MineZ: The End is Here
"Hello?" he said into the radio, the only answer seemed to be a whine of static from the peculiar radio but he tried again and held the strange device up to his lips. "Hello is anyone there?" he tried again as he walked down the beach, he was walking steadily down the grass with the gray and briny ocean on his right, sloshing off into the southern horizon. Pausing he held the spherical device up in the air but received nothing more but another stuttering wave of static.
The man had woken up further down the coast in the swampy west a few hours ago and had been moving ever since. He had woken up with an old backpack strapped on, a cracked leather chestplate, a rustic sword, and the radio which wasn't working. The first thing he had seen was the coast leading into the east and the western swampy marshes; he had chosen the one that seemed to be the safest. For some reason he saw that when there was any signs of people it was always on the coast, right on the beach that lead into the gray ocean.
For the past few hours he had looked through the backpack and had found a water bottle, the radio, a small box full of gauzes and bandages and a strange slip of paper. The backpack was full of strange little things but the slip of paper was the oddest; printed on it was a black handprint and under it where several red symbols that meant nothing to the man. He had also inspected the backpack and found what appeared to be a custom made loop for the sword to be held and a small logo for the "North Maine Trading Company" also trademarked as the NMTC.
So the man had walked down the beach for several hours now watching as the sun passed from the zenith of the midday downwards to the west behind him. Whilst trying to get a signal on his radio the man, out of pure boredom, had also looked at the small black cut out of him sprawled out in front of him that was getting taller as the sun sunk behind him. As he tried the radio every few minutes (it didn't even seem to run on batteries) the man also considered what had happened to everyone else in the world.
Several times the man considered going into the pine forest that appeared to his left but it seemed to become very foreboding whenever he thought about going into it. It was like a natural instinct in his brain, north was dangerous, so the man had continued east with the strange spherical radio in hand. Also, sometimes the man thought just out of the corner of his eye he could see a (or maybe a few) shapes move in the darkening shadows of the pine forest.
Trying the radio once again the man looked up into the sky and saw that the sun was now a smear of orange on the horizon, collapsing into magenta. Stretching the man wondered what he should do now, night was falling and pale stars where already starting to shine in the darkness of the sky. Going out in the dark, the man considered to himself, was probably not the best idea; the memories of those shapes darting in the thicket of the forest kept coming back to him.
If he had a light though, the man thought and continued to make short strides down the beach as the magenta on the horizon darkened into blackness. Shrugging the man unslung his backpack and dropped the radio inside and took out the water bottle, taking a quick swig the man looked around the area. The coast was now cloaked in darkness and not a spot of light was in sight, the moon was starting to rise as well, giving nothing but a strange glow to the unfamiliar landscape.
Sitting down the man muttered to himself about sleeping on the ground as started to drift off to sleep. His eyes fluttered close and just as the first beginnings of a dream played in his head he was yanked out of slumber. The backpack he used as a rough pillow was vibrating! Quickly opening the backpack, he saw that the small radio was letting out a large assortment of static and seemed to be playing some kind of rough transmission!
Excited he looked around and saw that there was a shape up ahead. It seemed dressed in a similar armor outfit that the man was but the figure was mostly in shadow under the glare of the moon and was walking towards the coast. As the man moved forward towards the figure he suddenly realized something. The figure had come out to the south which meant it had stumbled onto the coast from the north and from out of the forest; this thought made the man pause.
Looking at the shape in the moonlight, the man studied it carefully and saw that it seemed to be swaying as the shape stumbled towards the beach. Unlike the darting shadows that the man had seen earlier this shape seemed to be perfectly human and was moving rather slowly; if it was a human then they were in need of help. It was this thought the made the man run towards the figure which swayed into the surf of the ocean and then collapsed in the swell of a wave.
Sprinting towards the person the man saw that the figure that had lurched out of the forest was now lying face down in the wet sand. Coming closer the man saw the figure was wearing a dirty leather helmet and had on thick leather boots as well; taking the figure's arms the man dragged the shape away from the water. Flipping the figure over the man saw that it was actually a woman with long brown hair clasped behind the leather helmet. He also saw that the rough neck of an arrow sprouted from her side and three nasty scrapes were on her arm.
"Hey!" the man called to her, "hey can you hear me?!" and after a few minutes of quick shouts at her the woman's eyes flickered open. The man noticed an empty quality in them, whoever this woman was she was dying. Opening her mouth a small groan came out but then her head rolled over. Calling to her again the woman snapped back into attention and her eyes flared open, looking at him.
"I don't have anything please don't," whatever she said was lost when the brief energy she had quickly faded away. Her head rolled to one side with a small trickle of blood coming from her mouth.
"No!" the man shouted at her in concern, "stay with me, please," he said to her. He didn't want the first person he met to die on him and after pulling her face from lolling to one side she sucked in a painful breath again.
"Who, who are you?" she asked as her eyes tried to focus on the man.
"My name's Michael," the man quickly called, "we need to get you help," Michael breathed out and instantly went to his backpack and pulled out the gauze and bandages.
"Won't help," the woman rasped and then after coughing out a short streamlet of blood she stopped breathing. Taking a few steps away Michael watched as her hand went limp and let out her own version of the radio. Horrified that the woman had died, Michael was already looking around with a million thoughts buzzing in his head.
Right as he was about to start going up the beach and into the east something seemed to draw his eye. The radio the woman had let roll out of her hand suddenly seemed to be his center of attention. Quickly scooping it up so he wouldn't have to be next to the dead body he brought it up to his eyes and looked over it. He noticed that on the very bottom was a small black circle with "NMTC" printed on it and almost burned near the top of it was a black handprint.
When he saw the black handprint it almost didn't register but when it did he let it drop to the ground like it was burning. The radio hit the ground with a small cough of static and rolled away towards the ocean. Picking it up again Michael suddenly came to the realization that something was on his hands, something that was sticky and still warm. In the faint moonlight he could see the radio had a few patches of deep scarlet on it. In disgust he let out a sharp cry and hurtled the radio in the ocean; for a few seconds while in the air it seemed to almost let out a dull glow but then it fell into the water.
Leaning down into the ocean, Michael cleaned his hands and upon drying them on the ancient leather chestplate stood back up. Turning back he looked down the beach to where the woman was, the only change being that her body wasn't there. He couldn't see from his distance but strange disorganized tracks trailed from the place where the woman died to the forest, the woman however was still dead.
Shaking his head and pulling the rustic sword from the backpack loop the man continued forward.
A/N: So what do you think? This and the first few chapters will be a bit a long; hope you guys don't mind. And, yes, things will get a bit more action-y as we get further along but for now things will be a bit simple. Remember to drop a review just for the heck of it and maybe fav/follow it to become an official Bucketier!
