3 No Time to Waste

Mankind was an extremely beautiful and intricate species until they became power hungry. Man became the top of any ecosystem and then they began their tyrannical rules. Most life had become nothing but a means of entertainment for them. This carried on for centuries until the Raks came and along with them came acidic air. They started destroying all life without any mercy. At first the humans tried to put up a fight but the Raks seemed indestructible, nothing affected them and they just kept on moving forward. But they had one weakness it seemed like they lacked intelligence or any thinking power.

It was still dark, but dawn was about to crack. Everyone felt restless and you could hear some rustling but all if them still pretended to be asleep. A mixed feeling of emotions were being felt by them from scared to anxious, from nervousness to being excited. Then suddenly Michael barged right in and said " I know you guys are awake. Now wake up and get ready. We are leaving in five minutes". Everyone finally got up talked a bit and prepared themselves for the worst to come. James was still shook from yesterday's incident but he tried to hide it all behind a fake smile.

Noah and Michael noticed this but it seemed to uplift the mood of the group so they left him be. The group seemed to finally arrive near the location. According to Michael they were just a few kilometer from the machine. This put everyone in a good mood and they almost forgot about all their pain and fatigue. But suddenly James whispers " Everyone quiet down. It seems like the Raks are all around this place. They seem to be coming from the north direction" Everyone's face become consumed by despair and every little hope they had seems to be lost. Noah seems to get extremely confused and scared and asks " Aren't the Raks supposed to be inactive during dusk? What is happening, Why are they here?" James tries to calm Noah down " Yes, they are normally inactive during dusk but sometimes in rare cases they are even active during dusk. But, don't worry even if they are awake right know their senses are extremely dull right know. So they can't distinguish properly between different sounds." Noah is still extremely frustrated and goes to ask James again but Michael cuts him off and asks " So what's the plan how are we going because the machine is in the north direction." James takes a moment to think then answers " Ok, so you guys try to move as quietly as possible I will create a distraction in the opposite direction and the slowly get back to you guys." Everyone seems a bit on edge and leaving James alone makes them even more agitated. James sees this and tries to calm the situation down by saying " I know the most about Raks, and Michael is the only one who knows the exact location. So just trust me guys I will be back."

Everyone accepts the plan and they move ahead as planned meanwhile James carries a lot of stones to the top of a building to get better range. James then throws a lot of rocks in the east direction. The Raks quickly take the bait and they rush in towards east. Noah and others were extremely eager to leave but James signals them to wait. He then throws rocks further down south to increase the distance between them and signals the others to quickly leave. He keeps the Raks distracted for a bit longer until no one was in visible distance. He leaves slowly so as to not signal the Raks. He goes from pillar to pillar, buildings to buildings to keep the high ground so that in case of an emergency the Raks couldn't get him.

A little while later he finally reached his destination and saw the machine. It looked like an extremely large glass pillar with weird symbols drawn across it. There seemed to be another machine right next to it that looked like a small table. At first he was extremely overjoyed and felt like all his days of misery are finally over then he remembered that its almost noon right now the Raks are definitely awake right now and could come any second now. So he hurried up and went there and saw that everyone was waiting for him in the nearby building. James asks in a confused voice " Why didn't you guys go when you had time?" Michael responded by saying " Well we couldn't leave our leader alone could we? Now that we are all here let's go." James has a few tears in his eyes but he holds them back.

James starts up the machine and it starts quiet easily which leads James to think that this machine was either used recently or its made up of material that isn't affected by acid. Noah then says" It seems like there are only three spots on the machine. So the kids will go first, then the adults then me, Michael and James." Everyone unanimously agrees to this and then they send the first group, then the second group and finally Michael, James and Noah are the only ones remaining. Michael and Noah want to say a lot but they are too overjoyed to say anything. James then starts up the machine and says " Well it's been a good run boys. See you on the other side." They look at each other with smiles on their faces and finally joy in their eyes. But suddenly a horde of Raks rush towards them and James realises that someone has to stay behind to distract them. He decides to stay back to save his friends and due to the guilt of letting Chris die. Michael sees this on his face and pushes both Noah and James in the machine and closes it. Michael says with confidence in his voices " I am supposed to take care of you guys. The least I could is keep both of you alive. Have fun on the other side." James and Noah slam the door continuously with tears dripping down their faces begging Michael to open it but he just smiles and runs away shouting at the top of his lungs bringing distracting every Rak.

Suddenly a rogue Rak comes from behind and just stabs through the glass. Noah tries to protect him and gets pierced instead. The machine had already started and the teleportation begins while the Rak tries to attack again but it was too late.

In his dying breath Noah whispers" Please, live for us."

to be continued...