I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to control my breathing as I pressed my back against a fallen log. I was tired, hungry and soaked from the falling rain. My lungs burned as I stared up to the sky wondering where humanity had run too. It seemed surreal to think that 'The Exodus' had only taken place a month or two ago. I blinked away a raindrop as it splashed into my eye and turned away from the gloomy cloud cover. Heavy footfalls in the distance told me that my time to rest had ended. I quietly put my hand on the log and turned my body to face it. I got into a crouched position so that I could peek over the log, what I found sent a chill down my spine. Two eighteen foot tall figures in high tech armor. To be honest, somewhere in the back of my mind I prayed that they were wild animals or... really anything else. But deep down I knew what I was running from; Corolians.
You're probably wondering what the heck that is. Long story short, they came to invade earth. The humans said something to the effect of 'get lost' and fought a war against them and lost. These people were far more advanced than us and came from god knows where... so no surprise that we lost. But to be fair they weren't ruthless. They allowed us to surrender and even helped get us ready for space travel. Obviously I didn't go with them.... why? IT'S FREAKIN' SPACE! I don't know about you, but I've watched plenty of TV shows where the captain of the 'whatever' and his crew were attacked by the flesh eating space parasite crab! Or the hit by the aganozing radiation of a neutron star! Oh no! Not me! We were meant to live here on earth and this is where I'm happy. If I have to deal with an alien overlord occupation and I get captured? Fine, at least I know that I probably will be killed in a civilized fashion.
I honestly didn't know what they'd do to me if they caught me. I hoped that if they did happen to catch me they'd be merciful because I'm a nice human and not one of the rebels that hates them... however... The problem was that I was sorta trespassing on their continent... so... yeah. I didn't seem like they knew where I was. So I decided to leave quietly, no reason to stick around if I could make a clean getaway. I took two steps before I heard what in my mind at the time was ten thousand trees falling right next to me as I stepped on a stick and snapped it in half. I cringed and slowly turned around to find both Corolians coming for me. I ran as fast as I could and headed for the denser parts of the forest hoping the trees would slow them down.
In most foot chases, if you're running you shouldn't ever sprint unless you're absolutely positive you can ditch the pursuer in ten seconds or less. Otherwise all they have to do is keep you in sight until you stop to catch your breath and it's over. It's always better to move only as fast as you have to to stay ahead and either outrun them or out maneuver them. That said, when you're running ahead of someone four times your size with triple the stride... your not really gonna outrun them. Unless you can find good cover quickly... you're pretty much screwed. My only real hope here was to make it to a denser part of the forest before the overtook me.
As the trees got denser and the foliage got thicker, I was beginning to feel more confident about my odds of slipping away. I ran through the rain soaked leaves breathing heavily, I honestly had no idea how to get back to my camp from here but at the moment I really didn't care. I slowed my run down as I noticed they weren't behind me anymore. I walked and walked as my legs ached and my feet cramped. I wanted to stop and rest, but I knew better than to do that. Eventually I came to a river. It looked pretty deep and it was rather cool out. And while it's true I was wet from the rain, I was not nearly as wet as I'd be if I took a swim. So I opted to follow the river. I had no clue where I was or where I was going. I walked the river until I heard loud splashing and birds chirping frantically as they flew overhead in the direction I was headed. I tuned to find a Corolians making a dive for me in an attempt to catch me....
This story is the first installment of a series, more will follow. If this has you curious enough to read the ending you can find it here https://www.patreon.com/deltawhiskey
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