Return to the End

Montero felt his skin starting to cook beneath his Nano-Suit™.

"You'll be well protected, these top of the range suits are constructed using cutting-edge bio-fibre technology, and given absolutely free of charge to all our 'heroes'!"

He glared down at the gleaming corporation logo on his lapel in disgust.

Ahead of him, Nakamura gripped the lander controls tightly. “One minute”

Montero glanced across the cabin, Shepherd had her eyes firmly closed, her head shaking from the intense vibrations threatening to shake the vessel apart. Montero looked back to the flames burning brightly against the windshield, like hell was clawing at the glass, desperate to take them.

Montero reached out and cleared the condensation, “Where is it? We should be able to see it by now”.

Shepherd whispered prayers under her breath.

Nakamura shook his head “You won’t see shit anymore. 20 seconds.”

“And the money is good, no matter what?”

“It’s all in the contract. A life-time family subscription in your wife’s name, credits up front, and the bonus if you bring it back.”

The cabin lurched as the module flipped itself around and ignited its booster engines. Montero gripped the seat as the craft hit the ground. He checked his vitals on his arm... Oxygen: OK. Temperature: DANGEROUS. A bead of sweat dripped into Montero's eye. No shit, he thought.

Shepherd was out of her seat, activating her suit. “Pressurize! We’ve got 7 minutes! Everyone ready?”

Montero waited with his finger on his activate button as Nakamura opened the hatch.

The acrid smoke poured into the cabin. The heat hit him like a punch to the gut as he pressurized his suit. Montero regretted waiting so long, he could barely breathe.

“Go!” Nakamura screamed. “I’ll set up the extraction!”

Montero scrambled down the ladder and found his footing. He looked at his arm monitor – “39 METRES”. Zero visibility of course, the ash and smoke took care of that.

They set off in the direction of the beacon, the intense wind helping them on their way. Montero took a moment to think that they were lucky the wind was on their backs, before catching himself. They still had to come back.

He couldn't believe that people used to live here. He’d seen all the videos of course, millions of animals and that sky! The greenery everywhere, and water! Precious water.... He’d always imagined swimming, his grandfather used to tell him in intricate detail exactly how it felt to jump into a lake. Montero would ask him a thousand times, and his grandfather even taught him how to swim on the kitchen table, at least, he hoped he had. He’d barely seen more than a few litres at a time…

Out of the swirling void a building came into view. Shepherd stumbled to the ground. Montero helped her up and they reached the door together. Shepherd crouched as Montero reached into his bag and pulled out a small explosive device and stuck it against the door. He pressed the timer on the front and ducked as the explosion blew through the door’s lock. Montero pulled Shepherd into the mansion.

“You can’t go! You can’t! We’ll get through this somehow. We’ll make it work! It’s too dangerous, you might die...”

“I won’t die, you know me. I always come back. I’ll do anything for you, for us.”

“Five minutes. Let’s go. Up the stairs”. Montero’s words barely cutting through the immense wind.

“I can’t breathe, it’s too hot!”.

“We haven’t got time, I have to go on.”

“I’ll catch you up, just give me a second.”

Montero wasn’t sure he was going to make it himself, the heat was everything they’d told them it would be and worse. His hands were blistering under his gloves, his skin peeling back as it was roasting through to the bone.

He made it up the stairs and into a large office. It was amazing how much still remained on the surface, he thought. But there wasn’t time for those observations. Four minutes. Montero walked behind the desk to the large portrait of a rich looking man. He pulled it off the wall to reveal a safe behind it. He checked his arm panel– 1 METRE.

He pressed the safe’s keypad, nothing. They were right, the power was long gone. Plan B.

Montero opened his bag and pulled out a set of large explosives, quickly sticking them to the safe. He jogged back and took cover behind the desk, before noticing an exhausted Shepherd waiting at the door. Montero indicated to her and she stumbled forward into with him. Montero held her as he pressed the detonator, nothing.

“How long have we got left?”

“You? Three minutes...”

Shepherd stood up and reached towards the explosives.

“They’d better them Sal, they better pay them…”

Montero ducked as the explosion sent Shepherd’s torso across the room. He rushed to the safe, the door now dangling on its hinges. Papers floated to the floor around Montero as he reached for the box and opened it.

He had to know.

Inside the box was a small heart shaped locket. He looked at his arm panel. Two minutes.

He had to know.

Montero opened the locket, and for a moment he forgot everything-

“If we can’t afford to pay it, they’ll turn it off, you know that. There’s no other choice. This will set us up for life, we’ll be safe, all of us.”

An alarm went off on his suit. But it said 2 minutes! Montero was angry he had let himself trust them again. He smirked, at least it was for the last time.

Montero rushed out of the office, locket in hand. He raced down the stairs and back out into the unbearable heat and scorching wind. One intense, fiery gust knocked him to his knees, and the heat started to take his vision. He crawled forward, but there was no way he was going to make it. He collapsed and thought of his family...

“Montero! Did you get it?” Montero felt himself being rolled over. Nakamura wiped the embers from his helmet. Montero lifted his hand and opened it slightly, the glimmer of the locket showing through the ash. Nakamura helped Montero to his feet.

“Take it, just go!” Montero screamed. Nakamura ignored him and they stumbled together into the darkness, every step a battle against the howling, corrosive wind.

“Unfortunately, there’s just nothing we can do, we can’t change how the system works I’m afraid. If you can top up your account before the cut-off date please let us know and we’ll make sure your air-plan isn’t affected.”

They stumbled forward against the endless gale force winds, the radiation boiling their insides. A rocket finally came into view, but a much smaller one than the rust bucket they came in on. Montero looked at the corporation logo proudly emblazoned on the side of the craft, he’d never hated anything more.

Nakamura’s body slumped to the ground, taking Montero to the floor with him. Montero wiped Nakamura’s visor, his charred eyes stared lifelessly back at him. Montero crawled towards the rocket. He managed to pull himself to it and pressed a small button on the side. A compartment opened up, and Montero pushed the locket in along with some burning ash. He pressed the button again and the compartment door started to close.

“We’re not coming back are we?”

“It’s a one-way trip, but your family will be well looked after”

“Lifetime subscriptions? No clauses? No getouts? For life right?”

“You have our word. They’ll be safe”

"And the air?..."

"A lifetime subscription, it's all in the contract."

The small hatch shut itself tightly and the rocket began to shudder. Montero managed to roll himself a few meters away and watched as the engines began the launch sequence.

“They better pay them.”

The engines ignited, engulfing him in the blast.