Earth Warriors (Undergoing Revision)

Chapter 2 - Distrust, Curiosity and Bonding

August 13th, 2026.

Logan Preaker

Somewhere in the middle of the Stanislaus National Forest of California is a dark, descending sunset. Boots thud on the ground, sure-footed and blood-thirsty.

Zlocu spaceships surround most of the forest, casting demonic shadows. It is as if darkness clings to their shapes.

Logan races through the forest, forcing his chest to take in more air even as he burns with pain. Branches and roots trip him up, and the axe strapped to his belt weighs him down, but he runs, swifter than ever.

On the ground, Zlocan machine walkers are moving fast like a cheetah chasing its prey. The "prey" they are chasing is the young teacher. He looks tired and dirty, covered with dust and mud, yet he continues to run as fast as he could as the axe in his belt dangles around him.

The walkers, even with their bulk, can keep up with the chase. They continue to advance towards the young teacher.

The young teacher turns backward, the walkers still on his back. He looks in both directions until he sees some bushes on his left. He sprints rapidly and turns left towards a bushy field.

"Ha! Turning left to everything is the first sign of their doom!" one of the pilots says as he continues to advance and turn to the direction of the escapee. But before he can react, he sees nothing. Not even the escapee running far away.

"Where did that pest go? Let me check outside," the pilot says.

"Why not simply use Galga to ram through the forest?" another one asks.

"The trees are too thick for me to enter with this, and I don't want to risk it."

"Understood. Also, set the gun to stun, you know the orders," the CO of the platoon says.

He exits from the walker and pulls out a gun from his holster, now ready to find the lost Human. As soon as he approaches a tree where the Human might be hidden, he steadily aims his gun at the shadow, but finds nothing.

He turns around in every direction to find him, all with extra precaution.

Soon he jumps and shoots some bushes where the Human could be hiding. The laser beam hits the ground on the other side as the bushes waver from the impact. But the target is not there.

Bewildered at such an unexpected occurrence, the pilot tries to scout again. But before he can try anything, someone grabs him from below. It's Logan who camouflaged himself by crawling to the ground to hide from them.

Both men struggle to gain the upper hand, with the pilot trying to press the teacher's arm as hard as he can. The teacher then kicks the pilot to his face, which throws him away from Logan.

But as he tries to approach him, he reaches for one last resort as he unsheathes a knife from his pocket, swinging it around in an attempt to stab the teacher. The latter then dodges every move he can see from the Knight.

"Stay still already, low scum!" he says.

Logan picks up his axe and proceeds to chop the head off of the Zlocan pilot within a matter of seconds, blood gushing all over the place.

The other pilots, who are hearing the commotion approach the forest to see what happened, all unaware of the fate of their comrade. They see Logan himself, with bits of dirt and blood around his body while giving the Zlocans a long stare. He is holding the head of the dead pilot.

"Dare to come closer," the teacher whispers as he tosses it near the walker.

He then throws his axe in front of the other pilots in an attempt to strike one of them.