Planet Chimera (12 page)

“I know that the mutant chimeras are beyond
saving, but we can’t leave them like this,” she whispered, shifting
her body around, looking at each of us individually. “Do you all
agree?”

“Yes, I agree,” Siron nodded.

“Same here,” Jutcer muttered, trudging
towards her, as he placed his gun on his back. “It would be
dishonorable to leave them in this state; after all, they were once
our kin.”

“I don’t think that is a good idea,” I
added, moving away from them, tracking the footprints on the
ground. “Whoever did this is close, and I don’t think they want you
meddling with their prey.”

“What do you mean by prey, Rave, these were
once our people,” Siron cried, placing his hands on the body of a
dead chimera, and pushing it off the spear. “I wouldn’t rest well
knowing that I left them here.”

“Don’t touch them,” I yelled to them, waving
my hand back, as I sensed something ominous in the air. “You really
don’t want to do that.”

“Please, explain to us why?” Salyanna asked,
ignoring my warning, continuing her task. “If you know something
important, then, please share with the group.”

“Too late for that now,” I sighed, pointing
further ahead. “The one who did is coming.”

“Where is he?” Jutcer asked, being stupid
and annoying as usual. “Oh wait, I see him.”

A man, in a red jump suit, long, black
boots, wearing a yellow, frowny-face mask, trudged towards us. The
long chains on his arms and legs rattled with each step he took.
Despite seeing our guns pointed at him, despite knowing that he was
outnumbered, he acted casually, pretending like he was strolling
through a park. But deep down, I knew how dangerous this man was;
and from the way he acted, it was almost like he was confident he
could kill all of us.

“Halt, stranger,” Siron yelled, taking two
steps forward, his gun raised at the odd man. “If you move, I will
shoot you.”

“Siron, you idiot,” I muttered, shaking my
head. “He will kill you, if you approach carelessly.”

“Heheheheh,” the strange man shrieked,
scratching his shabby hair roughly, while looking up at the night
sky. “What are you all doing? Those are mine.”

“Listen here, lad, I don’t know who you are,
but you are not welcome on this planet,” Siron added, raising his
deep voice, his feet planted firmly into the thick ice. “I will ask
you one more time to halt, or I will be forced to shoot you.”

“I told you not touch my treasures,” he
screamed, pulling out his dark hair from his skull, before dashing
forward. “I will kill you all for that.”

The others opened fire, shooting the
deranged man in the chest, and felling him to the ground. Blood
gushed from his chest, his body hitting the ground of ice in a loud
thud, and his hands falling on his sides. Like an idiot, Siron
walked up to the man, reloading his rifle, hoping to have a closer
look at the fallen lunatic. He crept closer to the man, pointing
his gun at him, turning around with a smile on his face.

“I think we got him,” he chuckled, shaking
the man’s body with his right foot. “He’s dead.”

No, something is wrong
here
, I thought,
he is still alive, somehow.

“Ahhh!” Siron screamed, staggering back,
missing his left arm.

The stranger, adjusting his yellow mask,
stood up to his feet, and brushed off snow from his shoulder,
acting like the bullets to the chest were not affecting him at all.
He twisted his neck slightly, stretching his arms and legs,
inhaling and exhaling deeply. Upon finishing his bizarre routine,
he stood up straight, reaching into his right pocket, and pulling
out a spear from his pocket. It was impossible; he had to be using
some sort of trick, or he was some sort of magician. Pulling back,
he chucked the spear at Salyanna, attempting to kill her in one
strike. Gasping, her chimera instincts took over, and she rolled to
the left, dodging the spear before it struck her. She jumped back
to her feet, her hair lashing behind her, and began to fire back at
the lunatic.

“I guess I will play with all of you,” he
shrugged, pulling out another spear from his pocket, and hurling it
at her. “I really like games.”

“Enough of this,” I intervened, grabbing the
spear in mid air, spinning around, and chucking it back at him.

But before it could maim him, it disappeared
into thin air, like it was some sort of illusion. He raised his
index finger, shaking it left and right, laughing in a low tone.
Moving back, I squinted my eyes, coughing slightly, as I noticed
that the weather was getting worse. The snow kept falling against
my face, making it hard for me to see the man clearly. I saw a
flash of silver, and in that instant, I was stabbed in the chest by
a knife of some sort. The lunatic drew close to me, his face inches
from mine, laughing out loud, and acting as if he had defeated me.
He twisted the blade around, planning on cause me great pain;
however, I grabbed his hand firmly and drew him closer, before
shooting him in the head with my gun. And like the spear, he
disappeared into nothing, leaving his blade stuck in my chest.

“So, that’s how you abilities work,” I said,
laughing, my gun still raised above me. “Everyone, come towards
me.”

“Are you hurt, Rave?” Salyanna asked,
rushing towards me, her eyes fixated upon the wound on my chest.
“Goodness, how are you even standing?”

“It’s complicated,” I shrugged, removing the
blade slowly from my chest, the pain very excruciating. “Now, if
you don’t do exactly as I say, he is going to kill all of you.”

“We have to go back to town, and find a
doctor for Siron,” Jutcer cried, placing Siron down next to us, his
hands pressed against Siron’s left shoulder, to stop the bleeding.
“He is not going to make it if he stays here.”

“Listen carefully to what I have to say,” I
began, turning my head in every direction, as I surveyed the area
for the yellow mask bastard. “What we are facing right now is
nothing more than an astral projection of the killer. He is some
sort of conjurer, a mage of illusions, with the ability to create a
clone at will. His real body is hiding somewhere close, and the
spears he is throwing are real. It is not the astral clone throwing
them, but his real body, which is hidden somewhere really
close.”

“And how do you know all of this?” Salyanna
asked, puzzled, looking at me with suspicion “You seem to have a
lot of knowledge on him—it is almost as if you know him.”

“I don’t, so let me finish,” I replied
rudely, covering my nose and mouth with my hands. “I am not sure if
any of you took special notice to the specific set of clothes he
was wearing. Particularly, the number embedded on his back, a
prison number to be exact. Several hours ago, I saw a transport
ship falling from the sky, and it landed somewhere close to here. I
was under the impressions that it was a galaxy transport ship, but
after seeing this man, I highly doubt it is.”

“So, wait,” Jutcer interrupted, glancing at
me, on one knee. “What are trying to say exactly?”

“Shut up, you idiot, and let me finish,” I
rattled, my left fist clenched, giving him a mean look. “I am
saying that the ship that crashed into this planet was transporting
death row criminals to the next galaxy, the home of the Vandrel
Guards. I am almost eighty percent sure that there is at least
twenty of his kind running amok in these woods, each with their own
specific set of skills and abilities.”

“Surely, you jest, right?” Siron asked,
panting heavily, as he struggled to stay awake. “The mayor must be
warned, if it is true.”

“He is coming, get ready,” I turned around,
taking a defensive. “He is a probably an illusion, but the weapons
he is throwing are real.”

The masked lunatic,
laughing out loudly, jumped four feet into the air, spinning three
times, before coming down in a vertical slash. I grabbed Siron’s
leg and tossed him to the side, as I clashed my rifle with his
blade, pushing him off. From the resistance he was giving me, it
was hard to tell if it was an illusion, or if it was his real body.
He shrieked out loud, taking a small leap back, his whole body
disappearing into the blizzard. I heard gunshots, followed by the
clashing of steel blades, and then a scream. Turning back, I caught
a glimpse of a shadowy presence moving through the snowy thicket,
resembling the masked man in a way
. That
is his real body
, I thought.

“Keep an eye out for the weapons,” I yelled,
pressing the rifle against my cheek, as I closed one eye, holding
my breath. “The real one is mine.”

I tracked the presence until it stopped
behind a tree, stalking us with one eye, its fingers sticking out.
I grabbed my gun tightly, relaxed my body, and pulled the trigger
the moment he stuck his whole head out. The bullets pierced through
his mask, and sent him plunging into the ground. His clone, which
had been terrorizing Salyanna and the others, disappeared into thin
air, signifying our victory and triumphant.

“Stay here with the others,” I yelled,
marching over the ice, my eyes fixated on the fallen man.

Ignoring the dreary cold, the annoying
snowflakes, and my uneasiness over the icy ground, I trudged
forward, while keeping my rifle trained on my fallen foe. He rocked
back and forth, his mask bloody, and his body laid flat over the
thin, white grove. Shifting his head, glancing at me, he tried to
muster enough strength to stand up, but he was seriously hurt for
such a fit. Walking over to him, I bent down, grabbed one of his
hands, and pulled him away from sight. I had my own plans for him,
which I doubted any of my current colleagues would approve of.

“I have question for you, and I want you to
reply honestly,” I whispered, sitting on his stomach, my gun lying
on my left knee. “Please don’t force me to do anything that you
might find discomforting.”

“I dealt you a mortal blow,” he began,
panting heavily, shifting his gaze to the left. “How do you hold
breath?”

“That’s not the answer I am seeking,” I
yelled, pulling back his ridiculous mask, trying to see what his
face looked like. “Oh, my, this is unusual.”

Beneath his mask, there was nothing but a
swirling void of nothingness, a pure abyss that expanded into what
looked like infinity. He had no eyes, nose, cheeks, or mouth—just a
plain void of darkness. It made me dizzy just to stare into his
face. Almost like looking into my own heart, a thing I truly feared
above all.

“On second thought, you should keep the
mask: it gives you character,” I replied, smashing it back onto his
face, not minding the blood on my hands. “Now, I want you to tell
me how many of your kind are roaming these woods, and who amongst
you is the strongest, and the most fearsome. If you can, I would
like you to also tell me of their speed, strength, and any special
abilities they might possess.”

“And why would I tell you that?” he laughed,
spitting blood onto my coat. “Why would I turn against my own
brethren?”

“Because I am ordering you to,” I snickered,
patting his yellow mask, taunting the man in agony. “Did you know
that you could torture a man without causing any mortal harm to
him? It is all about choosing the specific outer part of the body,
which is elastic enough to withstand a great deal amount of pain. I
like the ears, because no matter how much you pull and stretch
them, they will retain elasticity and size. I will show you what I
mean, since you don’t believe me.”

Grabbing his ears, I pulled back as hard as
I could, and then twisted them in opposite directions, before
releasing them from my grasp. He screamed in pain, his body
trembling from the combination of the pain and the cold, as his
mask almost fell off. This was simply amazing: I could really do
this for days.

“Are you ready to talk?” I asked again,
placing my hands on his ears again, ready to have another go at it.
“I will let you go as soon as I have learned what I need to
know.”

“Never,” he shrieked, panting heavily, his
ears red and hot. “I will never rat on my pals.”

“I am glad you say that,” I added, pulling
his ears roughly with a lot more force. “I can do this for hours,
you know.”

“Okay! Enough please,” he screamed out loud.
“I will tell you everything you need to know—just stop pulling on
my ears, okay?”

“Good, I guess you are much smarter than you
look. Now, tell me what I asked you before.”

“There were nine of us being transported to
Dead Planet, the prison land for all those condemned to die, by the
Vandrel Guards. We were passing over this planet when we were hit
by something, and we crash-landed here on this cold planet. Three
of my inmates and four guards did not make it out of the wreckage
in one piece; however, those that survived fled into different
directions, hiding from the guards and the monsters that prey in
these woods. The strongest, in my opinion, is Derrick Lucy, the
pyromaniac arsonist from the Jupiter colony, and the previous
second, most wanted man in the galaxy. If I am not mistaken I saw
him team up with Katherine, the leg hunter, and Tommy, the spree
killer.”

“Are they really that strong?”

“Oh, yes, they are the most dangerous
prisoners in my group, and are far much worse than me.”

“How many guards are there?”

“About a dozen or so, highly trained and
skilled in combat, and they have been instructed to kill us if we
try to escape, which we already did.”

“Are these guards also strong?”

“Yes, Mrs. Craft, the head guard, a Tarizard
alien, is the strongest of them all. She is incredibly ruthless,
punishing anyone who looks in her direction without mercy, and you
will know her by the long, black bow she carries on her back—and a
broad blade on her holster. I have told you everything you needed
to know, so I trust you will keep your oath about letting me go
free.”