The Other Earth by Derek Schumacher (reading like a writer .TXT) 📕

The year is 2099, and things aren't going as smoothly as possible. Because of the intensive use of resources, the planet Earth is slowly dying, and the human race needs to find another place to go. Luckily, they had begun researching in new-age space technology in order to cross great lengths with an incredible volume of population. This could be their last hope.

At the turning of the year 2110, multiple recorded launches are activated. Their destination is to break free from the solar system, and explore the Milky Way galaxy in order to find a hospitable planet. Meanwhile, the other inhabitants of Earth remain, hopefull that they will find a new home amoung the stars.

Years pass, and it seems the explorers have yet to return. Hope dwindles, and the scarcity of resources begins to pin one man against another, in a fight to survive the wait. But, the luck of mankind has finally turned for the best. Midway through 2114, a ship returns. A messenger comes out, and explains the news. They've found a new home. The Other Earth.

Taking the good news, the people of the planet begin to pack up themselves amoung the crafts they had created over the years, preparing to travel, and leave their old planet behind. It's an exciting journey, exploration. Especially to find a new home, a place to create a family. Think of it like a galactic-sized Oregon Trail, if you would.

And, after a good long time coming, the human race arrives on the surface of Other Earth on 2118. Suprisingly, this new planet is strikingly similar to their old home, even complete with a breathable atmosphere and water. It's practically a miracle they found such a place in such a short time.

They began to constuct homes for the population, and settled down for a few months. But, now it came the time for discovery. This new planet had so much more to offer, and yet, the humans hadn't seen any of it. It was truly exciting, for a chance to explore a brand new world. But, with exploration, comes unknown dangers, and the fear of the unknown.

But mankind pushes forward, driven by a sense of determination to understand their new world. Past the mountains and hills, the rivers and streams, a group of men treks across the landscape. Geared with tools and some survival equipment, they seem to be prepared, just in case something would happen.

But they weren't ready for this, no. None of them were ready, not the entire human race.

The people back home waited, and waited. Days seemed to fly by since the explorer party had been disbanded, and no signs have been revealed as to where their location was.

A rescue team was sent out a week after their disappearance, and a few days later, something was uncovered. The body of an explorer was found, except you could barely tell it was him. The body was charred and torn, the skin was pierced and caked with a thick, black substance. It was like nothing they've seen before. The worst thing was, it was moving still. The body seemed to shimmy gently every few minutes or so, the liquid continuing to move around the body. It was like the thing had a mind of it's own.

The rescue party took the body back, while a few of them pressed forward to see if they could uncover the others. But, the only things they find are disembodied limbs, all riddled with gashes and tears. Once again, the black substance is back, along with the clear signs of burns. Something is out there, and it seems to have found them. But the question is, what happened to the rest of the bodies? It seems the head and torso has been detached from almost all of the victims, except for the first body found, which had all of the parts still together. The rescue party decided to head back after an hour of researching, and took with them the parts of the men who had fallen. There would need to be a much more involved discussion of what to do, once they got back.

But they never did. A few days later the bodies of the rescue party had been uncovered. Everyone began to worry, as they had no idea what was going on. Something had seemed to mark it's territory around that area, and it isn't happy mankind has landed so close by. Could there be any hope of cooperating with these beings? Or will they slowly close in on the humans?

The answer was revealed years later, after effortless actions to try and reason with the creatures. But, over this time, new threats had begun to arise. Not only did the weather become exceedingly violent at times, but so did the inhabitans of the planet. More and more varieties of fatalities had begun to appear, which only further frightened the alive people. 

This was the year to make a choice, Stay or leave? Who knows if they would ever find another place that could support them? And if they don't, they'd end up dying out in the nothingness of space. But if they stay, things could get even worse. Those things could gang up on them, and it could be all over. What's the right choice, if there really is one?

The council in charge decided, after a week or so of waiting, that their best chance of survival is to leave the planet, and to continue searching. Over those few days, things had only gotten worse, from the creatures closing in on the human territory, to shortages of food available in the area. An escape is needed, or the race may not survive.

During the original voyage, around Five million people had been loaded into vessels and travelled across the stars towards the new planet. And now, Only Five-Hundered Thousand remain. Times have grown grim, and now they face a tough decision. But, there might still be hope.

If the humans were able to get the rockets up again, they might have a chance to get away. At best, it would take around two weeks to reprepare the rockets for a secondary liftoff. The fuel and parts were still all in good condition, as they had been stored away under the roof of a small warehouse created in the early days of exploration. This meant that the elements, and rough weather of the new planet, couldn't get to them.

Preparation began, and the race against time had also begun. As the beings closed in, the horizon became littered with the corpses of the fallen, and the blackness that caked their bodies. Along with that, crimson red flames spread across the land. Time is running out, and people are dying left and right. There won't be much left after all of this.

The rockets have been prepared, fueled, and checked over as much as they could to assure they're in the best working order they can be. The humas load onto them, and look out to see the darkness closing in on them. It was now or never, one shot for humankind of be able to press forward.

The engines fired up, and smoke and fumes bellowed outward from the bases of the ships. The giant metal machines began to rise up off of the ground, just as the black consumes the rest of the ground around them. They took to the skies, and broke through the atmosphere. There has to be somewhere else to go, some other place that can sustain life.

Earth has run out, and this Other Earth is too dangerous to make home. Where do they go next, and what will be the plan for the future of humanity? Not even they are sure about it. But in due time, they will understand.

But, not everyone was as fortunate as the ones in the town. Many people strived out from the landing zone, going out to see the world for themselves, or just to live alone. Some people would much rather to be out in the world by themselves, than be part of the growing townships. But, even the people out in the wilderness weren't safe. Sure, they were farther from the landing zone, which was one of the closest areas to the territory of the creatures. But, there was more than just those creatures out there.

Among the trees and hills, cave systems littered the mountains. No one had dared enter the caves, for the unknown held untold potential. And Fear was especially prominent after the discovery of the other lifeforms on the planet.

Families strewn about the world would meet unheard fates, as there would be no way to know what exactly happened to them without any form of communication over distance. The whereabouts of those people is unknown, and may never be discovered, as the bodies covered by the blackness eventually decay, and sink into the corrupted ground they had been laying on. This removes almost all evidence from the gruesome deaths that had occured.

 Even though living on your own out in the wild was a dangerous and less than ideal way to live, some people chose the lifestyle anyways. They had lived a similar way during their time on the orginal Earth, and decided to continue on Other Earth. But, with all of the problems coming up around them, some chose to abandon their ways of life, in search for a safer enviorment. Most of the people ended up boarding the escape ships, and going out towards the stars once again.

But what would happen to those people who weren't as fortunate? The ones who would never hear about the planned escape, the rockets, or anything of the sort? They would never hear the news, instead hearing the sound of rocket engines firing up, and blasting off into the great beyond, without them.

The sense of abandonment was high, and the stress on one's mind is especially cruel when alone. Some people would rather be by themselves, while others fear that without one another, they would cease to exist, as their brains could not take it. People left behind would discover the site, just to see empty houses and camps, riddled bags and equipment, and giant craters from where the rockets had touched down, and relaunched from.

After seeing that they had been left to fend for themselves, and probably die without anyone ever knowing or hearing from them again, some resorted to taking their own lives. They couldn't bear the thoughts, and figured suffering on a planet with none of your own kind would be torture.

Some would fall into deep depressions, and slowly die off, losing hope that there would be any way to escape the planet, or to survive in general. Others would go mad, claiming to false hopes, and ending up turning on their own friends and families. Mankind was torn apart, and the ones left behind slowly degraded until there was nothing left but empty shells of a once known and loved person.

That is the story for nearly every person who had been abandoned on Other Earth. Nearly. There is an exception, though, to this reocurring tragedy. A man, who always kept to himself. Who stayed away from all others, and believed in the arts of self-sufficience and survival. He didn't need a family or friends, he just needed to keep going, to keep surviving. This was before the rest of his race left him on the planet, alone.

But, he didn't know it. No, he was far off in a dense part of a line of forest. He never heard the screams of the people trying to rush to the others, the rockets blaring as they took to the skies. He had seen nor heard nothing. He was completely, and utterly, alone.

The human race has left Other Earth in search of a new home to claim