attention I could draw in about myself the better. If she thought of me as nothing more then a simple biologist then I was safe.

  "What about you?" I asked.

  "My husband is the ship's captain. I was fortunate I guess. Only a few members of the crew were aloud to bring their families onboard. Some were even separated by their loved ones at launch," she said. I was taken off guard. She seemed young and sweet. I served under Reynolds in the Terran Military while I was with Squad 13 and never knew he had a wife. We never really did talk about any of our personal lives though. Most of our time was spent in silence, on the hunt.

  We smiled at each other.

  The elevator stalled.

  "What's happening I thought we were almost there?" the woman said in a panic.

  "Kill her," Miguel's voice said into my ear.

  Log - 6

  Life ain't shit. One person's life should never be greater then another's however my life was the most important to me and the collar around my neck was a constant reminder of that. Maybe I just hold some people's lives higher than others, either way I did not like Miguel's voice in my ear telling me when to kill. When people tell me to do things I don't like I don't listen. I guess that is a part of my charm.

  The woman stared at me with such pretty eyes.

  Reynold's wasn't going to be happy about this but then he was next on my list anyway... then Miguel.

  Log - 7

  Hid the body in the top of the elevator. Damn-it, I really did not want to kill her. Such a waste but my own survival comes first. I gave her a chance. I can still remember the look in her eyes as my smile changed and I told her who I really was. Miguel had given me a rifle to hide away inside my messenger bag, it was carbon fiber and customizable. I had to take it apart to make it fit but once I was down on the surface world it would be easy to find my own space and plan my assassination. The best part of the rifle (or maybe not depending on whether or not you were my target) was that the rifle was untraceable and could easily slide through security. Inside my messenger bag, I also had a small knife, the same kind I had used in the military. The knife was easy to conceal.

  I didn't want to kill her with the knife so I took it out and threw it on the ground. I thought for some reason that I would give her a chance, an advantage however small against me. I told her I was former special forces, I told her I had woken from stasis to kill her husband. She laughed at first thinking I was telling some kind of morbid joke. For a moment I wish I had been joking.

  "They will be expecting me in the hangar soon as this elevator stops! You won't be able to get away with this!" she said. I had my doubts anyone would actually be waiting for her. She should have had security. Reynolds's should have thought about an uprising on his ship and kept his family safe. For a moment I wondered if she was even his wife. Maybe she was a liar just like I was. An actress playing to the crowd. It didn't matter. Whoever she was she was now in my way and Miguel was testing me, playing me, unwrapping his new killer toy from the box.

  She was actually pretty good with the knife.

  She almost cut me before I broke her neck. Too bad. She would have made a great freelancer.

  "I really do love you, you know," said Miguel in my ear, "not everyday a man finds a woman that will kill for him and my you do such an excellent job at it, I bet you have many more talents, I can't wait to see how you take out Reynolds," I could hear him smacking his lips as he spoke to me. I really hated this pig.

  "Maybe we should meet up again, you and me and I can show you some of my talents," I responded.

  "Remember love, I own you," he said in response.

  The collar around my neck beeped once, twice, and stopped. Miguel did own me and he made it clear it was something I couldn't forget.

  Exiting the elevator was easy. The hangar was full of life. Another camp had been set up surrounding several dozen ships. Only a few were actually being used as transports to the planet below the rest were housing for those that had awoken. I have such bad luck. If I had been picked up by Erebus's REAL security then surely I would not be in the predicament I am now. I had no doubt in my mind Miguel was lying to me. He had to be the one responsible for the troubles plaguing the ship, it was way too convenient for his guard to be there just as I woke up. All around me I saw starving faces.

  I didn't want to leave the Erebus so soon. It seemed like a shame. A part of me wanted to tell Miguel we should wait till Reynolds's was back on board. I imagined running from one end of the ship to the other fighting through civilians and military alike just like I once had during missions with Squad 13. I imagined the rush as I would fight hand in hand against soldiers trained just as well as I was testing my strength, taking my body to its limit. I imagined the release of endorphins and adrenaline. How had the Erebus found this world so quickly? I guess it was a part of their plan, surely they would know where to stop on the journey to Eden, places to go for supplies, possible worlds that humans could inhabit. Whoever had started waking people up knew we would be arriving here at this time.

  "Inside your bag is a square black card with a dark gray triangle on it, go to GATE E - 8 and tell them Slen sent you," Miguel said into my ear. I reached inside the me
ssenger bag and found the card just as he said. It was the size of a small business card, strange how I hadn't noticed it before. Inside my bag, I also had a med-kit, beauty supplies, a tablet, some books (mostly classics), a notepad, pens, pencils, and my identification papers. Everything a regular passenger would have (except hidden inside my bag was also a knife and pieces of my rifle). As I approached the gate I had hoped that the guard would check my bag and find the hidden compartment that held the rifle parts. I couldn't help but wonder if Miguel would see that as a failure and blow my head apart in front of so many witnesses, no, he would probably wait till I was alone taken away and secluded inside an interrogation room or office. Miguel it seemed was working from the shadows of the ship, if Reynolds was aware of such a threat surely he would not have ventured down to the surface world without doing something about him first. I was caught in the middle of another secret war.

  "I'm Slen's bodyguard, he is sending me down to the surface to make arrangements for his arrival," I lied.

  "You're good," the security guard said handing me my papers and pointing towards one of the transport ships.

  That was easy. Too easy. He didn't even bother to check my bag.

  Log - 8

  I have never been below doing things I don't want to do for others if it is something that benefits me in the long run. I guess that is why I became a soldier (and later a freelancer) in the first place, I wanted to live a life in which my anger, my murderous thoughts could be put to some use. In order to live you have to be a productive member of society whether you join the military or serve under a corporation, we are all a part of the system. Even those holistic hillbillies that live off the grid have to rely on the military for protection and the governments for the land in which they live. Nobody is ever truly away from it all (aside from maybe a few that brave the cold outer reaches of Earth and Mars never to be heard from again). They also farm and share their knowledge in books, forms of media (mostly through the net), get paid by the corporations for raising well-bred chickens for the rich (we all know those that live in the slums or lower housing can't afford that shit). If there was a way to drop out I would have found it. I looked. I tried my best to live a 'free spirited' life moving from one country to the next. I use to stare up at the stars and think that that would be my escape. I would venture to another world away from this pale blue dot and there I would be safe. I would make a living painting or make jewelry, maybe even write about my early travels. For a child like me that was only a dream, never would I have made enough money on my own to escape. Never on my own would I have been able to leave the world in which I had grown.

  I can still remember the smell of the streets in South Africa. The small village in which I grew up located outside of Johannesburg. It was there that I can still remember my mother bringing me into the city and watching as shuttles left the spaceport that had been constructed there. They did nothing to hide the division between the rich and the poor. The closest I ever got to the ports was when my mother went to the market downtown, going to the market had become a rare treat for my mother and I. I can still remember the scent of fresh fish pulled from the ocean and rivers, the color of raw red meat from cows butchered in the back of shops. The market was alive with thousands of people every day. The military guarded the gates with checkpoints and drones making sure that those with firearms would be arrested on site. They protected their precious city from the rot within itself. There were several groups looking for a change, I never saw any of them until I was older sent into the wild to slaughter them but I could remember the graffiti painted on walls as my mother and I walked the alleys.

  One of those symbols of oppression stood out to me but only when I was older. 'Sons of Sol' it had said. The 'Sons of Sol' were rumored to be a group of foul politicians and military that funded the ports and controlled the trade between planets. Truth was that was the Hegemony's job. Each country still had their own system in place but that was a facade. The Hegemony and Terran Military controlled space trade and the resources that made the world go round, they controlled the ships and the technology (reverse engineered for the most part from Skrav vessels dug up from the first invasion years before). Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the ends that the 'Sons' would be all that was left of that New World Order. All over the Erebus, I could see the signs now. The symbols on the sides of doorways inside corridors, printed on the sides of weapons. The 'Sons' had risen and taken control but I guess I can see why they had to be so secretive. If they hadn't the human race would have fallen during the second Skrav attack, the Trinity would never have been established and the human race would be extinct. The 'Sons' had done their job but just like back on Earth, there were several parties at play onboard this ship. Miguel wasn't a 'Son', he was a warlord and a terrorist, a soldier that had fought long and hard against the oppression pressed on the lower class by the corporations. At least that was the information I had managed to find him searching through the records and 'net' available on the Erebus. Supposedly the ship carried with it everything that had been created on Earth but somehow I felt like there were things, small bits of history here and there that had been omitted. I almost admired Miguel for the person he had been; freeing nations from corporate control, feeding the sick and finding homes for the homeless. If I didn't think he had only been doing that to benefit himself; if I didn't know that he was responsible for ending the lives of thousands I would have respected him. Even if he had asked me to help him I might have even joined his side willingly. I had done plenty of horrible things under the rule of the Hegemony and apparently the rule of the 'Sons' myself. God damn-it, Reynolds, who were you?

  I had a lot of time to think. I was sitting inside a transport waiting to descend to the surface world below. They decided to name the planet 'Shear'. A lovely name, I thought thinking of all the ways I could use the word. Miguel's voice hadn't spoken to me in six hours so far. I felt alone, at peace, he was a coward for not doing this himself. Perhaps Miguel would keep his word and free me once my mission had been a success if he did that would I really have reason to kill him? I am only a pawn in this game and if I had been taken in by Reynolds the mission would only have been in reverse. I wasn't even supposed to be onboard this ship. I shouldn't exist in this world, I should have perished with the rest of humanity another casualty of the Skrav. Slen had brought me here and he had known what was going to happen, why me? Why did Slen choose a freelancer like me? He knew his life would be endangered and knew that if someone wanted him dead bad enough they could kill him while he slept. Slen, what the fuck was you thinking? We are all just shades of gray none of us good or evil.

  Log - 9

  I'm doing it again. Letting my emotions get the best of me. Wondering what is wrong and what is right. Silly how sometimes I forget that I am not the one to decide. If there is such a thing as fate my hand, my knife, my gun is an instrument of that cosmic force. Reynolds is my prey and after that, I will find a way to kill Miguel and I am a hundred percent sure that he knows that. Slen knew the risk he was taking when he entered inside stasis, he knew that the moment he woke up there could be an assassin waiting for him, his death wasn't on my hands. Fate had led me here through him and nothing more. I am grateful to be alive even if it is just for this moment. If Miguel or Reynolds had been responsible it didn't matter I was going to kill them both. Reynolds would be easy. Once I land on the surface of 'Shear' I just need to find a private place to assemble my weapon. Given the spot we have set up camp on 'Shear' looks like a chain of islands and jungles finding a cave or hideaway should be fairly easy. Once I have my plan in place I can figure out Reynolds location from any of the soldiers on the surface and hunt him down. I'm still not sure whether I would prefer to kill him from a distance or not but the details will come to me.

  One last search before takeoff. It's an eight-hour drop to the surface from where we are in orbit and I just so happen to have a set of headphones in my bag as well. Time to put on some music. Let me hope the
'Sons' hadn't erased anything I liked from the archives.

  Log - 10

  Any member of Sect-17 young or old had to die. It was unfair you could say. We were 'reapers', Squad-13, a death squad sent into the nastiest situations because we held no moral code. I can still remember Kal and I on our first mission well before the firefight in which he had died, way before the two of us had become much more than lovers.

  The two of us and five others (will get to them in a minute) were dropped into a village on the outskirts of Brazil called 'Babel'. The village had taken its name from the great city and tower of Babel as many of their structures were made from trailers and cargo containers stacked on top of each other that rose high into the sky. Many of the cargo containers were linked by cables and rope bridges but the easiest way to get around had been to use a hover pad or cycle and simply float up or down. Much of the transportation we saw had been patched together and vandalized in some form or fashion. The entire area looked like it had seen better days. They codenamed the section of the village we descended into Area 5.

  We came out of a dropship using rope and wire to descend to the ground. We were all armed. M44 rifles in hand with grenade launchers to boot. Our exo-suits were the best technology could provide (at least at such a low cost the military didn't mind lending them out to expendables like us). We were a hundred yards outside a broken checkpoint when we got our orders.

  - "The entire sector is Section 17, kill anything that moves, destroy the buildings and level it all, we're sending a message," command said. I was the first to open fire using my grenade launcher to bring down a stack of cargo containers. The chaos had begun.