It had been almost a week since Tsoudrei had come to us, and nearly three since we’d fallen through the portal. In the days preceding and following his rescue, Knaxia and Xantar had insisted that we scour the City for undamaged supplies and, more importantly, people who’d lived through the battle. Tsoudrei was the only one, besides Knax and Xan themselves. As time went on, the days grew longer and our hope of finding survivors grew ever smaller. Summer was setting in and, as Xan pointed out, we’d soon have to leave to follow the water and animals west. He’d hinted that the majority of the remaining portals were also west, and I knew he was still curious of how exactly we’d gotten here in the first place.
This new world wasn’t much different from the one Tat, Sigma, and I had left. You build, you survive, and you move on. From what I’d gathered from the conversations between Knaxia and Xantar, the established City was where most of the people lived. They’d mentioned before that there were people who lived outside the City rules and monarchy, called Travelers. Knaxia spoke of these nomadic people with distaste, and I’d come to associate Travelers with bad luck-- stories of drought and unnatural storms, unexplained deaths of livestock and increased amount of crime, when they came to the City-- whenever they were brought up.
“Earth to Luna,” Tat said, tossing a rock at me. It missed by a few feet, and bounced off a piece of metal with a dull, hollow sound. Curious, I brushed the grass away to reveal an iron chest plate, warped and distorted by fire. Scorch marks blotted out the colorful crest in the center, and I shivered to think of what must’ve happened to the soldier.
“Ready to move on?” Xantar asked, walking up to us. Tat and I had gone with Xan to search the City today, this time in the houses nearest to the castle. I could tell that most of the houses had once been rich and beautiful, but they were now covered and ash and riddled with holes from explosives and, even after a few weeks, already choked with vines.
“I think we should be able to move on for good tomorrow,” Xan said as we trekked back to the small valley that’d become our home.
“Really?!” I asked in surprise. We’d been talking about it for days, but never specified an actual date.
He nodded. “The infection in Tsoudrei’s arm and chest is almost completely gone, and I’m healed enough to start the trip west.” He gestured to his leg, which had been wounded by an arrow. It was true that he’d been walking better. It was also true that Tsoudrei’s wounds had healed surprisingly fast, and he’d even started helping us with searching the City.
Tsoudrei was a strange character. He hardly ever talked at all, but when he did, he, Knaxia, and Xan could talk for hours on end. He’d been unconscious the first few days when I’d found him, but after that he’d sit in silence and stare absently into nothing. On good days though, he’d talk and laugh and tell stories right along with the rest of us. I liked it when he laughed; it made him look younger and more alive.
Today was one of his good days, I could tell. He and Sigma sat across from each other peeling carrots into a bucket, while Knaxia carefully crafted a pile of arrows. Tsoudrei had been surprised when he found that two of his rescuers were female, and Knax and Xan confessed that they’d felt the same way. It irritated me that they’d thought that women and girls couldn’t be soldiers, but I guessed that’s the way it was here.
“…time for us to leave.” Xantar was saying. “Before summer officially comes.”
Knaxia nodded. “I agree. Tomorrow it is, then. It’s still early today; we should be able to pack everything up to leave right away in the morning.”
“Then the only question is, where do we go?” Xan asked. “I know we’re heading west, but-” He looked sideways at Tat, who kept his eyes determinedly on the ground- “There are a number of… places, I guess, where we could go.”
Knaxia caught on immediately. “No,” He said firmly. “We follow the river, find a safe place to build and stay the summer, and that’s it. Nothing else. Now, we’re going to have to start gathering our things right away, Luna and Sigma you come with me to get wood…”
As we all hurried away to do what he’d said, I heard him mutter to Xan, “I told you not to bother the poor kid about the portals.”
The next say, we were set. I got up at dawn to make one last trip to the pond for water, and by the time everyone else had woken up the sun had already risen. We started out but around midafternoon, heavy gray clouds had moved in and the wind smelled like rain.
“Should we turn back?” Sigma asked, looking anxiously at the sky.
“We’ll be fine,” Knaxia said, but he didn’t sound very confident. Dry lightning cracked across the sky, making us all jump.
“If we’re not going to go back, maybe we should stop for the day…” I said.
“Where would we go?” Tsoudrei asked, gesturing to the endless empty plains around us. “There’s nothing for miles, and there aren’t any caves for easy shelter anywhere.”
“We keep moving, and hope the rain and mobs hold until we get to the canyons,” Xantar said.
Not long after, it started to rain. “So much for hoping, then.” Tat muttered, looking up at the sky. Knaxia looked up too, and cursed under his breath. He quickened his pace, and when Xantar started to limp again and lag behind, he put an arm under his shoulders and helped him continue.
Soon I could hardly see through the rain, so it took me a while to realize that the others were no longer beside me. I yelled their names but I couldn’t even hear my own voice over the pounding storm.
Suddenly I was slipping, falling backwards on the muddy ground… and then Sigma was there, grabbing my arm and yanking me upright. I could see four other blurry shadows beside her. “Thanks,” I said, hoping she could hear me. She nodded, and I saw that she had her other arm linked through Tat’s, keeping us together.
“What now?” Xan’s voice seemed like it came from a distance, even though he was only a few blocks from me. A zombie materialized out of the darkness, along with two skeletons.
“We run!” Knaxia shouted. We dogged arrows as we ran, and then we were falling, truly falling, as the sandy ground gave way beneath us… Sigma’s arm was ripped from my grasp, and cold water shocked my skin as I tumbled into deep water below. Bubbles exploded around me, and I took a great gulp of air… but there was no air… I was falling, falling… My limbs were heavy, and I was surrounded by an eerie calm. It was over, no more to worry about, no more storm or mobs or constant fight for survival. I relaxed, and darkness overcame everything…
