Instinct: Ch. 1

Chapter 1
A Stranger’s Awakening
By: Chris Moore

         The young man roused, the sound of the ocean a whisper scratching at his consciousness. A scent of thick smoke, rising from nearby, gripped his lungs, forcing his esophagus to contract. He gasped and choked; his chest heaving, hoarse cries escaping his open mouth. The loud bark carried across the beach behind his pained eyes. His vision was yet to come to him but he spread his eyes wide in fear of his body's reaction to being awake, or being alive for that matter. His mind was in chaos. Thoughts raced through him. Nothing would slow down in his mind enough so he could grasp it. He fought, trying to think. Laying there for a moment, his mind was in a frenzy trying to capture even one thought. Slowly his mind eased until one sound stirred, a bold confident voice spoke; full of arrogance.

Get up

         He lay there as he let the voice's order settle into his mind. He tried to discern whether it was in his head or if it was somewhere around him. This startled him, the thought of someone near him was frightening. He waited once more collecting himself. Silence. No wait... there it was again. He could feel it coming again. A surge of anxiousness rushed over him.

Get up now
If you don't you will die

         His silver eyes peered up hopelessly through his dark hair, plastered to his face by sweat and sand. He reached out an arm under heavy soaked clothing, fortunately constricting his movement. For as soon as he did so his arm instantly recoiled and an piercing scream tore from his lips. His arm was bleeding all the way down his forearm, pouring from a terrible gash buried deep in his clothes. A dark red fluid almost too dark to be such a necessity to life, flowed from the tear. Pain ripped through his whole body, its excruciating tendrils crawled up and down his now fetal arrangement. The wound, the epicenter of his dreaded agony. He curled his arm into the curve of his upper body, his other arm cradling it. He soon realized the rest of his body worked just fine despite the pain rippling through his arm. Carefully clutching his arm he pulled his body upright onto his knees and chest. Crying out once more as he fell face-down in the sand breathing heavy, paying close attention not to touch his wound anymore than necessary. He choked once more but stifled it in fear of waking the beast that now rested dormant inside the wound.

         Hacking up dirt and sand in his own face he cleared his throat, his mouth still dry and gritty. A noise broke the silence. He began listening vigorously. He could hear footsteps over the sandy hill. The hill was hiding him from the sun that was now creeping over it slowly and preceding that, beyond his view, a fortress of trees that lay in wait for him to wake and enter. A rough voice, lower than a whisper but still far too deep in pitch to be that of a man's, could be heard closing in on his position. There were two, of this he was certain: and that at any moment they would be right on top of him. He was still, his mind a foggy slumber and the sound of fate closing in on him from a far off place. A thought startled and woke him from his daze. "There is some reason I am here, in this condition."

         In an urgent flurry his body reacted. He moved without any thought, as if his body were its own entity. With one arm, he lifted himself up ignoring the pain, an irrelevant factor now, just as a bear-like figure climbed over the sand, blotting out the sun. His eyes flickered towards this burly threatening presence, fear gripping his gut as another slightly smaller shadow arose, climbing behind the prominent one’s hulking girth.

         Due to the sun just rising over the sands, it was difficult to see their features. He could see that they were both behemoths compared to him, and that they intended to kill him. His eyes strained to perceive than the hairy which covered their bodies. They were armed, though with what he was unsure. He could only see a handle of some sort protrude from the leading creature's hip. They were both tall and broad beasts, no horns nor a tail. This seemed odd to him.

         The leading one let out a deep horrifying growl overpowering the crash of the now wrathful waves beating against the rocks not far from where they were. Hurtling forward with intense speed, blocking out the setting sun once more, came the beast having drawn its saber with lightning speed. The lesser one still standing atop the peak of shadowed black sand. Entranced, the boy merely leaned back raising his wounded arm as a foreign tongue breached his lips.

         From his palm erupted a fiery column of light tearing an enormous hole in the abdomen of the first, nearly ripping it in half. It sent the beast spinning just to the right of him. The blast had shredded the remaining ones legs like ribbon. The saber had been flung from its grasp into the other fiend's chest through its ribs embedded hilt deep. The blade pinning the corpse to the ground. Blood spew everywhere across the peppered sand spreading an instant searing stench of rot into the air and staining the earth. He fell backwards his eyes rolling back as he lost consciousness.

         A voice cried out in anger, calling him from the grave of his unconsciousness. There was no one there. He heard it again, loud in his head...

Told you