In A Universe Without Stars 1: Skyeater (21 page)

It
was something he was willing to give up for the greater good. Luckily for him,
his soldiers, his children can also see the greater
good
,
so when they see death, they embrace. Making it easier for Ulbe.

He
feels something to his left.

Reese’s
jet approaches. He raises his arm and swings down as it passes him.

In
the sky, Julio’s shield is ripped apart as the back of the jet is crushed down
as an invisible force tears down.

They’re
going down.

“What
the hell was that?” Julio yells.

He
felt his shield ripped away from him, it hurt his arms for some reason.

“We
have to eject! Mayday! Mayday!” Reese screams. Smoke fills the cockpit and
Reese jerks on the ejection lever.

Nothing.

He
pulls again and again.

Nothing.

Shit.

It’s
not working. The blood drains out of Reese’s face. If he was going to die, he’d
rather it be in an instant than like this. He can barely see out the cockpit
but he can see them quickly approaching the ground.

He
keeps pulling on the lever.

“Shit!
It’s not working!” Reese yells. He can finally see death, he always knew it was
there, in this war, but to see it this close up, it scares him.

“No!
No! NO!” Reese loses it.

Meanwhile
in the back, Julio starts to think, it took him awhile to come back to his
senses because of the shock of his shield being ripped away was so great but he
has to think fast. He sends his fist through the cockpit blowing it open, rips
Reese out of his seat and leaps out, but it’s barely enough time as—

They
go crashing into the building with the jet. It rips into the building exploding
and tearing down half of it.

Minutes
later after the smoke clear, Julio lies face first in some rubble, body covered
in dirt. His shield protects him. It disperses as he forces himself to his
feet. Reese is directly below him, his dirtied emotionless eyes stare into
Julio’s.

Julio
clutches his fist in pain. He’s just now noticed that he hasn’t been hurt by
anything until now, the force hitting the jet was the first time.

His
legs and arms are all bloodied and broken.

How
the hell is he standing?

His
powers takes over and starts to heal, his arms and legs creak as they snap back
into place. He grimaces as they finally finish.

He’s
aching all over.

What
is his limit?

How
much more can he take? He’s guessing not that much more, he’s going to need to
think before he does anything else stupid.

He
rubs his head, he’s getting a headache. Maybe an after effect of using his
power to much.

At
least they took care of the angels, so maybe just maybe this battle will be
that much easier, even if he doesn’t make it.

As
long as Cole and Thora make it. They are the only friends he has left.

When
is Cole coming?
The
Astrons said he was the key to this battle.

Reese’s
chest moves up and down.

He’s
alive.

Julio
coughs, blood splatters on Reese’s face. He finally blinks.

“I
guess you’re not invincible after all,” Reese says. Reese’s leg is a twisted
mess.

Julio
coughs again, struggling to stay up. Reese wipes the blood off his face and
wobbles to his feet and grabs Julio for support.

“Guess
not,” Julio says.

Holding
each other up, they limp over to the makeshift opening of the building. They
look out over the city, the sky is painted black with smoke.

The
sky flashes.

“You
wouldn’t happen to have another jet would you?” Julio asks.

“No.”

More
angels and ships descend from the sky. Julio’s heart drops, everything they
just did was for nothing. How can they win this?

“Where’s
Will Smith when you need him?” Julio says.

Thora,
Arnold and Neil all huddle on one bed in the stadium. All holding each other as
the building shakes around them.

BLACKNESS.

What
is a
god
?

There
is nothing.

But
blackness.

But
Cole’s mind is here.

It’s
the beginning of it all. A small bright light appears in the darkness. It
illuminates Cole’s face. He stares directly at it. He has no thoughts, no
emotions, he’s just there.

The
light explodes out releasing gas hurling past Cole and into the infinite. The
twirls of gas explode in a vibrant force of colors and light. They swirl, churn
and morph into stars, galaxies and gas giants.

In
front of him, a pool of gas collects and merges. Sparks of light shoots off
from it as it collects faster and faster. Gravity pushing together the mass,
making it firmer and firmer until—

It
forms a star.

The
star pulls giant rocks around it. Swinging and crashing together in orbit.

Forming
planets. He looks in front of him as two of the objects crash and merge
together. It cracks and molds into—

In
a flash, he’s in a thick lush forest. He’s surrounded by tall ancient trees and
foliage. Light breaks through the canopy to illuminate the ground around him.
The humidity doesn’t really bother him since he’s not really there. Something
rustles in the bushes besides him.

At
a diminutive level, it’s all really simple, we are all connected.
Jahum’s voice comes
from everywhere, as if he’s part of the universe. Cole doesn’t look amazed or startled,
he’s just a watcher of events that once happened.

A
small lizard pokes its head out of the bushes.
We are all made from the
things of the heavens, from the stars and their recesses. Twisted and molded
into something more.

The
lizard runs through the grass and out the trees and out into a clearing. A
Tyrannosaurus Rex’s jaws crushes the lizard and pulls up. It starts to feast.

One
of the lucky few to make it through the evolutionary cracks.

How
hard it is to accomplish that?

As
the T. Rex chows down, the sky flashes as a bright light falls from the sky.

To
understand the universe, is to understand that you’re not alone.

Another
flash, another place. But this time it’s different, Cole is the universe,
everything is happening to him, instead of being a memory. But his conscious
mind is still gone.

A
woman lies on the floor of a shabby looking place. A couple of people surround
her. She’s pregnant and going through labor.

Everybody
you touched or will touch.

“Push!”
One of the men yells. This isn’t a native English speaking nation, but to Cole,
he hears it as English.

The
woman pushes with all her might. The baby comes out, one of the men wraps a
cloth around it and hands it to the mother.

“What
are you going to name him?” He asks.

“Lance.”

Another
flash.

Kid
Lance looks out the window, he wants to go out and play with his friends but
his mama made him stay inside.

He
sees why. A tank rolls down the dirt road. The road is surrounded by apartment
buildings. Armed men advance next to it.

The
tank barrel turns to an apartment window only a few apartments from Lance. It
fires and blows a hole through the building.

Lance
falls back as the building shakes, gun fire starts go off outside. The door slams
as armed men run in, one of them is his older brother,
he
holds an AK-47. His mother runs up and hugs him.

“Thank
you,” she turns to Lance.

“You’re
going with your brother okay?” she says.

“No!
I want to stay with you,” he cries. The gunfight outside gets more intense.

She
hugs him. She let’s go and put a locket around his neck. “I love you and your
brother,” she says as his brother pulls him out the door. He screams as he’s
forced out the room.

Kid
Lance sits in a ship’s hull with a hundred other immigrants. It’s dark, dirty
and over filled. Lance sits next to another immigrant, his brother left him at
the port.

Saying
he still had a war to fight, telling him the guy next to him is trustworthy and
would help with citizenship. He can’t believe he left him. He’s on his own now.

The
guy next to him leans over him. “Cheer up brother, you’re going to love
America,” he says. Lance hope he does, because there is no going back home.

Another
flash, it is twenty something odd years later. Lance sits next to Serena on a
bench in central park.

It’s
dusk.

He
can’t believe she said yes to a date, the cutest girl in the office. 

“I
still can’t believe you let me take you on a date.” He didn’t mean to say that out
loud.

“Keep
talking and I might just regret it,” She says with a smile.

He
shuts up.

But
she wasn’t too turned off by it.

“I’ve
never dated out of the country before, so I just wanted a foreign taste,” she
says.

“I’ve
been in America for twenty-five years,” Lance says. He can barely remember his
childhood.

“What?
What’s with the ascent then?” she asks.

“I
never wanted to lose it, to remind me of my heritage and where I came from… and
of my old home,” he says. Serena relaxes and takes his hand and holds it. This
is his home now.

Another
flash, another person.

Everybody
has a story, a reason for them to fight, a reason for them to live.

A
teenage Julio walks down a deserted forest road, the fog covers thickly ahead
of him. He wears a simple plaid shirt and jeans, a statement to his current
extravagant style.

He
can’t really see where he’s going nor does he care. He has a huge backpack on
his back, full of everything he owns.

He
just walks down the side of the road. An old car drives up slowly behind him,
it pulls up next to him but he keeps walking. The car is a simple as his
clothes. It coast next to him.

A
teenage girl drives it, only a year older than Julio. She manually rolls down
the window.

“Julio,”
she says. She a beautiful girl, her hair is a perfect shade of brown, her eyes
the perfect shade of blue. Julio doesn’t answer back and keeps walking.

“Julio,”
she says again, she doesn’t say it firmly or pleadingly, there’s no
forcefulness behind her voice.

Julio
stops and looks at her. She stops the car.

“Get
in and let’s leave this place forever,” she says. Julio looks behind him, the
fog clears up and he can see the path behind him. He looks back forward and the
fog deepens.

He
opens the door and gets in. The girl smiles and sets the car in drive. They
drive off into the fog, never looking back.

The
human emotion is a powerful tool.

Another
flash, another person.

Noata
and Lane lie next to each other on a grassy knoll, looking up into a star laced
sky. 

Some
would say that love is the strongest connection to bring two humans together.

Noata
holds Lane as she rests on his chest. He looks at her, he wishes this moment
could last forever.

Some
would say it motivates humans to do things that were once thought as impossible.

Another
flash, this time to the battlefield that currently rages on. Noata walks toward
the orange haze of battle, something he once thought was impossible.

Another
flash to Lance fighting a squadron of grunts, in a blur he fights them off and
wins.

 Why
is it so easy for them, to motivate themselves, to find something to push
themselves forward?

Why
is it so hard for me?

Cole
finally has a coherent thought, he tries to breaks away from Jahum’s prying.

Why
can’t it be so easy for him?

Why
can’t I accept it?

WHY
CAN’T I ACCEPT DEATH!?!?

STOP!!

 GET
OUT OF MY HEAD!!

Cole
screams out in his head. Jahum forces himself deeper. Cole’s view of the battle
frizzes as Jahum plunges deeper into his psyche.

His
world flashes.

Another
flash another place. There’s no more thoughts, no more fighting, he’s just
there once more.

Cole
sits on a bed in the barracks. It’s only a couple hours after he was
decommissioned, only a few weeks after he’s gotten his companions killed. The
barracks are empty.

He’s
just finished packing, his bag is next to him. He doesn’t know why he packed
though. Maybe it’s just to make it tidy for anybody who finds his body.

His
Glock is next to him.

He
pulls out a picture of his old squad, it will make this easier, seeing their
smiling faces, knowing he’d taken them away from here.

They
were together for four years, he sees his own smiling face in the picture.

A
disgrace.

“I’m
a failure,” he mutters. He picks up his Glock and racks it.

He
puts it in his mouth and hesitates. If he’s going to do this, he needs to do
it.

He
pulls the trig-

“Stop!”
Julio tackles him as he pulls the trigger, the shot fires off but goes into the
wall. The gun is knocked out of Cole’s hand and he’s taken to the ground by
Julio.

“What
the fuck are you doing?!” Julio asks in a yell. Cole scrambles for the gun,
Julio jumps on top of him and wrestle him to a stop.

“Let
go!” Cole screams. He tries to break Julio’s grip but Julio was always a better
fighter than Cole.

“No!”
Julio yells. Julio elbows him and forces him against the wall. The sternness on
Julio’s face shows he’s not going to give up so easily.

“What
the hell where you thinking?!”

“Let
me finish it! Let me finish the only thing I can do right!”

“That’s
it? You want to kill yourself over a shitty day?”

Julio
lets go of Cole, and kicks the gun under the bed. Cole falls to his knees.

“I’ve
failed at every single duty I’ve been given. Everybody I was supposed to
protect is dead. If I can’t protect the one that I love, if I can’t do my
proven duty as a man then I have no reason or point to live.”

There
is silence after Cole’s statement, Julio waits as if Cole was going to continue
on.

“That’s
it?”

Cole
doesn’t answer back, he just stares at the floor. Thinking of a way to get the
gun without Julio noticing.

“Get
up,” Julio says.

He
doesn’t move. Julio sighs as he pulls Cole up. If Julio didn’t show up, Cole
could’ve finally rested in peace.

“You’re
coming with me,” Julio says.

“Why?”

“Because
I want to take you back into the showers to fuck you …Just come on.”

Julio
bends down under the bed and picks up the gun.

“If
you still
wanna
off yourself afterwards, then I’ll do
it for you so you don’t go to hell.”

A
flash.

Only
a few hours later, another place. Light peers through the canopy as it paints
the lush forest as Julio and Cole walks through it.

“Where
are we?” Cole asks.

“A
forest.”

“Why
are we here?”

“Just
going for a walk.”

Cole
is getting annoyed at Julio but he wants to help him, so he’ll let his annoyances
slide. Julio walks ahead. Cole never knew there was a forest like this in the
area.

Everything
is so vibrant and full of life, everything has a sort of photorealistic feel to
it. But he doesn’t feel the normal dirtiness he would usually get in a forest.
Maybe he should’ve came here more often.

Julio
is way ahead of him, Cole runs up to catch up to him.

They
travel through the trees, through the thicket, Cole follows Julio over streams,
through the puddles, through the amazing wonderment of a place barely touched
by humanity.

They
go on for what seems like miles until they come upon a giant fallen tree. It
leans on a large moss covered rock wall, it leads up to a small opening in the
wall.