Chapter 1: Toto, I don't think that I'm in Kansas anymore

I was on my way to Fermi Lab to meet my professor for a class tour when the white light filled my vision, it was so intense that I could still see it with my eyes shut tight. I immediately slammed on my brakes and tried not to swerve too hard in either direction.

When I finally calmed down and tried to open my eyes, I couldn't. They felt like they were burning, so I rested them for a couple of minutes and then tried again. I could see a tree that slowly came into focus; it was inches from my windshield in the center of my hood. I couldn't believe what I saw. A tree growing out of my hood looked like it had done so for years, the hood was barely dented and only in an upward direction surrounding the tree. The windshield was spider webbed with each crack filled in with dirt decomposing leaves. The compost inside the car crested my waist. I had to dig my way clear to the seatbelt buckle only to find a rusted our clasp. Only after wiggling the buckle back and forth I was able to free myself. The door handle came off in my grasp. Luckily my window was down or it would have been tough getting out of my Charger. I didn't think that its power windows were going to work.

I crawled out of the window and looked around trying to figure where the hell I was and what had happened to my car. My car looked to be hit by a wave of entropy. The rest pattern began at my front driver's wheel and grew in height as the rust followed along its path as it crested over the trunk of my car completely rusting out the lid of my trunk. Continuing to assess the damage, three of my tires were deflated and were the spawning grounds of various shrubbery. The passenger's front tire was completely normal. The driver's rear door had a young maple tree growing out of the rust. The coup de grace was the thirty foot apple tree that grew through the rusty remnants of the passenger rear quarter panel.

I don't think that I'm in Kansas anymore...

I looking around for anything familiar, a marker or anything. When I looked up a large oblong and heavily cratered moon stared back at me.

Definitely not Earth's moon! Earth's moon orbited far further away than this one.

Holy shit!

From the slope of the ground around what was left of my car, it ended up on the crest of hill. I the lines of sight were blocked by other trees in the area, the only way that I could think of to get a clear view of the vicinity was to climb that dumb apple tree that grew out of my car.

The low lying branches helped me get a respectable distance from the ground, enough to get a good look at my surroundings anyway.

The forest filled my vision off to the west and south. To the northeast was a peanut shaped lake bordered to the west by the forest and on the east by rolling plains. The plains were patterned unnaturally Something that humans do when they farm. Having at least a direction to head out in, I was a bit more comfortable. Food was a new priority. The apples around me looked ripe enough to eat. I picked the closest one and used my fingernails to serrate the apple and then rip it in half. I tentatively sampled the apple and discovered that it tasted like a tart Granny Smith. It was good. I plucked a dozen more, carefully bundling them up in my flannel shirt and climbed down the tree.

Using a fallen branch, I brushed away the rust that comprised what was left of my trunk. I needed to see if my overnight bag, my backpack and especially my katana survived intact.

The squirrel that was living in the ruminants of the trunk scared the shit out of me when I disturbed him. I dug around to find everything that I tossed into my trunk this morning before I left with the old standbys of my deluxe first aid kit and an old overnight bag. What to take?

I emptied my schoolbooks out of my backpack. I stared at my calculator hating to leave it behind. I could always come back later. I started with the first aid kit, that was a no-brainer. The overnight bag was next followed by some apples. An old blanket filled the bulk of the space left.

Blending in with the locals was secondary to protection. My custom made Katana I wore at my belt. Father started me with the martial arts young and handed me my first sword when turned ten. Neither of us ever looked back.

I started down the hill when I smacked myself upside the head and turned around, I wanted to make a sketch of the area and I figured that the best way for that was to climb the tree again and draw myself a map. Moving from branch to branch to get a good view and a secure resting spot wasn't easy. I figured the lake would a good reference from its unique shape. My nonexistent artistic ability didn't help much, but after about twenty minutes I had something that I could recognize if I stayed away for an extended period of time.