Orion Colony Complete Series Boxed Set J.N. Chaney (books for new readers .txt) 📖

“You can stay here if you want,” I said, finding a black backpack on the opposite side of my seat. “But I’m going out there.”

“Dean, it’s over, man,” Ricky said, staring out the right window. “We’re dead. We’re never getting back. We’re never going to be found. We’re—”

“Stop it,” I said, reaching across the narrow space between us and grabbing his collar. My anger took over. I stared my friend in the face, trying to put words to my feelings. “Maybe it is over. Maybe we’ll all die here, but I’m not going to die without a fight. It’s not who I am. It’s not who you are. We’ll find a way to survive. We have to.”

I realized what I was doing and pulled myself back, trying to contain my frustration. I released Ricky’s bunched-up collar and fell back into my seat.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry, Ricky. You didn’t deserve that. You’ve been nothing but a friend to me.”

“It’s okay, man,” he said. His eyes never left the window to his right. “Hey, is it just me or is that another escape pod?”

I turned to follow his gaze. With his right pointer finger, he directed me to what looked like a sloping grass hill less than a hundred meters to our right. A white sphere like ours had landed on the slope. The hatches were closed. Whoever was in there, they must still be inside.

“Ricky, you got to listen to me,” I said, trying a different approach. “Maybe it’s like you said, and there’s no getting off here. Maybe we’re all dead anyway. But I’d rather spend the last breath in my lungs trying to live, rather than roll over and die. We’re survivors, both of us. Tell me I’m wrong.”

Ricky slowly nodded, then turned to look at me. The glazed expression of shock was gone from his eyes. “You should have been a coach or a motivational speaker or something,” Ricky managed to say with a smile. “Okay, fine. Let's grab whatever we can and take a look outside. What’s the worst that could happen? We die from a wild animal alien attack?”

“Atta boy,” I said, pointing to the spot on his left. “There should be a backpack of water and food by your seat. I think there are flashlights and a knife under it too.”

We spent the next few minutes taking stock of our supplies and preparing to leave the somewhat safety of our escape pod. Along with two bottles of water, there was a pack of energy bars, a knife, a flashlight, a blanket, a med kit, and a fire starter.

Ricky carried the same thing, minus the med kit.

“Whatever’s out there, we’ll figure this out,” I told Ricky, trying to give him the pep talk I needed now. Telling him the truth, that I was as scared as he was, wasn’t the right thing to do.

“Let’s do it,” Ricky said.

I leaned on the long lever that released the same hatch we used to climb into our escape pod. It opened with a popping noise. The first thing I realized as I stuck my head out of our escape pod was that whatever this planet was, it wasn’t that different from Earth.

There were dark green grassy fields and thick, almost black tree trunks, showing off vibrant forms of leaves. The smell of smoke was in the air. I coughed for a second, then hopped out of the escape pod, letting Ricky do the same.

The twin suns loomed overhead, bringing a warmth to my face. There was an ever so slight breeze gently blowing. If we weren’t on an alien planet, this place might even seem nice.

“Ummm, Dean?” Ricky said, grabbing my attention.

24

A thin line of smoke rose from the other downed escape pod. Instead of landing on oversized airbags like ours, it had struck the ground like a meteor.

As we got closer, the escape pod wasn’t just smoking, it was cracked in multiple places. The sphere wasn’t meant to take a fall like that without its boosters or landing bags to soften its touchdown.

Orange and red flames licked inside of it. The ground all around was cratered from the impact.

Despite my gut churning, I looked inside the window. A single person escape pod like ours, only smaller, revealed a poor soul strapped to their seat, the fire having eaten away much of their body. The scent of burned hair and flesh was overwhelming, and I looked away quickly.

“Ricky, I’m not sure you want to do that,” I said as Ricky leaned in to look through the window.

He turned back a moment later, throwing up on the ground next to him. He fell down on hands and knees, vomiting everything his body contained.

I set my jaw, wondering how many more pods had failed to land properly and why. Was it a mechanical failure? Had a Disciple tampered with some of the pods?

All these answers would have to wait.

Ricky was gathering himself, and I decided to take the time to survey our surroundings. We were in a grass field with trees all around, making it hard to see anything out in the distance. The only thing I could see through the trees was a mountain range to the east and the twin suns overhead.

I realized that there was no sound. No white noise of other people living, talking, or moving around. There were no birds or animal sounds either. There was only stillness and the sounds of Ricky spitting the last of his breakfast burrito into the dirt.

“You think, you think they went fast?” Ricky asked, pushing himself to his feet and joining me. “I mean, the person in the pod. Do you think they died quickly?”

“I sure hope so,” I said. “The landing probably would have killed them instantly before the fire broke out.”

“Right, right,” Ricky said, nodding along with my theory. “They were already dead when the fire started. So what now?”

“We