# Stranded - Part 2



## Unknown Soldier (Oct 24, 2008)

Thirty feet below him and stretched across the desert floor were over three hundred dead soldiers. The black plume of smoke that he had assumed had come from a traders’ campfire was in fact the burning fuel of a totally decimated armoured vehicle, lying on it’s side in the middle of the devastation.

A battle, a big battle had occurred here not too long ago. Men and equipment were strewn across the unforgiving desert sand, their lifeless eyes staring up unblinkingly towards the scorching sun. He did not know a lot about war, but he did know that something wasn’t quite right. Whatever had attacked these men must have been powerful and otherworldly. He could not see the bodies of any enemy troops, and of the cadavers he could see were, they were, somehow…warped.

Squinting his eyes through the bright sunlight, he could see something drawn on the side of the armoured vehicle; he could make out a symbol. A bird. A two headed bird. Something within his mind snapped, he knew that symbol, that two headed bird, it was the markings of the Imperium. The Aquila. And those soldiers lying dead on the ground, they must have been Imperial Guard.

Why would I know that? He thought to himself. Why would I know so much about the Imperial Guard? Unless, maybe, I was a soldier. That’s it! He surmised, I must have been a soldier in the Imperial Guard and these poor souls, these charred and butchered corpses must have been my platoon. Perhaps, perhaps I was involved in this battle and an explosion had thrown me far away, or perhaps I was fleeing the battle and my uniform caught fire and I discarded it.

Whatever the reason for waking up naked and alone and having no memory, I am alive, he mused and the survivors are bound to know who I am.

‘Hello!’ he yelled down from his sand covered vantage point, ‘Hello! Is anybody alive down there?!’ His plaintive cry was met with a stony silence.

Stumbling down the dune towards the hellish scene, he stopped briefly by the corpse of a priest. The priest was lying on his side curled into a ball and clutching his stomach, a look of contorted pain and fear etched upon the wide eyes and open mouth of his lifeless face. But it wasn’t the morbidity of the sight that caught his eye, it was an open pouch on the dead priest’s belt that caught his attention most. Poking out of the leathery pocket, he could see a bottle of water and a ration pack.

Sinking to his knees beside the priest, he slowly stretched out his hand towards the dead man’s belt. And with a deftness of movement that would have left a pickpocket startled, he whisked the food and water out of it’s leather home. Sitting back on the natural shade of the dune, he spent the next few minutes replenishing his hungry and thirsty body.

It was only half way through his meal, that the realised that the smell of roasting meat he had encountered more then half a mile away wasn’t the aroma of local livestock being prepared for supper, but the bodies of the charred men inside the armoured vehicle. This realisation caused a wave of nausea to sweep through his system and he put down the meagre rations, his appetite had disappeared.

Envigoured by the amount of food and water he was able to consume, his thoughts turned back to who he was, what was this place and why was he here. After muttering a quick apology, he took the priest’s robes from the body and quickly dressed himself in the dead man’s clothes. And after comparing foot sizes and getting a favourable result, he placed the deceased’s holy sandals onto his aching feet.

Just as he was tying the final knot on his new footwear, a dull whining sound began to fill his ears. The sound was getting louder and nearer and was coming from the East. Looking up into the sky, careful to shield his eyes from the roasting sun, he could make out a craft streaking across the ocean blue heavens. Again, something stirred deep within his memory, he knew that sound, it was a shuttlecraft, an Imperial Arvus. Oh thank the Emperor, he thought to himself, I’m going to be rescued at last.

But as the Arvus swooped in closer, a sinking feeling emerged in the pit of his stomach. This was no ordinary shuttlecraft, it was painted with strange colours and had numerous metal protrusions poking out from the hull, mainly consisting of metal circles and spikes. Chaos.

Part 3 to follow.


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## Shogun_Nate (Aug 2, 2008)

Another great installment. Looks like our plucky hero's going to end up hip-deep in the stinky stuff though!

Good luck and good gaming,

Nate


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## Concrete Hero (Jun 9, 2008)

I wasn't dissapointed! Robe theif! Have to say I am enjoying this.

==> To the next section!

Hero


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## juddski (Nov 3, 2008)

excellent ,i really like how the story is unfolding and being able to keep us interested :victory:without giving too much away..

off to part 3


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