by Rishi Sriram
hope remained, he still believed that they had a chance. From both sides,
Ravas aimed their guns at him, arms extended. He activated his gloves, he
didn’t have time to defend himself, and he couldn’t move out of the way; so
his only option was to deflect the bullets. He crouched and covered the barrel
of the weapons with his gloves, just in time to repel the bullets
They didn’t have the energy to fight the Ravas head-on, so they had to
fight strategically. On the right-hand armrest of every seat, there was a small
button that if clicked, projected a screen in front of the passenger.
Nemiah looked like he had an idea, and he screamed aloud, “Everyone
click the display button on the seats!” The colonists ran through the shuttle,
stopping at a random seat and pushing the associated button. In the course of
thirty seconds, countless screens lit up, gradually filling the entire section
with flurries of light. In utter confusion, the Ravas slashed at the screens, and
to their surprise, their hands phased entirely through.
This distracted them, yet it only made them angrier as they continued to
slash at the light. The two, Nathan and Kara, grasped this diversion to their
advantage, attacking the two nearest Ravas. That only left one other to fend
off, and Emily was the only one up to the job. Pulling her hand back, she
flung two of her knives. One missed the Rava’s head by a quarter-inch and
the other was planted into the ground.
The other two weren’t having as much luck, either. Nathan was trying to
inject the antidote, but neither would stay still. The Ravas wriggled around
trying to fight both the colonists, and the screens. Alas, the Rava still
managed to gain the upper hand, kicking its left foot and knocking the
syringe out of his hand. Nathan promptly dove after it, barely catching it with
his fingertips.
The colonists were amazed at his quick reflexes; the Rava, however,
didn’t care. It grabbed Nathan and slammed him against the wall with a loud
bang. Body trembling in pain, he didn’t get up in time. Kicking him between
the aisles, Nathan hit his head against the back of a seat, blood seeping out.
Nathan’s head was going blank, and in a blur he could see the Rava
coming after him. The little energy he had was leaving him, struggling to get
back on his feet. Reaching out, he clutched the handle of a seat, and pulled
himself up in pain. He could barely move.
In an attempt to land a hit on the Rava, he stuck his hand out, clenching
his fist. His fist was immediately caught and twisted sideways. Screaming in
pain, he dropped to the ground, thrashing around.
Kara looked around in disarray, and flew at the nearest enemy with a
kick. Without even directing his attention toward her, the Rava seized her leg
midair, shook her back and forth, and then flung her into a row of seats a
short distance away. Nathan couldn’t see straight, and was heavily bleeding
out. Emily limped behind them, flinging a knife at the Rava beating down at
them. The knife bounced off its back like plastic and fell to the ground.
Irritated, the Rava pushed her back and she fell on her injured leg, the stilt
cracking a little.
Emily sniveled in pain.
Amongst all of this, Nemiah couldn’t do anything. Apart from the
children, he was the only one who couldn’t fight, although that didn’t render
him useless. He had an idea. Eyes burning up, he ran in their direction and
slid on the floor. He picked up the antidote and grabbed the Rava’s foot,
jabbing at it with the needle. It almost worked. The antidote was again kicked
out of his hand, and Nemiah was quickly thrown into the wall.
In less than five minutes, Nathan, Kara, Nemiah, and Emily had been
defeated. The colonists couldn’t just stand there; they felt obliged to do
something. One after the other, a group of adult colonists ran after the Ravas
in an attempt to take them down. Though in due time, they were easily and
brutally defeated. They didn’t stop trying; their determination was
unwavering, no matter how low their odds were.
Nathan couldn’t bear to see the colonists in pain, especially after knowing
that he could have done something. He groaned in pain and slowly came to
his feet, screaming as his limbs ached.
Nathan limped after the Ravas and used what remained of his strength to
throw a punch; but it didn’t land. Nathan was in return punched in the jaw,
instantly knocked unconscious. His mind was completely blank, not a
thought in his mind. He couldn’t move any part of his body either,
completely helpless. His senses had left his soul. He couldn’t hear the
screams. He couldn’t feel the pain, he couldn’t smell the blood, and he
couldn’t taste the bitterness of the blood on his lips. It was as if his mind and
soul had been extracted, and all that was left of him was his body, spiraling
off into a deep slumber.
CHAPTER 13
HOPE
Fact: Unlike on Earth, sunsets on Mars are blue.
Nathan’s senses slowly returned. At first there was a high-pitched trill
that rattled his ears, but it soon dissipated. His sight began to de-blur,
the fuzziness melting away. He could feel the tingling pain again. The dry
blood was bitter on his lips, the taste numbing his tongue. The smell of blood
was thick in the air, invading their air passages. He observed his area: there
were numerous seatbelts strapped around his body, restricting his movement.
Instinctively he turned to look at his palms; the gloves were no longer there.
They had been taken off while he was unconscious. He clicked his tongue.
Without his gloves, the chances of him standing against the enemy had
slimmed even further.
Then he remembered about the other colonists. He turned around
frantically. The colonists were all seated, starting a few rows away from him,
although he couldn’t quite spot any of his friends. The other colonists were in
their seats, none of them budging even a little. Many of them were bashed up
and seemed in immediate need of medical attention, but there was no chance
of that happening. There was a familiar voice on the speaker: the mastermind
himself.
“Those of you that opposed us, which seems to be all of you, here is a
message. In a few minutes, the Ravas will take you all out of the shuttle and
kill you. Why not immediately? Consider it a final wish being granted. As
well as the fact that I enjoy seeing your pitiful hopes rising, to only get
crushed in the end. I’m allowing you a few minutes to see the faces of your
close ones before they die alongside you. I promise you, there’s no escaping
this time. The lot of you has proven to be a serious pain. That doesn’t matter
anymore, now that everyone on this shuttle including the seven delinquents
will be killed at the place it all started. I would end it here but I’d rather not
dirty the shuttle. After all…it does have to be reused in the future. And as
soon as all of you are killed, I’ll still be on schedule, and the shuttle will
return to Minneapolis to board the next group of scapegoats.”
Nathan wasn’t even li
stening to him anymore, the outcome was expected.
He didn’t have the energy to think anyway, there was no adrenaline in his
veins. His body wouldn’t move, no matter how hard he tried. The other
colonists were like robots, blank expressions on their faces. Whatever hope
that they contained had been ripped to shreds in front of their eyes—it didn’t
get more demoralizing than that. They were all simply awaiting their deaths;
the thoughts of their lives back home had left their minds. No one could save
them. It was over. What was the point of them signing up for the expedition
in the first place?
Nathan stared out the window. He remembered looking at the sky as a
child, wondering what was beyond his world until his father bought him a
planet-viewing telescope for his eighth birthday. Till that point, Nathan didn’t
even know there were larger things beyond their planet’s atmosphere. After
that, he could see the sparkling stars in the sky, the shimmering moon
orbiting their world, and the sun, their source of life, the reason they were
even alive. The telescope allowed him to see things he didn’t even imagine
existed. It opened his mind to new ideas, new thoughts, it became a topic that
he was interested in. Science started to intrigue him. He fell in love with all
of the laws of nature, theories of the universe, ridiculous conspiracies; he
knew them all. His classmates ran to him with questions more than they did
their teachers, and he always answered them happily.
Things had been great in his life until his father’s cafe had been
destroyed. That was the one thing that really broke him down. It drove his
focus towards other things in his life and made him want to leave the
destruction and darkness of Earth for a more hopeful future on another planet.
The event had really scarred him, changing the way he thought about a lot of
things. It was another reason he hated The Chancellor, for ripping apart that
piece of his childhood, that piece of his personality; of something he loved.
However, looking out at the sky and the red planet’s surface, his passion
slowly returned. Memories of his childhood emerged from the darkness in his
heart, and he felt a twinkle in his soul. A smile grew on his face; he longed to
return to his home, for everything to be back the way it used to be. From
before the second Pangea, before his father’s cafe had been destroyed, and
even before the ruthless beast Chancellor came into power. He wanted things
to go back to the times of his innocent childhood, thirsty for knowledge, and
quite outgoing. The times when he was safe, life was peaceful, and more
importantly than anything, he was with his family.
There was no going back to all of that, at least not without escaping the
literal shackles he was tied to. He swiveled his head around to see if there
were any Ravas around, and to his surprise there were none. He started to
worry about his friends, it made sense that they would have been kept far
away from one other, but he wanted to make sure that they were safe. All of
his efforts to squirm out of the seatbelts were useless; they only seemed to get
tighter. His arms burned, it was all in vain.
Nathan’s heart thumped faster, frustrated. It was hard for him to accept
that there was always someone smarter, always someone stronger, always
someone better. That didn’t mean he was going to give up either. It only
meant that he had to strive to be even more. Having persistence was vital.
Tightening his muscles, he pulled his arms up, trying to pull them over the
belts. Nothing changed, he couldn’t move at all. Whoever had strapped him
into the seat had done a great job—they could have been a sailor for all he
knew. The seatbelts kept him in place, there was no getting out.
The shuttle doors opened with a familiar noise, their time was over.
Nathan didn’t even know where his friends were, and he couldn’t help but
worry. It was time. From a short distance away, a Rava made its way toward
him, and ripped off the seatbelts. The Rava picked him up, and heaved him
out of the shuttle. Nathan fell to the floor, dust and sand collecting in his face.
In an orderly fashion, the remaining colonists exited the shuttle, awaiting
their verdict. There were only a little over a hundred of them left, everyone
else was dead. On the other side there were only three Ravas, but armed.
The colonists’ faces were covered in blood, tears welling up in their eyes,
not daring to roll down their cheeks. It was hard for Nathan to watch, he
couldn’t just stand there. He moved quickly at the Rava nearest to him, and
kicked it in the shin. The Rava caught his foot and planted its foot into his
chest.
The other two Ravas moved past them, guns in their hands, prepared to
attack. Nathan had to act immediately. They had to strategize, and quickly.
If only he still had the antidote, that would have been his best bet;
however, he had no idea where it was. From his memory, there wasn’t much
of the liquid left, either, only enough for maybe three injections. But that was
more than enough, he just had to find it, and find it quick.
Nemiah emerged from the crowd and understood Nathan’s thoughts,
pulling out a syringe from his pocket. It was the antidote. He handed it to
Nathan. “I picked it up on the shuttle, and kept it with me even after they
attacked me. Hope you can figure something out.”
Nathan thanked him quickly, and darted toward the nearest Rava, who
was already firing his gun at the frontlines. Soon Nathan was a few feet
behind his target. This was the moment, he couldn’t afford any hesitation.
There was no time to think. He pushed through the people between them, and
came down on the Rava’s right leg with the needle. The Rava let out a
scream, dropping to the floor.
The scream alerted the other Rava near him, who began charging in his
direction. Without any tension, Nathan moved toward the Rava as well,
hiding behind the colonists around him. Once he was close by, he pulled out
the syringe and flung it at the Rava’s stomach, implanting itself in the Rava’s
body. Nathan rushed towards the Rava, squeezed some of the antidote, and
then pulled the needle out—that only left one more, and everything should
have been over. His estimate was on point; there was only enough antidote
fluid for one more person, which should have been the remaining opposition,
who was now running at him.
Nathan had to think carefully, each and every one of his next moves
mattered. The Rava threw aside the people in his way, fuming with anger. As
soon as the Rava’s eyes rested on Nathan, it loaded its weapon and shot at
Nathan’s head. The weapon charged up and the bullet flew out, Nathan
immediately rolled to the side, carefully avoiding the attack. His sides ached,
he might have had the willpower to take them down, but his body surely
wasn’t cooperating.
The Rava bounced up and kicked him in the stomach. Nathan flew back
but he was undaunted, he wasn’t going to let one kick ruin everything. Not
with just one Rava left, not like that. He stood up and started his
&n
bsp; counterattack. Bending his knees, he moved as if he was going to leap at the
Rava, and in return, predicting the move, his enemy jumped in the air. That
was a mistake, Nathan wasn’t going to jump, and he slid under the Rava
shoving the needle directly into the thigh of the Rava, and then he let out the
remaining drops of the antidote. With a loud screech the Rava dropped to the
floor, color slowly returning to its face. Nathan’s body was fatigued from the
past battles, and yet, in the heat of the moment he was able to singlehandedly
take down the Ravas quickly.
There was just barely a little fluid left inside the syringe, not enough for
one more use, but enough to reproduce for future usage. He shoved it in his
pockets and heaved a sigh of relief, the fight was over. The Ravas had all
returned normal. One of the Rava’s who had returned to normal stood up; and
a metallic device glinted on its arm. No one had ever noticed it before. The
device was attached to the right arm of the Rava, and it was vibrating. It was
a tracker and it was receiving a signal. Signals were transported both ways, so
that meant that if they could reroute the signal, they could trace where it was
coming from.
They should have been able to investigate the device. The device was
attached around the Rava’s arm like a rubber band, and the tracker was
inconspicuous, it was no wonder they hadn’t noticed it before. The once-
Rava who had the tracker on his arm noticed everyone eyeing the weird piece
of metal on him, and effortlessly pulled it off.
He handed it to Nathan, “I have no idea what that is, but if you want it,
then take it. I have no idea what just happened. I need some time to myself.”
Nathan nodded, and looked over the device. Nemiah walked over, and
Nathan tossed the tracker to him. Nemiah grabbed it and turned it around,
saying, “I think I can reroute the signal, just give me a few minutes.” He
pulled out the pencil from his hair and tapped the eraser side twice. The
pencil glowed and slowly split apart, projecting a screen forward. After what
they had been through, at this point no one was surprised. The other colonists
waited around for Nemiah to finish, somewhat joyous. Celebrating so soon
hadn’t quite worked well for them the previous time. If the mastermind was