The War Girl (Mad Max: Fury Road fanfiction)

16: The Black

I was floating in darkness again. Unlike the time when I crashed my car, the pull was much stronger now. I felt like I had invisible hands tugging me towards the unknown. The sleep was deeper that I have ever slept before, but somehow had even deeper trenches that whispered my name. I wasn't sure how, but I knew if I allowed myself to move into the depths of this sleep, I would never wake again. It was very tempting, after all I had been through, it was comforting to think of sleep. There was nothing to return to, after all, just a broken body and a dead friend. Like a current of aqua-cola, I let the unseen force pull me towards its serenity. No longer would I have to feel the fiery sun scorch my skin, or my lungs have to fight the toxic fumes. I could finally find peace in death.

Then, I felt something drag me back. I could sense many people around me, but they were not actually touching me. It was as if they were all vapor, and they were carrying me off and away from the black trench. I was confused and outraged. Haven't I done enough? The entities around me gave off a warm and gentle aura, and I could almost pick up the sound of melodic voices. Why can't you just let me die?

"Make a new Green Place, little one." A voice whispered to me. It was a sound that rang out familiarly in my head. My mother.

Shades of red swam into my vision as I pried open my sticky eyes. I was alive. Slowly, the feeling prickled through my limbs. My whole body was now pain, and it painted a picture of whites behind my eyes every time I dared take in a breath. The agony was flowing from my right arm, my right ankle, my rib cage, and...

My eye.

I suddenly realized what was so off. My right eye was perfectly okay, soaking up all of the color and shapes the land around me had to offer. My left eye, though, only let it smears of blurry images. It was mostly black, but I could pick out some orange and white. It hurt. So very badly. I reached up stiffly with my good arm and tried to see if there was anything stuck into my eye. Nothing. I craned my neck around to see the sliver of metal that had hit me. Apparently it had only slashed past my eye, then landed next to my head. It was slick with bright blood, and, to my horror, pinkish-white eye flesh.

I'm half-blind.

My breath was coming out in long huffs through my clenched teeth as the pain became more and more prominent, making my working limbs squirm. It would have been better for me to die. I will live out the rest of my days as a cripple, a liability. This was a punishment far worse than death.

"Why?" I snarled into the skies, as if expecting my mother to answer me, "Why d'you force me to live?"

Nothing. Only silence and the sound of dying fire filled the air.

Eventually I was able to overcome the agony long enough to roll onto my stomach. My right arm flopped to the ground uselessly, all bent and twisted at an unnatural angle. I screamed into my teeth as a wave of intense pain washed over me, letting my forehead fall against the dusty ground. My rib bones grinded and crackled as I inhaled, making wretch up all I had in my stomach from the pain. I braced my good hand against the rock I had been laying beside, struggling into a sitting position. More pain, but this time I had nothing to vomit up.

Panting hard, I planted my feet down on the sandy ground and leaned back against the rock, sliding myself upwards. My ankle protested, but it was manageable. I did this until I was standing, but still unsure how I planned on walking. I needed something to help me move around, a walking stick, if you will.

In the back of my mind, though, I knew I really wanted to see if Nux was actually dead. I would need to see a body before I could have any sort of closer. I had no idea what I would do if I found him alive. We had no car, no means of transportation other than our feet. If he did survive that crash, he would not be in good shape. He could be bleeding to death as right at that moment. The thought propelled my battered body to limp faster towards the wreckage of the war rig. I tripped over anything that loomed at my left side, as I was not used to my impaired sight yet.