DEATH ON MARS

Under the cosmic, tenebrous night, beneath the twin moonlights of Phobos and Deimos, beneath the crimson sands of the Red Planet there was life! Life in turmoil, life in unimaginable danger but life all the same! Mars had tombs and catacombs! Ancient and mystifying tunnels that would lead one to discover a civilization forever lost to time! The heart of a once thriving society continuing on as if countless millennia hadn’t gone by, eroding their society until it was a subterranean shell of its former self! To this day it runs itself, beneath the purview of it’s blue neighbor, beneath the notice of all of humanity...all except one.

They had taken him like many others. Using whatever resources they could spare, they scoured the galaxy, traveling along a negative mass cosmic string to survey various inhabitants in order to select the most viable competitors for their vile battle-games. Among these unlucky unwilling contestants was Earth’s sole representative, Taza Romero. He had lost count of the days he’d been imprisoned on this alien world, ripped away from everything he’d held dear. Water and a few sparse but determined thoughts were all that sustained him, all that kept him from going mad. A floating spherical stone cage encircling a bright burning light resembling a miniature sun, crackling with a deadly electric current, like neurons firing off in a great solar brain was his bizarre prison.

He had to force himself to sleep. It was all he could do to drown out the screams of terror, the sounds of unrelenting violence that echoed around him. Every now and then he’d find a bowl of water in his cell, with no idea of how it got there. He didn’t entirely trust it, but he drank it all the same. It tasted fine, it was just water after all, the life-blood of any habitable planet. Every day it tasted a little better: more refreshing, rejuvenating! He was almost grateful as it reinforced the sole thoughts occupying his mind, regarding his present predicament.  He would not go mad. He would not die. He would escape.

He was still sleeping when it happened. The mechanical CLINK-CLANK sounds of thousands of gears spinning and spiraling to activate yet unseen machinery. The pitch-black ceiling above him slowly opened itself like a weary eye, awakening after a long vexatious slumber. His sphere was slowly lifted as if pulled by a magnet, until it rose out of the ominous near-darkness and into an even more foreboding light. Taza could see an almost welcoming sight, as his sphere-prison became drenched in the light of an invisible sun. It was a jungle. 

It was not something he’d ever seen in person but it was something recognizable, familiar. There was life before him, green and vibrant. There would be food and water. But he couldn’t fool himself. He knew this was where the screams came from. It was his turn next. What he could not predict was the degree of horror and chaos that would fall before him once his feet were set on the ground. He looked around, knowing that they wouldn’t show him such sights if they weren’t ready to let him run loose. There were leafy, tropical trees as far as the eye could see and surrounding them was a loose group of cracked mountains like a stony crown, jutting from the ground like a row of jagged teeth.

Before more could be observed his cage began to rattle and shake. The chasm that had once held him below had closed up and now all that lay below him was a grassy field upon which he was dropped. A large resounding sound reverberated throughout the vast jungles, reaching every ear laying therein. It was a jubilant, glorious bell whose sound resonated even in the heart of a captive like Taza. It signified the start of something so beyond imagination that new words would need to be devised to describe the sense of bewilderous wondermentality.   

The stench came first; Taza’s olfactory senses overloading against the raucous smell, a dizzying scent that came from rapidly eroding earth right before him. A long serpentine shape erupted from the ground, a snake-like creature the size of a full grown elephant! Rectangular spines lined its back and its maw dripped with a green bile, the source of the vile aroma that would cause even the most resilient nose to wrench back in disgust.

Taza couldn’t hope to throw hands against such a beast, and so he began to run. However, it seemed the creature had no intention of letting him go. The stench-serpent slithered after him, the viscous liquid spilling upon the ground, leaving behind vats of vicious venom and burning the ground with voracious, violent, and vigorous intent. Taza’s only instinct was to survive.. He climbed up a tree, the palms of his hands covered in calluses, making him able to bear the trees’ rough, serrated bark. 

From the top of the tree he leaped, diagonally, to another. The stench-serpent, close behind, coiled around each tree. As it drew close, Taza took a risk and jumped right into the face of danger, landing atop the beast’s own head and running down its back in order to make a swift exit. The feeling of the human’s heavy footsteps running across its back angered the serpent immensely and it wound itself over, slit eyes the size of German Shepherds following its prey like a guided missile.

Lurching back, it followed its adversary, throwing caution to the wind and opened its venomous maw wide. As soon as Taza saw the deathly shadow hover over him, he knew he had a split second and took advantage of it immediately, ducking to the thicket of trees to the serpent’s side.  The snake bit down hard, only to tear into a chunk of its own flesh! Taza could hear the beast writhe in pain, hissing and screeching in anguish. He knew he could not dare face it again, lest he once again catch its unblinking eye, and remembered who had caused it so much pain. 

Taza ran further into the forest where he felt a cool breeze uncharacteristic of the humid air he had quickly grown accustomed to in his new surroundings and soon collided with a watery surface. A cold liquid rippled against his flesh, almost refreshing in a sense but it was still cause for alarm as he felt vertigo take hold. His intestines quaked, blood beginning to pump through his heart with a THU-THUMP too fast for him to comprehend as he was hurtled hundreds of feet in the air, barely able to breathe as he fell through the clouds. Cirrus. Cirrostratus. Altostratus. He fell downward through them all, screaming at the top of his lungs until his journey came to a sudden halt. ...And he began to fall sideways instead.  

He came to another stop, only to feel a clammy hand grip his neck, cutting off the circulation from his lungs, and sharp talons threatening to pierce his arteries. His breath began to grow shallow and his vision began to fade, his thoughts soon following. It felt as if  his life was flashing before his eyes, his own eulogy being written within the depths of his mind, mental paragraphs depicting a life stolen from him.

His stomach filled with warm, comforting food. His parents smiling warmly. One day he’d want kids of his own, maybe, but only after he accomplished his dreams. Following the path laid down by the heroes of his childhood, risking life and limb to entertain the masses upon a brutal canvas. The roar of the crowd, the satisfaction of a pugilistic victory; that was what fueled him. 

Breath became even more hollow. Paragraphs turned to sentences.

Saving up money.

Dreams will become reality.

Found a teacher.

Path was set.

Nothing could steal it from him, barring disaster unseen. 

Sparser breaths still.

Little words. 

Scant thoughts.

Sporadic.

Erratic.

Darkening.

Fading. 

Dying.

No…

Live!

The single thought alone, the one word, brought a rejuvenated vigor in the form of a swift kick to the esophagus of his captor. Her scaly talon of a hand loosened her grip from his neck and as his sight returned, he bore witness to her. Almost angelic, her body was of humanoid shape and covered in feathers, wings springing from her back. Her face brimmed with a murderous intent, echoed by the raucous caw emitted from her razor-tipped beak. She glared down at Taza as she held him by his collar an innumerable amount of feet in the air.  

In her free hand, she held a weapon of unknown make and design. Vaguely shaped like a gun, pylons spinning counter-clockwise, sending volts and jolts of electricity through a series of complexly laid coils wrapped in a titanium foil, oiled like a finely tuned machine, cleaned like a hydrated spleen and wrapped in breathing circuitry, bio-technological in scope, emitting dual frequencies that one would need to rhyme to fully describe in order to cope with the possibility that such a mechanism existed.

Still stunned from his initial kick, Taza had a split second to act before the harpy came to her senses. But what could he do so high in the air? Barter for leverage, perhaps? He made a grab for the device, his arms just long enough for his digits to snatch the implement from the claws of his captor with a mighty yank. It had a trigger. As complex as the intricacies that went into its creation, it had a trigger, it was simple enough to figure out how to get the job done. 

But nothing ever goes as expected beneath the surface of the Red Planet. Taza hesitated, wondering if the harpy was once like him. A captive, hoping to survive, by pleasing whatever powers that held them both there with murderous displays. But desperation overtook any second thoughts as he pulled the trigger and was greeted with a familiar cool crisp liquid surface. He touched it, this time on purpose. He pushed forward and within seconds was covered in water, head to toe. 

Quick thinking would have to save him once again. He could not linger, lest his lungs fill with water and his efforts to escape be left in vain. Luckily, bright light dotted the surface, becoming his guide. The weapon weighed him down but still he swam, growing attached to having a tool to help guide him through this planet of the damned. As soon as he reached the surface, he saw that time had passed. Too much time! Day was now evening, and he found himself pelted by twin moonlight.

The tide began to turn like a conveyor belt. The river bed he’d landed in carried him on an unknown path, forcing him to hang onto the strange gun like a life raft. Ten minutes, five minutes, an hour, he didn’t know how long he was flung through these tumultuous waters. It was long before he saw his first sign of life and when he finally did...he would bear witness to a sight that made his hairs stand up on end. 

Its cranium was in the shape of a vascular balloon, its eyes as wide as billiard balls and as pale as fresh snow. But it was not blind. Like everything he’d encountered on this planet, it was a creature with a fearsome gaze. But this being’s pupiless stare bore a gaze past his skull, down to his very soul. Where its mouth would be, a thin string lay. A tongue perhaps? A stinger? The creature made no noise; it only raised an arm, holding in it a spear, crafted in an expert manner with crude implements. 

Tooth and stone. The tooth of what, Taza did not know, but he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. This creature was no bigger than him. A humanoid body, smaller than his! He had been so preoccupied with its horrifying visage, he hadn’t immediately taken note of its disadvantages. Before the creature could act, Taza managed to pull the trigger on the weapon and within mere seconds water began to overlap water as another vortex appeared behind the creature. Its larynx swelled up like a frog’s to scream in despair as it was caught, or pinned rather in this sudden snare. Taza unceremoniously pushed it in, leaving no trace of its existence but its spear.

Taza picked up the fallen weapon and couldn’t help but run a hand through his hair and breathe a sigh of relief. But as the river drew him along it’s serpentine path, the clouds in the sky began to darken and split open with a roar from the heavens and fierce whips of lightning that became the only things illuminating the watery trail before him. It quickly became apparent that these crackles of electricity were more of a blessing than a terror, for they were the only thing that revealed a familiar shape before him. The same bulbous head, the same round, pale eyes, the same worm-like tongue, but in multitude.  

It was quiet for a moment, save for the call of thunder, the creatures seemingly as slow to act as the first of their kind Taza had encountered. Taza wouldn’t have time to send them all on a trip to parts unknown. Tightly, he gripped his spear, unsure of what would happen next. But before he had a thought further, one leaped at him from the water like a dolphin, intent on impaling him with a makeshift javelin similar to his own. Taza was still far faster: he lunged his spear upward, the blade tearing through the creature’s membrane-skin and running it through.

Taza grimaced. His first kill on this wondrous, horrid world and he didn’t even have time to contemplate on what it meant. For one after another they leapt at him, their attacks increasing in ferocity and frequency in tandem with the bellowing storm. CRRRAKKK! Two impaled! THRRRUM! Another two with slit throats. Splatters of blue blood and tangled intestines would soon pepper the riverbed! The bottom feeders would soon gather to pick off the remains of the freshly dead. Taza maneuvered himself enough to shoot his gun at several of the creatures, for their numbers were too great to handle with the spear alone. 

All Taza could do was fight back as his shoulder and sides were suddenly ripped by jagged blades and the smaller creatures began to latch onto him, the scent of blood sending them into a frenzy. Taza watched in horror as their worm-like tongues began to shape themselves into sharp needles. He let out a roar and they did the same. But before they could take one bite, a bellow louder than thunder cast a look of fear in their otherwise expressionless faces. And with a miraculous stroke of luck, lightning illuminated the most welcoming sight Taza had seen since he’d landed in this wretched river. 

The shore! He made a push, a lurch forward as he skidded across the sand, grains of rock aggravating already painful wounds. The smaller creatures let him go and began to breathe heavily, their time away from the water quickly becoming unaccommodating. Many of their kin remained in the water, staring daggers at Taza, without a care for their kin. But they were unable to act, and so Taza turned around, not paying them any more heed as he clutched his ribs in pain. He didn’t have a minute to contemplate whether one was broken before-

KULIKKKKKKK! There it was. The roar again. Its originator didn’t take long to reveal itself - smooth, pale, segmented body; large, black, compound eyes; multiple limbs; folded wings across its abdomen and thorax. The massive insectoid stood before Taza, its mandibles chewing on a limp corpse: one of the creatures, thus explaining their fear. The hunter of the hunters, eyeing Taza like every other adversary he’d run into...but something was different. There was an intelligence in this beast’s eyes, like the harpy’s. But unlike nearly every other being he encountered he saw no intensity, no cold intent. 

It seemed almost...childlike. Taza took a step forward and it took a step back. Taza wondered if the creature would let him pass without a fight. Covered in blood and entrails, he looked more the monster here. Slowly he lowered his weapons, almost unsure of why he was doing so himself. But something told him, this being didn’t have much fight left in it aside from hunting for sustenance. Timidly, it approached him. Taza observed it, noting how it only barely had coloration. Whatever it was, it was young.

Once it grew close enough, Taza placed a hand on its head. The last thing he expected to find here was a friend. Suddenly, yet another rumble was heard. This time, from within. Taza had not eaten since he emerged from his nebulous confinement. He looked back to the shore. Perhaps those creatures… His face contorted into a frown as he remembered their frightening visage and he put the thought behind him. Perhaps among the plants here he could find a-...More rumbles still! This time from beneath the ground. Another familiar sight! The great serpent emerged from the ground once more, Apep himself! The kid-hopper began to grow afraid. It began to back up, behind Taza who merely placed another hand on its forehead to calm it. He offered it a trusting smile. 

He mounted the hopper and picked up his spear.

He tossed the spear like a javelin, and it pierced the snake in its wounded hide. Taza smiled. Tonight he and his new friend would feast!

On the Red Planet, there had always been life. But here, there was also death. 

DEATH ON MARS