Returning Home

By Chris Gilman & Pascal Mailhiot

Chapter 5

As we reach the place where the transport came to rest, the sky is darkening with the fall of night and the clouds to the west are orange as the sun goes over the horizon. At first sight I don’t like what I see. I hope and pray that it’s still working after the beating it took.

Jumping into my seat I run the basic diagnostics and am dismayed by what I find. Two of the six wheels are damaged, thought they will at least still roll. The fuel appears to be leaking, not fast, but fast enough for me to know I’m going to be out of fuel soon. The battery is barely capable of providing the computers with power, and the long-range antenna is shot to hell. So much for contacting Teron for help here.

I slam my hand down hard on the console, “DAMN! This isn’t what we need right now.” I get out and go to the cargo hold, but bad luck stays with me there too. It’s totally empty, all the weapons and supplies are gone.

I look a little further aft and see the hidden hatch on the side is intact. At least they didn’t get the few items in there. Maybe Teron had a good point in building that hidden compartment in.

I look over at Nixank and point into the hold, “Your people take anything from here?”

He shakes his head, “Me people only get us. Metal beast is dead. They leave metal beast where it die.”

I slam my hand hard against the bulkhead, “DAMN! Now someone has an awful lot of high grade weaponry, not to mention all our supplies, food, and repair parts.” I place my back against the craft and try to think of what to do now.

A familiar beeping comes from the cockpit and it jars me from my thoughts. I jump in and see ‘incoming message’ flashing across the screen. “Hope the battery and what’s left of the entenna holds out.”

“Fro….wher……..been…..two da...” I can hear Teron’s voice, but the signal is weak, static-ridden.

I fiddle with the controls attempting to clear the signal some. “Teron, we’ve got trouble. The transport is disabled and our gear is gone. I need some replacements. Can you beam anything down to me?”

“Neg….. Cannot loc…….. you. Sensors….. beacon to nort…..”

I slam my fist into the console thinking I’ve tried everything else, might as well try the time honored technique of hitting it. “Teron, you’re breaking up. What’s this about a beacon?”

One of the secondary screens lights up and shows a map. My location is a pulsing blue dot and there is a pulsing red dot a short distance north of us. “Odd… signal…. eak…”

I sigh and look at the map, “I read you Teron, wish us luck.” Before I finish the radio goes completely dead as the batteries get too weak to run it and I stare at the map.

Nixank sticks his head into the cockpit and looks at the flashing lights on the map. “You no go there. That bad place.”

I look at him slightly confused, “Bad place?”

He nods his head so fast I think it might roll off his neck. “No one return, ever. Forbidden monster city. No can go.”

I look back at the map as the screen finally goes dark and shake my head, “No choice kid, I got to go. People are depending on me. I can’t let them down.”

I reach under my seat and pull out the emergency pack. It’s not much, but it does have a few things that should come in handy: some rations, a thermal blanket, as well as some more ammo and a second knife.

I grip Nixank’s shoulder and look him in the eyes, “Go back to your people. Take care of Taliah if I don’t return.”

Tears start to flow down his face, “You not go!”

I can tell he worries about me, but I also know what I need to do. “I have to kid.”

The radio on my belt squawks, “FROST!!! Get your fuzzy butt back here! We’re under attack!”

Hearing the panic in Taliah’s voice, I jump out of the transport. My legs are moving before I even hit the ground. Keying my radio, I shout back, “I’m on my way! What’s attacking?!”

I can hear shouts and screams in the background as she responds, “They’re…. They’re like shadows.”

“Giests!” shouts Nixank as he follows me. “They come when sun go bed.”

I pump my legs faster, the aches of the last few days disappearing in the adrenaline, pushing myself to get back to the village as fast as I can. When I get there, I’m momentarily stunned by what I see.

They could easily be called shadows; their shapes merely darker forms that flitter through the crowd of villagers scampering before them. They don’t appear to have any perminent physical form, but they are easily finding victims and dropping them with swings of their shadowy limbs. I see one of them take a bite of its victims flesh, then go after another.

I drop to a knee and pull my pistol in one smooth movement. Placing my sights on what I think is one’s head, I pull the trigger and watch the bullet pass right through. It seems to feel it and screeches in pain, but it just continues onward after another victim. I try a few more with the same effect. It seems to hurt them, but doesn’t kill them or slow them in the least.

In a desperate move I grab a flash-bang grenade off my vest, “Eat this mother-fuckers.” Pulling the pin, I toss it right into the middle of the panicked crowd. Seconds later, the night is lit up bright as day and the explosion is drowned out by a high-pitched screeching. When I can see again, the village is dark, the shadow creatures are gone, and the villagers are shaking off the effects of the blast.

Still breathing hard I watch them start to collect their dead, and mourn their loses. “Where were you?” shouts Taliah as she limps towards me from one of the few buildings on the ground. Even with the disagreements we have had, I am glad to see she made it out of this all right with further injury.

I holster my pistol and stand up from my kneeling position, “I was checking on the transport.”

Mention of the lander gets her interest. “How is it?”

“Forget it; it’s a write off,” I say as I walk towards one of the large trees. “Almost everything needs repairs, and all the repair parts are gone. Along with our supplies and food.” I sit at the base of the tree with a grunt and lean back against it. In a seemingly shocked state, Taliah sits next to me.

“Maybe these people just gathered our items...” she starts, but I cut her off with a shake of my head.

“Already asked the kid. He says the metal beast was dead so his people just left it where it died.”

“Well, we’re not leaving it behind. It can be fixed, and there must be parts somewhere I can salvage.”

“Teron sent a quick message before the radio died with the batteries. He sent the location of what I think he said was some kind of signal. If I find anything useful I’ll come back and get you.”

She looks at me with fire in her eyes, “What do you mean ‘come back’? I’m going with you.”

I close my eyes and shake my head, “No, you’re not. The kid says it’s a dangerous place, you don’t even carry a gun and I don’t want you to be hurt any more then you already have been.”

Suddenly I feel a pressure between my legs and I snap my eyes open to look down. Taliah is grabbing the crotch of my pants, “You’re not using that excuse.” She tightens her grip and I can feel her blunt claws poking rather hard against what she’s grabbing. “I’m coming with you, and that’s that. Besides, it’ll be easier to fix on the spot where the parts are.” Again she squeezes a little harder, “Don’t make me hurt you.”

I try to hide my discomfort at the situation with a smile, as I look her in the eyes, “I never knew you cared. Besides, you can’t walk that far with your hurt leg.”

She growls deep in her throat, “We’re taking the transport; I won’t have to walk.”

“And how are we going to do that? That thing is dead on it axles.”

With an angry look she lets go of me and stands up, “I don’t know but I’ll find a way.”

I watch her limp away, somewhat relieved to still have my privates attached with how she was gripping them. Leaning my head back against the tree I just sit there and listen to the locals as they go about their business. Nixank sits next to me and sighs, “You still go?”

I nod my head, “Got to kid.”

He wraps his arms around my arm and I can hear him crying softly, “Me no want you go. You never come back.”

I pat his head trying to comfort him, “We’ll be back sooner or later kid. After all we owe your people a lot for rescuing us.”

He ends up crying himself to sleep on my arm and I just sit there thinking of what’s to come in the morning. About an hour later Taliah limps up to us and smiles down at the kid before settling her look on me and loosing her smile. “I think I have the solution.” She motions me to follow her and slowly working free of the kid’s grip I stand and follow her.

I follow her towards a building that, unlike the others, is on the ground. As we draw closer I smell the unmistakable odor of horses. As we step in the large building I see it is a barn and there are about ten horses stabled here.

Looking at the horses I shrug, “What, you think horses are going to pull that piece of junk?”

“Of course,” she says without the slightest sarcasm. “You could probably pull it, but horses are not only much more efficient, they’re probably smarter.” She grins at her joke as she limps up to one of them and starts stroking its face to calm it. “We’ll only need six of them I think.”

I cross my arms over my chest, still unsure of her plan, “And how do you plan to get the use of horses from these people, we got nothing to give them in return.”

“Actualy, we already have.”

Now I am confused, “What do you mean?”

“Well, Nixank’s family owns the horses. Once I told his mother we were stranded since our metal beast died while we were saving her son. She was more then happy to let us have some.”

“They’re just going to give us six horses? Just like that?” and I snap my fingers to emphasize my point.

“Yes, you need animals,” says a voice from behind us. I turn in a flash and see a female of the village dressed in a long dress that, unlike most of the other clothes I’ve seen, is made from cloth. She steps into the building and nods her head to me, “You saved son. Animals easy to get new, son not so.”

Taliah bows her head to the woman, “Thank you for your generosity.”

The woman returns a smile and then looks back to me, “You leave soon?”

I nod my head, “Yes, as soon as we can, we have a long way to go.”