Saga of a New World - (Audiobook Available)

19. Twilight

"Astrid?"

The elf feels someone shake her shoulder.

She blinks against the early morning sun shining through the rectangular holes in the stand's walls. Her body feels tired, cold and absolutely horrible in every way. Her back hurts from sleeping in an upright position, but at least the pain of her wounds and sore muscles is numbed by the freezing cold air on her almost-naked upper body.

"Astrid."

"What?" she croaks.

Elijah moves back as far as the tiny space allows. His eyes are red and puffy, with dark shadows under them. He blinks constantly and can barely keep them open as he speaks. "I just wanted to see if you're okay."

Astrid can't help but smile. "I'm fine."

She takes a look at her wounds. Her pants are drenched in dry blood and so are her sneakers and the bandage. The fabric did nothing to staunch the bleeding and Astrid regrets having used her T-shirt like this. A small trail of blood leads towards the door. The young elf is actually surprised she's still alive.

"We should get going. You go down first. I need a sec," she tells her brother.

As soon as he opens the small door and climbs down the ladder, Astrid pulls herself out of the wooden seat. She tries to put some weight on her wounded leg and finds that it barely hurts, but as she tries to take a normal step, a jolt of pain shoots through it.

'Okay, I have to keep the leg stiff and it won't hurt. I can work with that,' she thinks. She does her best to put as little weight as possible on her wounded appendages as she climbs down the ladder.

When Astrid climbed the ladder last night, the adrenalin allowed her to race up without paying attention to her wounds. Now her descent is an awkward series of hops as she tries to climb with only one hand and leg. Eventually, she reaches the bottom.

As they walk, Astrid keeps her wounded leg as stiff as possible so as not to disturb the wound. It makes them a bit slower, but not by much.

After leaving the hunting stand behind, it doesn't take them long to find a narrow dirt path. They follow it to a road and small parking lot similar to the one where Astrid met Lukas and Julia. Since neither of them has any idea where the road leads, they decide to go right.

They come across another house. Surrounded by a fence, it stands completely alone.

"Look over there," Astrid tells her brother. She points at the building. Her stomach is killing her and she hopes whoever lives there has something to eat.

The house is only a single story tall, and even though it looks old, it is very clean. The roses and bushes flanking the path leading up to the entrance are well-trimmed, but the order that someone must've spent a lot of time maintaining has been broken by the plants haphazardly transformed by the fog. The house is quiet. No light or movement in the windows.

Astrid instinctively presses the doorbell before remembering that there is no power. Of course, it makes no sound, so instead, she knocks. She listens for any noise inside, and when she doesn't hear anything, she knocks again. No reaction.

"I don't think anyone's home," Elijah says.

Astrid knocks again, then says, "Probably not. Come on."

Elijah wants to walk back to the road, but Astrid leads him around the house, into the back yard. The relatively large building has an even larger back yard that is separated from the forest by large bushes. Astrid sees that the glass door leading into what looks like a living room is smashed. The scene at the gas station flashes through her mind. She considers grabbing Elijah and running, but the prospect of having something to eat is much stronger than her fear. 'Besides, whatever did this is probably long gone,' she thinks.