Fantasy Kaizoic: First Emergence

[Raggle the Fraggled]

As the sun went down Vic looked for a place to pull over. The region around him was hilly and didnt offer much of a view. As if by luck Vic happened upon an area that came into view as he drove. The place looked like what you would call a park. A few dry trees, and some rusted and broken down equipment that looked like what used to be a swing and a seasaw. He parked the transport near the park and got out.


Stretching his legs Vic let out an exaggerated yawn curling his toes and reaching for the sky as he did. The sun was going down fast so Vic decided to start with a fire. He collected some twigs from the ground, and whatever he could break off from the surrounding foliage. He took out his rifle and checked his ammo count. A clip was already attached so he took it off and counted the bullets inside. Six bullets were what was left inside. Vic took one out and put the clip back in. Stacking the wood in front of the side of the bus and behind most of the foliage, he assumed it would be safe from being too obvious here in the wilds. Taking the bullet he unscrewed it and let the black powder spill out into the center of the pile. Then taking the flare he had found earlier he shot it into it.

Immediately a blaze of fire swooped up into the wood. Vic added a few more twigs and nurtured it so it wouldnt go out. After a few minutes he was satisfied with his work. Taking his rifle he sat down against the side of the transport and nestled the gun against his shoulder. Taking a deep breath Vic started to relax again albeit with the knowledge that he shouldn't be too uncautious. The twisting flames and the growing shadows mixed with the peace of the area soon lulled Vic into a slumber that took him victim after the days extreme excitement.

 

[Da Doofus]

His rest would carry into the darkness of night and end once the full moon took up the middle of the night sky. Without the glaring lights of the city, Vic would see the starry skies previously unseen by him and many others that lived in Republic haven cities.
The fire was dimmer and only crackled faintly from the dying flames.

Sounds of nocturnal life provided a somewhat serene ambience in what most consider to be a lifeless wasteland.

 

[Raggle the Fraggled]

Such beauty was unknown to Vic. His eyes gazed at the night sky that was filled with the twinkling of thousands of stars. The sound of creatures moving in the brush made him slightly nervous but they did not attack so he didn't bother. Even without the fire Vic was not uncomfortable the night was not too cold or hot, it suited him just fine. The calm let him think about his next move. He didn't really know what to do next. He couldn't go back to the city still dressed as a prisoner, and he had no idea what to do out here in the wild. The night wore on a Vic continued to contemplate.

 

[Da Doofus]

Nighttime drifted with ambience of nocturnal life like something from a nature documentary. It was almost like a perfect incarnation of peace until a new sensation broke the starlit tranquility.
A brief tremor, only a mere second, rumbled the ground. Then came another a few seconds later. A third followed suite in the same pattern only it seemed to intensify.
The rhythmic pounding continued to increase, and the pattern was like footsteps encroaching nearer and nearer to the stil-glowing fire.

 

[Raggle the Fraggled]

Vic was just getting ready to continue his trek when he felt the tremors. He knew something was different with these. A sense of fear made its way from his stomach and rushed him to action. He jumped into the transport and turned it on. Hitting the gas Vic drove away, not caring where he was going, his only concern was getting as far away from whatever was causing those tremors. In his soul he felt that his life depended on him escaping.

 

[Da Doofus]

The engine roared with the sudden acceleration, and Vic's departure was well underway with the vehicle's headlights leading his way. Dirt and pebbles clacked against the wheels and underside with the new speed, but the tremors soon shook the vehicle once more shortly after some distance had been made.
This time, they were in a swifter pattern and accompanied the roar of the engines with thunderous pounds. A shadow briefly appeared in one of the screens by the steering wheel that was wired to motion-detecting cameras around the transport's exterior. Unfortunately, no time was given to react before the entire right side of the vehicle was crushed inward from an impact from outside.
Vic would be tumbled from the driver's seat and tossed about the interior as the bus-sized vehicle would roll across the highway in a fierce, metal-grinding crash. Finally, the transport stopped tumbling and had settled in the sands away from the road. With the crashed transport now on its side, Vic was pinned by his left shoulder beneath the passenger seat. The thick windshield cracked and shattered under the pressure of the the ruined vehicle, but the worst was not yet passed for the unfortunate freed convict. The tremors returned with the thunderous pounds of heavy footfalls just outside.
With the headlights flickering, the man would see a three-toed foot stomp in front of his eyes outside the transport. The skin was scaly like a lizard, and big enough to stomp a car.
Heaving breaths with the exhales sounding like a guttural hiss crept into his ears, and the foot rose to step onto the vehicle. The sounds of grinding metal returned as the crashed transport was squished under the creature's weight, and claws pierced the metal as it inspected its non-organic prey.
A black claw the length of a man nearly stabbed Vic in the face when it pierced through. The predator sniffed and grunted about the transport, and finally stepped off before crushing the thing flat with Vic inside. Like a prowling tiger, he would feel it circling the crash with its breathy growls shaking his bones and rattling his spine.
Once again, fortune did not permit the trapped human the grace of relief from the attack as the beast charged the wreckage again. A bellowing snarl was the first thing he heard before his dented prison was tossed about again. The last sounds Vic would hear would be crashing metal and grinding cogs of a ruined engine before darkness took him.
****************

The glaring reflection of the sun off a piece of glass greeted Vic upon his regaining consciousness. Soreness and pain would soon arrive after waking, with cuts along his arms and a few on his face. Nothing that would leave scars, but enough to sting and ache over his bruised bones.
The morning had come, and so had the heat of the desert sun baking the interior of the wreck he lay limply within.

 

[Raggle the Fraggled]

Vic was no stranger to pain, but even this was a bit much. Carefully he removed himself from the wreckage of the bus trying his best to avoid cutting himself on the broken glass or twisted metal. Once he was free of the wreck Vic looked at himself from what remained of the windshield. His face was bloody and cut, he smiled which showed some bloody teeth to match his face.

"Nothing a hot bath and some bandages wont fix im sure." Vic mumbled to himself.


He didnt know what attacked him last night, but he made a mental note to put it on the top of his personal shit list. Looking around he couldn't find his rifle, so shrugging his shoulders he looked around for any immediate threat. Nothing but sparsely wooded areas and the road he was on met his gaze. Choosing action over nothing Vic set his mind to walking down the road he was on in search of food, water, and shelter. Only the fates could decide if he could find any.

 

[Da Doofus]

The day turned increasingly hotter as the hours passed. Vic's yearning for water would worsen and the fatigue of travel would weigh his feet to drag in the dirt and pavement of the roads.
It seemed his death would be in the middle of nowhere with only the sun above him to bear witness.

By the sixth hour, a shape began to form in the distance. The rippling waves of heat above the ground shrouded the figure in a distorted manner, but a distant rumble of an engine meant it was mechanical.
It grew closer along the road toward him.

 

[Raggle the Fraggled]

Vic was close to collapsing as the figure in the distance got closer. Falling to his knees he struggled to crawl out of the road and into the ditch. As his feet left the pavement he finally collasped fully. His face lying on its side he could only watch the figure get closer and closer. Mercifully darkness took hold of him as he slipped into unconciousness. Only the fates could decide what would happen to him now.

 

[Da Doofus]

"Hey boyo." A dry voice awoke Vic with a splash of water on his face. "Don't ye die on me yet."

Vic was now leaned against a welded metal truck with his hands tied together.
Before him was a dirty clothed man with an electronic glass eye glaring down at him with a cigarette in his mouth.
"When you bust out then, eh?"

 

[Raggle the Fraggled]

Vic was slow to respond.

" what? Break out?"

It took him a minute to register his surroundings.

 

[Da Doofus]

"Don't play dumb with me, boyo." The man sneered. "You got them jailhouse threads on.

What were ya in for?"

 

[Raggle the Fraggled]

Finally understanding what the stranger meant Vic replied.

"Got into some trouble with the local merchants. As for the details, I dont just hand out my life story to anyone."

 

[Da Doofus]

"So . . . No price on your head?" He asked rhetorically with a sigh. "Well there goes me next meal ticket."
The man reached out and threw Vic away from the truck and stepped inside.

Vic could now see underneath the vehicle and notice there was a device not part of the interior workings attached to the frame. It blinked a faint light silently and looked like a tracker.
His sight would soon be overshadowed by the silhouette of the unnamed man who now had a revolving handheld shotgun in hand. The lever was pulled back and the gun was aimed directly at Vic's forehead.

 

[Raggle the Fraggled]

Vic was calm and calculated as he looked from the business end of the gun. It wasn't the first time Vic had a gun pointed at him.


"So it's a bounty your after ol timer?"
Vic asked.

" I might not be wanted by the authorities, but the merchants would pay good to see me back in chains." He continued

" I got nowhere to run, and no weapon, surely getting me to the nearest city for a ransom shouldn't be too hard eh?"

Vic hoped his lie would hold up, he certainly sold it well enough.

 

[Da Doofus]

The handheld shotgun was withdrawn. "How much is 'good'?" The man asked, taking Vic's bait.

 

[Raggle the Fraggled]

"Id say a couple nights in a decent hotel with 3 hot meals a day."

 

[Da Doofus]

"Oh you're a funny one, ain't ye?" A sneer plastered his chapped lips. "Get in the feckin truck." He said with a tap of the gun against the vehicle's metal plating. "Else I plug ya."

 

[Raggle the Fraggled]

Vic was hesitant to be on the road with a man he knew nothing about, but he had no choice. With his hands bound he entered the passenger side of the truck. Once he was comfy Vic asked.

"You wouldn't have anything to drink would you, just a mouthful would be relief enough?"

 

[Da Doofus]

The grizzly man glanced over and pulled out a flask.
“You want this?” He smiled cruelly. “Go ahead an ‘ave some.” He offered it toward Vic slowly.

 

[Raggle the Fraggled]

Vic graciously accepted the flask. He noticed how wary the stranger was toward him so Vic tried to ease his mind.

" You know i might be your prisoner, but i meen you no ill will. Call me old fashioned but I'm a big beleiver in karma. A tooth for a tooth, eye for an eye type thing. Considering how you haven't shot or stabbed me id say me and you are on good terms."

He took a long drink from the flask focusing on rehydrating himself.

 

[Da Doofus]

The contents inside were strong like whiskey and burned Vic’s throat as he took the first few sips.
Even if he wasn’t aware of it, he was grimacing from the
sudden amount he had already drank.

The man only laughed and started the truck. “Good innit? That there’s Jacob McPherson’s personal brew. Aged two weeks in a steel barrel. Me own recipe.” He smiled once more before pulling the vehicle back onto the road.

 

[Raggle the Fraggled]

Vic hacked what he didnt swallow out the window. He was no stranger to alcohol but he hadn't eaten or drank anything in a night and day. His stomach was rumbling, and his mouth was parched. Vic was in no mood to be drunk, especially in his current situation. Resigning himself to his current affairs he sat back and watched the landscape pass by.

 

[Da Doofus]

The interior of the truck was cluttered with empty food cans and crumpled papers. To be expected of a vehicle belonging to a man who lived on the road.
In the covered bed which could be seen via rear side window, there was an assortment of supplies. A portable stove, ammunition boxes, three gun cases, and a wooden crate bearing the brand name of a preserved food manufacturer.

 

[Raggle the Fraggled]

Hoping to break the silence Vic asked.

"I see you have a assortment of goods, do you buy from the same vendor, or do you pick up as you go?"