The Feeding Season

The impact with the planet's surface was more severe than expected. Bars' brain was in agony, because it wasn't able to accept so many pain signals at once. His nose was bleeding and he immediately snorted the blood back in – he didn't want it to dirty his visor, especially now, when he had to run. He needed to get away from this nightmare as fast as possible. The giant tentacles of the monster had returned above the surface, hungry for more fresh meat. Thirteen had collapsed a meter away, apparently without any serious damage, since he immediately jumped to his feet, ready to run.

  “This way!” Bars yelled at Thirteen and ran to the nearest rocky rise. The two of them took off without losing any time.

  It was completely chaotic all around them.

  The screams of the jumping boys echoed above their heads, mixed with the horrible cries of those, who had fallen seriously injured to the earth. Those, that had lacked the courage to cut their chains, had been wrapped in the cruel hug of the tentacles.

  While Bars was running forward, fragments from the Fortress kept crashing all around him. As they slammed into the surface, the wind would pick up the crushed soil creating a dusty fog. Shards of rock whistled by in every direction like shrapnel from a massive bombardment.

  Yazo and Opatar's landing proved even more severe. Their suits covered with metal armor were much heavier and once they hit the rock, all kinds of sparks were thrown up all around them. Yazo's loudspeaker poured forth numerous swear words, while Opatar lifted himself up with heavy moans and lurches.

  One after another, all the boys from Hangar 3 made it to the ground. Some of them did not get up again, others were caught by the monster, and the rest ran immediately for the rocks, where Bars and Thirteen were waving at them to come.

  “Come here!” Bars and Thirteen screamed with one voice. “It's safe here!”

  Opatar lurched a few steps finding it difficult to make any progress, on the other hand, Yazo totally panicked and in a mad run passed everyone. Some scraps crashed to the ground in front of Yazo, but that didn't stop him – he wrapped his arms in front of him leaned forward and crushed everything in his path. The others that were following him also went as fast as they could.

  “Run!” yelled Yazo and the others ran toward his voice.

  The monstrous tentacles twisted around in the air, throwing around red mud. When they understood that there were no more suits descending, one after another the tentacles began to return down the hole from which they had crawled dragging whatever was left of the broken Shells underground.

  By the time the last boy had reached the safe zone, it had quieted down. That's when they realized that half of the suits from Hangar 3 were missing. It really crushed their morale, even more so, because the groups from Hangar 1 and Hangar 2 were unaccounted for.

  “We're so few,” noted one of the boys, who was still breathing hard. “Where are the rest?!”

  “I don't know! .... I just jumped and ran following everyone else,” replied Suit Number 5 with a trembling voice.

  “What in the hell was that thing underneath the Fortress?!” questioned Bars.

  “I don't know what that creature was, but that beast almost got me!” replied Yazo. “We got away by the skin of our teeth, guys!”

  “And the others?! Did they have the same luck?” wondered Opatar.

  “Before jumping, I saw several Shells from Hangar 2. They, however, were running in another direction. Surely, they met up with the survivors from Hangar 1,” shared Zimmer.

  “In which direction did they go, did you see?” asked Leegan, whose Shell stuck up at least a meter taller than the others thanks to his sharp-pointed enhancements.

  “North,” quickly answered Vestule. “They headed north. I saw them and I...”

  “We should have followed them, and not gone south!” roared Leegan angrily. “I have strong friends among them! We would have been together by now...”

  “These two called us over here,” said Rogar pointing them out. “We were all misled and followed them.”

  “Didn't you see what was happening!? This was the closest safe rock,” Bars said in answer to his accusation. “We saved you!”

  “Yeah, that's right!” said Thirteen supporting him, although until now Thirteen had tried to go unnoticed. “We don't even know if any of the other groups reached a safe zone.”

  “I had some true friends among them!” said Leegan disappointed and looked at everyone with contempt.

  “Well, my friends were damaged after the jump and they weren't able to follow me,” despondently shared Magar, the boy in suit number 11. “Maybe they're already under the ground...”

  Mechanized Survival Suit 36 was moving with noticeable difficulty. The hydraulics in his left arm was busted and he was unable to move it. The severed hoses leaked black fluid.

  “I also landed badly,” he said. “Is there a Mechanic here, who can repair me?”

  After the initial horror of the Descent, the need for repairs jumped to the forefront. Besides number 36, there were several survival suits with lighter damage.

  “OK, let's start making repairs – who are the Mechanics in our group?” inquired Leegan with interest. “I know you are Zimmer... It's good you didn't end up splattered somewhere on the drop down.”

  The boys looked around at each other, curious to find out if anyone else among them had experience with making repairs. However, the group remained silent.

  “No one else!?” said Leegan crinkling his forehead in anger.

  Every boy that had grown up in the Fortress had been through a series of tests and trainings, which had as their goal to discover each boy’s most valuable qualities and to develop them to their utmost. After the Descent, these valuable skills would be useful not only to himself, but also to the group as a whole.

  The specialty, Mechanic, was one of the most complicated and the boys who truly deserved to be called Mechanics were too few. Every clumsy oaf could make some minor repairs, but more serious repairs needed a competent hand, since just one error could cause fatal damage to the suit.

  “I'm one,” said Thirteen stepping bravely forward. “I can stop the leak, no problem.”

  “What?” said Leegan continuing to look around. “Only the two of you?”

  “It looks like it,” replied Zimmer.

  “Let's have a closer look at the damage,” offered Thirteen.

  “Wait!” said the boy in suit 36 pulling back and pointing with his working arm at Zimmer. “Let him do it. You help the others.”

  “Why? I can also do it!” responded Thirteen offended.

  “I know that he's the best, but who in the world are you?”

  “Let me prove to you that I'm also good,” insisted Thirteen.

  “How can I be sure that you won't damage it even more? Get away from me!”

  “Hey! Stop it now!” interrupted Leegan. “Zimmer will take care of the repair!”

  Disappointed, Thirteen started to move aside, but before he succeeded in getting to far, Leegan stopped him.

  “Hey, wait a minute!” His heavy hand fell upon Thirteen's quickly constructed Shell. “Who are you?”

  “I'm Thirteen,” replied the boy.

  Leegan pulled away his hand and took a few steps back, without taking his eyes off the little Mechanic. The group's mood abruptly changed and Bars sensed it keenly. The boys became quite agitated, and every one of them began frowning at Thirteen's revelation.

  “I don't want him in our group!” spoke up Rogar expressing his opinion.

  “I can't believe it! Why did it have to be him?!” Opatar asked stunned.

  “No wonder he almost killed Bars,” declared Yazo shaking his head.

  “Let's get rid of him!” yelled another.

  The unrest that had taken hold of the group was starting to become more violent expressing horrifying intentions. That's when Bars understood, that without his support, Thirteen was doomed.

  “What are all of you so upset about?! W
e should be happy that we have two Mechanics!” yelled Bars succeeding in being heard over the general turmoil.

  “One's enough, especially since it's Zimmer!” said one of the worried boys.

  “Yeah, that's right! Let's leave this jinx here,” yelled Rogar foaming at the mouth and kicked a pile of dirt at Thirteen.

  “We need a second Mechanic!” insisted Bars. “Anything could happen!”

  “We'll protect Zimmer, nothing will happen to him!” said the boy in Suit 36, while Zimmer looked at his arm.

  “What if he gets sick?! How will you take care of him then?!” surprisingly intervened Leegan.

  The group of boys fell silent, surprised by his reaction.

  “No matter how much I don't like Bars, I have to admit that he's right!” continued Leegan. “Thirteen will remain in our group, even though he has a reputation for bad luck. We need a reserve Mechanic! From here on out, we'll face even more dangers.”

  Some of the boys were still muttering, afraid that some curse would catch up with them.

  “And why should we listen to you? So what, if you have the strongest Shell?”

  “I'm the Alpha-Defender!” mightily roared Leegan and looked around at the stunned group. No one dared challenge his position and so he continued. “From now on, I will decide what will happen. First, I want to know what kind of people I have in this wretched little group.” The boys looked at each other, and the overall picture wasn't hopeful. Their Shells were already in miserable shape even though they had just made the Descent from the Fortress.

  “Mechanics are valuable to us. We already know that there are only two of them among us.” Leegan looked at Zimmer and Thirteen, who were busily working on the damaged 36. “They might understand how to repair damages to our suits, but they are weak. Someone will have to protect them and that is the job of the Defenders. Which of you are Defenders?”

  Leegan raised his clenched fist high in the air, and then Yazo and the boys in the Survival Suits numbered 5 and 20 also raised their hands.

  “I am Luhar,” said Number 5 introducing himself.

  “They call me Gor,” that was Number 20's name.

  “Yazo...” his suit squealed out loudly.

  “You're next with the Mechanics,” said Leegan pointing to Yazo. “And until then don't open your yap.”

  “And me. I'm Lem.” Number 36 raised his only good arm.

  “Zimmer!” yelled out the Alpha Defender. “How is it? Will you be able to fix him in time?”

  “There's an unexpected complication, but I think we will be able to...”

  “Understood. While you are without two workable arms, Lem, you are no longer a Defender.”

  Lem lowered his hand and turned his back to the group.

  “Four Defenders....it could be worse.” Leegan looked them over with open displeasure. “If you make a few improvements to your shells, at least you'll look like Defenders. But for that we'll need metal. That's the first task for the Gatherers. We have some of those here, don't we?”

  Magar's, Opatar's, Rogar's and Number 9's hands raised up above their suits.

  “Of course!” the leader of the group was again disappointed.

  The job of the Gatherer was not a respectable one. It was the easiest role and it was for those that couldn't do anything else. Gatherers were only to find and collect all kinds of garbage, which eventually could be used for repairs or improvements of the Shells.

  “I'm Radator,” said Number 9 introducing himself.

  “It doesn't matter,” Leegan replied. “You, Gatherers, all look alike.”

  Radator heavily dropped his hand. He and his colleagues looked quite crushed.

  “I'm hungry from all this yelling!” continued Leegan. “Where are the Hunters? Will we have any grub today?”

  A Hunter – that was the most responsible role and the survival of the group depended upon them. Unfortunately, only two boys had that role. Bars and Vestule stepped forward – they were the only ones, who knew where food might be found on this lifeless planet.

  “Hey, you? Why are you standing off there by yourself?” Leegan pushed the others out of his way and went over to stand in front of the raggedy Shell with the number 1 on it.

  No answer came from Suit Number 1. The dark visor was down, and the boy behind it wasn't moving. Leegan lost his patience.

  “Answer me when I ask you something! What is your specialty?” Then Leegan hit Number 1's Shell and the metal clanged.

  Survival Suit 1 jumped as if he had been stung and all of the sudden returned the blow. Leegan took a few steps back surprised at Number 1's reaction.

  “Get away from me! Don't touch me with your disgusting tentacles, you hear me?” screamed Number 1, waving his metal fists around in a threatening way.

  “Abnormal freak!” responded the Alpha Defender taking a few more steps back.

  “If anyone comes near me, I'll smash his head in! Do you understand!?” the raging boy said as he jumped back and forth.

  “What's going on?” asked Thirteen.

  “We have a crazy kid on our hands,” replied Bars. “Don't get close to him. He needs some time.”

  Every time a group leaves the Fortress, there's a chance that some of the boys won't be able to handle the tremendous amount of stress the abrupt change of surroundings brings. The psychologically weak ones lose all rational thought and no one knows whether they'll get it back. Until the irrational ones recover, everyone else needs to watch out for them.

  “The monstrous tentacles caught his soul in their suffocating embrace,” commented Yazo, his broken loudspeaker making the statement sound quite eerie.

  “Why is he afraid of us? We won't hurt him?” said Opatar unable to comprehend.

  “Everyone – stay away from him!” ordered Leegan. “Let's see if he'll come to his senses.”

  The boys pulled away to a safe distance and Number 1 immediately calmed down. Only his shaking suit and the little noises he made from time to time told them that he was still not himself. Leegan came to himself and entered the role of chieftain again.

  “What was your name .... Gor, keep an eye on him, and if he becomes too aggressive, neutralize him.” Then Leegan turned to the Gatherers, “Before we go, who knows where, we need to make use of what happened during the Descent.”

  “What do you mean?” questioned Rogar.

  “All the metal that fell from the Fortress – we can't just leave it lying here to rot. Besides the metal, there are also survival suit parts scattered all around.”

  “What?! You want us to gather the parts of the fallen suits?” Opatar said unable to hide his disgust.

  “And, have you forgotten about the monster that attacked us during the descent?” said Radator sounding desperate.

  “I hate cowards!” Leegan stomped the ground and the ground under his survival suit cracked. “Don't you understand, we'll need those parts? If you're able to collect at least a tenth of what's out there, we'll have enough metal to make repairs and improvements to our Shells. It's an opportunity that we can't pass by, because out there in the wilderness we won't be given another one like it.”

  “What about the monstrous tentacles...it's suicide. I refuse to do it!” declared Radator, but he immediately shut up when Leegan abruptly turned towards him.

  “You, miserable little creature! You have one and only one, insignificant and miserable role in this world, but you can't even finish it without complaining!” The Alpha Defender stood only centimeters in front of the scared boys. “You don't have the right to refuse an order from the Alpha Defender!”

  Leegan made a fist and threw a punch, so hard, that a piece of metal flew off of Radator's Shell. The rest of the boys stood frozen in place not knowing what to do. The enraged chieftain ran at the dazed Gatherer and hit him so hard that he fell flat on his back on the ground. Without any hesitation, Leegan jumped on top of him and started to beat on his Shell demonstratively.

/>   “Wait! Stop!” yelled out suddenly Bars. He knew very well what Leegan was capable of when he was in a rage. “If only one of the Gatherers goes, maybe the monster won't sense it. But, let them decide among themselves who will go.”

  “Get to it!” replied Leegan with an even voice without any signs of being out of breath. Then he stood up, and pointed at Radator, who he had laid out on the ground. “That's what will happen to anyone, who contradicts me. From now on, I want you all to understand that – I won't tolerate disobedience from my group!”

  Bars and some of the other boys gathered around the unlucky boy and helped him up. His Shell was in desperate shape, in places it was punctured all the way through to the survival suit. Radator didn't say a word, as he was ashamed of being humiliated. Thirteen immediately came over to look over the damage, but everyone could see even without Thirteen's expert opinion that now Radator was the one most in need of repair.

  In the meantime, the wind settled down and stopped blowing the dust. The morning light succeeded in breaking through the thick layer of clouds and lighted up the area around the group. They were about 100 meters from the disastrous Descent. The giant stone arch and the Fortress stood out above the landscape. On both sides of them rose up a row of pinnacles that served as a natural boundary leaving the only way to escape from the trench either to the north or to the south. The northern direction, however, led directly under the Fortress, where a great danger awaited. The Gatherers grouped together to decide which of them would fulfill the orders of the angry Leegan. Each of them was scared to death of both the prowling beast under the Fortress and the Alpha Defender.

  “Guys,” began Opatar, “one of us will have to risk it, otherwise who knows what Leegan will do to us.”

  “Ha, ha!” grunted Rogar. “He'll smash our heads in, that's what will happen!”

  “Don't interrupt me!” responded Opatar abruptly, who didn't like Roger ever since the beginning of the training for the Descent. “We have to vote on who will go get the parts. I propose that it should be you, because you have the strongest Shell of all of the Gatherers.”

  “Yeah, right!” exploded Rogar. “Just because I made the coolest Shell doesn't mean it will help me against the tentacles of that beast. I propose that you go!”

  “Guys?” Radator started doubtfully to say. “I won't be able to do it. I can't move normally – my legs don't seem to be responding. A Mechanic will have to look me over.”

  “What?! Besides being a coward, you're also going to simulate a malfunction?” angrily asked Rogar.

  “I'm telling the truth! I can't even if I wanted to. If I went – I wouldn't succeed in returning, because that monster would surely catch me!”

  “Wait, what's exactly wrong with you?” asked Opatar intrigued.

  Radator took a step forward with the right leg of his survival suit, but he wasn't able to lift up his left foot high enough and it left an uneven track in the dusty ground. He took a few more tortured steps, but it didn’t get any better making it obvious that he wouldn't be able to do the task. Leegan had gone too far and besides damaging Radator's Shell, he had damaged some of the mechanical parts of Radator's left leg.

  “You got out of it this time,” said Rogar unhappily. “In that case, you don't have the right to vote. Now that leaves Magar's vote to determine who will go – me or Opatar.”

  Something was really bothering Magar. He was upset at the loss of his friends and until now had only silently stood there.

  “I will go,” he declared. The rest of the Gatherers look at him stunned. “I want to be sure that my friends lying out there don't need help. I have to make sure that they are really dead...”

  Then without any hesitation, he headed north toward the Fortress.