RETREAT .

H U M _ _ _ _ _

My throat was terribly dry. And I'm sure the corners of my vision were closing in on me. Theo wasn't okay.

"Everything's good. The pipes are humming, is that good?" Theo asks over the radio, me and Gore stand by the air lock chamber door.
"Yes. That's great, come on back." Gore is smiling, he has dimples.

Theo is silent for a while, enough for suspicious to creep in. His voice suddenly blares. "Someth..... Wrong." He says panicked. Gore leans forward, speaking into the microphone calmly.

"Come back to the ship; fast." My breathing becomes unsteady, but it's the least important thing on my mind right now. I wait by the door for Theo.

It takes forever. And when the airlock finally opens, I lean forward. Once it hums closed and the second door, (the one I'm behind) opens I dart forward.
There's a black charred hole on the front of his suit.

I didn't know what it meant. But it looked bad, it looked so terrible. With Theo collapsing into my arms, confirmed my suspicions.

"Gore! Gore he's hurt!" My throat was terribly dry. And I'm sure the corners of my vision were closing in on me. Theo wasn't okay.

Medical assistance was called to the lock, and two men including myself carried Theo back. Gore must've left once the assistance came.

I sat in the one-roomed infirmary. It was tiny, and pitiful. It scared me. What if they Hcouldn't help Theo?

The nurse looks at me, he's pissed. I can tell. About what...? "There was a malfunction in the suit's airlock. The airlock is located on his center abdomen and he received some radiation poisoning as well as a burn. He's lucky it didn't burn him to nothing. I guess the emergency system still works on this stupid suit."

I nod, looking down at his wet face. He's sweating. Poor Theo... "You'll help him though, right?" I ask expectantly. The nurse pauses.

"Well, yes. His radiation poisoning will be okay, but we do not have supplies to treat a burn. So... It will take longer than usual." I nod hesitantly.

The door hums open, and there stands Gore. He looks a bit out of it, but I brush it off. Slowly, he stumbles into the chair on the other side of the bed.

"How're you fairin', potato?" He murmurs, leaning towards Theo. his eyes crack open blearily and his eyebrows weakly furrowing.
"I'm not a potato." He makes me smile.

Gore pats his arm, and crosses his legs. "Well, whatever you are, I'm sorry." Gores gaze is surprising, it's hard and intense, staring down at Theo. He's as surprised as I am.

"May I, tell you a story?" Theo nods hesitantly. This is strange.

"Once, there was a little boy, short and messy. He couldn't talk to anyone to save his life. His father was a preacher, and he was the worst kind." Gores eyes stared at Theo' chest, glassy and dazed. I could see the pain behind them. This story was about him?

"He treated his wife like a queen, and it made the boy happy. But... The father didn't like the son. So the son... Just assumed it was him. He wasn't good enough, he wasn't enough." My heart clenches, I stare at Gore.

"When this boy got older, he got more and more scared. And smarter. So much smarter. He built amazing machines and devices to impress his father, but the man simply frowned and smacked the objects out of his hand. Telling him they were "sinful creations; not the ones of God." Maybe that was his opinion, maybe the religion. Who knows. The boy was... Also attracted to men. He didn't like women. And, one day he was with his boyfriend, and his father caught them together. The boy was kicked out and left to be homeless. That's when... Retreat started." Retreat.

The disease that killed many. It resides in the body, slowly, slowly eating away at your cells in your stomach and liver. Until you can no longer eat without pain, without throwing up.

You either starve to death or it moves onto your lungs. They release a gas that poisons your breathing. It takes 2 days for you to suffocate and die. This disease, is not recognized as a virus or infection to your immune system. So it runs its course without you ever knowing. No fever, no coughing.-

"The boy was lucky he lived in the mountainsides. Isolated from the disease. He lived free-ranged until the ship came. He was brought on this ship, and it's been 3 years since he's seen his father."