Element Rebirth

18. Unexpected Surprises

“It is so close, Earth Guardian. So close . . .” Her wavy brown hair and shimmering eyes blinked back at me, an image of an otherworldly perfection. Before I could ask Kash what she really meant, she vanished and left me -

- gasping for air in the middle of my cot. The snores of the five others around me drowned the desperate gurgles that trickled from my throat.

I smiled dryly, brushing a greasy lock of hair from my face and took a moment to compose myself. It always seemed that whenever I awoke from a dream, I appeared to have been drowning or something.

Shaking my head, I ran my hands along my face, letting my eyes droop shut for a moment. Before I knew it, the loud gong had shaken me to the core, leaving me vibrating as it banged deafeningly all around me.

“Wake up you filthy scum!”

Ignoring the insult from the usual Hunter that took the pleasure in waking us up every morning, I stumbled out of the cot and fanned my face to properly wake myself up. The others in the hut were having a harder time getting themselves awake than I was.

“Morning,” I croaked to the nearest slave whose name I remembered vaguely as Hanna.

Her bleary, dull brown eyes blinked back at me blankly before she nodded curtly and staggered out the opening, pulling back the weak flap that we used as the door.

The early morning breeze was cold, I could feel the fleshy bumps prickle along my skin as I inhaled the crisp air. The sun was weak, I felt malnourished as usual and the depressing atmosphere around me was suffocating but there was one thing that kept me alive and awake, ready to go on like it was a normal day; hope.

The hope that we had a sufficient enough chance to win a battle that seemed to be long over; the hope that we may even make it out of all this alive was enough to drag me on my feet and march me down to kitchen like usual.

I must have been too caught up in my good mood, too caught up in trying to disguise a goofy smile to notice that Nellie had joined me in the kitchen as we finished washing up the dishes from last night with the icy cold water. I didn’t even mind the fact that it numbed my fingers drastically and made my jaw chatter.

“Terra - Terra, that plate’s clean enough. Move on.”

The smooth surface was yanked out of my hands, letting the ice water run across my fingertips. “What?” Confused, another dirty plate flawed with several cracks and grease replaced the empty space in my hands. “Oh, sorry. I’m just very distracted at the moment.”

“Oh yeah, I can see that,” she mumbled, shaking her head at me wryly then ducked her head when I felt a presence pass by behind us.

Inhaling sharply, I scrubbed furiously against the remnants of food against the plate, feeling my heart thump wildly as the presence paused. I could almost feel their hot, stinky breath wash across my shoulders before they moved on like nothing was wrong.

Nellie and I let out the breath we’d been holding. I made a face at the grime that got under my chipped fingernails, wishing that I had nail clippers like grandma had told me of back before the invasion.

At the remembrance of her, I felt my heart thump even harder, not like when I was nervous or frightened; this was entirely different. I felt an empty hollowness within my chest, echoing the heavy thrum of my heart and the corners of my eyes had welled up with salty tears.

I’ll get to avenge you grandma, I promise, I thought, thinking dearly of my dear grandmother and felt my fingers tighten their grip on the plate. I’ll kill him with my bare hands if I have to. I will.