Fire, that’s what my body felt like. Even as I ran through the ice-covered forest, all I could feel was the heat engulfing my body. That heat radiated from my stomach, where a fresh hole quickly leaked that crimson red elixir of life.
BANG
That monstrous sound resonated throughout the forest. The sound shook me just as much as the bullet, which ripped through my back and tore its way out of my shoulder. I collapsed just as it did, my body tumbling down an embankment before being stopped by a large, dead oak tree.
-Not now, please God not now
BANG
My prayer barely left my lips before that sound echoed again, but that time it was softer. In fact, everything around me became fuzzy. I didn’t even feel as the bullet ripped through me, nor did I feel that warm heat. Only the bitter cold as blood slowly pooled from my wounds, taking its warmth with it.
But even as I laid there, ready to die, a voice that scratched at the back of my head told me to push forward. It told me to crawl, to find where I left them. To make sure they were safe and to see him for what I was sure would be last time. But as I rounded that large oak tree, I saw him in her arms. Her hand stood outstretched and her hollow eye peering down at me.
And soon, I felt that heat return to me. And that damned voice laughed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Almost...there…
I watched as my warm breath condensed on the surface of the marble rubble that surrounded us, the cracks between the broken stones softly bleed light through, dotting me with a few bits of warmth whilst I tried to struggle through. Looking down at my hands, I could already see blisters forming on my hands and drops of blood around the handle of my climbing ax. Tired, I pressed myself against the base of the massive snow-covered shattered statute, whose face was covered in shadows.
Been at this for all day and I still can’t see your damn face, huh? At least there’s some light now.
“I told you, let me have a go at it.” A shaky voice called out from the shadows, slowly rounding the corner, hopping on one leg to reveal his pain-stricken face, “I’m not gonna sit around and let you do all of the work.”
A thin coat of dust and mud blanketed his dark nappy hair while black streaks of blood ran along his cheek, contrasted by the slight glow of his bloodshot grey eyes and covering his light brown skin.
“Adrian, Cat told you to sit down, you shouldn’t be walking around this place in the dark. Are you tryin’ to bust up your other leg or something?”
“And she said to wait here while she goes to get help, Ella.”
“It’s been a day since she left. The last city was only a few hours drive and it sure as hell wasn’t snowing before we got here.” I took a moment to catch my breath before I stood back up and started to dig away at the collapsed stone. “We’re not near Petra anymore, hell we’re probably not in Jordan anymore.”
He would scoff at me before finally laying down, giving up his strong man act as the state of his injury started to catch up with him. The fall he took busted his leg something fierce and nearly gave Catherine a heart attack.
Understandable of a protective sister like her, even if they weren’t blood. Still, seeing someone who’s normally as strong and easy-going as her breakdown and panic like that after hearing that wicked sound of snapping bone was something.
I wouldn’t forget that moment, but I couldn’t say the same for what came after. When we got to him, nothing. Our memories all drew blanks after that. Cat woke up a few floors above and worked her way down through a window.
Told us that we were in some kind of temple. The two of us were on the bottom floor, with no way up and half of our gear. I did my best to patch Adrain up and we ate what little food we had left, but it was clear that something much stranger than a cave-in was going on, and another night in the cold wasn’t something that either of us could take.
“What a nice reunion this was, huh? The three of us finally have time to meet again after half a decade and this is what we get?”
“Cat warned you to check your ropes, you’re lucky that it and your leg were the only two things to snap.” I sighed, running a piece of damp cloth along his forehead to clean the blood, watching as he flinches at the touch. The painkillers I gave him were already starting to wear off, a sign that our time in this cave was running out, “Get some rest, I’ll keep digging us out.”
Time to get back to it
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I could barely keep my grip around the handle as sweet and blood covered my hands. Adrain was fast asleep and I could tell that night was slowly setting in. But the beams of the moon shined bright in the cave, pushing me to dig forward until finally…
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“GAAAAAAAAAH!!!”
It happened so suddenly, a wave of rock and stone flowing down from the entrance. I should have considered myself lucky that it was only my hand that was crushed, my off one at that. But still, that didn’t stop me from screaming bloody murder while blood pooled out from around the rock, trickling down my arm.
“Ella! Shit, are you okay?”
I nodded, stumbling over to the bag, bandaging my hand and groaning. Swearing under my breath, I looked up at Adrian and let out a shaky yes.
“It hurts, it really hurts damn it, but we go find some help. Come on, let’s go.”
I said as I lifted Adrian up on my shoulder, dragging him out and into a large, snow-covered courtyard, which was intended into the ground with stairs leading up to the top. The snow-covered old engravings on the stone walkways and the husk of a large tree dot the center of the square field which was surrounded on all sides by massive walls, with an iron staircase leading to the ground level.
“Shit, this place this huge. None of the other ruins were like this, right?” Adrian grunted as we made our climb up the walkway.
“No, this definitely ain’t Petra. Where the hell are we?”
Just above, the clouds peeled themselves back and the bright light of the moons cut through the darkness. The bright light of two moons that is, one dwarfing the other but both just as bright. The light showered the forest around us and revealed the blasted husks of tall trees, with the few standing sprouting unknown fruits with light blue, almost pastel colored leaves. The ruins that littered the land around us, showed signs of a battle long gone, with broken rifles and lances buried just underneath the snow, but not a body in sight.
Looking back, the light of the two moons shone upon the temple, revealing the truly massive scale of it. Broken statues littered the base of it with the front entrance almost completely blown open. A second court ran adjacent to the first but was nearly filled by the rubble of the temple’s main building. The statue that stood in the center of it felt god-like, standing naked with a large shamshir in one hand and a bastard sword in the other. Despite its head being destroyed, I could still feel as if it was watching over us. It was a feeling that made my heart sink, though I didn’t understand why at the time.
Where the hell are we?
All I could do is stand there and watch until Adrain’s voice brought me back to reality.
“Ella, look.” He’d point to a group of footprints in the snow, followed by a body shaped indent with every other step leaving a trail of blood behind it. “I knew that idiot was lying about being hurt. Doesn’t look like she made it far either. We have to follow them, they couldn’t have gotten far caring that Scottish she-hulk.
“Your leg is still busted, you’re not going to make it far Adrain.”
He signed and looked back before forcing us to turn around and hobbled back.
“Leave me here and you follow them then. I can go another night in the cold, this is nothing compared to that trip me and Cat took to Tibet.”
I scoffed at him playfully as I led him back into the temple, resting him just near the ground floor entrance, where Cat gave us instructions earlier.
“So you’re having the girl venture into the woods by herself? So brave~”
A hardy laugh erupted from him followed by a grin.
“You were going to suggest the same thing, so I just got ahead of ya. Just be careful and if something happens, you high tail it back here, okay?”
He forced himself up, giving me a hug and handing me his pocket knife. I made a fire for him using one of the last two of our fire starters before setting out to find Cat in this alien world. I wanted to stay behind with him. I wanted to believe that Catherine was safe and bring us help. Every part of my body was telling me not to go, but one voice, scratching in the back of my mind told me to push forward. It told me not to stay and freeze to death here. It told me that this was the only way to save him.
That damned voice
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why were there multiple footsteps? Why was there blood?
Those were the thoughts that ran through my head as I followed the tracks through the alien forest. They were questions that I tried not to think about and ones that I especially didn’t want to be answered. But I knew something wasn’t right and Adrain did too, but neither of us could admit it at the time. The only things we were concerned with was finding Cat and finding help.
Yet if things were as grim as my mind made them out to be, I knew how to handle myself. While I never made it all the way through, the first half of basic taught me a thing or two about self-defense. I knew my way around a knife, but the idea that an ex-SAS officer like Cat could be taken down like that and without a sound is what concerned me the most.
Maybe she just passed out from her wounds and someone found her?
That’s what I told myself during my trek through the dense forest. Cat was tough, tougher than most men I knew, but she was still human. When we woke up, we were all pretty banged up with Adrian getting the worst of it, but we never saw how bad Cat was hurt. We heard the pain in her voice so we knew it was bad, but to think she could barely get 20 feet from the temple.
Those thoughts hung with me as the frost nipped at me, even though my thick mask. It wasn’t made to protect against the cold, but the dust and sand of the caves we were exploring. The rest of my clothing wasn’t fit for the cold either, a thin jacket for the nights we camped in the desert and the light climbing gear for exploring the caves. While they did offer some warmth, I knew that I had to find help soon.
As the prints started to fade out in the snow and the forest around me began to be swallowed up in darkness, my mind told me to turn back, not to take another step. That it was hopeless and that I would sooner die than find any respite in this alien world. But as my mind yelled at me, that voice told me to keep pushing forward. I stood there, in the darkness thinking to myself for God knows how long until the silence of the forest was broken.
BANG!
A thunderous roar ripped through the forest, sending birds flying across the sky. Cat was the first thing that came to mind and I finally caved into that voice, stepping forward once more but my foot found no solid ground.
Instead, I found myself taking a nasty fall down an embankment, rolling down it until my fall was stopped by a large dead oak tree. While I wasn’t hurt, I must have let out a loud scream as the woods began to spring with life. Soon the light of torches lit the woods and the sounds of voices began to echo throughout, speaking a familiar language.
“Oi, ya alright there kin?”