Amaranthine Excerpt- 07/26/2022

He left his camp for the first time today. He left his little makeshift camp for the first time today because he was hungry. Again. He felt like he was always hungry. A gnawing clawing screaming in his gut that had the incessant inclination to remind him like clockwork that nothing was there. He hadn’t eaten since the day before last. And that had been a meager meal at best. Just a single small trout had graced his dinner plate, for which he had thanked greatly. Both because he was happy to be eating, but also thankful for the fish’s sacrifice. It wasn’t so much that he didn’t like eating other animals, more so he didn't like being the one to end their life. He looked endlessly forward to resting in the city where it could be done for him. Although more than likely he would still be grateful to the animal, at least it wouldn’t be direct. Less blood on his hands, he mused.

On one thigh rested three knives in crude sheaths. The other held a heavy revolver only half loaded with five rounds. His clothes were very basic. Tough pants were tucked into knee-high boots and a rough leather jacket adorned him as he trudged through a forest. He had added recently a light shawl of sorts that he wore heavier on one side than the other.

Something snapped, and this time it wasn’t his careless step upon a fallen twig. This was the popping of something larger. A clearing up ahead showed through the trees, the light piercing through the foliage brilliantly, nearly distracting him. Thinking maybe a boar or bear, he scampered up a tree and waited, hands tingling to go for his weapons. The clearing held a rusted-out and overturned car, but nothing living. As he watched however, something was coming out of the forest to his right. Something altogether bigger than a boar. Or at least he hoped. He wasn’t ready to see a car-sized hairy pig. A small tree swayed as it entered into the clearing. This he wasn’t ready for. Its armored head burst out from behind a tree and a large clawed hand wrapped around a tree as if it was preparing to propel itself into the sun. But it didn’t. Instead, it lowered itself onto all four potent limbs and clawed out of the green. Its silver and blue armor shown bright in the sunlight. A legion soldier all the way out here, he thought in awe. Normally bipedal, the monster was capable of great speeds on both limbs. Heavy ornate armor covered the reptilian beast and even its vestigial tail. The canon strung over its back was almost as fear-inducing as the monster itself. It looked roughly like some great snake had grown limbs and spent years in the gym. But they all looked like this he had heard. Suddenly the creature’s pupil flicked directly on him and it chortled, like a laugh almost. Coming up to stand on its legs it chucked the off-looking rifle into its hands and fired a single shot. In terror, he froze and clung to the tree as it fell with him in it.

- Samual Curtis