Adaniek was running like he had never run before, his chest heaving and pounding in his ears, he stole a glance behind him to see if his pursuers were near. Stopping a moment to inhale huge gulps of air, whilst he leant against a Beoan tree, he could make out their aggressive yells and curses that could still be heard a little distance away.
Earlier that day:
Like every ordinary morning since arriving from the homeworld, he had risen early and fed the livestock before eating a small breakfast with his assigned work group. Being a single male volunteer he had been housed in the makeshift singles quarters to the edge of the settlement, next to camp for portee’s, those miserable souls who had been transported for resettlement involuntarily.
At night their camp was alive with rowdy jostling and games that could be heard well into the early morning, how they were able to work the next day was a constant mystery to Adaniek.
After the breakfast his workgroup had been sent to edge of the settlement to investigate the potential for clearing further forest for more cattle grazing. The settlement of Branjesh as they had named it, after the late Branjesh Vormalian, the intended first and previous Mayor, who had perished on the last day of the new year, having chewed too much of the local beetle. The Deno beetle was purported to have extremely hallucinogenic and soporific effects, which lead to Branjesh’s ultimate demise, having eaten said beetle he wandered into the jungle, never to be seen again. They had intended to purchase some more cattle from the traders currently in orbit around the planet, who had been selling analogous sheep, which had been engineered for the slightly warmer climate on Unamia III.
Focusing on and exploring the forest that morning, along with his fellow work group compadres he did not here the shouts or screams, nor did he hear the crackle of the fuse guns, nor did he even see the fire break out as it started.
As they appeared from the edge of the forest, they see the smoke, rising from the centre of the settlement, the main hall ablaze, an inferno of smoke and ash being spewed skywards. Although it was some distance away they could clearly see no one working to extinguish the flames, in fact they could not see anyone in the settlement at all, an eerie calm engulfing the site.
Moving with urgency the group head towards the fire, looking frantically around for any sign at all of people. With some distance remaining to the main hall, they hear a feral cry emanate from the fields to the left, seeing a seven portees heading out from the long wheat grass, gathering speed and running towards them, wielding make shift weapons of picks, axes and machetes, as they approach he makes out the blood and grime smeared upon their bodies.
Almost as if frozen in time, Adaniek pauses taking in the site before him, hesitant what to do or how to proceed, he does the only thing his survival instincts allow him to do, he flees. Turning about face he runs back the way he came into the forest, not exactly knowing where he’s going, he knows he doesn’t want to be here.
Not daring to tarry any longer he sprinted off again, holding his arms in front of his eyes to protect his face from the worst of the branches and leaves that were constantly blocking his path. The dense jungle around him swallowed up any trace of his passing, the forest seemingly alive and moving behind him.
