The Legends Rise

Ch. 2: The Unknown

Chapter Song: Psycho by Breaking Benjamin
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They say most of your brain shuts down in cryosleep. All but the primitive side...the animal side. No wonder I'm still awake. There's dozens of different scents of the civilians traveling with us. Something like 40 or 40 plus. Heard an Arab voice. Some hoodoo holy man I believe.
Probably on his way to New Mecca. But what route? I breathed in the air taking in the scents of the strangers around me. I smelled a woman. Sweat, boots, tool belt, leather. Prospector type. Free settlers. The next smell was of a child. 3 to be exact. I think 1 or 2 of them were teens.

I looked ahead of me. The man who had growled at me had his head up once again and seemed to be looking straight at me. A small shift to his face made it look like he was smiling at me. Suddenly the sound of alarms and the flashing of red lights echoed through the ship making me look around as Fry and another man fell out of their pods. The pair got up quickly. I could feel the ship shaking and rumbling. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.

I reached up and grabbed the lever and opened my pod. My legs gave out on me as I stepped out. As soon as I came out more of the passengers came out of their own pods as well. I tried getting to my feet but the ship rocked once more and it sent me flying next to the prisoner's pod. I grabbed onto a beam as I heard a growl come from the pod. I looked up and he was looking down at me. The cop had grabbed onto his own beam just as the ship began tearing apart. Pods containing people and empty ones flew out.

I held on tightly as the ship kicked up dirt but another bump made me lose my grip and the air forced me right out of the ship. Time seemed to slow down dramatically as I flew passed Johns. Once he had turned his head and looked away, as if not to witness my demise, I changed into my animal form. My wings caught the wind slowing me down significantly but not enough to keep me from bashing into the sandy ground. My body bounced several times before coming to a stop against a container with a sickening thud. My injured body quickly shifted back to human from the air being knocked out of me.

With one hand placed on my chest I slowly got to my feet and looked around. I couldn't believe the sight before me. There were dozens and dozens of bodies or what was left of them strewn in every direction. I felt sorry for those poor people but there could be a chance someone had survived. I looked around once more trying to find the ship but all I could see was smoke in the distance. Guess I've got some walking to do.

As I followed the trench that the Hunter Gratzner made in the sand, I stopped checked each and every pod that I came to. Some of them were obvious that the passenger inside was dead but I checked anyways. The poor souls. Thinking that their flight would be an easy one. Hopefully they stayed in cryosleep as they died and not suffered. I looked ahead of me as the wrecked ship came into view. From here I could see the damage the impact made. This ship sure as hell ain't making a trip off this desert planet. While I sped up my walk towards the ship my sensitive hearing picked up the sound of scratching coming from underneath the ground followed by some kind of screeching. I've heard the sound before but I just couldn't place it now. I wiped the sweat from my brow and shielded my eyes as I looked to the sun...or suns. I blinked and noticed the planet had 3 suns. All hope for relief from the heat dwindled at that very moment.

I entered the ship through a hole in the side and the place was destroyed. I spotted Johns next to the metal beam he was holding on to but he was unconscious. I kneeled down next to him and shook him gently. After a second his eyes opened and he looked up at me.