Last night wasn’t the restful night I was hoping for. When my mind was clear of thoughts about Karl or the idea of the Galactic Federation wiping us out, it was filled with thoughts of Aaimina. It was anything but restful. My emotions are completely conflicted this morning as we prepare the rover. Even with the fact that rescue may be on the way, we’ve somehow got more equipment and items. Luckily, it’s a short drive to the lab from here, about three blocks. The feeling is that none of us expect the rescue to actually rescue us. I’ve had thoughts about starting a new life with Aaimina outside the city, it isn’t odd that the others would have similar thoughts about what happens next.

“Morning,” Niko is the first to hop in the rover, taking the front passenger seat.

“You know Marshall is going to make you get in back,” I warn him.

“I’m not afraid of that old man. I’ll hit him with one of these, one of those and two of these,” he sleepily jokes. He’s got more energy in the morning than most people have all day.

“You’re not afraid of what old man,” Marshall asks, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

“I’m not afraid of the future,” Niko responds.

“Yeah whatever kid. Get in back.”

Thore and Aaimina climb in next. Marshall prevents me from jumping in and pulls me to the side before we can take off. “Hey, is your head in this? I don’t need you to get us killed because you’re lovesick.”

“I promise, my head is in the game. I’m focused on everything that comes next.”

“You sure,” he leans in.

“Hey,” Niko leans out the window. “You two aren’t talking about leaving us are you,” he laughs.

“Get back in here,” Thore yanks him back inside the rover.

“We should leave that one,” Marshall suggests. “Last night, you didn’t do anything that you’ll regret right? If we do get off this planet, you’ve got a life to go back to.”

“Can we talk about anything besides my love life?”

“Your love life? You might be worse than I thought,” Marshall laughs.

“Whatever, let’s go.”

The rover roars to life. I know what’s happening before it happens. The wheels screech and the engine revs. The rover jumps forward as it shifts into gear. In a moment’s notice the rover is flying down the street at top speed. Marshall and I don’t even have a chance to react before they’re gone. They played us. They took the rover and left us here stranded.

Marshall is firing his rifle at a rover that’s long gone while letting off curse words in an unintelligible stream. I just crouch down, resting my elbows on my knees and covering my face. Was it all a game to her? Was she planning on doing this from the start? How long had they been planning on doing this to us? When did they have time to plan? If this was her goal, why did she kiss me? She didn’t have to kiss me for the plan to work, or talk about our plans to the future. A thousand questions rush through my brain, all of them about Aaimina. She set me up for heartbreak, and I fell for it. I made myself a victim, and I didn’t do it. I should have done what Marshall said. I should have closed my heart to her.

“I can’t believe this,” I just mumble the words to myself as if they were a personal mantra.

“You can’t believe this,” Marshall squats down so we’re at eye level. “You can’t believe, this. You can’t believe this, shit. I told you over and over again, since the hospital. Stop thinking with your heart, because it will screw you over every time.”

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“Just because someone broke your heart, doesn’t mean the rest of us should ignore love.”

“Love,” he stands up and shouts. “Love! What’s love got do with it? Love just took our rover. Love just took everything but the guns we’re carrying. Love just left you for dead on a planet of walking dead. Tell me again what love has done for you?”

“Love didn’t leave me,” I stand so we’re face to face again. “Aaimina, Thore and Niko just left us. Us; both of us. Yeah, I thought Aaimina was perfect, I thought she could walk on clouds. But you spent all night chatting with Thore, you got wasted with him last night. He was your best friend and you got played too. We both made some mistakes, nobody is perfect. Every time something goes wrong you’re so quick to blame everyone else. You never take the blame. You screwed up my analysis of the grubs. I told you not to shoot the grub in Marki’s face. What happened? She got a face full of infections blood, and where is she now? She’s dead. Why is Marki dead? Because you know everything.”

“You’re blaming that on me?”

“Yeah, I’m blaming that on you. You know what else I’m blaming on you? We could have said screw this mission for the beacon when we got the rescue call. But you’re so dedicated to completing a mission that doesn’t mean anything. They can look around and see this place is screwed, but no, you need to analyze the lab. It’s not like you could do it without me, you’re not that smart.”

Marshall shoves me, “you’re really pushing me right now and that’s not good for you.”

“Oh, I’m going to keep pushing. We shouldn’t have brought Karl with us, but we did. You shouldn’t have beat him senseless in that freezer, because there were other ways to get him to talk. You shouldn’t have beaten him when his daughter turned, but you did. Did you even see if he was bitten, or did you just beat the crap out of him?”

Marshall shoves me again. I don’t wait for him this time, I punch him in the face. My wrist immediately hurts. Marshall laughs and throws a punch that drops me the ground. I grab at his feet and lift, bringing him down to my level. I’m able to throw more punches at his face. Marshall flips me onto my back. I cover my face as he throws heavy handed punch after punch.

“Move your hand and take it like a man,” Marshall tries to move my hands away from my face.

Eventually Marshall gets an open shot and I can feel my teeth rock in my mouth. He lands another punch and there’s a moment where photopsia sets in. Another punch lands as I fail to push Marshall off me. My hand brushes something on his side. The selfish bastard never gave anyone his side arm. I grasp at the gun. Without aiming, I fire off several shots. Marshall rolls away from me, dodging the gun fire.

I quickly stand, struggling to get my balance as my brain copes with the multiple hits. I aim the gun at Marshall who is checking to see if the gun penetrated his armor.

“Why shouldn’t I do it?”

“You can’t do this,” Marshall speaks as he scoots away.

“I already killed one man. What’s one more in a world with no laws?”

“You don’t want this on your conscious too.”

“I’m a coward right,” I fire a shot next to him. “I can just run from my conscious.”

“What about all the good times we had together at the academy?”

“That’s almost 30 years ago. We don’t have any good memories since then.”

“Don’t you want to know what happened here? This is your last chance.”

“I can go to the lab without you. It’s not a long walk.”

“But it’s easier with two people who both have guns.”

“Do you not have a heart? You don’t want to say you’re sorry. You don’t want to say you’re wrong? You just keep coming up with all the reasons why I shouldn’t spill your brains on the ground right now. But, you’re not even considering how you ended up here.”

“I’m sorry. Alright I’m sorry.”

“For what? You don’t even know why you’re sorry.”

“I’m sorry for the way I treated you. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. This whole thing is just stressful and you’re the easiest to lash out at. I’m sorry, just put the damn gun away.”

I want to do it. I can’t guarantee he won’t just shoot me in the back the first chance he gets. My only hope is that he’s a man of his word. He’s a terrible person but I can’t say that he’s ever lied to me or anyone else. I could just kill him now but the end of the world is lonely. I could end all the pain he’s brought me right now, but he’s right. I don’t want it on my consciousness. I’m sure Karl will haunt me forever, I don’t want Marshall haunting me as well. At some point, we can just go our separate directions, but for now it may be best to stay together.

I keep the gun aimed on him and make my way over to where I dropped my rifle. I pick it up, and holster his side arm where I previously put mine; it’s now with Aaimina. Marshall moves to stand and I aim the rifle at him.

“If I think you’re going to betray me, I’ll kill you. Understood?”

“Yeah, I got it,” Marshall seems sincere.

“Then let’s get to the lab,” I offer him my hand.