Runner

EARTH - 2023 - ONE YEAR AFTER THE FIRST WAVE

"It's been a year," said to himself Mark, while looking at the photo on his cellphone. He took that photo on the same day it all started. His father wanted to go fishing but his mother hated the sea, and because of that, they argued. A few hours later, his father apologized and made her an apple pie. It was her favorite.

'I wonder, if we had gone fishing instead of staying at home, would you two be alive now?' asked himself Mark, but what happened could not be changed, he knew that, but the memories of the two were always crawling under his skin. It was hard to lose someone you loved but everyone still alive on Earth knew that feeling by now, it was not something exclusive to Mark.

He could not change what happened. No one could. The first wave of the invaders came unnoticed and killed almost one third of the world's population.

People usually said that humanity would only unite as one when they had a common enemy, and they were right, because two weeks after the initial attack, the Earth Union was created and all countries in the world joined hands to fight against the common enemy.

One month after the initial attack everyone was forcefully enlisted in the army, no matter if it was an old man or a child, female or male, blind or not, everyone had something they could do inside the army, some just helped with logistics while others helped fighting, but everyone had their place.

For humanity's survival, Earth united as one.

"Move your ass soldier!" called aloud the Lieutenant.

"Yes, sir!" said Mark while putting the cellphone back inside his pocket and shoving away the nostalgic thoughts. Now was not the time to think about the past, it was time to fight.

Mark took a few steps and entered the truck. It was another escorting mission, and Mark knew those kinds of missions were the worst of all, the most dangerous and most deadly, but he had no choice in that.

Entering the vehicle, Mark immediately noticed the two VIPs because they were the only ones using white lab coats.

Mark closed the truck's back door and shouted aloud, "All Ready!" and the vehicle started to move.

"First time?" asked Mark, seeing the ugly face of one of the researchers.

"Yes, I took the smallest toothpick," said the man, joking about his own misfortune.

Once Mark took a seat inside the vehicle, he looked around to see if he recognized any faces, but unfortunately, everyone was new.

"Exiting the gate, take positions!" shouted the Lieutenant from the front seats and Mark immediately adjusted his seating position while putting his gun inside the hole in the back of the truck and from the small window on the back of the truck Mark could see the gate closing and the gigantic wall from their military base.

'I hope I can live to see these gates one more time,' thought Mark.

Mark was not the best soldier out there, but he was not bad. He knew what to do and what to not do, and because of that and a lot of luck, he was alive until now. He lost count already of how many people he saw dying by his side, but he also lost count of how many of them died from random things like a misfire or a rock falling in someone's head. There were no heroes in war, only the living and the dead, and Mark knew that to the bone.

'Damned rocks!' He thought while remembering the guy who died by a rock last week, but he was not angry because of that, but because it was all he saw around, no plants, no water, only rocks, dirt, and sand. The military base he was located now was in the middle of nowhere, but was the most important research base in the Union, mostly because it was safe.

Time passed, and the truck followed the designed route with no trouble, until they finally reached their destination: a forest.

It was the closest forest from the base, and just by smelling the freshness that came from the trees, Mark was already feeling grateful for coming.

"Everyone, we will make a perimeter of 1 mile around the vehicle. Now go!" said the lieutenant to his small troop of five people.

Mark was already starting to take one of the directions when the lieutenant pointed at him, and said, "You, stay with the researchers. I will stay inside the vehicle. If anything happens, run here and never leave the perimeter, understood?"

"Yes, sir!" shouted Mark.

"I guess we will be safe with you?" asked one of the researchers, but Mark knew he was just doing small talk.

'Of course, I will do my best to not kill you,' thought Mark, but refrained from saying anything aloud and just nodded to the man.

'The only good part in coming here is the fresh air, but it is not worth dying for,' thought Mark to himself while following the researchers that by now completely ignored his presence.

"Check this one," said one researcher to the other, 'the bearded one' thought Mark, looking at him while the man pointed to a flower on the ground.

The other researcher took a small device from his pocket and put a petal from the flower inside it. "Bingo, it mutated!"

Mark furrowed his brows when hearing that, but refrained from asking about it. His job was to follow them, only that.

"Ok, check that one now. It's a willow tree, and by its size it's 2 years old," said the bearded researcher, pointing to a small tree.

Hearing that, the other researcher took a knife from his backpack and cut a piece of wood from the tree.

"No mutation. It seems our assumptions are correct," said the researcher with the strange device.

"Indeed, it seems it all started when they invaded Earth. Let's collect a few more samples and head back to the lab," said the bearded researcher that by now Mark understood to be the leader of the two.

~bang~ ~bang~

Barely a few minutes had passed, and Mark already heard shots coming from the north side.

"Damit! Another shitty day ahead!" shouted Mark to himself while jumping behind a tree to take cover.

"You two! Lie on the ground and don't move!" shouted Mark, pointing to the two stunned researchers.

"Yes! Yes!" said the younger one, almost tripping himself while trying to find a spot to lie down.

Seeing that, Mark shook his head and said to them in a low voice, "From now on, don't talk unless you are dead." It was a bad joke and Mark knew, but he loved bad jokes. What would be the apocalypse without bad jokes?

~bang~ ~bang~ ~bang~

More shots came from the north and Mark peeked from behind the tree to look. 'Dammit! It's a runner,' thought him as he saw the little beast that ran between the trees and dodged all the shots fired at it.