Glitch

Leaves carried on the intense wind whipped through the air, flying directly into Henry's face as if the trees were holding a personal vendetta. He rolled his eyes catching glimpses of the blue- green tint they had. While the trust in his noble steed made this more of a minor convenience than an issue of possible fatality, disruption in his vision was his biggest pet peeve. Pride in his attention to detail one of his many vices. It was in his nature to catch the smallest details, some sort of residual survival instinct ingrained in his DNA despite the selectivity of this trait. Perhaps the acknowledgment was selective. He saw everything, but could only see what he wanted, such as the wild Glowtail resting on a large grey boulder beneath them.

"There." Melon acknowledged her command tipping slightly to the left in such a way her glide would come to rest a few feet from the creature. She knew well enough not to disturb it. A thick band of lime green feathers running vertical down the length of her body rose to stand on their ends, giving off the impression that something aggressive was near. Finding no immediate threats Henry slowly approached, taking a seat and reaching out his hand. The small lizard-like reptile glanced tentatively at it before appreciatively accepting the attention. This place offered endless subjects for his wandering fascination. Various natives were more than happy to educate him in the wild life upon his arrival. Light pets like these were primarily trained for the glow they emitted. He dug deep in his pockets searching for a mushroom to treat her with.

"What do you think, Melon, should we take her home?" She stirred, but remained silent. "Mango would enable me." He grumbled. Mango was Melon's twin, or clone. He was never quite sure. They were gifted to Henry by a scientist and neither possibility had ever been excluded. Both drakes bared similar pigment to a watermelon with bright greens and deep reds spread about their bodies and as is the nature of twins, were indiscernible from each other. Some time ago he painted a white dot on Melon's forehead to tell them apart. Ms.Priss had been less than ecstatic and exuded copious amounts of attitude for several days.

Mango would eat her.

"You're probably right. She's coming with us anyway. It was more of a rhetorical question." Glowtail #8 would make a nice addition to the collection. "Oh F-" There was a high pitched hiss from behind them. Henry lunged to the left barely missing the head of a basilisk striking out beside him, sharp teeth clamping together and coming dangerously close to his shoulder. Situations like these required fast action. Act now, think later happened to be his area of expertise. The snake recoiled preparing for strike two as Henry got to his feet. There were only two times in his young life Henry thought he might be able to fly, once when he was 8 and the second was right now. Convinced he had never run faster Henry darted towards Melon managing to throw himself into the saddle in the nick of time.

Can we go before you get eaten?

The basilisk slithered toward the two, rapidly gaining speed. Henry trained his eyes on the monster, thinking how he could definitely tame that if he just stuck around a little longer. He pondered the idea for a moment, maybe a longer moment than he should have, even reaching for his dart gun but dropping it back in the saddle bag as the creature got closer. As he was staring at the snake something moved in his peripheral vision. The Glowtail he dropped was scurrying away as fast her tiny legs would carry her. Finding another wouldn't prove too difficult. She was a dime a dozen though her colors were a bit of a novelty. Always the bleeding heart, and avid collector, Henry bent to scoop her up practically plucking her from a closing basilisk jaw. "Jump!" He urged, a chuckle escaping him as Melon glided smoothly away from their impending doom off to a place much safer.

Hidden away in dense tree tops there was a place that for now Henry called home. As if by design the tree rooted directly below grew tall. Enough so to shield the mouth of his expansive cave. As a first instinct when he'd awoken in this strange place he sought shelter and went for higher ground, stumbling upon this place after climbing the tree concealing it. Small stalagmites hung from the ceiling in eerily identical patterns, nearly perfect rows, as a result of dripping water. A waterfall placed behind fed into a stream that somehow ran through the thick walls of the cave, like a natural aqua-for providing protection from the outside heat and radiation. Henry thought the place too good to be true, but for several weeks it harbored him and a fire. Familiarizing himself with the environment came easy. It was like Iron Mountain, hollowed out and fit for a city. Many days went by hulled up in the spacious cavern before he ventured out into this strange new world. Making friends was never difficult for him and the locals happily passed on their wisdom, but he remained distant. Henry was accepted as a friend of many tribes, but kept to himself. He'd built somewhat of a fortress since then. In an attempt to save resources without sacrificing security Henry installed one wall of metal panels and a door not far from the mouth of a cave, as well as a few floors and separation walls on the inside. Work smarter not harder was another virtue he took pride in upholding. Efficiency was key, the very inspiration for the camouflage. To the outside eye, it was invisible, expertly disguised among the foliage. For Melon, it was just a swoop down from the high cliff across the river. Emerging through the curtain of verdure she perched herself on the edge of the tree platform that wrapped around the trunk of a sturdy tree, wood groaning beneath the weight. A few loose boards could stand to replaced, but if they weren't missing yet they would hold out. At least that's what Henry told himself as procrastination was a skill he spent time refining over many a moon. He closely examined one such board nearly splintering in two as he hopped out of his saddle, Glowtail tucked securely beneath his arm. Number Eight wriggled her feet a tad, another attempt at a getaway. They had almost fallen clear out of the saddle twice on their journey back because #8 had tried to squirm away despite the fact success would mean a free fall to immense damage. She would require training later. For the time being he would allow adjustment to new surroundings. Light pets were soft tames. They were medium sized, mostly harmless and docile creatures that lacked the need for the more extreme measures, but this one had already proved to be quite taxing. Navigating the ladder up to base was no easy feat with her. At one point she succeeded in prying her body from beneath his arm. He expected the tenacious thing to bolt to the ground and disappear, but she flew in the other direction. Sure she was gone as she bolted away he sighed heavily and continued to climb. Nothing could be done. Number Eight would not be only the eighth if a few hadn't gotten away, but when he made it to the top she was there... waiting patiently. "So much for needing training." Henry had only but managed to key in the access code when he was swept off his feet, dropping #8 on the floor. He laughed, barely holding his attacker at arms length so he could let out a whistle to get the other dino's attention. "Nobody eat the lizard." With that an exuberant bulbdog broke free of his grip, tackling him the rest of the way to the hard ground. "Hello to you too, Tony." He patted Tony's head. Bulbdogs were also light pets, but less reptilian and more amphibious. Their leathery skin hung loose around their necks, sharp teeth slightly poking from their lips. An illicium protruding from his forehead connected to a bulb that illuminated the general vicinity. Bulbdogs, Featherlights, Glowtails, and Shinehorns are a byproduct of the intense radiation in their environment. Tony is what would happen if you spliced together a bulldog and an angler fish; stumpy legs, short tail, a tad bit ugly but a sweetheart. "You want a walk?" He cracked the door open and Tony waddled out happily to the small ridge between the door and the tree, plopping down just outside. "Glad to see everyone missed me." The others hadn't even acknowledged him as he entered. "Hope none of you are hungry then." Henry sauntered over to a metal storage box, shivering as he went. Base was always too cold after the sun went down. It was never normal cold. It was a humid chill that seeped through the metal walls and your clothes. It got in your bones and froze you from the inside out, but welcome after any amount of time outside. Amid pondering the weather, he forgot to brace himself for the smell while prying open the lid of the box. A wave of putrid air assaulted his senses as he plunged his hand into the raw meat and scooped it into the feed bucket next to the box, doing his best to maintain composure. Keeping this collection of fauna well fed was often disgusting, but necessary. Red meat sloshed into a feeding trough set up in the main room for the creatures that were old enough. He filled the respective compartments with various berries and raw meat daily. The raptors were the first ones to beeline for it. Magnus and Max, another set of twins, gobbled up nearly half on their own. He left them to themselves, heading up to the second the floor of Sector A. There were two drakes close to hatching. Incubation was a delicate process so they required their very own, very warm, room. Development really depended on having the most ideal environment for growth. There wasn't much activity happening today. Close to hatching eggs tended to stagnate, so he chugged along on his train of daily duties, crossing over into Sector B, The Nursery, where he saw to the gardening. This wing only had one floor due to myriad of vegetation ascending to the ceiling. Often he had to trim the highest of them so they didn't press against the light. It was less conspicuous than a traditional greenhouse, but served the same function. Fruit, vegetables, and essentials like wheat thrived for many months, due to the lack of seasons. Anything he couldn't grow, he could gather with help of his tames. As much as they were collector items they were functional and were a major part of his day to day chores. It took him a few hours to accomplish his to do list, but soon he retreated to Sector C, his living quarters. This room was the emptiest, due mostly to spending the least time in it. There was a desk, a bed, some clothes, and an anti-radiation suit for when he came close to the red zones. Occasionally he would leave his current project in here. Aside from that, he had never bothered. Much like now Henry would come in everyday and sit at his desk, like end of day paperwork. He retrieved the base floor plan and the map. When he first traveled here the map was useful but incomplete. He had taken to adding and adjusting the finer points as further exploration became constant and possible. Boarders, bases, traps, indigenous living beings, everything was noted and recorded. Living was favorable and knowledge among the virtually unknown was his greatest protection. Yesterday there was a patch of hallucinogenic mushrooms newly sprouted. They were a new subspecies. Luckily he and Falkor were on a night crawl for Nameless in the same area when a basilisk unintentionally slithered right through them. It had rolled over on it's back and began convulsing in a matter of minutes. Bio-luminescent mushrooms were common on this map and bright colors were indicative of poison, but these had proved to be highly volatile. He sketched them in near the river as well as finishing the sketch of his incubation chambers on the floor plan should he need to rebuild. While ally to many some would see him as an enemy for no other reason than he was not one of theirs and he was far too aware of the effect. Soon after arriving a native wiped him out completely. Unsure of whether the man killed them or not, Henry had gone searching for his tames. No sign of either the native or the animals ever seen again. Falkor was the only to return. Henry updated his defenses and started over. So far, everything was running much smoother. A sudden pressure on his thigh pulled his eyes away from the map. It was the glowtail from earlier that evening.

"How did you get all the way over here, sweetie?" He had nearly forgotten her. Much of his brain was taken up by the technical aspects of the day. She would have had to traverse the maze of halls to follow him here, he sighed feeding her another mushroom. Usually taming meant following the tame around with treats, but this one had attached and held on.

"Fair to say, we're keeping you. Now, a name." She was beautiful with pink-orange skin and big, bright, gleaming green eyes. "Peaches." He looked at the glowtail and she looked back at him as if to insure he was serious. "Yup. That's your name now." Even the lizard seemed offended by this conclusion, but she merely hopped onto his desk and curled into a ball on the corner. Peaches had begun to faintly glow reminding him he left Tony outside. It would draw a wandering eye if he powered on. Peaches in tow he power walked back to Sectar A. There was no access to any other part of the base without entrance into the main sector. There were no windows or outside doors in any of the others. Upon their approach to the entrance, Peaches halted refusing to follow. Finicky that one was. Despite what seemed like a clear warning Henry entered with no inkling of unwell. As if to say "everything's fine", Tony appeared to topple him. "Oh. Hey buddy." Like expected the door was hanging open. He must have left it cracked. Tony had probably pushed it the rest of the way open on the way in. He did make a quick survey of the room before sealing the door, telling himself it was to appease Peaches’ suspicions. A heavy sigh poured out of his lungs, merely a sign of exhaustion than anything else. Time to turn in. Any other activity for the day would be classified a no thank you. He attempted to place Peaches with the others but she wouldn't stay. Everytime he left the room he would hear the tiny footsteps behind. Eventually he gave in and retreated lazily to his bed. If there were a least appealing time of day, it would be this one. He loved sleep, but it was the interim between conscious and subconscious. Henry laid still for a while, not sleeping but some form of resting he would suppose. Try as he might to get her to sleep at the end of the bed, Peaches snuggled to his side and curled into a ball. Whatever, he thought. I'll just leave her for now. Nights were harder than he'd admit, even to himself. He stressed about the possibility of ever getting home, continuing to breathe, feeding himself. Many things to keep him awake. If he fell asleep his dreams would be of home or stress would seep in and pollute them. Henry rolled onto his back. Peaches took this as an invitation to curl up on his belly. He patted her head absentmindedly, lifting his wrist to check the time and unfortunately catching a glimpse of that awful diamond shaped object embedded in his skin. Three twenty one a.m. He wouldn't find peace until daylight when he would sleep for no more than four hours so he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Bliss was short-lived as restlessness set in. His eyes popped open and swept the dark room. "On." Without opening her eyes Peaches' tail began to glow. Dim light glinted off his new body jewelry. Origins unknown, it had appeared when Henry himself woke up here. He wasn’t sure what it did or how it worked but he was certain someone had placed it there. Most likely it was tracking him, or everything. The device had a faint glow and a bit of an itch sometimes. He did his best not to think about it. His eyes swept across the bare room, doing their best to ignore the faint green glow from his wrist. Hidden in the corner was a shelf he needed to fix but there was no energy or motivation to do so. Back home this wasn't the type of work he was used to, but he enjoyed to work with his hands. He had been an electrician, one of the best, and he found his career interesting and ever evolving. Not a day went by without learning something new. He would do anything to get back to that now. Fixing the piece of furniture would hardly be a project. A nail here, some dye there… It had been in the corner for three months. He just didn't w-

A loud crash from the first floor of Sector A ripped him from his inner monologue.

"Must be Tony." Just as he was reassuring himself a muffled voice came from below. Henry couldn't make out what it was saying, but that was human. He sighed. Nobody had time for this. Henry rolled out of bed and got to his feet, shivering a bit when they touched the cold floor. Peaches strolled on behind him, tail still aglow. He would be damned if someone absconded for the second time with his dinos. He strolled through the halls, and directly into the main room. To his dismay he had to step over Magnus who was crumpled on the floor, along with Melon and the others. There were unconscious dino bodies everywhere. "Would you stop making so much noise?" The first voice who was distinctly Male asked whoever the idiot was knocking things over.

"Me? It was him!" The second man hissed.

Henry crossed his arms, assessing the situation. There were three of them, dressed to the nines in protective gear and eerily identical to each other. At first glance they could have been raiders from a megatribe looking to expand their territory,but they’d be decked out with the logo if that were the case. They were standing in a group near the fridge, too busy yelling at each other to notice he was there. From this vantage point he couldn’t spot any tribe insignias, but he did make sure to clock the guns they were carrying. “You might want to listen to him, wouldn’t want to wake the guy that lives here.” All three heads snapped in his direction. No one moved as he glanced around, throwing his arms out to the side in a half shrug. “Why’d you knock out my buddies? Afraid they might eat you for being somewhere you don’t belong?” Henry noted that they hadn’t knocked out Tony, probably because they wouldn’t be able to see if they had. “Off.” He mumbled. Not only did Tony go dark, but so did Peaches. “Where did he go?” Henry rolled his eyes. He hadn’t gone anywhere yet. He had not even bothered to shuffle his feet. As expected, blasts of lights flashed as they began firing their weapons slightly to the left of him. He jumped away to the right narrowly avoiding a bullet in the leg. As nonchalant as he was he didn’t fancy getting shot that particular day so he moved back out into the hall to formulate a plan, hoping they wouldn’t catch any unconscious prehistoric lizards in the crossfire. They would deplete their ammo soon enough. He felt around finding nothing but a cold metal wall. Okay, new plan. Henry did a one-eighty and jogged to the end of the hall, using the gun fire as cover for the sound of his footsteps. He took care to gently nudge the door open just enough to enter as to not draw their attention with the glow of the growing lights. Once inside he quickly turned in circles in search of something heavy. They couldn’t see him and he could tell where they were based solely on the continued firing of their weapons. There was a part of him that was hoping a baseball bat would magically appear. While that obviously didn’t happen he did find a hefty plank of wood left over from building planting boxes. He smirked. Good enough. Wielding his dollar store Excalibur, Henry rushed back to Sector A ready for a fight. “Let’s go, Bad Guys.” He whispered to himself as he charged back into the room. The men had ceased fire so it was just a guess that they were still huddled in the corner, but Henry went with it. Good. Without hesitation, Henry slinked across the dark room, swinging his board like a Louisville. A sharp crack rang out followed by a low thud as it collided with the side of a head. He couldn’t see which one, but all he needed to know was one down, two to go. Someone grasped at him, nearly catching hold of the front of his shirt before he slid smoothly out of reach. He swung the board again. This time it whistled through the air cleanly without smashing into any corporeal forms.

All of a sudden, a bright light came to life, nearly blinding him. He threw his arm up to shield his eyes. “Dude, really?” Henry ducked dodging a small round object being thrown at him. They continued pelting him and he did his best to stay out of the way, buying time for his eyes to adjust. Beyond the light he heard one of the men cry out in pain. Henry used the distraction to get closer, knocking the flashlight out of the second man’s hand. It hit the floor with a hollow thump, batteries rattling on the inside, before blinking out completely. His hand wrapped around Henry’s bicep, tossing him against the nearest wall. Bouncing back quickly, Henry cringed but managed to muster the strength to throw his fist into the man’s jaw. He stumbled enough for Henry to retrieve the board he’d lost hold of during the scuffle. Without hesitating Henry slammed the board into the man’s face. Blood spewed from his mouth as he fell to the ground, but Henry didn’t stop to notice. There was a matter of one more idiot to deal with. “On.” From right beside him Peaches began to glow and Tony from the corner. The two were face to face now. “What’s it going to be, kid?” The last of them charged him. “Works for me.” In one fell swoop, Henry cracked the board against his head. Almost impressively the man kept coming, wrenching the board from his hands. Reflexively Henry attempted to duck the fist flying towards his eye, but the young man landed the punch. Blood leaked into his vision. Henry shoved the man back, tackling him to the ground and connecting his fist with the man's jaw, then his nose, then his cheek. Then he did it one more time just for safe measure. His eyes closed but he was still breathing. Henry collapsed on the floor, exhaling deeply. “I’m getting too old for this.” He said to the open air, thinking he may need to rethink the layout of the base. Peaches sauntered over, poking his cheek with her foot as if to make sure he was alive. “No. I’m dead.”

He rolled onto his stomach, reluctantly using his arm to force himself off the floor. Henry's shoulders released as he assessed the damage. Magnus was still breathing as were the few others and only one seemed to be missing. The physical damage was minor. There was a tall cabinet now in pieces, contents strewn about. No doubt it was what they had run into. A scan of the disaster area revealed that the cupboard standing beside the now destroyed one was also pushed away from the wall. He noted it, deciding he would get to it later. Priority number one were the unconscious reptiles. He rolled Magnus on his side. There were no darts, no visible injection site, not even a wound. Henry scratched his beard scruff, ignoring the blood clouding his left eye and taking a harder look at his surroundings. Max was on the other side of the room from Magnus, an abnormal thing for the two. Magnus must have gone down first. They didn't seem injured, just unconscious. With a little reassurance that they would live he shifted his attention to the intruders. Henry needed to get rid of these guys. Weight would be an obstacle considering the state of his helpers. Two of them were dressed head to toe in black, dripping in tactical gear. Who did they think he was? Blonde hair peaked out from underneath the first guys hood. As a matter fact, they were all blonde. Henry rolled the unconscious bodies onto their backs, pulling their hoods down to get a better look at them. Henry crossed his arms, eyebrows furrowing in concentration. Something was off. Blonde hair, blue eyes, small nose, big ears… they were all exactly the same. They were triplets, or clones. That wasn't what was bothering him though. Some tiny detail his brain was absorbing but he wasn't catching on to was out of place. Just one itsy bitsy thing wasn't right, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He rolled up their sleeves, checking for tattoos or something identifiable. There was nothing. He stood back once more, studying them intently and scratching his wrist. The device bothered him the most when his heart rate went up and it was still stabilizing after the fight...That was it. Henry flipped one of the men's arms over and there on the inside was nothing. None of them had a device. Everyone he had ever met in this place had one but these men didn't. He began quickly checking their pockets for clues, finding only ammo and climbing links on the first two. On the third, there was plenty of the same plus some taming mushrooms, not that those would do much good in here. In a pocket on his cargo pants leg he finally found something interesting, a small square of paper. He unfolded it quickly expecting coordinates but inside written in neat script was only on thing: Henry Mind.

"What did I get myself into?"

Probably something dangerous.

Henry's head snapped up in the direction of the hall. "Where the hell have you been?"