Jacob woke up to the sound of a poor-kept motor and the smell of exhaust in his nose.

  The man came awake slowly, eyes opening to reveal a blue box hovering in his face.

  Mission [Survivor] failed

  No Experience earned

  New Mission [Escape Justice] gained

  What the hell?

  With that, the box disappeared and Jacob was left staring at empty air. He blinked before taking in his surroundings. The man was lying in the back corner of a large truckbed, an improvised canvas covering erected over the back. Bleached plastic storage bins surrounded Jacob, and to his right were two 50-gallon drums protected by scrap metal. He could hear something thick and sludge-like move around in them as the truck rattled and bumped around.

  Oil?

  The man looked up to see two of the lizards, one the lizard who’d first attacked Jacob, the other feminine and carried a cobbled-together speargun with a quiver on her back. Both scowled when they saw Jacob. “Demon’s awake,” the female voice said, sounding disappointed.

  Demon?

  As Jacob attempted to move into a more comfortable position, the speargun was pointed at him. “Don’t move,” the female lizard growled. “The elders want questions, but they won’t mind if an ‘accident’ occurs. The man gulped and stood still despite the uncomfortable position he was in.

  After ten minutes, Jacob got bored and tried to distract himself by reviewing everything he currently knew about… everything.

  Okay. I was frozen and then ninety years later—maybe longer—a war of some sort happened. It’s been long enough that those ‘pets’ I saw have evolved to be human-sized and similar in intelligence.

  I keep seeing strange blue boxes in my vision, I can see without light, and have a ridiculously high pain tolerance. I’m best guessing I’m not fully human anymore. Did whatever those blue boxes do something to cure me?

  The worst part is that I’m never going to get my inheritance now. These… people want me dead, and I’m betting that after their ‘elders’ question me I’m going to be killed. This… this isn’t fucking fair. Why did I have to wake up now? Why couldn’t those boxes wait until the world was rebuilt?

  Sometimes the world needs a Hero to rebuild

  Even if the Hero doesn’t start out as one

  A blue box popped into Jacobs vision without warning and almost making him jump. Thise words scrolled across and stood long enough for him to read them before the box fizzled out of existence. The man paused for a few seconds, confused. What the hell did… any of that mean? He then looked up to see the two lizards glaring at him. “What?” he asked, annoyance overcoming his cowardice.

  “You were using the DUST,” the lizard with the crooked leg said. “What were you doing?”

  Jacob blinked. “I got a message,” he said, omitting the previous box’s existence.

  “What kind of message?” the female lizard demanded, speargun pointed at him.

  Jacob paused before saying “Sometimes the world needs a Hero to rebuild, even if the Hero doesn’t start out as one.” They’re completely not going to believe me. Also, what is the DUST? I keep hearing it, but I don’t know what it means.

  “Yeah right,” the male lizard said. “What are you, a fortune cookie?”

  Jacob blinked. “There are still fortune cookies?” he asked, surprised.

  “You can find them in warehouses and some restaurants,” the female lizard said, speargun pointed at Jacob. “Now what did it say?”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Jacob grimaced. “That’s what it said. I’m not lying. Hell, I don’t know what it means.”

  The lizards finger tightened on the trigger, and Jacob prepared for more pain until a rough voice called from the cab. “What the hell do you idiots think you’re doing?”

  The two flinched and the female lizard stuttered “He- he was using the DUST. We… we were trying to-”

  “I don’t give a shit about what the Wight was doing!” the leader growled. “The elders get to question the demon, not you two idiots!”

  The two lizards glared at Jacob, who ignored them and laid his shoulder against the truckbeds side. His wounds still hurt like hell, and the man doubted he could walk without help. They must really hate me if they don’t even care that I’m almost crippled. They’re definitely going to kill me after this.

  Jacobs pain must have shown because the female lizard grinned, showing fangs. “We’re gonna kill you and leave you for the vultures—right after the elders drain your Nanos. You’re not surviving the week demon.”

  What the hell are Nanos? Also please let my blood be antibacterial. I’m likely to get infected with the amount of open wounds I have on my body.

  The ride was interrupted for the next two hours, though the sun got hotter. The two lizards drank from a canteen, though nothing was offered to Jacob. Jacob expected nothing anyway, though he still felt dehydrated.

  From the cab, Jacob could hear something crackle and pop almost like-

  Radio static?

  The man could hear the driver fiddle with machinery before he called into it. A voice came on, though it was far enough and garbled enough that Jacob couldn’t understand it. However he could understand the leader mutter “Shit…” clear enough.

  “Something wrong?” the male lizard asked.

  “Storms rolling in from the East. Big one too. It’s going to hit in a day or two, so the elders ordered all scavenging parties to the nest. What we’ve got right now is all we can get right now." Both of the lizards in the back of the truck looked nervous at that, which made Jacob worry. How bad are the storms here? Is it like those post-apocalyptic movies I used to watch, where entire continents get covered in dust storms?

  That’s honestly scary.

  Nobody talked for the rest of the drive, Jacobs wounds stinging the entire time. By the time the truck stopped, he was exhausted, dehydrated, and the smell of low-quality fuel refused to leave his nose. The vehicles engine sputtered to a stop, and the two lizards walked over to the man. “Get up demon,” the female lizard said.

  “Jacob scowled. “I have a name you know,” he said.

  “And we don’t care,” the male lizard said. “Now get up.”

  Jacob obliged with a grunt. His leg gave a sharp pain, which he guessed meant it was serious. I still doubt they’re giving me medical attention though. All they’re going to do is ask me stupid questions I can’t answer, and then they’ll kill me.

  The man limped over and then dropped off the truck bed, another sharp spike of pain coming from his leg. Around Jacob, he could see hundreds of people, many lizards, though some were human or other anthomorphic creatures. Many looked up at Jacob, shock showing on their faces, though this was quickly replaced by hatred.

  “Move it demon,” the female lizard said as a spear poked into his back. The man obliged and was escorted through the colony. It seemed to be partially based inside a large mountain pass, with reinforced caves, windmills, and watchtowers built into the sides. The place had to be the size of a small town, and Jacob was surprised. From the movies and books he’d read, he’d have expected small isolated settlements of normal humans. Here was a reasonably advanced, mixed group of survivors with electrical generators and working vehicles.

  This would be really cool if they weren’t trying to kill me.

  The man was marched up a path towards a small cave that had a smaller building next to it. One of his entourage knocked on the buildings door. “Shard, get your lazy ass out here!” the female lizard called. “We’ve got a prisoner for you.” The man could hear somebody move around inside, and the door opened to reveal a heavyset man wearing a metal breastplate. “What the hell are you talking about-“ he started before his attention turned towards Jacob. “…Oh.” he said after a five-second pause.

  “Get him locked up already,” the female lizard said. Shard nodded before he pulled out a ring of keys and a cobbled-together revolver. “Bring him in,” the man said as he opened the caves door. Jacob was pushed inside to see a crude prison. A puttering generator was in a corner, the exhaust pointed outside to avoid exhaust buildup, which powered a total of three lightbulbs and an old radio playing generic-sounding acoustic music.

  The radio station sounds like AI.

  Jacob was shoved into the closest cell, the door slammed behind him. “Enjoy your stay,” the female lizard said. “We’ll be dealing with you after the storm passes.”

  The caves door was slammed shut and Jacob crawled over to the mattress before lying down on it, grunting from the pain of his wounds.

  What do I do now? he thought. They’re going to kill me. Why are they trying to kill me? Why do they keep calling me a demon? I’m not a monster. I’m a playboy out of time. Why does that equal killing me? I don’t know any secret sciences of my time, or how to make weapons. Hell, I don’t even know if I’m even that charismatic anymore.

  Maybe that why I’m being killed. I’m useless. I bring nothing to the table. That’s the ugly truth I guess. You have to be useful or get left behind. Like when I was on my deathbed. Got cut out of the inheritance and it took a medical miracle to keep me alive.

  Too bad that didn’t help me live even a week. I’m fucking screwed right now.

  With that Jacob rolled onto his back and fell asleep, tears leaking from his eyes and pain all over his body.