The New Wasteland

a myth made flesh

You awake to a risen sun and a recently faded flame. You stretch and groan right before tapping Lucy on the head. "Come on Lucy. Time for us to get moving..." you say as you stand up.

Lucy flutters to life once more. "G-good morning, sir! D-did you sleep well?"

You stretch again, and sigh. "Good enough, I suppose. Thanks for asking." You grab a few more mutfruits and put them in your satchel. "You ready to head out?" You ask, to which Lucy responds with a quick "mhm". "Then let's move," you murmur, as you once again continue to walk eastward.

Your trek is long and undoubtedly boring, as for the first few hours or so, it has been more of the same. Luckily though, the weather has been overcast, so at least you don't have to worry about the heat. You are a tad worried about being rained on though. You hoped to find shelter, or better yet, people before nightfall.

Lucy seemed quite happy to simply be there. Though you never spoke with her as you walked, she dragged somewhat behind, seemingly on purpose. You could here her mumbling something about something being cool. Perhaps the weather? Anyways, it doesn't matter.

Your walk wasn't totally relaxing though. You still tried to steer clear from some of the bigger patches of forestry, as when you got close, you could swear you heard something snarling. You also felt like you were being watched from the trees. Anytime you asked Lucy though, she said none of that happens to her and tries to reassure you. She isn't that great at it, but she's really trying, which you can appreciate.

Another hour or so passes with little news. Just more of the same, empty fields with the occasional patch of trees.  You did at least find the remnants of some ancient road and was following that. You could see the equally ancient remnants of highways towering in the distance, but they were so far away you didn't bother going to them. Unfortunately though, rain began to fall.

"Damn," you grumble. "Guess we gotta walk in the rain."

"O-oh dear! S-sir, I-I recommended you find shelter! What if y-you get sick?" Lucy exclaimed. She hovers in front of you. "P-perhaps those trees will be suitable?"

You glance over towards the trees, and get that same feeling of dread. "I don't know, Lucy..." you look up to the sky as the rain worsened, "hmm... I suppose it couldn't be that bad."

You slowly approach the trees, drawing your pistol out of anxiety. As you walk in, you relax bit. "Hey, this isn't so..." you hear an odd snarl, "...bad."

You slowly turn to the source of the snarling, a figure hidden by shadows and shrubs. It seems vaguely humanoid, but you can't get a good look at it. What you can see though is it's big, alien eyes, glowing red. You move very slowly, as to not startle it. You raise your pistol to aim at it and slowly begin walking away.

"S-sir, is everything-" Lucy calls out as she approaches, but you interrupt her by holding up your fist to shush her, making her yelp and go quiet.

There's a few more seconds of tension as you back away, but the creature suddenly pounces! You try to shoot it, but it knocks the gun out of your hand as it tackles you into the mud, putting you back into the rain. You finally get a good look at the thing. It's got a human body structure, but that's where the similarities end. It's head is like an alien, with the big red eyes, no nose or ears, with mangy blue skin. It's mouth was full of long, sharp teeth. It's body has the faint remnants of some kind of fur over its blueish mangy skin, and you can see spines sticking out of It's back. It's clawed hands and feet pin you down, as it draws closer, seemingly to take a bite out of your face. I really wasn't hoping to die to whatever the hell this thing is! You think to yourself.

Just as suddenly as the creature pounced though, it gets hit in the head with a silver blur, sending it tumbling off of you! You look over to the blur, seeing that it was Lucy, as she triumphantly proclaims, "T-take that!"