His legs were buried in the Drowning Dust as Amelia's second sun set beneath the distant skyline. His hands reaching and clawing for soil that was still solid, the skin beneath his finger nails stung and bled. Adam winced in pain. Having tasted his sweat long enough, he rested a moment, staring at the Fireblooms across the dark skies like a child. Chest deep in the soft dust Adam knew the ground wouldn't be like this for too long. Nights when both Amelia's suns set were dangerous for travelers, for many reasons. The steam caverns just below Amelia's surface stretched throughout her like veins. They cooled and softened most of the planet's soil when her two suns weren't in the sky creating oceans, lakes and rivers of dust.
A voice screamed in the distance woke Adam from his daydream. "Help! Adam! I can't breathe!"
Adam began to kick franticly, reach with desperation. But he was merely swimming. Swimming in place. He never agreed to the old man tagging along and this was exactly why. It was difficult enough looking after himself. The last thing he wanted was to feel responsible for another life. But he'd known the old man from long ago.
"Adam! Please..." The screams gurgled. Its echo fading till distant, suffocated till gone.
"Hemm!" Adam shouted. "Hemm!" He screamed. But there was no answer, nothing. And when he tired himself out again from all the kicking and screaming, Adam was left with the silence of Amelia's cold night. The silence was loud and unbearable. Adam's legs were exhausted. Another tear fell from his chin he could not reach while gasping for air between his own soundless screams.
His arms felt heavy and burdensome, sluggishly grasping on their own. By now he was up to his shoulders in soil. There was nothing to hope for. Nothing left to reach out to. The fatigue overwhelmed his mind. His thoughts raced and wondered uncontrollably till everything went dark.
Adam awoke days later. Amelia's two suns had toughened the soil around him and he found himself in a trouble much different from what he first stepped into. His lips were dry, blistered and bleeding. The sunlight hurt his parched eyes but when he remembered Hemm and what happened, his eyes cooled and moistened as tears swelled in them. Adam didn't bother trying to dig himself free. He just went limp, drowning in his own grief.
Hemm...
Adam sat there, encased in hardened soil for a long time till he heard footsteps in the near distance. Each step became louder and louder, closer and closer. Adam could tell from the stranger's slow yet deliberate approach that his visitor had caught sight of him for sure. Then the ground became silent and a cold blade's edge caressed the back of his neck.
"Where you from stranger!?" Adam's visitor demanded, "We don't like travelers around here."
Wanderers were frowned on all across Amelia. Even put to death in some City-kingdoms. Considering how dangerous Amelia could be and how scarce her resources, only thieves and hustlers were thought to traverse the wild. Adam had to think quick. A skill that had grown as dull as the knife in his pocket.
"No sir, no." Adam pleaded with his voice trembling. "I was out here digging holes to collect steam and turn it into fresh water."
"Whoever you are stranger, your a bad liar."
"I fell asleep waiting for the jars to fill. The sun set, and well... here I am." Adam said forcing a smile across his lips, hoping his answer would satisfy the steel resting against his neck. But it was too much to ask of the stranger's blade. His trembling voice had given him away. The sword struck his neck swiftly. Adam's head rolled from his shoulders and landed just in front his limp body.
Shit! Adam said to himself.
As the light between the trees gradually darkened and the color of the forest faded, he caught only a glimpse of his be-header's silhouette.
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Adam awoke again, this time his head shoved between the armpit and legs of decaying bodies. It was better than waking up in a coffin as he usually did. He hated being buried in darkness, trapped in a closed space, having to dig his way back to the surface.
This time he found himself in a wooden cart headed north. The air was always colder in the north. Which was just one of many reasons he was traveling south. Adam could hear the two soldiers in the cart's box seat. They were talking about what most soldiers did during war time; drink, women and how much they missed their own beds.
As the soldiers argued about which ale got them drunk the quickest Adam's hands searched carefully for his head. His hands felt through blood, torn flesh, and rotting entrails, until they finally found his short burly hair. Pulling his face close to his chest, Adam carefully slid off the back of the cart.
He protected his head as his body tumbled to the ground like a sack of apples. Even if he couldn't die, pain was still something he tried to avoid. He lay petrified on the ground as the cart creaked and wobbled on. A cloud of grit and dust stung his eyes and filled his nose. Trying desperately to muffle the cough, his hands smothered his mouth and nose till he nearly suffocated.
Hard, dry grains of dust lodged between his rotting teeth scraped his gums. It'd always seemed a peculiar thing, that despite whatever tragic end befell him, his soul would live on within him. Stranger still to him was the fact his teeth decayed and the sight in his left eye was fading. His life was more a mystery to him than the two burning sphere in the heavens.
When he could barely hear the cart's shrieking wheels in the distance Adam stood to his feet. He cradled his head in his arm. Walking through the unfamiliar forest his Adam couldn't help but remember Hemm laying at the Bottom of the Drowning Dust. He insisted with Adam they take another route. But Adam took Hemm's caution too lightly. Now he would have to live with the guilt of making such a selfish decision. There was no time to dwell, not now. Adam quickly disappeared into the forest burdened with his regret.
Soon he came upon a home of collapsing wood. He hid in the densest part of the forest. Surrounded by the smell of pine needles, leaves, and molding bark. When he was sure the home was empty Adam emerged from the wood like a shadow in the passing day
YOU ARE READING
Amelia 4042
Adventure"Amelia" is a planet I'm writing short stories about. This story centers around a man who lived in the 41st century named Adam gifted and cursed with immortal life but a mortal body. (He's not a zombie.) Enjoy.
