One of my ideas for a potential horror concept is having a “barbarian” warrior from the ancient past dragged into the 20th or 21st century by some accidental time travel shenanigans. Something that should be mentioned is that the warrior comes from a society that lacks a standard military. In his world, pretty much any male (and occasionally females) in the village that can hold weapons were often mustered to fight in times of war, and sent back home to their lives after the fighting was over. As such, the distinction between “military” and “civilian” was non-existent, and almost anyone from an enemy village was fair game. Catching enemies unaware and slaying them while they’re going their daily routine is standard procedure, as it preemptively prevents them from taking up arms in the future.
Thus, when the warrior encounters the modern world and its people for the first time, he declares them to be trespassers to his peoples’ land, and launches a one man campaign to vanquish them. Since it is how his tribe traditionally fights their wars, the warrior indiscriminately pounces on anyone that he could ambush in the woods. Unfortunately, most of the victims he targets wind up being just partying teens, hikers, and the homeless in their encampments.
Although the warrior thinks he is fighting a war, the merciless brutality of his attacks spark fear and outrage amongst the modern public. The authorities are now racing to stop his attacks before he takes the lives of others.
Another version is to have what I’m going to call a “wilderness bandit” pulled out from the \~17th to 19th centuries. The so called “wilderness bandit” is essentially an outlaw frontiersmen that takes refugee in very remote and desolate environments such as mountains and deserts, and preys on unwary travelers or farmers that stray too far from their villages’ outskirts. He also generally murders the people that he robs out of bloodlust, and can easily be considered what we would call a serial killer today.
In the modern timeline, the renegade continues his brigand lifestyle, and targets anyone that he can catch.In both versions, the main advantage that the warrior and renegade have is their almost superhuman survival skills. They are able to survive in some of the harshest conditions known to man, and can easily hide like a ghost.
Has anything like this has ever been done before in fiction? If so, what are some works that follow a similar plotline?
by Leather_Focus_6535