Chapter 31: Cooking up a Storm

  “...cus! MARCUS!” Marcus looked up and Kou was calling to him. “We are about to leave, Achara is still missing, can you get her?” Kou was already moving on, talking to Carmen about some technical problem. Marcus’s head was filled with a big cloud of confusion. Since Mason had asked the question he could not stop thinking about it. When, how, what am I going to tell the world, tell other Fighters out there. He had always been focused on his own path, then he found prove of his ideas, then he shared it with a few people and now… was he not obligated to tell all the other Fighters? He reached the dorms and Achara’s room. There was a series of strange sounds coming from the room, was she stomping on the floor? Marcus knocked and called but she did not open the door. After a minute, Marcus carefully pushed the handle down and opened the door.

  Achara was moving wildly in the middle of her room. Stomping her feet and swinging her head around. She had her eyes closed and large headphones over her ears. Even from here Marcus could hear loud, heavy music and her face was filled with intense emotions. Marcus reached out to her and touched her shoulder as carefully as possible. She vanished.

  A second later she turned up again with her earphones off and a shy smile. “Sorry Marcus I was in my own world right now.” Marcus told her they were about to leave and walked back to the cars. He had not expected this from her. She seemed so quiet and controlled but the expression in her face a moment ago, and the energy of her movements said something else. There was a great flame burning in her chest.

  Marcus had tried to call Janette, several times, but in the end only was able to talk to Russo. He said she was doing some “epic training montage” and didn’t want to be disturbed. That was horrible timing for Marcus who really needed somebody to talk about… everything. Now that they were leaving he would not be able to talk to her for a month at least.

  The journey back to the dig site felt a bit like routine now. Marcus sat in the car with Achara and Ms. Russell. Achara was at the wheel and Marcus was trapped in a whirlpool of emotions. He felt an emotion he could not articulate. Something was stuck in his throat making him choke, gasp for air and he could not get free of it. “Do you never rock out?” Achara suddenly asked. “You mean exhaust myself physically?” Marcus answered. She laughed so hard she nearly collided with a rock.

  “No, listen to really loud music or some other stuff and get your feelings out. It helps me stay sane.” She said. “I have never been much into music to be honest. I don’t know much about it. I generally just work out when I feel tense.” Marcus said somewhat embarrassed. “Wanna try? It is retro but those guys really get me if you know what I mean.” She pulled her bag out with one hand and gave him her headphones.

  Marcus put them on and put the music on shuffle. An artificial voice in his ears said “Toxicity, System of a Down.” and then the music did something to Marcus. Something that would become visible a few days later.

  Marcus spent the drive listening to music and staring into the nothingness of the arid wasteland. He was thankful to Achara, for a short time he could forget his own troubles. They arrived at the camp and besides some small critters who made a new home, it was all still standing. The corpse of the giant green beetle was gone, deep tire marks showed that heavy equipment had been used to remove it. “The expedition sold it to a company that processes monster bodies. This will pay the bills for a few days extra.” Kou said as Marcus inspected the tire marks. “Those guys are fast.” Marcus pointed out and wondered how much that corpse was worth. Maybe they should go bug hunting? But that would have to wait, first the team helped with unloading the provisions and set up a new surveillance network. The scientists went back to work and Marcus and the gang watched over them and waited.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Well that is not good.” Kou said looking down a big hole. The hole was several meter deep and wide, goo and something crystalline covered the walls. “It was easy to spot from the air with the surveillance drone, on foot you had to get really close to see it.” Mason said, who actually was skilled in using drones, and had found the hole. “This is where our friend came out off, I bet.” Achara said and pushed a bit of dirt into the hole. “Great. Just great. Next big earthquake and we could get swarmed with bugs. I have to talk with Carmen about emergency procedures. If things go pear shaped we need to move fast.” Kou looked a last time into the menacing hole and walked to camp. Marcus stayed a moment and let his eyes wander over the hills and wondered how many of these bugs were sleeping here.

  As the days moved on Marcus spent more and more time alone. He felt restless, there was something he wanted to do but he had to wait until this job was over or at least they had returned to the main base. This was not all, he knew. He felt a weird sense of unease inside of him, like a big ball of the red energy, floating inside him, bouncing around and trying to get out. He had become impatient and the only time he could shut his brain off was when he borrowed Achara’s headphones and listen to loud music. This was no long term solution.

  The others noticed his distress but gave him enough space to work things out. Only Kou once said that if he needed somebody to talk to, he would listen.

  They made it two weeks without an incident until one night the ground shook heavily and bright red streams of molten stone trailed down the distant mountains. They pulled everybody out of their beds and made ready for an emergency escape if need be. Half an hour after the main tremors Mason heard something.”Can you hear that? Sounds like a buzzing, no it’s deeper. What is that?” The sound quickly grew louder to the level of a starting plane and then they finally saw it. Something big was moving over the nearby tree tops and hills. It reflected the light of the camp and quickly approached causing a small storm in the camp. It set down and folded giant iridescent wings under its shell.

  It was another beetle with a split horn, but it was larger and its carapace was brown and more defined. Its six massive legs stomped through the camp and crushed tents and provisions alike, “Basic attack formation, Marcus in front.” Kou’s voice was professional with only a hint of terror. Marcus was about thirty meter away from the monster and started running towards it.

  The beast must weight at least five tons and its body alone was over 6 meter long but with every step he got closer Marcus felt lighter. His adrenaline was peaking and in this moment the only thing he wanted was to punch the monster as hard as he could. He charged forward, solely focused on the monster in front of him, the red orb inside him was now screaming and clawing at his insides.

  Since the days of Mr. Tree Marcus had always carefully controlled his power to avoid hurting himself. Even in combat he kept his cool, let rational thoughts guide him.

  Marcus reached the beast and a leg with sharp edged carapace scratched over his back but he did not slow down. Marcus was a mindful child. He was a good boy. Marcus rammed his fist into the head of the beetle unbroken, unrestrained, Impulse Hammer shot through the monster, tearing through the beast like a cannon ball. The big bug was pushed back a few centimeter and Marcus followed and another fist flew forward. Red energy pumped through his whole body vibrating to the sound of music that only raged in his head. Massive mandibles tried to tear him apart but Marcus did not step back but forward, he ducked under the deadly instruments smashed his fist into the mandibles. Marcus was a nice guy who always tried to do the right thing. He was big but soft. Marcus kicked and screamed, smashed and crushed until the monster stopped moving.

  The red orb had burned to white ash. Marcus slowly got his senses back, blood dripped from his hands, his bones were cracked and broken. But Marcus felt much better now.