Vex Kaine's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

One second Vex Kaine crouched in a trench with a rifle. The next, blue light swallowed him whole. Now he lay face-down on cold red dirt, no gun, no war, no idea where he was. The beam had ripped him from the front line and dropped him here. His ears rang. His hands shook. He had never wanted anything but to fight his way home, and home was gone. He forced himself up. The ground stretched flat and open in every direction. No cover. No walls. Just a purple sky and a wind that smelled like burnt metal. A soldier alone in the open was a dead soldier. He knew that much. Then he heard the clicking. Two shapes moved toward him across the plain. They walked upright but wrong, joints bending backward. Their skin was dark and marked with glowing green symbols. Two heads. Sharp claws. Eyes that burned like sick lamps. Demons, his gut said, though his mind knew better. Aliens. And they had seen him. Vex ran. His legs nearly folded, but he ran. Far ahead, a stand of huge red-barked trees broke the flat land. Cover. He aimed for it and did not look back. The clicking grew louder. Faster. Closer. He hit the tree line and threw himself behind a thick trunk. His lungs burned. He peered around the bark. The two creatures had stopped at the edge of the grove. They circled instead of entering, heads twitching, claws flexing. They would not come in. Vex did not question luck. He pushed deeper into the trees. Between two trunks stood something built by hands. A low bunker of dark red timber. Heavy walls. A black doorway. Someone had made this. Someone who feared the same things he did. He stumbled inside and pressed his back to the wall. Weapons. He needed weapons. In the dark he found a rack of tools and blades, crude but real. He grabbed a long iron bar and held it like a club. Better than empty hands. Something moved in the corner. Vex spun, bar raised. A small creature shrank against the wall. It had the same dark skin and horns as the monsters outside, but tiny. Its huge eyes blinked at him. It made a soft, worried sound and did not attack. He froze. The thing looked young. Scared. Not a hunter. It crept toward him one step, then stopped, watching to see what he would do. Vex lowered the bar an inch. His heart still pounded, but the immediate danger had passed. He had cover. He had a weapon. He was not exposed anymore. But he was not alone, either. Outside, the two demons still circled the trees, waiting. And this bunker was not empty. Someone lived here. Someone who might come home and find a stranger holding a weapon over their small, frightened companion.