They were wearing light cloth wraps that covered their entire bodies. The cloth was sloppily wrapped and looked like they’d put them on in a rush. On their heads, were two large circular tubes, in the area where eyes should be and some type of rebreather over their mouths. Erebos was a brutal place, but he’d never gone out far past any city, so he didn't know if this was common dress.
He slowly walked over to the circle. On his way, he reached for his weapon, only to find it’d been taken. One of the figures stood up and walked towards him. The strange circular tubes seemed to adjust as the figure came to him and the wrapped arm came up, signaling him to halt. Donnchadh obeyed and waited for it to come to him. As it did, it reached up with its grey arms and pulled off the grey helmet.
Donnchadh was surprised to see a human woman hidden underneath all of the grey cloth. She had bright radiant skin, luminous red hair, one blue eye, and one green eye. He stared at her without a word until she finally broke the silence.
“Who are you?” She asked.
“I should be asking you the same thing,” he crossed his arms. “You took me. So, who are you?”
“I’m Leilah,” she answered. “And I saved you. I didn't take you.”
“What are you talking about? How did you save me?”
“You were poisoned,” she revealed. “That cave you went in was a hive of chlidorians.”
“Chlidorians?” He repeated.
“Yes,” she nodded. “They're an insect that sprays venom in the air. You walked right into their home and you breathed in a lot of that venom.”
“Oh,” he looked at the ground. “Well, thanks for that.”
“You're welcome,” she smiled. “They're pretty common out here and everyone gets sprayed with the venom at some time, so we always have an antidote handy. Luckily, we were around when you were sprayed or you'd be dead,” she looked him up and down with her two-tone eyes. “What are you doing out here? You're definitely far from home.”
“I ran into a little bit of trouble. I had two options of death and I chose the one I thought would be better.”
“I’m sure the other way would’ve been better than letting the planet consume you,” she shook her head. “You didn't have anything on you. Even if the chlidorians hadn't gotten to you, something else would have.”
“Yeah, I just wanted to ensure I survived the first threat trying to kill me,” he shrugged. “So, you live out here in this wasteland?”
“Yeah, apparently,” she replied. “We're nomads. My father broke us off from the larger tribe long ago.”
“Is your father over there?” He pointed.”
“He is,” she gave a slight nod. “He's our tribe leader.”
“There's more of you out here?”
“Only what you see. Big groups don't last very long out here. They slow you down, and when you slow down, predators get to you. That is, if the storms and environment doesn't first.”
“Are there other tribes that stay in big groups?”
“There are, but my father doesn't want to join any of them. They stay in one safe place, our group is a little more adventurous.”
“Adventurous?”
“Sure,” she replied. “We like to move around, discover things, you know, stuff like that. We don't like to stay in one place for too long. You become weak when you settle and feel comfortable.”
“I didn't last very long myself. I'm not sure how you're able to do it.”
“You learn in time,” she assured him. “We run into large groups every so often, and when we do, some of their own leave to travel with us. Being cramped up in a cave isn't fun, even if roaming the land usually means death.”
“How do you do it?” He asked. “Living out here with the predators and storms?”
“We have a good leader,” she smiled proudly. “My father's father taught him how to live out here without dying. I'm still learning everything, but I'm positive I could live on my own now. The first thing you learn is how to tell when a storm is coming, which you saw firsthand. The storms out here tend to be much worse than what we see hit the cities, we're not sure why, but they just are. We're able to tell hours before a storm forms and what kind of storm it'll be just be how the land acts. After that, we learn about predators and how to survive. To tell you the truth, the hardest part is just surviving off the land.”
“What kind of predators are there?” He asked. “I've never seen any near the cities. Nothing that poses much of a threat anyway.”
“Just, deadly, dangerous things,” she shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “There are so many different kinds out there, depending where you're at, it's hard to name them all. You met the chlidorians which are pretty common everywhere. You have a scorlf, which roams the land and it's probably one of the most lethal. Once it gets its claws on you, you're dead.”
“I'm not sure I want to know what that is.”
“Let's just hope you don't have to meet one,” she chuckled. “It makes the chlidorians look like child's play.”
“How is living off the land the hardest with creatures like that running around?”
“There's not much to live off of,” she held her arms out. “Look around. All there is, is a bunch of grey dirt, and smoldering hot lava. You have to know what to look for to find food. Unless of course, you're brave enough to hunt down one of those creatures.”
“I figured it was tough living out here.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Why'd you run out here then? Obviously, you overestimated how long you could live by underestimating almost everything out here. Why would you willingly come this way when you could’ve gone towards a city?”
“You don't know anything that happens around the galaxy, do you?”
“You mean politics and that stuff?” She asked with a chuckle. “We have enough of our own problems here. Keeping updated on that is a waste of time.”
“Well, now is a good time to keep up with that stuff. Orion’s problems will soon be your problems too.”
“How so?” She crossed her arms. “No one has ever bothered us before, why bother us now?”
“I betrayed a race called the crodillians,” he told her.
She shrugged and raised her eyebrows. “Doesn't mean anything to us. Races betray races all the time.”
“This does affect you,” he placed his hand on her. “They aren't from here, well, at least not since long ago. Anyway, they've come back and they're destroying Orion.”
“Destroying Orion?”
“They've already burned one entire planet. I was being held for crimes when they freed me from Keres. They found out I knew certain things, possessed certain skills, and put me in charge.”
“What are you talking about?” She backed up with fear in her eyes. “Who are you?”
“That's not what's important right now,” he waved his hands. “What is important, is this race wants to destroy Orion. They claim to want peace, but I've seen their leaders' eyes and I've seen eyes like that before. The crodillians won’t be satisfied until they destroy Orion.”
“Where have you seen eyes like his?” She asked. “If he's as bad as you claim, this other person must have been terrible too.”
“I used to work for another man who has similar goals,” he replied. “I've done many bad things in my life, but I'm trying to change that, or I was. There’s not much I can do from here.”
“And just what do you expect us to do about that?” A voice boomed from behind Leilah.
“I need to get back to the city so I can warn others and try to stop the crodillians.”
“What goes on in Orion is none of our concern,” the large wrapped man told him. “We cannot help you.”
“You're in as much danger as the rest of Orion,” Donnchadh insisted.
“We aren't holding you back,” the man held out his hands. “You're free to go, but we're not going with you.”
“I'll die out there.”
“Then you have a choice to make. You stay with our tr
ibe as one of us, or go out there and die. It doesn’t matter to me which you choose or when you choose it.”
Donnchadh clenched his fists. “You're making a mistake.”
“And it sounds like you've made your choice,” the grey figure turned around and walked back to the rest of the group.
Anlon held on to the corners of the pod as it roughly broke through the atmosphere of whatever planet he’d chosen. The pod was shaking violently back and forth and was beginning to turn in a circle. He was sure he was going die, but it was completely out of his control. There were no controls in the pod, leaving him with only one option – hope for the best.
The pod slammed into the ground and threw Anlon forward, banging his head on the front of the pod. Once the pod came to a stop, he slowly got up and pushed open the hatch, ready to finally get out of the cramped area. He jumped out of the pod, rubbing the bruise on his head and looked around to see if he knew where he was.
Unfortunately, he had no idea where his pod had just landed. It was dark, almost no light at all, except a dark orange hue in the black sky. The land was solid black rock with many enormous hills surrounding him. As he kept looking at the land, he noticed a large opening in the distance, and walked towards it, figuring it was his best bet to get out. As he began forward, an orange fog formed in the air. It’d appeared in an instant and thickened until he couldn’t see more than five feet in front of him.
The further that he walked, the more sure he became that there was no help on this planet. It was too dark for any cities to be nearby. If there were any, he’d have seen at least some light illuminating in the sky. It also didn't appear like this planet could support any type of life. The hard black ground wasn't viable for a race to live on or any plants to grow.
Anlon was quickly losing hope when he heard something move in front of him. It was quick and caused a stir in the fog. He stopped and held his hand in front of his face to see if he could make out anything, but was unable to see anything.
“Hello?” He called out. “Is there anyone there?”
There was no answer as he heard the noise again from his right. He turned to face the noise, but still saw nothing through thick orange fog. This time, he walked towards the sound, but when he reached the spot, it was empty. The noise came again, and when he whipped around to see what it was, he saw it standing before him.
It was a creature ten feet tall with the body of a snake and a dozen legs. The golden brown body rose straight up and had three hissing heads on top. The red eyes were focused on him and slowly inched towards him. Anlon reach for his laser rifle, but realized he’d left it on the pod. He looked back and forth frantically, unsure of what to do. He stared at the monster for only a second more before he took off running in the direction he’d originally been traveling, or at least what he thought was the direction. There was no way of knowing if there were any more of these things out there, but all he cared about was getting away from the one after him right now.
The sound of the creature’s feet hitting the ground was getting louder. He knew that he couldn't outrun the monster, but the only option he had right now was to try. Anlon pushed even harder forward and saw a black figure appear in the orange mist. He continued forward, not worried about what it was. As he got closer, he saw that it was just standing there and it appeared to be motioning for him to follow.
Thoughts that it could be a trap entered his head, but he quickly shook them and followed the figure, feeling the monster on his heels. The black figure waited for him to get close and grabbed him by the arm. Anlon eased when he saw it was trying to lead him through the thick fog. The hand guided him until all of a sudden it look go and the figure disappeared. His breathing quickened and he began to pat around on the ground in front of him. An arm reached out from the wall and yanked him forward. His body squeezed through an opening and he felt something slam into the wall just as he made it through.
One of the creature's heads squeezed its way through, but its body was far too large to follow. Anlon turned around to face the figure and saw it was a race wearing a hooded black robe. It was about his height and had a slight bend in the back.
“Thank you,” Anlon said. “You saved my life.”
“You're welcome,” the hooded figure responded. “I can't tell you the last time I've seen another living race. I couldn't let you be eaten by that thing.”
“You're here alone?”
“Yes,” the hooded figure nodded. “I have been for the past fifty years.”
Anlon slouched down in disbelief. If this race had been stranded alone for fifty years, that wasn't good for him. That meant that there was no way off of this planet.
“Who are you?” Anlon asked.
“My name is Fausto,” he removed his hood.
He was a dark red themin, with grey marks on his body. Anlon could tell he was old from the way his skin wrinkled and the limp he walked with.
“And who are you, unlucky human?” Fausto asked.
“I'm Anlon,” he answered. “Where did I land?”
The themin grinned and held out his hands wide. “The lovely moon, Tartarus.”
“You've got to be kidding me,” he closed his eyes. “Out of all of the places I could've picked!”
“You chose to land here?” The themin burst out laughing, grabbing his stomach and bending over.
“I was trying to escape from the crodillians,” Anlon told him. “Their pod didn't have anything labeled, so I just picked one of the planets.”
“Unlucky pick,” Fausto said. “But at least you're alive, and will be for a long time if you listen to me.”
“I want to be alive, but I need to get off of Tartarus.”
“Not going to happen,” he shook his head. “I haven't had any luck, and I doubt you will either,” he turned around. “Follow me.”
Anlon followed Fausto through the small tunnel which turned into a massive cave. It was lit a light blue by millions of insects on the ceiling of the cave. There were massive natural rock bridges leading to several different tunnels. Anlon followed Fausto over the one in the middle and looked over the bridge's steep drop. At the bottom, bright and vibrant plants were thriving. The air felt moist and Anlon searched the cave, finding a waterfall in the distance.
When they finished crossing the bridge, Fausto led him down another dark tunnel that wound in a sharp curve. Upon reaching the end, he saw and opening that revealed Tartarus and the space above. Right in the middle of the opening was a crashed ship covered in years of vegetation.
“This is how I arrived,” Fausto said, walking towards the ship. “Someone attacked me and this is where I ended up. Pretty lucky, if you ask me. You saw all that stuff back there in the cave. As long as I stay here, I’m only going to die of old age.”
“Yeah,” Anlon shook his head. “It was amazing. Do you live off all that stuff?”
“Sure do,” he walked into the ship. “Don't even need to leave here, but I do from time to time when I think it’s safe out there. I never wander too far though.”
“Why?” Anlon asked. “If it's so much safer in here, why ever leave?”
“I don't know,” he shrugged. “Sometimes I hope there's a ship waiting, ready to take me off of this planet and back to civilization. It’s nice here, but I’d love to get to talk to someone besides myself.”
“You just happened to be out there when I crashed?”
“Oh no!” Fausto answered. “I saw your pod falling from the sky. I immediately left to retrieve you, before something else did. We don’t get many visitors, and usually, those things out there get to them before I do.”
Anlon looked around the ship. “Well, thanks again for that.”
“I'm sure you'd do the same,” he replied. “I'll show you around the cave later. I need to rest right now. My age is wearing on me.”
“We need to find a way off Tartarus.”
“Good luck,” he chuckled. “You can't do anything I haven't already tried. My advice to you is to
get used to it here. There's absolutely no hope of getting off this moon. You're stuck here until you die so you may as well get that through your head.”
Anlon nodded, determined to find some way off. It couldn't be impossible, there had to be some way Fausto had overlooked. He had an entire ship here, there was bound to be something that could get them off. Anlon started walking around the ship to find something that would save them both.
Chapter 16
Moran walked the perimeter of Xiphos with five men he’d handpicked to set up various bases throughout Orion. He hadn't known any of them before the crodillian attack, but since then had gotten to know them very well. None of them had come to his apartment when rebellion was brewing in the Capital, they’d all been with their families cherishing what they knew could be their final moments. Unfortunately, they’d been right and were the only survivors of each of their families.
Moran had found them gathering groups of injured survivors while he’d been out doing the same. They weren't encouraging them to rebel by their side, instead they were making sure all had food and shelter. It surprised Moran these men who’d lost their families to the crodillians weren't blind with rage and urging races to attack. Instead, they understood other families were in similar situations, and those that weren’t, didn’t need to experience the pain of losing loved ones. Each had the goal of setting up permanent refugee camps while obeying the crodillians to avoid further deaths.
He’d convinced all five of these men to bring their groups to his apartment complex, assuring them they'd be safe from any further crodillian attacks. Some had been reluctant at first, but they’d eventually given in. When they arrived at his apartment, they hadn't done anything but work to improve things. They’d organized groups to carry out tasks, and within a few days' time, it looked more like an undercover military base than a refugee camp.
Rise of the Resistance (War for Orion Trilogy Book Two) Page 16
