Future Winds by Kevin Laymon

flailing about.”
    “So, you think he is alive?” Tyler guessed.
    “If he isn’t I have no doubt that big ogre snapped thirty of their necks going down.”
    This forced a faint smile on Tyler’s face. “The cave you and Kaito found, think that’s where they went?”
    “That would be my best guess.”
    “Think they followed you guys back?”
    Leon didn’t respond and Tyler quickly felt bad for asking, realizing that the thought must have plagued Leon all through the night.
    “Fox has some scientist dissecting a few of the dead bugs. She said the president will make an announcement soon to comfort the civilians and get them back to work and in the morning the three of us are to make way for the cave, see what we can find,” Leon said coldly.
    Perhaps this was punishment. It sounded of suicide.
    “When do we leave?” Tyler asked.
    “Two hours before sunrise, about three from now. I told Kaito to rest his eyes for a bit before we head out. You should prolly do the same.”
    Leon pulled a stimpack from a satchel strapped to his arm and bit off the plastic shielding around the tip of the needle. Spitting the unwanted piece away, he stuck the needle in his arm and plunged the syringe, injecting the collection of biofuel into his bloodstream.
    Tyler cringed in watching. He didn’t so much dislike needles, but to watch Leon go through with the act of self-injections so easily, as if living off of stimpacks were somehow the norm, seemed strange.
    Leon stood up to walk away and Tyler laid down against a rock, staring straight up into the estranged alien night sky before closing his eyes. He wouldn’t sleep that night, but he would be lying if he didn’t admit that closing his eyes felt incredible.
     
    ***
     
    Ness awoke from his faint nap in the middle of the night to the sound of people crowding around the forty-foot screen perched above the entrance of their block. The time had come for the promised statement and people were eager for answers. Even the guards looked up to the glass, eyes glued for what the announcement might entail.
    The president of the United Intergalactic Movement appeared on the transparent glass dressed in military gear and holstering a rifle.
    “Look at this pompous ass-hat, dressed from head to toe in propaganda as if he is gonna personally defend us from the safety of his carrier light years away,” a man in his thirties yelled up to the glass.
    People in the crowd grumbled for the man to be quite so they could listen as the speech began.
    “Almost two decades ago the people of earth were forced to begin facing its greatest series of ultimate truths and challenges man had ever encountered. Yesterday, the squad we sent out into space two years ago to construct a device that would pull us through time and space, saving us from our ultimate demise, successfully made landfall and constructed the device we refer to today as the warp gate. They triumphantly pulled in New Horizon, the first of many carrier ships planned for phase one evacuation. The civilian inhabitants of New Horizon are tasked with breaking ground on planet Flare and laying the foundation for our future city, Liberty. Soon after beginning their jobs the civilians were attacked by a species of vile bugs native to the land.
    Now while we all share in mourning the loss of our family and friends and wish to spend time in grief, we must also stay focused at the very real, and very serious task at hand. The sooner we continue and finalize construction phase, the safer a future we provide for all. Now we have a very skilled collection of scientists aboard New Horizon who dissected those bugs and feel as though we have learned a lot. We have a series of recon missions in the final phase of fruition and I am certain we are more than capable of squashing these cockroaches and eradicating them from our new home world in a timely manner.
    So please, I beg you, sleep easy this night. No boogeyman is coming to get you. I cannot drive home