The Colony

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,
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  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