Episode 6 of Broken Chains

Promotion

Over the last few months, I have learned a lot about the way the military, or should I say dictatorship, works in my territory. I have been granted access to the military base not far outside of town. It is a large facility where many troops choose to live instead of walking back to town every night. I have considered this, but for now, the walk allows me to clear my head.

Zepher is more of a desert planet, at least where I am. It is hot most days, but not dry heat; it’s wet and musky heat. I heard it will rain soon. The sand and dirt on the ground are interesting. I once grabbed a handful of it; it was weightless and clumped together. It has an orangeish-yellow tint and smells like the ocean. My territory is surrounded by small hills and mountains. My favorite time is when the sun finally goes down; you can see galaxies and other planets. Wherever we are in the universe, it is very beautiful. The days are short, nights are long, and overall, it isn’t a bad place to live, for now.

The few human soldiers I have met have said that we are not allowed to travel to other territories to prevent us from finding a family member, so it may take time before I am given that permission. I have taken note of things that have been talked about, I developed the ability to multitask pretty well, and there is a mission in a nearby territory in six days. I hope to convince my way in. In the meantime, I have gained some pretty good muscle in the last seven months. I haven’t been able to gain muscle this way before on Earth, but I also didn’t try hard until now.

From,

Carter

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(photo generated by AI, copyright Flaat Library)

The alarm blared. Carter squinted his eyes in the dark to see the clock on his table flickering. A loud rumble came from outside. He stretched sleepily and sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes and yawning. His dream last night kept waking him up, the one about his baby sister being captured by raiders. Carter had followed them to their camp, where she sat crying and tied to a pole. She was small at the time, but Carter couldn’t remember her age.

“What do we do, Carter?” Michael asked, lifting his head above the rock that kept the raiders from seeing them spy.

Carter grabbed his brother’s shirt and pulled him down. “You do nothing. I will go get her. You stay here to hide when I release her.” Michael nodded. He was a brave kid, and followed Carter around like a puppy. Carter didn’t complain though, he secretly liked it. Carter snuck from one boulder to the next, scouting the area on how many raiders there were. He counted seventeen, including the one he saw enter a tent at the far end of the camp. He planned on doing a sneak attack, grabbing his sister and running, but things like this never go as he plans.

He sat on the ground behind a boulder, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He gathered the anger he had for his parents leaving them on Earth, the anger he had at the raiders for sneaking into their camp night after night stealing their food, and now this. He was fed up with being taken for a child. His moment was now.

He leapt over the rock, slid down the small hill, and hid behind one of the tents. He could hear commotion inside. He pulled out his knife and cut a slit into the back of the tent, coming face to face with a small woman and her child. She screamed at the sight of him, which caused a man to run inside.

“HEY!” The man screamed at Carter. He was skinny and short, with a long beard and bald head, no shirt or shoes on, and blood smeared across his face. Carter assumed it was to intimidate people, but the man was far from intimidating. He lunged at Carter who was too fast. Carter slid his knife across the man’s stomach, and without looking back, Carter ran from the tent.

“Intruder!” Screamed the woman still clinging to her child. More men came running at Carter. He stood there with his knife in hand, blood dripping from the tip onto the concrete. He grinned at the first man who approached him, then took off running at the man, leapt off the ground, and kicked his foot into the man’s chest. He went down with a hard thump. Carter landed on his knees, quickly gathered himself, and went in with his knife, stabbing the man in the chest. He jumped off the man and punched the next man in the face, he stumbled back in shock, clutching his hand over his face. Blood poured through his fingers, he pulled his hands away in anger and spit blood onto the ground, then pulled out a large machete, charging at Carter. Carter quickly avoided the charge by barrel roll to the left, then ran towards the man, jumped up, threw his feet in front of him landing on the mans back, he fell, Carter stabbed him in the back twice. The man stopped moving.

Carter looked up to see three more charging at him. He now had blood all over his jeans, shoes, shirt, and skin. The three men stopped running when they saw the gruesome sight.

“Are you insane!” One of the men said, horrified.

Carter stood up slowly, glaring at the men. “You took my sister.” He pointed the knife at the man who spoke.

The man put his hands up in defense. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“My sister!” Carter screamed, feeling his anger boil.

One of the other men nudged the first and whispered, “The little girl we took from that camp last night.”

The first man’s eyes grew wide. “We didn’t know.”

“BULL SHIT!” Carter screamed. “Your leader knew. I spoke to him three days ago, pleading for you idiots to STOP taking our food!” Carter started walking towards the three men, but was caught by the sight of his sister being held by the leader, a knife to her throat. “Let go of her, you piece of shit.” Carter narrowed his eyes.

“You killed my men. Perhaps I should do the same to her.” The leader dug the knife into Zoey’s throat. A small amount of blood dripped onto her dress.

“I will not say it again.” Carter demanded, his anger growing as he watched his sister squirm and cry under the knife.

The leader grinned. “Or what?” Carter had enough talk. He threw his knife at the leader, landing it into his face. The force of the throw embedded the knife deep into his skull. Zoey fell to the ground and ran towards Carter. He knelt down and scooped her up, took his knife from the man’s head, wiped it on the dead man’s shirt, and walked off towards Michael, who had watched the entire event form behind the rock.

The next day, the raiders came to his camp, he killed each one of them, women and children. He regretted this every day, but knew it was the only way he would have survived life on Earth.

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(photo generated by AI, copyright Flaat Library)

The commotion outside grew louder, and drew him to look out the window. Several large military convoys were sitting outside his apartment. Reptilian soldiers stood guard around it, as General Cruft exited the convoy, and entered the apartment building. Carter scrambled to get dressed and checked the mirror. His face had not been shaven, but he didn’t have time to care. Why would the General be here? He thought while scrambling for his things. He opened the door meeting face to face with the General and two guards.

“Carter.” The General spoke matter of fact, “just the man I came to see.” Carter felt his heart pounding and moved away from the door to allow them to enter. His neighbors poked their heads out at the presence, whispers filled the hallways. “Let’s sit?” General Cruft gestured towards the small table in the dining room with four chairs that Carter only used one to eat dinner. “I have been given the opportunity to bring a human on our next trip to Serpents Jungle.” General Cruft paused, sitting back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. Carter remained silent and still, even though thoughts raced through his mind: what jungle?! “We selected you.”

Carter raised an eyebrow at this, “I clean weapons, sir.”

The General laughed with a slight sinister tone, gaving Carter a chill down his spine. “We know, Carter. We selected you for your discipline. We feel you would be the best candidate. You keep to yourself, have no friends, and as far as we know, none of your family is in Serpents Jungle.” Carter felt his heart pounding. “Do you accept this promotion?” The General dropped his voice in seriousness.

“Promotion, sir?” Carter felt confused, anxious, and excited all at the same time.

“You will be promoted to Human Section Lead. You will be given a weapon, a suit, and a group of human men that you will be in charge of. Many of these men are older than you, but I do not see that being a problem. You are in charge of these men and follow orders given by your Sector Lead, understood?” The General stood up, and stretched his hand out for Carter to accept.

Carter followed, and took the General’s hand. “I accept.” He said sternly.

“Good. Arrive promptly to work to receive further instructions.” General Cruft concluded.

The promotion he had been waiting for had arrived in a way he had not predicted. No human had ever been given any rank, or put in charge of anything. Why him? Why were they so interested in him? Questions ran through his mind long after the they left.