Crack.
He sat up in a panic and instantly regretted it.
"Shit." Gripping his head and pinching the bridge of his nose, he waited for the roaring in his ears to subside to open his eyes.
Red dirt dirted his pants and slowly pulling his hands away from his face, he looked at the ground around him.
"Red clay?" His brows furrowed and upon further inspection it felt like regular dirt. At least what felt like what frozen dirt was supposed to feel like.
He started to survey around him further and his stomach bottomed out. Red hills stretched for miles and the only objects obstructing the view were boulders that were scattered across the red ground. Scrambling to his feet, his field of view became more wide but it didn't help this feeling.
A chill wind blew from behind him but he was already numb while he reached up to touch his throat and the pendant that hung from the thin rope. Twisting it between his fingers, he stood there staring in no particular direction while all his thoughts ran each other over.
"W-where am I?" He closed his eyes again and clutched the pendant tight inside his palm. After a moment, he opened them again and looked up at the sky. "Huh, that's different."
Turning slowly in a circle, his gaze bounced around the stars in the sky which weren't usually visible and knew for a fact this wasn't right. This was unlike anything he had seen or experienced. It reminded him of something his parents would describe in fairytales when he was younger.
"Screeeechhhh." He froze and with his breath caught in this throat searched for where the sound came from.
"I can't stay here." Stumbling in a direction that he hoped was in the opposite of where the noise came from, he surveyed the land around him more closely. He walked up a gradual incline and a sudden burst of heat washed over him stopping him dead in his tracks.
Eyes wide, he stared in awe at the river of molten lava below him and pulled at the sleeves on his shirt. Motion caught his eye and a few hundred yards to his right was what looked like a bridge, if that's what it could be called.
Making his way over to it, he had to climb down a small ledge to where the bridge started and landed on his steadily. The posts on either side held a sigil that was unfamiliar to him but out of curiosity he brushed it softly and it was cool to the touch. Leaning forward, he examined the planks of the bridge and they didn't look like wood but the same stone that the pillars were made of.
Stepping carefully onto one, it didn't move under his weight and he slowly made his way across. Sweat trickled down his face and mixed with the blood that was coming from his bottom lip as a result of him chewing it on. Peaking up, the end was only a few steps and he took a deep breath before quickening his pace until his feet hit the solid rock on the other side.
Crackkk.
Looking up there were clouds now covering the stars and it was getting darker. He glanced behind him, looking at the bridge again and had to admit what he had been avoiding thinking.
This wasn't Earth.
+++
He sat against the boulder that had become his shelter the night before and wondered what had become of his family. There wasn't much he could remember except that he had gone to bed one night and then the next morning he was not on the planet he fell asleep on.
The rain that was still going had soaked through the bottom of his pants and shoes making it much colder than it was. The ground was a darker color red than when he first woke up and it was almost like mud in places.
Reaching his hands out hesitantly, he cupped them and waited until there was enough before bringing it back to his mouth to drink. He grimaced at the unusual taste of it but it was better than dying of thirst.
Doing it a few more times, he finally relaxed against the boulder again and watched the rain hit the ground in silence.
+++
The rain stopped the next morning and he stiffly stood up to stretch his limbs. Two questions kept bugging him, What planet was he on and how did he get here. There was no way someone of his status could get off Earth without being in a profession that allowed it or the money to get him off the ground.
Oh how he wished to tell his little sister about this, it was too bad that there weren't any trees in site or he would be in one of them.
He wrapped his arms around his abdomen and tried to ignore the hunger he felt. Taking a deep breath, he kept going in the same direction he had been walking when the rains hit and shook the water from his hair.
+++
"Shit, oh fuck." His chest burned while his feet hit the ground. "What are you?!?"
A deep growl came from behind him and it sounded like it was getting closer.
It had only been a day since he had left his mean of shelter and this creature came out of nowhere. Hair thick and untamed, teeth that protruded from its mouth but no eyes from what he could see so the creature had to have good hearing and smell.
Stumbling, he felt the hot breath on the back of his legs and all the hairs on his body stood on end. A few moment after, something wrapped around his ankle and yanked him right of his feet.
"AHH!" Hitting the ground face first made black dots color his vision and he gritted his teeth trying to ignore it. Flipping onto his back, he frantically tried to pull his leg but the creature reared back his head pulling him closer.
He froze, thought going a mile a minute, and let himself be pulled within reaching distance of the creature. With his unrestrained foot, he slammed what he hoped to be the creature's nose and it let out a high pitched whine. The tongue loosened and he took that chance to scramble to his feet and sprint into the first clear path.
However, his escape did not go unnoticed and the creature got his footing before beginning to pursue again. With his heart pounding, he spared a glance back and at the moment the ground beneath his feet fell out from underneath him.
He let out a startled cry and left himself falling down a steep hill. Unsure of how far he had fallen it didn't seem to matter because once he reached the bottom, everything went black.
+++
Cold seeped through what was left of his clothes and he just stared up at the starry sky above him. Too scared to move due to the pain that coarsed his entire body and the thunder in the distance, he felt this was a bad dream. None of this had to be real but the sharp crack of lightning lit up the sky above him and he knew it was.
Letting out a sharp hiss from between his teeth, he attempted to sit up despite the protest of his aching ribs and the throbbing of his head. He grimaced at the state his clothes were in and how much blood was now on them. There was a gash that left the bottom of his pant leg torn open and it looked like that was where most of the blood was coming from.
"That's going to leave a scar," He said to himself as he pulled back the pant leg to get a better look at the cut.
It had been a good drop from the top of the hole he fell in and he was surprised it hadn't broken his neck.
At least that was a plus to some of this.
Moving slow and carefully, he pulled himself up with the help of the wall. Leaning heavily on his uninjured leg, he searched for the shortest climb with what looked like stable foot holds. Limping to the spot that looked decent, he reached up and grabbed a rock just as lightning flashed across the sky. He flinched but gritted his teeth and ignored the pain while he began climbing.
Dirt caked nails scraped the walls and bloodied fingertips, he made his way closer to the top. Thundered echoed but he pushed through the pain and fear of falling back down.
With hands clawing at the flat ground above him, he gathered what was left of his strength and pulled himself up. He cried out in pain as he hit the flat ground above and the pain in his ribs spread to the center of his chest. Tears filled his eyes while he watched the sky darken but luckily the rain never came.
+++
The good news was that his body had become so numb to the cold, he couldn't feel the injuries to his body anymore. Bad news was it felt like his body was on fire and his nose wouldn't stop running.
His vision blurred making him stumble and hit the ground on his knees. The cold wind hit his back and he looked up at the night sky for a moment before closing his eyes.
"Dad! Look what I found!" He explained and showed his dad his new found rocks from the woods behind their house. "I'm going to tumble these and see how pretty they are."
"Those look nice son." He came over and took a look at them before patting my head. "Look hon, Jasper brought some nice rocks home."
He stared at his mom hopeful and she glanced up at him from the papers in front of her.
"That's nice." She didn't seem to look directly at them but more at Jasper as if searching for something. "Shouldn't you be doing school work instead of getting all dirty in the woods?"
"B- I finished it already and I just wanted to do something before dinner." His mom went back to her paperwork in front of her and didn't bother to reply.
"Why don't you go get washed up and go get your sister for dinner," His dad asked quietly and Jasper nodded sadly while shoving the rocks in his pockets.
+++
He stopped hours ago and had given up on trying to make his legs move when they felt like lead weights. His throat burned and head throbbed even worse than the day before.
Turning onto his other side, he pushed him as close to the boulder as he could get and closed his eyes. He hoped that if there was something out there it would either help him or take him quickly. There were a lot of ways to die but freezing to death with possible internal bleeding didn't seem so bad right now.
So he assumed it couldn't be that bad.
Letting out a cough, it causes the pressure in his head to press sharp knives to his temples and the feeling of a knife being twisted in his chest. His body grew heavy and his head to hard to hold up so he settled more onto the ground, welcoming the darkness.
It was much better than facing the fact that he was going to die, slowly but surely.
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