Hunter's Retreat

  I wanted to look at everything around me - everything was new, familiar but new. From the cover of the larger building, the command center I suppose, I could see crumbled highways, rusted hulks of vehicles, and broken down heavy equipment. It was amazing. It was also depressing.  All these things were a testament to the greatness and failure of humanity all at once.   "We need to get to that ship, hurry!" Ghost was virtually pulling me further into the building.   "What happened?" I was still entranced by the massively morbid scene.   "The collapse? It was essentially an extinction event, or nearly so. I'll tell you more later, just get moving. We need that ship - we need to get to the Tower." Ghost chirped fearfully.   "You really are scared." I chided him.   "Only because I know the danger." Ghost fired back.   We made our way through rooms that were rough husks, burned and rusted out computers and equipment filled t...

   So what is it; to be human that is? I certainly wasn't sure what I was when Ghost woke me. I had skill sets and knowledge that displayed training and years of it. I had the muscle memory of a warrior. My encounter with that first Dreg told me it wasn't just that I was a warrior - I was closer to a living weapon. But I wasn't just a dumb weapon - I understood combat, timing, emotion. I knew fight or flight decisions meant the difference in life or death. Survival of not only myself but others depended on the decisions I made. I didn't know who I was, but I felt there was a great significance to not only surviving but becoming more capable.    "We need to move more quickly." Ghost was not frantic, but he certainly wasn't calm either.   "More of those?" I pointed back to a pile of Dregs we had just come through.   "Worse. These are just the lowest level combat and recon troops. My sensors are picking up far greater energy signatur...

  So many thoughts, so many emotions. When my Ghost woke me from whatever plane of existence I was on, there were floods of images, pleasure, pain, loss, elation. There were the sensations of heat and cold - the wind on my face carrying a strange, acrid smell as I looked at the burned out and rusted hulks of metal around me. Bones and dust, decay and life - plant and animal - it was all so confusing for a moment.    And then there was Ghost, shouting at me to move and to hurry into a nearby building for cover. I heeded him, hesitating for a moment, like a child unsure of his parent's command. Why did I need to run? Why that building? Why did I need a weapon? Why did this all come so naturally? Though Ghost filled me in later on a thousand years of history, in that moment, I was very confused. Lucky for me, the confusion wasn't paralyzing.    Despite the dilapidated condition of the facility, the building was still warmer than the outdoor; unfortunately, ...