Earth, North American Continent

12,900 Years Ago

Gray dark clouds covered the entire sky and sent torrents of acidic rain, dirty with ash, to fall onto the ground. Leaning against a big boulder, a lone man waited for his death.

His hands were pressing against his stomach, trying to slow the blood leaking from his wound. He knew that there was no one who could come to his rescue anymore, and the injury was far too extensive, one he couldn’t possibly survive.

As far as he knew, he was probably the last surviving member of his entire civilization. They had been hunted to extinction.

In spite of it all, a defying sneer twisted his lips; the pack of monsters responsible for his end, and countless other deaths… were dead as well. Unfortunately, not before his entire group was wiped out.

He remembered the times in the past when he was perfectly happy, being surrounded by his family, friends… living in paradise. Their home was like a garden they cultivated, and through countless generations, made it into the most beautiful place on the entire planet. All gone now, destroyed by the orbital bombardment and energy weapons of the monsters. Undeterred by the destruction of their home, his people still had hope and believed that their civilization would endure.

He and his men were chosen to go on this mission, to walk across the entire continent in hope that they would find the hidden spaceship. The trip that would have lasted a few hours if they could have used their flyers, took almost the entire planet’s orbit around the Sun. They came so close to the ship… and failed.

The enemy could somehow detect even the deactivated technology within their bodies, and made a sport out of hunting them down… one by one.

However, those aliens did not count on a primitive trap he and his younger brother made; the last two surviving members. They knew that the probability of both of them coming out of this alive was very minuscule. Still, if they could destroy the aliens’ flyer, maybe one of them could make it to the ship.

In the morning, they said their goodbyes, holding one another for a long time; taking what comfort they could and both remembering their childhood when things were far simpler.

His brother volunteered to be the bait because of his busted knee, and the nanites that could have easily healed his injuries in the past, were made permanently dormant; he was the one slowing them down. Therefore, his brother waited at the bottom of the steep cliff, taunting their pursuers to come after him and kill him… and they did.

He had to watch as they shot the last adult member of his family, like an animal. When they came for his brother’s flesh, his hands sprung the trap. A large pile of rocks they gathered the previous day, waiting to be let loose and activate a landslide… above monsters' heads.

Despite the odds… it worked.

He watched as the few massive rocks fell on a delicate flyer, damaging it beyond all hope of repair. Unfortunately, the alien reflexes were unnaturally fast. A moment before the big tumbling rocks ended their lives, one of the red aliens aimed at him and pulled the trigger. With that shot, mortally wounding him, and killing the hope of his people.

Now, only death remained… he would never reach the ship.

He looked at the night sky and the violent wind patterns made an opening in the black canopy, allowing him to see the stars. He tried to find one particular light, remembering the exact position it occupied at this time of year. His hand lifted upwards as if to touch it when he finally saw it. There, in the sky was a tiny spot, but he knew it was the red planet. The most important place in the universe as far as he was concerned. On that desolate world, his son was hidden; waiting for his parents to come for him. That would never happen now, he would remain there, asleep… for eternity.

His last thought was a prayer, that one day someone would find his little boy, and wake him up.

With a sense of finality, the dying man did something he didn’t do for a long time. He activated his implant and instructed it to play still images from those happier times, images of his son, wife, and their idyllic home. It didn’t matter anymore if the other packs of monsters detected his position.

Ision closed his eyes for the last time, as the acid rain washed the tears down his face.