Barren land, it was all barren land. No matter how far he looked, all his eyes could see was dirt and rocks. John didn't know where he was; the cold stone beneath his fingers was the last thing he remembered before waking here.
"What happened? And how did I end up in the middle of nowhere?"
He thought to himself.
"I have already been walking for well over 30 minutes now, so how come I haven't found a single car road? The fact that there is so much barren land is weird to begin with."
And he was right.
In the last 200 years, Europe's population had skyrocketed, going from 450 million to over 2 billion.
And with such an increase in population, the cities grew far larger, so you were less likely to find yourself in a place like this, where, besides the occasional boulder, you couldn't find any other big objects.
The lack of plants left John even more puzzled.
"I don't think there was such a terrain in the region I lived in."
By now, John was certain: he was not in Europe, and — he didn't know where he was.
There was also a shortage of oxygen in the air that made John feel terrible. It was like some unseen hands were always at his neck, not strangling him, but squeezing just enough to remind him that he'd never get enough.
His legs burned and his lungs ached, but still he walked... and walked... and walked.
It had been three days. John had started to feel the thirst and hunger since the end of the first day, and he still couldn't find a trace of life.
He felt tired. He felt weak. He was essentially a walking corpse. He had slept a lot last night and the night before that, but the lack of food and water just made him feel so tired that he just wanted to sleep a bit more. So he sat in the shade of an "occasional boulder" and closed his eyes.
When he opened them again the surroundings felt very peaceful. Looking down at his legs John saw a little puppy going around them.
"Oh. Are you lost? Where is your owner?"
Reaching his arm to pet the puppy, it jumped forward and, with a snap of its jaws, bit half of his arm off.
"AHHHH, MY ARM, MY ARM!!"
John's screams echoed through the barren lands.
The "puppy" started to tear its own fur and transformed into a two-and-a-half-meter-tall monster. Its oversized teeth were covered with John's blood while saliva leaked from the corners of its mouth.
John got up and started running. But where would he go? For every four steps he took, the monster needed one to catch up.
"GET AWAY FROM MEE."
Snap.
With another movement of its jaws John's leg vanished.
Falling to the ground, all he could do was crawl, but that was hard to do with just an arm and a half.
He screamed and begged, but the monster continued mauling him with no regard for John's feelings.
At this point, his whole lower body was missing. He could see his organs, and he started to feel his consciousness fading.
"It's over," he thought.
"Killed by a giant dog creature, that's certainly not how I imagined dying."
While thinking of all his past regrets, a beam of light penetrated the monster's head. John saw how "Doggy's" head started to tremble, and the next moment — it blew up. Bits and chunks fell all over John's face. John didn't even bother to wipe them off. He was dying anyway; nothing mattered anymore.
Then he heard a man's voice coming from somewhere.
"Kid, you still alive?"
And with that, he closed his eyes.