Andy looked at the corpse of the alien monster he’d just killed one last time before releasing a heavy sigh. He scanned his surroundings, fully taking it in for the first time. He stared, first, at the tree across from his truck. Its massive girth defied logic, the smooth white bark stretching into an unimaginably thick canopy of oval shaped fronds extending from thick branches. He could have sworn he saw birds of some sort briefly before he fought the horrible creature bleeding out next to his truck. Now he saw nothing in the trees, apparently the sound of his pistol was enough to terrify anything within the grove he appeared in, urging them to scatter into the hills.
At that thought he realized the foliage was so thick he couldn’t tell if he was on the top or bottom of a hill. He could barely see through the canopy above, and the look up was quite dizzying, all things considered. The trees stretched into the sky endlessly. He found himself spinning in place, attempting to find something more familiar to focus on. His mind latched onto that last thought as he stood there in slack jawed wonder.
“I need to get out of here. Find others maybe.” He muttered at the treetops absently, “But first I need to prep a little.”
He stepped over to the bumper of his old Dodge, placing one foot on the edge to climb up and inspect the damage the creature had done to his bed cover. With a wince he determined it was significant to the appearance, though, it hadn’t seemed to have penetrated the thick plastic. He reached into his pocket to remove the key to the lock when he noticed the creature on the side of his truck was beginning to glow faintly.
“Now what?” He slid off the bumper and planted his feet a moment before the light around the creature intensified, then began swirling through the air above it, like a worm sticking its head out of the dirt. It seemed to be searching for something, before Andy could question exactly what, the “head” of the glowing light worm snapped in his direction. He froze in fear, watching as whatever it was started to stretch and squirm towards him.
“Oh… OH, HELL NAW!” He barked before stumbling backwards, tripping into the soft dirt to land on his butt and elbows.
Before he could protest further the swirling energy shot towards him like an arrow, billowed around his chest, then slid into his mouth and nostrils just as he was inhaling a panicked breath. He tried to cough, blow his nose, anything, in an effort to expel whatever foreign entity just invaded his person, to no avail. Just as he was about to cry out again in frustration his body briefly seized up, collapsing him completely to the ground.
For a moment he thought it was over. The creature had got the last laugh. A warmth ebbed into his chest, originating from his lungs that seemed to pump through his veins, aided by his rapidly beating heart. When it reached his groin, he thought he might have pissed himself. He stared at the impossible sky as the energy seemed to probe through his body to finally settle in the back of his mind. His body relaxed as the sensation passed, leaving him bewildered and confused.
“What in the actual…?” He sat up, about to curse when he noticed a sensation he couldn’t describe. It was like a thousand eyes were looking at him naked on the street. You can’t see everyone who’s staring, but you know they surely are. He twisted around in alarm, scanning the bushes, trees, and dark places where any manner of nightmare creature could hide. Yet he didn’t actually see anything.
He slowly stood, unable to shake the sensation of being watched. He dusted himself off, then scanned the area one more time with his hand on the grip of his pistol, ready to draw it at the first sign of, well, anything. Satisfied that nothing was currently trying to kill him, he moved back to the task he originally began. And just like that the feeling of being watched by everything slowly faded.
“If this were a game, I’d think I just gained a new skill.” Yet no notification presented itself in his mind, vision, or otherwise. “Guess I’ll worry about it later.”
He quickly lifted the bed cover and lowered the tail gate, then climbed in to begin taking stock of his supplies. Despite being jostled several times in the last hour at high-ish speeds, everything was roughly where he had packed it earlier this morning.
At the back of the bed was his shiny steel toolbox containing most of the equipment he’d need to make any quick repairs on his truck and then some. Flanking each side was a full sized spare tire. In front of that was a heavy duffel bag that held the majority of his spare ammo and magazines for the weapons he’d brought along. It was supposed to be a long day of shooting and drinking, ending around a campfire with some good barbecue.
To the side of that were several stacked gun cases holding his AR, shotgun, and shiny new lever action. In one corner sat a pair of topped-off-this-morning 10-gallon fuel cans, as well as his green army bug out bag, just in case. There were several jugs of fresh water, as well.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Seems like a just in case kinda’ moment, doesn’t it?” He chuckled morbidly to himself.
Without preamble he went straight for the BOB. While he checked it periodically, he wanted to confirm he had his survival supplies on hand. It seemed like everything was as he left it, three pairs of underwear, socks, t-shirts. Three high calorie MRE’s, the kind you can munch on the entire day. Extra batteries for all his battery powered devices, personal hygiene items, and some other bits and bobs that he thought would be useful if he ever had to survive a natural disaster, or run from the government should he take on a life of crime. Or, you know, nightmare-butthole-faced monsters on an alien world.
“Important stuff still with me, check. Now let’s get to the fun stuff.”
He snapped open the clasps on each of the three long gun cases, staring lovingly at their contents. The first case held his AR-15 platform rifle, set up as a kind of marksman weapon with a 20-inch barrel, variable zoom 1-6x Vortex optic, bipod, and a 3-pound trigger. He checked the action on the weapon, then verified that the batteries in the optic still worked. Satisfied that all was in working order and properly lubed he moved onto the next case. There he checked his competition Mossberg shotgun. Other than the extended magazine tube that held 13 standard 12-gauge shells. It was a bit excessive, and not particularly practical with the mag tube extending over six inches past the barrel. He considered it for a moment before snatching a box of 1-ounce slugs from his duffel bag and began loading it up, ensuring there was a round in the chamber, bringing the grand total of rounds loaded to 14.
“Hmm, slugs are best. It’s not really configured for room clearing. Maybe a gun shop got transported along with me. Maybe I find it. Maybe I shorten the mag tube. Not likely though. Also, I don’t really see any rooms.” He mused out loud to himself, sheepishly taking another look around the glade.
He closed the cases around the shotgun and AR, then moved onto the thing he’d come out today to break in. Which, he realized, he still needed to do. He pulled out the Marlin 1884 from its box, pressed the power button on the holographic sight, then aimed at the giant tree on the other side of his truck. Everything worked as it should, so he loaded up 5 of the large .45-70 rounds, chambered one, then loaded one more.
“Alright, I still need to zero this in.” He muttered while looking through the optic at the big tree, then back across the glade. He guessed that it should be around a hundred and fifty meters to the other side. “That would work. I’ll zero from half way back.”
Fishing into the large duffel he pulled out a heavy-duty stapler and an 18 inch “Shoot ‘n’ C” target. The kind that was neon green under black paint. Then he walked up to the tree, stapled the target to it, then jumped in his truck and backed it up about a third of the way across the glade. Just as he was sliding out of the driver's seat, he felt the same prickling sensation he felt when the monster's energy first entered his body. Now, however, it was isolated in a specific direction, and it felt... weak. Or maybe, curious.
Not feeling particularly threatened he grabbed his electronic ear protection, and a pair of binoculars from his BOB and readied his first shot. Rather than shoot the target the first time, he decided to pick a spot above it to see how much adjustment he was really looking at. He steadied his aim, squeezed the trigger with a slight gasp as the first round exploded out of the weapon to instantly bury itself in the thick tree trunk. Inwardly he grinned while idly inspecting his handiwork. To his surprise, the round struck pretty much where he was aiming so he quickly lined up his next shot on the center of the target.
Before he pulled the trigger, he realized the feeling of being watched vanished as soon as he fired the first shot. Curious, he scanned the glade again, noticing that all the life that had run away during his previous battle, and had started returning while he was inspecting his equipment, had once again vanished.
“Ok, makes sense. At least a gun going off in the forest makes all the things run like it does back home.” He paused at that thought, then added absently, “On Earth.”
Rather than dwell on that dark thought he finished zeroing the lever action style carbine. He was happy it only took him five of the six rounds he had loaded to get a satisfactory zero. With the range he sighted it in at, he should be fairly accurate out to a hundred and fifty meters. And with some good ole’ “Kentucky windage”, he should be able to take targets out to two hundred and fifty with little problem.
Once that was complete, he mounted the rifle in the back window gun rack, then stood by the door of his truck contemplating what to do next. He decided while he was trying to figure out which way to head that he would consolidate his fresh water. Namely the half empty bottles of water in the back seat, which he condensed into 3 full 1-liter bottles with 4 left-over empties that still had caps. He placed those in a bag and stared out, still unsure of where to go.
As he sat in the driver's seat with his foot hanging out the door a sound in the distance caught his attention. He leaned out of the truck, straining his ears as much as he thought possible to listen for more of the sound that he’d just heard. He stared off into the tree line just south of his position, relative to his current orientation, he hadn’t actually seen the sun move in the sky because of the thick canopy overhead, so he wasn’t certain of his orientation.
Another muffled crack echoed out from his left that he barely caught floating his direction on a gentle breeze. But once he knew where it was, he heard more. What he heard gave him hope, and a small amount of dread. In the distance the sounds of a fully automatic fire fight were filtering through the trees, barely audible.
“Hmm, seems someone else made it through. I hope they’re alive when I get there.” Now having a rough direction to go, he threw the old truck into drive and made his way carefully over the uneven terrain, avoiding what he could or simply powering over it when needed. As he left the glade to weave around the narrower placed trees and thick clumps of bushes, he swore he heard a light thump on the back of his truck. Looking back, he saw nothing, though he absently fingered the pistol on his side.