The Great Journey

Ajax

Clenching his hand, an agonizing groan parted from Ajax's dry lips, grainy sand sifting through his fingers. A throbbing erupted inside his head, the pain immense. Opening his eyes, his heavy breath blew the sand away from his face like a stern breeze, sounds of crashing waves gently dabbed his eardrums. Ajax couldn't see.

Blinking, Ajax rubbed his eyes, a grey static slowly granting him his vision back. Shellshocked, distant screams echoed around the beach. A muffled explosion shook the ground, its blast wave showering Ajax with stinging shards of sand. Lifting his head, his thick black hair matted to his forehead, Ajax cast his eye's ahead of him.

Half of the mothership had crash-landed on the planet, three-quarters of it, sinking into the ocean. A small part wedged itself into the sandy beach, fire dotted around its steel surface like a bad rash. A beautiful moon assisted the fires in lighting up the dark, bitterly cold beach, silhouetting a site of horror.

Survivors, of the crash, staggered to their feet, each as dazed and confused as the rest. Cries howled into the night, like a wolf calling its pack, as people found their friends, dead and dismembered, the sand devouring their lifeblood. Glancing at the ocean, the waves lapped at the shore, leaving the sand it touched, stained with a pink tinge. Numerous bodies floated in the water, a survivor sifting through them, desperately searching for a missing friend. The smell of sea salt stung Ajax's nostrils, smoke and blood, adding to the concoction of scents.

Get up! You need to help them. You're a soldier!

Rising to his feet, Ajax stumbled forward, collapsing in a heap, pain stabbing his leg like a hot knife. His hearing fully regained, the horrid sound of melting steel and roaring fires, boomed over the beach, the gentle sooth of the waves adding a sinister element to the atmosphere. Feeling his leg, a jagged piece of steel poked through his flight suits leg, warm blood dripping off its edge. Ajax accompanied the choir of screaming survivors, ripping the steel shard out of his flesh. Clenching his teeth, muffling his yelps, Ajax crawled over to a piece of material, half buried in the sand. Using the shard, Ajax cut it into a thin strip, using it to tie around his wound.

A small explosion, within the mothership, caused Ajax to jump. Whipping his head around, he watched the fireball melt into the night sky, a mushroom of dark smoke polluting the atmosphere. Two survivors ran out of the motherships interior, covered in flames, horrific wails haunting the beach. One of the survivors dashed to the ocean, extinguishing the flames, the other wasn't so lucky. The flames succumbed the survivor, devouring their body as they fell to the sand, screaming until death silenced them.

Ajax's heart beat out of his chest. Lifting a knee, he rested on it with both arms, gaining enough strength to thrust his body upwards. Wandering in the direction of the mothership, wading through piles of debris, a hand grabbed his leg. Squeezing his wound, Ajax fell to a knee, clenching his teeth.

'Help ... Me ... ', a man with a bloodied face gasped.

Without thinking, Ajax knelt beside the man, throwing his arm over his shoulder. Lifting him to his feet, in a chorus of groans, Ajax scanned the dark beach.

Where is safe? The tree line!

Beyond the small sand dunes, at the head of the beach, a giant forest towered into the star-filled sky. Staring in amazement, Ajax couldn't remember the last time he'd seen trees this large, and so many of them. A whimpering cry snapped him out of his daydream. Rearing his eye's down on the injured man, Ajax comforted him, 'Don't worry! I'm getting you out of here!'

Dragging the near lifeless body over the sand dunes exhausted his injured leg, his muscles burning with every step, but he wouldn't give in. Laying the man down, against a tree trunk, as wide as four people standing side by side, Ajax checked the unconscious man's pulse.