The Rescue

Patrick drove west away from the last remains of humanity on Idyll - maybe in the universe. He patted his side where a repulsor was holstered. It was probably the third time he checked to ensure it was charged and working. He knew what was out there. He had seen the beasts, the centaurs. How the hell did someone come up with that name? They were deranged killer monster ants as big as an ORV.

He knew what to do, though. He was a marine after all. Or he had been a marine 10 years ago. Now he was a security guard. He broke up fights at the bars. When there were bars. A humph escaped his lips as he thought about it, prompting a reaction from the woman seated next to him.

"Are you okay, Patrick?" she asked. The woman, he thought, was Divya, a medic or someone who had studied medicine. Patrick wasn't sure. He wasn't thrilled she was coming because he considered it too dangerous.

"Fine," he said. "Just thinking about what's ahead."

"Yeah, I know," she said, looking toward the area where Lakeside had once been. "I desperately want to see it, but don't."

The ruin of Lakeside still smoked, and the surrounding forest, lush and wet as it was, burned from the massive nuclear explosion.

Patrick grimaced and tried not to talk to himself, a bad habit he had acquired while patrolling. The big man was never quite right about how to interact with people. Far from being introverted, he loved being around people, but he seemed always to do something that caused people to raise their eyebrows, smirk, or shake their heads. After nearly three decades of it, he had decided a new start on a different planet would be a good chance to embed deeply with a new family of colonists, bonded together by shared experience.

Sadly, Patrick found that many of his problems followed him 21 light years to Idyll. Unconsciously, he accelerated the ORV to nearly 60 KPH, the trailer attached to it, bouncing with the extra speed over the packed gravel road that stretched between the farm and the mine. From the mine, it would be another 15 kilometers to where the people were stranded with the other ORV.

Divya looked at him again and appeared to be pondering whether to tell him to slow down, but instead, she grabbed the "Oh shit" bar on the vehicle's A-pillar.

They had passed into the forest now, the massive trunks of the trees that people were calling "Jupiters," with their trunks three meters across and giant oval leaves with a smaller hole in the middle of them that resembled the eye of the great gas giant in Earth's system. Also along the road was a tangle of the beautiful Idyll flower, stretching 6 meters into the air, its blossoms stretching wide. Patrick loved them. In fact, they were the best part of the planet to him.

Soon, they came into the mine encampment. A few dozen structures were built near the mine entrance, some for work, but mostly these were houses. Divya motioned for Patrick to stop. She entered one of the buildings and came out with boxes of what he thought were first aid and other medical supplies. She stored them in the trailer. They called out for people, knocking on all the doors in the mine settlement, but found none. The entire area had flown to the farm after the explosion.

"It's a good time to put on the suits," she said. She and Patrick pulled on the bulky and hot outfit. It was a space suit, not a radiation suit, but it was all they had available and would do the trick. The Geiger counter was starting to tick up as they had approached the mine.

Back in the ORV, they sped off and soon crossed a river where the base of the enormous lake narrowed. The river would go south for thousands of kilometers to the sea. Patrick thought it was possible there were even boats somewhere south.

They were getting close now, and the radiation was rising. It hadn't reached dangerous levels yet, at least for minimal exposure, but the people out here would have been exposed for a while. They were likely going to get sick at least.

Patrick saw something ahead and almost choked. The ORV was there, but the people were not, and two enormous monsters stood nearby, pushing on the vehicle with spears. As their vehicle came close, they turned toward him. He suddenly saw why they called them centaurs. Reared up with a spear pointed toward him, they did appear a bit like the mythical half-man, half-horse beast, but far, far scarier.

"Holy shit," Divya gasped. "Turn around, Patrick! Turn around!"

Patrick didn't turn around. He parked the ORV and jumped out, grabbing the repulsor. He knew it worked on the beasts. He charged it to full power as they turned toward him. They charged in unison, one of them launching a spear. Patrick jumped to the side and rolled. He wasn't graceful, but he managed to get upright and pull the trigger on the repulsor before the other skewered him.

Ultrasonic waves pulsed from the weapon toward the attackers, and they tumbled in a mass near his feet, their momentum carrying them into him. He was knocked backward by their hard shells and slammed to the ground, but he was ok. The centaurs were unconscious.

Patrick knew killing the beasts was against the colony's rules, but things were desperate. He couldn't leave them here only to kill him and Divya. He grabbed a spear and plunged it into their heads several times. Instead of casting the spears away, he took them both and put them in the ORV.

When he returned to the ORV, Divya looked at him with horror and awe. "That was incredible, Patrick. Thank you."

"It's nothing," he said, embarrassed at the praise. It wasn't nothing. He was scared and hoped that he never had to see another centaur up close again.

Divya was already searching the area for the people they had seen in the drone. The ORV was parked and empty. It looked like it had been taken with no supplies in a hurry, which made sense.

After some time, Patrick found a dead man. He was off the road and some small attempts to cover him with sticks and leaves had been made, but clearly it had been done by small hands.

"I don't see the kids or the mother anywhere," Divya said. "They must have run off."

Patrick found their trail. Bent and broken weeds marked a path toward the trees. He armed his repulsor and began following the path. Insects hummed around him and he pulled his sleeves down to cover his arms. Some of the bugs could deliver painful stings. Every wound now seemed much more dangerous than before the detonation.

After 100 meters, he found them. There was a woman slumped against a tree. She had a slash on her arm and chest, and she clearly had lost a lot of blood. Patrick didn't see the children, but then he heard them.

"You're from Lakeside," squeaked a small voice. "Help our mom, please!"

He looked up and saw two children in a long-needled conifer tree, hidden close to the trunk. It was a good hiding spot.

He yelled for Divya to come, and soon she entered the small clearing. She began wrapping bandages on the woman while Patrick coaxed the kids from the tree. There was a boy, 5, and a girl, 7. They looked healthy enough, though obviously scared.

Patrick, without thinking much, gathered them in a hug. Bringing them close to his big body.

"You are going to be Okay now. Everything is going to be Okay," he said.