Jonah paced back and forth as he rubbed his chin and looked out the windows and to the hatch on the floor. We had placed a chest over the hatch and in front of the door. Jonah stopped pacing. “We have to leave.” I limped toward him. He put his arm out, aiming for my shoulder, but I slapped it away, upon which he backed up and crossed his arms with a frown. “Bones is… dead and… I don’t… want to… just leave… his body.” I felt a hand on my shoulder from behind so turned to see Alex staring past me, at Jonah. “We can’t just leave his body to rot. We need to give him a proper burial.” Jonah unfolded his arms as his head turned to the other two humans. “His body has probably been demolished by the rouge monsters…” The other two humans nodded at him then continued to talk amongst themselves.
“That’s… not true… they… killed him… then left… his body… on the… floor.” I limped closer to Jonah who kept his arms crossed and moved his eyes to the floor. I felt like he was trying to avoid the situation, “Bones… was my… friend… our friend.” He looked up to me, after resting his arms to his sides, and then spoke, all the while blinking. “I’m sorry it happened but we will end up the same if we don’t leave this planet. The spacecraft is ready; we can leave right now.” Jonah turned to the other two humans and nodded, which resulted in them moving the chest from the front door and manning the spacecraft.
“What are they doing?” - Alex was in his face now too. Jonah’s blinking stopped when he turned to Alex, “relax, they are doing a full test. We will leave tomorrow or as soon as the monsters start to overrun us. We would very much like you to join us.” Jonah turned toward the door, after staring Alex down, who didn’t reply, and saluted us before closing the door to the house.
I limped to my parents. “What… do you… want to do?” They pointed to the hatch and both said: “Hello…” the best they could. I forced a smile, “that’s not… what that… word means… but I… understand.” Alex pushed the chest away from the hatch. We made our way down to our cave. Alex placed his armor on and held his sword. I picked up a bag and flung it over my shoulder (it wasn’t the nicest way to retrieve Bones’ body but it’s all we could do).
“You ready to go?” Alex called, standing at the exit of our cave. I turned around to see my parents placing their possessions in sacks. “What are… you doing?” They dragged their bags past me and through Alex, who moved out of their way, and started to climb the ladder back to the surface. I dropped my sack and told Alex to wait.
Back in the main human house, I caught up with my parents. “Where… are you… going?” They turned, pointed to the spacecraft, through the open door, and said: “Hello…” again, the best they could. “Is that… what you… want?” I clenched my teeth and fists at the same time, “after Bones… died… saving you.” My parents weren’t acting their usual selves. They walked out of the door before I could say any more. I saw Jonah welcome them into the spacecraft. Jonah saw me from a distance, pointed to the sun, as to say it was getting late, and then jumped into the spacecraft.
Alex and I had the choice of staying on this dying planet to retrieve Bones’ body or join the only other ‘life forms’, we had meaningful relationships with, on a promising new world. Even staying in the spacecraft would be an improvement. If it wasn’t the infected seas, it was the rouge monsters threatening to invade us in our sleep, or the risk of running out of cattle.
I used the ladder to get back into the cave. I thought about what to tell Alex: Should we stay to retrieve Bones’ body or leave whilst we still had the chance?