The Desolate Planet Chapter 1

Tegan blinked red dust out from under her eyelids as the blazing yellow sun shone harshly on the parched ground. She turned her gaze towards the bleak horizon and squinted her eyes against the glare from the sun. The whole planet looked as if it was in desperate need of rain, yet there was not one single cloud in the violet sky that showed any promise of water. Slinging her backpack over her shoulders, she began to trudge across the dry wasteland kicking up tiny rocks as she went. As expected from the pictures that she had seen, this planet was completely red. In a lot of ways it resembled the planet Mars, expect that the sky was a vibrant purple and humans could breathe freely on the planet without a spacesuit. Tegan had come to this planet in hopes of discovering new forms of life, but so far there appeared to be nothing but dust and rocks. Her eyes darted back to her broken space pod and she pursed her lips. She had tried everything to fix her damaged spacecraft, but the entire engine had completely blown up. There was literally nothing else she could do except try and find civilization on the planet and hopefully get help to repair her ship. But for now all she could do was walk endlessly in hopes of finding someone that would be willing to help her or something that she could use to help repair her broken ship.
Clouds of red dust scuffed up around her boots with every step that she took. Particles of the dust clouds managed to find their way into her eyelids and she immediately rubbed her eyes with scrunched up fists. It wasn’t long before she could really start to feel the intense heat from the sun; sweat began to form along her brow as she continued to make her way across the lifeless ground.

After what seemed like hours, Tegan eventually found a sheltered spot that provided some protection from the fiery sun. She hungrily gulped down a bottle of water to quench her thirst as she rested against a nearby rock. After she had drunk her fill, she opened some of her food supplies and began to eat whilst also being mindful to ration what food she had. Once she had finished the sun had already begun to disappear from the horizon, and darkness covered the churned up ground like a giant blanket. Tegan hastily set up a tent for the night and as soon as she was finished she snuggled into her sleeping bag, looking out at the dark, empty landscape that seemed to go on for miles. There had to be at least something that lived here. All she could do was wonder until she encountered some new life form on her own. Her stomach began to twist up at the sudden thought of being stranded on an isolated planet with no way of contacting anyone.

No, I will be okay, there has to be someone that lives here that can help me, she thought calmly, shifting uneasily in her makeshift tent. All of a sudden there was an ear piercing, rumbling roar that echoed across the giant red mountains that adorned the planet. Tegan stiffened; holding her breath, panic began to flutter in her chest as she quickly zipped up the entryway into her tent and turned off her portable lamp. The roar sounded like nothing that she had heard before. One thing was for sure that it definitely sounded alien. What the heck was THAT? She swallowed hard, burying herself deeper into her sleeping bag. She could still hear the beast roaring as she slowly drifted off to sleep, her body shaking with fear at the possibility that whatever was making those roars was somewhere close by, and from what she could tell it didn’t sound friendly.  

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The following morning Tegan woke up rather early to get a good start. She wanted to get up before the sun became too harsh, so she quickly inhaled some crackers and other astronaut food for breakfast before setting off into the charred landscape again. She had no idea how long it would take her before she even found other people. For all she knew it could take days, weeks or even months before she encountered someone. She knew one thing for certain though - once she found civilization she would contact back up straight away and inform them that she was stranded on the planet. Gulping down some more water from her backpack, she continued to trudge across the dusty ground. After forty minutes of continuous walking and staring at the orange floor, Tegan finally rested against a fragile tree that was barely standing up against the harsh landscape. She let out a sigh and chugged down some more water and gently leaned back against the tree. All of a sudden the floor began to crumble underneath her and before she could even get a grasp as to what exactly was going on, she felt herself falling into a black, empty pit underneath the ground. She let out a muffled scream as she fell, her hands flailing about trying to grasp something, anything, to help her stop falling to her death, her lungs heaved as she struggled to breathe. Before long her body crashed into the ground, or at least what she assumed was the ground, her head ringing as she tried to gain her senses. She slowly sat up, blinking her eyes open to total darkness, and rubbed the side of her head with her hand.

“Where the heck am I?” she murmured into thin air, her eyes failing to adjust to the blackness that surrounded her.

Well, this is just fantastic, now I have no idea where I am, she attempted to stand up but immediately fell right back down onto her backside. Heaving out a sigh, she tried to make herself as comfortable as possible while her eyes adjusted to the lack of light. She steered her neck upwards to hopefully see the hole where she had fallen, hoping to catch some ray of sunlight from the hole, but she couldn’t even see a trace of sunlight.

Wow, I’ve really fallen quite far down, she thought with a nervous gulp. It was then that she remembered that she had a flashlight stored in her backpack and she immediately pulled it out of her pack. Before she could turn the device on, however, she suddenly felt the floor rise and fall underneath her. Her entire body froze over with fear and her chest tightened.

W-why is the ground moving? She swallowed hard; daring not to move a single muscle as she once again felt the ground rise and fall. Why was the ground doing this? There had to be some sort of logical explanation. It was almost as if the ground was breathing.

Breathing…the ground is breathing, she stiffened, no, no, no, that can’t be right, it can’t be-

A gust of warm wind billowed around her face, making her hair fly past her ears; Tegan grasped the flashlight firmly as the reality of the situation began to set in.

I’m sitting on top of someone aren't I?