Mar

Chapter One

Mar:

To impair the appearance of, disfigure.

To impair the quality of, spoil.

Any man would be overjoyed if he were lucky enough to live on the surface of Mars. At the moment, Jordan Wells was not in the least bit overjoyed. He was terrified. At any moment the captain and his friend would find him. Hiding behind a small boulder, Jordan was safe for now. But he was sure they could hear his heavy breathing or maybe even his painfully loud heartbeat.

He checked his vitals with his heads-up display (HUD) and felt lucky that he had hours of battery left of life support. But Jordan's fear was not how much time he had left of his battery or how long until his oxygen level was depleted, his fear was what might happen before he died by the unforgiving environment of the red planet.

Jordan Wells and his partner had been ambushed by the captain and his friend. While Jordan had escaped without taking any damage, his partner had not been so fortunate. Jordan and his partner, as well as the captain and his had all been living in a small dome shaped colony on the surface of Mars. They were out doing reconnaissance, an everyday mission for the crewmembers who lived in the colony. Today during the mission, the captain's partner pointed something out in the distance and sent Jordan and his compeer ahead to investigate. When the two got there, they couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. They had been scouring the spot for a few minutes when, with a shot, his partner was thrown forward. His body now a few meters from where he had been standing, the sight of the man's body was now accompanied by the sizzling sound of burning flesh, as well as the hiss of the pressure escaping the suit.

Jordan froze, he could see the corpse lying in front of him, the man's head facing the scarlet ground. Dust had slightly been thrown up when the body hit the ground, but the spot where he had been shot was still visible. On the back side of the man's helmet there was a black mass of singed blood, skin, and the remains of what were now no longer the inside of his skull.

Jordan turned around and spotted the captain standing over twenty meters away from him, his blaster pointing to where Jordan's partner once stood, smoke rising from the gun. The captain's expression was menacing and cold. He pointed the barrel towards Jordan. Before Jordan could think, he dashed madly to his left, where there was a field of boulders protruding from the ground. He had no clue why the captain was after him. Jordan mildly suspected the captain of hiding something from the people of the colony, but he would never have guessed that this twisted murderous side of him would be it.

The captain's friend exclaimed in disappointment, "Great job. You let him get away!"

In a hushed tone the captain replied, "Let him run. I'm up for a little game of hide and seek. In fact, I'll even take off the waypoint I have on him, give myself a little challenge." The captain motioned for his partner to follow, and together they went back to their vehicle.

The vehicle was shaped like a large white bullet on top of a golden chassis, with twelve wheels placed in pairs at the front, sides, and back of the vehicle. The rover, specifically designed for the Mars terrain, had been classified as a Space Exploration Vehicle (SEV). It had been designed to drive in any direction, and was built to be more than durable enough to drive through a field of sharp rocks and small boulders.

By the time they had gone back to their SEV and started looking for Jordan, he had already found a good sized boulder that was now being used to obstruct him from their view. He knew that eventually he had to go. His plan was to make a dash for the colony where he would be safe from the mad man. He could make it as long as he stayed out of the captain's view for the majority of the run there. The SEVs can only go at 10 kph but Jordan can only run about 8 kph in Mars' gravity. Plus they could have one man outside the cabin of the SEV, maybe standing on the back of the chassis acting as a scout. That man could easily shoot him down if given the chance. There's no hope in shooting at the SEV either because it's cabin is heavily shielded against unanticipated solar particle events, meaning that it would be impossible to try to puncture it to release its pressure or oxygen. His only chance would be to reach a good enough distance to the colony before the captain finds him and catches up with him.