“DAMN!” he screamed at the top of his lungs. The stick he had tried to use as a weapon had been bitten clean through. His rope was gone, torn apart and scattered to the winds. How could he not have foreseen this??

  Dustin sat on a branch, high in a tree. He was completely surrounded by large bat-like things. They had looked like brown, dead leaves, dangling on the branches, even when he looked a bit closer. But as he started climbing past them, they had started to unfurl. His infravision, or ability to see heat, hadn’t seen their body heat through their wings.

  He seethed, furious with himself, as they chittered to him. The sharp little needles sticking out of their mouths, meant a piece of fruit probably wouldn’t satisfy whatever cravings they might be having, assuming he had a piece of fruit. As his scream faded, they started moving towards him again. They didn’t have eyes, could his scream have stunned them?

  Before he could finish sucking in a breath to test his theory, a large shadow flew overhead, and his breath caught in his throat, choking him. A deep rumble filled the air from whatever it was in the sky, and the bats seemed to scatter. Not a hair was left to show they had been there. Swallowing, he watched as it flew away from the sun, so he could see it a little more clearly.

  It was flat? There was a slight bulge in the middle that was a lighter color than the rest of its body, but otherwise it looked like a glorified rug!

  The thing was easily 3 yards long, and had no identifiable legs or arms. It’s dark purple, circular body, seemed to shimmer and float on the air. Turning smoothly in the air, he saw it was headed back his way. There was no way, he was going to try and take on a beast more than twice his size. Grasping the trunk of the tree, he swung down to the lower branches as fast as he could.

  Dustin hadn’t slept since he arrived on this godforsaken planet. He slipped as he descended. Trying to grab branches, as he fell, he ended up grabbing the leg of a creature he remembered passing by earlier.

  It had been slow moving, eating the leaves off the tree, and paid no attention to him. It’s arms and legs were twig thin and extraordinarily long, close to several yards each. Its course pink fur, helped him keep his grip as he jerked on it from falling. It freaked as it started to lose its grip, and actually grabbed him, and put him on a branch. Nodding in thanks, he made a mental note to investigate these things again, when he wasn’t about to be killed.

  The rest of the trip to the ground was uneventful, the rug having left, and he was intensely grateful. Crouching on the ground, he looked around for killer bugs, tree vines, and animals. There wasn’t water nearby for something to be hiding in, and he didn’t see or smell anything hiding nearby. Could he possibly be safe here?

  An arrow hit the tree, inches from his face.

  Nope, no such luck. He jumped to his feet, and fled.

  He was going to name this planet No Luck Hell.

  Dodging through bushes, he intentionally ran through thick groups of creatures, hoping to lose the hunter among them, and avoided large bodies of water. No reason to invite more trouble from there. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a man-like figure with a bird’s beak on its face. There were colorful feathers of turquoise, violet and silver, sticking out of the top of its head, and it was on a flying bike.

  “No. Freaking. Way!!!!” Dustin turned, and hid behind a tree.

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  The guards had said there would be alien hunters here, the Josagn. He had kind of hoped to avoid them. They traveled alone, and had no problems with using dirty tactics. He waited for the thing to fly by, and jumped at it. A knife skidded over his scales, not managing to penetrate, and he sunk his sharp teeth into the things neck. Its skin was rubbery, once you got past the feathers.

  The scream in his ear, made him flinch, but he dug his teeth in deeper, trying to rip a chunk lose. Succeeding, he lifted his head, and he made sure to look the hunter in the face. There was blood running down his chin as he chewed the meat and swallowed it. The hunter’s eyes were filled with a mixture of anger and terror.

  Grinning, he grabbed the knife right before they hit a tree and careened out of control. Dustin went flying, hitting the ground hard. The bird man hit just as hard, not far away, but unlike Dustin, didn’t get back up. The bike landed in a smoldering pile two yards away, causing him to dodge flying debris. Pulling the knife out of the ground, he admired it, finally feeling accomplished.

  Things were coming. Jumping up, he grabbed the body, and headed over to the bike. He looked over it quickly, grabbing several things, before disappearing into the brush. Running ten yards or so, he paused to search the body for anything that might be salvageable. The smell of blood was intoxicating, and he knew he couldn’t take the body any further. Ripping a piece of fabric from the alien’s shirt, he wiped as much of the blood off himself, as he could. The same type of creature that had died to the vines, would come for him again.

  As that thought entered his mind, he considered something. Glancing around, he saw several trees that he could recognize by now that were not dangerous. He would climb high enough they couldn’t get him, and take the time to watch them. He might learn something.

  Besides, he was too tired to run away from them this time.

  Climbing the tree closest to the body, he stopped as soon as the things drew close. They were following the smell of blood.

  Each one that entered the clearing had the same features as the first one he had encountered. Four eyes studied their surroundings, spying the body quickly, and even him, high in the tree. The largest watched him, pausing for a moment, until it was certain he wasn’t moving, before continuing to the body. He found it interesting that the eyes could move independently so that one eye remained on him at all times.

  The other two were smaller, their fur not changing colors as they moved. He realized, with a jolt, that this was a family. The two small ones nuzzled the larger one, and it snarled at them. They mewled, pitifully, as it went over to the body and ripped it apart. They nuzzled it for a bit, before they finally figured out how to eat it. Then, once it was gone, they licked each of their six paws, as if not to miss a single morsel.

  He studied their every movement from the time they entered the clearing, until they left, unsatisfied from the paltry meal. Could the larger one, that had died, have been a parent? Maybe the mother, since they still wanted to nurse?

  Shaking his head, he didn’t care. It was time to move again. He had to find some place he could sleep.

  Moving as silently and stealthily as he could, Dustin traveled for several more hours before he finally found a place he thought might work. He was so tired by this time, that if it didn’t work, and he got eaten, he probably wouldn’t know it.

  A tree had fallen, taking several others with it. There was a wonderful hollow, for him to crawl into, but as he went to investigate, a hiss filled the area. He barely fell back onto his butt, to avoid getting bit. The snake had arms??

  Rising up, it flared out a white hood, with huge midnight black eye spots. Dustin was too tired to react before it bit him this time. As the fangs slid into his chest, he grabbed its neck, far behind the venom sac, and squeezed. It flailed, grabbing him with its arms, and wrapping itself around him. He grinned and bared his teeth, then squeezed and twisted, flexing every muscle he had, to rip the fangs out of his chest.

  SNAP.

  It stopped moving, but Dustin didn’t notice. He was too busy scraping its blood, flesh, bone, scales, whatever, off his hand into the port of his PED.

  (GENETIC MATERIAL ACQUIRED. BEGINNING ANALYSIS)

  (AVAILABLE EVOLUTIONS: CLINGING, CONSTRICTION ATTACK, ENHANCED REFLEXES, FLEXIBILITY, VENOM BITE, VENOM IMMUNITY)

  “Initiate evolution,” he whispered, falling back, not even aware of the options. The venom was shutting down his system. His vision was going black, and he knew that he was spasming.

  (EVOLUTION INITIATED)