SpaceHorrors: “Frozen White Water”

SpaceHorrors:
“Frozen White Water”

     DeathBringers could scream. It was hard to see it because their oblong oval mouth didn’t move. But their screaming could be heard. That was what was going on inside one of the residences a large group of Meavalians were looking at. They could barely hear the screaming.

     That DeathBringer was screaming because he was burning hopefully to death by Extreme Hot. Extensions of it were sparking out of his body. Catching whatever it hit to experience the Extreme Hot. The whole residence was feeling the Extreme Hot become that DeathBringer was running around that residence wildly.

     After leaving that residence, that DeathBringer went to the next one. It started doing the same thing there: screaming and making that residence experience the Extreme Hot. As it went between residences, the surface began to experience the Extreme Hot too. Causing the watching Meavalians to start moving back from it.

     One Meavalian stepped in front of the others between them and the Extreme Hot that was heading toward them. He turned to face the other Meavalians there. “Get away while you can, or you will die too like our DeathBringer is about to do.”

Five Years Ago, Today

     Standing to the side of the image on a level-to-level monitor that took almost up that whole side of the huge room Divonna was in, Divonna pointed at it. The whole room full of Meavalians gasped at what they saw. “This is what we had to do to try to save these residences five years ago today. Frozen White Water was the only way to smother the Extreme Hot that happened there.”

     “Unfortunately, that DeathBringer wasn’t among the dead after we smothered the Extreme Hot. The only one found was his victim. And even though the Extreme Hot killed him, he was better off dying like that than what he would have gone through after that DeathBringer only partially killed him.”

     Divonna went to the middle of the several hundreds of Meavalians who were seated in rows of twenty on each side of a walkway that ran down the middle of it. Once there, Divonna turned to face them. “I asked you all to come here today because we have to decide what we are going to do about our DeathBringer.”

##

     “As you know, every year for the past four years on this day our DeathBringer returns to our region of Meaval to kill ten more of us. That’s one per day this next week.” Divonna continues talking to the other Meavals there after she lets them calm down to almost a quiet state.

     “I don’t know about you, but I have been hearing what our DeathBringer has been doing the rest of the year on Meaval. He still kills us, but it’s only every week or two. Not ten a week like it is with us because we tried to kill him with Extreme Hot. It’s personal with us.”

     A male-sounding voice came from the middle of the Meavals there. “I have heard what he has been doing too. I’ve also heard he looks the same as he did when we tried to kill him. Is that true?”

     “It’s true,” answered Divonna. “He still looks like Extreme Hot from head to toe. It’s not something he does just for this region. It’s all over Meaval. What we don’t know is if he is doing this on purpose or because he can’t become like all the other DeathBringers again. Another reason to kill us like he does.”

##

     Standing beside a transport with a male Meaval next to her, Divonna looked around at the other Meaval who were already at their transports too or were heading for them. They were in groups of two to four also. She smiled. “As long as we aren’t alone, our DeathBringer won’t kill us.”

     “Our DeathBringer could still kill us. He could even kill one of us. And let the others watch him do it.” The male with Divonna got into their transport on the other side of it. “They prefer to kill individuals. But they can kill in groups, though.”

     “That may be true of other DeathBringers,” said Divonna as she got into their transport too. “Maybe even the other DeathBringers here on Meaval. But it’s different with our DeathBringer. It’s personal.”

     The male pushed a red button on the control panel in front of him. Their transport started shaking. They left there. Some had already left. And some were about to leave. “That’s what I have been trying to say. Our DeathBringer is so mad at us, that he may kill us one after another with or without us being alone. He may even prefer us to watch him do it.”

##

     A palm of the DeathBringer barely touched the upper part of the body of his latest victim. The victim was frozen where he stood. Slowly, the DeathBringer walked around his victim. He stopped when he got to the left side of him. The DeathBringers placed his palm just under his victim’s arm.

     After placing his palm, a clear cylinder came out of it and connected to the victim's side. Usually, another clear cylinder entered the victim from the other side under the arm. But with this victim, the cylinder connected to him from the lower part of his body. Even before the second connection happened, the victim started screaming.

     Always changing colored liquid started coming out of the first connection before the second one connected too. That caused the victim to start screaming. A screaming that got louder by the second. Normally, screaming stopped when the liquid started coming out of the mouth, nose, ears, etc. It didn’t that time.

     The screaming was coming from the other Meavals watching what was happening to this victim. They were hiding among the trees nearby. Peeking around the edge of several to watch the death of that victim. The DeathBringer heard their screams. But he didn’t do anything about it. He just kept killing his victim.

####

     Divonna stood before the other Meaval adults again. “We have had our first killing. That means we have less than thirty hours before our DeathBringer kills another one of us. What are we going to do to stop him?”

     “There is nothing we can do to stop him,” shouted a male Meaval not too far from Divonna. “For the past four years, we have tried to do it. And we haven’t even been able to hurt him any more than we have already done.”

     “We do know something else about our DeathBringer,” another female toward the middle of this group almost shouted. “Now we know our DeathBringer doesn’t care if we are alone or not. In fact, I think he wants us to be there.”

     A male from the middle side of that group shouted. “We also know one other thing. Our DeathBringer also prefers to kill us among the trees. As long as we don’t go among any trees we won’t get killed too.”

     “There may be one other way to protect ourselves from our DeathBringer,” shouted Divonna. “I don’t want to do it. But we still have our Young Ones who can protect us.”

##

      Looking out a large, opened window, Divonna could see about twenty Young Ones having fun together. Divonna could also faintly hear them being Young Ones. She was looking at three mostly. “DeathBringers won’t kill Young One. Not even our DeathBringer. They don’t like them seeing what they are doing either.”

     “Whether we are alone or in a group, as long as we have at least one Young One with us our DeathBringer won’t try to kill us. More than one would be even better. But one should be all we need.”

     “What about Meavals like me,” spoke up another female from the group there. “I don’t have any Young Ones to protect me.”

     Divonna returned to facing the other Meavals there. “That’s another reason why we are here. Not only to figure out how to stop our DeathBringer from killing us, but how to protect us from becoming one of his victims.”

     “I don’t want to do this either.” Divonna slowly looked around at the other Meavals there. “But I can think of only one way for us to protect all of us. Whether we have Young Ones or not. We all need to live together in this Weather Shelter for the next nine days this week.”

##

     With an ashy body from head to foot still smoking slightly, a DeathBringer stood next to a large tree looking at his next victim. He didn’t seem to care if anyone saw him or not. Maybe he even wanted them to care. After all, he was looking at Divonna and the other adults leaving the Weather Shelter across from where he was.

     Divonna and some of the other Meavals near her stopped after they saw why Divonna suddenly stopped on her way to her transport. She was staring at their DeathBringer. All the other Meavals outside their transports stopped too. Divonna pointed at their DeathBringer. Most of the other Meavals there did too.

     Leaning her head back, Divonna started screaming. The other Meavals around her started doing the same thing. Nearby, a group of Young Ones heard this. They came running toward the screaming to surround the adults. Now the adults there were surrounded by about a hundred Young Ones. The three Divonna was looking at not too long ago were now right in front of her.

     “So, they think this will protect them from me killing anyone. It won’t. I already know who my next victim is going to be.”

##

     Slowly, with their backs to the adults there, the Young Ones surrounding them walked back into the Weather Shelter. They didn’t stop protecting them until they were back in the large room overlooking that DeathBringer below them. Divonna could see him from the large open window there.

     “It looks like whoever said our DeathBringer only kills among the trees is wrong,” said Divonna while still staring at their DeathBringer as the other Meavals there started sitting down. The Young Ones still surrounding them. “I think our DeathBringer is going to kill one of us.”

     “Didn’t say our DeathBringer only killed among the trees,” shouted a female Meaval while she sat down. “I said our DeathBringer preferred to kill us among the trees.”

     Divonna returned to face the other adults and now Young Ones there. Only now she did it with three Young One who were surrounding her. “It doesn’t matter what you said. All that does matter is our DeathBringer is going to kill one of us. And I don’t think our Young Ones will protect us from him killing anyone.”

     “It may slow him down a little.” Divonna sent her Young Ones to be with the others. “But it won’t stop him.”

##

     Looking out the large window alone again, Divonna could see their DeathBringer was started to walk toward them. “I have been thinking of a way to kill our DeathBringer. And I think I know how we can kill him.”

     “Extreme Hot couldn’t kill him. But maybe Frozen White Water can.” Divonna pushed the red button on top of a short thin metal device in her hand. The Frozen White Water began to fall on and around their DeathBringer almost instantly. It only took a few minutes to cover and freeze him where he stood. Divonna could barely hear what he was saying.

     “Been in constant pain ever since you tried to kill me five years ago this week. That’s one of the reasons why I have been killing you. I knew that sooner or later you would find a way to kill me. To stop my pain. You have finally done it.”

     Divonna and some of the other Meavals, including a lot of Young Ones, were watching as their DeathBringer exploded into a million Frozen White Water pieces. “Now we know how we can kill all of the other DeathBringers on Meaval.”

Word Count = 1991