Creeping around the edges, making sure I kept as much cover between me and the cow-like silhouettes milling around the top of a nearby hill, now no more than a few hundred yards from me, I tried to keep my breath and thunderous heartbeat steady.

The short distance I had travelled had taken me, what felt like, years as I carefully picked my path out in the pale red moonlight, keeping to the shadows and contours of the land as much as I could. It didn't help that I regularly stopped to check my surroundings, making sure the breeze was heading in my direction as I listened for any threat.

I was by no means an expert and had no experience in stalking anything other than my fridge or whoever was carving the Sunday roast so I could get the best bits, but I used every ounce of knowledge I had to try and increase the chance that I wouldn't be spotted. I didn't even know what the white, cow-like creatures were, let alone their capabilities but I decided to take no chances. For all I knew, they could be a tip of a flesh eating plant, designed to lure in unsuspecting creatures before slowly digesting them over countless weeks.

I silently chuckled to myself realising that my paranoia might actually be extremely useful in this world.

It was also weird that the most helpful bits of information, even if I didn't know they were any use, were the copious amounts of so called, useless knowledge, that I had picked up from animal documentaries, books and the occasional youtube video. In fact, I had so many ideas on how to approach this problem it was more of a struggle to sort the crap from the good than to decide on a course of action.

I sighed, probably louder than I should have as I took a quick peek to make sure my targets haven't moved too far or heard me.

My thoughts were starting to drift in the deafening silence.

What can I say? I had been crippled by the constant stimulus of the 21st century, and my brain seemed to like to fill in the boring gaps with rubbish instead of doing its job and paying attention to help its body to survive. The latest diversion was in the form of my favourite naturalist. I was trying to recall everything I knew about how predators stalked their prey, but as the fountain of knowledge started to run dry, he had turned against me like all my other sources.

-"And the human, naked as a Jaybird, stalks his elusive prey," said a David Attenborough-like voice in my mind. -"Though its chances are nearly non-existent, and it has no clue to what its doing, its stubbornness and pride are a testament to its stupidity as it continues to stalk its unknown prey."

"Shut it brain." I hiss under my breath, realising my mistake almost immediately.

-"We now see that the strain is too much for the weak human mind, and, while talking to a figment of his imagination, has potentially ruined what little chance he had. Who knows if he has what it takes to survive in this grass waste-"

My internal mocking is cut short as I stand on another, very painful, sharp stone and suck in a deep breath, so I don't scream something so vile, it would cost the lives of countless kittens somewhere.

-"Why the hell are there so many blood sharp stones in a damn grassland?"

Kicking the stone away, too small to be used for anything other than hobbling a poor, soft footed creature like myself, I released my breath and crouch down.

Repeatedly taking a few calming breaths, as the anger once again threatened to take control, I wearily check the shadows around me because, with the way things have been going recently, I am pretty sure Life hasn't finished shiting on me yet.

After a few moments, I had beaten the rage into submission, pushing it deep down into its cage and thrown away the key. Yes, the entrance to the cage may be an old wooden door, rotting and looking like it could fall apart at the drop of a hat but it was all I could manage at the moment. Self-restraint had never been one of my strong points.

-"This world is really trying to piss me off."

Flexing my muscles as best I could, hearing a slight pop, without moving too much, another trick I had picked up from somewhere; I tensed my stomach as the cramps continued. The pain wasn't half as bad as earlier, but it was still rippling through my body as my thirst attempted to drive me insane. It was like you had died, was mummified in hell, resurrected in the middle of a dessert before being staked in the sun and had half a ton of salt poured into your mouth.

Usually, I would berate myself for such comparisons, my parents and society had long ago beaten into me the theory that because I was born privileged, as in I didn't have to fight to survive on a daily basis, I had no right to complain about thirst or hunger. For that matter, Not finishing everything on your plate, even if you were stuffed, was almost considered a sin. No wonder we had obesity problems.

-"This isn't Earth, so I can complain all I want. No one here to listen to me anyway."

Just thinking about the warped logic that modern society had somehow come up with, even in the age of science and enlightenment, caused me to grind my teeth.

I wouldn't consider myself a smart man, I was far from it, but most of the concepts were either ludicrous to me or, more often than not, so blatantly benefited someone else while putting you at a disadvantage that you had to be a complete moron to go along with the flow. Unfortunately, most people I knew fell into this category.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

'Oh, sorry for being born like I am, I will make amends to every other person who isn't me. Here, take my heart and a pound of flesh. Can we be friends now? No? OK.' What a stupid concept. It was almost as ridiculous as when a minority or discriminated group decided that equality meant that they were above everyone else while using the same techniques on others that left them feeling so downtrodden. It was bizarre. To me, it seemed that the people that screamed about equality most were often the ones who abused it so blatantly.

I shook my head, realising that I was making the same mistake. For the actions of a few, I was painting everyone with the same brush. Yes, there were theories that it was just human nature, that we needed to categorise everything, or we would grind to a halt with sensory overload, but the human race had somehow convinced itself that we were not animals but something better. And I don't mean the negative stereotype of calling someone an animal but the flesh and blood, bone and sinew type.

I am pretty sure we just got to the top of the food chain and became arrogant, not that we reached some enlightened point in our evolution but meh, the crab people hadn't arisen to put us in our place yet and I wasn't even on Earth anymore.

As I continued to think about my old world and hangups, I start to feel better.

Minus the small pit deep in my stomach from not being able to remember anyone of any significance in my life, this was a fresh start, wasn't it? Without the world's cultural and religious logic, generally to keep those in authority, in power, as they point the middle finger at those below them, this world technically was 'pure', and we were free to start again.

Not that I ever did anything about the way things worked on Earth, I was too busy putting on masks to fit in, then dealing with the shit that happened when I dropped myself in it and people saw the real me.

It wasn't that I was an axe wielding psycho. I had no criminal record and those who were just acquaintances often sung my praises, but I was most certainly not the norm and more often than not, what people saw sent them running for their pitchforks and flaming torches screaming burn the heretic.

I learnt very quickly to suppress my thoughts and fit in. The nail that sticks out gets the hammer as my grandfather once said.

The pit in my stomach grows and for the first time since waking up. I miss something badly and feel a tightness behind my eyes. The feeling isn't the normal missing of something. It is grief, regret, anger and helplessness.

I guess my grandfather was no longer of either world. Sure, hope it isn't true that we only truly die when people forget us.

I feel my head start to hurt. I had always believed that memories were what made our personalities but, I seemed to be acting and thinking as usual, excluding the artificial calm. If that was the case, then what makes us who we are? I had huge gaps of critical people which should of pretty much defined me yet my memories fit with my actions.

Shaking my head to dislodge the impending philosophical debate, I return to my feet and notice the creatures had moved closer.

-"Crap, just how deep in thought did I just go."

Clenching my jaw, I remind myself I can't let that happen here. One wrong move or moment of distraction, and I could be dead. Yes, I hadn't seen any evidence that this place was as dangerous as I thought it was, but from what I knew, and what that damn voice had told me, I was starting to believe more and more that this planet was a petri dish of components. One in which I was only a small, insignificant part which more than likely, would be used as a building block for something else's benefit.

-"I need to get stronger. Quickly."

Straining every sense I had, forcing myself to pay attention every to detail, I restarted my slow march forward as I slid into the shadows lower down the hill.

One of my biggest weaknesses at the moment was knowledge. Once I had got myself sorted, I needed to find the other humans and learn what they had gained from the voice. I was running blind, over an old bridge that spanned a void and I didn't like it one bit.

Forcing my heart beat to slow as I continued my deep, almost silent breaths, I suddenly stopped as a realisation hit me like a speeding truck.

Not only was I controlling my heart rate and breath at a phenomenal level, not that I could control it before, and that my movements had become more natural and silent, but I could see very clearly, even as the blue world was disappearing behind the curve of the planet.

I could see in the dark.

-"Adaptive mutation." My brain spun as it started to put things together and then, almost as fast, finding dead ends, questions and black holes of doom, ground to a halt.

Almost releasing a snarl, I pushed the thoughts from my head. Now was not the time. I needed to find out if those white furred cows had sharp teeth, horns, laser eyes or other hidden weapons. 

Adaptive mutation initially seemed beneficial, but when it sounded like every creature on this damned planet had it, and no two might be the same, it very quickly descended into the luck of the draw when encountering another creature. The laws of nature did not apply here.

I swallowed as I continued to suppress my presence and analyse my surroundings. If the cow creatures were dangerous, one of two things would happen. I would die, or I would set the record for fastest human in this world.

Suddenly, a cold tingle swept over my skin and my heart skipped a beat, causing me to drop into a crouch, feeling, rather than seeing, that I was in danger.

Part of me wanted to believe that I had just freaked myself out over the cows, but deep down I knew.

I wasn't alone.

My steady heartbeat echoed in my ears as my eyes continuously scanned the surroundings, searching for anything that would give me a clue on what I was dealing with.

Without knowing the limits of this adaptive mutation, anything could be out there, looking at the new arrival while smacking its lips in anticipation of the feast to come.

Time slowly passed, and I grimaced. The feeling wasn't leaving. I was the prey. -"Not good."

A flicker of a shadow drew my attention, causing my head to snap to the left and muscles to tense, ready to dodge, run or even attack if I had to.

Sure I had no weapons, but if I was going to die, I was at least going to try and cause some damage.

A quote from a film I once watched lightened my plummeting mood somewhat. -"I hope I give you the shits."

My stomach painfully cramped as the last of the moisture in my mouth left. I somehow knew I was running on empty, but that wasn't important right now. Survive now, eat later.

Slowly, as if wanting to create as much fear in me as possible, the ground bulged and then split, revealing a large, dog sized creature.

Even though I could somewhat see with my recent adaptation, the creature had come from the darkest shadows at the foot of the hill so I could only make out rows of foot long spikes, running down its back and sides and a whip like tail.

The tail swayed slowly, from side to side as if to distract me as the mutant porcupine-dog thing released a small hiss.

"Fuck."