III-3
350 Words
THE SILENCE OF THE dreaming red deserts was shattered by a smashing report that drummed with a mighty clap against the sky above. A gush of red flame spouted over the domed top of the mighty building and metal shards hammered spitefully against the sides, setting up a metallic undertone to the ear-shattering explosion.
Sick with dread, Scott plunged to the corner of the building and felt the sick dread deepen.
Where his space ship had lain a mighty hole was blasted in the sand. The ship was gone. No part of it was left. It had been torn into tiny fragments and hurled across the desert. Wisps of smoke crept slowly from the pit in the sand, twisting in the air currents that still swirled from the blast.
Scott knew what had happened. There was no need to guess. Only one thing could have happened. The liquid oxygen had united with the gasoline, making an explosive that was sheer death itself. A single tremor, a thrown stone, a vibration ... anything would set it off.
Across the space between himself and the ship came the tattered figure of a man. A man whose clothes were torn. A man covered with blood, weaving, head down, feet dragging.
“Jimmy!” yelled Scott.
He sprinted forward but before he could reach his side, Jimmy had collapsed.
Kneeling beside him, Scott lifted the man’s head.
The eyes rolled open and the lips twitched. Slow, tortured words oozed out.
“I’m sorry ... Scott. I don’t know why....”
The eyes closed but opened again, a faint flutter, and more words bubbled from the bloody lips.
“I wonder why I did it!”
Scott looked up and saw his brother standing in front of him.
Hugh nodded. “The Martians again, Scott. They could use Jimmy’s mind. They could get hold of him. That blasted brain of his....”
Scott looked down at the man in his arms. The head had fallen back, the eyes were staring, blood was dripping on the sand.
“Hugh,” he whispered, “Jimmy’s dead.”
Hugh stared across the sand at the little glimmer of white in the shadow of the building.
“We’ll make another cross,” he said.
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- Writer
