Rocket Girls

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONE

Mila ran for her life. The Pyrites behind her shot their lava weapons at her. She dodged and weaved, narrowly avoiding the blobs of molten rock hurled at her. The problem was that the projectiles splashed and scalded everything around their target. She got a good splash on her leg, and it hurt so much that she didn't even feel it anymore.

She'd definitely regret running on that leg later, but for now, she had no other choice. She held the backpack tight, its contents the most important thing in the world right now, and she stepped out of the compound and into the forest nearby, hoping to lose them under the cover of trees and darkness. Not that the forest in itself was safe, Pyr was full of nasty creatures, its inhabitants were definitely not wussies in the survival aspects of life.

She hid behind a big tree and tried to catch her breath a moment, her chest heaving up and down, her heart trying to burst out of her ribcage. There was shouting from afar, but it didn't come any closer. With a gulp, she dared to peek from the side of the tree and figure out the status of her pursuers.

Pyrites weren't hard to miss. Usually the biggest ones around, tall and muscular, their red skin made them stand out during the day. During the night, it was even easier to spot them, their ember eyes and their big weapons dripping lava were a dead giveaway of their position. No guile, no cowardice, no hesitation. That was the Pyrite way.

Mila frowned. She couldn't see anyone near, the only embers she could spot were at the far ends of the forest, basically outside the treeline.

Were they hesitating to chase her in this forest? Oh, no! Were they planning to set the entire forest on fire?

Shitshitshit. Mila left the illusory safety of the big tree and started at a dead run through the forest. Which was doubly stupid, because nobody can run through a forest, let alone at night. Unless you're a Dendrite, which she wasn't. Oh, no, quite the opposite. Mila could never even consider put down roots and settle down.

She could surrender. They had the place surrounded, at least from this side. She could just step back, hands in surrender, and drop the backpack to them. It was the easy way out.

Or, she could fight. One last stand. She reached for her laser pistol on her belt. She was a very good shot, but not that good. She was no match for the battle-hardened Pyrites.

She ran. That's what she did in life. Running from place to place. She ran face-first into a tree trunk and it hit hollow as her vision blurred. She didn't know if the hollow thud was from her stupid head or the tree itself, but she was seeing stars in her vision and the ground was wobbly.

And then she saw it. The first flames.

It wasn't easy setting a forest on fire. It wasn't that hard, either. And when you had an entire group of flaming pyromaniacs, it only took them 36 seconds, it seemed.

"No, are they crazy?" she asked herself, giving away her position to anyone who could hear. Did it even matter right now? She was gonna cook like a potato in the firepit, and she was gonna die a painful death. Get up, Mila. Get your ass up. Run now, mope later. She pushed herself up from the ground and she felt the entire planet shifting to the side. Or maybe, it was just her.

Her vision tunnelled, she saw black all around and something blurry in the middle when it should be in focus. "Ow..." she complained, touching her head. It came back bloody, and she could feel it throbbing with her elevated heartrate.

A small voice spoke from somewhere out of the well she was apparently into. "You have a concussion. Lay down on the leaves." It sounded from very far away, but Mila felt a presence nearby.

She shuffled to push herself upward. "The fire. They're gonna burn down the forest!"

"Oh, no! They couldn't possibly do that to the forest..." the voice said.

She managed to see the person who was next to her. She was small-framed, and in the darkness she couldn't make out her skin colour. Was it red, appearing as dark brown in the dark? No, it wasn't that. Something colder than that. Blue? No. Maybe green. But it couldn't have been green, could it? She got dizzy again and almost threw up.

"You must rest. Get inside my tree's hollow, you'll be safe there."

Mila felt small hands trying to hold her up. "No, what are you talking about? Are you nuts? Everything's about to go up in flames, your tree as well." She coughed, smelling the first cloud of smoke.

The girl looked somewhere else. Mila was seriously concussed, she could barely see, let alone orient herself enough to escape with her life. "Look, I have a ship. Take me to the Fire Falls, do you know where it is?"

The girl nodded. "Yes."

"Okay, take me there and I'll get you wherever you wanna go, a forest, a grove, I don't give a s**t. I can't see, I can't stay upright. Just push my shoulder up with your shoulder and walk to the Fire Falls."

The girl hesitated and chewed on her lip. "I dunno... I can't leave my tree, it'll burn."

Mila lost her patience. "You'll burn, you moron! Everything around here will burn! Get us out of here, you stupid Dendrite. Now, now, move it. Now."

The green woman did as she was told. She propped Mila upright with her shoulder and they huddled out of the forest. Mila was clutching her backpack tight, walking blindly, guided by the girl. And to her surprise, she hadn't hit a single tree branch, not gotten her ankle twisted a single time in a root or a hole in the ground. They were just walking, she was slowing them down, and she knew that they were doing better time than if she hadn't hit her head and running around the forest. They were outrunning the blaze, and she was certain that all by herself, she would be engulfed by now. She chuckled, "You Dendrites sure know your way around the woods, don't you?"

The green girl looked pensive. "Well, of course."

They were almost out of the far edge of the woods, the blaze all around them. The night sky looked like a safe heaven, a cool and safe place from the conflagration. A few more steps and they'd be out of the trees.

Mila grunted, pushing herself, panting and sweating and coughing. A little more, just a little more...

They got out! Mila let go of the green girl and fell on the ground, turning back to see the forest fire. In less than twenty seconds, the trees they were next to just a while ago were up in flames. The heat was intense, unbelievably hot even from this distance. The embers flew up into the night sky as the forest turned from alive and green to dead and black.

The small girl fell on her knees and wept. She cried out for a long time, and Mila didn't want to interrupt her. She figured that they had a little time before the patrol caught up to them. They'd probably believe she was caught in the fire all alone, and that was what would have happened if she didn't have the misfortune, or was it fortune, to hit her head on the Dendrite's treehome.

She felt bad about what she had brought upon to the girl. But there was no time. Fire Falls, and then they could feel bad for themselves, when they were safe and sound on her partner's ship. She was waiting for her over there, and she'd never leave without Mila.

"Come on," Mila said with a hoarse throat. She hadn't realised how much she had been coughing all this time. "Fire Falls. Take us there."

The green girl wiped her tears on some fallen leaves and then stood with her back straight. "Of course. Follow me." She offered her shoulder to lean on as before.

Mila accepted the help. "What's your name?"

"I'm Flora," the green girl said with a smile laced with smoke and tears.

"I'm Mila." They took off into the night, their backs illuminated by the fire.