I woke to the sounds of insects shrilling, it was morning and the sun was filtering through the heavy foliage above, warming spots of my body...I rolled over sat up and leaned against a tree trunk, my limbs aching in protest looking around trying to get my bearings while I stretched out my legs, but everything looked the same, the light green foliage and dark hazelnut woody trunks, My memory was hazy the last thing I remember was running through the dark forest stumbling over roots and knocking into trees trying to find my squad as a dark phantom stalked me during the night.
As I rose I noticed parts of my kit had been throw on the ground from my fall, after a few minutes of collecting I went what I had, my standard issue Guard lasgun with its folded wire stock, three spare power clips plus the clip in my lasgun, two fragmentation grenades, Combat knife and its bayonet housing, Three and a half days' worth of food ration packs, 2 fire bricks, a water proof poncho and my vox bead , being of no use as the forest cut vox Transmissions to mere metres due to the resonation in the sap contained within the xeno trees.
I looked down at myself before I set off; my dark green combat gear was partially covered in the yellowy dirt of this world and there was a strange dent in my helmet, probably from the rock on the ground that was where I fell, after a few minutes searching for any bruising, I give thanks to the Emperor and set off in the direction that I had been laying in when I got up, grudgingly at first but picking up pace as my legs got back into the routine and I headed off into the forest.
End of chapter 1