Exiled: A Sci-fi Adventure Thriller by James Scholes

Author:James Scholes [Scholes, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-07-02T22:00:00+00:00

9

Raki woke up. Slowly, painfully. It was like a rebirth: at first there was nothing, and then there was the word—and the word was complete gibberish. An angry blur of sound and protest. A chorus of chaos that echoed all around him.

Raki could feel his heart beating through his veins; a surge of heat that pumped through his head and under his eyes. He moaned, disoriented but there was enough of his consciousness left for him to know that he was not in a good place. There was reason to be afraid. Fear would keep him alive.

Raki opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was the darkening clouds high above. It would be night soon—very soon—and the sunset on this blighted planet was one of twisted hues and long shadows. Ribbons of black danced amongst the clouds of iron as the hills in the distance made their mark on the sky. It was not a beautiful sunset by any stretch of the imagination. It was an invitation to Hell, nothing more.

Raki blinked, tried to sit up. A mistake. His jaw and cheek woke up and tingled. The tingling grew and blossomed into a mushroom of pain. Slowly, Raki reached up and touched his face. Was his jaw broken? He didn't know, but it was painful. He groaned and his head spun as the pain from his touch wrapped around his skull. He would have screamed, but the pain was too intense for that. Instead, only a dry murmur escaped his lips.

More shouting, but Raki still couldn't make out the words over the din. People were shouting everywhere. Screaming, crying, wailing. Raki sat up properly now and looked around. There was blood all around him, and the dead and dying were littered all across the floor.

He was in the central chamber of the derelict oxygen transfuser: the home of these people. These people... Raki wondered if they had a name, not that it mattered for much. Nobody had realised that he was alive, and Raki thought that must be a good thing. They would have killed him, surely. He was an outsider, and they had been attacked. They would not look kindly upon him.

Raki was no fool: he had to get out of here, and fast.

“We have to save them!” someone shouted, and that voice cut across everything, as clear as a bell. Raki recognised it instantly: Jax, the handsome young man. Arayne's boyfriend.

Arayne...

Raki looked around, searched for the pretty girl. He saw men and women and children and blood. There was Mother, standing unsteadily beside her cheap throne. Her brilliantly white hair was stained with blood and her skin was more pale than before. She looked weak, injured. Her eyes did not have the same hard potency that had been there previously.

Jax and a few others were standing just below her, and it was obvious they were arguing. Jax's face was flushed red and he was gesturing wildly. The others were more calm and Raki could see fear painted on their faces.

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