Water burst onto the muddy surface, shards of glass and wire spreading themselves across the land. For a moment I stood, groaning in pain as I tried to muster myself awake. Opening one eye I scanned the area that was a crash site, my body mangled upon the wreckage.

A blurred landscape was in view, a mix of green and blue clouding my vision. Panicking I screamed as pain seared through my body, a shard of glass prodding from my leg. I gritted my teeth, eyes stinging from the pain. Grabbing onto the shard I pulled, cutting my hands in the procedure. Once the wound began to gush blood I staggered to my feet, standing half-naked in anguish.

The wind howled through the grassy field, swaying the vegetation ever so slightly. I looked up to see the desert sun beat down upon my neck, the clouds above steadily fading by as I limped forward. Bending over to throw up I coughed until my mouth stung, a mix of spittle and metal spewing into the ground.

"Oh god"

When my vision cleared I examined the surroundings, mud as far as the eye could see, the only container attached to the tube was my belongings welded in a steel compartment. I could read the faint markings, sprawling almost hieroglyphic text etched into the metal. I scrubbed hard, trying to scrape the grime away.

"INV: 20193 Human" I read out loud, my voice hoarse and creaking.

I examined the compartment, pressing my hand against the hot steel. I felt around for the manual release button before tugging with all my might. The door hissed open allowing me to pull out a suit jacket, dress shirt, a pack of matches, small pistol, shoes, and my wallet. I stuck my head in to see one final compartment jutting out from the metal, pressing the silver button, a medical kit popped out, leaping into my hand. I quickly opened it, carefully sticking a syringe into my leg and in seconds watched the cut slowly heal. I stared at the swirling liquid inside, flicking the vial before taking the rest of the contents with me. The wind picked up, this time causing my hair to fly about and a few small pebbles to shift around the sand.

Drying myself off with the grey coat I then ripped my tie and suit jacket into a tattered rag wrapping it around my leg to leave my hand to heal itself. Around me, the sun glistened over a grass and plant-covered field, the shrubbery a mixture of forest green and exotic violets. A beautiful sight yet hauntingly alien. Ever noise, sight, breath, that of a foreign world. Leaning against a rock I searched my memory for locations and scanned for anything but all I found was empty knowledge. Lectures of topics spanning generations, yet not a single hint at current events or the past I once had.

Unloading my magazine I examined the seven singular cylindrical, 9mm bullets I had, shifting them around in my palm. From my memory, I saw how to create guns far more powerful. Weapons would make the one I held in my blistered palm seem like an ancient child’s toy.

The bullets glistened in the sunlight as I slowly tipped them into my pocket. For some time I walked, trudging an endless march through the blistering sands, small sprouts began to appear, shooting up from the cracked dirt. I wandered aimlessly until, in the distance, I saw a large ship like structure on top of a hill, sun glinting through its corroded hull. I walked through the sludge of the dew focusing on my strength as I limped towards the craft which lay in the middle of the meadow.

The sun blinded my eyes. I raised my hand to shield it from view. It was far more powerful than I could remember if I could remember it at all. Looking up into the sky firmly for the first time I saw something: a structure, a station, a space station as large as a small moon. It circled the planet, a hive of ships sprouting from its gigantic docking bay.

I climbed a rock, hoping for a better view when suddenly a human figure appeared in the sun's glare. It was close to the fallen craft and it stood solitary, not moving, simply standing. A pile of wrappers and assorted garbage clumped wildly around its feet.

“Hey over here over here!” I cried.

Hollering in their direction I sprinted forward, the other barely taking notice of my presence.

I continued my cries until I heard a faint murmur.

“The light, the light, where is the light…”

The creature which I saw tainted my mind forever, it was once a tall man bearing torn uniform, its eyes were sunk in and limbs bleeding, its face and body withered with neglect. A horrid sight which was crucifying barbaric and disgusting to even comprehend … It saw me its mouth frothed with blood, bile and drool from a once noble face.

“Fleshhh, flesh come to me”

It ran forward and bit my arm, teeth biting down on my bone. I cried out in agony, the attack drawing blood. It swiped again, viscous and unyielding it knocked me off my feet. Banging my head against a rock I squirmed through the waste, picking up a shard of metal from the ground and launching it at the creature's shambling head.

It took the full blow in force, stuttering backward. Its' white uniform, was in complete rags, tearing upon a mess of steel from behind. I scrambled to my feet, pulling out my pistol I aimed at its head, the creature's eyes only showing tormented madness.

“Gunssss, gunst Die”

I pulled the trigger planting the bullet in its eye and an echo roared from the barrel causing nearby orange alien birds to flee from a rotting collapsed tree.

Blood spouted from the wound and it sank to the ground.

“What the bloody hell was that”

I cradled my wounded arm, nursing it under my jacket as I walked past its body.

Flipping over the corpse I searched its frayed clothes to reveal a tattered I.D card showing a handsome soldier bravely standing next to the Terrain Flag.

I knelt beside the corpse and closed his remaining eye, a stream of blood pouring out the other side. Staggering to my feet I peered into the distance.

The craft in front was the scolding remains of a fighter B271 Transport, one used in the Aquir wars. Its back had been blown open by a sizable explosion and inside a pile of bones and a nest of garbage lay in the front. Reeking a stench so putrid fumes seemed to waft through the air, clouding my view. I limped around the shattered hall to see piles of garbage three to four stories high littered across the landscape.

Like trees sprouting from a barren world, they scrapped the sky piercing into the clouds above. I jumped over the bent wire to approach the ship more directly, covering my nose with my bloodied shirt. I scrapped away at the fragile glass, dirt clashing with my hand. The cockpit seemed untouched behind an iron door, seats and equipment perfectly preserved, a capsule in time. Carefully avoiding human bones and an array of equipment I entered.

The ship was in good shape apart from three gaping holes in the hull and a broken electrical system. I scanned my thoughts for any knowledge of the craft, I remembered a few history lessons on ancient technology but not who gave them. The keypad to the door was busted the light was dead and not working.

I glanced around to see a med kit on the wall. Prying the white box off its rusty hinges I administered a mixture of bandages to my hand and foot with the knowledge I did not know I had. Pulling out an antibiotic needle I checked the expiration date and unaware of the current time, let fate guide my hand, plunging it deep into my leg to screaming in unquenching pain. I then removed a bandage from vacuum-sealed packaging and wrapped my hand, gently nursing it back to health.

“Delta, Beta 44 88 ajax… Going down… Going down”

A low moan rumbled across the field I turned around to see

Another one of the humans walked toward me. This one bearing a mixture of dirty rags and blood as it bumped around the metal dragging a crippled limb.

“Hello?” I cried.

“Delta, Beta 44 88 ajax… Going down… Going down”

“Delta, Beta 44 88 ajax… Going down… Going down”

“Delta, Beta 44 88 ajax… Going down… Going down”

"I'm guessing this means you want to eat me?" I muttered.

It repeated the words over and over again marching its way through the wreckage, pausing to sniff and stop upon occasion. Thinking of my pistol I aimed at its injured eyes with a look of sorrow and pain reeking from the face of my attacker. I hesitated, taking a deep breath as I stared into the eyes of my next victim.

Out of nowhere, one threw itself upon me, knocking me off my feet. Metal clanged as I fell, my gun strewing itself across the metal panel. I punched it in the stomach, causing it to reel back, but I was too late, it swiped at my chest, tearing into my skin. Struggling to stand I used the butt of my pistol hitting it repeatedly in the face. The creature started screaming, spit flying from its mouth as the sound pierced the air. I heaved the pistol above my head, letting it come crashing down upon my attacker with all my might. When I stood up, the body lay limp, blood pooling onto the shrubbery below.

Suddenly two more appeared around the monster, then another and another, and another they stopped sometimes to feast on each other's flesh unaware they were being eaten by their demonic brethren. Soon an entire hoard had arrived, shambling monsters, pale distorted images of their former selves.

They crawled from every corner, nook, and pile of scrap in the vicinity, like weeds sprouting from an unkempt field. Panting, I stood my ground concentrating on the door. I took a shard of metal off the ground and removed the back panel and screws to reveal four wires. Dust spewed from the compartment as I shouted.

“Think, Think”

"Don't get eaten"

"Think!" I screamed.

Leaning backward I fired at the stumbling crowd yet it was impervious. For every single one, I slew another took its place. Their cries were a mixture of words caught mid-sentence, a broken record of the last thought they ever had before the events which scarred their consciousness.

Their muttering, endless slew of words was mortifying, each one caught in a sentence, a moment in time. The only reason I survived that day was that every three seconds they would turn on each other, killing their comrades and digging into their flesh, hungry to quench a forgotten soul. I ran my fingers upon the wires, trying to concentrate on the task ahead.

"Which wire, which wire" I cried.

This was time for a gamble, a play of luck.

I cut the third wire, and the door’s emergency manual release slid open. Breathing a sigh of relief I jumped inside I pulled the door closed just in time for a twisted face to peer into the window. It screamed in agony as the hoard ignored my presence and engulfed itself.

Inside, the cockpit was dusty and well preserved, the seatbelts still buckled and a photograph of a platoon lay on the dashboard. The glass was relatively unshattered apart from being smudged and cracked to near oblivion. I cast a glance through the hole I made to see nearly twenty of those beasts were hunting for prey they could not see or hear.

Considering my options I scanned the dashboard scrubbing the dust off with my hand before flipping a red switch. The vessel turned on with a familiar hum of gas and the sound of electric sparks flying through the air. I did not think, simply acted, my hands guiding me through a routine which I had never known, my blistered fingers treating the controls as that of a piano, delicately gliding across the keys unaware of what they did only trusting their instincts.

Behind four of the creatures had fallen into a mess of wire and were electrocuted causing an aurora of burned chicken to float through the stiff air. Whipping off the dust on the windshield I saw what lay at the bottom of the hill.

A graveyard of giants stood in front, and thousands of ships, craters and piles of garbage littered the ground, from all types of species. Battleships, pleasure vessels, transports, and freighters all littered the ground as far as the eye could see.

Scattered like leaves in the wind. Most of all garbage was to be seen, hundreds upon thousands of miles of garbage. Waste that formed mountains, cities of dispair, waste that pillared and towered to fabricate a landscape of horror. The sun glinted off all, reflecting through the shards of metal.

Pods like my tube doted the skyline by the hundreds, their sleek white design prodding from the brown mulch. yet in the distance, there was a single hovering craft a working ship docked at the crumbling remains of a large 1970s Earth destroyer. It stayed there floating, drifting among the sea of death.

Buckling my seatbelt I flipped the last switch overhead and the screen in front flickered on, the faded diagram showed the fuel tank was ruptured along with the entire back of the hovercraft. Warning lights more numerous than stars in a midnight sky pierced through my vision. Great I muttered to myself, punching a few into submission. A rusted flight helm lay beside me, flipping it upside down with my uninjured hand I put it on, and slapped down upon the visor.

The screen was surprisingly clear, yet a single spider trickled down, running from the helm into the floor below. Letting out a tiny yelp at the insight's sight my fingers closed upon the grimey joystick and I yanked forward. The front of the craft’s magnetic hover clasps started to churn, slowly buzzing to life. Outside, heat began to char the ground as the engine roared itself to life, the pads remarkably turned on. With some luck acceleration and turning would still work.

Sparks flew as the front lifted, dragging the back through the sea of waste and causing a line of carnage to trail behind its wake. The ship screeched, as objects scraped against the steel, it jutted twisting to the side. Yet I pressed on, shifting the gears and ignoring the small fire starting on the wing.

I felt the hull give away beneath my feet, the rusted metal peeling back to reveal the disfigured ground that shredded the ship. Feeling the end was near I angled it towards the floating craft, crossed my fingers and prayed, prayed to all of the gods who lay nestled in my thoughts, every diety, every statue, every monument, the gods of a hundred civilizations.

In moments I crossed the waste. Like water against rock, the ship held firm, pushing against the endless sludge.

I squinted against the sun, hardly able to see my trajectory as metal from the ceiling began to slam against my helmet. Soon to my horror, the destroyer was in sight, I slammed against the breaks, hearing electricity crackle and spew from the wiring below. No effect came and the ship continued hurdling in front. The rotting corpses in the back slammed on the door in engrossed panic but it was too late they were soon swallowed by a tsunami of steel as the craft folded in on itself. I huddled into a brace position, airbags spewed from the craft's front as the power went out, plunging the controls into darkness. For a moment I sat, hands pressed against my things, waiting for death before a loud clang resounded against the air, the screech of metal filling my ears as only the burning engine spoke.

Did I survive?

Had I made it?

A sense of pain enclosed my thoughts, my mind drifting above the stars. Opening one eye I saw flames coming from the front of the shrivelled nose cone, smoke dancing in the clouds above. However, to my horror, a single brown boot stepped downwards and placed itself in front of the window. Then a hand reached forward.