//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Thunderstruck // Story: M.I.E. Missing in Equestria // by dicks212 //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Operation Thunderstruck The Lion pounced at me from the bush, because I had faintly heard his footsteps before the attack, I had been put on edge, so when the lion jumped, I was able to roll to the right and evade it completely. This beast was quick, when I got back up on my feet, the lion was already mid pounce. Everything was moving in slow motion, I could see straight down the lion's mouth. A last second decision caused me to duck. Somehow, I was able to hit the ground in time, there was barely an inch of space between me, and the underbelly of the lion. It kept going and hit a tree, nearly de-rooting the entire thing from the ground. And than, I saw it. The tail of the lion was not that of a cat, no, far from it. It was the tail of a scorpion, the barb was dripping with venom, the beast turned around; anger in it's eyes. As it looked at me, I noticed wings, embedded in the side the side of the beast. Scaly red dragon wings. That is when I realised I was not fighting a normal lion, but a manticore, a creature of legends! I had only heard of these in fairy tails and children's stories. I sat still, dumbfounded by the fact that, this thing was standing in front of me. It wasn't a figment of my imagination, it was a real, living breathing creature. "This is a dream" I said out load The manticore kept it's eyes trailed directly on me, it circled slowly, keeping a predatorial stance. He was ready to pounce at the moment I showed any sings of weakness. Slowly, it moved closer, until it was within arms reach. I was still mesmerised by the creature, my mind could only class this as a dream. But I still had my doubts, everything felt real, I could feel the weight of my armour and the manticore's breath against me. I decided to reach out to it and see if it was real. The second that I lifted my arm, the beast swiped with it's claws. The paw met it's mark on my left arm and left a huge, but shallow scratch mark. "SHIT!" Before feeling the pain course up through my arm, I had started a mad sprint further through the forest. My movement was faltered heavily by the body armour that I had woken up in. I turned back and saw the manticore, tearing through the grass and criss-crossing between the trees with extreme ease, his eyes were focused directly on me. As I was running I noticed that the forest ahead of me ended abruptly into a swampy bog, I had to act, quickly. I heard it gaining on me, and continued to run. I estimated that it was right behind me, I could even hear it's frantic breathing. I dropped down on my back, and unsheathed the knife from my boot. The manticore passed directly over my head, I grabbed onto it's pelt, and stabbed my knife into it's underbelly, as it was dragging me across the floor. The manticore was frantically trying to shake me off, it's scorpion tail was jabbing the ground around me. I jaggedly tore open it's abdomen with my combat knife, as I was tearing it along, I could see the entrails slide out of it. I removed the knife and relinquished my grasp on the pelt. His entrails proceeded to pour out, onto me. The manticore cried out in pain, and fell to the ground just beside me. A trail of intestines lead from the me, to the body of the manticore, who now lay on the ground, in pool of it's own blood. I could still hear breathing from the beast. It's eyes were very much alive, and it seemed to be in a terrible amount of pain. I could not let anything suffer through this kind of torment. Walking over to the manticore, I raised the knife above it's head, and brought it down on his temple. The breathing stopped, and the beasts eyes fell, dead. I couldn't believe it, not only was I just attacked by a mythical beast, I had killed it. A manticore, slayed by the hands of a mortal. It reminds one of Greek mythology, in which Jason had slew a manticore with his bare hands. I slumped down on to my knees, my entire body was covered in blood. "What do I do now? What if there are more?" These kinds of thoughts tore through my mind as I tried to think of what I should do next. I was answered by a simple grumble in my stomach. "Shit, hungry? Already?" Lucky for me, I had freshly killed meat lying at my feet. Taking my knife, and reaching into the huge gash in the manticore's abdomen, cut a good hunk of meat from the stomach. When it was removed from the stomach, I placed it on a nearby rock. "Now, for a fire." During my time in the Marines, I had learned some tricks on wilderness survival. But, not enough to save ones life during a full emergency like this. Luckily Johnson had taken time to teach me nearly everything you need to know about survival tactics. During any free time, he would spend hours showing me procedures. "You never know when you could find yourself ass deep in the middle of nowhere." he always used to say. After spending atleast a half our collecting dry branches, I threw them all into a large pile and started a fire with a technique that Johnson taught me. It seems a tad barbaric to smash two rocks together, but it takes technique, and the rocks must be hand picked. It took me 2 hours to get a single spark. Even after that, the spark was not big enough to catch on. I sat for another 30 minutes, and finally got the fire going. Placing the stone slab on top of the fire, the meat started to cook, and oh man, did it smell good. For some reason, I was famished, I felt like I haven't eaten for days. After placing all of my effort into cooking the manticore meat perfectly, I began eating. It was one of the most enjoyable tastes I have ever experienced. My mouth lit up with flavours as I chewed, something about the taste reminded me vaguely of steak, but it was still like nothing I have ever experienced before. Granted, any food tastes one hundred times better if you are starving. After finishing the meal, I sorted through the pockets and bags on my body armour. As I reached into the left ammo pouch, hung next to my hip, I pulled out a journal, with a pen inside. "What!? I guess I could find some use for this." I reached back in, and could feel 9mm clips for the pistol, each clip held 15 rounds. The pistol that I had found on me was a Smith and Wesson MP, very common amongst civilians; even I had used it a few times. It was small but it packed quite a punch. I unslung the gun on my shoulder. I was nearly overcome with joy to see that it was a M4 Carbine. I had served with this weapon for nearly 4 years, and it had never failed me. The gun used 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition, that ran off of 30 round boxed magazines, of which, after reaching into my magazine pouch, I had plenty. I walked over to the manticore, and stabbed my knife into the base of the neck, I cut for about an hour, and had finally removed the head from the body. I wanted to show it off as a trophy, incase anyone ever questioned my sanity after I told them I had killed a mythical beast. Now that I look back on this, it may have been better to take a wing, or the tail, because with only the head, it looked like a normal lion. I placed the head, over my shoulder, and walked off in search of shelter. Nothing of real interest happened during the hour long walk, the only thing notable was that the terrain had changed from, swampy and murky, to just pure forest, as far as the eye can see. The trees in this forest were dark, and it threw me off. The only sound was from the crunching of my boots, and the sun was nearly down. Not a single gust of wind, no birds chirping, only eerie silence. My mind raced with thoughts: "How far until I find civilization? I've seen a manticore, what other creatures are lurking in these woods? Will I ever see my son again?" The Moon began to raise up into the sky, I had to find shelter and get some rest. Who knows what kind of monsters could be wandering around this forest during the night. I noticed a rock face that appeared to be less than 4 miles away; this was my only chance for shelter. I began to walk faster, and faster, until my walk turned into a jog, and then into a run. All around me lay eternal woodlands, and this cliff-face was my only chance of survival, a glimmer of hope during dark times. I felt terrified, cries were echoing out from every corner of the woods; it's as if the forest had suddenly sprung to life. I was no longer surrounded by a deathly silence, I was now encased in fear. These cries varied from birdlike chirps, to full out roars, most of which were far louder, and intimidating, than that of the manticore which I had killed. In under ten minutes I had reached the cliff-face. I was gasping for breath, the kevlar body armour has become a nuisance, and was impeding on my movement, I had to find lighter armour. I walked along the rock-face, lucky for me, there was a small cave entrance about twenty feet off of the ground; I began to climb. The cliff was not too steep, and I was easily able to reach the entrance, it was about 5 feet tall, and 4 feet wide. I had to duck in, seeing as I measured out at 6.3. After crawling through the entrance, I emerged into an opening, almost like a room. It appeared to be 7x10 feet, and the ceiling was nearly 9 feet tall; this was the perfect place for me to rest during the night. Placing my gear on the floor, I made a makeshift cot using the kevlar body armour. The cave floor was cold, but I had slept on worse. I closed my eyes, and drifted off into sleep.