He glanced at the hills which were dark silhouettes against the evening’s red sky. Despite this warming scene, Byldax felt immense dread. Now well into the second day of a blood chilling nightmare, he felt that he only had hours left to live. Maybe not even that, as they were going to come for him again. This time, he wouldn’t have any defence against them.Since Yesterday he had fought off numerous attacks. These attacks came in the form of large, slimy slug like creatures, that slid along at a very fast pace. Their only desire being to eat him alive. Up until now, his hand held phaser gun was acting as his protector, though, continually being used at high power to exterminate his unfriendly guests, had drained it dry. He couldn’t recharge the phaser as its power unit was smashed in yesterday’s violent crash landing.Very little was known about this planet, it was unexplored. All that was known was that it had a breathable atmosphere and measured half the size of the planet that Byldax came from. His planet in turn, was the same size as the earth.He worked for an intergalactic space cruiser company as a pilot. His job involved transporting holiday makers who wanted to spend time on other worlds. Having a few days leave, he decided to check out this planet with his private shuttle. All he wanted to do was fly over its terrain. Unexpectedly, the shuttle developed engine trouble and he needed to make a crash landing. The crash knocked him unconscious and when he came around he was cut and bruised. The broken consoles inner wiring and circuits sparked noisily, like a fireworks display. Seats had split apart and were thrown everywhere. Byldax awoke to find himself lying face down on the floor. The radio barley worked. He began to make repeated S O S calls. Then, the radio like everything else that was electrical, sparked and died. Totally irritated by the situation, he threw the phaser at the ground, hard. It bounced a few inches then came to rest. Bringing his right leg up in the air, he angrily brought his foot down on it. The phaser became imbedded in the planet’s dirt.There was nowhere for him to go, except for the hills ahead of him. The surrounding terrain lay flat for miles. Even if an attempt was made to hide in the hills, who was to say that these flesh eating creatures wouldn’t find him? The thought of this panicked him even more. Throwing his head into his hands, he tried to calm himself. Byldax wondered if any of his dying radio transmissions had been picked up. “Surely, somebody out there in space must have?” he reasoned.If any help was on the way, it wouldn’t be a good idea to go wandering off. Feeling very tired and hungry, Byldax sat himself down, with his back and head resting up against the battered wreck of the shuttle. His mouth felt as dry as a water tight interior. The limited food and drink supply that he had brought with him, was now gone, thinking that he would be taking a day trip out, there was only the need for a packed lunch and dinner.He stared up into the sky. His light blue eyes, red with fatigue reflected the evening colour. The day was winding down and he too, wanted to wind down. Though the thought of being woken by a horde of carnivorous freaks biting into his flesh quickly pushed the idea out of his mind.His thoughts then shifted to home. Feena was a gem of a world as its natural beauty outshone all the other planets in its solar system. With extraordinary plant life and having some of the finest oceans in the galaxy, it was a hot spot for many botanists and oceanographers, not to mention the crowd of summertime tourists it would attract. He so feared that he would never see his home world again.About a half a mile away, dark forms were sliding through the undergrowth. Occasionally, small land animals would wander across their paths, only to end up as food. Anything trying to outrun these slithery forms, would never stand a chance. As For their size they moved incredibly fast. As they slid over the terrain they left behind a slippery trail that glistened under the sunset. Suddenly they stopped. Sensing that there was a larger meal to feed on in the distance they changed course. In a state of frenzy they pursued it.Byldax cursed himself for even thinking of coming to this horrid planet. He couldn’t help but wonder if some of the reports of missing people he had heard about, had been due to this place. Just like him, they would have been curious about this small planet without a name and taken a look.If intelligent beings lived here there certainly wasn’t any sign of it. Maybe they had all been eaten, or, these things that wanted to eat him, were the intelligent life. If he managed to get off of this place there was no way he would return. No, not for anything, or anyone. Should there be a laser weapon powerful enough to vaporize this planet he wanted to be the one firing it.