Pull (Deep Darkness Book 1) (7 page)

We were a mile away from the monitor's bunker when we ran into
Gerad again. This time he wasn't talking. He was sitting with his back against
a wall. A blue holo-projection of himself and a woman dancing played out
before him. His eyes were red and his mouth was bleeding. He did not blink
or say anything to us though we begged for him to follow us. He stared empty
at the dancers. The monitor told us to keep moving. Gerad was alive but his
consciousness had already been lost. Gerad was broken. The voice in our
head continued telling us there was nothing we could do.

"Is this what war is like?" I asked out loud. We have been at war with
the Skrav for hundreds of years and I have never seen anything like this. I
had never imagined going into battle. I was wrong though. I wasn't thinking
about it at the time but we had lost worlds before. Anytime humanity settles
or slows down death and destruction follow. This is why the monitor said
death followed us like a disease.

The monitor spoke inside my earpiece, "this is an act of nature, an act of
the gods."
I knew little about religion on Errikus.
I knew that the Eek were polytheistic. They had many temples
throughout the world each devoted to a separate deity. The only thing I really
knew for sure about their culture and the culture of many Errikans was
though they had guards and guns they were all pacifists. Humans would joke
and say they had war bred out of them. Others said that in this part of the
galaxy far away from the galactic core resources were better, life didn't need
to evolve to defend itself. Even if Errikus itself was a hostile planet full of
dangerous life the worlds that the Eek, Pok, Myra, and hundreds of others
came from must have been pretty nice.
The Leviathan was nothing more than an animal. Its home was inside the
immer - far away from here. The Tritan must have hit it or picked it up. This
whole thing was nothing more then an accident. I could hear it now as it
screeched and tore through the city. It was just screaming to go home. It was
screaming for it's mother. The monitor spoke again in my ear, calling the
creature a name that when translated meant Seraph.

“Do you ever wonder why most of the alien’s species we ally with all
have names that end in k... Eek, Pok, Drok,” Aira asked. She was laying in
my arms. Night had fallen; we couldn’t continue our search for Hayden until
morning, especially with that creature out there tearing up the city. “I don’t
wonder I know, when the first colonists set down and encountered aliens they
tried to communicate with them... some of the time it was a success – other
times it took years. The only syllable we could ever fluently make out was the
‘k’ sound at the end.” She didn’t say anything after that. I think she might
have been trying to make me laugh. It did seem kind of funny but scientists
never really good at naming things.

The Aelita was meant to arrive that night but with everything going on it
would probably be two days before they came after the Tritan. I knew
enough about how they approached situations like this, they would be
cautious, they would watch their enemy and make sure that there were no
Skrav coming to hinder any rescue. They were only a few hours behind each
other in the immer but time works differently once they exit and switch to
regular star drives and ion engines. Feeding off radiation and space debris
turning molecules into energy... that was the trick to regular space travel. The
cost of regular space travel meant that days in real time could be months or
years depending on velocity. Time dilation. What would come with the Aelita
though... another leviathan, another space beast... or something worse?

“We will be lucky if the Aelita and Erebus get here at all...” Aira said.
She was falling asleep as I brushed her hair. “They will come especially the
Aelita. Your father is on that ship.” I didn’t realize how much of a mistake
that was to say. I didn’t think about Aira’s mother. Aira had left her and their
position at the space dock to come and find me. She would be dead or among
the missing now. She might even be searching for her daughter. Worst she
might have used this as an escape. Maybe she went and joined the runners
and deserters hiding underground. Aira cried herself to sleep. Nothing I
could have said would have made any difference anyway.

For the next few hours I sat awake in the dark. All I could think about
was my own mother telling me to “run”. Her last words, her last lesson in life
to teach me. I never really said her name aloud before, it was Faith. It was a
kind name and fitting for someone like her. She put her faith in Aira and I to
survive. Her death would be her legacy now. I could see someone in a
hundred years watching through the nexus. Two scared little brats crying
while this middle-aged woman who had given so much to the fleet screamed
at them to run. Even in her last dying breath she was giving us a chance and
teaching us how to survive.

The last thing I thought about before falling asleep was how I had never
really had a father. He had died giving his life so that others may live just as
my mother had. Even if I was her only child I believe that I was something
she was proud of. Even if I wasn’t going to be a user, even if I just went into
stasis and accomplished nothing with my life I was hers and I would always
be. Aira was blessed she still had one parent around... and he was coming for
her. That’s what parents do... they look out for their children, they protect
them and watch over them even in the darkest of times.

The monitor was silent.
I began looking for answers in my mind, unaware he was no longer
listening. Did it mean he was dead? I don’t think monitors sleep... and if they

did it wouldn’t be very long. Maybe they slept one head at a time shutting
down certain body parts at will. It was something I had heard some species
could do. That wasn’t it though. There was nothing on the other end of the
comm – just silence. When we were running through alleyways and dodging
guards and looters earlier we could still hear his breathing through our
headpieces even when he wasn’t giving us direction. Aside from telling us to
rescue Hayden the only other thing he had said, “Children should never
know such violence.” Perhaps that was when he stopped. It all feels like a
blur now, out of synch – out of order. It was time for sleep was now. Hayden
would be smart, he would be doing the same. Unless the leviathan kills us in
our sleep we will have a chance to escape tomorrow and find each other. We
could retreat underground or hide on the other side of the city. The leviathan
was last seen heading in the opposite direction. I remembered that. It was
breaking through a part of the wall. It would only be a matter of time before
the entire city is overrun.

The morning light began to shine in. There was nothing but silence.
Most mornings on Errikus you could hear the birds singing. They weren’t
exactly birds more like bats. Each had two sets of wings. A longer set was
used for flapping and gliding and a shorter set they used to steer through the
sky. They had long tails and could grow anywhere from a foot to three feet
high. They were scavengers though. It was rare if ever that they would attack
anyone on the street. If anything they weren’t singing now because they were
having a feast on the corpses of all the fallen. I hadn’t eaten anything but a
ration snack the day before. Thinking about the birds made me hungry and
then more disgusted as I began to think about my mother. Aira woke up a few
minutes after me

“Where are
the birds?”
she asked .
I didn’t answer. I thought it was better to let her think they were all
dead, or let her imagine where they might be. I wouldn’t let my opinion bring

her discomfort.
“We need to head out. Hayden is probably waiting for us.” I said.
“The last place the monitor said he was near the drop ship repair factory.

We’re not too far from there, plus if there are any drop ships around I’ve had
practice in the simulation... Maybe I could drive one.” I was beginning to feel
slightly optimistic as I spoke. For years I played games in one of the
simulators we brought down from the Erebus. They were meant to train
soldiers, train pilots, even train workers but some of the simulations were fun.
It was like living inside another reality, some even called it a ‘meta-verse’. The
things you saw, heard, and touched all felt real. The only thing it couldn’t
reproduce was smell (and that was how you knew it wasn’t real).

“So that’s the plan?” Aira asked... “Find Hayden and ride into the sunset
inside a drop ship.” “Find Hayden and run. Just like we’re supposed to.
Whether the Aelita and Erebus come we have to survive.” Those words were
enough to get Aira up and ready to move on. I knew I wasn’t great at making
speeches but I’m glad I could motivate her.

We grabbed our gear the Eek had given us. After ten minutes I was
finally hungry enough to pull off a ration snack from a pack we found. It was
pure protein. It had no real taste but it wasn’t disgusting. It had the texture of
a hard piece of bread. It would have been nice to have something to wash it
down but I was grateful we even had food. At that moment I realized there
were probably a hundred maybe even a thousand other survivors all starving.
All those who locked themselves inside underground bunkers and basements
had locked themselves inside a prison that could only be opened from the
outside. The only food source they had would come from anything anyone
brought with them... or the vermin that had taken up living in the empty
holes. On the outside at least if you had to you could loot a store.What was
worst is that unless someone came for them they would all suffocate. The
shelters weren’t built to supply air to the hundreds they now contained.

I began to wonder why they had even built the underground shelters. It
had been nearly a hundred years since any of the hell beast had broken their
way inside the city. It was hard to believe an adult hell beast the size of a
three story building was seen as much of a threat. They were slow and could
easily have been gunned down before getting past the gates.

“I don’t hear the leviathan screaming anymore, do you?” Aira asked.
“No.” “Maybe that means it’s gone!” “I wouldn’t count on it...it might just be
so far away now that we can’t hear it.” “If it is, I’m glad. I hope the hell beasts
tear it to shreds.” I should have agreed. I would have been happier thinking it
was gone. We could have found Hayden without feeling rushed and scared
but we were scared. We were looking over our shoulders ever other minute
now. We climbed through what remained of the buildings that had been torn
apart. Pieces of the Tritan had landed all across Errikus. For all we knew,
pieces of the Tritan could have been scattered all over the land and oceans.
Errikus was an old planet but it had mostly been unexplored. There were
only two large landmasses and chains of smaller islands in between. North of
the colony was a jungle full of ancient ruin and even farther north of that was
tundra. Our colony made up most of the bottom half of the landmass. The
area right outside the wall was nothing but fauna and forest.

We were closer and closer to the drop ship factory when we heard
gunshots. It wasn’t a typical M44 or alien weapon. It was something human...
something projectile based. The only ones that used weapons like that were
the deserters and runners.
We crouched behind rubble and made our way to one of the slanted alien
roofs. I took it upon myself once we were safely on top of a store front when
we looked over and saw several Eek soldiers laying on the ground.

“Are they dead?” Aira asked.
“They are, but why would anyone murder Eek at a time like this?”
“There are worst things then space monsters.”
“Your beginning to sound very anti-human,” I replied watching as she

shrugged. I was trying to lighten the mood of a very bad situation. Aira
moved closer to me and peered at the dead Eek over my shoulder. “Gross,”
she said shaking her head and spitting in disgust. The Eek weren’t just shot
and killed. They were executed. We spent another fifteen minutes sitting on
top of the building hoping that whoever had killed the Eek would be far
enough away by now that we wouldn’t have anything to worry about. When
we reached the ground we swapped our Eekan rifles for the M44 rifles they
were carrying. We took them right off their dead bodies prying their grip free
as rigor mortis set in. The feel of the carbon fiber gun was lighter and easier
to handle then the sweating black organic guns we had been given. It was
almost a relief to have a weapon we felt more familiar with and even though
we were kids we had the basic understanding of what any weapon could do.
Safety was taught to every child at every grade, every year. Only our safety
and the safety of Hayden was a priority now. If deserters were killing Eeks
they would easily kill human children too. I imagined whoever did this would
probably get some sick satisfaction being so different from us. If they hunted
us down they would probably skin us and put our flesh on display. Once this
was all over humans would probably get the blame.

We continued to make our way through the alleys. We could see the
drop ship factory. Actually, It was more a repair shop. It was a gigantic
square building with spikes extending from the sides of the roof which acted
as a landing bay that could open up and let smaller ships come and go.
Errikus had all the drop ships it would ever need. They were only used to
transport the upper class, scientists, explorers, and others who meant more to
society then the lower and middle class. I doubted if any of that upper class
made it out of ground zero alive. They wanted to be the first to see the Tritan
appear. Their stature had become their undoing.

“Poor bastards,” I said. My words felt like they were more of a sporadic
thought. I didn't really care. I was just trying to talk. I just wanted
conversation. Aira didn’t respond. I doubt she felt the same way I did. She
had compassion for all living things, even those that looked down on us.
There was no real class system where we were going to be going so none of it
mattered anyway. The only class system we had on the Erebus was that of the
elders who were in charge; aside from that there were the users and anyone
else that had a specific role to play stayed awake while the rest laid in stasis.
It was a dirty system to most but for thousands of years it worked well. I
guess some would say we were socialists but we were just doing what we had
to so that we could survive. It was that system that kept humanity alive. I
wanted to share my thoughts with Aira. My mind was latching onto
everything. From the cast system of Errikus to Erebus to the things I had
read about the Earth that once was. I was blocking out the chaos that
surrounded us.

“How are we going to
find Hayden in all this?”
“We’ll just have to search until he finds us.” she said finishing with “or
until the leviathan finds all of us.” Aria looked at me and took a deep breath.
We had a long road ahead of us.
--------------------

Several hours had past. We were outside the factory now. It stood in
front of us like a massive stone monument. I felt like any second now it would
stand up and step on us just as the leviathan had done to so many others. I
imagined the entire city coming to life and swallowing us whole. This wasn't a
place we would normally visit. In fact I think both Aira and I had only been
to this side of Errikus once before and that was with several adults. Adults
who had been trained to defend themselves. Trained to survive. What the hell
were we doing? We were just kids. Everything we had seen had been in
holos, videos, and simulations. The only world outside Errikus we knew was
virtual and fake. The doors were shut but there was a sound coming from
inside. “Could there be people inside?”

“If there are I don’t want to
find out... let’s stay out here.” I said. This
was my big plan wasn’t it, to “stay out here.” I felt so stupid. Without the
monitor guiding us we really were on our own. We knew Hayden had some
tracking skills passed to him by his parents. Maybe they were with him
searching for us too. I had no way of knowing. For the first time in my life I
felt lost. I felt isolated and couldn’t think of any way out. I began to think of
Dom.
Maybe he was lucky that he died. He didn’t have to live through
any of this.
Aira and I were eventually going to be hunted by dogs by our own forsaken
kind well before we would find Hayden. He would probably find our bodies
mauled and torn to ribbon’s when it was just too late. The Aelita would come
and they would find Errikus burned with nothing left but the hellbeasts and
charred remains of the city. My stomach turned. I was hungry again. This
time I didn’t think I could stomach the ration snack.