by Rishi Sriram
it, without our help,” he said. She looked at him like he had just slapped her
grandmother, and he stepped back intimidated. She reluctantly pushed herself
up. Her leg quivered, struggling to maintain balance; nonetheless, she didn’t
stay in one place. Tapping the Litracon plank against the ground, she tried to
move around. As intended, the plank touched the ground a little before her
left foot, allowing her to put pressure on it. Emily wondered if a crutch might
have worked better, although this was no time to make any critiques. Taking
her steps slowly, she walked around the place apprehensively, and did so
showing no signs of pain.
“It seems fine at a slow pace, let me try moving faster—be prepared to
catch me if I fall,” Emily said, confidence returning to her voice. Moving
away, she walked at the same pace, then began boosting off her stilt faster
and faster, the Litracon making a thunking noise against the ground every
time. Eventually she was moving at a running pace, and seemed to be getting
the hang of moving around with the stilt. Although the colony was
atmosphere- and gravity-controlled, the gravity level still wasn’t the exact
same as on Earth. The somewhat reduced gravity accounted for most of
Emily’s ability to move around so easily, despite her energy. Even she herself
seemed impressed.
“This is great. There’s a bit of resistance when I move, but I can walk
OK. It doesn’t hurt near as much before and I can keep my balance. I think
we should be able to move around again, with no issues.”
The other three exchanged glances. They weren’t so sure, but if Emily
said it herself, it must have been fine. Jessica smiled wide, she was happy to
see her sister up and moving again. It was a relief for all of them, it really
made a difference. Outside of the dome, something small flew in and grew
massive in a split second, colliding with the dome.
The barrier shook a little, furious winds pounding the dome with waves of
rocky minerals. It was a sandstorm, and a great one at that. Machinery
attached to the dome rattled loudly, loose screws shaking apart. The barrier of
the dome had been stated to be able to withstand the direct impact of a
missile; however they weren’t so sure it could hold its ground under the
pressure of a sandstorm.
Large winds circulated with sandy rocks—small, grainy minerals filling
the gaps. The winds gradually accelerated, crashing into the barrier
repeatedly. It was frightening just listening to the noises, while the sight of
the collisions made it all the more worse. People in the dome began to
murmur, uncomfortably huddling together, trying to understand what was
going on.
No sooner than had the people begin to crowd together, the Ravas took
the distraction to their advantage, firing at the large hordes. The colonists
went down like dominos, one after the other. The bullets pierced their skin,
and then they went entirely still. Electric sparks flew across their bodies as
they dropped to the ground, screaming in pain. There was serious bloodshed.
“Watch out for the Ravas!” Parker bellowed. They huddled around each
other, prepared to fight.
On cue a Rava ran at them from the side with bloodthirsty eyes and a
fierce look on its face. They gulped. It was the Rava they had seen at the
front of the research lab. The Rava growled, with a scary sneer on its face.
They knew this wasn’t a fight they could punch their way out of. Outside the
dome, a large chunk of rock slammed into the barrier, shattering machinery
and sending pieces of metal flying. Terror and screams ran rampant; their
attentions were divided amongst the sandstorm, the metal, and the Ravas.
The Rava coming at them was wearing the enhanced equipment, and held
dual guns in his hands. He fired both of them simultaneously, one making
contact with Nathan’s right glove, and bouncing off. That gave him an idea:
the bullets couldn’t penetrate his gloves, so he could use them to land a
counter.
They weren’t ready to fight, but they had no choice. Nathan activated his
gloves and stood in a defensive stance. The Rava ran through him, head-on,
and Nathan was blasted a hundred feet back, smashing into a construction
site. He rolled backward until he hit a clutter of metal rods with the back of
his head. Blood seeped down the back of his head. They had no fighting
chance. If only there were more bullet rounds for their gun. They overused it
in their last encounter with the lion. The Rava was too powerful for them to
even consider fighting. That didn’t mean they could just stand there—there
was no outrunning him, either. The Rava ripped off a chunk of the wall next
to him and flung it like a Frisbee at his head.
Had he reacted any later, his head would have been cut off. Still
recovering from the impact, he rapidly blinked. At the very last moment he
noticed the large wedge of Litracon flying at him, and crawled out of the way
as it shattered against a structure. Kara pressed down on the soles of her
shoes, and leapt at the Rava with a flying roundhouse kick. He simply caught
it with his left hand and threw her to the side. The Rava sunk his feet into the
ground, rock crunching under his feet, and then propelled himself into the air
toward the fallen Nathan. Nathan had never been so scared in his life, it was
almost funny. He would need a miracle for them to defeat the Rava, and
miracles didn’t really happen on Mars’s extermination camps.
Once the Rava had flown into the air, Nathan went running for the hills.
There was no way he was going to let himself be crushed by a six foot, three
hundred pound man. His willpower didn’t quite change anything; however, it
did help him feel a little better. The Rava was still diving in his direction,
Doomsday-style, ready to smash his upper body off. Suddenly, Nathan’s
instinct kicked in, and he quit thinking ahead—whatever happened would
happen. Just when he was about to be kicked directly in the face, he rolled to
the side, spun around and kicked the Rava directly in the side. The Rava fell
back into an empty wheelbarrow, unfazed.
He cracked his knuckles, a little amused. “Didn’t expect for you to put up
such a fight,” the Rava said. “I’ll acknowledge that you guys aren’t ordinary
kids, but guess what? I’m still stronger. I had a hunch that there was
something strange about the lot of you when I first met you outside the
laboratory, but I let it slide. What a mistake. The name’s Pierce, remember it
to your grave.” He punched Nathan in the stomach, knocking the air out of
his body. Nathan dropped to the ground, wheezing for air, the looming man
standing above. Pierce loaded the two guns, and aimed straight at Nathan’s
head, pulling on the trigger. There was a loud high-pitched scream behind
Pierce; a knife had lodged itself deep into his back. It was Nemiah; he had
snuck up on them amidst the confusion. Pierce yelped in pain, staggering
backward while trying to haul out the knife from his back. Out of shock, he
blankly shot a couple times into the open air.
Nathan w
as excited. Could they have beaten one of the most vicious
Ravas? Pierce reached his arm behind him, and jerked it backward, a bloody
knife flying out. He stood up immediately after, growling through his teeth.
There was his answer. No, they had not. Without a moment’s hesitation,
Pierce came down on both of their heads with his fists; bawling loudly.
Pierce’s fist had almost smashed into their skulls when Nathan weaved to the
side and punched him square in the jaw. Pierce moved back a little, clenching
his teeth.
“You guys really don’t know when to give up.” Nemiah ran a short
distance away and suddenly stopped. And then he started dancing.
Pierce squinted at him sideways. “What are you doing?”
Nemiah grinned, embarrassed, “Look behind you.” Pierce turned around
and was met with a punch to the face. He fell backward, and before he could
get up, from the distance, Kara ran at him at full speed and kicked him
directly in the chest. He dropped to the floor, lying completely still.
Hopping off of the wooden plank, Emily walked unsteadily toward them,
the three children following behind. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I wish I could
have helped.”
Pierce laughed softly. “Do you think that’s all it takes to defeat me?”
They stepped back, surprised; they had been sure that he had been defeated.
They grumbled, exhaling slowly. They were running out of energy and it
didn’t seem like they had a chance to defeat the Rava.
Sticking his fists into the ground, Pierce smiled. “Not in the slightest, you
need much more firepower than that,” he said. They gulped, worried.
“The only thing is, this armor and injection have taken an immense toll
on my body, and as sad as it is, I need some time to recover. This isn’t any bit
of an opportunity for you, either—I might be resting, but that doesn’t mean I
can’t fight back if I really wanted to. It could kill me, but I’d do it anyway.
After all, it’s quite entertaining to witness the hopeless fight you put up for
such a lost cause.”
“Lost cause?” Kara growled. “You think human lives are toys to be
played with? Do you think that it’s fun to kill innocent people?”
He scorned her, the bitterness in his voice shocking her. “No! That’s far
from it. I have a family, too; there are lives I care about just like you do. I just
happened to be the one person who agreed with his philosophy.”
“And who exactly is that,” Emily asked, an eager tone in her voice.
“I don’t know he did everything behind a mask—but back to what I was
saying. I agree entirely with him that overpopulation is an issue, and I saw
this as the easiest opportunity to solve it. Peaceful actions aren’t going to
change anything. They never have, never will. It’s just how humanity has
been and how we operate: we rely on battles and bloodshed to deal with our
issues, and frankly, in most scenarios, it provides a solution. Now let me ask
you a question: how do you suppose we deal with overpopulation? It’s
definitely not by joining arms, dancing around in circles singing Kum ba yah.
Physical action has to be made for human progress to occur. Modern society
is suffering from delusion, we believe that all our issues can be solved with a
smile on our face, and they can’t process the issues that happen right in front
of their eyes. Everyone is aware that overpopulation is an issue, but not many
understand the severity of it, and its repercussions. And as a result: economic
production has rapidly decreased, there are more mouths to feed, standards of
living have been lowered, there’s more poverty, cities are overcrowded,
disease and sickness is spread in a flash, we have insufficient resources,
inadequate facilities, and in the end, a population that blames all of the
suffering on the government. The worst part is the only thing the great
‘Chancellor’ has done is have the world share the burden together, rather than
individually. Do you even slightly understand how difficult it is to feed
thirteen billion mouths?” He stopped speaking to take a breath, his eyes filled
with sincerity. He meant every word that came out of his mouth.
They were speechless. He was right. All of it, he was right.
Pierce didn’t stop there. “And then do you know how hard it is to live in a
city of twenty million people? Resources are at its end, and this will soon be
irreversible. In fact, more people have died in an hour because of an effect of
overpopulation than all of the people that have died on this colony. In all
honesty, this entire façade of colonizing Mars wouldn’t have happened if he
wasn’t so bent on vengeance. But that’s beside the point. ”
Kara couldn’t even open her mouth. A part of her wanted to argue, but
she knew better. One of them, however, was not as awestruck.
Nathan stepped forward, his mind full of thoughts, “That was one of the
reasons this entire expedition was created. People came to colonize Mars, to
help create a place for future generations to move to, a safe place, and a place
where they could make a fresh start. Whether or not you agree, there is
always a peaceful solution; anything can be solved without spilling blood.”
His expression saddened.
“And I don’t know if you’re aware, but once every colonist that has ever
set foot on this soil is dead, the man behind it will kill you, too. He won’t
need you anymore; he’ll throw you away like trash and just whip up a new
batch of Ravas with the next colonists.”
Still lying on the floor, Pierce laughed. “How gullible do you think I am?
He needs us, he would never do that. I don’t know if you considered the
thought that when the last of the thirteen groups of colonists have been killed,
that it still isn’t the end of the journey. He hasn’t told us anything, though he
still has another part of his plan. And as much as I can infer, it has something
to do with the rest of the world, something big.” He could tell that their
expressions had darkened, and they were stressed.
“It’s just a hunch—don’t kill yourself stressing over it, although that
would make my job easier. I’ve talked for too long. Now run, and use this
opportunity to get out of here. But keep in mind the things that I have told
you...” They didn’t understand why he was letting them run away. After all,
he had said it himself: Pierce wanted nothing more than to kill them all. Their
feet were still, no one moved. They were confused.
“I said GO!” Pierce yelled. It was subtly clear that he didn’t have the
ability to come after them but he continued to bluff. He pretended to recover
himself, and his expression appeared despicable again, “Unless you really
want me to come after you.”
It wasn’t that they didn’t want to leave; it was just that they were still
processing the things that had been said. All the same, they began moving
away slowly, taking every word of his into consideration. His words were
like needles, piercing through their flesh at each syllable. They knew that
most of what he said was right; but they also knew that his approach was
wrong. T
he overpopulation issue could still be solved; it just required more
time. They were confident it could be done, but weren’t too sure how exactly.
Nathan however had a couple ideas but he kept them to himself.
With an unsettling atmosphere, they gradually moved toward another area
of the dome, avoiding all contact with any other colonists or Ravas. Nemiah’s
heart felt heavy, everything that Pierce had told them was logical in its right,
and it struck him deep inside. He began questioning whether or not he was on
the right side of things. His eyebrows were grooved, heart thumping off-
tempo. He worried that if he hadn’t met his friends, he could have likely been
on the opposition’s side. Nemiah tossed that thought aside. No matter the
situation, he would never bring himself to hurt innocent people.
The issue was determining the proper way to approach overpopulation.
He had never been one to blame others, but he couldn’t help but feel that the
fault lay on the world years ago. The issue, among many others could have
all been prevented if the world had long ago taken action to prevent it from
ever happening. If the government had enforced a “one child” rule,
overpopulation wouldn’t have been as severe as it had become. They knew it
was going to happen, they knew it was happening, and even yet they set aside
the issue. That was the root of the problem itself. Things could only be solved
by confronting it head-on; it was Do or Die. Their situation seemed to be
taking the turn for the worse, and it might have been too late to stop it.
This fight for survival was not exactly what he had dreamed for the
future.
CHAPTER 12
REVOLUTION
Fact: One year on Mars lasts nearly twice as long as a year on Earth.
The day was ending, night was drawing near. Most of the lions had gotten
tired, and were resting on the sides of the streets. The seventh day on
Mars was nearly over. They all awaited the announcement over the speaker,
and it shortly came.
His voice was unusually hoarse: “There are only 567 colonists left,
excluding the Ravas.”
No one reacted.
“Twenty-seven more Ravas have also been killed today, more than I had
ever imagined would happen. Seeing the change to my plans, I feel obliged to