“The grass is soft here. Maybe I’ll just wait a bit longer.” Amidst the lonely
forest a man lay sprawled on the ground, his head resting on a gnarled tree root. It was
comfortable, at least compared to the other places he had slept recently. Life for him had
become tiresome. He wanted nothing more than to just die, but for some reason, every
time he was faced with danger he felt a need to survive.
It had been six weeks since he had seen another human in the wasteland that
surrounded what used to be the Pioneer 1 colony. He was sure that there wasn’t another
soul on Ragol. Everything and everyone had been destroyed. The small bit of forest near
the central dome was all that was left above ground that was worth looking at. Letting
his eyes roll back he drifted to sleep, not knowing or caring about what might happen if
he never woke up.
Thunder clouds were collecting above him when he awoke. It was much later in
the day, and he was getting hungry. Standing up he rubbed the back of his head to matte
the hair down that had been knotted by his hard pillow. Closing his eyes, the man
listened to the air, waiting for the sound of dinner....... And there it was. The flutter of
rappy wings set his stomach to rumbling. Grabbing the sword he left leaning on the tree
he started towards the sound of the rappy.
His weapon was a trophy of war, a large sword, shaped like the bowie knife he
used in the military. It wasn’t as good as some of the other swords he had used, but it
was sharp enough to maim a hildebear or two.
A log was laying across his path, blocking the way towards dinner. Stepping up
onto it the tree cracked and broke through, rotted to the core. Pulling his foot out he
stumbled and fell to the ground. As he picked himself up, something fell from his neck.
The chain that held his dog tags had broken, and they now lay on the forest floor.
Picking them up he read inadvertently read them
Ramses McGowan
General First Class
00376400271
10/3/4041
Catholic
It was a name he wanted to forget. A name that concealed so much hurt that he
dropped to the ground under the weight of his soul. It was this name that ordered the
destruction of Pioneer 1, this name that killed 250,000 people in the blink of an eye, and
it was this name alone that had survived. Ramses stood again, gave one last look at the
tags, and threw them as hard as he could into the forest. His stomach growled in protest.
He continued on his way.
In a clearing his saw the rappy, pecking at the ground for pellets of food. As
Ramses stepped forward the rappy took notice. It began to waddle towards him, in the
way they had when he had first arrived here. He thought to himself, “Maybe this one
wasn’t effected by the poisons, perhaps there are a few left.”
As the duck waddled up to him he looked at it. It didn’t show any signs of
infection. It quacked a few times as it stared up at Ramses, blinking every few seconds.
Ramses gathered his courage he had and put a hand out to pet it. The rappy’s eyes turned
from blue to black, and it bore its fangs as it lunged for the meat dangling in front of it.
Ramses pulled back and swung his sword around, relieving the beast of it’s head. A few
minutes later he had a fire going. And less than a half an hour later, dinner was served.
Night was fast approaching, and Ramses was tired of climbing trees trying to find
a good nights rest. Tired and bored, he set up camp in the meadow. Soon enough he was
drifting off to sleep. He didn’t dream, he never had. His father told him that dreams
were for the weak, and only those without a purpose in life had them. Maybe those
words had always stuck in the back of his mind, subconsciously prohibiting him from
thinking as he slept.
Hours later the silence of the night was broken by the patter of rain on the leaf
covered ground. There was a rustle from the trees around him, almost impercievable
over the rain. Ramses awoke, but didn’t dare move. If an animal sensed him as dead,
then it might leave him alone. Darting his eyes left and right he tried to catch a glimpse
of what was out there, but nothing was visible. He risked moving to a leaning position.
He saw them.
A pair of red eyes stared at him from the darkness. The height of them told him it
was a wolf, but for some reason it wasn’t circling him, like they do their prey. Then
something caught his eye from the left. Another pair of eyes staring him down. Soon
afterward, towards the right, he saw another. A low moan from behind told him there
was another at six as well. He knew that the wolves had seen him, and it was no use in
playing dead anymore. He stood and drew his sword, using his GI torch to aid his vision.
That was a mistake.
As the plain was lit up, it revealed his true enemies. There weren’t any wolves,
but Hildebears, four of them. The half ape half bear beasts were sniffing the ground,
looking for food. Ramses looked around, trying to see what had drawn their attention.
Near the ashes of his fire he saw left over rappy meat was laying on the ground. That
was a rookie mistake, he was getting soft.
The Hildebears stood to full size, and Ramses noticed another problem. One of
them had a deep blue coat. It was a Hildeblue, their leader. When Ramses had first
arrived on Ragol there was a hierarchy set in place by all of the animals. The scientist
thought they had succeeded in destroying that with their mind-altering poisons, but this
was irrefutable proof that they had not. Ramses looked around for options. He spotted a
soft blue glow around a small hill. A teleporter was still active. He decided he had to
make a dash for it.
Grasping his sword tightly, the now heavy rain washing down his face, Ramses
swung at the Hildebear to his left. He sliced its chest open. Blood gushed from the
wound, but Ramses knew that would only slow it down. The other three ‘bears let out
their monkey-like roar. One swung at him, but he ducked underneath it. Another struck
him from behind, but his photon shield deflected it. There wasn’t much time, and he had
to find an opening. The beasts crowded to his front, and allowed him an exit. He rolled
towards the hill and stood to run at full gait. He was cut short three strides into his run as
he slipped on the ground and slid the next few feet. Knowing there wasn’t time to get up
he rolled into the telleported and activated it with his body weight.
He found himself in the world between worlds, the blackness the engulfed the
space between teleporters. The familiar blue rings surrounded him and guided the
general to the other side. As the world came back into focus he looked around to see
where he was. After getting his bearings, he began to chuckle. He had only been
teleported twenty feet. Luckily, it was twenty feet up. Looking over the wall he saw the
angry hildebears sniffing the teleporter and roaring in objection. Then the unthinkable
happened. A hildebear stepped onto the pad and dissapeared. Ramses stood, shocked.
As a precaution, all non humans who stepped on teleporters were electrocuted. The
security had been shut off.