"All good, Soren? Okay, Gill?" Asked Beck over the intercom.
The countdown began at twenty-five seconds. The compact cabin on the rocket only had lockers and thirteen seats. The Koytana MkV was mainly a cargo craft but could be converted to passengers. Each one had a flight crew of two with six engineers and one communications officer. The remaining four seats were for cargo operators. Even in passenger mode, there was still a sizeable cargo hold.
When the loudspeaker spoke the word 'ignition', the rocket engines ignited, sending the craft ploughing through the clouds. Soren and Gill looked in awe as they looked upon the astroid Ceres. The crater was home to a horrific radar dish and solar panels. The inside of the astroid was a city.
• • •
"Hornet here was just saying that he could lead us to the village. We can find answers there" said Bridger.
"Are you a reincarnation of Ares? Did you murder your wives and children eight hundred years ago and hide in here ever since?" Dane blurted out.
Hornet replied by rising to his full height, punching Dane in the jaw, and marching off into the night. Dylan and Bridger could not decide whether to laugh or gasp, so they did both.
• • •
Montana awoke abruptly and spun out of his bunk, racing for the Audi. Bridger was walking in the woods, thinking about his next move when the young man leapt from behind a tree and grabbed A's shirt by the collar.
"Goddamn son of a bitch!" Bridger exclaimed.
"I hear that you can cure mental instability!" The words came out of Tana's mouth as quickly as he could read them.
"What the fuck? You scared the shit out of me!" Cried Bridger.
• • •
When Hornet and the Hanyn's reached the village, an unsettling silence swept over the restless settlement. Hornet jogged ahead, walking past the bodies, slowing down at each one. He was mumbling things under his breath, but neither Hanyn could make out what.
• • •
Later in the night when Dylan was asleep, Dane tiptoed outside where Hornet stood facing the night sky with his eyes closed.
"There is a tunnel that leads from my cottage to a cave. Fingerprint locks, don't know they are there unless you work them. My family has been in this house for twenty-one generations. One night, I went to the village for the decadely supply and partner run. It wasn't an arrangement, it was true love... If that exists."
"Her name was Tiana. We had a son soon after. Brandon Henry Alexander. The bodies turned up in oh-five. He came in one night... By the time I realised what was happening, I only had enough time to turn and see him murder Tiana in front of me. A year later, I met my second love... Although it wasn't the same. Kaitlin. My second child was a girl. Tiana Nikita."
"A year later, The same man came back to my home to finish the job. I retrieved the six-shot we had stored since the nineteenth. It was an identical cartridge to his. We were shooting at each other."
"Kaity accidently moved into the line of fire and I... I don't know who fired the shot... While I was distracted, he got the kids. I fired my remaining three rounds through the wall. Got him. Hip shot. He escaped."
"About the greatest swordsman in history thing... That's real. The ares thing... No. Here's the thing. Munich seventy-two. That was him. Jonestown seventy-eight... That was him as well. Don't ask me how I know... I just do" explained Hornet.
YOU ARE READING
A is for Ares
Ficción General[COMPLETE] A is a nameless man who goes by the first letter in the alphabet after a traumatic experience. He has found a cure to mental health - but he fails to realise his discovery's true nature. He doesn't know that he is a serial killer. Garrett...
