Project Ragnar

Chapter One

A crack of lightning with roaring thunder echoed across the darkened hills, the rain was slowly beginning to fall with drops landing on my face one at a time. My eyelids lifted, sore and weak to nothing but darkness for miles as deep rain clouds scattered the sky. I couldn't remember anything, not even my name so I decided to start slow and reach for feeling in my limbs. First I moved my fingers to discover that I had all five fingers on each hand, then down to my toes to gladly discover that I had ten toes in total. Slowly, I pulled myself up to a sitting position and I could see the outline of a body lying a few feet from me. With a great deal of effort I found myself standing on my feet, I looked myself over as the rain started to come down harder. My jeans were torn and tattered, no shoes to be found and my once black t-shirt was covered in dirt and rips. What is my name? Where am I? A piercing pain rang through my head as I made my first steps towards the outline of a body that was once lying in the ground. The only things that remained were drops of blood and faint footsteps leading towards the woods, in any other circumstance I would've considered going in the opposite direction but in this instance, I had no knowledge of anything left in me and the only source of knowledge would be whoever or whatever went into those woods. I stumbled in the same direction of the footsteps and felt something shuffle around in my pocket, I removed the knife from my pocket. This knife was the cleanest thing around, not a scratch or drop of blood anywhere on it. I ran my hand across the blade, it was still sharp and ready to be used. At least in these circumstances I could be glad that I had some type of weapon with me for the journey that I was about to embark on.

I reached the edge of the trees and took one last look around at the clearing I had just awoken in. The rain was beginning to drench the ground turning it to mud and the sky was covered in deep black clouds and any remnant of bodies on the ground would be washed away with the storm and the footsteps I was following may be lost if I didn't hurry. I took one last deep breath and began my trek into the forest following the fading footsteps and drops of blood. The woods were deadly silent with nothing but crackling thunder roaring through amongst the pouring showers. The wet ground felt like mush against my bare feet and it was hard enough to walk straight with the aches that coursed through my veins, let alone through the sinking ground. The water was drenching me and I was losing sight of the footsteps quicker than I wanted to, following them was becoming more and more difficult as the rain continued to fall. I stopped in my tracks at the sight of a glowing light lying ahead in the distance, maybe there was a town ahead with people. I tried to keep my hopes low, there was no guarantee that something was ahead and I had no idea how long I had been lying practically comatose in that clearing. I pushed forward, through the falling night towards the dim light ahead of me. A crack of thunder roared across the sky as I broke through the woods to an empty street that led to an equally empty town. One small little streetlamp was still working in the deserted little town that was lying in front of me. The silence was short lived when the sound of a gun cocking had my eyes shooting around for the source of it.

"Who are you?" The sound of a woman broke the silence as I stood open and vulnerable in the street.

"I-I'm not sure."

"How are you not sure?" The gun went off and the sound of a bullet went dashing beside me.

"Woah! Stop. I really don't know. I woke up in the clearing and walked into the woods. Saw the light and now I'm here." There was nothing but silence for a few moments before a woman emerged from behind a brick building holding her gun up, aimed directly at what I presumed was my head. I waited as she walked closer with my hands up in front of me in slight surrender. She dropped her gun when she saw my face.

"You. I woke up next to you in the clearing."

"I was following your footsteps then. Do you know where we are or who I am?"