HOLY COW

Chapter 1

"Alright. Love you mom."

"I love you too Aidan."

Aidan, fully prepared for school and his job after it, started his car and drove off. He couldn't stop smiling. Life was good.

A call from his crush interrupted his relaxing ride. He answered the phone with a greeting.

"Hello?" the female voice greeted from the other side of the phone. "Where are you? You're supposed to pick me up today!"

"Oh, I forgot!" cursed Aidan as he switched lanes for the freeway. "We might be a bit late."

"Of course," the voice giggled. "Hey Aidan, I have something to tell you."

Aidan's heart began racing. "W-what is it?" he asked shakily.

"Okay, I'm just gonna say it. I lov-"

Plop!

"-ve you."

...

"Hello? Aidan?"

...

"Is it that surprising?"

BEEEEEP! CRASH!

* * *

It wouldn't fit to say it happened in the "blink of an eye" because he didn't even blink. One second he was driving, you know, on the road, then the next second he found himself falling to the ground in the middle of a massive crater.

Aidan slowly got up, examining the black pit he had been teleported to.

"What the fuck?"

He counted his fingers, pinched his arm, checked his feet, and every other "how to know if you're dreaming" technique he could think of, but he knew he wasn't dreaming. It was all too real.

"Jesus, is this what I get for using my phone while driving?"

Fire crackled around Aidan as he climbed out of the crater. Soot covered his clothes as he finally reached ground level.

Did I just teleport? Where am I?

"Alright Aidan, calm down. You just need to find civilization and you'll be home ASAP. So step one, find civilization."

He examined the black wasteland that surrounded him.

Not so easy.

Left with no other choice, he began doing something that he'd find himself loathing: walking.

While he walked, he tried to accustom himself to the situation. It was extremely unorthodox, to be teleported somewhere random, but he knew he couldn't freak out. If he wanted any chance to get back to his family, he needed to try his best to do so.

An hour of walking later, Aidan noticed a change in scenery. The black, dead grass transitioned to yellow, dying grass. An upgrade for sure.

Fallen trees and leaves scattered the ground, troubling Aidan as he walked. He'd entered a forest of tall, leafless trees.

Nothing to do but keep walking.

3 Hours

Aidan was starving. He felt like if he didn't get something to eat soon, he was going to pass out.

"Only problem with that," he sighed, sitting down to rest, "is I haven't seen anything alive since the teleporting." A thought occurred to him that possibly he'd been teleported to a world with no animals. Nothing proves he hadn't, right?

"No, no Aidan. Or else there wouldn't be trees, dumbass. Carbon dioxide or something. There's got to be something edible in this world."

The debate in his head was useless because whether or not animals existed, they weren't any near him. He sighed and kept moving.