Journey to a darker world

by Christian Mathis

  She screamed Angrily and shaky, her eyes scrunched, and her shoulders raised back.

  “Look Toni boy because there are bits of a ship is scattered here does not mean I lied or that I am withholding information. DO NOT ACCUSE ME OF LYING AGAIN!

  Hello, we passed my ship by the fort. We were foolish to think because no more ships ever came near us that no more were sent here. Obviously, depending on what time of year and day the ships launched would change where they landed.”

  Toni and I exchanged glances as if to agree with how we had been stupid. He looked almost apologetic as he walked over to Agatha.

  “I am truly sorry that I accused you of lying and everything else, one question that still needs to be answered if you didn’t come on this ship someone else did, and I think we should find out who.”

  James, who had been silent for a while and tended to the other people, ran over to us with a shocked look on his face.

  He opened his mouth and through quick panting breaths, forced out a sentence.

  “Hey guys you are never going to believe this, Me and Annabelle saw something swimming in the acid.”

  I turned to ask him about it when I felt a sudden breeze passed over me and heard a loud whoosh THUD behind me. A dead growly voice began to speak. A hand clamped down on my shoulder. The fingers all came to points like the talons of a hawk.

  “Hello, and who might you be, more newcomers from Earth perhaps.”

  I looked around; we had been surrounded. Each of these strange men had the bodies of humans, except they had heads like dragons with dark solid black eyes with bright red centers — sunken in ears and bright hollow crest on top of their heads. Scales covered them from head to toe. The one thing the lacked was a nose. Where it should have been was merely a hole. He had begun to speak his mouth again gigantic, and his teeth pointed like daggers and just about as big.

  “Do not be afraid of us; if you do not incite violence, neither shall we.”

  The men that had surrounded us launched themselves into the air with large and powerful wings that had extended from their backs. Then slammed onto the ground next to us. They watched us curiously.

  “We arrived on the planet three-night falls ago, Agatha and the others in her group crashed here about twenty years before us. Now that we told you our story, let’s hear yours.”

  The strange man stroked his claws across his dragon-like face.

  “A long time ago back before the years of great change that reshaped the government, the United States and the European Union, along with the rest of the world. They had a secret program called project sunshine, where they used dead bodies to test radiation on. However, when they tested it on us, we were only in a deep comatose state and not dead.

  When we awoke, we all had radiation racked bodies; we were burned, charred, and disfigured. Our blood and fluids leaked everywhere. So, the governments did what they knew they had to do to cover up everything. They shipped us off along with several other “science projects and lab mishaps.” Anyway, our ship crashed into this acid lake It fused the liquid to our radiation-soaked bodies along with the oil and various other things. It turned us into theses freaks you see today. We are basically dragons, we can fly, and we look like dragons instead of fire. We can spew black acid from our mouths. It’s truly remarkable; it is capable of melting almost anything.”

  I looked up at the man in awe and disbelief. I spoke thoughtfully.

  “I am truly sorry about all that messed up stuff that happened to you, you still never told us your names or what you want from us. “

  The dragon-man began to speak again.

  “My name is Gabriel; the others are Smith and Willard. We only want revenge against the people that sent us here, and if not them, then their children or their children’s children shall pay.” He snarled.

  James spoke up and interrupted Gabriel.

  “Sir, we are not Villains. We want to save the world from the tyrannical rule of our time. What you propose would punish innocents for their ancestor’s crimes. While we understand that what they did to you is horrific, we cannot condone what you propose.”

  Smith spoke up his voice low and dragged as if every word were trying to catch on to everything.

  “Look, big man; we were not asking for permission. We were telling you what we are going to do.”

  The third man, Willard, put his hand out to Toni, Toni shrugged his shoulders and pushed his hands away.

  “While our end goals do not match exactly. We all want relatively the same things, to leave this planet to go home and to seek revenge. If we work together, we can forge a ship from the wreckages of our vessels and however many more groups have crashed here,” said Smith

  Agatha, Toni, and I huddled together with James and Annabelle. I spoke with a hurried and hushed tone.

  “Can we really consider helping to bring these monsters to earth, who knows what they can do. What powers they are not telling us about.”

  Toni stared off into space. His face frozen and focused, and I assumed that’s what it looked like when he was examining and exploring every event and the battle of history. He broke from his trance and began to speak.

  “Catalyst in World War II, the former United States, Had a nonaggression pact with the Russians they weren’t necessarily allies because they did not trust them or share common goals, they agreed not to fight each other and to fight the Germans instead,” Toni said.

  I thought for a moment before responding and running my hand over my mouth and chin.

  I asked Toni, “So you’re saying we shouldn’t trust them, the whole the enemy of the Enemy of my friend thing.”

  Annabelle spoke up sharply.

  “Guys I agree with you; however, if we are going to keep finding more groups of people, I think we should be in charge and vote on the things we do.”

  I glanced around at all the faces that surrounded me. They all seemed to agree except Agatha, who was agitated. She hissed and shouted in a whisper; her shoulders rose as she squared up the group.

  “No, trusting them is a bad idea, it will cost us lots. We should not have to vote on this if we do not kill them now, they will surely kill us when we give them what they want. Which will mean all of my friends and people died in vain.”

  I heard the mighty flapping of wings, and then Gabriel landed near us. He approached us, angry and agitated.

  “Enough talking, we are coming with your end of the story, either you go along with it, or we kill you all. He grabbed hold of Toni’s arm, and he presses his finger against Toni’s dark skin. I tried to counter with poison as fast as I could. Smith grabbed my wrist. Willard grabbed James and Annabelle. With her sandblast Agatha propelled herself into the air and beyond the reach of the dragon men.

  She began to scream.

  “I told you not to trust them! Now beast let go of my friends, or you will perish. “

  The dragons laughed at Agatha, shrugged off her threat. Agatha twisted her fingers and flicked her wrist. The ground under Smith gave way and turn into quicksand. He sank into the ground.

  Gabriel spit onto the floor, it let go of Toni.

  “Agatha, it is too late, child. I have poisoned you all especially the poisoner.”

  “You see part of Project sunshine was the scientists were testing the effects of Strontium 90. Part of our powers is that we can excrete it into the bodies of others. The chemical seeks out bones and bone marrow, and it can cause bone cancer however we can control it in your body and simply kill you at will now back down girly.”

  I fell to my knees in pain. My bone marrow poisoned, and I fell unconscious from the pain. I awoke, being dragged along. James was in front of Annabelle and me behind. I looked at Toni to my side. Annabelle asked

  “Gabriel, you said you poisoned us. That since you can kill us if we don’t do what you say you’ll kill us? “

  I glanced over at Toni, Annabelle, and James. I nodded and crossed my arms, and sent the opossums natural anti-venom into my bloodstre
am. I noticed if I stretched, I could barely reach Annabelle’s hand. I extended my arm and scratched her, then sent the anti-venom into her bloodstream. I screamed as I saw James fall to his knees because he was having a hard time with his powers since he lost his arm and so much blood. The poison was getting to him. I stood up.

  I was so mad I felt my jaw pop from clenching my teeth so tight. I went to reach for Smiths' leg; Gabriel shot up and spit the black acid all over my hand. I saw it meet my flesh. It was so hot that my skin boiled before melting off and splattering to the floor. The tissue and muscle were burned through next. The pain was almost unbearable. It was so painful I could not scream my body frozen from shock.

  Gabriel leaned back to blast me again when he was knocked back. He then grew limp and plummeted to the floor.

  “You guys look like you could use some positive energy and help,” said a familiar voice.

  I looked up and saw Raymond. He walked closer toward us. I stood up and shook his hand before turning to help James to his feet. I heard the familiar sound of a blade being drawn from a sheath. Annabelle and Agatha have drawn their swords. James grabbed Gabriel by his ankle and threw him at my feet. Smith had tried to fly behind us. Agatha blasted Toni into the air, and he caught Smith by surprise then sent his bone sword deep into the man’s back.

  I grabbed Gabriel’s leg and sent King cobra venom into his blood.

  I looked at him, then at Smith and Willard.

  “That’s it, no more fighting. If we work together, we could be an unstoppable group. Mr. Gabriel, if you submit to a truce, so will we, and I will give you the anti-venom for that cobra poison.”

  He looked reluctant; his jaw was locked, he said.

  “We will enter a temporary truce; the minute we land on earth all bets are off. “

  The team and I all nodded in agreement. Raymond approached me and whispered in my ear. He said

  “Catalyst, the reason I came after you is because I went back to Agatha’s fort, and I saw a drawing of that dragon dude. If they had not been past the fermenters how did she know about them.”

  I looked up at Agatha, talking to Annabelle. They both smirked and went back to talking. I turned back to Ray again, and I said.

  “Thank you for letting me know I think we should wait to worry about her until Gabriel and his goons are under control.”

  We walked into the darkness, and we walked in silence once more. Toni and I helped James walk. He had grown weak due to the extreme loss of blood from his missing arm. Gabriel and I walked over to James, and I could see him grab James' stumped shoulder into his hands.

  “Either get him fixed or cut him off. We need to hurry up, or by the time we get back, even more time will have passed may be too late to stop this total global government.

  “I shoved him and said, “Listen dude. If you don’t step off James, I will break our deal and make sure you are within an inch of your life for days before you die. Now let’s keep moving maybe there is another crash site that we can get parts from maybe, even something to help James”

  Gabriel scoffed and flew to the front, taking point next to Toni. Agatha and Smith were behind him, and Willard and Annabelle behind them. James and I covered the rear flank. The group walked further into the darkness and the planet.

  Chapter five

  Crunch crunch. The dark black and grey leaves cracked and crushed underfoot. We had walked for almost an entire day. My legs grew tired and weak. I looked around at everyone else, shuffling along and breathing heavily. No one wanted to stop and make camp for fear of being killed by each other or at least a long, drawn-out fight. The hope was still alive. I hope that we could find another ship and fix our own. Hope we could find shelter and food and clean water.

  “Guy’s, we are going to have to rest if we don’t stop soon; we’re not going to make it that much farther,” I said.

  We approached an ink-black lagoon shaded by big jagged dark trees. The canopy made the area cooler by about ten degrees. James sunk to his knees and almost passed out. With short narrow breaths, he said l.

  “If I don’t rest here, I’ll probably pass out in a few more steps, this clearing is nice, let's take a breather.”

  Gabriel sighed loudly and rolled his eyes while walking over to us. He said.

  “We can stop here for a little while if we don’t attack you, you can’t attack us now we are going to go look for some food. Smith, Willard, and I also Agatha should come too. We have a history of mutilating our prey.”

  Agatha glanced over at me, and her eyes conveyed worry with strategy. She said

  “Sure, I’ll come with you guys, back on Earth I use to go hunting with my friends all the time as a kid.”

  They had packed some bags with the rope, a knife, and more gear. They started to head off toward the west, where Gabriel said he had heard some grunting.

  Before they disappeared over the cliff through the black trees, I shouted.

  “Agatha, be careful, come back to us in one piece!”

  She smiled, nodded, and walked off into the distance. I sat down next to James and Toni.

  Annabelle and Toni had started to walk and talk. Their conversation grew distant as they walked to the other side of the lagoon. I took a seat next to James and Ray. I was nervous, and I chewed on my tongue I glanced across the lake at Annabelle. The sight of her made my eyes light up, and I felt a smile start to crack on my face.

  “You like her, don’t you dude? I can tell you go from this badass warrior to this cheesy lovesick guy.”

  I turned around, James had stood up and was leaning against the tree.

  I sighed, “Well, I think it’s stupid to say you like someone you met; we are not in high school, man. I think she is attractive. Yes, I think she’s sweet and cool, I barely know her so how I can like her.”

  I could not believe the cheese I had spouted or how I was somehow this immature yet mature and badass guy.

  “If you don’t hurry up and step it up, Toni’s going to step in and take your girl, “said Ray.

  Squeak, squeak, squeak A Strange animal galloped through the woods and knocked me down to my knees. It was the size of a small deer, with dark red fur and a long trunk-like snout. It reminded me of one of those crazy aardvarks.

  “GET HIM!”

  Shouted Gabriel as he busted through the trees and flew faster and faster. I stood up and made a dive for the aardvark deer landed flat on my chest.

  Agatha said, “He is too fast we couldn’t catch him, we steered him toward you guys; someone gets him.”

  James Dragged his ring across his stomach and dripped a few drops into his fingers. He rolled his finger together and formed his blood into a dart. He tossed it to me, and I ran the dart through my fingers and covered it with a small amount of tarantula toxin. I threw it into the air to Annabelle. She caught it and threw it into the animal’s neck, which killed it. Gabriel and his friends landed on the ground and tied up the animal and dragged him through the woods. The group walked again after waiting a while.

  I heard a soft metallic echo as if I walked on a tin roof. The smell of grease and old engine parts wafted through the air and filled my nostrils. I dropped to my hands and knees and shifted the dirt out of the way. I saw dark white metal under the black earth.

  “Guys help me dig; it’s a ship; we could be saved! “I said.

  Gabriel, Smith, and Willard joined talons and shot into the sky.

  Gabriel said, “Stand back Catalyst, I will take care of it since you can’t.”

  They continued to blast the dirt with their acid breath until it melted through the dirt like nothing before it could eat through the metal hull. They sucked it back into their bodies. The acid was so hot I felt the warmth radiate off the ship onto my face.

  The acid had unearthed. The ship had also perfectly formed a crater at least twenty feet across.

  “Catalyst, you want to go exploring?” Annabelle asked.

  She looked at me, her eyes sparkled, and she was excited. I
smiled back at her, and we started to walk toward the crater. Toni and Ray grabbed the net from Gabriel’s pack and lowered Annabelle and I into the crater. Gabriel, Smith, and Willard flew Agatha down to the ship. I said, “Toni and Ray, you guys stay here and look out for threats.”

  When our feet touched the floor of the crater, we walked around the new ship when Annabelle shouted.

  “Catalyst look at this, the names partially scrubbed off, it says the Orion. Dssssss Clunk Gabriel sunk his talons into the door and ripped it clean off the hinges.

  I said, “dude, what are you doing if we could have used this ship before there is no way we can now rip the door off!!”

  Gabriel stepped up to me and bowed up his chest as he extended his talons.

  “Well “dude” last I checked you’re not my boss you have a problem fight me then. Otherwise, shut up.”

  “Are you mocking me, dragon boy?”

  I stood up next to him and pushed my chest against his, my hands ready to strike poison into his bloodstream. Annabelle wedged her way in between us.

  “If you guys don’t stop fighting, we will never get off this planet. Now let’s go into the ship.”

  Toni started shouting from above, “Wait, did you guys say the Orion? As in the project from the fifties in the former United States. They used a string of nuclear bombs to propel the ship into space. However, the government said it was an unfeasible idea that was unpopular with public opinion due to nuclear fallout and scrapped it.”

  Toni opened his mouth to speak again. A loud sound started to emit from inside the ship. Beep, beep, beep, the noise went for ten seconds and then shut off. Gabriel stepped into ships doorway and said cockily

  “Well, I don’t know about you guys I’m going to go be the guy who finds the way and saves Everyone.”

  I ducked my head under the archway of the door and into the ship. I pushed past Gabriel and toward the Beeping sound. The others had joined us as we made our way through the winding hallways of the ship, venturing further and further. The ship grew dim the farther away we got from the broken door.