All characters and lore belong to their respective creators
"Speech"
"Thought"
"Song lyrics"
"Why am I still conscious?!"Michael groaned in agony
He had been laying down on some rocks for who knows how long waiting for his body to finish healing itself, he felt like he was burned from the inside-out and hit by a semi-truck going over the speed limit.
All he remembered was a light, then falling for a while and then finally hitting the ground hard. From what he could see in his peripheral; he was in a mountainous area, with the grey sky looming over-head with thunder booming in the distance.
"Give or take my spine is cracked in at least 3 places, arms and legs are fucked, a few cracked ribs, a headache, and worst of all I need to pee." it began to rain heavily as he finished his assessment of the damages his body had received.
"Just my luck", he stated in a matter of fact tone.
Over the rain bearing down on the surrounding area and his own strained breathing he heard the song playing on the iPod.
..and so I sung from my bed: I, I'm ready to die, I'm ready to di~ie, I'm ready to di~i~i~ie…..
"PERFECT!"
"Okay everyone set up camp looks like we can't continue the journey for now." A male voice had spoken from inside a cave someway down the mountain. "Looks like it's going to be heavy storm this time, doesn't seem like it's gonna let up anytime soon."
"At least we found some shelter this time Ascad", a female voice responded, "better then creating a tunnel in a hill and getting us all covered in mud, right?"
Ascad was a large light brown earth dragon, "Hey that could have been worse"; he feigned being offended before putting on amused grin, "I could have brought down more mud on you Frost; because we all know you don't like being dirty." He finished as his grin grew wider remembering fond memories of her overreactions to getting little bits of dirt on her scales.
"Some of us have standards you know", she responded in an annoyed tone, "What would all of the dragons in warfang think of us if we showed up head to claw in mud?", she pauses before put on a small accent, "Look at those uncouth savages mucking up our city, oh their tracking mud into the temple; please remove them before they ruin everything with their filth" she flailed her forelegs dramatically.
"Oh you're just being dramatic", spoke their dark green companion, "from what I've heard the city accepts any who seek refuge within the walls, regardless of their situation. I heard they even accepted that cinder girl a long time ago."
"No doubt she's to blame for what happened all those years ago when the world broke apart", spoke up another inside the cave, "honestly what were they thinking when they accepted her into their city, a monster like that only deserves a slow death."
"Don't you think that's a little harsh flare? Sure she did some bad stuff, but everyone deserves a second chance."
"She caused years of suffering, Terra; she caused countless deaths, and broke so many families apart with all the people she murdered. Worst of all she had the gall to plead innocent and blame someone for "controlling" her!" Flare nearly yelled in frustration.
"Hey now that's all in the past, besides you heard of Malefor right? He probably forced her to do all of that stuff", Ascad countered
"She deserves some redemption flare, you've got to let all of that stuff go." Terra added
"Although I don't whole-heartedly agree, she at least deserves a chance flare." Frost added as well
Flare stared at them in disbelief, and then stomped away in an annoyed huff
"Terra how's that little girl holding up?" Ascad asked changing the subject
"She's doing well, not entirely surprising though, she was on her own for who knows how long." Terra began, "She's warming up to me and talking at least, she told me her name earlier."
"And her name would be…?" frost inquired
"She told me it was Amily," Terra answered, "She didn't tell me much past that."
"That's certainly a strange name for a young dragoness like her, did she tell you anything else Terra?"
"No, but she'll come around eventually."
"One can only hope", Ascad began, "who knows what she went through out the-"
"PERFECT!" a voice seemed to shout from nowhere
After a few seconds of complete silence Terra spoke up
"Anyone else hear that?"
"No Terra I believe everyone but you went deaf within the last 30 seconds and our hearing is just returning now." Frost answered sarcastically
"I think someone is stuck out in the rain, probably higher up on the ridge." Ascad theorized, "They'll find somewhere to sleep or probably find this cave and join us."
"Well if they do let us hope they're civilized enough to clean themselves off before they come in"
"Frost we're in the middle of practically nowhere, I doubt hygiene will be their top priority." Ascad stated
"Well one can hope now can't they?"
4 hours later
"Well looks like the sun's setting and the storm hasn't let up", Flare stated in an annoyed tone, "Settle in everyone, looks like we're going to have to spend the night here."
"I'll take watch for the night." Terra announced
20 minutes pass as everyone finds a spot to sleep; they each fell asleep as they got comfortable
Terra remained vigilant as the night went on; ensuring that nothing suspicious entered the cave to cause any problems. Sometime passes and she begins to feel sleepy; she gets into a comfortable position and prepares to go to sleep.
…I'M NOT YOUR STANDARD! I'M NOT YOUR VISIONS DIVINE! I AM NO SACRIFICIAL LAMB! JUST WHO DO YOU THINK I AM!? I̢ ̛͘͠A̵M҉ ̶͢D̸͟È̶͏A̶͟T̸͟H! …
She jerked up at the sudden noise and looked around frantically making sure no one had gotten into the cave, after calming down she did a headcount, Ascad hadn't moved, neither had Flare or Frost , she turned her attention to Amily who had been awoken by the noise; she looked terrified and on the verge of tears. Terra spent the next few minutes comforting the young girl; Amily fell asleep after a little small talk, but Terra stayed awake and listened intently to what she was hearing for the remainder of the night.
A couple hours earlier with Michael
"It would help if this armor was waterproof too, but noooo it has to be fireproof", Michael complained as he dragged himself along.
"You'd think the assholes that made this armor would have at least put something to prevent the inside from getting cold." He continued to drag himself along, muttering curses along the way. He had regained the feeling in his arms 12 minutes ago and began looking for somewhere to get out of the rain; his current goal was a small cave a little ways ahead.
"It's bad enough I got fucked up this badly, but my stuff is missing too." He mumbled to himself as he continued to drag himself closer to his goal. After a minute or two of crawling and trying not to get dragged down by mini mudslides he had reached his destination and just plopped down on the spot.
"2 hours, 2 damned hours of lying in the mud with rain hitting my face, at least 18 minutes of crawling on sore arms; and I may just die of hypothermia," He growled angrily before chuckling to himself. "Heh, I kill who knows how many people and walking corpses and I die because I got covered in cold water."
Flipping himself onto his back Michael relaxed slightly
"It could always be worse", he mused "I could be surrounded by the infected, or still in the research labs, or in the basement of those cannibals."
He shuddered at the memory, around the 7th week of their journey he and the others were abducted a group of cannibals.
"What the hell did that fat bastard say to Dom that shook him up so badly anyway?" he started, "Dom…"
"I hope you're in a better place little brother, you deserve peace." he sighed, "Meanwhile I have to do some heroics and prevent the destruction of the human race."
He attempted to move his legs, no movement followed.
"Guess I'm stuck until I'm fixed, it would help if I could take off this damned armor", he complained, "I'm freezing my ass off and this thing is only making it worse."
His eyes felt heavy as he let out a yawn, his shoot wide open afterwards
"Gotta stay awake", he said in a panicked tone, "If you sleep when you're cold you die, right?"
To make things worse the iPod began playing the soothing toon of a music box
"Can't….sleep…need to stay", he yawned, "awake….going to…die if I fall asleep…"
You can only fight your body's natural functions for so long, Michael fell asleep.
Unfortunately that sleep didn't last long because Michael had that dream where you fall down and wake up just before impact.
"FUCK" he shouted as he sat up quickly, a loud snap was heard as this movement followed.
He let out a squeak of pain followed by a long wheezy exhale
The pain he felt ripped his attention away from his surroundings, he didn't try to stop the song currently playing.
…I'm not your gateway! I'm not your prodigal son! I am the vile lesser-than! JUST WHO DO YOU THINK I AM?!...
He laid back down and looked at the "ceiling" of his little spot, no longer worried about hypothermia, just letting music blare as he finally went back to sleep.
8 hours later-back with the dragons
"Alright everyone rise and shine", Ascad announced, "Sun's up and the storm has cleared."
"Finally, sleeping on this rock did no good for my scales." Frost stated
"Frost it's too early in the morning for this." Flare said in an annoyed tone
"What? I'm just saying sleeping on this rock made my scales sore."
"Oh…well yeah, that tends to happen when you sleep on rocks."
"Terra time to-"
"I'm up already, I heard you the first time Ascad." Terra spoke up from her spot looking a little ragged
"You okay Terra? You look like you didn't get much sleep."
"Just had a little trouble sleeping last night Flare, nothing wrong really." That was a small lie on her part
"If you need more time Terra we can-", Ascad began
"No, no, let's keep going", Terra interrupted, "We have a city to get to, and besides; if I do collapse I'm sure Frost can carry me."
"Why do I have to carry you?" Frost inquired, "I'm sure Ascad and Flare are more than capable of carrying you."
"Because you haven't really contributed much to our journey Frost." Terra responded in a matter of fact tone
"Whoa, sensing a little hostility there Terra." Flare said, taken back a little by Terra's words
"It's just that every time we go somewhere she just-", Terra began
"Now's not the time or place for this", Ascad interrupted before an argument could break out between Terra and Frost, "We have a journey to continue on with now don't we?"
"You're totally right Ascad!" Flare quickly added, "It would be great if we could continue travelling now, right Amily?"
Amily shrank back a little before nodding.
"See Terra, even Amily wants to keep moving without some unnecessary squabbling right now!" Flare spoke, interrupting Terra before she could respond
"It's agreed then, we move now without any unnecessary distractions." Ascad said as he picked up Amily and placed her on his back while rushing out of the cave
"Well come on Terra, don't keep us waiting" Flare called over her shoulder as she ran out of the cave
Only Terra and Frost remained in the cave, there was an uncomfortable silence until Frost spoke up
"Well Terra we're alone now; what did you want to say?" Frost inquired in an accusing tone
"Well…it's just that-", before she could finish her sentence a ghostly wail of agony echoed through the cave.
Both dragonesses froze in fear, looked at each other, then sprinted out of the cave towards their companions
"Nice of you two to join us out here." Flare commented as the two of them nearly tripped over each other
"Come on everyone, we've got a lot of ground to cover if we want to reach warfang." Ascad announced
And so their journey had continued, although they were delayed, they continued with just as much enthusiasm.
After they got a good distance, Terra looked back at the mountain and saw something standing just above the entrance to the cave they were resting in; it looked like it was watching them leave.
"Hey Terra you ok?" Flare asked, "You seem a little distracted."
"Hmm? Oh it's nothing flare, just thought I saw something."
"Well come on we're wasting daylight!"
Terra looks back and still sees that it's still standing there; she walks ahead a couple feet and looks back once more to see it has disappeared.
After an hour or two of walking Terra thought back to the cave, and the music she heard. She hadn't heard anything like in all her life: sometimes it was just rhythms, most of the time words would accompany them, with some emotion befitting the rhythms. She began to hum one of the songs she heard.
"What if today was your last, if tomorrow was too late, could you say goodbye to yesterday?" she sang silently to herself as she continued walking
Back with Michael, around the time Ascad, Flare, and Amily left the cave
Michael awoke feeling very sore
"Argh, it feels like I slept on a damn-", he looks around, "Huh, I really did sleep on a rock."
He rose from his resting place; the sound of his bones popping from the lack of movement was very clear in the empty cave. He did a few stretches and listened to his bones popping for any kind of complications.
His back stung a little as he stood at full height, he did a little twist and felt an extreme amount of pain shoot through his body in that short movement.
He let out a pained yell.
After regaining his composure he took off the torso of the body armor and inspected his arms for any complications.
"Only bruises and small scars on the skin, surprised my arms aren't ingrown or something." Then he thought back to the labs, "Right, Dr. Young's notes said something about metal tubing or some shit to keep my limbs from deforming in their experiments. Thanks assholes."
He put the armor piece back on and did the same with his legs, no differences were evident; he then looked at the entrance of the cave
"Well no sense in staying here, time to get going." He said as he stepped out of his little cave
Upon stepping out, he shielded his from the sun light; after his eyes adjusted he got a good view of the landscape around him, nothing but rocks around his area and an expanding forest below, as far as the eye can see.
"Great, the wilderness; getting my stuff back is going to be such…..wait don't I have a-", he said as he reached into the pockets of the armor and pulls out a small object, "tracking device."
He hits the button and waits for the device to pick up on the beacons on his gear, 4 pings resonate from the machine shortly afterwards. He looks at which beacons responded.
"Well that was fast; huh, looks two of them are right….above me?" he turned and looked upwards, just in time to get hit in the face with his own revolver. A crunch could be heard from the impact.
"AGH, damn it, my head." He said as he put a hand to his forehead, then bent down to pick up the fallen weapon; only to get hit in the back with something else.
"It's times like this I think I'm just cursed." He said as he got up and looked at the second object, "Alright which bag is this?"
He bent down and undid the zipper and inspected the contents of the bag.
"Explosives, that's just great."
After counting the contents in the bag, and checking the ammunition within the revolver's cylinder; he pulled out the tracker and hit the button again to check the distance from the other two beacons.
"Hmmm, not that far then, just gotta go down the ridge and check."
He walked along a path leading to small cliff side and looked out onto the forest ahead of him.
"Man, look at that view. Now's not the time for sightseeing." He checked the tracker again, "below me."
He found a safe way down the cliff side and found it was an entrance to a large cave; he picked up rock and threw it into the cave and hid in some bushes. He heard it hit the ground, and he waited for something to come out.
"Well, guess it's empty," he stated after waiting a few minutes, "Time to get my stuff."
After getting up from his hiding place; he walked into the cave without hesitation. The first thing he noticed was how unnaturally warm it was, like a large fire was burning here and just stopped. He pulled out the tracker and hit the button again, he was close.
"Alright, they're right here." He said as he put the tracker into his pocket. "Under some rocks of course."
After removing the rocks he looked at what was underneath.
"Perfect, my electronic equipment, Ivan's notebook and the curtain", he said as he picked up the shotgun, "doesn't look like anything is damaged."
He opened the bag and checked its contents, everything was in check: The laptop, 1ft extension plug, and the camera.
"The most important one." He said as he pulled out a rectangular item, "The "universal" solar charger, capable of charging any electronic equipment that can be charged. You sure were a smart one Daniel, if only you didn't try to kill us; you would have been really helpful."
After inspecting his electronic equipment for any damages, he plugged the iPod into the charger and waited until it was fully charged.
An hour passed as he got ready to leave, he theorized where he was while waiting for the iPod to finish charging.
"Okay Michael you're either:
A) Somewhere in America after some gentek mercs found you on the roof.
B) You're dead, and in purgatory waiting for judgement…..most likely being sent to hell.
C) You were abducted by aliens who have dropped you onto a planet that is full of jungles and plant life, and you will be hunted for sport."
"Well we'll figure it out over time now won't we?" He said as he packed his gear and walked out of the cave.
"Let's see how far we have to go to get everything else back." He said as he adjusted the detection range on the tracker.
The journey begins
End of chapter 1
Michael's equipment
Hades (revolver): 2 bullets
Red-curtain (shotgun): 0 shells
Body armor w/ helmet
Ivan's journal
Dom's iPod
The laptop and camera
7 fragmentation grenades
3 semtex grenades
4 flash grenades
2 incendiary grenades
"Universal" charger
Assorted cables