Survival of the Happiest Part 1



Dekki cautiously made his way through the trees. He was sure he had lost 
them. He had spotted them miles back, and they had also spotted him. He'd ran 
straight away. Surely they weren't still stalking him. No, they couldn't be. He decided 
to rest.
	He walked up to a large tree, and sat down, his back leaning up against the 
trunk. Dekki had never bothered looking at the scenery before. He decided this was as 
good a time as any to do so.
	Around him, there was mile upon mile of trees of all different kinds - small, 
insignificant saplings that he could tread on without even noticing, to huge, towering 
giants. The last of the rain was dripping from the leaves, some of it dripping down 
onto the ground, and some of it dripping onto the leaves below and forming a 
continuous waterfall. Bright flowers were sticking out of the ground and out of the 
sides of trees, sticking out their necks as if they were showing off. Which they 
probably were. They were all probably trying to out do each other – trying to see who 
had the best plumage. The ground itself was full of life. Insects scurrying about, doing 
their chores which were, of course, of the utmost importance. It apparently always 
was. The way they rushed about, you'd think the end of the world was nigh, and what 
they were doing was the only thing that could stop it. There were puddles all over the 
place, sparklingly with hundreds of different colours as the bright sun over head beat 
down on the water. It was a wonder the busy insects survived with all the water 
around, and the bright sun. They seemed most skilled at survival.
	Seeing all this before him, Dekki almost managed a smile. It was the first time 
he had been even slightly happy in ages. How could he be happy any other time, how 
could he be happy when it was an actual crime to be sad? It was a crime to wear dark 
clothes. You had to be happy all the time, and wear bright colours all the time. 
It…well, it took the fun out of being happy when you couldn't be anything else.
	Dekki had started to fall asleep there amongst the greenery and under the 
shining sun, when he heard a long, low growl. He jumped up immediately and looked 
about in a state of complete panic and fear. He saw a shadow moving by a tree to his 
right. That was enough. Dekki ran, as fast as he could, in the other direction. Straight 
through all the trees and plants, straight through all the puddles. And straight into a 
trap. There was a whole pack of them in front of him - about eight of them. He 
quickly turned around, and in one, last futile attempt to save his life, tried to climb a 
tree. They were upon him at once, dragging him from the tree. He was thrown to the 
floor, and held in place. He looked up and saw a man step out from behind the pack. 
Dekki started to cry. He pleaded with them to spare him. He knew it was useless but 
he had to try it. It didn't work, just as he had expected. The man smiled at him. "Have 
a nice death."
	Dekki's screams flooded the forest around them.


	"This is great! Finally, a little time away from the stress of Mostia!"
	Dave looked over to Leo, and smiled. He knew exactly what he meant. It was 
about time they got away from all the hectic cities of their home planet, and had a 
holiday.
	"So, how did you manage to convince your boss to let you have the time off?" 
Asked Dave.
	Leo looked down guiltily. "I, er, well…."
	"Don't tell me you didn't tell him you were going away!"
	"Well, it's not as easy for me as it is for you get time off. You work for 
yourself! And, that's a point. What exactly do you do? You've never told me."
	"I'm, er, a crocodile incubator mender." Dave lied.
	Leo stared at him. "Riiight. Of course you are, Dave."
	Dave ignored Leo and turned to look out of his window into the muted colours 
of outer space. Everything around them looked absolutely stunning. He had never 
been on an outer space tourist bus before. He'd always been nervous about doing it. 
But now he was out there, he never wanted to leave. Everything outside looked 
beautiful. The stars twinkling – it was almost as if they were winking at him, calling 
him over. He could see all the planets around him – all the different shapes and 
colours. I wonder what they're doing on those planets right now, Dave thought to 
himself. Were they warring? Were they in peace? Was there even life? He couldn't 
wait to arrive at his destination. From what he'd heard it was the most beautiful planet 
around.
	Dave must have fallen asleep thinking about it, because when he next opened 
his eyes there was panic everywhere. There were people were screaming, while others 
were trying to maintain some kind of order. The tourist bus was rocking back and 
forth unsteadily, causing anything that wasn't screwed down to fall to the floor and 
roll up and down the length of the bus.
	Leo was still next to Dave, but the grin that had been etched across his face 
and the excitement that had been in his eyes before had now been replaced by a look 
of fear.
	"Dave! Something's hit us! We're gonna crash!"