The Other Earth by Derek Schumacher (reading like a writer .TXT) 📕

Now it all makes sense, why there isn't anyone around Neil. They had probably been forced to leave, and anyone who stayed was killed by these things. And no one had a chance to retaliate, to fight back. They all had nothing against these creatures, and neither did Neil. The visions repeating in his mind grow more wild and loud. From watching the people he once knew die left and right, to distorted memories he cannot comprehend.

At this point, Neil had begun to break down and cry, his eyes red from the constant stream of tears running from his face. He claws at his hair and face, shaking violently as he tries to understand what's going on in his head. As he gradually loses his mind, the figure draws closer, now within only a few meters of him. It's empty sockets gaze upon the crying man, and the hand of the creature grow ever closer the Neil's body.

Neil could do nothing. He was only a simple man, a human being. No person should ever have to experience such trauma, the trauma of being forced to watch visions that are impossible to understand, only throwing the brain into overdrive, and eventually, into madness and insanity. His crying grew worse, and he collapsed to the floor, holding his head and thrashing around. His body was no longer under his control, as the being has won. It had it's prey right where it wanted it, and soon, the cycle would continue once again.

The creature reached out, and grabbed Neil's throat, picking him up off the ground. The touch of the thing burned like nothing else, the man's skin being seared by the very touch. The cries of fear suddently turned to cries of pain and agony. But, as he was flailing out of control, he had grasped his wooden stake he carved earlier, and thrashed it into the creature.

The wound was not deep, nor in any way fatal. But as it impacted into the face of the figure, black liquid spewed from it's head, and it let out a disturbing, low growl. A noise that could make any person break down into goosebumps and hide for their life. But Neil could not think straight, and instead continued to attack the being. Noticing that it's prey was going to be much more of a problem with it's strength left, the being decided to take a different approach. It's arm molded into a sharp blade, and it gashed it into Neil's chest. He cried out in pain, and watched the red of himself spray onto the being.

Then, all of a sudden, his eyes opened once again, the tears slowing for just a moment. The intense pain had broken him from the visions for a split second, but it was all he needed. Neil thrashed at the being, and tore the stake from it's head, and instead, cut himself free from it's grasp by stabbing it's hand with the makeshift weapon. Neil dropped to the floor, screaming in pain. The wound in his chest was not deep enough to penetrate through, and suprisingly didn't gash any vital organs, but still, it was going to cause an incredible amount of blood loss.

The being growled again, and reached down to retrieve it's prey. But Neil grabbed onto the ground below him, and pulled himself away, staggering back onto his feet after propelling himself up from the ground. The blood was trailing behind him, and soaking into his clothing and skin. The tears would not stop, but the pain was better than anything the creature had planned for him.

Neil ran as fast as he could, running into trees and hedges, not really knowing where he was going, but anywhere away from that thing was better. A few minutes of desperate sprinting and internal bleeding brought a massive amount of fatigue to the man. He collapsed onto the cold, forest floor, pooling in his own blood. At this moment, Neil realized that if he doesn't act quickly, he won't make it past the next hour.

Tearing off cloth from his shirt and pants, he began to create makeshift bandages to clot up the bleeding. His skin began to pale, and his eyes shook as he worked as hard as he could to try and make the bandages. The tears from his face continued to fall, mixing in with the blood that began to coat his body.

After he finished making the bandages, and wrapping them multiple times across his wounded chest, he then went to feel his neck, where the creature had grabbed him. It stung, and still burned. When Neil removed his hand, he watched little gray flakes blow off of it. His skin must have been seared off, and turned to dust. Close quarters would most certainly be the last thing you want to have to deal with when it comes to these things.

To think there could have been another person on this desolate planet, Neil wouldn't have to be all alone. But it seems everyone else that had been left behind, had been taken by these creatures, and dragged into the depths of madness. Where, they must have merged with the strange substance, and been reborn as these figures. Figures that only seem to have one desire, to drag others down with it.

Thing was, just how many of these things are there? If this was just how dangerous one of them is, imagine more than that. Neil wished he wasn't thinking such things, but in his current situation, fear gripped him just as badly as the pain did. These things could easily take the life of any defenseless person, and the only way it seems to break from their hallucinations and visions is to inflict pain on oneself. Which, in turn would make you even weaker when dealing with the creature.

The shadowy figure appearence of the creature gave Neil an idea as to what he should classify the things as. Shades.

When he had fought to get away, and stabbed the Shade with his stake, he did notice he inflicted a small amount of damage. Thing is, he would need some serious weapons in order to stand any sort of chance. Question is, has anyone tried to kill one? Is it even possible? Guess there was only one person who could find out, and that was Neil. But he wasn't thinking about killing anything right now. He was more worried about his condition than anything.

After he patched himself up, bandages both on his chest region, and his neck, he layed back down onto the ground. The ground was warm, and covered with his blood. Neil looked down at himself, his tattered clothes now stained red with his essence. He shivered at the thought of death, bleeding out a very possible thing that could happen at this point. And without proper nutrition, his body wasn't nearly strong enough to defend against possible infection.

Speaking of nutrition, that was the entire reason he had gone out to investigate in the first place. He had gone to see what the noise had been, to see if it was an animal that had left tracks for him to follow. But things sure didn't go as planned, and escalated a little too quickly, and in the wrong direction. Now, it was now or never, that if he couldn't find some sort of food, and his body became infected, it was over.

Multiple minutes passed, and after about fifteen, Neil pulled himself back up and off of the ground. He shivered, and a wave of cold hit him. The effect of blood loss had already began to take full effect, and it wasn't in any case pleasent. The man wheezed as he got up, and stared at where he had been laying, the ground soaked and enriched with his blood. He shook his head, and turned towards where he believed the direction he had come from.

Being attacked by the shade had turned him all around, and he lost where he had originally came from, and what way it was to make it back to camp. But, there was a conveniant trail of blood that showed the direction he ran. So, Neil decided to follow the trail back, but a bit off to the side, to make sure that he doesn't run right back into the shade he had just escaped from.

Hobbling as fast as he could without disrupting his wounds, Neil arrived back at his humble little site in about a hour. Glancing upwards towards the bit of sky peaking out from the trees, he figured it must be a little past midday. Which meant, he still had a bit of time to see if he could find food.

Neil smiled a bit at the thought, and decided to start small. No animals or anything like that, no, he would go the traditional and basic survival route. If there are no animals or the like to trap or kill for food, the best bet can sometimes be right under your nose. Fruit bushes.

Good Afternoon, Today is September 13, 2118.

The goal was simple, to find some form of vegitation-grown food to be able to sustain him. Sadly, it had been a good while since he had eaten anything, and his memory had begun to fail him, causing him to forget which fruits were exactly safe to eat. Hopefully once he finds some, he'll remember right away, and doesn't eat something that would put him in an even worst position.

Neil began to scan his surroundings, mumbling to himself in the process. He moved towards a fallen tree and busted off a few branches, laying them into arrow-like shapes on the ground, in an attempt to create something like a road sign. The arrow with the "x" would signify the area with the shade.

He then looked to the direction of the river, and made another arrow, creating little waves with the twigs to show the water. There were two other directions, both completely unknown and unexplored. Which meant, they had to be surveyed before they could be mapped with an arrow. Neil decided it was best to check them out now, while the sun was still high, and his stomach was still knawing at him. Hopefully he could find some form of food on the way towards his uncertain destination.

The direction of the river was south, and to the north was the shade. So, it was only natural to go east, and leave west for last. At least, that's what Neil chose to do, anyways. Limping down the small, uncut pathway through the trees, the man kept his eyes peeled for anything that looked suspiscious and worthy of a closer look.

He guessed that he should have at least four or five hours of sunlight yet, so he'd at best make his distance in two hours, and give him plenty of time to return. Neil didn't feel like fumbling around in the dark, trying to start another fire. And now that he knows about the shades, it makes him even more afraid of what could be waiting for him in the blackness of night.

The terrain to the east wasn't anything too out of the ordinary. Plenty of heavy wooded areas, and a stone here and there.