Chapter 1.5 Moving On

Darkness, that's all for the eye could see. It feels as if I'm sinking into the abyss and its dark tendrils are pulling me deeper under the surface. White and grey dots cloud my vision as distant voices call out to me. 'stop' 'hello?' 'you shouldn't be in here this is a restricted area!' 'code nine! We have a code nine!' the voices echo around my skull, making it pound like a drum. I struggle and kick against the water trying to be set free. The darkness soon retreats and I kick my way up to the surface. Taking a large gulp of air, I cough up water and mud. Treading the water, I look around for some land but see nothing. The voice returns louder than before and I clutch my head in pain, allowing myself to float.

'Quick Run!' 'I'm not gonna make it!' 'let's go' 'SCATER!' 'Ssshhh'. Gasping I open my eyes to see the dark bottomless ocean has now transformed into an endless desert. 'what the hell' I whisper. 'Thorn' a distant voice calls spinning I look for where its coming from 'Thorn' it calls again by now sounding closer. 'Who's there!?' I yell into the endless scorch. 'Thorn!' the voice yells behind me. I spin around and come face to face with a familiar young girl. Possibly no older than fifteen. Her golden brown hair reached down to her shoulder and her once deep sea blue eyes now seemed dull. 'You said you would help us' she cried. 'I did!' I yell back at her. Scars littered her face and body. Her dark grey sports bra, shorts and maroon leather jacket were all ripped beyond repair.

Several more voices began to repeat my name as she spoke 'you brought this upon us! You did this!' I fall to the ground clutching my head in pain screaming for the voices to stop. 'ThOrn THOrn thOrn ThoRn ThOrn! THOrn! thOrn! ThoRn!' they scream at me and I scream back. 'WAKE UP!' I gasp sitting up from the floor in a cold sweat.

Clutching my chest, I can feel my heart racing like a rabbit. 'Thorn we need your help!' Zoe yells shaking my shoulders. 'What? What's happening?' I ask holding onto her small shoulders. 'Brittney ran outside with some others and they're in trouble!' 'Idiot' I curse. Standing I grab my backpack and rummage through it until I find my long kitchen knife. It wasn't the most ideal weapon of choice but it was the best they have. Running towards the door I snatch a lantern from another woman's hands and exit the house into the cold night. The screams of at least six different girls young and old could be heard for miles throughout the desert. 'And it isn't even midnight yet' I thought bitterly trudging closer to the screams. Holding up the torch I run right into the middle of the skirmish. 'Away with you!' I scream at the large beasts, howling in anger and pain. They snarl and snap from the darkness trying to snatch the girls huddled around my legs. Roaring straight back at them they slowly decide to retreat back into the desert before the sun rises which now was only in few hours. Kicking them off of my legs, I trudge angrily back into the house and sit back down in my corner, already trying to get as much sleep as possibly. Many footsteps soon follow some of which walk right up to me.

'What!?' I yell. 'We didn't need your bloody help we were fine on our own!' A voice yells above me. 'Yeah! And now thanks to you Jessie's dead!' another chipped in. My blood boiled as I stood from the floor and in front of these disrespectful girls 'No! Jessie died because you are to ignorant of the dangers you are in now!' I yell straightening myself up. One of the girls open her mouth to protest but I stop her again 'You have no idea of the dangers you are in, do you!?' I begin to clench my fists whilst looking each one in the eyes. 'You haven't lived out here, have you!?' there was no response 'This is how you survive from now on! You listen to me! And if you don't then you die! And if you don't like that then too bad! You want to like you follow me!' I growl at all of them. The girls mutter a few words before walking away like a scolded child. Glaring at the rest of the women they shuffle away to do other things. Snorting I sit back in the corner, with my back and head against the wall. I huff calming down a little and close my eyes slowly slipping into a light nap.