Snippet #2546956

He could see it all. Every moment, every fragment of an instant, over and over and over again, splintering pieces of memories replaying in excruciating detail. He could hardly speak from his screaming, his eyes burned from being held open. It was perfect, so perfect. He could see everyone of them, everyone he loved and trusted. Their laughs, their smiles, their hope.

His was a perfect madness: more times than he could count, more ways than he could have known possible, he got to watch each and every one of them die.

***

Highwind's eyes flickered open. The day was approaching evening. He slowly rose, his chest and throat sore and stiff. His fingers found his sword, and he used the long blade to prop himself to his feet. Stumbling forward, Highwind entered the next room.

"Anything?" he asked the solitary guard. The man shook his head, and Highwind nodded in relief. Ever since those first few days, they'd kept a guard. They always kept a guard now. Never stayed in the same spot more than two nights. It wasn't safe, nothing was safe anymore.

Highwind pressed a cool hand to his head. Things were getting worse. Highwind still was called regularly by Tera Roth, but six months into the war and they were losing badly. Highwind could not abandon the planet here, nor did he feel he would win the battle raging in the night. His homeworld would also be his tombstone.

Highwind nodded to the others in the room, brave men and women who were his personal guard. He recognized none of their faces. They were all new, from other squads. They were still trying to piece his last squad back together, still trying to find out whose arms and legs, whose guts, went into which body. Quite a bit was still missing, and Highwind knew where they had gone. Oblivion's army here feasted on only one thing: human flesh.

Highwind silently reviewed what he knew of Oblivion's forces on this planet. They were led by two men, both of whom Highwind had yet to face in combat. One was a monster, and the monsters he commanded were beyond anything Highwind had seen before. They were nightmares come to life, all teeth and claws and speed. They only hunted at night, but every night, people died from their attacks. The other man was a hunter, here to keep the first in check. Highwind had slowly been learning from the hunter, learning how to survive. So far he had been lucky... but all luck runs out.

"Check your equipment," Highwind croaked after a moment, his throat dry. He was handed a cup of water by a cute young girl who looked vaguely familiar. Maybe a sister of someone he'd known. "We leave in 10 minutes." Swallowing the water, he smiled gratefully to the girl, and then began attempting to limber up. He'd need to be prepared for anything tonight. But he knew he wouldn't be; he never was.

***

Tera Roth walked down the ruined street, shaking his head at the decaying corpses and the ruins of what had once been a sizable city. Now it was all smoke and death.

"Typical," he grunted to himself, squeezing past a toppled pillar into a doorway. "Purely typical. I wonder what the body count is so far. Not sure I want to know." He chuckled. "I'd probably go insane from how little I'm doing." He doubled over, pushing through a small hole in the back of the building and stepping quickly to the other side.

"I wonder how Wing's doing," he muttered. "All the others... I hope they're well. It's been a while since I talked to any of them, I should contact them again. Risky though. Always a risk." He reached out and touched a small switch, lighting a small lightbulb in the tiny room he had made his home.

He settled down on his bed, and pulled out a small piece of bread and cheese that he'd saved. Cutting out a piece of mold on the bread, he swallowed the rest with one gulp.

"Ugh, so hungry," Tera Roth groaned, flopping back on the bed. "I hope Wing gets here soon, it's already been a week. If I don't hear from him by tomorrow, I'll have to leave." He wiped his eyes, closing them in an attempt to get some sleep. "Darius..." he muttered. "I'm sorry... but there's no way. There's no way we can..."

A tear trickled down his cheek as Tera Roth drifted into slumber...