Chapter 1

Run, Harun, Faster, Faster, Faster.It they catch you ,you will end up as dinner.

And what a dinner it would be, torn apart by things that looked like nightmares made flesh. They were a grotesque fusion of centipedes and fungus, their bodies long and segmented, covered in pulsing growths that oozed spores with every movement. Their many legs scraped across the ground in a frantic rhythm, while their gaping maws dripped with hunger.

Harun pushed his legs harder than he ever had before, lungs burning, heart pounding, ''FUCK'', he cried out as one niked his leg. Pain shot through him, but he didn't stop.The woods or what passed for woods here grew thicker, darker, hostile with every step.

All he could think about was the betrayal. His team. The ones he had saved countless times. The ones he thought of as family. They had sacrificed him without hesitation, shoving him into harms way and leaving him behind.

Harun had grown up on Rebonia , a planet where many humans ended up after Earth was destroyed by aliens invaders. The survivors were enslaved, dragged across galaxies, experimented on, reshaped into tools. Generations passed,and some were scattered to Rebonia, a place that was home to all ,but truly home to none .

His mother died giving birth to him ,leaving him an orphan. He walked the path of an outlaw, which eventually led him to Gharib,an organization that recruited outlaws to do their bidding in exchange for survival and scraps of reward. For Harun, his team had been the closest thing to family he'd ever known. He had their back, always. But they never truly saw him as one of them.

And now, abandoned on a hostile planet,bleeding and hunted by centipede-fungus horrors. Harun realized the truth:there was no way back to Rebonia. No way home. Only survival.

The creatures hissed, their segmented bodies writhing as spores puffed into the air with every movement. Harun's lungs burned as he ran, but one of them surged ahead. It's many legs scraping against the ground like knives.

It lunged.

Harun barely rolled aside,feeling the rush of foul air as it's maw snapped shut where his head had been.He scrambled to his feet, grabbing a jagged branch from the forest floor. It wasn't much, but it was something.

The monster reared back, fungal growths pulsing along its spine, and then it stuck again.Harun swung the branch with all his strength. The wood splintered against its armored segments, but the impact slowed it for a heartbeat.

That heartbeat was enough.

He drove the broken end of the branch into one of the oozing fungal sacks along its body.The creature shrieked a sound like grinding stone

mixed with animal rage, as spores burst into the air, choking and blinding.Harun coughed,eyes watering,but forced himself to stay upright.

The monster thrashed,its legs clawing trenches into the soil. Harun ducked under the frailing body, adrenaline surging.

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