I find myself laying down on what feels like dirt, very much in pain, though why I don’t know. The last thing I remember is walking down the stairs outside of my apartment and that’s it. It’s an odd feeling, having a gap in your memory like this. You know something is meant to be there but no matter how hard you try, all you come up with is a white blank and a headache.

I move my hand slowly to my head, it hurts like hell but then again what doesn’t at this point. Rubbing my head seems to make some of the pain go away but now I have to get up off the ground and I just know it’s gonna suck Horse Dick.

…..One word: ow.

Okay I am unstable as all hell, but I am now standing and from one look around I feel like I am in a demented version of the Sequoia National Park. It’s just tree after tree after tree as far as I can see in every direction. I don’t like this one bit, mind I love the outdoors….. But this place has this kind of bad mojo about it and every instinct I have is telling me to get the fuck out.

“Well, I have a sudden fear for my life” is all I can mumble right now and boy is my throat and mouth dry, It feels like I have gargled sand.

I need to get out of this forest, it gives me the creeps to no end. But which way do I go? I guess it can be any direction seeing as all there is are trees in any given line of sight. So look around, what’s the thinnest underbush in any given vector. What was it people said? The thinnest amount is the way most traveled?

Looks like the thinest is to my general left from where I was laying when I woke up, that might just be the best way to go. I must be close to the edge of the forest, maybe less than a mile or two? If I was any deeper the underbrush would be taller and thicker. I need to keep a decent pace but at the same time be careful and as quiet as I can be, as there is no telling what lives in this place.

“Right” I mumble “I don’t know how long I have until Dark, so let’s get moving” and what kind of predators come out after dark goes without being said.

With that in mind I start my hobling walk, it still hurts to move but it’s lessening the longer I move. I can only hope that the pain will be gone before I get out of this forest, I know I am no longer on Earth if by nothing other than the taller than they should be Trees. With how close they are together, it’s a wonder how I didn’t end up inside of one when I was…..transported here? Portaled here? However I got here.

You know, now that I am on that train of thought how did I even get here; where ever here is, in the first place? I mean I know I am not in my world anymore as that was easy to tell from the get go, but just how far off the mark am I that being transportaled here made every fiber of my being hurt.

Hell, how do I get back? I left so much behind, my mum, my home, my dog. Can I even go back home? Am I stuck here never to see everything and everyone I love! No, no, no I can’t start thinking about that, not now, I need to find a way out of this forest and maybe someone to help me. Survival first, then breakdown.

Thinking of that, am I alone here? If not then what kind of beings exist here, will they be friendly or will I be attacked on sight? Can they even speak the same language? Do they even USE vocal communication like I do?

As this is all spinning through my head I start slowing my pace through the brush of the forest, eventually leading me to stop in a small clearing. I can see more light ahead of me signaling an edge to the forest and my freedom of it.

But as I stand there I start to think if I even SHOULD leave the forest, at least should I leave it now. I don’t know what is out there or even IF there is anything out there to begin with. For all I know it could be a barren wasteland or a desert.

Then again I know little about the forest I am in anyway, for all I know it could be far safer out there. As it stands I am still getting that creepy feeling even though I am slow close to the edge of this place.

So I guess it is a toss up between staying in here and potentially dying and going out there and also potentially dying, boy what a choice!

I let out a sigh and sink down against a tree, I guess I can peek out past the tree line and see what’s out there. If it’s a barren wasteland I can just stay in here and follow the edge until I find more hospitable lands and if it’s not I can head out of this creepy forest and find whatever passes for civilization.

With my plan of action in place, my sanity at it’s breaking point and my adrenaline pumping I get up and head for the light at the edge of insanity. As I pass the tree line my sight is robbed from me for a moment and as it comes back I am astonished.

Green fields, flowers and small animals, trees much smaller than the monsters in the forest, bushes and to my relief I can see the tops of what I can only assume are buildings in the distance. They are still a good distance away, maybe two and some change miles but it is at least comforting to know that who ever calls this planet home is civilized to a small margin.

Once my astonishment passes I start walking to what I am going to call a small village, it will take a couple of hours due to the distance, but at least I might be able to find help.

Or so I hope, for all I know it could be a village of Cannibals or cut throats and I am walking to my doom.

As I am walking I get this feeling of being watched, though I quickly shrug it off as the animals paying attention to what they think is a predator. Though that feeling doesn’t go away and as I reach the half mile into my walk the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I start hearing a low but growing whistling sound.

I stop and spin in place, trying to find the growing sound. As the sound reaches an ear splitting volume I look up, the last thing I see is a blue appendage connecting with my forehead.

Thwak!

Then black.

Author's Notes:

Well here we go!