Avatar: A Few Brave Terrans
20 years before the Battle of Pandora, this is the story of a rebel who just wanted to people to live free.
Chapter One:
Humanity had forged civilizations on Luna, Mars, Europa, Titian, Pluto, Pandora and even in empty space itself; despite all these settlements in hostile environments, no soul had ever truly had the desire to try and establish a human colony in a certain hot, dank, slimy mess, full of animals ready to eat any unlucky soul that crossed them and insects that could kill by disease and even by annoyance to the point of insanity. Thus, short of a few hovels that had been made by humans who thought for some reason they would like to life in this methane smelling niche of Terra, this was a spot that was free from the marks of human civilization.
Cody Wright knew this place well, it was deep in his soul. He could track through marshes that looked like carbon copies of each other to the untrained eye for hours and hours without making a single wrong turn. He could see an alligator covered under swamp grass and moss lying completely still from a hundred meters away. He could sense the disturbance from a Resources Development Administration Boat running on silent mode from nearly a kilometer.
So it was here, in his element, in one of the handfuls of places on Terra where the RDA had to lament that its greed and industry could not reach, that he had forged the second largest concentration of rebels in North America; his rebel army was only surpassed in size by the one led by Samuel McCoy in the East Alaska and the Yukon.
This morning, like any other, he woke up, rose gracefully out of his hammock, stretched his arms, then his legs, ate two pieces of alligator jerky, and took in a deep breath of the humid, dank, thick, methane scented air of the Okefenokee Swamp.
With only a quick glance at the sun Cody knew the time exactly, it was 7:15 in the morning, it was already in the upper 20's Celsius, in the mid 80's in degrees Fahrenheit. Humidity was high, of course, and the air was rich with the various smells and stenches that a summer day in the Okefenokee Swamp always held. The foliage was thick all around him, and light filtered in a dozen rich shades of dark and pale greens and yellows.
Cody looked around, to his left he saw the hammock of his second in command, Raul Gomez, then his weapons expert, Tammie Jenkins. He knew just off in the distance was Tyler Wilkins, an infiltration and recruitment expert. He was glad to see he was not here actually. It was a rare occasion that Raul and he slept closer than 100 meters apart, for fear that they were too easy and important of a target for the RDA.
He peeled back some foliage and looked out onto a half dozen more hammocks within eye shot; he watches as several nightwatchmen wake up their replacements before getting some shuteye. Beyond this, across mucky lowlands and perched in the various places of the swamp dry enough to walk or even simply floating on rafts and boats and whatever a human could sleep on, all with a great love for their home and naturally following that a great love and respect for nature. Across the Okefenokee Swamp were individuals who constituted the Terran Alliance.
Cody knew his leadership had been critical in ensuring the Terran Alliance did not splinter. He kept in contact with leaders of rebels in Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, Switzerland, Nigeria, Cambodia, China, Russia, in most any part of the world where a human could carve out an existence if and only if he or she worked with nature and not against it.
He grabbed his bow and slung it over his shoulder, backwards, so the string was across his chest; then he grasped his M-14, an ancient gun that had been passed down for generations, but had proved indestructible in most any environment. Furthermore, it was very good a knocking down RDA agents, and stopping an alligator if need be.
He moved to go and wake Tammie, as he did, he looked at his scarred chocolate colored arms. Trying to remember how he came to have each one, but then, all the burns, cuts, fights, and bug bites blurred together. He looked Tammie over, she was beautiful. Her muscle was well defined and he knew her dark brown eyes held deep emotion as they moved behind her coffee-colored eyelids. He almost did not want to wake her as that would mean another day of not being able to explain how he truly felt about her. In fact, that thought affected him so deeply, it was the only thing in the world he was afraid of he thought, that he turned around and hit Raul gently with the butt of his M-14.
"Morning brother." He said coolly.
"Yep." responded Gomez. He began to clamor out of his hammock, but suddenly failed and fell out onto the ground with a sound somewhere between a groan and a sigh. All this was loud enough to wake Tammie. Who hopped up and grabbed at a knife, as she had woken up from a bad nightmare.
"Whoa! Chill girl!" Said Gomez with alarm as he sat up.
Her brown eyes glowed in the shimmer of the morning sun with the slightest hints of hazel at the pupils and her face was so full of rage. She took a deep breath and lowered her knife.
"Was it about Mars again?" Cody asked compassionately.
She looked startled by this statement, not quite knowing how to react. "Y-yea. It was. Red Sands Base e-explosion." She stuttered , remembering past dreams about events she had lived through. It was a lie though. She could never tell him what her nightmare had really been about, and she had a feeling that by the end of the day it might come true.
Authors Notes: What do you think so far? Sorry if these first few chapters do not blow you away with the action and drama, there's a lot to set up. And, no, this fanfic deals almost none with the movie, there might be some references later on, but nothing big. I promise cool action soon! The premise, in case you were wondering, is taken from the book "Avatar: An Activist Survival Guide." The introduction of the book is written from the prospective of some rebel calling to action anyone who hates the RDA's manufactured lifestyle. Not saying that Cody is that rebel, but just that he is one of those who truly does hate the way the RDA abuses Terra and makes people life in a way that is so programed. Do know that while there is nothing in this chapter that really stands to be rated above K+, I have rated it T for the next chapters and well, looking at some of my later chapters that have not been revised yet, it might just have to be bumped up to M. The plot gets very gritty.
Disclaimer: (the only one I am going post) I do not own any of the Avatar universe, and am not making any money from this. The original characters are mine.