Talk about a wild ride! Carter's head was spinning faster than a tumbleweed in a tornado. At first, he thought the desert heat had finally fried his brain, and he was having some crazy hallucination. But as he blinked and rubbed his eyes, the alien landscape refused to disappear.Carter's mind was racing a mile a minute. How in the world - or rather, how in Mars - did he end up here? One second he was just a regular prospector looking for his next big break, and now he was standing on freaking Mars!Feeling a bit wobbly, Carter decided to take a cautious step forward. Boy, was he in for a surprise! Instead of a normal step, he nearly launched himself into the air like a human cannonball. It was as if someone had cranked down the gravity dial to about a third of what he was used to on Earth.After a few attempts that left him face-planting in the Martian dirt ( which, by the way, tasted just as awful as Earth dirt, if not worse ), Carter started to get the hang of his new-found leaping ability. He felt like a kid again, bouncing around like he was on the world's biggest trampoline.As he bounded across the Martian landscape, Carter's mind was racing faster than his feet. The familiar Arizona desert seemed a million miles away – which, come to think of it, was probably an underestimate.The alien world around him was a mix of the beautiful and the bizarre. Towering rock formations jutted out of the ground like nature's skyscrapers, their surfaces etched with patterns that looked almost like ancient writing. In the distance, he could see what looked like a forest, but the' trees'As the shock of his situation began to wear off, Carter's survival instincts kicked in. He needed to find water, food, and shelter – not necessarily in that order. The thought of what Martian food might look like made his stomach do a little flip, but he pushed that worry aside for now.With each giant leap, Carter felt a mix of emotions swirling inside him. There was fear, of course – he was alone on an alien planet, for crying out loud! But there was also a growing sense of excitement and wonder. He was the first human to set foot on Mars! If he ever made it back to Earth, he'd have one heck of a story to tell. Heck, he'd probably be the most famous person on the planet.As the Martian sun began to set, painting the sky in shades of purple and orange that would make a sunset back home look downright dull, Carter found a sheltered spot between two large rocks. He settled in for the night, his mind still reeling from the day's events.Lying there, looking up at unfamiliar stars, John Carter couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of his situation. He'd gone from Confederate soldier to prospector to Martian explorer in the span of a single lifetime. Talk about a career change! As he drifted off to sleep, he wondered what other adventures this red planet had in store for him.Just as Carter was about to close his eyes, he heard something. A sound that didn't belong in this alien world. It was like a mix between a growl and a hiss, and it was getting closer. His heart started racing as he realized he might not be alone on this red planet after all. And whatever was out there in the Martian night, it didn't sound friendly.