Lost On Mars

by George Robbins

  Donnie began coughing as he laid on his back with a crinkled nose. “Arida!” the words could barely come out of his mouth. No matter how hard he tried to get his body up, his whole body was numb. His ear had been deafened by the loud explosion and his sight was blurring. He saw a red being slowly walk up to him.

  “Hey, who―” the being looked down at him. Donnie tried to raise his head up but to no avail. A hand gripped his jacket and then everything went dark.

  Chapter TWELVE

  “Where is he from?” a voice spoke.

  “I don’t know― the chief of the Upper Rim Militia said he is from another planet. Another planet called Earth” another voice spoke.

  “Mmm, he looks hell of a different. I wonder how he feels in that body”

  “Yeah, I wonder too, I won’t be comfortable in that”

  Donnie overheard two Martians converse in front of him. He gasped and suddenly opened his eyes. He narrowed them, his sight blur for a while till it then became clear as a crystal. The two Martians jumped back when they saw him wake up. Donnie could see who they were now, two Oriandas (Look like humans with elf ears, very pale skins with lots of white dots and long white hair). One fat and the other thin, dressed in their all black militia uniforms. They pointed their laser guns at him.

  “Don’t move!” the thin guard’s voice shook.

  “Arida! Where is she?” Donnie shrieked.

  “Quiet, not another word. Okay!”

  Donnie glanced around and realized he was inside an airship with a dim blue light hung above them. Everything inside was metallic, no seats, except for the two pilots who sat at the far front. A ladder was connected to a ceiling door in the middle part of the airship. “There must be a whole room inside of that door” he thought. A flashback of Arida going down with the collapsing building flashed through his mind. He squint his eyes. “She died. No way she could have survived that― now she’s gone, I don’t see any one who is gonna help me. Am stuck on this damn planet now” anger and fright splashed through his body. The two guards looked down at him closely. Donnie sighed and looked up at them. “So what are you going to do with me?”

  The guards slowly turned their heads and looked at each other briefly and then looked straight again, pretending they never head his question. Donnie creased his brows and shrugged. “Stupid Martians won’t answer a human”

  He accidentally pulled his right hand from his back and realized his hands weren’t tied all along.

  “We told you not to move!” the fat guard yelled.

  “Cool down fat Martian. Am just checking if all my body parts are still intact” Donnie replied whiles groping the side of his belt. To his surprise, the pistol was still holstered over there. He smiled. “The gun is still here. Ooo la laaa, I won’t die in this airship”

  Before he could think of a plan, he saw from the side of his right eye, chief Hakaz descending down the ladder. “Oh no, not this red guy again” Donnie shook his head.

  “Mm, mmm, mmmm!” the chief began, walking towards where he sat “Look who just woke up!”

  Donnie felt his face change out of panic, his palms sweating. After what he and Arida had cost him, he knew he won’t be pleased with him at all. Hakaz halted right in front of Donnie, gripped him by the jacket and pulled him on his feet. “I will make you pay, you phlog” Donnie felt the rage in Hakaz’s voice.

  Hakaz connected his fist to Donnie’s face. He punched Donnie repeatedly. Warm blood spattered on Hakaz’s face as he kept punching him. He stopped sooner and shoved Donnie onto the left side of the airship’s metal wall. Hakaz took a step backward, panting and looking down at his bloody knuckles. “What am going to do to you when we get back to the Upper Rim will be far worse than this”

  Donnie looked at Hakaz’s face which had his blood all over it. All the fear he felt for him suddenly vanished. He smiled and spat blood onto Hakaz’s face.

  Hakaz wiped off the blood with his lower right arm and frowned. He walked towards Donnie, gripped his jacket again and raised a fist.

  “Not another hit!” chief Balain shouted. She had just arrived down the ladder.

  “You killed Arida and got a lot of the citizens injured. What is wrong with you? If I hadn’t learnt of your plans from the pilots earlier, and evacuate the Martians in that building you collapsed, they would have also been also dead by now!”

  Hakaz pushed Donnie onto the metals walls again and turned to Balain, bowing slightly. “Am sorry chief― we had no other choice”

  “We?” she chuckled and then looked at Donnie. “I don’t need any more death down here”

  “Remember he is my property and I can do whatever I want with him” Hakaz pointed at Donnie.

  “Not in my city Hakaz, do that on the Upper Rim. You have cost this city a lot―now you have what you wanted, I need you to leave!” Balain glared at Hakaz, her voice raging with fury.

  Hakaz nodded and then turned his head to Donnie. “Am going to make you suffer, human” he turned and followed behind Balain. Donnie stared at the two chiefs climbing up the ladder.

  “Not tonight red Martian. Am not dying tonight” he pulled out his pistol and hastily shot the two guards in their skulls. He had learnt back in the days of being an assassin that, shooting anything in the head kills it faster than any part of its body, therefore he was applying that same knowledge on Mars. Chief Balain rushed into the ceiling door and left Hakaz still climbing with every speed he got inside him.

  “Stop right there!” Donnie yelled as he aimed the gun at him “Any more movement and you are dead!”

  Hakaz stopped and turned his head behind at Donnie. “I have heard stories about the weapon you brought from your planet, and how you have killed many of my guards with―”

  “You are going to be part of the Martians who have died by its hand very soon” Donnie smirked.

  The chief quickly clasped onto a laser pistol in his holster and pulled it out. Donnie immediately shot his gun and there Hakaz came, falling from the ladder. He yanked dead onto the metallic floor.

  Donnie stared motionless at the body and moved to it. “Stupid phlog” he stamped the body and smiled at his words. He realized he had just said a Martian word he don’t even understand. He looked far at the pilots, who were staring at the scene with fear and then took his stare to the ceiling door, thinking of whether to attack chief Balain. “Another time chief, another time”

  He walked back to the dead guards, squat near their bodies and took a laser gun from the fat one. He straightened himself and faced the right metallic wall of the airship. “I got to take the risk if I have to get out of here” he whispered to himself and took a deep breath. He aimed the laser gun at the wall and shot through it till it created a hole, large enough for a car to fit into it.

  Loud alarm began to blare as rushing winds pulled stuffs out with great force. The winds finally pulled Donnie out into the skies.

  “Oh shit! Oh shit!! Am gonna die!!!” he screamed, feeling his heart being pulled out of him. He was descending down at a very high speed.

  Donnie gasped for breath through the rushing winds that was constantly smacking his face and entering into his mouth and nostrils. He was gradually becoming unconscious and then, when he thought he was going to die by all means, he fell hard into a back seat of an open-air vehicle that looked like a Ferrari with no tires. Donnie gasped and began coughing. He slowly raised his head with a crinkled face and saw a lady with a ponytail driving the car. “Arida?”

  She turned with a smile. “Let’s get out of here”.

  Chapter THIRTEEN

  Every Martian down the city and drivers on the air path saw what was happening. The airship Donnie had escaped from came crashing down. It wouldn’t be long before it crashed down into the city. They screamed at the horrifying scene.

  Donnie coughed till he could breathe again. “Arida! You didn’t―”

  “I never died. Never underestimate the power of the Roghim glove
and the blade. Together, its wielder can do crazy stuffs” Arida replied without looking back at him. “I was trying to get you out of the airship until I saw you coming down like a shooting star. What happened in there?”

  Donnie touched his aching head and pushed himself back to sit up. He slouched his back in the seat, looking up with arms crossed over his temples, he sighed. “I killed the leader of the red beings that followed us down here”

  “You what!” Arida looked back at Donnie. “You killed Hakaz, the chief guard of the whole Upper Rim?”

  Donnie nodded slowly. Arida turned her head back to focus on the air path ahead. “I don’t believe you. I have seen that Martian survive a lot of worse things when I was on the Upper Rim and trust me, your earth weapon can’t do any harm to him”

  “Believe it or not, I saw him die―right infront of me. I even touched his dead body so tell me what you think about that” Donnie could feel rage boiling in him.

  A loud clanging sound, like two chains colliding interrupted their conversation. They heard unbearable screams from drivers on the air path and Martians down the city. They then raised their head up towards where the loud metal sound was coming from.

  The airship that came crashing down was held by metal ropes from another airship, larger and bigger than it.

  “Damn, why did they do that? I was waiting for it to fall” Donnie frowned.

  “And the towing airship saved the day. Thank the ancestors―Donnie, you got a problem with the militia not the whole of Mars. Many Martians would have died if that airship crashed into the city. They are my people and you should know that”

  Donnie rolled his eyes and shrugged.

  “There are females and children down there and―”

  “I get you Arida. It never got to happen anyway so you can stop whining for God sake. Now all I need from you is for you to keep your promise and get me out of this hostile planet”

  As she opened her lips to speak, vehicles with blaring sirens cut her off. They looked back at the numerous trucks and open-air jeeps that followed behind them. Arida squeezed her eyes. “The militia” she increased the speed of their vehicle. Donnie continued to stare at the militia vehicles with elevated eyebrows. “Is there anything these militia don’t see and know? They have been tracking us everywhere we go”

  “The beetle bots, remember!” Arida shrieked.

  “Yeah, those things― but these militia won’t get us this time” Donnie frowned and grabbed a big laser rifle next to him on the seat. He raised it, scanned it and nodded. ‘Hey where did you get this weapon?”

  Arida turned and looked at the weapon temporarily. “Yeah, that? I took it from a guard” she grinned.

  “Okay great, you are really good at seeing the future. You brought it at the right time” Donnie grinned back at her and aimed it at the pursuing militia vehicles.

  “You aren’t gonna do that” Arida cocked her brows.

  “Watch me. We got Earth in the building” he began shooting at the militia vehicles. “Whoooooo!” he cheered as he shot at them. Arida smiled and sped off.

  Donnie lost count of the militia vehicles he had destroyed. It felt like his old assassin days back on earth―he never missed any of his shot. Every laser he shot killed or destroyed.

  He had just destroyed two trucks that were now stuck on the air path. They were both burning and producing lot of smoke. Another truck suddenly sped out through the smokes. Donnie aimed at the driver, narrowing his eyes through the scope of the rifle. He could see the Duriandan driver clearly. Donnie smirked and rubbed his sweaty face, ready to take the shot and then an Oriandan guard, her white hair trimmed down, pulled her upper body out of the truck’s window and sat on the bottom edge. She laid a launcher on her shoulder with her fingers fixed to the trigger.

  “Martian launcher?” Donnie threw his head back from the rifle’s scope and took a closer look at what she held. She had already aimed the launcher at them. She shot the bomb out of it before Donnie could shout. He could see the bomb speeding towards them in a slow motion. It felt like something wanted him to see how they were going to die by the bomb’s hand at that moment. He became stunned, terror washing through him.

  Arida could also see the bomb speeding towards them through the left winged mirror. She suddenly pulled back the gear shift, pressed her legs on the brake pedal, drifted off the air path and missed the bomb which exploded a feet away from their vehicle. Donnie’s eyes expanded as his heart dropped with relief. “Whoa, how did you do that!” he shrieked. “I can’t believe am saying this but thanks Arida!” Donnie’s voice was filled with joy that he thought would be impossible for him after his wife and children’s tragic death. He laid his back on the seat, panting with a smile.

  The militia vehicles was still after them, but this time it wasn’t on the air paths anymore but in the open air above the city.

  “Arida!” Donnie shouted through the speeding winds were smacking their faces.

  “Yeah!”

  “What now?”

  Arida was quiet for a while and then replied. “Brace yourself Don. Tighten your seat belts, we are getting out of here”

  “What, wha―”

  Arida shoved her hand into his coat and took out one Roghim glove whiles she drove with one hand. She wore it on her right hand―the line and circles on it lit in white, charged and ready to do the impossible.

  “What is she going to do this time?” Donnie crinkled his forehead.

  The lit lines and circles began appearing on the car. “Holy crap!” Donnie stared with taut jaw. He turned his head around to see the female Oriandan guard surprised too. She lowered the launcher from her shoulders and pulled herself into the truck.

  A unexpected belt jerked out of the seat, crossed over both of his shoulders and gripped him tight. “Did you do that?”

  Arida nodded. “I told you to hold on tight” she raised the car and sped it straight upwards into the sky. The car had defied gravity and was ascending vertically into the sky at a high speed. The air that rushed down on their faces prevented them from shouting. Donnie looked down behind him, he couldn’t see the militia vehicles anymore. All he could see was the city’s skyline. He turned back his head to see them heading straight for the Prime Gateway. They both covered their eyes against the blinding lights from the sun as the gradually got closer to the opened gateway. They finally drove out of it whiles Donnie continued shouting out of fright.

  Arida stopped the vehicle from going further to hit the pyramid’s poles above. She diverted the vehicle out of the poles and they went crashing onto the red soil once again.

  “Whoo!” Donnie shouted, changing from fright to joy. “Whoooo!! This is crazy―crazier than anything I can think of”

  Arida laughed, turning he her back at him. “Welcome to Mars” and then they barked into laughter.

  They sat wordlessly in the vehicle, no one making any attempt to step out. Everywhere direction of the wastelands was very very quit, only howling winds could be head.

  “Soo― are you going to get me a spaceship out of here?”

  Arida didn’t turn her head as she continued to stare at the wasteland in front of her. “Yeah, I know someone who would get us one. He is here on the Upper Rim”

  Donnie sighed and relaxed his back on the seat. “It’s about damn time I hear some good news. I just want to get out of here and be back on my planet as a free man”

  Arida was quiet, she continued staring at the wasteland. Her face dropped with gloom. She and Donnie had had so much fun and thrills she never thought possible. She wished he wouldn’t leave. She sighed and took off the Roghim glove. The lit lines and circles on the car quickly disappeared. She shoved the glove into her long coat and pushed the door open.

  “Come on―let’s get out of here before the beetle bots arrive. We aren’t free yet― they are still after us”

  Donnie still sat in the car with his arms resting on top of the seat. “Aren’t
we using the vehicle anymore?”

  Arida started walking away from the car. “It only works on the Lower Rim. They didn’t manufacture it to suit the Upper Rim’s conditions― the car has no tires, unlike Upper Rim vehicles”

  “Damn!” Donnie muttered, slapping his palms on the seat. “Welcome to Mars. Hey wait up!” he jumped out of the car and followed after her.

  Their voice echoed through the desert as they conversed on the way.

  “Arida!”

  “Yeah!”

  “It seems everyone we spoke to, down there was speaking earth’s language, English. Is it my brain playing tricks on me or they are actually speaking it, like speaking it”

  “It’s in Mars’s nature to make you understand the Martian languages that way―like I said, welcome to Mars”

  “Really? Yeah, yeah tell me―what is a phlog? I keep hearing it. I also said it without even knowing I did”

  “Phlog means a pig in your language”

  “Like seriously, a pig?”

  “Yhep”

  “Damn, how didn’t I know that? It’s very easy”

  Arida nodded as they walked through the red desert sands side by side.

  Chapter FOURTEEN

  Donnie was sweating profusely whiles they walked through the hot desert sands. “You brought any water with you?” he asked.

  Arida looked at him and shook her head. “Nah. Thirsty?”

  “Why do you think am asking? It’s because am thirsty!” he screamed the last word, paused and then continued. “We’ve been walking for hours now―when are we getting to the friend of yours?”

  “Probably an hour or so”