The hard red sand became stuck under Joseph’s fingernails as he half opened his eyes. The sun was bright, indicating mid-day. He was too exhausted to move, and eventually his eyes closed again. He half opened his eyes again, knowing full well it's been several hours later, yet the sun was still where it was. It hadn’t moved since, and the dry air was still indicating mid-day. He blinked rapidly, forcing himself to fully wake, then he moved his head down as he realized he’d been on his back the whole time. He grunted as his neck had become stiff over the unrecorded amount of time he had been unconscious. He voiced an obscenity when grabbing for his neck, massaging the back of it, then using all of his strength to sit up right. He felt his chest, expecting to feel his usual blue collared shirt with the chest pocket, the likes of which he fidgets with quite often, but to his incredible surprise, it was gone. He looked down and found himself completely naked with the exception of a strange necklace around his agonizing neck. It was made of some kind of leather, though it’s origin of how it got around his neck in the first place, while also losing all of his clothes is a mystery surrounding him so much, the side of his head began to pulsate. The main eye catcher of the necklace however was not the makings of the leather strap, but what it was used to hold. A bright pink jewel, the size of a baseball. It sparkled like a wet stone freshly brushed up on by a cooling ocean wave foaming freshly up and down the shore.
Another thought of pure curiosity that startled him was the extreme heat coming off of the sands he was sitting in. The still sun was no less hot than usual, so why was the heat of both the star, and the sand not affecting his skin? He huffed a bewildered sideways smile. He wipes his head, and pulls back nothing but himself. No perspiration of any sort. It doesn’t take Joseph much to process this amazing situation, and now he takes in his complete surroundings. It was a massive red desert, sprawling out in all directions, endless, almost hopeless looking, especially to one like Joseph who has no idea of where he is, or when, for that matter when putting consideration into the still unmoving sun. Enormous dunes were on all sides of him, and he wondered just how far he is from any kind of civilization.
When he turned around, the hair on his neck stood up. Two black figures in the far off distance. They stood still for a few minutes as Joseph tried studying this queer scenario. Then they began marching towards him. The pace at which the two were coming was quick, for they were only now a few miles away from him. Joseph squinted at his arriving guests, and a twisted feeling moved in his gut. The closer they got, the more Joseph was able to make out. They were not walking at him, but instead they were riding. Horses? No. Whatever the riders were on, were light green, with dangling snouts, and two huge yellow tusks protruding upwards. They were bipedal. Large heads, with small arms, and waist, but they increased in a round size by the hips and hindlegs. They had large calves with three toes and sharp claws. The riders seemed human at first. Dressed from head to toe in black armor, that clanked loudly the closer they became. Helmets covering their faces, carrying with them short lances with metal spear tips.
Joseph’s heart began to pound, and the presence of the two soldiers became evidently violent fast. They did not hold the lances like a typical knight, but instead they held the thin brown shafts under their arms like a projectile weapon. The spear tips shot out a short red glowing stick of plasma. It exploded directly at Joseph's feet, which was enough for him to get up and make a run for it. The two riders shouted out something unknown to Joseph. Whatever they said, he couldn’t make it out. He couldn’t recognize it as any ancient tongue on Earth. But was this even Earth?
The riders kept shooting, and shouting. The creatures they rode on shook their heads, grunting out some strange noise that continued to baffle Joseph's whereabouts. He dodged a beam by jumping to his right. Somersaulted to the left, avoiding another two shots. Each beam hit leaves black spots in the red sand, leaving behind him tracks as a reminder of the rider’s terrible aim, and their relentless pursuit. Another beam hits the ground, and Joseph falls face first into the sand.
The clunking and rattling of the black armor of Joseph's killers simmer down. One of the riders hops off to one side of his creature, and brings himself slowly to the body of the man. The one that remained on the creature made an angry gesture at his comrade, yelling something unidentifiable save to those of his own race. The ground troop made a gesture back by smacking away in the air the odd words of his comrade. Tip toeing closer to the body. He inspects it with his lance. No movement. The rider lifts up his face shield, revealing a deep purple face with a mixture of features, the likes of which are human, and cat-like, especially with the short thin black whiskers pointing upward, most likely due to the face shield. The rider looked at his comrade, and uttered something, when Joseph jumped to his feet. The mounted rider shouted, pointing past the shoulder of the ground troop, hoping to get his attention sooner than later, but it was too late. Joseph inspected the belt of his attacker quick enough to notice a short thin dagger that he took with ease, and stuck it hastily in the exposed eye of the purple faced alien who spun around to face him. He jabbed over and over and over into the same spot of the eye, which made loud mushy sounds as Joseph destroys his attacker’s sight. The mounted rider shot his lance, but Joseph used the limping body as a shield, and instead of killing Joseph, he killed his companion instead, leaving a smoking black burnt hole in his back.
The blast still had enough kick to it, that Joseph still felt himself thrown backwards. A natural reflex in his hand gripping the handle of the dagger pressed a red trigger under the hilt, and a skinny orange beam shot a small hole through one rider’s head, and into the eye hole of the other, where the head exploded under the shell. To Joseph’ surprise, the helmet was still intact. The armor must be made of the toughest material around, being that only the head within the helmet exploded, leaving behind nothing but a pool of bright yellow blood and goop. The two horse creatures were startled from the action, and ran in different directions, leaving Joseph alone with the dead carcasses of two strange purple aliens.
He removed their helmets, and took in his new discovery. Both of the purple skinned, human-cat people also had long rabbit ears that were folded against their slim heads. The skin was flush with the precise shape of their skull, which jutted out in the back. He removed the armor, and dressed himself, helmet and all, when he noticed in the distance another black figure.
To be continued…
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