The Other Earth - Derek Schumacher (good novels to read .TXT) 📗

things he had been confused by for so long. Things had became just a little more sensible. Was this his reward for killing a shade? A glimpse into the past, of memories of his? If this was true, if he could keep finding and killing them. he might just finally be able to understand all the things that have arose questions throughout all of his life. And maybe, that wasn't just the end of it. What if he could see more than just his past? What if he could see things far greater than that? Just how much could these shades show him? Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to try and find out.

But, after a long and painful fight like that, nothing beats a few grapples and slugs of water. Neil gasped a bit as he rose up to his feet, the adrenaline fading from his body, and he began to feel all of the pain he had sustained during the fight. Which was quite the incredible amount, something a normal person shouldn't be able to withstand, and remain concious. Neil found this out shortly, and a few seconds after standing and feeling all the pain hit him at once, he collapsed in the middle of the northern clearing, and blacked out.

The rain continued to fall, and would slowly begin to wash away all the evidence of the fight. The only thing that would remain was physical and mental memory.

Brother

Hello, is anyone there? Neil, is that you?

Of course it's me, what is it, brother?

I'm scared, and all alone. Why am I left to myself? Why can't I live with you, mom, and dad?

I don't know, I'm sorry. They never explain anything to me. All they said was that I cannot let you in.

Please, I don't want to sit out in the cold and in the rain anymore. I want to go home.

You know you can't come home.

Why not?

Because there is no home left to go back to.

What do you mean?

We're leaving.

Wait, to where? Where are you going?

Somewhere far away, I'm sorry.

You can't do this to me, I'm family too! I'm your brother! Don't you love me? Who cares what mom and dad say, please, take me with you!

It's too late, I can't bring you.

You're just going to leave me?

I have no other choice, I'm so sorry.

I guess you're just like the rest of them. All you care about is yourselves, and what's best for you. I mean nothing. I might as well go and live and die by myself. Obvious none of you care about me.

That's not what we mean at all, well, at least not me. I do care about you.

Liar.

River

Good Morning, Today is September 19, 2118.

 

The last few days were hell, but Neil was ready to get back on his feet. He needed to find some way to distract himself from the things he continues to hear. He thought that killing that shade was the answer, but it seems that it hadn't done anything. Maybe he needed to find and kill more of them. Or maybe uncovering the past was only going to cause him more grief. All that Neil knew was that he wanted to find a way to understand what the noise meant.

The thought of trying to take another one of those shades stung in his mind, as he knew that they could most certainly kill him if he's not careful. If only Neil had better weapons, it wouldn't be such a big problem. Wait, that's it. Weapons.

Sure, the knife was helpful, but if he wanted to continue to take on shades, he would need to grow stronger. But where would be the best place to start a search? Neil wasn't sure, but then it came to mind. What about the river? He hadn't walked along the bank of the river before, so maybe if he followed it, it could lead him somewhere?

There wasn't much else for him to go off, since the west was flooded, the east was too dense of a woods, the north could hold even more shades, and the south wasn't exactly accessible because of the river in the way. So, this might be the best idea as of right now. Neil sighed a bit, and pulled himself off the log, staring at the empty fire pit. He couldn't remember if he lit a fire last night or not. Guess it wasn't important anymore, since it was already the next day.

Grabbing his pouch of grapples and his knife sheath, Neil stepped outside his site and south towards the river. Sliding down the slope towards the riverbed, the man watched the water flow rapidly passed the rocks. Since the storm days ago, it seems that the water had grown much more violent. Stepping close and reaching out his hands, Neil grabbed a few drinks from the water.

Afterwards, he got back up, and then look to the left, and then to the right. He had no idea which way would be better to travel. He knew that if he headed west, he would probably end up back at the field he arose from, so maybe the best bet would be to head out east, and see just what kinds of things are awaiting him up there.

It was bright and early in the morning, so Neil had plenty of time to explore and venture into the unknown. As he walked, he would glance over his bandaged wounds covering his body. Ever since his encounter with the shade, his body have looked as if it was torn to shreds, and then thrown to the fire. His neck was still burned severely, which shows just how dangerous their touch is. The best thing to do from now on is to avoid being grabbed.

After a few minutes of walking, Neil suddently stopped and shook his head. He then proceeded to stare at his hands, and then at the sheathed knife. What was he just thinking about? All this about the past, uncovering things to understand? He doesn't really need to do that, does he? All Neil wants to do is survive, somehow. The man sighed a bit, and ate a few grapples, and continued on his walk. 

While strolling near the bed of the river, Neil noticed how the rising water levels have begun to already wear down and alter the sides of the water. It must have expanded nearly a centimeter or two since the time before the storm, which meant the amount of rain that the forest attained was a pretty impressive amount. He hoped that it would be a good long while before any other kinds of precipition decided to show up, since any others could seriously mean changes to the southern and western regions.

Sticking his hands in his pant pockets, Neil would continue to walk. Question was, just how long would it take to find something? And, in all honesty, what exactly was he looking for? Not even he knew. So, maybe it was more or less an expedition to find out why he was going on an expedition.

Which in itself really didn't make much sense at all. But sometimes, you need to find out why you're trying to find out things. Neil always had a tendancy to think a lot while on his travels, mainly because he had plenty of time to build this interest in talking to himself. Being alone for a large portion really changes your perception of reality. But Neil didn't mind, he enjoyed being outdoors, seeing nature, and living life as he believed people should.

He had seen other people back on Earth that lived a similar lifestyle to what he chose. Except those people had families, and people that they knew, people they could talk to. Neil never remembers having that. Ever since he had been out in the wild, he never wanted to talk with anyone. People seemed to inconvience him. But now, just a little human contact wouldn't be so bad. At least back then, there were people on the planet you lived on. Now, there is nothing.

The crushing loneliness was almost enough to stop Neil in his tracks, but he decided to press onwards, and continue to live on past the tragedy. Maybe that was a good thing, the ability to push on passed horrible things, to see if there was a way to make things just a little bit better.

While Neil rambled with himself inside of his own head, he had actually covered a decent amount of ground in the span of around a half an hour. The man stopped, and took in his surroundings. To the right, the river was pretty close to the same as he last saw it, while to his left he noticed the thick trees and bushes, characteristics of the eastern region. Across the river seemed to be something different, though. He could see that there began to be more of a rocky texture to the ground on the other side of the river.

This made Neil remember just exactly what he was headed for. He looked up from the river and to the east. There it was, the mountain. He had practically forgotten about the hulking mass of stone. At the very peak, it was possible to see the bits and pieces of snow. The elevation at the top must be incredible, and the temperatures freezing cold. Neil had always loved hiking and hill climbing, but maybe that mountain was just a little too much for his interests. Or maybe because his body was still beat up, and his internal systems not exactly in the best shape.

But, maybe one day he would stand at the foot of the mountain, not entirely sure why. He would attempt to climb, to scale the massive rock, and for what? Would he even know why? Maybe, Maybe not. What secrets could that mountain hold, a secret cave? Maybe there was something being hidden on the other side, which was being kept from view. The list could go on and on. Neil was just enjoying speculating what the mountain could mean for his journey.

Then again, the mountain was incredibly far away. Who knows how long it would take for Neil to actually reach the thing. But, one thing is for sure, it did look pretty in the morning sunlight, the orange glow of the sunrise reflecting off the snowy cap of the mountain. Just another thing to love about nature, it's beauty. There was no way to recreate such amazing scenery with industry or