“GO! GO! GO!”
The voice echoed and
crackled in his radio. Mustering all of his strength, Gregory jumped
forward off the pumice pillar. Far below him, he could see the
bubbling pits of molten rock that glowed bright red and orange. Even
through his spacesuit, he could smell the stench of rotten eggs. If
he missed this jump, it would smell like cooked adventurer.
Luckily, he didn't miss
the jump.
He hit the next pillar
hard, but landed on his feet. Behind him, he could see his fellow
adventurer Brian. He too had made the jump and landed on the pillar
that Gregory had just left. Directly in front of them, their leader
Jason stood upon another column of dark, volcanic rock.
“Where are we going?”
Gregory screamed. Even with the aid of the radios in their suits,
they could barely hear each other over the roars of the molten planet
with its heavy winds and boiling surface.
“We have to get to the
ship!” Jason responded, his voice breaking over the static.
Gregory scanned the
horizon. Where was Jason leading them? All he could see was smoke and
ash above, fire and boiling rock below.
“Where is it?” he
yelled desperately.
“There!” Jason said,
pointing off to his right.
Gregory squinted his
eyes. For a moment, his suit visors were still blurred with nothing
but hideous plumes of black smoke. Yet, as he stared, some of it
cleared. It was just enough.
“I see it!” Gregory
gaped in response. “I can see it!”
“Good! Now we just
have to get to it!” Brian called from behind.
The heat bore down on him. Even with the help of the spacesuit, Gregory sweat and panted as
he watched Jason steady himself and jump to the next pillar over. He
hadn't realized they were so close to the ship. They were almost
there.
If only he'd been ready
to jump instead of watching.
Gregory felt himself
shoved from behind as Brian landed on the too-small column of pumice
rock. If he'd been ready, he might have been able to jump, but just
as quickly he found himself falling face first towards the lava
below.
“Greg!!!”
Gregory shut his eyes as
he plummeted towards the molten rock below. He felt his heart
pounding in his chest. Any moment he'd hit the surface and...
Wait!
“JETPACK!”
His hands instinctively
found the controls. Years of training did the work for him and, just
as fast as he'd been falling before, he was soaring high over the
pumice columns; safe from the lava below.
Jason and Brian gaped at
him.
“Hey! Jetpacks aren't
fair!” Brian yelled angrily.
“Too bad! My suit has
a jetpack. It's not my fault you don't have one.”
“I want a jetpack...”
Jason grumbled.
“You're dumb.” Brian
growled.
“You're
dumb.” Gregory snapped back as he rocketed towards the outcropping
where their ship was settled.
He
landed with little effort atop the porous black rocks and quickly ran
inside. He could see the others still jumping from pillar to pillar.
While he waited, Gregory ran inside the ship and hopped into the
pilot's seat. Turning the ignition key, his stomach sank.
“Oh
no...”
Moments
later, his fellow adventurers crowded into the ship and quickly
sealed the airlock against the acrid heat and stench of the burning
planet.
“We've
got to get out of here!” Jason called from the airlock door.
“We
can't!”
“WHAT?!”
“We
can't go anywhere! We're out of gas!”
Jason
and Brian both piled into the cockpit. Brian angrily shoved Gregory
out of the pilot's seat and tried to turn the ignition key.
“We
can't be out of gas!” he growled. “I filled it up on the ice
planet!”
Gregory
un-apologetically kicked Brian in the gut and shoved him back away
from the pilot's console.
“Yes.
We are! We used too much getting here.”
But
Brian didn't argue. Instead, he was slowly curling into a ball,
holding his stomach. Tears were beginning to stream down the brave
adventurer's cheeks. Jason simply stood over him, seemingly not sure
of what to do.
“Oh
no!” Gregory abandoned the pilot's chair to console his friend who
was now coughing and sputtering from the kick. “I'm sorry! I'm so
sorry!”
“No,
you're not!” Brian screamed, his voice cracking as he cried harder.
“Mom!”
Jason screamed. “Mom, I think Greg hurt Brian!”
In
horror, Gregory looked back just in time to see Jason was already
outside of the ship somehow. With Brian curled up in pain, he could
only scream as he watched his friend and leader dive off the pumice
rock face towards the molten rock below.
“NO!
You can't, Jason! The floor is lava!!!”
Clever.
ReplyDeleteI was completely sucked in until the last paragraphs.
Which I now realise sounds like I am big noting myself. Which wasn't what I meant.
haha really have to watch those lava floors, they can get you any time.
ReplyDeleteYou certainly know how to ratchet up the tension.......
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend.
You had me until the end. That was fun.
ReplyDeleteThe imagination of children...
ReplyDelete