Red Eden: Homeworld Bound | Chapter 11: Mars Boys
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Chapter 11: Mars Boys
Gabriella's terracotta army of robots dragged Jack and his fellow dour-faced Martians to the surface. Gabriella marched at the fore of the procession, flanked by a company of her clone warriors. Her army of little she-devils followed behind, each wrapped in a blue blankie and wearing flip-flops. They were a chatty bunch, which made this procession feel like a school field trip to the community pool rather an execution march. A man’s execution was a serious and sobering affair, and these bubbly children had no business tagging along. Jack sincerely hoped that Gabriella didn’t intend for them to watch.
The automatons marched the Martians down the mountain to the little village by the fjord where the primitives had set up their tent city. The primitives watched with curious eyes as the procession entered their filthy shanty-town. Gabriella's soldiers cleared out a square so that the automatons could line up their prisoners in full view of the human onlookers. There were women and children among them, and their presence suggested to Jack that these primitives intended to settle here permanently.
“My sons,” Gabriella said, “escort your little sisters to the cruise ship. We shall be departing soon.”
Jack glanced at the big cruise ship docked by the pier at the northern bank of the fjord. Could it still be seaworthy after all this time? Where did Gabriella plan on taking them? Before he could hazard a guess, the automatons knocked him and his fellow Martians down to their knees. “Humans, kneel before the All-Mother.”
In response, the slack-jawed, wide-eyed, primitive screw-heads uttered a collective gasp, their fabled goddess now confirmed to be standing before them. They prostrated before Gabriella in a demeaning display of mindless reverence. The whole scene angered Jack. How could these people be so stupid as to worship a tyrant who wanted them extinct? These primitives didn't deserve Earth. They deserved everything Gabriella had planned for them.
He shook his head. How had his thoughts turned so black? He was in a foul mood indeed, and who wouldn't be in his position? All he ever wanted was one last grand adventure with Dad just like old times. Now Dad was about to be executed by none other than the Mother of Lies herself, a spectre raised from the ashes of history.
Jack glared at Gabriella. True to her Martian moniker, her outward beauty was a deception. Inside, she was an abomination, a dark and twisted creature with an equally dark and twisted vision of the future. Jack shuddered to think that she, like everyone else, began life as a child once upon a time. What could have twisted this child into such a demented being of pure evil? Only long dead ghosts knew the answer.
Gabriella addressed the crowd. “Children of Eden, long have you suffered in my absence. I am here now, and I shall restore the Garden of Eden.”
The primitives reached out to her, chanting, “Mother, save us. Mother, lift us. Mother, forgive our sins.”
Jack wrinkled his nose at the sight of these pathetic wretches.
“Oh please,” Father said rather loudly, voice dripping with contempt. “She can’t save you. She’s going to sterilize you like she tried to do to your ancestors. That’s why they rebelled against her.”
An old man stood up shouting, “Lies! Our forefathers betrayed the Goddess because they were too full of pride to kneel before her perfect creation. Their rebellion caused Eden to fall into decay, condemning all their descendants to a life of suffering.”
“You people suffer because you’re lazy, stupid and corrupt. And she’s no god. She’s a lunatic with too much power.”
Jack couldn’t help but grin at this delightful exchange.
One of the Viking-esque warriors pointed his axe at Father. “Our goddess stands before us in the flesh and blood. Who is your god and where does he hide?”
Most Martians, including Jack’s father, accepted a secular interpretation of God and would often invoke God as a linguistic metaphor. Jack was curious how his Father would convey this Martian concept of God in his answer to these primitives.
“We are the Sons of Mars, the Roman God of War,” Father answered, “and He is already here.”
The answer contained both literal and metaphorical truths. Brilliant.
The Viking man snorted. “God of War? Ha!”
“And what is your goddess's claim to fame?” Father asked. “That she’s everyone’s mother? Is pushing y’all out of her vagina her superpower?”
Jack and his fellow Martians burst out laughing. It was good to see Father defiant in the face of certain death. The Viking man turned red in the face, and this made Jack glad.
“You must have powerful gods indeed,” the Viking man said, “if you think you can insult the Mother in front of her face.”
Erwin stood up. “We fuck your mother in her ass!” He made a lewd thrusting motion.
The Martians laughed even harder.
Jack began chanting, “Mars! Mars! Mars! Mars!” The others joined in, and this bolstered his spirit. They weren't going to take this execution meekly. If they were going to die, they would die loud and defiant.
“Silence,” Gabriella yelled. Her automatons knocked Jack and his companions back down on their knees. She paced before the Martians. “I must congratulate you for you have achieved your intended effect. You grieve me. Deeply. I had every intention of letting you go home, unharmed. Instead, you attacked my sons, killing them in a gruesome and horrific display of Martian brutality. You threatened to turn my children into fertilizer. Just now, you threatened to sodomize me after you belittled the very concept of motherhood. Do you not value women and mothers where you come from? You should be ashamed of yourselves.”
The human villagers nodded, murmuring in agreement.
Jack felt his face heat up. Gabriella had made a sharp point. Belittling motherhood and threatening to rape a woman, even if she was a bitch – not cool. The fight within him sizzled out like fire in a cold shower.
“I did not want to have to do this,” Gabriella said, “but your belligerence and foolhardy insolence cannot go unpunished. I will have to make an example of you, yet for the sake of peace, I shall restrain my full wrath. Only one of you will die this day. Your chief. As for the rest of you, I will spare your lives as an act of mercy. I hope you take this second chance to reflect upon your actions. Think about how your belligerence has cost you the life of your chief. Think about how it has jeopardized the possibility of peace between our two civilizations. How many will die as a result of war? Did you not think about this before foolishly rushing out, killing my children in a cowardly surprise attack? I am disappointed in you, and you should be too.”
Gabriella had the nerve to claim the moral high ground. This bugged Jack like, well, literal bugs under his skin.
“Gabriella,” Father said.
She turned to him. “Yes, John?”
“You engineered a virus to sterilize the human race. How do you answer this charge?”
And this was why Jack loved his father. Straight to the point and hard-hitting.
Gabriella glowered. “Not only do you disrespect women and mothers, you are also a liar.”
Jack rolled his eyes. How typical of the Mother of Lies. Shielding herself behind women and mothers to avoid any attack against her as an individual.
“You're not a woman,” Father said. “You're a narcissistic freak who plans to populate the world with your clones.” He addressed the villagers, “Did you not see those little girls walking past you? Has it not occurred to you that there might be something wrong in that head of hers?” He tilted his chin towards Gabriella.
The human villagers hissed and jeered at him.
“Enough,” Gabriella said. “John, take your suit off.”
“No,” Father answered.
“That suit will make your death slower and more painful. I want you executed, not tortured. Now take off your suit.”
“You have my answer,” Father said.
Jack winced. He had been struck at least a couple of times by a speeding bullet, so he knew how much it hurt. Maybe Dad was just being defiant. Maybe he wanted the villagers to witness Gabriella's brutality. Jack wasn't sure what was going through his father's mind, but Dad must surely have realized that Jack didn't want to see his own father die a slow and painful death. “Dad,” Jack called.
“Jack,” Father answered, “I die for my family and for Mars. I am proud to be your father, and I know you will achieve greatness in this world. Goodbye.”
Jack fought back his tears. “Goodbye, Dad. I'll see you on the other side.”
Gabriella sniffed. “My angels, string him up and form a firing line. I won't be staying for this. When it's done, bring the others aboard my ship.” With that, she left with an escort of a dozen of her automatons. The rest stayed behind to oversee the execution.
Though Jack wanted nothing more than to turn away, he forced himself to watch as the automatons dragged Father towards two wooden posts stuck to the ground. The robots stretched his limbs out to form an X, and they tied each of his limbs to the four corners of the posts, forcing him to hang five inches above the ground. The robots stepped back, formed a line behind the kneeling Martians, and drew their machine guns.
A sonic boom. Jack flinched. Father curled inward with a muted grunt.
A sonic boom. Father jerked his left leg, screaming. Jack gritted his teeth.
A sonic boom. Father curled into his left flank, growling like a wounded beast. Jack cringed.
A sonic boom. Father's right knee snapped backwards. Father howled. Jack cried.
Three sonic booms in quick succession, followed by a volley, and then another. Father's suspended body jerked in all directions like a ragdoll at a shooting range.
Jack couldn't take any more of this. He no longer cared if he died. He refused to remain kneeling as machines executed his father. With a roar, he rose to his feet, turned, and smacked the machine gun out of an automaton's hands. He tackled the towering robot to the ground and proceeded to pummel its grotesque metal face. Another automaton grabbed him from behind and threw him into the crowd of onlookers.
Jack barely staggered to his feet before a huge Viking man tackled him back down. Jack was stronger and bigger, so he threw the viking asshole off him. Jack pounced on the man and pummelled his bearded face with both fists. Blood and teeth flew out of the man's mouth. The villagers piled on top of Jack, beating him with their feeble fists. A surge of adrenaline rushed into his bloodstream. He threw off the villagers and rose to his feet.
By now, the other Martians had joined the brawl. Erwin ducked and weaved around his robotic opponent, throwing jabs and well-aimed kicks at the robotic warrior before wrestling it to the ground. But the robots were strong, and fists did next to no damage against hardened metal. The Martians stood no chance of winning this fight.
Jack didn't care. They would fight to the end and he would join his father in Val-fucking-halla. He grabbed a heavy axe off a Viking man and charged at the nearest automaton, which was in the process of stomping Derek to death. Jack raised the axe above his head and roared as he leaped several metres into the air. He brought the axehead down upon the automaton's head, caving it by several inches and causing sparks to fizzle and dance.
One of Gabriella's clone soldiers roared as he charged into the fray with his rifle. Jack kicked off the downed automaton to dislodge his axe and threw the axe at the clone. The spinning axe lodged itself into the clone's chest, throwing him backwards. Jack charged at the clone, grabbed the axe-handle, kicked the clone off, and decapitated the clone with one fell swoop.
He heard a boom. A blow to his left flank. He keeled over and dropped his axe. Another boom. A sharp pain in his back. He arched backwards and dropped to his knees. He took another blow to the chest and one to the abdomen. He fell on his side and curled into a ball. He got shot three more times. He jerked to each one, crying in pain. Continuous gunfire now rang across the battlefield. Through eyes squeezed almost completely shut, he saw that all his companions were down.
One of the clone soldiers put a boot to Jack's shoulder and rolled Jack over. Jack lied flat on his back, trembling with pain and unable to get in a single breath. As he gasped, the clone stood over him, rifle pointed at Jack's face. The clone smirked. “Where's your god of war now?”
Thunder rolled. The sky turned red. A dark shadow fell across the land. Was it dusk already?
Close to blacking out, Jack saw fiery comets descending from the blood-red clouds. Was he imagining things?
The radio in his helmet crackled. “Boys, brace yourselves. It’s about to get real toasty down there.” Ellen's voice was unmistakable. In his stupor, Jack was convinced she was the goddess Athena herself.
The clone gave Jack a kick. “Well? What have you to say now, you big mouthed fool?”
Jack managed to get in a breath. With it, he proudly declared, “Don't fuck with Mars.”
Ellen's voice rang over the radio. “Three, two, one... ignition.”
A deafening boom. A burst of fire vaporized the clone where he stood. Jack rolled onto his belly and covered his head. A powerful gust lifted him off the ground, throwing him across the battlefield. He hit the ground rolling, propelled by the force of the fiery gale. He curled into a ball to stop himself rolling. Fiery plasma heated his suit from warm to blistering hot. He screamed.
The heat subsided. The wind died down. He opened his eyes and lifted his head. The land around him burned with an intense red glow. The Dragon Heavy capsule stood not twenty metres away in the middle of a blazing inferno. Several smaller Dragonite capsules had simultaneously landed throughout the vicinity.
The Dragon Heavy 's hatch popped open. A guttural roar came from within, and a host of Martian troopers charged into the burning inferno. Each of their suits were unique, from glossy-black Si-Tien power suits to radioactive-green Outback Outlander suits; and they wielded an equally diverse array of weaponry, from chrome-silver Solokovs to neon-yellow Prototype railguns. One of the men, who wore a green and black military camo suit, raised his Solokov and shouted, “Mars Boys!” His men responded with a resounding roar. They fanned out, running and gunning. Scores of automatons and half-burnt clones fell to the Martian blitz.
Jack stood, knees wobbling, badly bruised, and gut wrenching from internal bleeding. Here and there, he spotted members of his father's crew limping towards those who remained curled on the ground. Then he saw his father whose head hung limp, his limbs stretched into an X, hands and feet chained to pillars of fire. Jack staggered towards his father, silently praying that the old man was still alive.
As Jack half-walked half-limped, a clone soldier pulled himself out of a burning pile of rubble, smoke rising from his charred body. The soldier fell to his knees and pulled off his helmet which had melted onto his face. He shrieked like a tortured banshee as strings of gooey flesh peeled off his red and blistered scalp. Jack looked away, cringing.
He reached his father. He picked up an axe whose wooden shaft still burned. He lifted the axe above his head and swung down hard upon the chain binding his father's left foot. The chain snapped with a tinny ring. Jack raised his axe and severed the other chain binding his father's right foot. Once again, he raised the axe and cleaved the chain binding his father's right hand. At last, he swung the axe and broke the final chain.
Father dropped to the ground.
Jack dropped the burning axe. He knelt next to his father and rolled his father flat on his back. Jack shook his father's shoulder. “Dad, get up.” He glanced at Father's right leg. It was bent the wrong way. Wincing, Jack straightened his father's leg. “Anyone here a medic?” He shouted across the din of battle.
Somebody laid a hand on his left shoulder. “Son, I got this.”
Jack looked. He didn't recognize the man, who wore a white Outback EVA suit.
Jack scooted back and watched as the medic did his work. “Hang in there, Dad,” Jack whispered. “Amy needs you to walk her down the aisle. Ray needs you to take him huntin' and fishin'. And Mom...” He blinked away his tears. “You promised her you'd build a cabin for her by the fjord.”
A woman screeched.
He slowly turned his gaze towards the source of the noise. A badly burnt woman cried to the heavens as she cradled a little charred corpse in her arms. Jack watched this, numb to her pain, too absorbed in his own lamentation to give this woman and her child a second thought. He looked away.
“Men,” Ellen said, “Gabriella made it to her ship. Kill her before she gets away.”
Jack bared his teeth. Gabriella wasn't going to escape him. He grabbed a smouldering rifle off a charred corpse and sprinted towards the port. All around him, his fellow Martians surged forth with a thunderous roar. He caught a glimpse of Derek in his blue and white Z-point suit running just ahead. Erwin, in his blood-red suit, was at the fore.
Gabriella’s clone soldiers, her automatons and their human allies fled into the coastal village. The soldiers took cover inside the houses and opened fire on the charging Martians. The Martians had no cover, though this mattered little as their armour allowed them to shrug off all but the most powerful attacks. Jack caught up with his companions, and they returned fire as they ran.
Just then, another Dragonite capsule came roaring from the heavens. It landed just outside the village, blowing smoke, fire and bits of debris in all directions. The engines cut out. The hatch popped open. A cry came from within. “Yee-haa!” Yet more gun-totin’ Martians came charging into the fray.
Needless to say, Gabriella’s forces promptly abandoned their positions and ran.
The Martians stormed the village. Women and children screamed as they fled into the houses and shut the door behind them. Others fled to the northern bank of the fjord where the cruise ship remained docked at the port. Human men, some dressed in plain shirts and breeches while others wore chainmail and steel helmets, stood guard in front of the houses, axe in hand. Jack ignored them as he ran past, and they reciprocated.
Jack jumped a rotted picket fence and cut across a small cemetery. A clone soldier popped out from behind an arched tombstone and shot Jack in the gut. Jack keeled over, tumbled, rolled onto his knee and fired a burst at the soldier. The soldier ducked and ran. Jack, still winded from the gut-shot, aimed and fired again. The soldier arched his back and fell forward. Jack sauntered over to the fallen soldier and executed him with a single shot through the unprotected neck.
A fellow Martian sprinted past Jack. A sonic boom rang over the battlefield. The Martian man flew backwards, striking one of the tombstones and breaking it in half before hitting the ground. Another sonic boom. The tombstone before Jack exploded into dust, and then the ground in front of him erupted, sending dirt and gravel spraying through the air.
“Big Bertha, I’m coming for you,” Erwin hollered as he sprinted towards the cemetery church.
Jack motioned for the others. “Take cover. Suppressing fire!” He, Derek and the other Martians took cover behind various tombstones and opened fire on the church steeple. The church bell rang like an old school fire alarm as bullets struck it.
Erwin busted through the church entrance and disappeared inside.
Jack made a cutting motion through the air. “Ceasefire!”
Moments later, a clone soldier flew out of the church steeple and landed three storeys below with a muted thud. Erwin popped out of the steeple and held Big Bertha up high.
The Martians cheered.
Jack jumped over his cover, throwing forth his left arm. “Charge!”
The Martian force sprinted down the northern bank of the fjord, the final leg of their run. Jack was exhausted, aching all over and nearly out of breath. Lactic acid burned his muscles. His lungs felt like fire. He tasted salty blood in his mouth. He willed himself to go just a little further. One last fight and it would all be over.
A huge crowd had gathered at the pier, pushing, fighting and trampling one another to scramble aboard the ship. Several people got shoved off the boarding ramp, screaming as they fell into the water. Most of them were the human civilians who had accompanied their warriors to this island. Only a few of Gabriella’s clone soldiers and automatons remained on the ground, trying to push their way through the panicked crowd. When they saw the Martians approaching, they threw their human allies in front of them as meat shields and opened fire.
Jack and his fellows took cover wherever they could find it – behind trees, rusted shipping containers, concrete barriers or trucks. Jack aimed, trying to get a clear shot, but there were too many civilians in the way. He saw that the others in his company were hesitating as well.
The civilians screamed.
The boarding ramp detached from the ship and swung towards the pier. Dozens of people remained on the ramp, and dozens more clung to it as it swung through the air. The massive cruise ship drifted sideways away from the pier.
Ellen’s voice blared over the radio. “Men, stay back. Kinetic orbital strike incoming.”
Thunder rolled.
Jack looked up and saw half a dozen fireballs speeding towards them. “Holy shit. Back! Go back!” He ran from the pier. He heard a boom. The earth shook. A powerful gust blew him off his feet. Arms spinning, he flew through the air and landed with a roll. He got back on his feet and watched with wide eyes as a raging inferno engulfed the pier. The crowd that was once there was there no longer.
Another speeding capsule struck the harbour, just barely missing the cruise ship. The impact threw up a wall of water several storeys high, throwing the ship against the pier with a loud crunch and then sucking the ship back into the harbour, nearly capsizing it. The wall of water rained down on Jack and his fellow Martians in a torrential downpour that completely doused the inferno raging across the pier. The fire sizzled and white smoke spread out from the pier, shrouding the fjord in a thick fog.
A third capsule struck the mountain lining the northern bank. The resulting explosion sent huge chunks of rock and dirt raining down across the fjord. Bits of pebble peppered Jack’s helmet, then the pebbles became rocks, and the rocks turned to fist-sized stones. He covered his head and took shelter underneath the trailer of a cargo truck. Lying on his belly, he watched as two more capsules crashed into the fjord, too far to cause any damage to the cruise, though a massive tide crashed over the pier, causing water to wash over Jack’s position.
“Dammit,” Ellen said. “Men, don’t just stand there. Take down that ship. Give it all you got!”
Jack crawled out from under the trailer and took cover behind a concrete barrier. He opened fire on the cruise. Two hundred of his fellow Martians joined him. Their collective gunfire rang across the fjord, punctuated by the unmistakable boom of Big Bertha. It was useless, but it was all they could do as Gabriella sailed out of reach.
Jack had been denied his just vengeance. It was a bitter pill to swallow.
His adrenaline rush spent, the full impact of the abuse he had forced his body to endure now caught up with him. He collapsed in a heap. His vision slowly faded. His tortured thoughts turned silent.
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