I Saved Zemulon

Lasers blasted. The sound of explosives detonating deafened the ears. War machines kept rolling. The purple and hot pink landscape permitted navy blue tanks and gray cruiser vehicles to run over the land. From the perspective of Captain Koshi Ashe, he knew he had to fight the Garrotites and save Zemulon. Ashe was about five feet nine inches tall. Dark features that looked like cherrywood enveloped his skin. His high cheekbones looked like they were sculpted onto his body. He stayed in the fight.

Zemulon’s generals strategized and planned more attacks against their enemy. As they continued to war, Ashe found himself as a junior pilot in flight. He dropped incendiary bombs on the targets. All of his power consisted of him taking on the Garrotite strongholds. Wild colors of green and orange exploded on the scene. He talked to the command center.

“This is Ashe. I’m coming in strong on this one. I think we have to switch tactics.”

Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Dolian Grayfire acknowledged.

“We’ll be getting you out of there soon, son. Don’t worry.”

“Roger.”

Speedy and stealth, the aircraft zipped through the sky at a breakneck pace. More laser cannons fired off photons to disrupt the Garrotite advances. Ashe was not alone aboard this aircraft. He had his wife, Captain Tarula riding directly behind him. She was alabaster white with smooth features and a turnup nose. Her eyes looked like blue diamonds. In charge of navigation, she spotted where the enemy would be next.

“What do you got, Tar’?”

“We’re being beset. I’m going to try to direct you to fly against the anti-aircraft fire,” she chimed.

“Okay,” Ashe acknowledged.

Then, the tail of the plane burst into flames and the entire aircraft began to spin like a cycle of a washing machine. As the aircraft spun lower and lower into enemy territory, the two pilots ejected just as it produced orange and purple fire from it being struck by another surface to air missile.

The couple tried to guide their parachutes together. This proved to be unsuccessful. Ashe got all tangled up in the chute and Tarula drifted away further and further still. She landed right in a safe place far from the enemy lines. Ashe on the other hand untangled himself but landed right in the opposition’s territory.

“Goddamnit!” Tarula screamed into her helmet. She still could track Ashe’s movements. On her display, she noticed that he was being carted off by the Garrotites to a place that looked blank. Her gear permitted her to continue moving as she tore away from her parachute and journeyed towards Ashe. With every step of the trek her mind glowed with the prospect of reuniting with her husband.

Stomping through the forest terrain proved difficult, but she knew that she would have to fight her way through hell to get to him. Armed with a retractable laser rifle and a photon service pistol, she knew that she would be ready for small arms fire just in case it came to that. The entire journey seemed simple enough: just find his heat signature. Of course, she had to contend with a few soldiers on the other side.

Garrotites looked like leering, ugly bears. Except, these bruins toted firearms as well. They shot in her direction. Tarula whipped out her laser rifle with speed. She targeted three Garrotites who advanced towards her on assault all terrain vehicles. With a few quick blasts to the tire treads, the Garrotites lost control and fell off of the vehicles.

Next, they ran into Tarula’s direction. She had a notion to take out all three of them with one blast; she lined them up and shot through all three, killing them.

As she searched through their gear for information and electronic data, she found nothing.

“Enlisted,” she figured aloud.

Ashe’s ping continued to grow louder and louder in her heads up display (HUD). She could see his temperature, heart rate, and an outline of his figure. He was being strung up on a post and his nude body doused with ice cold water.

Then, her contenders became the sky itself. It rained down bits of fire. The tiny pieces of flame were a sign that the hellraiser missiles had struck a target against the Garrotites but had also opened up for her to be burned alive. Her suit was resistant against the tiny drops of fire, but it wasn’t fireproof. A small window of time existed between her discovering Ashe and freeing him from his captives.

She closed in on the compound. She fired at the guards who dropped to the ground as the photons blazed into their skulls.

A second wave of these hulking bear-like creatures continued to advance as they noticed the guards had been struck. Tarula used her laser rifle to pick them off one by one with precision firing capabilities. She was like a missile herself, guided and focused, true to her targets and she shot on sight. Finally, the entrance was clear. She entered the building and saw about six Garrotites. They were still splashing him with cold water. The icy water was like ten thousand prickles of frost slamming against him. Tarula looked at the wall and shut off the power. Only a red glow pervaded the space as the emergency lights illuminated. The laser rifle came in handy as her expert mind guided her eyes to each target. The power on the rifle lowered so she employed the photon pistol. She canceled all six Garrotites. All of the bodies fell to the floor with thump like trees felled in a forest.

She unfastened the restraints and noticed that Ashe was suffering from hypothermia. Tarula wrapped a thermal blanket around his body. By retaining his weapons, she could offer them to him and have his back and he would have hers. As they exited the compound, there were already more pilots about to drop more bombs where they were. Though his heat signature had diminished because of his condition, Ashe was still very much battling to save wife and himself. They moved closer and closer to a spot where they would be cleared from the devastation of the ordnance about to rain over their heads. Ashe was not a full strength physically but his mind still activated.

“Tar, you go ahead of me and clear out the path. They can tell by our ID trackers where we are and won’t drop the bombs until we’re in the clear.”

“Roger.”

Like a bolt of lightning, she dashed in front of her husband and cleared a way for Garrotites to be exterminated. Ashe hobbled and fell. Tarula noticed and she ran back but was confronted by two Garrotites. She reached for her waist. Nothing was there. She didn’t have her rifle, either. Hand to hand combat followed. She punched them in the face and throat, gashing a forehead and crushing a windpipe, respectively. The thickness had set in for her. Tarula knew that her role would be to provide an escape for them. She knew that the blanket would only sustain Ashe for so long. Once she realized this she ran back to Ashe who was warming up and moving faster. The shriek of the aircraft overhead gave them a jolt of excitement as they cheered for the Garrorites retreat.

As bombs fell hundreds of yards behind them, the couple kissed.

“I saved Zemulon,” twenty-two-year-old Jessup Verde, light skinned and tallish, expressed these exact words to the passengers to his left and right. He removed the augmented reality goggles and placed his phone in his pocket.They smiled politely and then looked straight ahead again. “This is the captain speaking. We’ll be arriving in Wilmington, Delaware in just a few minutes. The signal to return to your seats and fashion your seatbelts will come on shortly. Enjoy the rest of your flight.”