A Dash of Scarlet In Paradise

A CLEAN WAY OUT

XVI

The human tractor tilted his head upwards as his arms extended and he pulled backwards. The few containment units were heavy enough to crush the bones of anyone, even lain on the transporters, the task was fatiguing.

It hadn't occurred to Marcus that gravity was stronger on Nirvana than on Earth.

There was no way to pack that many capsules in an elevator, the lift would pummel into the lowest level and all the survivor had worked for would have been finished up in flames. The stairs, painful to walk up back when we were children, and what a bane for Marcus.

Can't give in, can't lose that easily. You better be on the other side, Vector.

The stairs were in such steep formation that Marcus could only bring the pods up one by one, and he had to robotically repeat that process for another four times before he could actually have the landing pad in near sight.

Marcus looked from his waist all the way down to his feet, and he wondered how much longer his skinny legs could keep him standing. He felt like a rusty machine, in need of repairs and polishing. His eyes returned to his waist and he sensed that something was missing, but nothing rang a bell.

I need a beer, that's what.

Marcus was never a fan of following rules, and he wasn't an obedient person when he was a young teenager. It didn't seem logical for him to spend more drops of golden time to take the pods up one by one. Instead, his rebellious mind murmured to him that he should find somebody to aid him.

He yelled at the top of his lungs, "Somebody! I need some help! Can someone lend me a hand?"

A response came channeling back, "Hold it trooper! I'm on my way!"

Please don't be the inspector, I beg you.

It wasn't the inquisitive inspector, but just another generic PAU private. The disguise was still in use, and the private had no clue that the enemy was just in front of him.

"Can you help me get these supplies up to the landing pad please?"

"Wait, do we have a shipment?"

"Uh yes, it's for the guards outside in the outpost, they're in need of supplies."

Marcus did an example and pulled the two pods up the first set of stone stairs.

"Ok then, but aren't you aware of the sabotage back there? Shouldn't you be helping in putting out the fire or maybe to search for the attacker?"

"Don't we have security cameras around every corner?"

"The explosion took out our security system, almost completely...the main hub blew up."

That's what I do, no need to show your appreciation.

Those words nearly rolled out of Marcus' mouth, it was lucky for him to have known the lines he couldn't deliver. "Oh I see, anyways, just help me out, would you? Will be done in the click of your fingers!"

"You seem quite passionate about your job."

Marcus shook his head slightly, "It's the commander. We have inhumane superiors."

"Watch your words, brother. I don't mind them but you better be sure that anyone else is damn deaf!" the officer tapped the lobe of his ear twice before going the same way Marcus was, bringing along a few other containment pods.

Might've been friends with this guy if I had the chance, unfortunately for him, I may need to send a bullet into his head later.

"Gosh these are quite heavy, I mean that's a lot of...vegetables?"

Something heavy...what's heavy? Vegetables? Absurd! Oh, got it...

"Certainly not, you expect soldiers to have the luxury of staying healthy during times of war? No, these are the things we use to terminate our enemies."

"Weapons."

"And ammunition."

"Now that you've mentioned guns, it feels rather light, actually."

I've leant one thing by now, that PAU soldiers have a lot of questions to ask. Kind of satisfied that I'm with the UDCF instead.

The first floor was covered easily, and by the time the officer had reached the second, Marcus was already at the sky bridge that leads to the landing pad.

Marcus looked outside the narrow glass piece and watched as the rain drizzled down everywhere uncovered. The windows were crying and their tears streaming down the edges. The landing pad was in the process of being soaked and all the officers outside were being drenched, even though all of them were still bearing that emotionless face.

Cry, Nirvana, cry until it's over, cry until it's the day. Once it's done, I will cry with you, but with the tears of undying joy.

"I'm here." Marcus turned around the see the officer panting like his lungs had been torn apart. On the bright side of everything, all the containment pods had reached the sky bridge, and Marcus' ticket out.

Something horrible happened all of a sudden, to ruin the moment of taciturnity. One of the pieces of cloth lost grip on the pod and swayed to the ground, a hundred times slower than Marcus' heartbeat.

"Wait a minute...hey! That's no supply crate! That's..."

"I'll make it quick."

Marcus pulled his gun and made it touch the officer's helmet, and then he looked the other way and fired. The sound of the gunfire was just like a hammer that banged against a nail, extremely hard.

Although his eyes were shut, Marcus could imagine the blood that was spewed across the floor, along with both the cracked helmet, and the cracked skull.

He removed all of the cloths and blanketed them over the dead body. It was an act of kindness, but from the killer. Such irony.

Knew it.

"Vector, come in Vector."