The Colony

by Rishi Sriram

  narrate to you some of the events happening on this forsaken place. There are

  many of you who have resisted to such an extent, by not only using the fallen

  Ravas’ weapons against themselves, but as well as creating weapons from

  building debris. There are people who have actually broken off pieces of the

  roof to create makeshift weapons. This doesn’t mean that the Ravas are going

  down, either. I still have one more trick up my sleeve, and after that, I’m

  going to have to change things tremendously for the next batches of colonists.

  I will implore you to continue to fight, to continue to rebel, and all for my

  personal entertainment. You will soon find that it will only bring you

  misery.” The voice ended.

  A smile crept on Nathan’s face. He had an idea. The announcement had

  only encouraged him all the more. There was no point fending off the Ravas

  individually. They had been in the wrong all along. They had to stick together

  with the other colonists and fight as one. That was their best bet. It wasn’t

  going to be easy, but he was determined to get it done. They were going to

  start a revolution.

  He stood up, facing the others, and spoke: “I have a plan. It’s a last resort

  but it’s all I got. We’re going to need to work together with the other

  colonists to fight the Ravas. It’s our only chance, and from what this guy is

  telling us, they’re quite the formidable people.”

  Kara agreed. “I’m with you,” she said. “The odds are better with all of the

  other colonists then us standing alone. What do you guys think?” She

  directed the question to Nemiah and Emily.

  Nemiah nodded. “I think that’s a solid plan. Let’s do it.”

  Emily seemed hesitant, but she knew it was the best option. “OK. What

  do we have to lose?”

  Nemiah responded casually, “Our lives?”

  There was an awkward silence, and they chuckled. Picking up a few

  packages, Nathan was ready to move. “Alright then, so we’ll move together

  and rally up the other colonists. They have no reason to protest—I mean it’s

  clear that this is what we have to do to escape.” The others picked up some

  resources and they followed behind Nathan. They strolled down the streets

  slowly.

  Emily wasn’t patient, and ironically enough she was the one who spoke

  out. “Yeah, I know I’m injured and all, but this isn’t working. Can we pick up

  the pace?”

  They hustled through the streets, near broken-down buildings,

  construction areas, research sites, and even resource reserves. That was until

  they had finally found some people. There was a huddled group of around

  forty people up ahead. They noticed the teenagers walking toward them

  immediately, and perceived them with apprehension in their eyes. In the

  front, there were a few of them who brandished long Litracon planks, as

  sharp as a knife at the tip. Directly behind them, they could see three people

  who wore the same getup as the Ravas, the complete enhanced equipment,

  the paralyzing gun attached to their holster, and they all had hostile looks on

  their faces.

  Nathan pulled the enhanced gloves off of his hands, and handed them to

  Kara. He stretched his hands to his sides and whispered, “Stay back. I’ll talk

  to them.” He walked toward the other group carefully; once he was in close

  proximity he spoke loudly. “I come with a proposition. My friends and I want

  to join ties with you, to help each other take down the Ravas. We are trying

  to get all of the other colonists on our side as well. Are you with us?”

  “No. It’s a suicidal thought,” a short woman answered from the back.

  Nathan was surprised at the quick rejection.

  But he persisted. “What other choice do we have—fighting independently

  or in small groups will take you nowhere.” His tone tensed further.

  “In all honesty you’re just prolonging your deaths. We’re better off

  working together than in smaller groups.”

  The woman paused, and whispered something into the ears of the people

  around. After some silence and thought, they nodded.

  “Alright, we’ll do it.”

  Nathan smiled at the approval. “Alright then, that’s good to hear.” He

  relaxed a little, at how quickly that had worked.

  “Do you want to split up or something to find the other colonists?”

  “That sounds good, I’ll take my group one direction, and you take yours

  the other. We’ll spread the message and be back here shortly.”

  Nathan nodded, and walked back to the others. Placing his hand on

  Nathan’s shoulder, Nemiah chuckled, “Well said. Brutal, but well said.”

  “And now we have to spread the message to everyone else. So we better

  get moving.” Both groups split apart from each other, and rapidly searched

  for other people. Everyone agreed to join ties, some required a little more

  convincing than others, though at the end of the hour; everyone was together

  near a secluded field.”

  Nathan felt reassured knowing that five hundred other people would be

  backing him up, fighting by his side. Before things got dysfunctional and

  unorganized, he stepped forward and gathered everyone’s attention.

  “I have a simple plan, and that is to destroy the research lab and leave the

  colony. I say destroy the research lab because it has proven to be the central

  nervous system for the entire colony. It is some sort of a power hub. If we

  could destroy all of the dangerous machinery, the Ravas’ drug, and other

  things, we increase our chances of finding the mastermind behind all this, and

  taking him down. Another thing is, if we could avoid fighting the Ravas I

  would, but I know that it isn’t a possibility. I have an antidote for the Ravas.

  If I inject it inside them, they should turn back into humans. Although there

  isn’t much of it, so I would like to conserve it as much as possible in case we

  ever have to make more of it. I have a feeling the Ravas will be coming after

  us pretty soon, so I suggest we take the fight to them first, and head to the

  research lab.” The other colonists were agreeable, though they didn’t seem

  awfully motivated.

  He had to raise their spirits, and so he spoke louder: “Come on! Who’s

  with me? We can do this, and I know for a fact that each and every one of

  you is more than capable of completing our mission. We just have to put our

  minds to it. Shall we move?” They responded in a roaring cheer. Weapons in

  their hands, equipment on their bodies, motivation bursting through their

  souls, they charged onward to the research lab. The Ravas seemed to be

  expecting them, and emerged from all around the outside of the research lab.

  And hence the final fight began.

  The Ravas fired at the colonists, who fired back with whatever guns they

  contained. Flanking around the gunners, those armed with Litracon weapons

  rushed toward the Ravas and fought wildly. At this point, everyone’s feelings

  were bursting, and their compassion had ceased. The only thing on their

  minds was to fight, to fight the Ravas and destroy the research lab, by

  whatever means necessary. A Rava maneuvered through the battle, came to

&nbs
p; the side of the building, and dug its arm through. The Rava tore off a large

  chunk of a Litracon brick, and swung it around like a weapon, keeping

  everyone else at bay. And then the Rava threw the layer of Litracon brick at a

  row of colonists, sending them flying, buried under rubble.

  Nathan’s heart grew heavy, worried that the attack would hurt the

  colonist’s morale. So he thundered, “Don’t give up! This is our fight to

  rightfully take back our lives! For humanity!” He reared his arms back and

  exploded his fists into the chest of a Rava, sending it directly into the front

  passageway of the building, making a large opening.

  He bellowed, mustering up energy, “Through the opening! This is…our

  chance!” He pushed past the other Ravas and ran through them. His

  movements were restricted, surrounded by people, enemy and allies alike.

  Nathan’s mind was a swirl of disarray, he wasn’t sure what to do, there were

  so many things going one at once. Narrowly spotting a Rava, he moved in

  quietly and slammed his fist into its face.

  It was Pierce, who sneered at him with disgust. This time, Nathan wasn’t

  afraid. He tightened every muscle in his body, and slammed his knuckles into

  Pierce’s stomach; who wasn’t prepared for the attack. They could barely

  move around. Pierce promptly doubled over, clutching at his sides. Nathan

  used this moment to his advantage, and rushed through the opening in the

  building. The inside of the building was nearly empty, and he bolted down

  the halls.

  Nathan made it in. He noticed that the other colonists had a sudden boost

  in morale, and they began pushing inside as well. Some made it past the

  Ravas, while others had been hit by a direct shot from the paralyzing bullets,

  falling to the ground in pain. Pushing through the opening, a small group ran

  inside and kicked everything around, throwing liquids and other things to the

  ground, letting it spread from the floor. They destroyed the lights, tables, and

  even the stretchers.

  Evading the onslaught, Nathan moved past the other colonists, and

  opened the secret door. He moved aside, making way for others to go inside.

  They stormed in. He squeezed through the crowd and ran back outside to

  check up on the others. There was a row of colonists who took it to

  themselves to guard the opening to the building, even as they were repeatedly

  shot by the paralyzing bullets. One by one, they went down, and soon the

  odds were less and less in their favor. Hiding behind the fallen bodies,

  Nathan rose up and fought two Ravas head-on. He was entirely out of breath,

  and they could easily overpower him. But things were different now, he felt

  stronger, more confident. His instinct was kicking in, and he fought with all

  of his might, weaving around bullets and helping other colonists. A bullet

  whizzed past his ear. Out of pure instinct, he pushed off the side of the

  building, and propelled toward the Rava, knocking it down. Nathan was

  entirely focused, nothing could stop him now. That was when he went

  berserk, storming at the enemy and taking them down one by one. His attacks

  seemed to get stronger and more focused as he moved on. He was determined

  to save the people. They had ideally become his people at that point.

  In short time, the odds were back in their favor, and the numbers of Ravas

  were dwindling, their superhuman strength and other abilities no longer

  seemed to have much of an effect. The dome suddenly crackled, and the man

  spoke gruffly.

  He was furious: “I don’t…believe it.” His voice broke down. He sounded

  like his life’s worth had been leveled, and it sort of had been.

  Then he quickly recovered, and was back to his usual self.

  “I guess it’s time to pull out my final card, the last trick.” They anxiously

  fought, fearfully curious as to what was going to happen.

  “Technology can do wonders at this time and age. With a simple touch of

  a button I was able to send poison gas through your dorm vents. That killed

  most of you. And now, with another touch of a button, I can send electricity

  from your bracelets, and that should seriously harm the rest of you. It’ll hurt

  the Ravas as well, but that doesn’t matter. I’ll just make more of them when

  the next batch arrives.” There was a pause and then the current hit Nathan.

  The shock wave sparked from the bracelet, and spread across his right arm,

  his every muscle tingling. He groaned, his arm was burning, and he could

  barely move. He felt his energy leaving his body, and he almost gave up. And

  then he remembered everything that was riding on this fight. He thought of

  all of the lives that would be lost, because they couldn’t stop the source of the

  issue right then. There was no way he was going to let that happens. Surging

  together all of his willpower, he braced for the pain, and smashed the bracelet

  with his left fist. The enhanced gloves had the needed power required to

  destroy the bracelet. The metal cracked, and the tiny pieces fell into a pile.

  His arm still hurt, though the electric current was seeping away.

  He heard the screaming of the other colonists, as well as the Ravas.

  Nathan rushed over to the other six, who were clutching their wrists in

  blistering pain. One by one, he held their wrists up and carefully smashed the

  bracelets. Now all that was left was the other colonists. He turned to see that

  many of the other colonists had already managed to destroy the metal

  bracelet, while others still struggled desperately. In the distance, he spotted

  one colonist down on his knees, clutching his wrist with all of his might, to

  no avail. The burning electricity was scorching his skin, and the colonists fell

  to the ground. Dead.

  The Ravas dropped quickly, and soon there were only three of them left

  who were up against a large horde of colonists. The tides had been reversed.

  Ravas or not, they were completely outnumbered, and would be easily

  overpowered. They observed the situation and knew that the odds weren’t in

  their favor. The Ravas’ eyes suddenly flickered, and they ran away from the

  scene. The colonists had won. Victory was theirs; or so they thought. Over

  half of the colonists they had started the battle with were already dead, and

  the two hundred and fifty remaining were absolutely beat. They could barely

  lift a finger, they had given their all in that battle, and it had paid off. The

  colonists thought they could finally return home.

  Without uttering a word, all of the colonists slowly drifted away from the

  research lab, resting as much as they could. An elderly man gathered

  everyone’s attention and spoke in a weary voice.

  He looked terribly weak, and was covered in blood. “Let’s return to the

  landing dock and see if the SS Noah is still there. Maybe we could figure out

  how to get it started, en route back to Minneapolis. No one spoke, yet it was

  clear that they agreed, as they all started walking toward the landing pad.

  Even amidst blistering pain, Nathan smiled a little. He felt like he could

  do anything with the help of the other colonists. In a short time, they

  approached the landing dock, and to their surprise the shut
tle was still there.

  Nathan assumed that the man orchestrating everything didn’t think it was

  time to send the shuttle back, considering the resistance the colonists were

  putting up.

  But the doors were closed. And they could only be opened by a facial

  recognition scan from a crew member. Understanding the situation, a crew

  member from the back rushed forward and looked directly into the scanner,

  which voluntarily made a clicking noise and opened the door. Nathan was the

  first person to walk inside, and the people behind him filed in, walking to the

  nearest seat. Nathan felt like a large weight had been lifted from his

  shoulders, that nothing could stop them now. It was all over, they were sure

  that they had won. He rushed toward the door, grasped the handle and pulled

  it taut. The pilots weren’t there. There was a strange feeling in the air; Nathan

  felt as if he wasn’t the only one there. He walked a little further, turning his

  head to the side, and was greeted with a punch to the stomach, sending him

  staggering back. The people walking in caught him, and helped him back to

  his feet.

  In the corner of his eye, a silhouette blew past, and Nathan was picked up

  from behind. He heard a deep growl in his ears, and could feel warmth

  creeping on his neck, the ends of his hairs sticking up. There was a low snarl

  and he was thrown into a clutter of seats. There was a lot of shuffling around

  and talking: “What? Ravas? How did they get on the ship?” Kara followed

  behind him, and was soon attacked by another one. The three who had run

  away snuck onto the shuttle, and now the colonists were being ambushed. He

  found it highly doubtful that a Rava other than Pierce was able to understand

  that a crew member’s facial scan was required to open the door. That meant

  someone from inside had to have opened it.

  Gripping the edges of the seat, he pulled himself up, insides feeling

  distorted. He had no energy to continue, he was about ready to pass out. Kara

  stood up and ran at the enemy, ready to deal a swift kick, but was simply

  swatted aside like a wasp. Thrown aside from the attack, she was slammed

  into the sides of the shuttle, her back aching.

  The colonists were crushed; all of their hope had been crumbled up into a

  ball and thrown far away. Resisting the pain, Nathan didn’t give up—his