90 DEADLY DAYS (WEEKLY UPDATES RETURNING THIS DECEMBER)

Chapter 6

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Chapter 6

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Tangible blackness looms in front of me. I almost think that I'm still in the world of oblivion until dry leaves crunch beneath me. As I shift my body a few crackle. Sticky heat clings to my skin and the air feels moist. This has to be it. I'm in the shadowlands, the place that before us was known as the Amazon.

War depleted what used to be the world's biggest rain forest, but even depleted it's still huge. I breathe in the smell of mud, vegetation, and heavy moisture. The smell of life.

The darkness in front of my eyes slowly clears and a faraway voice speaks, "You may begin."

I quickly stand, examining my new surroundings.

Plant life dots the jungle floor and the canopy of leaves above knocks out most light. The constant buzz of insects plays for background noise, though a few times I hear the call of birds.

Among the sounds I catch an unnatural one, the clamor of feet crashing through the underbrush. I pivot my body in the sound's direction, fear instantly replacing my brief curiosity. For protection I pick a dead branch from the ground and hold it out like someone would a spear. It won't do much, but it might give me time to hold an attacker off and run away.

My fear dissipates when Luna steps into view. Her red hair is braided back and she's wearing a maroonish purple tunic that stops at the knee. On her feet are thick moccasins. It's then I realize that I'm wearing the same thing. This must be the uniform of Entitleds, the one I have to get rid of not too long from now. 

"This looks nothing like the Xaro I saw in my dream," she says. "It was barren and dead and..."

"That is because we're not in Xaro," I reply, dropping the stick. "We are in the ninety days."

"The what?"

"Ninety days," I say. "It's a challenge to prove we can go home."

"A challenge? Why didn't anyone tell me this?"

I ignore her, focusing on a light whirring sound coming from above. It's the same noise a bird's flapping feathers would make. Innocent, almost indiscernible. Blood roars in my ears.

"Run!" The urgency in my voice must be evident because Luna breaks into a run immediately. Together we charge into the unfamiliar terrain.

In the hours I spent with Dana he was able to explain many of the weapons I'd deal with, one of them being fireballs. He named them one of the most dangerous because they almost always come when you are unaware. Instead of a low whistle normal bombs make as they drop, fireballs imitate the noise of nearby birds. The imitations have one fault though, the nature-like noise has a hint of static.

The sticky humidity rises to a choking amount, the heat of the fireball raising the temperature as it descends. I find myself coughing as I kick through the foliage with my long legs, the exertion burning like scorching flames. My body begs to slow down but I push to run faster. You can only hope to escape by running as fast as you can, praying you've gone far enough so that when the ball crashes, you're not bits of flesh on incinerated grass.

Branches slap Luna and I in the face, leaving jagged scrapes that sting. She wheezes, wrestling to breathe, like me. We've never ran this fast before, nor this far. I envy the others. We find ourselves pushing our bodies past unknown limits, all to live.

Thank God it's enough.

The fireball explodes in the place we were only minutes before. The impact hits so strongly my body thwacks the ground, gritty dirt cramming in my mouth as I slide face down. The trees once bearing verdant leaves are now bare and black, allowing grey clouds to slap rain on the forest floor.