Through the tall trees far off in the distance Tor could see a large fire raging where their camp had been. The pungent smell of burnt plastic encroached the entire forest. Tor wished he still had that rock from the stream. He motioned Dy and the others to remain silent and not to move. Tor sprinted off towards the fire. When he got a little closer he started to slowly creep up from tree to tree barely making a noise like the a ninja, wait even more sneaky like the ghost of a ninja. There was nobody at the camp. It had been ransacked. Their stuff had been heaped onto the now colourful fire. There was nothing left.

Tor grabbed a stick and started pulling things out of the fire. He searched through the pile of burnt material. The guns and ammo weren’t in the fire and as well as anything that resembled his bag. The entire camp site was covered in thin tire tracks criss crossing in every direction. Tor darted around looking behind every tree. Finally he found what he was looking for. Behind a large cedar tree that was as round as a school bus was Alex scrunched up into a ball quietly sobbing. He was holding Tor’s rifle in his arms as well as Maizy’s teddy bear. Tor crouched down beside Alex and but his hand on his shoulder.

“Hey champ, everything is gonna be ok,” Tor said.

“I couldn’t do it,” Alex said.

“Couldn’t do what?” Tor asked.

“Protect fucking anything,” Alex said and he sucked back in a bubble of snot, “I couldn’t protect my sister, my little brother, I am a useless sack of shit.”

“Come on. You’re not a sack of shit… more like a knapsack filled to the brim with spicy warm diarrhea,” Tor said. Alex tried to not laugh but he let out a single chuckle.

“I need some very vital information from you, do you think you can help?” tor asked

Alex nodded as he sat up a bit straighter and loosened his arms.

“Did they take my backpack?” Tor asked. Alex nodded.

“How many were there?” Tor asked.

“Three… oh but I think they said something about two more back at a cabin,” Alex said.

“Awesome dude,” Tor said, “And they went that way,”

“Yes on two bikes but different than our bike they were loud and fast and they didn’t even have to move their legs.”

Tor stood up and looked around. Where was that bike? Tor thought. He walked back to the fire. There was no sign of the bike, however the bike pump was releasing toxic fumes into the air as it became a bubbling pool of black plastic. Tor remembered were the bike was it was down by the shore of the lake practically in a bush. Sometimes Alex’s shitty boyish nature comes in handy.

Tor retrieved the bike and returned to what was left of their camp site. The fire had died down and had returned to a more normal colour. The whole group reunited next to the fire.

“You don’t have to go after them, we will find a way,” Dy said.

“I need that bag,” Tor said.

“You would die over a bag,” Dy said.

“It’s what was inside it,” Tor said.

“It is my last link to the past,” Tor said then paused, “it can affect the entire future.”

Tor put the rifle over his shoulder. He stuck his hand in the bucket Wyn was holding then pulled it out and revealed a handful of wriggling worms. Tor shoved them into his mouth and chewed like we was a contestant in a hotdog eating contest. He stuck his tongue out as he shook his head then did a little dance from one foot to the other as if he had just eaten the most vile thing to touch his taste buds. He was just pretending to be disgusted because he didn’t want to lead on that he kinda really enjoyed eating them. Then Tor headed out alone.

Tor had followed the tracks up to a road, well it use to be a road, now it was a jumble of slabs of pavement at different heights and angles with various plant life growing in between them. Tor stood on the side of the road and looked both ways. Tor got on his bike and headed right following faint but still wet mud tire tracks. He was barely going faster than his walking pace. Tor picked up speed he weaved along the road like he was an olympian mogul skier, until his tire got caught in a crack between two chunks of road and he flew off the bike and slid along the ground.

He lied on the ground for a bit. He winced as he slowly scrapped himself off of the pavement. His right shoulder, hip and the side of his knee stung. He lifted his sleeve he had a large scrape across his arm. He brushed a few pebbles out of his arm and brushed off some dirt with his dirty hands which wasn’t the most effective method. Blood started dripping down his shoulder. He hobbled over to the bike. Tor walked up to the bike and examined it. The front tire had popped and the frame was dented. Tor lifted it above his head and then tossed it as far as he could. The bike soared through the air the crashed on the pavement and skidded to a stop.

Boom. A giant fireball erupted beside the bike completely shattering the bottom of a large tree. Tor was thrown backwards onto his ass. He put his arms in front of his face as pieces of tree shrapnel flew in every direction. He could feel the intense heat of the huge blast on his face. A fucking explosion by far the best thing to cure a hangover. Tor’s ears rang and they sounded like they had pillows completely covering them. He opened his jaw and moved it back and forth as he rubbed his cheeks.

Tor could barely make out the sound of branches being cracked and the sound of nature being crushed. He looked up to see a very, very tall tree falling right towards him. Tor dove to the side and rolled as the massive tree hit the ground and shook the entire forest. Tor closed his eyes and lied his head back. He took a few deep breaths then opened his eyes and examined his arm. His arm was covered in small cut and had a bunch of splinters, like little blow darts poking out of his skin. He started pulling them out as he slowly got up. He need to get to safety just incase the people who set the trap were still near by. He went to take a step a sharp pain shot up his leg. A large fragment of wood was sticking out of his leg. It was in there good.

Tor picked up the rifle and hobbled to the side of the old road. He painfully limped through the ditch and made it up the other side while only saying a few fucks. He slouched down behind a tree and listened intently. He waited for a few moments but he heard nothing. He grabbed a branch and broke it into a small piece. He bit down on the piece of wood then closed his eyes. He felt for the piece of wood grabbed it with a good grip then yanked it out. He screamed as the piece of wood rolled out of his mouth. Tor then ripped off his t-shirt and spun it around. He braced himself then tightened the shirt around his thigh and he let out another fuck.

— — —

Tor poked his head up from behind a bush. He had reached the log cabin it was large and beat down. Some sap had spent his summers here growing saggy and passing his final years. The wooden front steps were missing the second and seventh and final step before the front porch. Smoke was floating out of the chimney that was crumbling apart and had already lost more than a few good bricks. The shutters on the windows were all gone except for one last one that was holding on for dear life by just a few old rusty screws. There was faint glow coming through the windows.

Tor snuck closer to get a better look. He heard a loud voice shout something then the heavy wooden front door opened. Tor hid behind a tree. A tall thin man walked out of the cabin then slammed the door behind him. He was wearing a old thick leather jacket, a dirty plain black shirt and skinny jeans. He had long slicked back greasy hair and a gross pervy moustache. He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out the last remaining cigarette. He sniffed it and stuck it into his mouth. The thin greasy man started walking towards the tree Tor was hiding behind.

Tor crouched as low as he could behind the tree. The man starting humming a song. A branch snapped right on the other side of the tree. Tor heard the unclasping of a belt then the unzipping of a fly. A trail of urine shot out from behind the tree. A puddle started forming right next to Tor as every so often it splashed up onto him. Tor heard the man light a match then take a long puff of his cigarette. A cloud of smoke drifted out from behind the tree past Tor.

Tor creeped as slowly as he could around the other side of the tree. The back of Greasy’s hair somehow managed to look even greasier up close, it was worse than a tween entering middle school hair. Greasy was still humming and smoking and pissing away. The bottom of his jacket had been held behind him to avoid intercepting the stream which happens far too often which revealed a large knife in it’s sheath around the mans waist. Tor got right behind Greasy. Tor waited for the man to take a big drag then take the cigarette out of his mouth. In one motion Tor wrapped his left hand over Greasy’s mouth and grabbed the knife with his right hand. Greasy didn’t even stand a chance as Tor sliced open his throat before he could react. Greasy briefly struggled before going limp. Tor lowered the lifeless body onto the ground. Tor grabbed the the matches off of the dead body and wiped the blood off of the knife on Greasy’s shirt.

Tor lit a match and threw it onto a large pile of wood he had doused in lighter fluid on the porch of the cabin. It quickly burst into a raging fire as Tor ran back to the tree line. Smoke started billowing through the front windows into the cabin. Giant flames engulfed the entire front porch of the cabin. There was a lot of commotion inside the cabin. A stalkier man was trying to wiggle his way out of a window that had been smashed a long time ago. Tor aimed his rifle and shot but it hit the cabin right beside him. Tor chambered another bullet but the man had let himself fall back into the cabin. Tor advanced to the side of the cabin with his rifle raised. He placed the bare skin of his back against the side of the cabin. The people inside were fighting with the back door to get it open. Tor had tied a rope around the handle and wrapped the other end around a tree that was near by.

Tor looked through a window. He could see his bag in the center of the large living room which was starting to fill up with a thick dark cloud of smoke. He pulled himself up and through the window. He fell with thud as tumbled into a side table. A vase on the table wobbled then crashed to the floor. Tor dove behind a couch and lied flat as someone in the cabin opened fire spraying bullets across the room from the hallway leading to the back door. The smoke burned Tor’s eyes and his lungs. He started to sweat from the intense heat engulfing the front of the cabin.

As soon as the bullets stopped he crawled to his bag. He started scrounging through it. He moved everything around then he searched through it again. It was gone. He collected everything back into the bag and put it on his shoulder. Tor stayed crouched low and slowly advanced over to the bedroom. He heard the back be shoved open and people running out of the cabin. He slowly opened a door and checked inside. A black cat sprinted out of the room and then out of the cabin. Even over the smoke Tor could smell a pungent odour of piss wafting out of the room. It was once a bedroom now it was completely covered in dirty stinky clothing and piles of shit, not actually poop just stuff. Clearly a crazy cat lady hoarder had occupied this room.

Tor headed to the kitchen. Tor was heaving heavily trying to fill his lungs with oxygen but only finding thick black smoke. He was starting to get light headed. There was a circular table with four different chairs around it. In the center of the table was a blue metal ball about the size of a tennis ball. Tor quickly grabbed it, shoved it into his pocket then headed for the back door. The door had been pulled off of its hinges and lay on the ground. Tor put his back to the wall next to the door. Tor poked his head out. Bullets rained through the doorway but he had retracted his head just in time.

Tor ran as fast as he could, while still crouched and covering his mouth, back to the window he had come in. He gingerly lowered his rifle out of the window, threw his bag out then followed it. Tor stood up and gasped for air just as the end gun was shoved into the back of his head. Tor froze.

“Don’t shoot,” Tor said as he heard the hammer of a revolver being pulled back.

“Why?” said a young female voice.

“If you shoot me you die. There is a sniper in those woods and you’re locked in his sights,” Tor said as he pointed. The gun was pushed harder into the back of his head. A huge explosion erupted from the other side of the cabin it sent a huge fireball into the sky. There went their dirt bikes and their fuel supply. Tor felt the gun retract a bit. He quickly dodged out of the way. A shot rang out as he tripped the girl who fell backwards onto her ass. Tor jump on top of her and grabbed the gun.

“Sorry,” Tor said.

Tor easily over powered her and took the gun from her hands. It felt familiar in his hands. It was his revolver. Without a hesitation he raised the gun then blew a hole through her head. A spray of bullets hit the ground next to Tor. He pulled the girls body over top of him. Several bullets ripped through her body. Tor returned fire as heaved the body off of him. He grabbed his bag and rifle. He limped to the front of the cabin keeping a distance from the fierce fire. He waited a few seconds then put the empty revolver into bag then put it on his shoulder.

Tor was covered in a thick layer of black soot. Black sweat dripped down his face as it dragged the soot along. Tor rubbed the sweat off of his forehead. He was exhausted. His head pounded, there was a high pitch ringing in his ears. He had to force himself to take each step towards the tree line. Tor had just about made it to the trees when bullets started whizzing past him; one struck the tree right next to him. He limped his way to the other side of a large tree then slumped down on the ground.

Tor sat on the ground panting trying to catch his breath. He rubbed his temples with his right hand. This wasn’t how he had plan this day to go. It was suppose to be a nice lazy morning next to a nice lake with a nice rainbow trout he caught that morning. Of course his fish would have been smaller than the massive one Dy would have caught. Instead he was disturbingly dirty, ducking behind a tree as he dodged bullets that flew past his head. Surprisingly the lack of cleanliness annoyed him more than the gun fire.

Bullets ripped through the forest on both sides of him ripping apart all the small shrubs and ferns and turning them into green confetti that rained down all over Tor, as if he had won on a nature game show and they were trying to be eco friendly. The gun fire ceased then Tor heard the crunch of foot steps slowly creeping towards him. Tor pulled his revolver out of his backpack and then frantically searched through the pockets. Nothing. Crap. More crap. Black sweat continued to drip down his forehead. Finally he got to the last smallest pocket; he unzipped it. He pulled out a pile of crap but underneath at the very bottom sat two pristine bullets. He loaded them into his revolver.

Tor grabbed the metal sphere and rolled it slowly along the forest floor to the left of him. As the ball rolled it projected a hologram of Tor running out from behind the tree. Bullets ripped through the hologram as it continued on its way unimpeded, like it was a super hero. Tor took the opportunity to dive out from behind the tree in the opposite direction as the hologram. He kneeled on the ground with his gun pointed at the man. He swayed back and forth as he tried to reign in his brain, which was disoriented and foggy from all the shit it had been through today. The dive and roll was probably not the highlight of Tor’s decisions. Tor’s first shot missed high and wide above the man’s right shoulder.

Bullets started to fly through the forest beside Tor as the man started to turn his machine gun in his direction. Tor fired the last bullet in his revolver; it struck the man in the chest. The man fell backwards as his gun continued to spray bullets, they just whizzed past Tor’s head. They were close enough to blow his hair as they hurtled past.

Tor quickly hide back behind the tree as a spray of bullets hit were he had been crouching. Tor waited with his back against the thick bark of the cedar tree. As soon as there was a pause in the firing Tor rushed out from behind the tree with his rifle ready to rock and roll. He scanned the area but there was nobody. The cabin was in a engulfed in a ferocious fire that threw giant flame spires into the sky. Tor slowly walked behind another tree, protecting his body while he kept his head poking out and his rifle still pointed in the direction of were the shots had come from. He saw movement from behind a tree. He held his breath. A young teenager, around Alex’s age, with long greasy dirty blond hair, a giant pimple on the end of his nose and covered in black soot came out from behind a tree; he was holding an assault rifle. His head whipped back as he fell to the ground like a puppet who strings had been cut. Only a single shot rang out.

Tor chambered another bullet on his bolt action rifle. There was more rustling from behind the same tree. Then a young girl with dirty blond hair in old tattered and stained clothing ran out from behind the same tree ran away from Tor. She was unarmed. Tor lined up his sights keeping just in front of her as she ran. She jumped and slid as she tried to make it through the underbrush as fast as she could, which wasn’t fast enough. Tor’s head pounded as black sweat dripped into his eyes. He hesitated then lowered his rifle from his shoulder. He slowly lowered himself down the side of a tree onto the ground. Tor body slumped over onto the ground as he fought with himself to stay awake. He rolled over on his back as his chest raised and lowered like large ocean swells. When you fight against sleep it only seems to make it that much harder to stay awake. Tor gave into the darkness and fell asleep.

— — —

A small chickadee with a dark black mohawk running down the top of its head sat on a branch above Tor as it searched the underside of leaves to find little bugs, which were desperately hoping he didn’t look under the leaf they called home. Unfortunately, for the bugs, the little bad ass did and he gobbled them all up before they even thought about scattering. Then he chirped a little victory song as he slid up the branch to check the underside of the next leaf. A tiny white butterfly dipped and dived as it flew effortlessly through the forest then it circled around Tor fast asleep on the forest floor.

It was another beautiful summer day. The sky was completely bright blue except for a few wispy white clouds. A single ray of light fought its way through all the branches of the tall trees surrounding Tor and shone right on his face. Tor looked so peaceful with his arms and legs sprawled out in every direction like a toy that had been tossed onto the ground. A bush next to Tor rustled. Tor shot up as ready as he could be for whatever appeared from the other side of the bushes.

The little bird on the branch stopped searching for lunch and closely examined Tor, staring at him intently. Out of the bush came Alex holding a large stick as if it was a club. Tor never thought he would be happy to see that little bitch tits but his dumb face brought him a little joy. The little bird thought this shit was too much and flew away to find a new place to dine because this place was overcrowded and was starting to give off the wrong vibes. Smelling greasy teenager vibe. Alex helped Tor up after he had sufficiently waked himself up and prepared himself for any sort of movement. The majestic wooden cabin was now just a smouldering pile of ash. It released into the air a small steady stream of thick black smoke.

“You killed them all,” Alex said.

“Every last one of them,” Tor said.

Alex stared deep into Tor’s eyes. In that moment Alex realized Tor wasn’t the person he thought he was. Tor hated how perfectly adapted he was to this new world. He was bred to not only to exist but to thrive in this strange new fucked up environment. It upset him that he no longer got upset about killing. He always regretted when he had to take a life but if it was necessary he would always pull the trigger. Nobody could stand in the way of his mission, even if he was unsure what that was anymore.

Tor picked up the metal ball.