The 100: 6 Years Twist

Truce

I woke up laying on the forest floor having thrown myself out of the cave during the night. The nightmares and flashed back made me feel trapped, suffocated, causing me to run away from the cave trying to escape my own thoughts. I guess I had tired myself out as I now found myself in a relatively unfamiliar part of the woods. With no agenda in mind, I wandered in one direction. Though I had been down here alone for a while, I never bothered really exploring too far outside of the valley. Why would I go looking for more when I knew there was nothing else?

Pretty soon I arrived at a cliff overlooking miles and miles of desert. Woah I thought, there really was nothing left. I don't know why, but I had an urge to go to the desert, spotting a trail down to it a little to my left. It's not like I had any plans today anyway. A small smile came to my face as I remembered the days of my childhood when Echo and I would go exploring on the outskirts of Azgeda. That felt like another lifetime now, in fact it had to have been multiple years since I had even let myself remember my life before banishment. Much less Echo, the memories and thoughts were too painful for me. She had risked her life to save me, to save my soul, and I had done nothing for her. The events of the past couple days had awakened something new inside of me, something I have not felt in a long time. I felt oddly calm. The nightmares and flashbacks still came, but I felt less on edge than usual. Now, as I began to trek down to the desert, I let myself remember her. The way she came and woke me up each morning by rubbing her thumb across my cheek, cupping my face. We may have been nearly ten years apart, but she was my closest friend.

I sat down once I had finished the descent into the desert, pulling my knees to my chest and resting my head on them. The sand was hot underneath me and I sunk my hands, allowing the grains to wash over them. I lifted the sand up and let it go, whisked away in the sand. A sound from behind me startled me, lifting me to my feet quickly as I whipped around to investigate. I didn't see anything but I felt slightly on edge as I began to walk through the miles of sand in front of me. The sun pounded down on me and I felt my body warm as I walked under it, no rhyme or reason as to where I was going.

About a mile or so later I stopped walking, tired from my hike and sweating from the hot sun. I stripped down to just my t-shirt and lay down on the sand, exhausted. The sun felt good on my skin that had been under my clothes for the most of the time since the death wave. A slight breeze tickled my skin and I smiled, feeling oddly at peace laying on the ground in the middle of nowhere. The wind began to pick up, sending grains of sand into my skin like tiny, harmless bullets hitting and bouncing off of me. I propped myself up, leaning back on my elbows, the rest of my body still splayed out on the sand.

The air turned cold and the sun dimmed, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. My body jolted up in response to the sudden change in atmosphere. I put my layers back on and began to walk back in the direction I came, feeling slightly threatened by this quick change. My walk quickly broke into a run as the wind became violent, hurling sand and little twigs and sticks at me, the sand feeling like hot glass and the twigs strong enough to slightly cut the surface of my skin. What is this? I wondered as I began to sprint forward, desperately trying to get back to the valley.

The wind threatened to push me over and I no longer could see in front of me. I was lost in this sudden storm as it continued to intensify and attack. Out of nowhere, I was pushed to the ground from the side. Unable to protect myself as the storm blinded me, I fell to the ground hard, landing on the coarse sand.

I grunted in pain and fear as I hit the ground and I struggled under the weight of the thing that had attacked me, hopelessly trying to wriggle out of its grasp.

"Stay down!" a voice ordered me. "I'm trying to help you."

Suddenly, a tarp was brought over me, shielding me from the sand storm and giving me temporary peace from the pain. I turned my head toward the voice, terrified and confused.