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Survival/to be named

SURVIVAL

 Part One

Day One

 Explosions cascaded dirt and rocks all over his tired, beaten body, bullets whizzing past his face. He heard the shouting of his men and distant screams of the people he once knew, their faces flashing through his mind but he can’t recognize them anymore. He looked to his left and then to his right, the soldiers next to him had blank empty faces. The sky dark and gray, clouds swirling through the air so fast it seemed like time was sped up ten fold. He wiped at his eyes with his dirt-stained callused fingers. He wiped off the dried crimson-stained blood from his cheeks but couldn’t feel where the blood was coming from. Another artillery shell hit the ground, closer this time breaking his concentration. He closed his eyes hard to shield them from the debris of his past.

****

Light poured into Eno’s eyes; he was back in his bunk sitting straight up because the dream he had startled him all the way awake, memories from the war, the day that shrapnel shot into his head and made him lose his memory. His heart was beating at twice the normal rate and he was covered in sweat, breathing heavily. But the air inside the ship is clean and cold which helped him calm down.

He took a few deep breaths and walked over to the sink to splash some cold water on his face then looked up at the mirror for a few short moments taking in his features, he followed his short jet black hair with his eyes down to his chiseled nose –having broken it several times before in combat he’d gained quite the definition– then to his thin dark red lips and around his cheeks and the lines of his jaw, debating on whether he should shave. He then made his way to the trunk at the foot of his bed to get his clothes and begin his day. Today was the day he and his crew made their last approach to the planet they’d been trying to find for five years, on a mission given to them by the Global Space Organization. After WWIII what was left of the earth was uninhabitable, and GSO had made it their soul efforts to producing the largest space station in history, setting it to orbit the Earth with the remaining population. XT2 is what Eno and his crew decided to call the planet they were ordered to find, before that it didn’t have a name. XT2 was accompanied with an indigenous race of aliens GSO warned them about, they called them The Leviathan. GSO specifically warned Eno in his mission briefing before they were set out, they also mentioned The Leviathan shouldn’t be a problem with the ammunition the mechanic–assigned to the crew–Ramirez, invented during the war.

Eno finished getting dressed as he shook his thoughts of before the five-year space voyage, focusing his mind on what he had ahead and made his way down the short metallic hallway into the control room where everyone was already waiting. They must have just gotten there because Kat was sitting down and putting her headset on, her long black hair put up messy bun with a chopstick going through it, as she had done almost everyday for the past five years. Grace was swirling around in Eno’s chair talking to Michael and Ramirez was turned around right in front of him because he had just walked in the door.

“Mornin’ Cap,” Grace said as she saw him walk in the door.

            “Morning everyone,” Eno said back, with half a smile.

“It’s time to get to work, Kat set up communications while I start the course for XT2, once we come out of orbit it’s going to get bumpy for a while so strap in and get ready,” Eno said as he started towards his chair and Grace was already moving to her own chair. Everyone did as he said because they were just as ready to get off the ship as he was.

“The course is set and the thrusters are at full capacity,” Captain Eno said.

“All ready on this end,” Kat replied.

“Prepare for landing in T-Minus five minutes,” Eno said.

The whole ship began to shake and rumble as it picked up speed. Four minutes left and the anticipation could’ve been grabbed out of the air. Three minutes and the anticipation in the air dissipated and was replaced with nervous eagerness. Traces of fire began shooting past the small windows they had for visibility as they entered the atmosphere. Descending closer and closer to the planet they’ve waited so long to see.

The whole front of their ship was now engulfed in flames heating up the white fireproof metal panels to a molten red.

One more minute, the thruster turned and began to slow them down; the ship was shaking more violently than before as it rapidly decreased speed and even more rapidly approached to the surface.

“We’re approaching XT2 in 3… 2… 1…” Eno counted down, manually steering the ship as it hovered above the ground into the landing zone, the only opening in the forest they’d found in miles.

There was a loud thud and the ship shook even more as it landed on the hard, unexplored ground. New mission, survey the land and report back to GSO as soon as possible.

“It took us five years to get here and once we’re done with our mission we were ordered to orbit the planet and wait for GSO,” Eno said.

 They all stood up after the ship landed and walked to the cargo bay where the door was. Eno being behind everyone, looked at Ramirez, who was by the control panel and commanded to open up the hatch, half looking at Ramirez and half at the door.

After a second or two, the large square hatch in front of them began leaking light from all sides, flooding into the room and leaving them all momentarily blind. Then their vision filled with the first real plants they’ve seen in years, a soft blue sky and warm rays of sunlight, abundant with insects none of them could identify flying around everywhere.

“Cap look, water!” Michael yelled out to Eno.

“What an observation Melon!” He yelled back sarcastically.

And as Eno looked around the sun hit his eyes making him squint, the puddle Michael pointed out was subtly glistening like sparks dancing across the surface. Then he noticed everyone including Michael was already out into the tree line exploring. So he decided to do the same, pointing his ankles down and adjusting his knees to walk down the hard metal ramp leading him to fresh green earth. The blades of grass crease beneath his heavy boots, he closes his eyes swelling his nostrils as he filled up his lungs with the refreshing non-recycled air. It was so strange, Eno thought to himself, the air was crisp the sun was warm, everything about this planet was so close to earth; even the gravity felt the same. It had made sense to Eno now even more than ever why they had chosen this planet and why it was imperative to GSO they not fail.

“We still don’t know what’s out there, group up, stay close and let's go.” Eno said cleanly as everyone grabbed their gear and formed up on him.

“Look high and low, we need to report back everything we see, we have to make sure this planet is safe enough to inhabit, for the sake of everyone.”

Two hours in and all they had seen were trees and bugs. Monstrous bugs with bodies the size of a baseball and wings like a small bird. The air was damp and sticky, having a constant feel to it like it had just rained, but the ground wasn’t really that wet and the sun was sending its rays through the air covering the canopy, in turn leaving the floor of the forest dark and eerie. The trees weren’t helping that scene either; shooting straight into the sky like each one was its own skyscraper. They continued to trek through the abundant forest taking in all the new sights.

“What the hell is that?” Grace questioned as she stops dead in her tracks.

Everyone turned at the same time in Graces direction and froze as she did. Eno followed her eyes across the forest and saw, just behind some trees, a perfectly blended in, massive, four-legged, naturally armored elephant-looking beast. With a flat squished face and four separate tusks symmetrically protruding out. Eyes locked onto Grace.

“It’s looking right fucking at me, what is that?” Graced tried to yell out but her voice was shaking.

“Don’t move Grace.” Eno whispered but it carried the words as if they were light as the air.              Like clockwork as long as it took those words to reach her the massive creature began to charge. Seven shots fired from different guns ring out across the forest in an echo that vibrated the leaves on every tree in ten miles and then a large thud rumbled the ground underneath their feet as the beast stammered to the ground five yards before Grace’s feet. Just like that, presented in front of the shocked scientists toes was the beast lying dead on the mossy earth.

“What, just like that?” Grace said quizzically not sure if she should be yelling, let out a fast sigh instead.

“HA!” Eno cried out

            “These bullet emit an extremely powerful concentrated burst of electricity on impact. It’s probably dead but if it’s not we should leave before it decides to wake up,” Ramirez said while he took out his clip and checked his ammunition.

“Yeah, Rammy here’s the one who designed these bullets,” Grace chimed in.

“Oh yeah, how could we leave that part out,” Michael said after Grace with a laugh.

“You’re right how could we possibly know I’m even a real engineer?” Ramirez said rolling his eyes.

“And not just some stow away!” Replied Eno with a grin ear to ear as they all bellowed in laughter for a few short seconds before realizing where they were and returning to their mission.

“Two more hours, walking and looking, for what?” Ramirez questioned.

He stopped when he said that, turning towards Eno and directing his question.

“We’re casing the terrain Ram, gathering Intel, that’s our mission,” Eno said back quickly.

The crew had been gone about six hours and Grace’s data was twenty-eight pages long already. She was so overwhelmed with all her new data she hadn’t even thought to share her findings with anyone. Granted the part with that creature almost charging at her like a rhino was a descent portion. But the amount she had researched beside that was very substantial.

“What’s this?” Eno said curiously looking in front of him.

“It’s a clearing, looks like an oasis almost,” Michael said trying to figure out the mystery first.

Coming up on a ledge the crew stopped simultaneously, as they all saw the same beautiful thing, a large glimmering pond underneath them and on the opposite side, rushing blue tides of a magnificent waterfall. Surrounding the shores were banks of sand and oval stones smoothed out by water over the years, past that a small incline and trees back to the forest. In the middle of all that a small island being cascaded in rays of light and a glistening screen of mist overlaying the scene.

            “Whoa,” Kat exclaimed.

            “Mmhm,” Michael murmured speechlessly.

            “We should get to the high ground up on the waterfall, follow the river from there,” Eno said disrupting the awe of his fellow crew members.

            “C’mon Cap, don’t have to ruin all the fun,” Ramirez said with a smirk.

“What?” Eno said simply.

“First one to the island can have it!” Kat yelled out.

“No we shouldn’t…” but Eno was cut off before he could tell his crew to stay put.

That being all that it took, in two blinks of an eye Kat, Grace, Ramirez and Michael were in the water, fake showering and splashing each other.

“I’m going to keep watch…” Eno said loudly figuring someone could hear.

Then deciding to make a perimeter and scout a way up the waterfall, he walked around slowly, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Making his way to the other side of the oasis, he could hear everyone laughing in the background. He ignored this and tried to focus on the rocks ahead of him; he needed to figure out if the rocks were climbable or if they would have to go around. As Eno walked towards the small cliff he looks over his shoulder and can see his crew members walking out of the water onto the sand where their gear was. And as he turned around to walk back and show them his idea for getting up the rocks, he kicks something with his foot. What he picked up is a small little wooden talisman attached to a rope too short to put around anyone’s neck. It resembled a small little pale creature with crystal circles where the eyes should have been. So Eno picked it up without second thought to show his crew and walked back towards the sand.

But the instant his fingers came in contact with the strange piece of wood a memory began to flood his mind. His vision began to turn black around the edges and then darkness. Losing consciousness his knees buckled and he fell to the ground while his mind replayed the distant memory. He was lying down in a bed, his bed? Everything was so blurry, and a figure lay next to him. She had long black hair stringing in all different directions over her pillow; a few pieces tickled his nose. He looked past this unknown figure out to the window as a proverbial sunrise began to take claim over the desolate sky. He felt a shift in the covers as the most beautiful woman Eno had ever seen greeted his eyes with a smile.

           Eno jolted back up grasping the talisman so tightly it left an imprint in his hand and yelled, Kat! It’s Katerina, it was always her, Eno thought to himself as he leapt to his feet and ran back to his crew. Eno approached and everyone was talking and drying their hair.

“Hey, I found a way to get up the waterfall, it shouldn’t be too hard to climb up.” He said as everyone turned to face him.

“Lets get going then.” Michael answered.

As they walked back up to the rocks Eno could feel the talisman in his pocket with his fingers while he began to debate whether or not to show his crew but they got to the rocks and he took his hand out of his pocket to begin climbing.

“Once we get over this we’ll find a safe spot to make camp and head back to the ship in the morning, we shouldn’t walk back in the dark and we’ve spent too much time as it is,” Eno said with authority as he began to pull his athletic body up the rocks.

The light was fading to its last sliver as the evening pulled down the sun when they finally found a place to stop and rest. Exhausted as they all were, no words were spoken, just a fire, food, and sleep.

 ****

Day Two

            Everyone was awake before the sun was out, Eno knew tensions were high, after all they had seen yesterday, what else was out there? Eno thought about how long it would take for them to make sure the planet was safe. But what if the planet isn’t safe, he couldn’t stop asking his self that question, and he knew sooner or later everyone else was going to start asking the same. Once everyone had eaten breakfast they packed up their things and began to walk back to the ship. They set down markers periodically along their path the day before so they wouldn’t get lost.

            After an hour of walking and playful bickering between them all Grace had noticed they hadn’t seen any markers yet.

            “Shouldn’t the oasis we stopped at yesterday be around here?” Grace said with discontent.

            “We didn’t walk too far past the waterfall, we should be close.” Michael said confidently to comfort Grace’s worrying mind, despite Michael knowing something wasn’t right. He was too afraid to say anything, as was everyone else. Eno knew that nothing looked familiar but he was sure he knew that way back; they only traveled in one direction so they couldn’t get too lost.

            “We’ll keep walking a bit further, if it doesn’t show up soon we’ll know we took a wrong turn.” Eno said as he scanned the surrounding forest making note of everything he saw.

A large boulder by two trees that grew together out of the ground, strange flowers with red and white streaks as big as the palms of your hands outstretched together. He tried to recognize as many landmarks as he could from the day before but he recognized none of them. So they kept walking.

After a little while they stopped and discussed the route they had walked and all agreed they had to be going the right way towards the ship, Eno pointed out a hill they could climb to gain perspective and find the ship. They made their way to the hill and when they reached the top they could see for miles before the trees blocked their view.

“There it is, we just need to adjust our path a bit and we should be there before nightfall.” Eno said pointing out over the horizon eyes locked on the ship.

When they got back to the bottom of the hill they started again, this time with more confidence. After a while they began to get tired and decided to stop for water and rest. Eno walked over to a rock and sat down leaning up against a tree, closing his eyes for a few seconds. Then suddenly like a jolt of electricity snuck out of one of his bullets and hit him, his eyes were open and he was standing up staring at the tree with a petrified look more still than the stone he was before sitting on. The same stone he had made a mental note of before with the same two trees.

“Captain you okay?” Ramirez said being the first one to notice his captains’ strange behavior.

 “These trees, I saw them earlier, we’ve been here before.” Eno said frantically looking at his fellow crew, all with the same shocked look on their face.

“You can’t be serious Cap there’s no way we went back three hours from where we were, we saw the ship, we’ve been walking in a straight li….”

Before Ramirez could finish his sentence a battle cry was let out in the distance, so loud it made the forest tremble and the animal’s quiver. Chills went down Eno’s spine as he saw something jump out of the tree line miles in front of them and landed within yards of the crew. It was all white and massive, at least eight feet tall and boney spikes sticking out of its shoulder blades, knees and elbows. Another growl, this time deeper but more fierce. Eno looked up at its black stringy hair and snarled greasy face and it looked back at Eno. In that moment one shot fired out and hit the fierce creature in the chest, Ramirez had his gun mounted on his shoulder and smoke was swirling out of the barrel, before he had time to pull the trigger a second time, in one fell swoop the Leviathan grabs Kat and jumps away again further than before.

“Kat NO!” Eno yelled out in horror running after her for a few steps before stopping in his tracks to the realization that he couldn’t chase after her.

“What the hell was that, first the wooly mammoth and now this?” Grace screamed in frustration.

“That god damn thing took Kat, we have to get her back.” Eno said as he stood up and grabbed his gun from the dirty forest floor.

One thing they knew now was that XT2 is not safe from a hostile indigenous species and another thing they knew now was is if they wanted their communications officer to be able to send for help they had to rescue her. With that they had a new mission now, find where that thing took Kat and rescue her.            

 ****

Day Four

             “We’ve been searching for days and we’re running out of food, Captain, if we don’t find her soon we’re going to have to find the ship.” Michael said, voice full of regret for having spoken such words.

            “He’s right, we’re not going to survive for much longer and we need to do something,” Grace added.

            Eno knew they were right, but what was he to do. How can you find something in a forest that doesn’t stay the same?

            “Come on let’s keep trying, we have to be close,” Eno said not knowing what else to say.

            So they continued on past the infinite trees and animals. While they walked Eno trailed a few yards behind everyone else, he reached down and grabbed the talisman out of his pocket where he’d kept it for the past few days. But something about it was different this time, at first he couldn’t exactly figure out what it was but then he realized one of the eyes looked like it was glowing. Barely dim enough to see but a passing tree lent enough shade for him to notice the strange change in appearance. He put the talisman back in his pocket and sped up to the front of the group.

            “We should keep going this way, I’ve got a feeling we’re getting closer,” He said optimistically and he trailed through the forest now clearing the path before them.

 Part Two

 Day 6

After convincing the crew the day before to keep going instead of turning back and finding the ship, Eno felt some strange sort of surety that this talisman was leading them where to go. Almost as if the closer they get to the origin of the talisman the more the eyes glow. Now, both of the crystalline eyes were red and pulsating a luminous essence of hope for the captain. They were half a day into walking when they all began to hear a faint rumbling in the floor of the forest. Like some sort of stampede rushing towards them, they felt it in their feet now. Whatever it was, it was getting closer. Eno stopped and put his fist in the air to signal the others to stop moving. He swung his gun around, and mounted it in between his shoulder and his pectoral, sweeping the surrounding area for signs of what was going on. Like a well oiled machine everyone else imitated Eno’s actions and formed back to back, pointing the barrels of their guns four different ways into trees to cover all angles and walking slowly forward.

            After a few seconds of nothing Ramirez yells out over the silence.

            “Contact, contact, Leviathan!”

            “Stay in formation and open fire, don’t leave any alive,” Eno said with such determination he may as well have grown roots and sunk them into the ground where he stood. Gunfire spat out covering over every sound in the forest. Eno shot out six times landing all bullets in the chest of his target, still the Leviathan was in full sprint despite the amount of damage received, two more behind the first as large and as terrifying running in a straight line toward them. The amount of bullets in the creature’s chest must have doubled before it hit the ground at full speed and tumbled to a stop. The other two didn’t even look, their focus was relentless.

            “Move now! Take em’ down!” Eno said over his gunfire still shooting without a pause to speak.

            Right as the creatures reached them they all jumped out of the way in different directions. Turning around just as fast to begin shooting again, all four of them surrounding the creatures now. Michael and Ramirez start to reload giving a Leviathan enough time to react. One ran at Michael before he could put his clip back into his gun and hit him so hard it knocked him into the air hitting a tree not far behind him, Eno watched as he saw Michael's limp body fall to the ground and the Leviathan walking to its now unconscious prey.

            “Hey you bitch over here!” Eno screamed putting three more bullets into the creatures back letting his bullets do most of the talking. The moment it turned around Grace shot two bullets right into the face of the ruthless foe and it fell to the ground.

            While all this was happening Ramirez reloaded his clip faster than Michael and shot the other one a few times in each leg and several other places injuring it so bad that it could barely fight. Even as injured as it was, it still got away jumping above the tree line and out of sight.

            “Is everyone okay?” Eno said hurrying over to Michael, who was just now opening his eyes.

            “You took quite the hit,” Ramirez said.

            “He’ll be alright,” Grace answered for Michael; she was on the other side of him looking at Eno now.

            “He’s going to have some bruised ribs and a sore back for a while but he’ll live,” She continued on.

            “Good to hear, let’s get situated and move out, I saw which way that thing went and he didn’t jump far,” Eno explained as he helped Michael wipe the dirt from his shoulders.

            Eno could light up a hallway now with how bright the talisman’s eyes had gotten. He was right, for some reason when it gets close to these creatures it behaves differently, and he was close now.

            They walked for another thirty minutes before something so large was in their path they had to stop.

            “The hell is this?” Ramirez stated.

            Everyone was just as confused as he was, but they knew they were going inside that temple.

            “That’s our best shot at finding Kat,” Eno said sharply.

 ****

As they approach the large stone temple distant screaming grows louder and louder, still so muffled it’s barely a whisper.

“She’s in there,” Eno said never sounding surer of anything.

All remained silent because they knew what their captain said was true. And so they walked on further towards the only thing that resembled a door, it was already open. Eno went in first flipping on the flashlight at the end of his gun to see what lay ahead. The rest following suit, Michael in front with captain walked slowly forward scanning for threats as Grace and Ramirez followed looking behind them to cover their backs.

They begin to approach a large open room with nothing in it but a door on the far side leading to God knows what and two torches on either side of the door. Eno couldn’t tell how old the temple was but it looked as if it were falling apart with broken pieces of stone scattered along the floor that had fallen with age from the ceiling and the walls.

“I guess we just have to see where that door leads to then,” Eno said warily.

As they approached the door Eno saw a small slot where a handle should be. It was in the shape of his talisman.

“Great it’s locked with some weird ass key and we have nowhere else to go,” Ramirez said with frustration.

“No,” Eno said reaching into his pocket.

“I found this near the oasis, on the first day we were here. I didn’t know what it was until it eyes started glowing after the first time we saw one of those creatures.” He began to explain.

“You’ve had this the whole time and you didn’t tell us?” Ramirez snapped back even more angry than before.

“Yes, I didn’t know what it was and I wasn’t sure when I was going to show you, but it’s good that I found it isn’t it, let’s keep our enemies common Ram, the important thing is we can open this door and find Kat,” Eno said back trying to calm Ramirez down.

“You better be right Captain, or you won’t able to fuck up a second time,” Ramirez said disturbingly calm.

Eno turned once Ramirez was done and put the key into its fitting lock. The eyes glowed brighter than ever before and then stopped glowing completely as it got pulled into the stone and the door began to open.

On the other side was a staircase leading up to another room. Eno could see something standing in the door way and when his eyes adjusted a bit more he could see, Kat?

“Kat!” Eno yelled out.

But as the captain yelled out her name she slowly turned away and walked into the consuming darkness.

“Wait, stop!” Eno yelled out again louder this time.

Once he couldn’t see Kat any longer he began to sprint up the stairs assuming Grace, Ram, and Michael would follow and they did. As Eno began running, both doors began to slide close and shut before they could reach the top.

“Shit. What now?” Ramirez looked at captain spitefully, expecting him to say I don’t know.

Before Eno could even speak the walls began to move inward, in a few moments they would be crushed and left on a planet that wasn’t even their own, and nobody would even know. Eno thought for a moment and began kicking the door seeing if the stone would budge but nothing was happening.

“Shoot the door,” Eno said finally after trying to kick it one more time.

“We’ll shoot it until there isn’t a door to shoot,” He continued.

After thirty seconds and two magazines each they shot away enough stone that they were able to break it down the rest of they way.

“Hurry up we’re running out of time!” Grace yelled at them, as she felt the walls begin to push her shoulders.

One by one they stumbled out of their demise and into an empty room. The air was stale and musky Eno could see the dust blanketing the air through the flashlight on his gun and it was so thick it seemed as if there was more dust than air. Another hallway connected this room led to a doorway outside. Eno could see the light pouring in through the opening.

“There, that’s the only way we can go,” He said pointing down the hall.

“What’s out there?” Grace asked not expecting an answer.

Without a word Eno reloaded his gun and started down the hallway.

           Part 3

  At the top of this temple was an opening that mimicked the looks of an arena. The floor was circular, stone and flat and around them it looked like stairs all the way up on all sides, and at the top of the other side was a door, bigger than the other ones. Eno went through first, into the openness. He immediately saw Kat being dragged into the door a Leviathan and instantly began shooting at it. Outraged it let out a single roar and disappeared back into the darkness. Eno began to run towards the Kat but before he could even make it to the other side of the floor another one appeared in the doorway, this time no Kat.  Behind the first was another and they began walking out one after the other.

            “Stop them here!” Eno yelled out while he began to shoot, “If we want to stand a chance, we fight.”

Grace was the second one to shoot followed by Michael then Ramirez. With the same formation as before, they were dead if those things got up close so they had to kill them before they could reach the ground.

            Eno’s hands were steady and his eyes were focused as he moved from one target to the next killing as he went. The creatures are surrounding them now and more keep piling in. They’re on all sides and keep getting closer.

            “We can’t kill them fast enough!” Grace exclaimed with exasperation.

            “We have to!” Michael said back as he shot a Leviathan out of mid-air that was jumping towards them.

            “We need to move, we can’t stay here forever we’re sitting ducks. Get to that door and don’t stop shooting for anything,” Eno ordered all of them with authority in his voice.

            They began to move, shooting as they went.

            Michael yells out, “20!”

            “22!” Ramirez yelled back while he laughed, they’re voices barely being heard underneath the continuous gunfire.

            Halfway up the steps Eno notices no more of those things were coming out of the door, they were instead coming from the surrounding area and jumping over the temple­ –they must have killed the ones inside the temple quickly Eno yelled at everyone to make a break for the door.

            “Now while we can! Get to the door!” he cried out as they climbed up the large steps as fast as they could.

            “I have one more trick up my sleeve,” Eno said just before he followed everyone through the door.

            He turned around pulled a grenade from his pack and threw it in the center of the ring. They all dove inside and hid on either side of the wall to shield themselves from the stone shrapnel shooting into the room and everywhere else. All they could hear was the explosion and a rumbling sound as yells of the indigenous filled the air and the creatures fell through the collapsing stone floor.

            Immediately after the grenade went off and the shrapnel had flown its course the whole crew ran to the other side of the room. Eno peered outside from his adjacent position noticing heavily wounded Leviathans quickly recuperating, eager to finish they’re lesser foes.

            “Where’s the door?” Eno said instantly scanning the entire room.

            “Behind you,” Grace said with a hushed whisper as she tried to catch her breath.

            “Hang on, just a sec Cap,” Ramirez said clicking in his fresh mag. Eno watched him closely as Ramirez walked calmly to the door from which they had just rushed through.

            “What the hell do you think are you doing Ramirez?” Eno replied, firmly shooting a warning.

            Silence came back to Eno’s ear that shot a warm sensation down his back tightening the muscles in his body. One shot rang out as Ramirez pointed his barrel down the newly formed hole, pink mist sprayed over another behind the first covering the upper half of its body. The creature responded with ferocity jumping straight for Ramirez. Eno was next to Ramirez almost the second the creature decided to jump, and at the same time two shots, one from each gun. Ramirez had delivered the final blow to the Leviathan coursing through the air. Eno could see Ramirez turn to look at him in his peripherals, following his eyes to the ledge on the other side of the door where the steps used to be. And just a few yards below the ledge was a Leviathans’ stiff hulking body lying dead on large pieces of stone rubble. Where it had once currently been standing with its arm outstretched and its thick coarse hand only inches from reaching Ramirez’s foot.

            Eno looked up at Ramirez after taking a moment to process what had just happened. Ramirez was a dumbass, check.

            “You’re welcome,” He said as he stared Ramirez in the black of his eyes, purely focused, anticipating his next move.

            “And, you’re lucky to be alive,” He followed up with a short pause in his breath afterwards.

            Ramirez said nothing. Eno turned around to address his Crew.

            “We still haven’t found Kat, let’s see where this door leads we can’t go back. New mission survive, get to the ship, and send for reinforcements,”

            “And how are we going to do that without Kat, her computer has a biometric scanner and we don’t have her thumb,” Michael being the first to say something.

            “Then I guess we’ll just have to find her,” Eno stated with a peculiarly soft yet strong force of power that yielded not another word.

 *****

Eno lead the group down a dark musky hallway, tracing his fingers against the solid suffocating wall and cradling his rifle in the socket of his shoulder. He tilted his head down slightly and moved his eyes just above the sight of his rifle fixating on the end of the hall, simultaneously realizing the hall came to a T. Rectangular slots carved out of the stone ceiling outstretched in a single row until the end of the hall. The small amounts of sunlight streaked into the hallway as the crews’ shadows appeared and disappeared moving back and forth as they walked.

            Eno disrupted the temporary moment of calming silence; “The hall comes to a T, fantastic.”

            He followed up with, “Grace and Melon, right. Ramirez you’re with me left. Call what you see and be ready to shoot,”

            “Copy,” Graced called back.

            “Copy two,” Michael said.

            “Copy three,” Ramirez followed.

            They approached the end of the hall with a systematic flow and without stopping turned with their designated paths, one after the other raising their guns to their shoulders and fixing their eyes down the sight to face whatever lay before them.

            “Cl–,” Michael began to yell before he was cut off with a single flash and bang.

            Eno was already taking out his magazine to check how many bullets he had left before the Leviathan could hit the ground.

            “–ear,” Michael finished.

            “Clear,” Eno repeated back.

            “We have a dead end,” Michael said pointing out a pile of stone rubble stacked up to the tip of the door at the end of the hall.

            “We have stairs,” Eno said back.

            They made their way down the stairs another hallway with a wall blocking where the door should have been. The crew cautiously approached the non-existent door half expecting there to be a trap set before them ready to take their lives with no remorse or second thought. But as they planted their feet and stood in front of the stone nothing happened, after a moment of silence intertwined with confusion the floor began to shift in a downward motion. On all four sides of the floor perfectly straight lines outlined a square around them, the floor continued to slowly sink for what Eno thought to be the longest seconds of his life, before it stopped. As the floor stopped moving and clicked into place the wall in front of them began to mimic the actions of the floor, slowly moving down.

            Eno looked at the faces of all his crew trying to figure out what they thought of the situation. Not getting any information beside; they’re also confused as hell, Eno focused his gaze back on the moving door, watching the dust fall to the ground that had been building up forever until this moment on the stationary surface of the door that was never meant to move.

            “Well would you look at that Cap,” Ramirez said, patting Eno on the shoulder and walking past him into the freshly blinding sun and voluminous crisp air instantly filling his lungs with deep sharp inhales.

            The rest of them followed Eno being the last to exit. Once all of their weight was off the platform that had opened the door, it began to move back up along with the door. The noise made them all turn around and they watched as the last little bit of darkness concealed itself once again.

“We’re back to square one, and we still don’t know where Kat is,” Michael said aloud hoping for someone to have the right answer.

“We have bigger problems,” Eno said, “Do you hear that?”

A familiar sound followed Eno’s question, a vibration in the ground. The same rumbling they heard the first time they were ambushed by The Leviathan.

“More are coming, and fast. We need to run. We don’t have enough ammo to fight for much longer, we need to find the ship and figure out a way to contact GSO,” Eno said hurriedly, trying to conserve time.

“He’s right,” Grace agreed looking at Michael and then to Ramirez.

They all nodded in agreement with each other and looked over to Eno.

“Okay let’s go,” Eno said trying to have assurance in his voice.

**** 

The Leviathans were nearing them with ferocity, like they had done this too many times before. Perfect tactics and cohesion, and the speed at which they were running they were phenomenal. Eno led the crew through the twisting nether of mahogany trees, running as fast as their legs would carry them, rustling the foliage of fallen dead leaves beneath their feet.

“Do we even know where we’re going?” Grace yelled out trying to make her words reach the grasp of Eno’s ears.

But Eno had no response; he didn’t say a word as he began to slow down his pace just a bit, enough to get behind the group.

“What are you doing?” Grace yelled again, louder this time breathing heavily.

“Keep running! I’ll catch up!” Eno finally replied as he planted his feet and turned his body on a swivel leaving a circle of disturbed dirt on the hard ground. He took in a deep breath and raised his rifle to his shoulder slowly pushing his cheek against the stock of the gun as he identified his targets. He felt the forest suck in its breath and hold as he did. Like it was waiting for whatever was going to happen next. Time slowed when Eno saw the first beast appear out of the thick brush leaping over a fallen tree trunk, thrusting its body ten feet in the air and landing a motion so fluid it was staggering. Without a second thought or a second step Eno lined up his crosshairs in the middle of Leviathans face and pulled back his finger on the trigger releasing the first bullet. Three Leviathans now two in close formation, rampaging towards Eno. Several more bullets rang out through the fortress of wood captivating them, but not from Eno’s gun. He watched the second Leviathan fall to the ground tumbling in circles before a tree stopped it from rolling any further, confused Eno swiveled back around to see his three comrades tactically walking forward with their eyes down their sites and their focus locked on, unloading their ammo until they watched the last Leviathan fall to the ground just after letting out a blood curdling roar.

“Eno, we’re not losing anyone else,” Michael said walking up to Eno with half a grin and a comforting hand outstretched to land on his shoulder.

“I said I was going to catch up. I had that!” Eno replied putting his hand on Michaels opposite shoulder, “But thank you,” letting out a deep invigorating breath exhaling his previous actions back into the air.

“Now that the shit show is over, lets get back to the damn ship.” Ramirez said, Eno could’ve sworn he heard him snarl.

“What about Kat?” Grace said back, whipping her words straight at Ramirez.

“Are you serious? Kat’s gone; you saw what happened when we found her right? She walked away. She saw us and she walked away. Whatever Kat we used to know, she’s not the same person anymore,” Ramirez spat back to Grace; again Eno thought he heard a faint snarl.

“So what? We just leave her behind, just like that then? Zero remorse?” Eno beamed at Ramirez locking eyes.

“All you’ve done is complain since shit hit the fan,” Eno continued, “We’re not just going to leave her behind.”

“You think you can save her Captain? She’s gone and she’s not coming back.”

“Since shit hit the fan? We’re on some godforsaken planet with giant fucking aliens and a forest that can change at a moments notice. That was all here before us, so what shit exactly hit the fan?” Ramirez fired back clenching his fist.

            “What do you propose we do then smart ass? Saw we do find the ship, we can’t contact GSO…”

            “Stop! Damnit, just stop. Do you really think fighting is going to help us survive out here?” Grace said stepping in between her fighting comrades.

            Eno was the first to step down, Ramirez still fully cocked, ready to get his way.

            “You’re right Grace, if we ever want to make it out of here alive we need to stick together,” Eno said, calmer now.

            “No. She’s wrong, you’re going to run us six feet into the dirt and nobody is ever going to know,” Ramirez stated firmly looking at Grace and then at Eno.

            “You can’t lead this group,” He went on. “And I’m not staying to find out just how stupid you actually are.”

            “Ramirez don’t do this,” Michael said trying to calm him down. “You can’t leave, we don’t even know what else is out there. And have you seen the first alien we ran into? They’ll tear you apart, limb from limb, relentlessly.”

            “If I die out there, it’d be a hell of a lot better than dying next to the man leading me into my grave,” Ramirez said back, holding his ground.

            After a pause that seemed to drag against the flow of time, lasting too long Eno finally said, “You won’t be able to find us again. Leave if you need to I’m not going to stop you, but with us, your crew, at least you actually have a chance at survival.”

            Ramirez contemplated what Eno had just said to him. Eno could see thoughts rushing around his brain through his eyes, and at the conclusion Ramirez slowly turned around and began to walk away from his crew.

            “Ramirez don’t leave!” Grace yelled out to him, but either Ramirez didn’t hear her or he didn’t care, he was gone.

            “And then there were three,” Michael said leaving room for despair.

            “Godspeed,” Eno whispered into the wind and through the trees, hoping his prayer would reach Ramirez.

****  

Night 7

            The three of them torn sat around a fire. Eno watched the dancing flames trying to absorb the heat that he could, if only in an attempt to melt the ice that had encrusted his heart. He looked around and caught the eyes of his remaining crew.

            “We took a hard hit today. Finding our ship is our first priority. When we find it and resupply, we should go back out and look for her again.”

            “What about Ram?” Grace said grabbing Michael’s hand, he sitting next to her on the adjacent log of Eno.

            “Once we have Kat, we can call for GSO to send support and a search team,” Eno said moving his eyes from their interlocked fingers and to Graces disturbed face.

            “Everything’s going to be okay, Grace,”

            They all sat for a while longer, enjoying the peace the darkness brought. The fire’s luminescent glow began to diminish and one by one so did their conscience state.

****

Day 8

             In the morning after they had collected their things they began to walk, before the sun had risen and spread its rays across the world. An hour went by and Eno began to see the sun rise in the sky and caress the horizon.

            “Good morning everyone,” Eno said with his gaze still on the sky.

            He could hear Grace chuckle but Michael stayed silent, Eno could see the contemplation in Michaels eyes, totally lost in his thoughts. He let him be with his thoughts and continued forward.

Hours went by and morale went low. To pass the time Eno had begun to count boulders they passed through out the never-ending woodland. 55 he thought to himself, suddenly another thought struck him like a Leviathans fist.

            “That’s that rock!” He yelled aloud, “With the trees.”

            “What are you talking about Cap?” Grace asked confused and worried.

            Michael must have been just as worried because he chased Grace’s question with, “I think he’s lost it.”

            “No I sat on this rock before. We’re close to the oasis we found one the first day, the ship can’t be far.”

            They kept walking on with more determination than before, the recent discovery refueling their empty morale. Not much time had passed and they approached a small clearing, trees on either side still but with a river running through the rolling green blades of tall grass.

            “There the water fall, we found it,” Eno said pointing downriver to a drop off where mist was shooting up in the air from the torrential water forming a white cloud around the edge of the cliff.

            This time there wasn’t any hesitation; all three of them began to sprint towards to lush tranquil water. They got to the edge where the water began to fall and stopped, all peeking over the drop off and into the inviting water.

            “Oh yeah this is happening,” Eno said these words at the same time taking off his pack and ripping off his shoes before diving into the pristine glistening water. Michael and Grace watched their captain as his body succumbed to the grasp the water provided, pulling him deeper, Eno disappeared underneath the ripples being spread across the veritable wonderland they had been provided with amongst such a dark place.    

            Michael looked at Grace and Grace at Michael, and with a humph they both jumped falling with the water and making a splash the reached all the way over to Eno who was swimming on his back taking in the only good thing on the planet. Within the hour they climbed up onto the beach and started to walk over to the rocks they climbed before to get their gear and start walking again.

            Eno strapped up his black standard issue boots and slung his pack over his shoulders before finally picking up his rifle.

            “Uh Cap. Is that the ship?” Grace said in disarray pointing out to the horizon.

            Just below the sun peeking slightly over the tree line was the top of their ship, maybe ten miles at most.

            “It’s so close. How did we miss that before?” Eno replied already climbing back down the rocks.

            Grace and Michael followed his careful steps down the cliff. Then they were off again, running towards their last hope. Tree after tree whooshed passed as they carried their legs over the mossy clumps and leaf carpeted ground. After the initial excitement faded and their energy depleted from running who knows how many miles, they slowed their pace, still covering ground fast but slowing down enough to conserve energy for anything unexpected.

            They kept moving Eno kept the top of their ship in his eyesight, making sure this time that the forest wouldn’t shift under their feet leaving them blind and confused. The ship came in and out of focus, above and below the canopy as Eno’s head bobbed up and down to the motion of his moving body.

            “We’re close, keep moving,” Eno said in between sharp inhales.

            Behind them Eno began to hear rustling in the leaves, yes they all were running but this sounded different. Not like it was next to him but way behind him. He looked over to Grace’s feet and then to Michaels, he counted their steps and couldn’t credit the foreign noise to either of them, their steps didn’t match up. In a quick jolt of his head Eno looked back behind him and scanned the area they had covered. One glimpse of a pale white figured appeared between two trees before the brush got too thick to see through.

            No. Eno thought to himself, we’re so close. He reached into his pack and pulled out his last grenade. Simultaneously speeding up so Grace and Michael would speed up with him. Eno pulled the pin and dropped the small explosive shell behind him.

            1...2...3... Eno counted under his breath anticipating the burst of energy about to be released behind them…4…5, A fiery ball of yellow flamed ignited behind them the force still strong enough to propel the crew forward but not enough to knock them off their feet, they kept running. Eno looked behind him and the ball of smoke and flame flourished into the air and rose up, two Leviathans on either side of the total blast radius had been torn to shreds and burned severely, killing them instantly. Just before Eno was about to turn around he saw another Leviathan–three again traveling together–immerse out of the destructive blaze jumping through the air towards them. He turned back around making sure he wasn’t about to run into and tree and when he returned his gaze the Leviathan chasing them was gone. He turned back to keep running and saw the opening where they had landed their ship. With a loud thud the missing Leviathan landed in front of them forcing them to stop dead in their tracks.

            Its body pulsated as it filled its large breast with air expanding its chest also, making it look even larger than it already was. It exhaled and snarled at the same time planting its feet like it was about to charge at them.   Eno, Grace, and Michael were ready, in a tight three-man formation eyes peering through their sights and barrels pointed at the Leviathan. Bang, Bang, Bang. One shot from each of them at the exact same time, the bullets left their barrels traveling through the air leaving a trail of residual lightning sparking off the bullet. The bullets hit the beast leaving a triangle of three red dots around its heart. The beast fell to the ground and they began to walk towards their ship, carefully stepping over the Leviathans still warm lifeless body.

            The exited the tree line into the opening where their ship was still standing, as it were holding its breathe, waiting for them to return. Like nothing had even happened. Grace was the last one to step out into the open, and almost as if her stepping out of the woods was a trigger, the ship exploded. Red and yellow flames shot out in all direction shooting shrapnel everywhere. The flames billowed outwards, filling the entire sky. The noise reverberated over the still forest like a clap of thunder. Grabbing the attention of anything and everything within at least a fifty-mile radius. The force of the blast pushed the trees surrounding the origin of the blast so hard they may as well have picked their roots up and flown away like a strong breath pushing the seeds of a dandelion flower into the air. The same blast knocked the crew over just like that.

            Eno, lying on his back grunted and tried to pull his self back up, but he was unsuccessful. He tilted his head with the rest of his energy to the right looking at Michael who had a metal beam of shrapnel impaled into his stomach. He looked to his left at Grace, unconscious but Eno could watch the rise and fall of her chest; she was alive, but barely and covered in blood. Eno could only imagine what shit he must’ve looked like. His mind was buzzing, his ears were ringing, he tried to think, but the more he reached for his thoughts the less clarity they retained. His mind was dismembered and scattered everywhere just like their ship. He did the only thing he could do, he mustered what strength he had left and tilted his head upward to process what had actually just happened.

            The smoke and fire had mostly dissipated, leaving only parts of the ship scattered everywhere still aflame, shooting a screen of smog across the whole landing zone. He stared still not knowing what to think or do, completely helpless and totally useless, but as he watched the smoke flow with the wind the scene behind that began to unfold. Amongst all this destruction Eno made out a blurry figure still unable to focus completely. He squinted his eyes trying to make out the mysterious figure and slowly his vision came back to normal and the ringing in his ears subsiding, in his sight was one unimaginable thing, Eno could not believe his eyes–he didn’t. But what else would it have been? It was Kat. Slightly hiding her body behind a tree at the edge of the forest, staring at Eno.

[gamesdeanab-blog]

Shadow Corporation

Who am I? What am I? Where do I fit in? These are the entirety of questions I had to grow up asking myself. My parents always told me growing up the way I am wouldn’t be easy, but I was too young to understand what that meant. You’re different, son. That’s how my father told me I was a shadow. Followed by a long lecture of everything that entailed. Like how I was a reincarnation of my former self, whatever that meant, and people were always going to treat me… Differently.

           It wasn’t until I was ten that I knew exactly what he was trying to tell me. I was out on the schoolyard during recess. We were all playing soccer, my ‘friends’ and me; I was always really good at sports, better than everyone at everything. I had gained quite the popularity for this. Until that one day on the soccer field. Here’s how it went, I was taking the ball down the field, while the kids on the other team were slowly being left behind in a trail of dust. Jimmy was their goalie and I was coming up fast, dribbling the ball as well as I could. When I came into shooting distance of the goal I took my shot and missed terribly. I watched the ball whiz through the air and veer off to the right. Before I even knew what I was doing my body dissipated into thin air emanating a cloud of obscure smoke. I reappeared right in front of the ball I had just kicked with the same swirling shadows around me, and I kicked it into the goal with such power it only left a blur before it hit the net so hard it went straight through the flimsy crisscrossed strings.

           When my feet hit the ground I looked up in confusion at all the kids on the field, who were staring right back at me with fascination and contempt.

           “Freak!” Jimmy yelled out pointing right at me, “He’s a shadow!”

I looked around frantically, I didn’t know what to do; that was the first time I had ever phase walked before. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Nobody is supposed to know. I caught the figures of two teachers who had the job of watching the kids as we played. They were walking towards me; obviously they had seen what just happened. So, without any more hesitation I did a full turn and sprinted in the other direction, towards the fence that enclosed the playground. As I picked up speed my feet started turning into shadows leaving a trail of smoke before I disappeared again.

           I was standing in the middle of my room. And I just stood there, I couldn’t tell how many hours had passed before my mother ran into my room hysterical because I wasn’t at school for her to pick me up. No doubt she had just gotten off the phone with the police because when she saw me she immediately hung up. I didn’t have to explain myself; somehow she already knew what happened. I was always thankful for that because I had no idea what I would’ve told her. She set the phone down on my dresser and slowly walked over to me. She stopped in front of me got on her knees and just hugged me, and I burst into tears.

           “They. Hate. Me,” I could barely get out the words in between sobs, “They called me a freak.”

           “Oh sweetie, you’re not a freak. You’re just different than they are.”

           There that word was again, different.

             Itzal, are you ready? I heard the question over the speakers and just smirked at the camera. Sentry was a clandestine branch of the government dedicated to finding people like me and giving them purpose in a world that rejects our true nature. They came to me a couple weeks ago. I got a knock on my door late at night.

           “Mr. Nero?” The man simply asked.

           “Yes? Who’s asking?” I replied as I took in his features. He was balding, probably in his forties and a well-tailored suit to go with it all.

           “I’m with Sentry. I’m here to talk to you about a certain job opening.”

           So here I am. In a training facility out in the middle of god knows where with two men watching my every move through cameras. I stood in the middle of a plain dark room with four walls. The only source of light was from the single fluorescent bulb way above me, giving a spotlight effect and leaving me half blind was I searched the room for any signs of movement.

           “Itzal,” the voice echoed again, “Are you–”.

           I interrupted, “Yes.”

           As I said this, the walls around me began to fall backwards like a Russian doll leaving me in the center of an even bigger room. More rows of fluorescent bulbs lined the ceiling illuminating the black tile floor and I could clearly see six men surrounding me with two automatic turrets pointed in my direction in adjacent corners of the room.

           Calmly I said, “Let’s begin.”

I phased through the air and spun quickly to dissipate the smoke getting the attention of the turrets filled with tranquilizer darts. Instantly fixating on me they began to fire as I dropped back down to the ground making two men pass out as their backs were filled with the neutralizing poison. The other four men saw this and began charging at me but before they could reach me I phased out again, this time reappearing behind one of the turrets. I picked it up turned around and jumped up high, kicking my foot against the wall and doing a backflip as I swung the heavy metal object with the motion of my body. Releasing it straight into the chest of one of the men. The impact sent him flying as he tumbled on the ground. Still in the air I spun back around and phased behind the other turret picking it up and doing a 360 to gain momentum and drilling another one of the men in the legs as he did a full flip before landing flat on his ass. He didn’t get back up. The other two men looked at each other and then at me before trying to run at me. I slowly started walking in their direction too, meeting them almost halfway. The first man swung, I leaned back to dodge it and his fist hit a cloud of smoke sending swirls through the air. I phased behind him, quickly kicking the back of his leg to send him to his knees then I kicked the small of his back making his face hit the cold metallic ground hard, the thud echoing throughout the large room. I looked up at the last man who seemed to be contemplating what to do next.

           “Okay, okay, you did it.” The man said raising his arms with his words.

           I returned a smile as I looked back up at the camera and asked if that was good enough. My words were followed by a loud buzz signaling the end of the training simulation.

           Then I followed with, “Guess so.”

           “He’s good.” One of the men watching Itzal said.

           “It’s not just that, something about him is… different.” The other man replied.

              “So how much more blood are you gonna take?” I said to the cute nurse hovering over me as she drew back the syringe in my arm filling it with a thick pool of crimson.

           “We only need to run a few more tests, okay? Then you’re free to go.” She said with the fakest smile I’ve ever seen.

           The shadiness of a secret government agency didn’t surprise me but still, I knew something was off the second that man appeared on my doorstep. A couple hours passed when finally the nurse returned with her little chart of notes cradled in her arm as she walked towards me. One word stuck out instantly in the middle of all her scribbled notes, different.

           I’m already here for a secret government agency training me for secret government things; I’m already different, obviously. So what about her secret government clipboard, why am I different on there?

           “We have your test results Mr. Nero you’re free to go.” She said, still standing in front of me with her feet parallel.

           “Back to my quarters you mean, not actually free to go.” I responded sarcastically.

           “Right, back to your quarters Mr. Nero.” Replied the buoyant nurse.

           I stood up and exited the bland white room into an even blander white hallway. I followed the freshly waxed tiles with my eyes as I walked, counting my steps all the way back to the room I was being assigned to live in for the next three months. As I approached the sealed metallic door I could see my sad looking rectangular mattress through the window. The door buzzed when it registered my presence and I walked inside. A wardrobe and a bed, that’s all they’re going to give me for three months? And what about my test results?  

           Too many questions, I don’t like it, its time for some answers. It was late afternoon when I got back to my room, I waited several hours until it was night and less people would be walking around the facility. While I was waiting I mapped out in my head everywhere in the facility I had already visited, authorized or not, and how many steps it had taken to get there. It should be around midnight. I sprung up from my hard mattress and made my way quickly to the sliding metal door. It didn’t open, okay like this is going to stop me. I took a step back and my body started to phase when a cute little nurse popped her face into my window looking right at me. What the hell?

           The door slid open for her, as she walked in she slid her I.D. card that gave her special access into her pocket.

           “Hi there.” She said, acting like nothing peculiar was happening right now.

           “What are you doing here?” I replied.

           “You’re not supposed to be out of your quarters at night.”

           “I wasn’t.”

           With that she walked towards me and wafted away a few lingering trails of smoke that had formed around my tense body.

           “But you were about to be.” She said calmly.

           “Why are you here?” I restated.

           “I’m here to help you break out.” The nurse said this with a smile.

           She continued, “Burke.”

           “Who?” I said.

           “He’s the man in charge of this entire organization, he’s the one you want to see for answers.”

           “Didn’t you just say you were going to help me get out of here? What makes you think I have questions?”

           “You’re here for a reason Itzal, figure out why that is and get out of here. This isn’t a place you want to be, these people are bad people, and you’ll figure that out soon enough. I’m sure you already started.” She ended her sentence in a whisper.

           Swiftly she turned and exited the room after waiting for the door to open. Then she was gone and I was standing alone in the center of the room. Well if there’s one thing I have, it’s the innate ability to be a bad ass. I’m going to see what this Mr. Burke is all about. I looked over at the small window out into the hallway where the lights were dancing across the wall. I phased just outside the door checking my surroundings quickly but the hallway was bare. Save a security camera suspended in the far right corner of the opposite end pointed downwards at the floor, as if it weren’t recording. I saved time by not walking and instead phasing down each hallway, one corridor after another I made my way through the secret government facility.

Burke’s office has to be at the top of the building. In this moment it struck me that I had no idea what this building looked like on the outside, for all I knew we were ten stories below the earth’s crust. That’s going to make it a little bit harder to find him, but I have too many questions that need answers. I phase walked through more and more hallways passing empty rooms and flickering lights. But door after door, no room contained what I needed. I came to a T and on my right I noticed a metal door with a biometric scanner securing it. Hmm, interesting. I cautiously approached the barricaded door and knocked three times, waiting several seconds for a response and only getting back silence I phased through the door and appeared in a dark room lit only by blue and green flickering lights from two large industrial sized computers. There were two black chairs underneath two large monitor screens, the screens displaying a vast empty room with rows of spotlights shooting down from the ceiling. It was the simulation room I had been training in for the past few weeks. So this is where they were watching me. I pulled out a chair and sat down leaning forward to grab the keyboard and start typing in commands. Let’s see what they’ve got. Pulling up their database I proceeded to input: Nero, Itzal. ACCESS GRANTED.

           There I was mug shot and all, everything about me… Thing’s I didn’t even remember. The list went on and on, I kept reading looking for performance records and physicals, anything that stuck out. Haven’t even come close to finding Burke yet, might as well see what I can get here. I scrolled down a bit further to see an aerial view picture from a satellite of the first time I had ever phase-walked. Have they been watching me my whole life? Who are these people?

           Before I could read any further the whole room was illuminated by a red light in the corner of the room, immediately following it was one of the loudest wailing sirens I’ve ever heard. Did I set of the alarm by using the computer? Doesn’t matter, I need to get out of here. I phased out of the room and standing in front of me was a man in a grey suit and sunglasses. Mr. Burke? And behind him two guards in black body armor dressed with fully automatic M-16’s.

           Before I could make another guess, “Hello, Itzal. I believe it’s time we’ve met.”

           “And you are?”

           “My name is Mr. Burke,” He answered

           Yahtzee… “So Mr. Burke, I’ve heard so much about you already, it’s like I already know you. I’m getting giddy just standing here.”

           “Maybe we should go and talk somewhere, more private?” Burke suggested, his face void of any emotional response.

           “Maybe we should.” I responded with a buzzing smile.

           We made our way back through the labyrinth and ended up in a large office just as official as the rest of the building. Except the green carpet, that was a nice touch. I followed Mr. Burke into his atrocious looking office and behind me were his two guard puppets.

           “Have a seat,” He pointed to a wooden chair in front of his desk, which seemed a bit out of place given the metal theme of literally everything else.

           Nonetheless, I sat down and waited for the man to speak.

           “Let’s get down to it Mr. Nero. Why were you out of your quarters and what business did you have in the control room?”

           The man spoke in a monotone voice that made my ears want to bleed.

           “Well Mr. Burke, actually I was looking for you.” I said with a little smirk.

           “I’m not sure you understand the severity of your situation.”

           “My situation?”

           “Yes, the fact that you breached government protocol and the law for that matter.”

           “And everything you’re doing here is legal?”

           That seemed to have struck a nerve because with that, he shot a glare with as little emotion as he could convey in my direction. He proceeded to stand up and exit the room, the two guards, as if on queue began to walk towards me. I stood up and turned towards them but they moved faster than I expected. Before I had time to react I was struck in the head with the stock of a pistol; then blackness.

           I awoke tied to a chair in the middle of a dark concrete room and a single light bulb dangling from the ceiling above me. The wires that bound me were unlike anything I had seen before. I had rope burn around my neck where I assume a bag was tied, and a throbbing headache. Well shit. Okay that didn’t work as well as I expected, no big deal. I can get out of this. I began to phase out of the chair and when my limbs began to fade and the smoke began to curl into the air, the wires that were once blue, were now red and began to release an electric shock the shot through my body with immense pain.

           “AHH!” That’s not going to work. Triggered when there’s nothing touching them? Perfect, I’ve got handcuffs designed just for me. How sweet.

           “That’s not going to work.”  – Duh. – A mysterious figure appeared from the shadows in the corner of the room. A face I didn’t recognize. He was definitely military, black tactical outfit, and matching combat boots with buzzed head and a stern face.

           “And I’d save my energy if I were you,” The man continued.

           “What is this?” I questioned the stranger, barely able to muster enough energy to speak; my body still tense from the shock of the wire.

           “The only thing I’d be concerned about now, Mr. Nero, is the longevity of your life,” the man said.

           I watched him closer as he made his way back into the unlit corner of the room, quickly returning back into my sight; rolling a metal cabinet towards me. The squeaking wheels against the damp cement ground flooded my ears making me cringe. He kept eye contact with me until he was hovering over me, next to him was the cabinet filled with miscellaneous tools I now understand are here to torture me with.

           “You were caught trying to hack information from a top secret government facility. What were you looking for?” Then man question me as he hovered his hand over a scalpel and then to a wrench, only too look up at me momentarily for a response.

           “Well to be honest I was hoping to find some nice pictures of your wife, maybe a phone number?”

           I saw it coming, but it was faster than I expected. I felt a balled fist make contact with the skin of my cheek. Sending my head flying back, my neck jerked like a whip. My head was throbbing now; I could feel the warm crimson silk falling down my right cheek from the fresh cut on my face.

           “That’s a cute ring you got on there, that must be your wife’s ring.”

           Another blow to the face this time on the left side, “No ring, much better.” I said with a grin as I slumped down in my chair.

           “Do you think you can just talk your way out of this?” The man said cracking his knuckles. Like that’s going to make you hit harder.

           “What did you find on that computer?” The man asked again.

           He began to reach for the scalpel this time.

           “Okay, enough. I’ll tell you.” I said letting out a sigh.

           “I… was trying to find a new recipe for my homemade lasagna… You’re stupid space computers don’t have Internet.”

           Obviously the man standing in front of me was lacking any sense of humor. He proceeded to grab the scalpel from the tray. Steady dripping was echoing all around me for quite some time now, Leaky roof? Running faucet?

           The angry brute interrupted my thought by ripping my shirt from the collar half way down to my stomach. I felt the narrow wire cutting into my skin as I tried to pull free. I yelled out a shout, a mix of fury and panic. The precise blade of the scalpel neared my chest.

           “It doesn’t have to be like this.” He said to me, his hand nearing closer.

           I glared at him, letting my anger fuel me. The pain was intense, it seared into me as my chest slowly began to get cut open calling out a grimace of agony. Yelling out I cursed at the man pulling my arms even harder trying to break the wire, but my wrists were now just another place I was bleeding from. The man continued to run the scalpel along my chest for another few inches before returning it to the tray and stepping back to view his progress. I stared down at my chest as I watched the blood seep down my stomach; small curls of smoke emanated out of my wound.      

           “I always wondered how you people bled.”

           “Funny, I never had to wonder the same thing.”

           Another crack to the face right in between the eyes; I snapped my head back, instantly exploding was a torrent of blood from my now broken nose; my eyes closed against the dull pain as darkness began to engulf me. I slouched and went limp as

I drifted into unconsciousness. The only thing holding me in place were the wires tied to my captivation.

           I came to with my head still throbbing; my lips were now dry and my throat parched. The dripping from the leaky roof reverberated. I was so disoriented it had taken me a moment to realize what was once keeping me restrained was now gone, there was no more chair in the room. But the same wires were still tied around my wrists, I followed the wires from my hands to the ceiling were they were locked onto hooks. My feet were barely scraping against the ground whilst my body stays hoisted in the air. My skin was stretched out as to keep the six-inch cut in my chest open the entire time I was unconscious. I’ve lost a lot of blood; escape… escape. How long have I been out, how long have I been bleeding like this? Do they even want information? They’re going to keep me here until I die.

           The hinges on the rusted metal door in front of me began to squeak; it was just as dark out there as it was in here. I mustered my strength and lifted my head to see who was entering the room. The figure made it’s way into the room without hesitation and with the only light in the room appeared a man I was all too happy to see. Mr. Burke.

           “Oh what have they done to you?” He beckoned, walking towards me with a concerned look.

           “You ordered this.” My voice was raspy and hoarse. I collected the last of my saliva and spat on the ground in his direction.

           “Be that as it may I still want you alive.”

           “Why? What do you want from me?”

           “Your power, Itzal. I’m going to take it away from you. We’ve had our eyes on you for quite some time now,” Mr. Burke rambled on; I was already tired of hearing him speak. My body ached and the blood covering my body was dry and crackling, save the fresh blood covering the old.

           “W– what are you talking about?”

           I thought back to the picture I had seen on the computer of me in the schoolyard surrounded by my scolding peers.

           I continued on, “How do you think you’re going to do that exactly?”

           He seemed angry by this, like I was questioning his ability. Small man. Although I couldn’t actually tell what he was feeling, he made his way across the room reaching out his hand and grabbing my face, squeezing hard on my cheeks just below were I’d been punched on either side.

           Then he began to whisper, “You are nothing. I am going to strip you of everything you are until you’re nothing but smoke in the wind. Mr. Nero, I am your reckoning, I am your end.”

           Somehow on queue, as if they were listening behind the door the whole time, the man from before who’d enjoyed so much making me bleed and another guard made their way into the room behind Burke. He leaned back from my ear as the guards entered, the ass from before pulled out a large metal rod with two prongs on the end of it from behind his back. Testing the Taser he clicked the button and lines of electricity danced back and forth between the prongs.

           I felt the sting of the electricity circulate throughout my body. My muscles tensed and my bones felt like chalk. I let out a blood-curdling scream and cursed the man before losing consciousness yet again. When I awoke I had a change on scenery. I was in a large room now, inside a glass tube resembling a coffin. Hooked up to the machine I was in were thousand of wires going to more equipment on either side of me. I could see Mr. Burke and a man in a lab coat typing away commands into the computer. On the screen in front of them I could make out an overview of my animated x-rayed body lying down.

           “Oh good you’re awake. I wanted you to be awake for this part.” Mr. Burke said again, this time with what appeared to be a smile.

           He walked over and looked down at me through the glass, “I wasn’t joking when I said I was going to take away your power.” He let out with a chuckle, “You’re kind is a disease on this planet that must be purged.”

           “No, no you can’t do this.” A sudden wave of panic began to loom over me.

           I watched as the machines began to power on, whirring and buzzing stained my ears.

           “Fifty percent sir, we’re almost ready to begin.” The man in the lab coat said, never moving his eyes from the screen.

           “You can’t do this. No!” My shout was muffled through the glass.

           “What was that you say?” Burke said.          

           “I’m going to kill you.” I said, never breaking my concentration from his eyes.

           “Quite the contrary Mr. Nero.”

           The scientist restated, “The machine is at one hundred percent sir.”

           “Perfect.” Mr. Burke said, still looking over me, “Begin.”

           As he commanded the scientist put in one last command and my glass coffin began to vibrate. Large needles began to come out of the sides all around me. Plunging into my skin they began to extract every ounce of power I had ever known. The process was excruciating. My lips cracked as I began to scream in agonizing horror. The reality had sunk in. This was it; my last moments were to be spent here. In this government regulated hell. My throat was raw and my chest was weak, I could no longer fill my lungs all the way with oxygen, I wasn’t strong enough to do anything. My thoughts were fleeting from mind, as was my life fleeting from my body. It was almost over now, I could tell. I searched the room darting my eyes back and forth, looking for something, anything to help me. All I could find was Mr. Burkes face grinning like Mona Lisa back at me.

           Darkness began to surround me, I could feel the last bit of power fading from my body, my eyes were heavy now, and I began to close them. Possibly here, now, I can find peace. Just before my body gave up and my will was gone, an explosion in the ceiling, sunlight cascaded down onto the black marble tiles. A gaping hole was left where the ceiling used to be, which was now making its way to the ground. The cement and metal beams from the building were crashing down in the corner of the room, Glad that missed me. Followed by the explosion were several ropes falling down from the sky, I could faintly hear the blades of a helicopter chopping the air.

           I watched in confusion and amazement as men in uniforms I didn’t recognize began sliding down the ropes with machine guns strapped to their backs. Five men touched the ground. The first one to reach to floor propped up his gun and looked down the sight. Mr. Burke and the scientist were already running towards the door to escape, the soldiers’ body swiveled and two gunshots rang out. Their bodies now limp; lay on the ground next to the bare metal door. Should’ve built a smaller room.

           “He’s here, he’s here.” I could hear the soldiers’ voices calling out to each other, I was numb from pain and unable to comprehend the words they spoke. I could see them above me now. One soldier reached down and pulled hard on the latch of my frail coffin. Fresh air flooded my nostril as the last light faded from my Iris’ and darkness surrounded me. The soldier leaned down and propped my body onto his shoulder, as if he were carrying a dead man, the pressure from his bone on my chest sent searing pain all over my body. The last words I heard were from him.

           “It’s okay Itzal, you’ll be okay.”