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Voyager: Chapter 1

Right foot, left foot, right foot... I thought out each step I was taking, it was the only thing keeping me from just screaming out like some little girl who got pushed down in the playground. I slid across the hood of a rather expensive mangno-car. Slidding somewhat gracefully across the waxed surface, I would have been impressed if death wasn't on my heels. I didn't dare look back to see if I was still being followed, if I took my eyes off of the debris cluttered road for one second, I could trip and that would be it. So, I kept on running, my legs crying for oxygen and lungs burning.

I desperately hoped someone would see and help, but there were so few of us left, scattered about and unorganized. It was eerie, how the streets of this once bustling metropolis were now barren of all life. Not even the birds were out. They were smart, they knew that it was suicide to be in the open where they could find you.

What was I doing out here then? I thought. If a bird is smart enough to keep hidden and I go out and end up being chased, what does that make me? Damn, birds. First they crap on any unprotected car in sight and fill the sky, now they mock me with their absence.

A thunderous crunch that shook the ground nearly toppling me over. I bounced on a single leg, flailing my arms as my momentum kept me moving forward. I was on the verge of falling, verge of death. My flailing arms managed to grab onto a blue metal garbage can that sat on the corner of the side walk. It provided enough leverage to get my other foot on the ground again, giving me more precious minutes. If I had the time, I would kiss it grimy surface with the same passion I would kiss my wife... if she was still alive.

My wife, how I missed her brown eyes, her short strawberry blonde hair and her hands. Oh, her soft and caring hands. I could almost feel them on my cheeks, my itchy, mud smeared cheeks.

I shook my head. There was time for mourning and I had done enough of that already. Looking around, I tried to get my bearings. I couldn't be far from the safe house now. Several blocks away, I spied a blown out brick building with a dilapidated tour bus with a large smiling Hispanic man holding a bottle of beer printed on the side. That was my ticket to safety, I just needed to keep moving.

I vaulted over a pile of rubble and started running straight for the building. Another crunch shook the ground behind me and I stumbled over a hub cap and fell hard. It was surreal, it was as if the fall was in slow motion as my brain tried desperately to make sense of what had just happened. I saw the ground slowly rise up towards me and I instinctively put out a hand to brace my fall.

The pain, there was no pain as I watched my arm snap like a twig from the impact. The adrenaline coursing through my exhausted body made sure of that. It was strange seeing my arm just bend where there was no joint. How the bone stretched the skin and move around, it was fascinating to see.

The rest of it, wasn't painless though. I couldn't bring my other arm up to shield my face in time. My forehead hit the ground, the sound of it was not unlike that of hitting a coconut. My vision turned white and I tumbled and rolled for a few more meters before I came to a stop. Despite having the energy to run nearly six kilometers, once I was on the ground, my body just gave up. No energy to even turn my head. I had rolled over onto my back and was looking straight up at the cheerfully blue sky as my vision cleared up.

For a moment I could believe that I wasn't in the war torn remains of New York City. No matter how much pain and suffering there was, the sky was always a constant, it would always be there, unlike me.

A large shadow blocked my view of the sky. As my vision adjusted, I got a clear look at what had been pursuing me for so long.

It was an abomination, some sort of cruel way of pissing on us. It was a compilation of no less than five humans, mashed together like play dough to create a grotesque being. You could clearly see the outlines of each body as they faded in and out of the mass of flesh that made up its torso. There was no pattern to it, arms, legs, heads and even genitals poked out of it at random spots. This one wasn't even running just on legs. It stood in front of me on one leg and four arms. I had seen ones that ran like dogs or some that were flat and had to crawl around like some nightmare version of a spider.

I glared up at the being, wondering how long it would be before it heaved me up and carried me off to make another of it. They weren't smart despite having the nervous system of multiple people, then again, I had met some people who weren't very bright, not many of those around anymore.

Five beady, bloodshot eyes looked back at me. I didn't know which one to look at so I looked at a mouth that was roughly in the center of its body. The mouth was the only one I could see, it had braces on and two tongues lolled out of it, bits of drool dropping down onto one of the meaty bulges of its body.

We stared at each other like this for a good long ten seconds. I was beginning to think that it was too stupid to know what to do with me now that it had caught me. All that was missing was the chirping of a cricket or some tumbleweed to roll on by because it just stood there and watched me.

Any terror that had I felt ebbed away and was actually replaced with boredom. I was too tired to run anymore, so I just laid there and looked at it. I had never been so close to of these thing while they were still breathing. Plenty up close when they had been riddled with bullets and more than enough from afar, watching them wander aimlessly from the window the building I was so close to reaching.

I leaned my head back to see the upside down building. So close, no more than a block and a half away. The inside of the building was completely filled with debris that, once inside, would have been too tight for it to fit through. Sure, it could smash its way through, if it could even contemplate such an action.

The creature bent slightly forward and I could see what the problem was. The rest of the arms it had were on the top of its body like hair and it couldn't grab me because of the awkward angle. One of the arms that sprouted from its top bent towards me and its small grubby fingers that would have belonged to a child, tried in vain to get a hold of one of my legs. The tips of tis fingers were still a good half a meter away and it eventually realized that.

Straitening back up and turning a bit, it tried again with another arm, this one was longer and was coming out of another one's armpit. Again, it couldn't reach me. I admit, it was truly a sight and I actually laughed.

"What's wrong?" I mocked, getting an actual frustrated sneer from it. I was beginning to get some energy back and the pain of my broken arm was becoming apparent. As long as it kept being dumb, I would be able to muster up enough energy to make a mad dash. I was guaranteed a several second head start since it would take at least that long for it to realize that I had escaped.

However, that plan never came to fruition. I realized that it had hands that could grab me, the hands it was using for feet. Two of them lunged out and grabbed both of my ankles and that little girl scream that I had been holding back finally came out. I kicked and struggled, trying to get away, but it had a hold of me.

Slowly, using one leg and the two remaining arms, it began to drag me away. Clawing did nothing for me, but dig out my fingernail, but claw I did at everything. My broken arm was sliding limp next to me, every foot filled me with excruciating pain from it, but my desperation was more powerful. My fingers found the edge of a pot hole and I grabbed on for dear life. I didn't know what good it was going to do, but I wasn't just about to give up.

The thing jerked to a stop and looked back at me. Giving one good tug on my leg, it failed to loosen my grasp of the asphalt ridge. There was a time, when I would have cursed New York's lower levels due to its poor sanitation and crappy infrastructure, but now it was what was keeping from being dragged away.

Those eyes looked down at me, it poor processing power making it take forever to make a decision. I wasn't about to go anywhere though, it still had a hold of me. The beast rumbled and vibrated, its fleshy form jiggled as it did so and I suppose it had just had enough of me because it did let go.

The sudden release came as a shock and I tried to take advantage of it. I pulled my legs up while pushing up with my one arm. My legs slid under me so I was ready to leap away until one of the pseudo feet punched me right in the side of the face and sprawled me onto me side.

The white, blurry vision came back and I didn't see the next punch/kick which got me in the gut. It was done with me alright, but instead of letting me go, it was simply going to finish me off.

I coughed up some blood and spit it out. Each breath hurt even more, the burning in my chest was now just normal, stabbing pain everywhere. Never in a millions years would I think that it would end like this for me, beaten to death by multiple kicks by hands.

Another blow hit me in the gut again and I tried to block them, but that only left my face exposed. It was an actuall foot that hit me next and knocked out my right upper front tooth. There was no rime to spit it out and I ended up swallowing it. I simply closed my eyes and tried to block out the pain that each new hit delivered. I was passing out and I was relieved. That way, I wouldn't have to deal with it anymore.

Then, when I thought that the next hit to my head would knock me out, it stopped. Out of my stupid curiosity which got me into this situation in the first place, I opened my eyes to see what had happened. I couldn't see much, my vison was to blurry and wouldn't refocus. The large bulb shape of the creature jerked back and I was splattered and the irony smell of blood overwhelmed my senses. It stood before me, the arms on the top it head flexed in agony and another jerk blew the top portion of its body off. It twitched and then it fell with a sickening splat as whatever was holding it together died with it.

I laid on my side in pain, unsure of what to do. I was tired, bloody and with a broken arm. Not a very good position, especially when the nearest hospital was a crater. I eventually got the will to get onto my knees and sit up. I cradled my broken arm, it had already been mangled by the beating to the point where a simple stint wouldn't do any good anymore. It would need to be set.

I looked around, trying to find my savior. Through squinted and now swelling eyes, I couldn't see more than five feet in front of me, though my hearing was still good.

I heard the clunking of combat boots and waited patiently for whoever it was to get to me.

"Hey, bud. You look like shit." The voice came from directly in front of me. "Just a bit longer and it would have smashed your head in." He walked over next to me and put a fuzzy arm around my shoulder. I jerked back at the unfamiliar feeling. I knew what it was though. He was one of the bipedal dogs that had recently popped up all over, the result of some mad billionaire who released some kind of mutagen on various places around the solar system.

No matter, despite the unfamiliarity, he was here to help and I calmed back down. I leaned into him and he helped me take a few shaky steps.

"Good thing I got here and even better that I'm such a great shot." He spoke with a kind of confidence that was hard to come by these days. "Lined up that ugly sucker right in my cross hairs, he didn't stand a chance." He kept on talking and I just listened, concentrating more on staying conscience than his ramblings. "Watch your step." He warned and the front of my foot hit a raised surface. I reached out and grabbed onto him. He was built like a tank and didn't budge as I stumbled up curb.

My eyes had completely swollen shut at this point, leaving me entirely reliant on this person to guide me to safety. "I'm going to take us to a convenience store, might be something in there to help patch you up." He told me and I nodded. A few minutes of walking and me somewhat ignoring what he was yammering on about and he leaned me up against some sort of counter. "Wait here while I try to find some bandages and alcohol." I heard the crunch of broken glass as he went off to do his search.

I pushed myself onto the counter and rested my broken arm on my lap. I slowly felt up it to try and get an idea of bad it was. It felt like it might as well have been torn off, even the slightest touch hurt. I remember how it had bent when I fell and was somewhat relieved to feel that was the only break I could find. Could have been worse as the saying goes.

"Here we go." I heard the person's voice coming from the back. He ran back over to me. "We'll need to set that arm." He said and very lightly touched my shoulder as not to cause pain.

"Now?" I finally spoke up.

"Yep, can't have you wandering around with your arm at that angle."

"Don't suppose you found that alcohol?" I once broke my leg after falling out of tree as a child. It had to be set as well and let's just say it's the most vivid memory I have from my childhood.

There was a distinctive sound of a cork being popped and the lip of a bottle was brought up to my mouth. I reached and took the bottle with my good arm and downed it large swig. It was whiskey and strong whiskey at that. I coughed at the burning sensation that was running down my throat.

"Careful now." He said and took the bottle from me. "Now I want you to bite down on this." He put something else at the tip of my lip and I did as I was told. It was part of some kind of plastic handle, maybe to a broom. He then grabbed a hold of my hand and upper forearm. "Ready?"

I didn't have enough time to answer. He yanked straight and hard on my arm and there was a crunch as the bone was set into its correct position. I bit down on the handle hard and yelled at the top of my lungs between the clenched teeth. It was even worse than the leg, much worse, but it faded quickly into a throb and I was left gasping for breath. The plastic handle slipped out of my mouth and clattered to the floor.

"There, it's all good. Now just need to wrap it." The crinkle of plastic was barely audible over the heart beat that was pounding in my ears. He had a stint on my arm and wrapped within seconds, leaving me better off than I was, though I still couldn't see.

"What's your name?" I managed to say between a gasp. "Mine's Liam Thane." The man had saved my life, now was as good as any other time for introductions. Plus, if I fainted in the next five seconds, I would at least know his name.

"Crane." He answered. "And the first name's not important. Hardly use it myself." He began to wipe my face with a rag that stunk of whiskey. It stung, but I kept quiet, the throbbing in my arm was where my focus was.

"Ok, Crane. I guess I'm pretty reliant on you for the time being, where to now?" I asked. The smell of the whiskey which he was using to disinfect the wounds on my face was burning my nose.

"That you are, Liam. I have a hideout nearby." He said and began to wrap my head now that it was clean. "We'll head there once I finish fixing you up."

"Sounds like a plan."