The Distance Between

by Blair Cousins

  They came to an opening in the vents that went straight down, and a rough hand pushed Ester along sending them down the hole. Ester fell screaming but looked up only to see blue fiery flames coming from the place they just were. The group descended fast down the pitch-black vents. If they didn’t find a way to stop, they would die from impact. One of the Reformers launched a grappling hook and it lodged itself into the side of the vent. That Reformer grabbed his buddy who in turn grabbed Ester’s arm and the group stopped feet above the slide that lead to the exterior vent on the bottom of the ship. The rumbling continued as Ester could hear the fighting going on outside. The Reformer holding onto her used all their strength to hoist her up to grab the foot of the other Reformer. Ester saw what they were trying to do and reached out to grab it, but debris from above rained down and hit the Reformer holding her in the back causing them to lose their grip and Ester slipped away.

  “No!” The Reformer shouted as they watched Ester hit the bottom of the chute and disappear down the vent. “We have to go down!”

  “There’s no time!” The Reformer grappled to the vent pointed up. Their rope wouldn’t hold them for long. The other Reformer cursed and punched their hook into another section of the vent, and the two climbed back up.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Fires raged all throughout General Tozork’s ship. Flashing red lights turned the hallways into a warzone as guards raced to stop Reformers from advancing. On the deck, Tozork loyalists shouted over private channels in vain trying to get a grasp of the situation going on on the other ships. The secondary ship Core 3-2 had sustained heavy damage, and their other ship Core 3-3 was not doing any better. To further complicate the situation, it would appear that Reformers had taken over both ships and were now turning their weapons towards them. The shields were down, and their main weapon had just been disabled.

  Vents burst on the main deck, spewing out hot gasses. Loyalist ran to their stations and armed up as the sound of gunshots echoed from behind the deck’s door. In the captain’s seat, General Tozork gripped the arm of his chair so tight that the cushions tore from the armrest. The six foot five Labadoran rose from his seat. He tore his robe from his chest revealing years of scared and burned flesh. He cracked his furless knuckles and rotated his neck, stepping into the light, making his large black horns more visible against the stitches on his face.

  “General Tozork, the weapon is malfunctioning. What do you recommend we do?” A frantic guard said from their station.

  General Tozork withdrew his weapon as the sounds of fighting increased from behind the deck door.

  “Fire at the city below. If they think this battle is won, then they have grossly underestimated my power,” General Tozork said with a sinister grin.

  “Yes sir!”

  General Tozork watched his ship set the city a blaze. From behind him, the deck door exploded open knocking his men off their feet. General Tozork did not flinch as Reformers poured onto the deck and began firing at his men. His loyalists fired back, creating casualties on both sides. General Tozork withdrew his weapon, a fire sword, and slashed his way through the Reformers, relieving any opponent who stood in his way of their heads or limbs. Bodies dropped, but none could land a hit on Tozork because of the shield protecting him and soon more guards would arrive further bringing down the Reformer’s numbers. General Tozork grabbed a Reformer by their head and used their body as a shield. Mangled and bullet ridden, Tozork lifted the body in the air and tossed it to the side with a grin. More guards arrived, firing from the hall as the ship shook from the on slot outside. General Tozork eyed a Reformer with a sniper gun and called his men to stand down.

  “You can come out now, Jordain.” General Tozork said with a grin.

  Firing on both sides stopped, as the ship continued to rumble. The snipper that had saved Pisces from before stood and walked into the light. He removed his helmet, revealing a large scar on the right side of his head below his chipped black horn, nestled in his cornflower blue fur. He cast an anger look General Tozork’s way. Tozork laughed, as arrogantly as ever, only making Jordain angrier.

  “You failed to stop me on Labadora, and you think you can stop me here?” General Tozork said.

  “Look around, you have been beaten,” Jordain said.

  “Beaten? I have been blessed by the motherland of Ceapeaya and raised from the ashes of fire. I will bring this planet to its knees.”

  “Give up. We have control of your ships.”

  General Tozork laughed, as tensions rose high as both sides rose their weapons.

  “You know what separates me from you?” General Tozork circled around the bodies of his fallen men. “You rely on words and the actions of others to prove your worthiness. I do not need such things to command my following. If there is an opponent I take care of them myself. That is the Labadoran way.”

  Jordain glared at him but held his ground.

  “Let’s settle this now. Labadora does not need a warrior of words. It craves a warrior of action,” General Tozork said.

  General Tozork dropped his sword and turned off his shield and stood before Jordain. Guards on both sides kept their weapons on their enemies. Jordain glared at Tozork and handed his rifle to his fellow Reformer. The ship rattled as explosions continued to bombard the ship, but that did nothing to break the tension in the room. General Tozork grinned and opened up his arms wide taunting Jordain. Another vent exploded spewing out more thick white steam. Jordain used this opportunity to attack. Jordain ran low and slammed his body into Tozork’s. Tozork fell back into a command panel, but there was only laughter coming from his gut as he slammed his fist into Jordain back. Jordain pulled back and punched Tozork in the face, then punched him again several times in the gut. Each blow knocked Tozork back, but not one of his blows knocked that grin off his face. Tozork was 240 pounds of pure muscle, which compared to Jordain’s lean frame, gave him a clear advantage, but still Jordain was relentless in his attacks. Tozork stumbled into the screen, cracking it with his weight. Jordain had his speed as his advantage and Tozork knew that. Tozork blocked another punch and grabbed Jordain by the arm and swing him into the screen like a ragdoll. Tozork then stomped him in the gut until he felt ribs crack beneath his boots. Jordain coughed blood but swing around and punched Tozork in the knee. Tozork hollered and Jordain took this opening and punched him square in the nose. Tozork fell back and hissed as he wiped away the blood.

  “No matter what you think will happen here, I will come out victorious.” General Tozork’s voice was briefly fainter as he searched for a weapon.

  Jordain hollered and charged at Tozork, who pulled out a shard of metal and sliced Jordain across the gut. Jordain stumbled back and fell into a command station, holding his bleeding gut. The cut was shallow, but wide and blood soaked his fur and uniform.

  “Coward!” Jordain shouted.

  General Tozork got up and laughed.

  “Words, words, words, it’ll be all that is known of you!”

  Tozork walled over to Jordain and grabbed him by the uniform and lifted him into the air. Tozork’s dark green eyes revealed the true monster he was. He slammed Jordain against the panel, intent on breaking him into a million pieces. Jordain fought against his grip as Tozork laughed hysterically. Jordain could see the spots in his vision, but his heart would not give up. No amount of pain he endured could compare to the consequences his people would face if he died here today. Jordain kicked Tozork in the kidney. Tozork dropped him and hollered, moving his hands around wildly to catch him. Jordain dodged and kicked him in the gut again, causing Tozork to trip over one of the bodies of his own men. Jordain grabbed a pipe and struck Tozork across the head. White light flashed before Tozork’s eyes as he went down, feeling blow after blow on his back and ribs. Tozork reached for a gun but Jordain slammed his foot into Tozork’s knee, breaking it. Tozork hollered and rolled over, his breath hitched when he saw Jordain towering over him with his fire sword in hand.

  “Wait!” To
zork yelled.

  “You wanted a warrior of action. Well, let this be my inaugural statement,” Jordain said as he brought the fiery hot blade across Tozork’s neck, beheading him.

  There was silence on the deck as Jordain reached down and picked up Tozork’s head, holding it up for all to see. Loyalists dropped their weapons as more Reformers made it to the deck.

  “Broadcast this to our home world. Let it be known that General Tozork is no more,” Jordain said as his men took control over the ship.

  ***

  Laser fire rained from the sky, causing debris to fall into the streets and onto people. Angel and Fermit struggled to funnel people into the tunnels. They thought they were in the clear when they saw one of the smaller ships begin to fire on the main ship, but suddenly the main ship started attacking Ans-on again. Rubble fell to the ground and shattered into pieces sending shards into buildings and hover cars.

  Fermit jumped out of the way when one piece landed right where he was standing. He winced, as bits of glass cut into his hands. Angel hurried over to pull him out from the sidewalk. Another building went down not to fair from them causing a cloud of dust to sweep across the city. Citizens shielded their eyes as rangers and cadets continued to work.

  “Fermit, let’s take this batch down the tunnels,” Angel said when he saw other rangers arriving.

  The two had been working in pairs as most of their unit was either pulled elsewhere or injured. Dust burned Fermit’s eyes as he struggled to his feet and stumbled after Angel down the tunnel. Citizens were still funneling through as Angel and Fermit waved for them to take the blue line deeper underground. All of the tunnels in Ans-on were triple reinforced. Angel praised the engineer’s foresight as they directed the traffic deep underground.

  Deep in the tunnels, citizens heathy enough to walk joined the long line of people exiting the city. Angel crouched down and to catch his breath. The air was thin down here and hard to breath, but it was no better on the surface. Angel wiped the blood and sweat from his face, when he thought he saw one of Ester’s friends in the crowd. He wasn’t that far from Ester’s locale, but he couldn’t get a hold of her and that scared him.

  “I’ll be right back, Fermit!”

  “Angel!” Fermit shouted after him.

  “Hey! Excuse me!” Angel shouted as he pushed through the crowd. “Excuse me! Sir.”

  Sal looked up and was surprised to see Ester’s friend. He walked closer, closing the gap between them.

  “Excuse me, do you know a girl named Ester DuTain?” Angel said.

  “Yes! Yes, I do,” Sal said. “You are Angel Johnson, Ester’s friend.”

  “Yes, I am. Have you seen her? Is she with you?” Angel looked around.

  “She is not, but to my knowledge she is okay. She left the nation state to visit Cha-la just a few days ago,” he said, hoping that would help ease some of Angel’s worries.

  “Cha-la?” Angel said almost relieved. He didn’t have time to dwell on it; he could fell his wristband beeping, Fermit was trying to reach him. “Thank you, thank you so much.”

  Sal waved as Angel ran back to Fermit. He didn’t know why Ester had left for Cha-la but thank goodness. Fermit asked him what that was about, and Angel said he would explain later. Fermit pulled him along, back to the surface. They were being reassigned. Angel asked where and Fermit said they would know when they got there, but that did little to settle Angel’s nerves. He barely wanted to be here. He wanted to go home and hide, but it was likely there wasn’t even a home to go to.

  Back on the surface, Fermit pulled up the directions and led them down the streets. It was mostly empty, but it was also littered with the bodies of civilians that were not so lucky. Angel tried to ignore it, but it was hard. The blasting stopped only to pick up again. Fermit and Angel took cover, but ran quickly to their new station, following the directions on Fermit’s wristband. Straight ahead was a group of rangers shouting and directing others. A woman caught sight of the boys and waved them over.

  “Hey! Are you the A-11 back-up?” The ranger standing next to a hover jetter said.

  Fermit nodded as he tried not to look at the man groaning in the stretcher being taken away.

  “Good, you’re needed up top.” The ranger turned on the bike. “You two take this up, the captain will give you more instructions when you get there.”

  Fermit hopped on first, as Angel took the back. Fermit gunned the hover jetter and ascended to the top of the skyscraper. Angel held on tight with his eyes closed as the ground was pummeled by lasers. Angel opened his eyes half way up and saw the extent of the damage. The main ship above them was firing at will and his poor nation state was being demolished. Angel held on tighter, wishing this nightmare would end. Fermit landed at the top and Angel was pulled away. Another ranger told Fermit to take another injured ranger down below. Fermit and Angel exchanged glances, but Angel nodded to him that he would be okay. Angel watched Fermit leave as the ranger in charge directed him.

  “Hey cadet, we could really use your help. Our canon is jammed. Help load so we can work,” the captain shouted.

  More shots hit the ground and Angel flinched. He could die here, just like those other rangers. He froze as the explosions blasted in his ears. All the stress of the day was catching up to him. The ranger working the cannon noticed this and ran over.

  “What’s your name, son?” the captain asked.

  “An-Angel, Angel Johnson.” Angel flinched when another hover screen plummeted to the ground.

  “Well, Ranger Johnson, our team could really use your help. All you gotta do is help keep the cannon steady.” The captain pointed to the cannon. “I know it’s scary, but what Rean could really use is your help, are you ready?”

  Angel turned and looked at the captain and slowly nodded. He swallowed his fear and ran over to the cannon and helped hold it in place. The sky was an ugly gray and droplets of metal rained from the sky as ranger pilots and enemy ships clashed. Angel took a deep breath and held the cannon steady.

  “Thanks, Ranger,” the captain said, as they re-loaded their cannon and fired at will.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  It was the sudden quietness that woke Ester. She was laying on a grate looking down at the metropolis a fire below. She slowly leaned up as the grate started to shake. There as a cracking noise and Ester looked around and noticed the platform she was laying on was starting to fall apart under her weight. She looked down. She was hundreds of feet in the air. She started to panic and looked up the slide. It was too steep for her to climb, but she tried away. She crawled slowly towards the chute, but it didn’t seem like the grate would hold for much longer. Sweat formed on her brow as she inched closer and closer to the slide, with the grate creaking at every step, causing her to flinch as she moved. If she could just make it to the slide, she could perhaps wait there to be recused, but who would know she was there?

  Her heart pounded against her chest as one end of the grate broke loose.

  Ester froze.

  She looked over her shoulder and saw where the grate had come loose from the vent. She gulped and slowly turned back around, carefully picking up her hand. Another side of the grate snapped, and the entire thing wobbled and bent. Ester cried out. She looked up at the slide, she was just inches away. She looked down and shut her eyes as she slowly moved her knee forward. Another latch on the grate failed and that combined with Ester’s weight caused the vent door swing wide open, lunging Ester forward. She caught hold of the grate and was now hanging hundreds of feet in the air above Ans-on. She held on for dear life but didn’t have the upper body strength to grip it for much longer.

  She looked up at the vent above her. She wasn’t sure what was going to give first: her fingers or the last latch on the grate. She dangled high in the air and struggled to do anything but hang. This couldn’t be the end? Did they at least win? And what of Pisces? She couldn’t have? Could she? Ester didn’t even want to think about it. Her fingers burned as they pressed har
der into the grate.

  This was really it.

  Warm tears cascaded down Ester’s face. Her fingers began to slip as the latch whined.

  “Well, I had a good run.” She trembled as tears ran freely down her cheeks and the grate latches snapped sending her plummeting to the ground.

  Ester watched the ship moved farther and farther away. This was the end. It would soon be over soon. She closed her eyes.

  ***

  From the skyscraper where Angel was stationed, the captain broadcast a live feed from one of the pilots.

  “We did it everyone!” the captain announced.

  Cheers from the rest of the team erupted as the news spread of a surrender. Angel was relieved but extremely tired. He watched the feed of the ranger pilots boarding the ships.

  “Hey, what’s that?” one of the rangers said looking through a spy drone feed.

  The Captain turned to her. “What are you seeing?”

  “I’m not sure, sir, but it appears to be a person hanging from the underside of the main ship.”

  The Captain and the rest of the group walked over. “Is it one of ours?”

  “Hard to tell sir, but I can zoom in closer.” The ranger pressed the zoom button on their spy drone. “It looks like a ranger.”

  They could tell by the uniform. Angel examined the screen closer and gasped in fear.

  “Ester!” Angel shouted as he looked to the main ship.

  He could recognize that fly away hair anywhere. Without thinking Angel pushed his way pass the team and headed for the hover jetter.

  “What? Wait!” the captain shouted as Angel hopped on and took off.

  “Sorry! Gotta go!” Angel lifted in the air and made a sharp turn and gunned the jetter to full speed.

  Ester hold on!

  ***

  Ester was falling fast. Her eyes were closed as she accepted her fate. She was ready to go when a hand grabbed onto her arm, pulling her back into reality.