Who wants to live forever

Who Wants to Live Forever?

Writing Contest #3



Travis was tired. Old and tired. Not physically old but mentally old, like the feeling where you have lived multiple lifetimes. Time seemed to rush onward faster than it had any business to and yet still the sensation that he was losing track of it overwhelmed his exhausted mind. Reality invaded his wandering thoughts once more. Things were trying to kill him; a lot of things. A horde of aliens was rushing towards him, almost close enough that he could smell their terrible unwashed coats of fur.

A virtual sight crossed over one of the ugly creatures, centering on its chest. The screen in front of his eyes zoomed in momentarily so that he could see them more clearly for the thousandth time. A large shaggy head, gaping maw full of teeth, squinty black eyes, razor sharp claws, they all looked the same. He was tired of seeing these damned creatures. So tired. He hated them now, hated them with all of his being. They had taken his life, forced him to commit his entire existence to slaughter and mayhem. He wasn’t built this way, he didn’t want to be this way, but this was what life had thrown at him. Somehow he still had the desire to go on, to survive the horrors all around him, and it was fading quickly. He had to find a way out of here, some hope to give him strength.

Days of fighting the endless aliens of this strange world were wearing on him. The drugs were slowly losing the battle with his mind; it was fraying from the constant combat, the constant worrying, the constant alertness. No human being should have to go through this.

Blooms of fire erupted in his vision, brightening the small space afforded in his helmet. The screen auto-adjusted to protect his vision as explosives flashed white hot then quickly faded. The view quickly revealed a hole in the surging mass of beasts that were streaming towards him. The visible hole in the wall rushing at him was soon filled with more death. Some aliens seemed to hesitate at the attack, others ran on oblivious to their dead comrades and Travis just kept pumping grenades at the front line. More explosions blossomed in his vision but Travis didn’t seem to notice anymore. It was automatic now; turn, shoot, turn, shoot. His body had become hardwired to be a machine of death.

A cool flood flowed over the nerves in his back; another shot of some combat cocktail that the military had come up with. Immediately his senses sharpened, his mind coming back into focus, the exhaustion engulfed by the drugs flooding his body. He hoped the suit had ample reserves of it; this was the only thing keeping him awake now.

The drugs made it seem as though his awareness had expanded, leaving his body and circling high over the battlefield. He could see everything in crystal clear detail; a horde of deadly aliens as far as the eye can see, a seething mass of limbs and teeth and claws. He knew it was from the information constantly streaming into his mind from the combat suit, the neural connection directly into his brain. And yet it still felt real, like he was some kind of god watching from above as ants milled about far below. The mine, his home for the last year, was far off in the distance, a shiny dot on the side of the mountain. Behind him was the spaceport and a few administrative buildings, hard concrete covering the deserted area he was backing over now. Not much farther now.

Attack vectors and fields of fire overlapped in his mind showing him the weak spots of the alien mass quickly getting closer. He was still amazed at how easy this had become. Only days ago he was just a miner; a boring job living in an environmental suit, breathing stale air as he commanded the massive machine that bored into the riches that lay below the surface of this godforsaken planet. The heavy laser cannon on his arm hummed as lethal pulses of energy spit into the front row of aliens converging on him. The grenade launcher thump-thump-thumped as it spit high explosives into the distance.

He turned quickly and could make out the light fence that ringed the edge of the spaceport. He had only a few hundred more yards to go, yet it felt like miles. This was his last hope of survival. His subconscious took over his body as his mind wandered once again to these thoughts that had started to consume him, these thoughts of death.

Memories of the last few days flooded into his conscious mind, overpowering the silent killing machine running in the background. Visions of wonder and death filled his mind; discovery, horror, things you wanted to forget the moment you saw them.

Streaks of light had signaled their arrival to this empty mining world on the edge of human space. At first nothing happened, everyone assumed meteor showers penetrating the atmosphere of this hostile world. No one gave it much thought, until Orbital Station sent a cryptic message to the mine foreman, “Abandon the mine. We are under attack. Head to the spaceport for the shuttle.”

The foreman stared at the message over and over, trying to comprehend what it meant. Travis could see his face turn from confusion to comprehension in a moment. Suddenly his face went pale and he turned to Travis. “Get everyone now! We have to leave. Tell them to grab only the essentials. Meet me at the vehicle bay.” And with that the foreman turned and headed toward the security office.

The next few hours were tense as no one really knew what was going on but hurried to follow orders and evacuate the mine. As Travis and the group of miners walked towards the airlock that led out of the mine, one of the marine garrison stationed on this empty rock stepped into their path. He was wearing a combat suit, a much heavier version of the environmental suit that Travis wore while guiding the mining machine deep into the mountain. Travis had never seen one of these before. It looked lethal with a sleek weapon attached to each arm and armored plates covering the vital areas of the marine.

“You need to hurry up guys.” The marine said through the speaker in his helmet. None of the miners were in environmental suits, they were expecting to get on the transport back to the spaceport; a sealed industrial vehicle outfitted to carry passengers. One of the miners looked over at Travis, a slight look of fear in his eyes as the marine continued, “We can see the attackers heading straight for us. It is some kind of massive horde of aliens. We have no idea what they are, no one has seen anything like this.”

The marine gestured at them with his arm to hurry up and pointed towards the vehicle bay. The group of miners turned left into the next hallway and saw another marine in combat suit urging them on at the end of the hallway. Some of the group started to get into a light jog, panic starting to set in. Soon they were all running towards the marine.

All hell broke loose right before they reached him.

The vehicle bay was behind the marine on the other side of thick plexiglass, a huge cavernous space designed to hold the various ground vehicles needed for the mine. Two massive airlock doors led to the poisonous outside, the atmosphere a mix of ammonia and other deadly gasses. As the group reached the marine one of the huge airlock doors started to open, pale light entered with a mist of deadly gas. One of the transport vehicles was moving towards the gap, full of another group of miners. Marines were roaming around the bay floor directing traffic in their combat suits. They looked like a group of ants milling about from this far away.

As the large vehicle rolled up to the gap in the massive airlock doors, a shadow appeared. Travis slowed down as he came up to the window. He saw the shadow in the gap and immediately knew something was wrong. The marine’s words hammered into his mind; a horde of aliens.

One of the marines on the bay floor noticed it too and turned just as the first alien rushed through the gap in the doors. The gap was big enough for a couple of busses to drive through next to each other, almost like a lane for the stream of aliens rushing through it.

One part of Travis’ mind thought this was amazing, seeing a new alien species for the first time, and the other more primitive part immediately recognized these were not friendly creatures. He turned to say something to the marine who was standing next to him but the marine was already barreling down the stairs towards the entrance to the bay. Travis could hear muffled shouting from his helmet as the soldier leapt down the steps three at a time.

Travis turned to see the rest of the group staring in horror through the heavy plexiglass window into the vehicle bay. Hundreds of the creatures had made it inside the bay now. They were rushing towards the marines on the ground. The transport vehicle hadn’t slowed down and plowed into the front row of aliens, a seething brown mass of limbs and claws. Aliens were crushed under the large wheels of the vehicle but there were so many that it lost momentum and was soon stuck in the middle of the surging horde. It was soon covered by the creatures as they leapt up and over it to continue on into the bay.

Marines started firing as they backed towards the stairwell. Grenades exploded in the cavernous bay, alien limbs flying in all directions. Others leveled their laser cannons and swept back and forth at the aliens hungrily running at them. Those at the front were cut down, quickly trampled over by their alien comrades as they continued after the marines stoically holding their ground.

“Don’t worry the door will hold!” the marine now at the bottom of the stairs yelled up to the group. “Get back into the mine. We will have to find you another way out!” At that the marine pushed open the door and vanished into the airlock for the bay.

Travis stared dumbfounded at the entrance as he tried to process everything. Only a few moments passed till one of the other miners grabbed his shoulder. “Come on Travis. Let’s go back and get our suits on at least. Who knows what is gonna happen.”

Everyone in the group seemed to agree with the miner, so they turned and hurried back up the hallway to the mine shaft. It took Travis a moment before his mind started to digest everything and he turned to follow when the airlock door at the bottom of the stairs burst open.

“GO GO GO!” A marine yelled as he started up the stairs towards Travis. Travis thought it was the same guy who had just ran out a moment ago. He had a real sense of urgency in his voice and his movements confirmed it. He was waving frantically at Travis to move when the door exploded into the hallway. Aliens followed it, a flowing brown mass of fur and claws and teeth packed tightly together.

One moved faster than the others and made an incredible leap up several stairs landing on the marine’s back. They toppled to the stone stairs in a heap, the marine trying to roll on his back. He brought his laser cannon up the face of the creature as it tried to bite his helmet off. The jaws of the alien were big enough to swallow his head whole. It must have been horrifying to stare into the maw of the creature, black teeth sharp and deadly. Somehow the marine brought his laser cannon up in time as the alien seemed to catch its teeth on some piece of armor.

Travis heard the sizzle and then the alien’s head exploded. Immediately the marine started pulling himself backward up the stairs.

The marine yelled at him to “GO GO GO!” again before another alien leapt onto him. Travis could hear the man’s screams as he started running down the hallway. The whiff of ammonia and other chemicals started to permeate the air, burning his nostrils and lungs as he sucked in breath after breath.

He could hear the clicking of talons on the stone as the creatures rushed up the stairs after him. The noise became deafening as hundreds of the creatures filled the stairs and hallway behind him.

His heart was beating a million miles an hour, adrenaline pushing him faster than he ever thought possible.

Ahead was the entrance to the mine, a break room off to one side before the hallway dropped into the depths of the mountainside. He pushed as hard as he could his lungs burning from exertion and toxic air. The heavy steel door was closing in front of him.

Travis let out some kind of gasp, he didn’t know what he said but it got their attention enough that one miner poked his head around the vault-like door. He saw Travis and hesitated long enough for Travis to crash through the gap.

The thump of the door hitting the jamb was one of the most glorious sounds he could ever remember. Safety. He was now safe. Those monsters wouldn’t be able to get through that door, it was practically bombproof, a requirement of the mine in case anything flared up during the mining process.

The other miner looked down at him. “What the hell were you thinking? You almost didn’t make it.”

Travis didn’t really have a reply. He had no idea why he froze but he knew he was lucky. The old man just turned and started walking down the steps towards the environmental suit room.

A booming sound echoed from the door as one of the aliens tried to get in from the other side. Travis visibly jumped, suddenly wanting to get as far away from the door as possible. The old man turned to look back at the door, searching for some sign that it was going to break open. Another crashing sound echoed but the door didn’t budge. They both relaxed a little bit. 

Reality crashed back into his consciousness as he neared the fence, only a moment passing, but it felt like much longer. Travis looked up and saw the pavement of the landing pad spread out for thousands of feet in every direction. He was running towards it as fast as he could, the horde of aliens not far behind. On the far side he could see the small terminal building that housed the workers who lived here. A flicker of hope lit in his mind before being crushed like an anvil, it didn’t look like there was anyone there.

Hope was dwindling quickly. His repeated attempts to contact the orbital station were still being unanswered. He was starting to think he was alone, the last one alive on this foul planet. It was a terrible thought, one that brought an unimaginable crushing isolation. He didn’t know why he continued to fight the never-ending horde of aliens now. There was no hope of survival, no rescue, no reason to fight on anymore. The days of fighting had worn him down, any chance of optimism crushed by the reality all around him.

Death; that was all that awaited him, dying alone at the bottom of a pile of murderous aliens as they tore his body to small pieces.

And yet he still kept firing; moving; breathing. Some primitive directive to survive against all odds pushing the remnants of his mind to do what needed to be done.

He pushed a little harder for the last few yards. At the last second he leapt, the combat suit enhancing his speed and strength as he flew over the ten foot high barrier. Only seconds later he heard the aliens crash into it as he continued towards the terminal building. It was his last desperate hope of survival.

Travis pushed as much as his tired body would allow until he came to the airlock door to the small terminal. One last hope sputtered through him. This would be his last stand. He punched the code for the terminal to cycle and open. It felt like forever as the atmosphere pressurized and the heavy metal door slid open. He dove in as soon as possible, turning to land on his back, weapons pointed back through the opening.

Laser pulses and grenades powered through the doorway, the front alien only a few feet away. Fear clutched at Travis’ gut - they were so close. The alien disintegrated under a withering barrage of energy as grenades exploded behind it, thinning the front ranks. Desperately Travis reached above his helmet and slapped the button to cycle the airlock with his grenade arm. There was only a small window of time available for him.

Slowly the outer door closed, all the while Travis fired his laser cannon through the ever smaller opening. Alien blood splattered the door jam with each pulse.  Travis thought it would never close, but suddenly the door clanged shut and he stopped firing. It was silent in the small space, dead silent. He could hear himself breath heavily, the whir of small motors in the suit, the hiss of atmosphere being sucked out and then air being pushed in.

The outer door rocked in its frame, a massive blow landing on it from the outside. Travis’ heart hammered in his chest once more. He just stared at the door, the small porthole suddenly blocked by the mass of aliens outside. They continued to bang on the door, frantically trying to get to him. Travis crawled backwards until he was against the back wall of the airlock, trying to put as much distance as he could between him and the aliens.

The inner door opened suddenly and Travis fell into the terminal building. It was both shocking and relieving. He shuffled backwards as fast as he could, the armor plates of his combat suit scraping the hard concrete underneath him. The airlock door closed automatically and he collapsed, exhaustion overwhelming him as a sense of safety took over.

He could remember the look on the marine’s face as he stared through the tinted faceplate of the combat helmet; horror, fear, anguish, hollowness, all of these flashed through his mind as he stared at the young man on the inside of the combat suit. A large gash lay opened on the dead soldier’s side, blood running out of it onto the ground. It was pooling around Travis’ knees as he crouched next to the marine. Shaking the dead man, desperately looking for some kind of help, Travis finally overcame his shock.

There was no way this soldier lived. Realization finally filled him, a sense of dread threatening to take over. No one could stop the horde now. All the soldiers were dead.

All around him he could hear shouts of fear and panic. The rest of the miners were grabbing what they could and running farther into the tunnels, some sense of safety driving them. Travis was oblivious to it all. He sat staring at their last defender, the marine who had sacrificed it all for them. It was as though a bubble was around him, chaos raging around him but a calm dominated this small space. He could hear the shouts of the miners directed at him but he had stopped listening to them.

Soon there was silence in the small chamber, just him and the dead marine. For some reason Travis had the urge to patch the suit. He didn’t know why, maybe years of training and use of environmental suits drove him, maybe it was the urge to do something to help but he got up and walked to the emergency locker. He grabbed a roll of seal tape and went back over to the marine. Slowly he started putting layer after layer over the gash in the side of the combat suit. Before long it was sealed, just a dark stain surrounding the reflective tape.

The sound of pounding limbs echoed from the ceiling above him. It went on for a long moment, fear and anticipation of his death making him curl into a ball as the pounding got louder, shaking the dust from the ceiling. He could feel the alien horde rushing past the chamber in the hallway above. Any moment he knew one would pop through the doorway and rip him into small pieces.

After what felt like an eternity, the sound faded and the room was cast back into silence, just him and the dead marine again. Travis lay on the ground. His mind was numb, he didn’t know what to think. As he lay there a thought entered his mind, what if they had all just passed him by? Could he actually live?

No. There was no way he was going to make it out of here alive. Those aliens would tear him apart in an environmental suit.  His only way out would be getting back to the spaceport and he couldn’t get there unprotected.

He turned his head as these thoughts roiled through his mind. He was staring back into the faceplate of the dead marine. A crazy thought came over him. There was a combat suit sitting here, damaged but still better than an environmental suit. Horrified at what he would have to do to use it Travis pushed the thought away. But after another moment it came back, it made too much sense. The marine was dead, he couldn’t help anymore but the suit might be enough to get him to safety. Travis fought with the idea until he came to the conclusion that this was his only hope.

If he was going to do it he had to do it now while he still had the resolve. Travis rolled over and started to strip the soldier of his heavy combat suit. It smelled of acrid sweat and the metallic tang of blood. Travis gagged as he pulled the helmet off the marine. It was overpowering, but Travis pushed it away. This was what he had to do. Quickly he removed the suit and stared at both his savior and his horror. Pushing all thoughts aside, he climbed into the comfort of a barrier against the outside world. It felt slick with the dead marine’s blood but he pushed past that.

Once inside he activated the suit and the faceplate lit up with data and schematics.

Travis rolled over and puked in the helmet. The memory was still fresh, the scent of blood and sweat still strong. He panicked as the bile clogged the faceplate. It took a moment for his mind to grasp where he was again. A small part of him said he was safe in the terminal. He reached up and pulled on the latches for the helmet. A hiss escaped as the pressurized air left the suit. A crack of light appeared as the seal was broken for the helmet.

Fresh air entered the helmet. A welcome relief so strong that Travis hurried to remove the vomit stained head covering. He gulped down large breaths of sweet, sweet clean air. The terminal room around him was empty, cold and empty but it felt so comforting.

He could hear the muffled pounding of the aliens outside as they tried to break down the airlock doors. A surge of fear went through him but then dissipated when nothing else happened. Once he regained his surroundings and realized he was alive and safe for the first time in a long time he laid back down on the bare concrete floor.

Behind him he heard a squawking sound, before the best thing he had ever heard came through. “Come in. Come in. Spaceport operations, this is orbital station. We have a shuttle inbound to you now. Someone please reply.” Travis let his head rest on the cold concrete and smiled.



Note: I wrote this for a writing contest but it ended up being a 1000 words too long and I liked it too much to not post. Thanks for the reviews!