Rise of The Fallen(excerpt)

Chapter 2

Kora-

Gasping, I suddenly awoke and opened my eyes to darkness. A small bit of light was coming through a crack in the pod's door and I coughed from all the dust and smoke in the air. Did the damn things seal break when I crashed?

Putting my hands on the door I did my best to push it out but the damn thing was jammed. "Come on, you stupid hunk of metal!"

Groaning, I braced myself against the back of the pod and moved onto a better position. I started kicking the blasted thing trying to get it to budge and by the fourth kick I actually saw some progress of the crack growing a little wider. A few more and the metal door finally broke off and I was blinded momentarily by the light that poured in.

I shielded my face with my arms to block some of the sunlight from my eyes. Blinking a few times my vision adjusted and I looked outside of the pod to see tons of trees and other strange looking plants. Climbing out of my pod that had landed sideways I stood up and looked around at the endless forest.

There was a small impact crater surrounding the pod from its landing but besides that it was nothing but plants and trees as far as I could see.

"ah well this is just fucking great…" I looked up at the sky as if I could see krosa and held up my middle finger. "fuck you pricks! You could have at least dropped in. In a field or something so I could see my surroundings!!"

Huffing I turned my attention back to the forest and put my hands on my hips trying to think of what to do next. I made sure to check my body for any injuries or cuts but found none. The tacky suit they made me wear hugged my curves and covered everything up to my neck except my hands. I guess emerging from the pod unharmed is a good thing…

Those bastards up above dropped me here expecting me to die in the next 24 hours… Considering most people don't last more than two days.

But if sooner cut down a hundred trees and lay them out in a open field to spell out 'fuck you'. I'm sure the planet's surveillance teams would love that…

Sighing, I turned back to the pod and stepped over to look inside of it. A small latch on the bottom caught my attention and I grabbed it before pulling it open.

Inside laid a bag with supplies that I quickly grabbed and dug through.

Clothes, notebook, pencil, canteen, and a knife. Who the fuck made these survival kits? Huffing I threw the strap over my shoulder and left the pod. Facing the forest I looked for the most appealing path with less foliage and started walking.

The whole point of sending criminals down here to the planet was a means of getting rid of unwanted civilians and to learn a bit about the world and its wildlife. They gave us notebooks to write about our experiences here on xanadis in our final days before we inevitably die to the environment, starvation, or the wildlife.

But like hell am I gonna go down so easily… Digging into my bag I pulled out my fancy pencil and glared at it. These things were rigged to relay anything we wrote down on our notebooks, to a data center on the ship to be studied. Their way of passive research without risking the lives of any scientists. I still remember hearing about how the first exploration team was wiped out in a matter of weeks. Half of them were killed and the other half went missing. Since then they've struggled to obtain any research on the planet.

Snapping the pencil in half I tossed it behind me as a nice 'fuck you' to the scientists up above. I'm not anyone's guinea pig, I'm not giving them free information.

They can come down here and get it themselves after the way I was treated.

Stomping along the path I stared at the forest ahead of me looking for any kind of landmarks or anything that might help me. I needed to first find shelter, then food. But honestly I haven't the slightest clue where to start looking…maybe if I find some solid ground?