Emma

Chapter One [EDITED]

The blistering heat and the dazzling glare of the sunlight slowly woke the young girl, whose head rested on a leather bag. She blinked a few times and immediately rose, furrowing her eyebrows. The warmth scalded her bare feet and she let out a yelp, stepping onto the bag. After taking a further moment to examine the landscape, she sat down on the bag and whispered three words to herself.

"Where am I?"

Emma stared in the general direction of the sun for a while, cupping her forehead with her hand and screwing up her face. She couldn't see anything that could give her an answer, only sand and the occasional plant that she could always never name, but no words or signposts. The girl placed her hand on the edge of the leather and halted herself up, allowing her to rummage inside the bag. To her relief she discovered a silver flask filled to the brim with water, a small wooden dagger and a knife, as well as some poorly made sandals, which she had no other choice but to wear.

Emma stood up and set off with the bag over her shoulder. She looked calm, with her now level eyebrows and her nonchalant gaze, but her mind was racing, still searching for an answer to her question. She pieced together that before she woke up, she was with someone, but remembered smacking her head on some concrete, and something important that was in her hands was knocked out of them.

Where was that person?

Gently feeling her head, she couldn't find any proof that it was injured. Emma fumbled in her bag for the flask and took a long sip of water before continuing on her way.

After some time it was getting dark. She was still unsure about her location, and the many noises that circled her made her increasingly frightened and confused. Having walked fifteen miles in the past five hours, she was settling down to rest, and the abrupt change of temperature made her feel more exhausted than she should have been. She decided to sleep behind a semi-circle of cacti and after two hours awoke again, the cold instantly hitting her. She sighed and was just about to lay down her head again when she noticed something.

A scorpion was coming towards her, its tail raised, ready to strike at any moment.

Emma kept her movements slow and small as she reached inside her bag and pulled out the wooden dagger. As the creature came within ten feet of her, she threw the weapon, her hands glistening with sweat. The dagger entered its back and its tail stopped quivering, its poised stance falling limp.

The woman waited a few moments before stepping over and pulling out the weapon. Then, she stabbed the scorpion again and lifted the dagger up, letting the blood drain out onto the ground. Using her knife she cut and ate a piece off the scorpion, tossed the tail as far as she could, and stored the rest in her bag.

After drinking some more water Emma felt refreshed to walk further. Although the temperature was much colder at this point at night she decided that it was better than strolling in the blazing heat, so with the bag over her shoulder, she began to advance along the desert for the second time. The moon was the only source of light that she had to guide her path, and that fact alone added to the worry she felt that increased every time she took a step forwards.

Her gaze flickered in all directions as she tried to understand where she was. What the hell is this place? Unfortunately, as she was simulating responses, her next step was in the path of another scorpion – possibly related to the meal in her bag. Emma gasped as she heard a crunching sound - and thought she had killed it. Relieved for a moment, she let out a silent breath. When she caught a glimpse of movement in the darkness, that feeling disappeared.

She tried to avoid the scorpion's thin, quivering tail and its thick, black pincers but no such luck was given to her, and the girl cried out as she felt something sharp go through her ankle. Her hand, fuelled by adrenaline, shot into her bag for the dagger and once she found it, struck it into the head of the creature. It froze but did not fall limp. Emma realised it wasn't dead, and for a second considered using her knife to kill it, but thought better of it given her situation and limped off.

Finally sitting down behind a cactus nearby, she examined the now red and swollen sting, thankful that the pain had reduced, albeit slightly. Thinking fast, she poured some of her precious water on the wound. She winced as she cleaned it out with her fingers, realising that she had only half of the water left, and frowned to herself. What the hell was that thing?

After a moment of sitting there, tending to the wound, her eyelids began drooping and her head fell further and further back, dangerously close to the cactus. I've slept for hours and now I want more. Your body is so strange, Emma. Wait, something's wrong here. Oh my God, it's that animal. It hurt you! You're going to die! Her eyelids shot open and she attempted to lift herself off the ground but was too weak to haul herself up. Her hands remained flat on the sand, and her fingers curled, wanting to grip onto something, but she remained seated. Emma's breathing began to quicken as her half-closed eyes searched the land around her but it was too late. Her head slumped forwards, pushing her legs out and causing her to lie almost flat on the ground, her bag partially covered by her arm. A few feet away, the scorpion remained paralysed with the dagger embedded in its head.

* * *

The sun was high in the sky by the time Emma awoke, having remained in a deep sleep since the scorpion attack. Her eyes wandered around the surroundings before she realised what had happened and stiffened, propping herself up with her arms but keeping her head low. The injury was still very red and just as painful as before, but was now less swollen. Wasn't that supposed to kill me? As she reached for her flask, she was surprised to see that the colour had changed from a dull grey to a dark green, and when peering inside, the bottle was refilled.

Emma took a suspicious sip. The water tasted fine as far as she could tell, which left her feeling very confused. What astounded her was when she opened up her bag to find that a folded piece of yellow paper was inside along with her knife. However, she could not find any of the scorpion meat. She opened the note with haste and found that a message was inside, written neatly with what looked to be a pencil.

"Well done. It is clear that you have good potential to be a hunter in the future, and to say thank you, you have been given some water in exchange for the food. P.S. Go east."

She swivelled to face where the scorpion once lay. The creature had vanished, the dagger in its place.

This can't be real.

Emma took a closer look at her wound. It didn't look infected, but it seemed open enough and ready to be. I've got to get this sorted out. Using her hands, she guided herself onto all fours and then hauled herself upwards, brushing the sand off her clothes. She was still wearing the same ones she remembered wearing before she got there – a white, baggy top and navy trousers. Already she was beginning to feel the heat on her skin and so rolled her trousers up into shorts.

She glanced at the note again. Why would I trust a strange note telling me to go east? Squinting at the sun, after a moment she was able to tell which direction was north. Emma rolled her eyes, folded up the note and placed it back in her bag before pulling it over her shoulder and staggering in the west direction, keeping her gaze focused on the sky.

After about two minutes of walking, Emma started to hear whispers coming from behind her. She didn't stop, and her gaze remained focused, but her eyebrows narrowed as she tried to figure out who was speaking. At first it began with a soft male voice, before she heard an additional female voice. More and more voices entered until they formed a chorus of sounds. The words they were saying were inaudible. The more voices she heard, the more she tried to limp faster, but they seemed to get progressively louder and louder each step she took until they were so loud it was the only thing she could hear, forcing her to run. At the same time she looked behind her – and there was no-one there. Then she tripped.

The pain in her ankle grew at an alarming rate as she tumbled into darkness.