After Fate Fell

9 • ELLA

1 year, 3 months, and 12 days after it all
•ELLA•

I am awoken by a bump. A bump on the ground. We must be landing. I've been on airplanes for the past 15 hours and I'm ready to get off of this one and get on my way. It should be about midnight or 1 am, but because of the time zone shift, it's only 6 pm. This day has lasted forever and I just extended it.

The good thing, though, is that between the bus ride and the two plane rides, I've gotten a good amount of sleep. So it looks like I can travel through the night.

When I was planning out my journey from Mérida to the Sanctuary, I was ecstatic to find out that Mérida is on the Yucatán Peninsula, which is the same piece of land that the Sanctuary lies on. My journey will be much shorter than I thought it was going to be. It's actually looking like just a few dozen miles through the rainforest to get there. Not too bad, right?

The pilot comes over the speaker, and people start to unbuckle their seatbelts and get moving. I grab my bag and exit the plane. I look around the airport for transportation maps. I'm hoping since I'm in a city, I can get some sort of public transportation at least ten or so miles, outside the edge of the city. Then I'll have to make the rest of the journey myself.

I find a map, and sure enough, there is a route that leads right to the southeast corner of the city, in the right direction.
I find an airport employee and point to the map, asking "¿Cómo llego a esta ruta de autobús?"

She smiles, telling me that the bus route has a stop just outside the airport and south 2 blocks. I smile at her and thank her for her help.

Outside the airport, the warm tropical air hits me. Wow I had forgotten how much I loved warmth. All I've known for months and months was cold, snow, rain, and yes, occasional sun, but the hottest it got there wouldn't get close to anything actually "hot". Plus, the air is so much thicker here. I breathe it all in as I walk toward the bus stop.

The streets are crowded with people out and about. I walk down the sidewalk, and I'm happy to be out in public, all by myself, without any impending danger to worry about. I feel like I'm just a normal girl, walking through the streets of a city in the Yucatán. I would love living here. But I must move on, because I have to talk to Legacy, and then hopefully, leave this planet. It's what must be done.

I see a small grocery store on the other side of the street, and decide to cross to stock up. I haven't eaten in almost 24 hours so I honestly don't know how I'm still walking. I walk in and a bell chimes above my head. A woman standing at the register welcomes me and I smile at her. I grab a basket and go to the food aisles, there are two of them, and I go to the first one, grabbing a bag of pretzels and 2 boxes of granola bars. I go into the next aisle and grab a pre-made sandwich and some type of protein shake in a bottle. Then I grab six bottles of water. I see some flashlights on my way to the checkout and I grab a good one, and I also grab some batteries for it too. I take my basket up to the cashier. She starts to scan the items, but I tell her "no need, no hay necesidad." I grab a few of my precious jewels out of my bag and put them on the counter. She gasps, an astonished look on her face. She hugs me across the counter.

"¡Gracias, gracias!"

I hug her back, grabbing my groceries and shoving them into my bag, and walk out the door, the bell ringing again on my way out.
I cross back over the street and keep walking toward the bus stop. I reach it a few moments later, it's just a bench with a sign by it that says "PARADA DE AUTOBÚS".

There is already a mother and her young daughter sitting on the bench, so I just stand near it, wondering when the bus is scheduled to stop here. I pull the sandwich out of my bag and eat the whole thing within 2 minutes, and take a few gulps of my protein shake.

More people start to gather around the bench a few minutes later, so I'm guessing the bus is coming soon. I could ask someone, but I don't. I guess there's a little bit of that caution still in me from the old days. Don't trust anyone. Even though that doesn't really apply anymore, there are still people who don't like the Garde, so I just keep my head down and wait for the bus.
It shows up about 10 minutes after I got to the stop, and it slows down and comes to a halt. Some people start filing out of it, while a line forms of people trying to board. I eventually make it on and into a seat near the front of the bus.

I know I've slept on all my other trips, but this one is shorter, and now that I'm this close, I can't sleep. I'm ready for this. So I stay awake the whole ride, about 30 minutes, and in the meantime, I put batteries in my flashlight because I know I'm going to need it in that dense forest.
I get off at my stop, paying the driver with a jewel, and I get the same reaction as the cashier. I try to exit without making a scene.

It is really dark outside now, and I know I have a long trek through the forest ahead of me. I walk down a few side roads in the right direction, the roads are lit by dim street lights. I get to a street that has no outlet and walk all the way down until I reach the end. Beyond the sign, only the forest remains.

I flick on the flashlight and step into the darkness.