Journey to a darker world

by Christian Mathis

  They held each other tight, and Gabriel brushed Agatha’s hair out of her face, kissing her slow and with passion. Agatha had started to cry and Gabriel wiped her tears away with his thumbs

  “Agatha, I love you have to let me go! I know you’re one badass woman who can take care of yourself Catalyst and Zadok can help you and fight with you. I know you don’t trust them; I think they’re your best chance of getting home and getting a good life. Try not to let your stubborn self-get you killed.

  Gabriel cried, too, and Agatha’s cheeks were catching the rolling teardrops. They hugged one last time, and Gabriel began walking away I heard the quick swoosh as he extracted his claws. His footsteps grew quieter in the distance and Agatha was still crying. I stood to my feet and tugged the suit off Toni and part of James' suit. The helmet clicked into place, and I activated the oxygen rebreather. I didn’t know if the suit would protect me from the radiation or not, I’m sure it was better than nothing, and I could not let Gabriel go alone.

  Toni and Zadok were still asleep and messed up. There was no way I was going to put Annabelle in harm’s way when it could be avoided, and I promised Toni I would take care of Reuben.

  Annabelle pulled on my arm and hugged me tightly.

  I rubbed her back and ran my fingers through her hair.

  “Catalyst I hate to sound like Agatha, you can’t go you have no resistance to radiation it could easily kill you or mess you up. However, I’m not saying you shouldn’t go. I’m coming with you; someone has to watch your back.”

  “Annabelle, you’re not coming with me, it's too dangerous. End of story.”

  “You're as stubborn as me; I’m a grown-ass woman. You’re not going to tell me what to do.”

  I did the only thing I could; I dragged my hand across my lips like I always do when I am thinking.

  “Alright, your right. I cannot tell you not to come.”

  I pressed my lips against hers, and she fell to the floor numb.

  I lifted my visor and pressed my lips against Annabelle’s. I could almost feel her emotions through the kiss. I pulled my lips away and pressed my forehead against hers.

  “I love you, Annabelle”

  “I love you to catalyst I’m holding you to that promise of coming home to me.”

  Our hands pulled apart, and I grabbed Toni’s bone sword from the homemade sheath and ran after Gabriel.

  “Gabriel, I know you’re trying to save everyone, I can’t let you go down alone. If you’re going to die saving us, then so will I. “

  “listen, hero, I know you’re always trying to do the right thing if we can do this without you needlessly sacrificing yourself. They need you, promise me if I die you will protect Agatha.”

  I started to speak when He interrupted me,

  “promise me!”

  “Gabriel, I promise I will do everything I can to get us both back and to get us home if I can’t then I will make sure Agatha and the others get home safe and have a place when we restructure the world.”

  I slide my hand into Gabriel’s, and we clasped each other forearms and nodded. We started to walk again, and we’re almost to the engine room when Gabriel stopped in his tracks and turned around. Sadness filled his eyes as if he had already decided he was not coming back. He held out his clenched fist until I extended my palm. I closed my fingers tightly around the item.

  “Catalyst if I don’t make it back at least get this back to Earth and bury it in Tennessee where Willard, Smith, and I grew up. There used to be this big barn where we use to play all kinds of stuff. Army guys and cowboys”, he started to stare into the distance, and his voice began to drop off.

  “Ironically, our favorite game was always spacemen and planet invaders.”

  Gabriel turned around to enter then engine room we heard the millipede’s feet clicking across the metal floor inside. I uncurled my fingers and revealed three talons attached to a solid black necklace.

  “Each of those talons belonged to someone from my crew that we lost, the one on the left is Smiths the center one Willard and the one on the right belonged to my brother Jack Now enough being all sentimental. Let’s go kill these bastards and fix the engine before you start liking me or feeling sorry for me or.”

  We moved aside the broken off doors and laid them on the floor. The room was bright, unlike last time. The second time was worse I saw the black and brown speckles millipedes. The pools of radioactive ooze highlighted the floor. A stench filled my nose that smelled so pungent it made rotting meat and rancid milk seem pleasant in comparison. The millipedes gnawed on the Nuclear engine housing I kneeled to inspect the engine from what the computer had taught me I saw the radiation protective case and case protecting the nuclear core were in-tacked the propellant casing was eaten clean through. A millipede had begun to make its way up my leg and attempted to bite through my suit. I used Toni’s sword to cut the millipede in half. Gabriel hovered in the air, his wings flapping fast enough to ease the pain of his legs. He doused several of the pests in black acid. It melted several of them until the rest began to feast on the half-melted husk. Every time I cut one in half, dozens more appeared to take their place.

  “Catalyst, if they chew anymore of the housing for the engine, they will hit the radiation core, and it will be moments before everyone on this ship is irradiated.”

  “In that case, we better start killing them faster than” I screamed.

  Gabriel dug his claws into the back of the biggest millipede I had ever seen and dragged his talons clean through cutting the beast into six perfectly cut sections.

  “Gabriel now! Lift me”

  I coated the bone sword in a thick layer of poison from the golden poison frog. Gabriel wrapped his claws around my shoulders and picked me up into the air. He flew through the room, and I ran the sword through dozens and dozens of millipedes. As the last one was about to Chew through the casing Gabriel let go of me, and my feet crushed the milliped. I felt the ooze squish beneath my feet. The radioactive liquid caked the floor almost entirely. Millipede entrails were strewn about the room. Gabriel and I collapsed onto the floor in a puddle of blood, sweat, and millipede guts exhausted.

  “Hey, Gabriel? If we killed them then what’s that’s noise?”

  I heard a faint clicking sound, and the several pops getting louder and louder. A metal roof panel popped, and hundreds of Millipedes and their eggs rained down on us from above. They got to work chewing on my suit as well as the Nuclear engine. I swung the Sword, again and again, attempting to hack through the incredible amount that was now up to knee level. A sea of millipedes ate away at the walls, my suit, at the reactor, and even Gabriel’s head crest.

  Gabriel grabbed my wrist and pulled me close for a moment we fought back to back

  “Catalyst, I have an idea, and it’s the only way either one of us is getting out of here with the engine intact. A few more minutes, and they’ll expose the radiation. It has to be now, and it has to be me.”

  I opened my mouth to argue he covered my face with my hands. He started speaking again with a rough and wavering voice.

  “We’ve argued long enough Catalyst. In my entire life, I never contributed anything to society I never left my legacy. Nothing I did would make people remember me; this will.”

  Gabriel extended his claws and cut one of his talons off. He tossed it over his shoulder, and I caught it in my hand.

  The millipedes had chewed almost completely through to the radiation. My arms were too exhausted to swing the sword anymore.

  “You have to poison me, Catalyst. It’s the only way. If you poison me…”

  “Gabriel, I can’t poison you; my friend plus Agatha would kill me. There has to be another way.”

  Gabriel grabbed my hand and placed my palm on his scaly forearm.

  “There is no other way. These Millipedes will eat each other if they are wounded, especially if the wounded have radiation in them like my acid and blood. If you poison me, they will eat it and die I’m the only one who can
fix the engine without getting radiation poisoning ”

  BOOM, they chewed through the outer casing, and a small explosion blasted me across the room. Gabriel had flown over to me and grabbed my hand against his crested head.

  Dark acid tears ran down his scaly dragon-like face. DO IT NOW!

  My vision blurred as my eyes pooled with tears. I placed my finger in Gabriel’s eye and filled his body with an immense amount of venom from-the black widow.

  Gabriel flew over the Nuclear engine and began to try and repair the fuel line and sources while also repairing the casing of the radiation. He blasted the poisonous acid across the room, covering almost all the millipedes. The ones not covered began to feast on the rapidly melting and decaying ones. The more who ate the acid and poison covered ones the faster they died.

  I tried to stand and help defend Gabriel. My legs buckled, and I fell to the ground, exhausted.

  “AAAAAAA OH MY FUCKING GOD” The Millipedes starting to eat away at Gabriel as he feverishly worked to prevent the radiation from spreading to the rest of the ship. They took small bites at first, and the then ripped big meaty chunks of scales and flesh.

  I attempted to stand my legs shook, and Gabriel’s screams still rang in my ears. Gabriel blasted the floor where I stood with acid, and I clawed at the air as I fell. I had to save Gabriel I had to. When I hit the floor, I had to roll away from the Acid.

  I knew I had to save Gabriel how would I get back to the Engine room. I ripped off my makeshift suit, and I tried to fasten a rope as best as I could. I tied one end around the hilt of the bone sword, and I heaved it into the hole above my head. I used every ounce of energy to climb back the floor above me. I ran over to Gabriel, and he was mangled and deformed. I screamed, and I cried when Gabriel inhaled, and he sucked all the acid from the floor before it burned through the whole ship. My eyes dropped to Gabriel’s twisted body, and his lips were moving barely uttered sound. I placed my ear to his mouth and Gabriel tried to speak in short broken words. His speech interrupted only by the air sucking through his chest.

  His voice barely above a whisper “Thank you for the hero’s death.” I cradled his body in my hands until the life left his eyes, and I placed my forehead to his chest and continued to cry.

  When I reached the door, I looked back at Gabriel one last time. All I could make out was the frail, thin bones of his wings. They stuck straight up in the air and allowed me to see his unrecognizable face.

  Chapter fifteen

  “NUCLEAR PROPULSION CAPABILITIES CORRECTED” The computer’s voice echoed through room; I could barely hear it because I was focused on Gabriel’s severed finger in my hand. I went back in and placed his cold body onto the cold metal floor and covered his ice-cold corpse with the remainder of my crud suit. For someone I thought I hated for the longest time, someone I could barely talk to without fighting. I was never touched, hurt, or saddened more by a death. I would give anything to argue with him again. I wiped the tears from my face and attached Gabriel’s talon to the necklace and slipped it over my head.

  I stood to my feet before I exited the room, I took one last look at the cloth draped over his lifeless body. Then I walked through the doorway and sauntered down the hall towards the bridge.

  The same thoughts kept fumbling over in my head over. I can’t believe he is gone, and I’m the one who poisoned him, how the heck am I supposed to tell the others especially Agatha. If I tell her that I had a hand in his death she’ll probably kill me herself. Maybe I shouldn’t tell them that I poisoned him. It’s not like they're going to autopsy his body.

  Are you dumb you pride yourself on being a good guy, Withholding the truth is the same as lying and good guys don’t lie? Especially not to their friends. It was settled then I would walk onto the bridge look my crew and friends in the face and tell them exactly what happened and exactly why poisoning my friend and letting him get eaten by radioactive giant millipedes was the only way to save everyone.

  I hesitated before I slapped the panel, and the door to the bridge hissed opened.

  “Guys, the ship is fixed, they did it we can finally go home!” I heard Toni yell.

  I saw him frantically looking around, searching for what I presumed to be his sword. Without saying a word, I slid his sword along the floor.

  “Catalyst!” Annabelle screamed as she flew across the room and jumped into my arms, throwing her arms around my necks and kissing my cheeks.

  “Catalyst I’m so glad you’re ok, thank you for being ok.” She turned her head to kiss me; I glanced over at Agatha. This time I was the one who interrupted our intimate moment. Annabelle looked sad and distraught as I lowered her to the ground. The others looked around the room, in their hearts, they knew what I was about to say.

  “Guys, Agatha. I truly am sorry Gabriel sacrificed himself so that we could live so that you could live Agatha. He told me to tell you that he loves you and it was the only way …” POP Agatha slapped her hand across my face and then blasted my chest with sand. It was so strong and so powerful that it knocked me down, and my shoulder cracked as I hit the floor. I slid to the floor and gasped for air. The air was knocked out of me, and I was struggling to get it back. She began to deck me in the chest and face. Part of me wanted to stop her; the other part knew she was justified in her actions and that I was responsible for his death. Blood trickled down my face and shoulder.

  “He’s not dead! He can’t be Gabriel is strong. He is a fighter. He is a survivor!” Tears flooded down Agatha’s face as she screamed. Deep down, she knew he was.

  I thought she had finally settled down when she raised her hand to my melted black arm and forced a razor-sharp rock through my wrist.

  “Aaaa, what the hell are you doing, I was only letting you knock your frustration out on me because I felt you were due that and I owned it to Gabriel. If you do not stop, I will fight back.”

  Agatha created another sand spike and was twisting it through her fingers” she wound her hand back.

  Reuben grabbed her wrist and removed the weapon while James and Toni restrained her. Zadok pulled out a handkerchief from the amulet and handed it to Agatha.

  “I didn’t know Gabriel that well, he saved our lives, and for that I am grateful, this handkerchief belonged to the great Martha Washington.” Zadok turned and sat down on the far side of the room.

  “Hurting Catalyst won’t bring Gabriel back. None of us were there, so we will never know how hard it was to make that decision I’m sure it was not made lightly. I think he would want his death to bring us together in unity and divide us,” James said.

  “Well guess what mister loyal I don’t care, Gabriel is gone, and it is all Catalyst fault killing him won’t bring Gabriel back, it will sure feel good,” Agatha said as she rubbed her hands together. She snapped her wrist and sent three sand shards into the air hurtling toward my head.

  Swish. Swish. Swish. Toni has swung his bone sword and cut all the sand chunks into pieces.

  “Enough! No more I’m sorry for your loss I am going to miss him too I am grateful we have a mission and we could be going home right now to replace it I say we have a funeral for Gabriel first. ,” said Toni.

  Agatha settles down, for the time being, she sat in the corner of the bridge with Annabelle and Zadok. Her eyes pierced my soul, and she stared at me for hours. James and Toni carried Gabriel’s wrapped corpse outside. We travelled a few miles east of where our ship was stationed. I stuck a crud shovel into the ground and began to dig. After what felt like an eternity had passed, we lowered his body into the hole.

  “I think instead of a funeral for Gabriel; we should also have a memorial service for everyone we have lost to be standing here right now” Said James.

  We all looked at each other and in agreement taking without words.

  “I think that is a good idea, James, before we leave this planet, we should honor all the people who are responsible for us being able to go home”

  My eyes ventures around the wilderness outsid
e the ship. The black and white landscape still messed with my head. It was still so dark and dreary. The ink-black trees jutted us of the ground sporadically. We picked a spot between several of the trees to bury his body. Next to Gabriel’s burial plot we posted a picture of Raymond and drawings of Willard, Smith, Thermal, and Sliver. We buried little shards of metal for each of the other Twenty of such people that had once lived in Agatha’s bone fort.

  I reached down and grabbed a large handful of dirt in my hand. I stepped up to Gabriel’s grave and stared at the lifeless body covered in cloth. For a moment I didn’t speak; I stared into the hole.

  “Gabriel and I fought for almost the entire time I knew him. I wish I could take back all those pointless fights if it proves anything it is that we were brothers. Through my entire heroes' journey it is that there are many different types of heroes. The last thing Gabriel did was go into a fight he knew he couldn’t win so that we could live. Gabriel thank you for teaching me, befriending me, and saving me. I uncurled my fingers and dropped the dirt into the grave. James stood up next to speak about Raymond and Gabriel. BOOM. My eyes travelled down to the floor I reached down and picked up the stem of a flower.

  “Fuck your catalyst and fuck you all, you have taken everything from me. My home, my friends, and even the love of my life, and I swear to God I will kill Catalyst if it’s the last thing I do,” Agatha screamed.

  She threw a handful of the black spiky flowers where Annabelle, Zadok, Reuben, and Toni we’re sitting. They tried to shield their faces, Toni’s face was hit with the blast, and he screamed as his face burned and bubbled. James lunged and tried to grab Agatha when she touched the floor and turned the ground into quicksand. I could no longer feel my legs as they sank farther and farther into the cold ground. I flashed back to when we began this journey, and I had sunk into the planets crust, and James had to pull me out. This time James was fighting Agatha. I kicked my legs and tried to swim through the dark grey quicksand all it seemed to do was kick up black soot. I knew Agatha had to be dealt with there is no way o could kill her or even hurt her. We would have to detain her until we arrived at home.