Crimson Dawn

The next day, their route took them through a stretch of deforested land, where fresh seedlings were sprouting in the scorched earth. Smoke from distant slash-and-burn fires darkened the sky above them, and through the thick haze, Tau Ceti glowed a fiery red. The boys wore their scarves pulled up over their noses like bandits. The air was dry with the heat of the wildfires raging beyond the tree line in the distance.

"It smells like standing under a glass dome while you blow out a thousand burning matches at once."

Lex looked over at Ron. "Or it smells like a burning forest," he said.

"Why are they doing this?"

"What?"

"Why are they burning the forest down?"

"No idea."

The roar of the fire was mixed with the buzzing of chainsaws. All around them, up in the higher parts of the jungle, trees were toppling over one by one. Then they spotted, through the smoke-filled air of a nearby cocoa plantation, another TC patrol. The corporate thugs were standing over a defenseless woman lying on the ground.

"What’s going on back there?" Ron asked.

Lex’s only response was a hard swallow. He didn’t know what the settler had done wrong, but he immediately sensed that whatever it was, it wasn’t about justice. This was something else, an abuse of power mixed with barbarism and a brainwashed hatred that the TC enforcers probably couldn’t even explain themselves. But they didn’t question it. It was a hatred they felt was justified because every one of them shared it.

A piercing scream escaped the woman, a sound that compressed all the world’s fear into a single cry. The two men, dressed in the same uniforms as Lex and Ron, beat her legs with a metal rod. Then one of them swung again, smashing her face with a single, brutal strike. The uniformed man wiped the bloody rod on his pant leg and glanced over at the two boys. He gave them a nod.

"What’re you staring at, you fools?"

With bloodlust in their eyes, they started walking toward the newcomers.

Lex couldn’t stop staring.

As the two murderers approached, the one holding the bloody rod said, "Your face looks kind of familiar."

Lex stared back at the guy’s face, noticing that he was about the same age as him. Just a year older.

Then, suddenly, Devon Vasker burst out laughing. He dropped the rod, walked up to Lex, and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Lex, my man!" Vasker pushed him back slightly, giving him a once-over like an old friend. "Guess you're not as much of a weakling as I thought."

Lex shook his head.

"You won the Selection Program on Limbo."

"Sure did," Vasker replied. "I’m the lucky winner. But how the hell did you end up here?"

******

The rain started up again and didn’t stop for hours. The night was warm, the air smelled of earth. They had a hot meal in the mess tent and were now sitting outside by gas lamps, playing cards at a simple wooden table. At first, it was just the two of them.

"I’ve seen some pretty bad stuff from TC living on Limbo," Lex said after he and Ron had sat in silence for a while, "but the people here must live in even more fear of the corporation than we did back then. I never thought I’d say this, but there’s a place worse than the prison moon. It's right here."

It was Ron’s turn, but he held the cards stiffly in his hand, staring at Lex. "Away from Vega Prime, the corporation’s façade is crumbling," he said. "Here in Luvanda, we’re seeing TC’s true face. Do you think this is what Zara Thandros wanted us to see?"

"Doubt it," Lex replied. "She probably just wants us to take out a few of the Crimson Dawn. She told me I need to earn her trust."

"Would you do it?"

Lex looked him in the eye. "I want to get back to Vega Prime, no matter what. There’s gotta be a way. But not like that. I’m not gonna hurt these people. I used to be like them. They haven’t done anything wrong."

Vasker came over with a group of guys from the mess tent and sat down with them at the wooden table. He scooped the cards off the table with both hands, shuffling them while eyeing the two newcomers, especially Lex.

"You and me, reunited," Vasker grinned.

"You wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t been exiled," Lex said to him. "Because I’m the real winner of the Selection Program."

Vasker dealt the cards. "And I’m supposed to thank you for that? If I’d known what was waiting for me here, I’d have stayed on Limbo. So, thanks for nothing. If anyone should be thankful, it’s you. Without me, you’d have been dead a long time ago."

Lex looked up from his cards. "What’s that supposed to mean?"

"You don’t remember? You and me, on the shuttle during the recovery mission. Quinlan wanted to leave you to die in the suit. That was his order. I’m the idiot who went against him, pulled you out, and brought you back to life. Got a beating from Quinlan for it, too."

Lex felt his breath catch when he heard that. "That was you?" he asked. "I thought Quinlan saved me."

"Are you deaf? He was furious with you. He wanted you to bite it. I told him you weren’t such a bad guy."

Lex said nothing, lowering his gaze back to the cards in his hand.

"Don’t bother thanking me," Vasker said, watching him for a while. "So how’d you end up here?"

Lex played his hand and lost. "It’s a long story," he said, feeling sick to his stomach. "How long were you in Vega Prime before Thandros sent you here?"

"Not even a week. That snake congratulated me in front of the cameras when I stepped off the LEVIATHAN. Told me my life was just beginning. Free of inherited guilt and all that. But after the show was over, she told me I had to catch the train here in a few days. She didn’t say a word about what it’s like in the jungle. I heard she’s sent every single winner from the moons here. There’s one guy left who survived. His name’s Joh, from Limbo Four. He’s been here for nine years. All the other winners are dead. And now there are three of us again. Joh, me, and you."

"Why’s Thandros doing this?"

"Because she hates us convicts. Our ancestors were her biggest enemies. And since she’s already stuck with us, stuck with us on Cetos Five, she’d rather use us as cannon fodder against the rebels before we get any ideas about switching sides." Vasker paused for a moment, seeming to get lost in thought. Then he shrugged. "What can you do? Life’s not nice. Not here, especially. Definitely not here. Only now, it’s the settlers getting what we’ve already had to endure."

The others at the table, most of them newcomers, stayed silent, and that was the only conversation for a long time. Eventually, as night fell and Lex had gambled away all his rations, he said his goodbyes and headed to his cot.

The next morning, Tau Ceti was half-visible over the dark forests, shining relentlessly. Even though the sky was heavy with clouds, the sun always seemed to find a way to break through, sending its sweltering heat like a punishment into the jungle. On a patrol through a small village, they searched for settlers who should’ve been working in the forests.

"There are always some lazy dogs trying to dodge work," Vasker muttered.

The huts were scattered throughout the wilderness, made of woven palm leaves, straw, flexible branches, and whatever else nature provided. Inside, there were slatted shadows, a few old cooking pots, piles of clothes, and straw mats. Lex peered into the next hut.

Thankfully, no one was there either.

For the next fifteen minutes, a heavy silence hung over him. No one spoke, no one said a word. There was no wind, no sign of life, only the sound of their footsteps, the stomping of the four boys over the blue grass, with one mission: to bring fear to those who refused to obey.

******

At some point, the inevitable happened—Vasker heard something. They all heard it.

"That’s a baby crying," he said. "It’s coming from over there."

"That wasn’t a baby."

"Of course it was. Come on."

They followed Vasker to a hut nestled between two green palm trees. Behind the small house, a narrow river flowed with deceptive calm, its surface rippling in the reflection of Tau Ceti’s fiery light. The quiet was weighed down by the muffled sound of the crying baby and what they all knew was about to happen.

"Lazy dogs," Vasker spat, pulling an old revolver from his waistband. He grabbed the barrel and struck the gaunt father, dressed in dirty linen, across the face with the butt of the gun. The man made no attempt to fight back. The woman, cradling her newborn in her arms, wept. Between her legs, in a puddle of fresh blood, lay the placenta and the severed umbilical cord.

"Devon, she just had her baby. She can’t work," Lex said.

Vasker kicked the father out of the hut, sending him sprawling in the wet grass, right in front of Lex. The man looked up at him, his face twisted in fear. But when he realized Lex couldn’t help him, he gazed past him into the sky, as if pleading with some higher power to protect his family.

Vasker kicked the woman in the face, but she didn’t let go of her baby. Finally, he yanked the newborn by its legs toward him. Its face turned red as it screamed, choking and gasping for air between sobs. The father knelt in the grass, begging for his child. He could have stood up, but he didn’t. He just reached out with trembling hands toward the tiny, wrinkled creature—so new to a world filled with nothing but hate, violence, and injustice.

Vasker carried the screaming baby to the grassy riverbank, holding it by one leg. He swung his arm as if he were preparing for a long throw. That’s when Lex realized what he was about to do.

Vasker was getting ready to toss the baby into the river.

The thought hit him like a punch, and he suddenly shouted for Vasker to stop.

Vasker turned to him, confused.

"The baby’s going in the river. I don’t give a damn what you say."

"Wait." Lex stood frozen, frantically looking around. He grabbed a woven basket from inside the hut and ran to the riverbank. He knew Vasker and the others might kill him for this, but he placed the newborn in the basket anyway. He didn’t even know if the basket would float.

Vasker hesitated. "You’re such a softie," he said. "Unbelievable. Give me the basket. I’ll handle it."

The baby was tiny and frail, wailing the whole time. But the rushing current quickly drowned out its cries as the basket drifted silently downstream. From that moment on, there was nothing more to hear or see of the baby. It was likely no one would ever hear or see it again, except perhaps in nightmares or the terrible daydreams born from the horrors of the jungle, nightmares that chased you relentlessly, like predators after their prey, leaving no chance of escape.

"Kids just get in the way," Vasker said, waving cheerfully at the little basket floating away. Then he turned to Lex, looking him up and down with a serious expression. He shoved him aside and walked back from the riverbank, pulling the revolver from his waistband and shooting the father.

Three shots, then silence.

The man lay still in the tall grass.

A moment later, the woman’s uncontrollable sobbing resumed.

"What now? Should we take her out too?" one of the others asked.

"We’re not killing anyone unless I say so," Vasker replied, shoving his partner aside. "Let’s get her out of the hut first."

The woman still had the strength to resist, and she screamed, but no one helped her. Vasker shoved her into the grass and pinned her down. "What are you two standing around for? Help me out."

Lex and Ron stood frozen in place. Ron, his face pale as a ghost, walked over and held the woman’s kicking legs. The blood from the birth clung to her thighs, already dried.

Lex stayed by the river, staring.

"We’ll leave her alive," Vasker said. "We can’t just kill everyone for no reason." He moved behind the woman, unbuckling his belt and pulling his pants down to his knees. He gave Ron a slap on the shoulder. "Make some room. Just keep her quiet," he said. "I can’t stand it when women cry. Lex, keep watch. Make sure no rebel sneaks up on us. Ron, I said shut her up."

Then Vasker pulled the woman’s tattered clothes up and violated her.