Part 1: World of War
A man, a young lieutenant in a world full of war, is suddenly welcomed with bright trees and a red hue of surroundings. Nothing makes sense. The last thing he could remember was relaxing during the rare, and unpleasant, mealtime everyone was given. And then he could remember people dropping like flies, blisters on their skin and their faces flushed red. He remembered everyone panicking, rushing to put on their gas masks before the deadly air killed them off. He can remember being the first one to put it on, his years of training making it an easy reflex. And then he thought long and hard, snippets of the event scrambling through his mind. Until one stuck as if caught on a fly trap. A young man, maybe 18, was fumbling around with his pouch that was given to every soldier. He could tell he was a new recruit, most likely a messenger. Yet, the teen didn't seem to have his mask. He watched the kid panic, eyes meeting through the fog and something possessed him to march toward the kid. The young man flinched back, trying to hold his breath and plug his nose. Until the man reached him, yanked his own mask off after taking a huge breath of air, and placed it on the young man's head. The soldier jumped, staring into his eyes. He nodded respectfully to the teen before grabbing his gun and walking towards the edge of his troop's trench.
"Soldier, where's your mask!?" He heard his superior yell at him through the haze. He glanced at the lieutenant but continued his journey, his oxygen running low. He stepped on the pile of dry dirt to make him tall enough to reach over the trench with his gun. Then he fired all of his rounds at the enemy making them drop almost as fast as his team did. Everyone was watching and yelling at him, and yet they all pitched in and started firing rapidly. Finally, the small platoon was obliterated. Clearly, they were depending on the gas to wipe everyone out. America wins again.
He felt light-headed and before he could stop himself, he opened his mouth and gasped in huge gulps of the toxic air. Blisters appeared across his body, his vision became weak and everything felt as if it was burning. He collapsed, few soldiers caring as this was the everyday thing now. However, he could remember the very same teen he gave his gas mask to, drop down next to him. The teen tried to give him back the mask but he held up a hand and shook his head. He saw a future for this boy, one better than the army could provide, and he wanted the kid to see it through. Slowly, the man lost all feeling of his body before everything went dark with an echoing ring surrounding him.
Sebastian wakes from his referee by a rustle in the bushes. He looks behind him, his hands darting to the different weapons strapped on his person. Instinct kicks in as he slowly backs away and analyzes his surroundings. Personal experience taught him to never walk towards something that is causing suspicion. He watches the bush closely until another sound catches his attention. A scream. He spins around, searching for the source of the sound. However, that left his back turned to the bush. Something leaps out at him, clawing into his back from behind. He grunts before painfully flipping over, causing the beast to let go of him. Before he can react, the beast grabs his ankle and starts to drag him across the forest floor.
Why was he in the forest, again? Oh, yes, another blackout. He has those repeatedly- a result of fighting in a war for fifteen years, training for another nineteen before he was severely injured. He still has the scars and the signs of disgusting blisters covering his body. He can never sit still, and many times he blacks out- watching his past as his body moves without permission. He curses himself. Even with all that time in the army, he can't even keep his guard up long enough to avoid these things. So, instead, he reaches for the hidden gun in the back of his jeans. He never goes anywhere without it, even subconsciously at this point. He takes a minute to aim, though he isn't sure what spot would count as a weakness on the strange creature. It has green skin and orge-like features, including white eyes and a huge snarly face with sharp teeth.
So, going for a guess, he shoots it in the eyes. The creature gives off a nasty snarl, letting go of his leg and rubbing at its eyes. He can tell it doesn't do any real damage, unsurprisingly, and so he quickly leaps up and starts running away, ignoring the flaring pain in his ankle and the blood pouring from his back. He's endured much worse before. He barely gets five feet in before the creature comes leaping back. He does his best to avoid it, leaping over its green hands and ducking when it tries to tackle him. That spares him enough time. Someone clearly heard his yells as another shot is aimed at the beast, a shot that hadn't belonged to his gun. He does not deem it necessary to look at his new companion or the beast and just continues to sprint through the trees. Until a man latches onto his arm and starts pulling him in a different direction. Sebastian automatically yanks his arm out of the stranger's grasp and as the man turns to argue with him, the soldier continues to run in the same direction. Sebastian knows he can't fight that thing alone, he isn't about to abandon the only person available to give him assistance.
Finally, the stranger catches up with him. He leads Sebastian to a camping site that's destroyed, however, there are three more people sitting around. The tallest man runs towards the two, going to grab Sebastian's shoulder to help him walk, but he shoves the man off as well. He could handle himself with that much. The tall man looked to the one that was with the soldier when he went running, and Sebastian can tell the man was asking a question. They must be brothers. The only time Sebastian's seen that connection is with certain siblings and, very rarely, the best of friends. He continues to ignore everyone, though, and instead decides to plop down on a random log, still in the 'magical circle'. He rips off his boot, looking at the damage done to his ankle. He can't see his back nor reach out to fix it at the moment. Everyone's watching him but he continues to analyze the wound. It has five gnarly slashes where the beast tried to grab him and a large bruise. He can tell it was going to swell after running on it, he's surprised that it isn't already swollen.