Harm and Harmony

-Chapter 10-

Day: 1

Days Left: 5479

Lives Saved: 0

Edging backwards, Corinna avoided the monster's gaze. It stepped forward, one paw at a time, until it crouched down beside her, reaching out with its three-fingered claws.

The talons grew closer and closer, then slashed at the rope that bound Corinna. Moving around, the monster worked on cutting the young woman free, using both its claws and its snake-tail. Before the young woman could even process what had just happened, the chimaera immediately stood up. It then proceeded to collect all of its belongings scattered on the cave floor, stuffing the numerous trinkets and small objects back into its satchel and attaching tools to its belt.

"Thank you," Corinna mumbled.

The chimaera did not respond, too occupied on reclaiming its belongings.

Corinna sat up, wincing from the pain of where the cleaver had cut into her thigh. Fortunately, it was not too deep as she thought it would be. In her mind, Corinna imagined the need to have it amputated, but the injury would still limit her ability to walk. "It's probably infected too," she said, looking at the rusty cleaver. The young woman let out a slow breath between pursed lips. She was not sure which death she preferred, to be killed by a monster or slowly by infection. Tearing a strip of material from her white dress, Corinna bandaged her thigh tightly to staunch the flow of blood.

After tying the green cloak around its neck, the chimaera picked up the young woman's makeshift-spear, examining the young woman's handiwork and how she had tied the knife to the stick. The monster looked from the tied dagger then back to the young woman.

Corinna saw the spear in the monster's claws.

The monster and the young woman locked eyes for a moment.

A long moment.

The monster threw the spear to the ground, and it clattered and rolled to Corinna's feet. Turning to leave, the chimaera glanced back at the young woman. Seeing her wrap her cleaver injury, the monster let out a rumbling growling sigh. After retrieving an almost empty jar, placing it on the floor and motioning to the thigh wound, the monster exited the cave.

"No, wait!" Corinna stumbled to her feet. She almost collapsed from the pain of her thigh and the spear that was still lodged in her back. "THANK YOU!" she called out, but the chimaera was out of sight.

She picked up the makeshift spear and dragged it along with her as she shuffled across the cave floor to see what the chimaera had left behind. It was a mason jar with a green lid and labelled 'lime marmalade'. Inside, it was almost empty aside from a few scraps of clear grey sludge. Corinna opened the jar and sniffed it, wondering what the substance could be. As the chimaera had pointed to her wound, she assumed that it must be some sort of ointment or healing slave.

With the only other option being unable to walk, the young woman hesitantly applied a dab of the strange substance onto her wound. As soon as it touched her skin, it burned then quickly numbed and soothed the pain. Immediately, Corinna scraped the jar empty of the salve, little of it there was, and treated the wound. Glancing back at the spear still lodged into her back, she wondered what she should do with it. If she took it out, it would bleed profusely. Corinna nodded and told herself that she would have to wait until she found better medical supplies.

Now able to move, she stood up and used the makeshift spear as a walking stick to hobble around. "Shelter..." she sighed, looking around the cave. "Decent size."

The fire still flickered, consuming the severed limbs and body of her kidnapper.

"Already a fire..." Corinna looked away, avoiding the sight, covering her mouth to prevent the rising sickness in her throat.

Scattered around the cave were various objects, most of them broken or rusted.

"Supplies..."

Hanging from the ceiling by ropes or hammered to the walls with nails were strips and slabs of meat.

"Food-"

No.

Corinna already knew where that meat was from.

That was not food.

That will never be food.

"I'm getting out of here." Corinna limped out of the cave, hesitating at the exit as she looked down at her bare feet. She glanced back into the cave. "I doubt they'll have any spare shoes or at least clean ones." Sighing, her eyes returned back to her bare feet, then something green caught her attention in the corner of her vision. The monster had dropped the wind-up toy frog.

Corinna picked up the toy and wound it up. The frog's mechanisms churned and squeaked as its hind legs kicked back rhythmically until it slowed to stillness. Giggling, the young woman wondered why a monster would want something like this. As she had no pockets, Corinna decided to attach it to her spear like a charm. "I'll return you when I get the chance," she talked to the plastic frog. "If I get the chance." She remembered how severly injured the chimaera was. It could be dead already from blood loss. "But first things first... my shoes should still be back at that metal hut."

Fortunately, there were markings in the sand from where Corinna and the gorilla creature had dragged them. Following the trail, Corinna eventually reached her destination, seeing the metal hut in the distance.

As she stepped closer, she saw the chimaera.

The monster trudged through the sand, dragging its wounded leg, its back bent double, almost keeling over. With every step, it slowed in its pace and eventually halted to a stop.

The wind howled, causing the metal hut to rattle again. Corinna squinted, blinking from the sand. Opening her eyes in short bursts, she saw the outline of the monster collapse and kneel down on the ground, supporting itself with one paw.

"Hey!" Corinna called out to the chimaera. "Get inside!" She motioned pointlessly to the metal hut, but the monster seemed to neither hear nor see her.

One of the metal plates from the shelter rattled and creaked, tearing itself from the rest of the construct and hit the monster.

Corinna heard a muffled roar.

The wind shrieked in her ears and swept Corinna's body upwards. She held onto her spear and dug it deep into the sand, keeping her grounded then looked around, searching for the monster. A glimmer of metal caught her eye, and she saw a silhouette of a body beneath the plate.

"Hey!" she called out to the monster again, hoping this time it could hear her voice. She continued to yell as she stood up on crouched legs, stepping forwards. Then moving the spear and embedding it into the sand, she repeated this method to get closer and closer to the monster.

Now within reach of the chimaera, Corinna could see it trapped underneath the metal plate. Shards of metal had pierced straight through the monster's limbs and lodged into the sand. It whimpered as it tugged at the plate and shards in an attempt to free itself.

Clinging tightly to the spear, Corinna crouched down onto the ground. She let go with one hand and heaved the metal plate up, pulling the shards out of the monster. Her muscles strained under the weight, her arm weakened, almost dropping it back down.

She let go of the spear.

With two hands she lifted the metal plate off of the monster-

then her feet left the ground.