The Red Wasteland

Darkness… It was all Cedric could see. Instead of the expected cold, he felt unusually hot. He was annoyed to feel something coarse, rough, and irritating. Something that gets everywhere.

'Dying feels incredibly painful… But wait, I can still feel something right now! Yes! I'm alive! I didn't die!'

Cedric opened his eyes to see… a red sky. The sky looked as red as the color of blood.

Cedric couldn't help but feel a slight fear and apprehension. The redness was very different from the sunset sky he was familiar with.

"What the fuck?"

Cedric pushed himself off the ground to a sitting position before looking around his surroundings.

Red sand was blowing along with the wind and it made his vision see less farther than it could have.

He seems to be in some kind of desert wasteland. There was almost nothing but red sand as far as the eyes could see.

Red sand is all he can see in the farthest distance his eyes can observe.

Some rock formations were present in the horizon. But still, this place is mostly just red sand.

The rock formation looked foreign and weird. It didn't look whole and Cedric could see that it was lined with big holes as if something dug through those rocks.

"Where the hell am I?"

Cedric asked himself as he got up. Even after standing up to see farther, the world around was mostly still filled with red sand.

Cedric put a hand under his chin and started thinking of his possible location. It was the most logical thing he could think of at the moment.

The last thing he remembered before waking up was getting electrocuted by his computer that suddenly decided that it no longer needed electricity to function.

After thinking for an unknown amount of time, Cedric only shook his head. It seems he can't think of where he could be right now. Either that, or he can't think of why he was suddenly in this place.

He loved reading about useless facts, so he was aware of weird and mysterious geographical locations in the world. The country he lived in has no area like where he was right now.

Could it be that he's in another country? But why? Who would put so much in flying him here?

Why would they even think of leaving him in this kind of place? Cedric is a nobody. He's not remarkable in the eyes of society, but he also has never offended anyone.

"This is a weird dream, man… Yeah. This is a dream. Wait! This could be hell, too!"

Cedric started to panic as he thought of the possibility that he was in hell right now.

'Why?! What did I do wrong?! What did I do to deserve going to hell?!'

'Was it because I watched a pirated movie as a kid?'

'Was it because of my vandalism hobby back then?'

'Was it because I jacked off to anime l*lis and escaped the FBI?'

Cedric counted the possible reasons as to why he deserved to be in hell. There was a lot.

Is this his punishment? Was he actually dead? Is he just a soul right now? Similar questions were running through Cedric's mind because of the bizarre situation he found himself in after waking up.

"Wait. Calm down, Ced. Calm…"

Cedric talked to himself in an attempt to make a rational decision. It is very difficult to think straight and make sound decisions if you're panicking, after all.

Cedric knew this so he chose to calm himself down before thinking of what to do next.

"Let's just go to those rocks for now… They look promising. I can use them as a vantage point too. Alright. Let's go."

Cedric started walking to the rock formation he saw in the distance. Since there was nothing to compare it to, he didn't know how far it was.

'How far is that rock? I've been walking for so long now. I feel thirsty, too…'

Cedric spent an unknown amount of time walking to the rock formation that was slowly getting bigger. He started feeling impatient and slightly afraid. He's feeling the thirst now.

All of a sudden, he heard barking noises from somewhere behind him.

Cedric turned his head back to look at the source of the sound, hoping it was somehow a form of help he can cling to in this weird desert wasteland.

"Wh-what the actual fuck is that?"

Cedric saw a pack of three weird doglike creatures run towards him. These doglike things looked incredibly grotesque and unnatural.

"What the fuck?! They're monsters no way in hell they aren't! I REALLY AM IN HELL!"

Cedric ran with renewed vigor to the rock formation, away from the scary and rabid dog monsters.

Instead of fur, the black dog monsters had some kind of shell armor. They were huge as well. One bite and they could tear off Cedric's arm.

Spurred by the ungodly fear towards these weird monsters, Cedric could see that the rock formation was actually close now.

'Yes! Now, I just need to climb… fuck me.'

Cedric reached the rock formation and tried to climb the rock to no avail. He was athletic, but not that athletic.

He shivered in fright when he felt the sand under his feet shake from the heavy footsteps of the running dog monsters.

They were close enough for him to hear them panting in anticipation at the feast they're about to partake in.

Suddenly, the rock itself shook as well. A giant worm with sharp teeth in front and inside its gaping mouth appeared from the big rock formation.

The dogs suddenly stopped running and shivered in fear from seeing the gigantic worm that was coming towards them.

The giant worm took one of the dogs before raising its body high to make the dog fall down in its mouth using gravity.

The gaping mouth of the worm closed and carnage ensued. The worm bit off the body of the dog monster and its head fell to the ground in front of Cedric.

'Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

The giant worm continued with its feast and ate the other two dogs as well, leaving their heads on the ground. The worm was a picky eater, it seems.

Cedric somehow found courage and ordered his legs to run. He knew that he'd only die if he stayed.

'What the fuck is that?! What was that?! Monster! Definitely a monster! WHERE THE FUCK AM I?!'

Cedric was preoccupied with the thoughts running rampant in his head as he ran as fast as he could away from the rock formation.

Because of this, he didn't hear the low monstrous clicking sounds following behind him.

Without Cedric knowing, the sand behind him blew upwards as something emerged from the ground. It was a worm similar to the one he saw earlier, but much smaller. A baby monster worm.

The baby worm lunged out and bit off Cedric's right arm, taking it under the sand to feast.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"

Cedric screamed from a pain he never felt before.

The pain he's experiencing right now was much more excruciating than the lightning that he suspected to have brought him to this wasteland in the first place.

Cedric knelt on the sand because of the pain for a moment before immediately pushing himself up with his remaining arm.

'Need… to keep moving.'

Soon, another baby worm showed up. This time, it bit off Cedric's left leg before disappearing underneath the sand in the same fashion as the first.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK! NOOOOOOOOOO! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Cedric screamed and kicked as he crawled away with his last two limbs. He cried pathetically as he begged the monsters who had no idea what he's saying to leave him alone.

"MOM! DAD! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"

Another baby worm came out of the sand and bit off Cedric's left arm before disappearing in the same fashion. Cedric only had his right leg left.

Cedric succumbed to the pain and hopelessness that racked his mind and senses. He laid there face up, realizing that he was about to die.

Cedric cried the hardest he ever did in his life from pain, fear, confusion, and unwillingness.

'Why?... Why is this happening to me?!'

Similar thoughts ran inside his mind before four worms emerged slowly out of the ground, surrounding their heavily wounded prey.

One worm crawled towards Cedric's right leg and bit down on his foot to start and slowly went up his leg, relishing the feast presented to it.

The other three worms shared the remaining meat and bones on Cedric's torso.

The light in Cedric's eyes faded as he was getting eaten by the four baby worms.

By the time the baby worms were done feasting on the corpse of Cedric, only his head was left.

His dead eyes stared up at the dark red sky, showing an unwillingness to suffer through the fate he has been dealt with even to his last moments.