by Rishi Sriram
His voice was critical as usual, but this time he seemed taken aback.
“It seems not everyone understands what it means to submit, there are
some free-running fools that have been causing some issues. But don’t worry,
that doesn’t put a dent in our plans at all. Now coming to the topic at hand,
the lot of you must be feeling betrayed. After all, one of your ‘own’ people
set your dorms on fire. Would you believe that? Hey don’t look at me, why
would I burn buildings that I need to reuse for future colonists?”
Nathan gulped, that made sense but there was no way they could trust the
voice.
The voice continued, “Either way, it’s clear that I’m going to have to
speed things up a little when the other batches of colonists arrive. But that’s
nothing of your concern. Oh, and that brings me to what I was going to say.
It’s quite possible that the people behind the fire could have been a group of
two, three, four, say seven people? If you’re a logic-minded person, and you
don’t suspect me, then who else could it be?”
The voice chuckled; he was trying to sway the minds of those people who
had already been driven to the brink of insanity. “To help you understand, it
could have been caused by the very people you saw ‘helping’ those in the
fire. Who knows?” Nathan was utterly confused, how was the man keeping
so many tabs on them? He knew about everything that happened, as it was
happening. And now he was turning the colonists against themselves.
“In any case, I’ll spare the lives of whoever turns in those seven, and the
book they have with them. That book carries some emotional significance to
me…regardless, whether you bring them in dead or alive, it doesn’t concern
me. I just want them and the book at the research lab as soon as possible. If
you value your lives then you’ll do as I say.”
The three children were waiting with bated breath; alert for anything else
that might concern them.
The voice paused, taking a hesitant breath, “And my Ravas are also on
the lookout; however, this doesn’t mean that they will cease coming after the
rest of you as well. If you’re in their way, then, well, it was nice knowing
you. Till we meet again, I wish you the best of luck. And if any of you were
wondering, there are now approximately two thousand people left on this
colony. That means around ninety-eight thousand people have been killed.
Good work, Ravas! I’m definitely giving you guys a raise.”
The seven of them weren’t the slightest bit worried that people would be
hunting them down. Nathan could tell that most of the colonists were still
recovering from the, whereas many others had been thrown to denial. No one
wanted to believe that it was true, but they knew it was. Nathan had begun to
expect the unexpected; none of it surprised him anymore. But that didn’t
mean he didn’t feel betrayed about what had been said. He thought of it this
way: there was a high chance that the people he sat next to, in front of, or
behind of in the shuttle, were no longer alive. He clenched his fists, his
feelings more woeful than bitter. Their hope, the people’s hope to make the
world a better place, was being crushed.
He turned his head to the others.
Nemiah had his eyes closed, reflecting everything that was going on. It
was hard for it to enter his mind that in a few days, such mass carnage could
occur. He glimpsed at Nathan, who in turn seemed composed. It was clear
that he was going through pain, but he didn’t take it out on anything, he was
still his usual self. That gave Nemiah some reassurance. If Nathan would stay
collected and lead them, he felt that things were going to be fine. He felt a
sense of safety under the leadership of Nathan.
Kara’s mind wandered off to someplace else, wondering where her father
might have been, or if he was even still alive. There was another thought
running in her mind: could her father have been one of the Ravas, or could he
have been behind the plan entirely? That wasn’t a possibility she wanted to
consider but it was never safe to assume anything. People could hide things,
dark secrets; that if ever let out, no one would ever see them the same way
again. One thing for sure, she wanted to stick with Nathan—his presence
made her relax a little, she felt safe, and he knew the others felt the same
way.
The two sisters were holding each other tight, Emily whispering
heartening words into Jessica’s ears. Then she huddled up toward the other
two boys and consoled them. They might not have been her siblings but they
were still young children, and they needed just as much sympathizing as her
sister did. Her heartbeat was normal. Once she had seen what Nathan had
done to save another’s life, she felt like her hope had been restored. It wasn’t
the first thing she thought of, but she could almost envision how her life
would be once they escaped the colony. She imagined returning home with
her sister, their lives continuing as it had before; no more dreams of changing
the world—that would cease. Only, this time she would have friends to keep
her going, making her look forward to living the next day; far from the real
world and all of its problems.
The dome crackled, and the disturbing feeling partially returned. One
thing was for sure: she unquestionably loathed the man speaking on the
announcement system. What kind of heartless soul could be entertained by,
and even more—support the killing of—innocent people? It made her
stomach churn merely thinking about it. It would be entirely horrifying for
her to have to meet him, whoever it was. On the other hand, if she ever did,
then she would give him a piece of her mind, beat him black and blue, and
convince him to answer to his wrongdoings.
The voice spoke, “I sat down and thought for a minute about a way to
speed this entire process up. I’m quite certain you all remember the ‘Animal
Center’ and its marvelous array of creatures. Well, it was initially planned to
use them as experiments to create our Ravas, but now I’ve come to realize
that they can do much more than that. Unfortunately, most of the animals
were experimented to be non-carnivorous, in the case of them ever trying to
attack their creators. But even so, there was a much stronger drug that we
experimented on a pack of wild lions, and for those creatures, they’re still
very much carnivorous. These guys haven’t eaten in a while, so they’ll be
very bloodthirsty. That also means…Ravas, back off for the next hour; the
lions don’t know the difference between ordinary colonists and those of you,
so try not to engage them. Anyhow, enjoy, I’m sure this should be fun. Three.
Two. One.” The gates of the animal center opened with a large bang; the
packs of lions were released.
The lions split apart and in short time, the dome resounded in loud
shrieks. As luck would have it, the lions were still an adequate distance away,
so they were safe, for some time. The seven of them directed their gaze
toward the people around them, backing up in a defensive stance. After all,
>
there was something of a bounty on them, and the reward was survival. It
wouldn’t have surprised them if everyone around started charging them.
Instead, the people began helping one another, entirely dismissing the wanted
people at hand. Any amount of rations they had on hand was split amongst
the people who were there, including the seven of them. Nathan couldn’t help
but be appalled, wondering, what is going on?
Part of the crowd scrambled for buildings and whatever cover they could
get, while the other part of the crowd was discussing the situation quite
calmly, as if they were all comrades there.
Max was daring to ask the question, “Are you guys not going to hurt us?”
There was a silence, the crowd shuffling around, not wanting to answer the
question. The front of the group shifted to the sides, and an old man walked
through. He approached the boy slowly, a sweet smile on his face. He patted
Max’s head and gave him his answer: “No, son. We know you seven weren’t
responsible for this. Especially not after we saw how caring and willing you
are. Even if that rapscallion did let us live, we would never turn you in. It’s
not the right thing to do, we’re in this together. That means the only way we
can get out of here is by working with each other. So don’t worry, kiddo, we
won’t lay a finger on you.”
Max nodded and grinned. It was touching to hear such warm words in a
time like that. That put their minds at rest, knowing that they had many other
people who were willing to help them, and that meant they only had to worry
about one enemy.
The crowd came closer together, the chattering casually increasing. From
behind him, Nathan was caught in a hug, it was the little girl he had saved
from the fire, and standing behind her were her parents. For the most part, the
girl looked fine—her eyes were a little damp, but her breathing was steady,
and she didn’t seem to be in any sort of pain. Her parents flashed a wide
smile at him and said, “Thank you so much for saving our little girl; we can’t
express how indebted we feel toward you.”
He gave them a tender expression. “You don’t owe me a single thing—
I’m not asking for anything in return.” The family seemed to relax, and they
faded back into the group of people. Things had just begun to look bright for
them when they heard a loud roar ahead—and it was getting louder. One of
the lions was charging at them; and at full speed.
The lion had a long beautiful orange mane that grew out of its head like a
sunflower. It had dark, the color of hazelnuts, with a gleam of red. Its
reddish-orange fur waved in the air as its long flexible body strode. Its
muzzle was wet with slobber, sloppy mouth dripping with saliva. The lion’s
large jaw was wide-open, displaying a bright assortment of shining white
teeth that were sharpened like knives. There were some people who ran
astray in terror, while others threw at it whatever they could get their hands
on. The lion kept charging through, undaunted by the items it was struck
with. Nathan stepped forward, activating his gloves, eyes swelling with
motive. The lion leapt into the air, claws extended. Nathan jumped up and
landed a solid uppercut on the underside of the lion, sending it flying back.
The crowd cheered for him, yet he knew the beast wouldn’t go down that
easily. He had only made it angrier.
Pushing off of its front feet, the lion stood on its hind legs and growled,
blasting their eardrums. The lion snarled and opened its mouth wider,
preparing to swallow Nathan in one gulp. Further away, Emily grasped the
gun in her hands, and fired at the lion, the bullet grazing its side. Blood
dripped down from the wound, but the lion’s attention was now directed
towards her. Before anyone could understand what was going on, the lion
leapt at her. In haste she loaded the weapon again, although it wasn’t before
the beast came down on her leg with its teeth. She wailed in pain as red fluid
seeped from her blood-soaked gash. The fearsome beast shook its head back
and forth, trying to rip the meat from her body; the gun flew from her hands.
Kara reacted a moment sooner than the others, activating her shoes, and
giving the beast a swift kick to its head. The lion staggered back, but not as
far this time.
Emily bawled—there was a large slash in her leg and blood was pouring
out rapidly. People rushed to her aid and carried her off to the side, away
from the lion. Tears rushed out of her eyes and her sister as well. Emily’s leg
was in unimaginable pain, it was a miracle she was even still alive. The
crowd frantically threw bandages and disinfectants around, doing their best to
tend to her.
Nemiah sat by her side the entire time, giving her moral strength. “We’re
here for you, Emily. You’ll be fine; we’re not going to let you die on us.”
Although he said that, he was thoroughly worried. Blood didn’t seem to stop
escaping her wound, and the lion had ripped off a large layer of meat.
Nemiah blazed around the place, searching for whatever he could to make her
feel better. He knew it must have been hard for Jessica as well, seeing her
sister in so much pain. He wrapped a large bandage around her leg, nice and
taut, helping her support. He grabbed a tissue and helped others apply
disinfectant and water over the wound. Her screams grew louder, as they
applied a stronger medication to her wound.
The business of the lion still wasn’t over, but they didn’t wait for the lion
to get back up this time. Pumping his arms and legs, Nathan bolted towards
the gun, grabbed it and shot at the lion. The bullet missed the target, though
the lion was clearly afraid of the weapon. Nathan found the plastic bullet
container; there was only one more bullet and he had to make it count. The
lion thrashed around, and managed back to his feet. It eyed Nathan with great
fury, and careered toward him. He quickly opened the container and loaded
the weapon, though the lion was already inches away from him. The second
the bullet was inside the gun round, Nathan quickly pulled the trigger and the
shot struck the lion’s underside. At impact, the lion groaned and fell beside
Nathan. Then the beast stopped moving. The bullet crackled in electricity,
and the lion bellowed loudly. In short time the electricity died, just like the
lion.
Nathan’s eyes stung. He might not have had the best experience with
animals, but it still hurt him to see an innocent creature being used like that.
Sure, the lion had tried to eat them, but who could blame it? Deprived of
food, the only thing that kept it going was the very thought of something to
eat—it was an innocent creature caught in the mess just like the colonists.
Nathan and Kara rushed back to Emily to see how she was doing. Her pain
had somewhat lessened, and she had been given all sorts of medication and
pain relievers. Overall, she was still hurt but she was going to be fine.
CHAPTER 10
THE BOOK
Fact: Mars is emerging from an ice age that ended 400,000 years ago.
Once the lion had left, the
seven of them parted with the other group,
going separate ways. It was comforting to have many people on their
side, but it was attracting attention, they knew they couldn’t stay there.
Nathan and Nemiah lifted Emily on their shoulders, and slowly went back to
the spot where they had buried the food. They rested her on the ground
gently, and pulled out their resources. Everyone was extremely tired. It was
already late in the day, nighttime was near. While the others slept, Nathan
and Nemiah took over night watch.
Nemiah took the first shift and Nathan the second. Sometime during
Nemiah’s shift, the man on the announcement spoke again: “Today, 1,289
more have died. Your numbers are dwindling.” Nemiah wasn’t surprised but
it still hit him hard—lives were being taken at an immense pace. There were
a little over seven hundreds of them left. They had to stay alert, things
weren’t looking too bright.
Day 7 on Mars:
By the next morning, Emily had slightly recovered; the medicine seemed to
be doing its work. Out of tiredness, she had slept like a log the past night and
her energy was restored. Her legs weren’t in shape to walk on her own, but
the pain had somewhat been relieved. The area around her bite caused a
sharp, tingling irritation, and she couldn’t feel the lower part of her left leg,
but it was manageable. That’s what she told the others—in reality, she felt
awful.
It was her sheer willpower that kept her from shrinking in pain and
screaming whenever she tried to move. Her body was in terrible pain, but she
didn’t want anyone to know for a few reasons. Her sister was grief-stricken
enough when the lion sunk its teeth into her leg; the best thing she could do
for her was at least appear alright.
All this time, everyone had continued to be considerate, helping tend to
her wounds. It stung her eyes to see the others going through so much work
because of her. She was never fond of playing the injured part—even though
she was actually hurt, it couldn’t help but feel like the others were being
used. One notion echoed through her mind: She was going to die. It was
unheard of, surviving a chomp from a chemically enhanced lion, without
serious medical treatment. Not that someone had ever been in the same