Rescued: A Nyssara Story

Chapter 2

NYSSA: I've been walking the shore of this desolate island for 5 straight hours. My father sent me to this place with almost no details as to why. His words ring in my head.

~You will know your true purpose on the island when it arises.~

Nothing has arisen, Father, so why am I here? I've experienced nothing but the soft sounds of the waves caressing the shore and the conversations of avian creatures in the distance. The sun will set in less than an hour and this mission is yet to be completed.

According to my map, I've almost completed the circumference of the island. Only about a mile of land left until I'm back to my boat. My father said that I'd see something. I've seen nothing but a rocky beach.

To my surprise, then, I do see something. I pull out my binoculars and see that it is a woman laying in the sand. She isn't moving. Is this my mission? I start to run to her.

When I finally approached her, I kneel at her side and turn her over onto her back. Her skin is red hot. I feel for her pulse and discover that she's alive, but barely so. I try to shake her awake and her eyes open slightly then close again. I prop her up against my body and I try to feed her water from my canteen. She doesn't respond to it. I try to speak to her in Chinese, for we are in the North China Sea. No response. I try English.

"Come on, now. You must drink."

She opens her eyes slightly again and accepts my offer to drink. Her breath is weak and I notice that there is a gash on her abdomen that looks immensely infected.

"Can you walk?"

She just closes her eyes again.

"Can you speak?"

She opens her eyes.

"Alright, blink your eyes once for no, two for yes. Can you do that for me?"

She blinks twice slowly.

"Other than that cut on your stomach, are you hurt?"

She blinks twice.

"Is it ok for me to move you?"

She just stares at me without blinking with fear edged deep in her eyes.

"You don't have to be afraid. You can trust me. My boat is only a mile from here. I can carry you and care for you there."

She stares at me reluctantly and then blinks twice.

"I promise I will be careful," I say to her reassuring as she closes her eyes once more.

I position her carefully and pick her up in my arms. Tears start running down her cheek. She must be in a tremendous amount pain. Poor thing can't even scream...

I walk with her in my arms for half a mile mostly looking ahead, but looking at her face on occasion to see if she still cries. There are no tears to be seen but I still can't help but to be worried for her. If this girl is my mission, I must do all that it takes to keep her alive and well. I don't know why saving a blonde woman off of the shores of Purgatory, but what else could it be?

It's a couple more minutes of walking before I start to feel strained. She isn't that heavy but this walk is quite straining when I'm treading along in sand and there's an extra 90 pounds in my arms.

"Ma'am. Ma'am are you awake? Can you hear me?"

She barely opens her eyes and then closes them.

"We are almost there. I need you to stay alive for 10 more minutes, can you do that?"

There's no response.

I keep walking towards the setting sun, often glancing down at the girl. This one's a fighter. She must've been out here for days, clinging to life. I wonder how she ended up here, how long she has been here?

More important inquiries: Why did my father send me to save her? How did my father know she was even out here? Who is this woman?

I hope this was his mission. I'm not sure what else it could've been.
Once I finally reach my boat, I lay the woman on the table and check my food box. I take out an orange and peel it.

"Ma'am." I shake her awake. "You need to eat something." I offer an orange slice to her lips and she accepts it and chews it slowly.

I feed her all of the orange. "Thank you," she breathes weakly.

"You speak. That is great to hear."

She exhales a whisper, "My leg. Arm..."

"Your leg and arm? Do they hurt?"

She breaths shallow, "Broken."

"I will take care of you. I promise." I walk over to get a cloth, water and some special herbs for the infected wound on her abdomen. "My name is Nyssa. May I ask your name?"

She turns her head to look at me. "S-sara," she whispers faintly.

I walk back to her. "Nice to meet you, Sara. Now I'm going to take care of this wound here so it may sting a little," I say as I clean it with the cloth and water. I prep the herbs and rub them on her wound. She winces slightly and I wrap it up in bandages. "That should eradicate the infection and aid its healing. Now for your breaks..."

I look around for something that could serve as a splint. I break the top of the door frame off and then wrap it onto her broken leg. I open the cupboard for some pain killers. "There isn't much I can do here for your broken bones right now but I have these," I say as I pour 3 out of the bottle. I open my canteen again and prop the girl up onto me again so she can drink. I feed her the medicine and lay her back down.

As I walk away towards the cupboard, she grabs my arm weakly and then releases. "Thank you," she whispers softly.

I smile a little. "You're a fighter, Sara. You'll be just fine."

She smiles slightly and then drifts to sleep.

I really hope that this was the mission. If it's not, then my father will surely be disappointed in me when I return with a mere civilian...