"Now be gone, exile, and may fortune smile on others!"
Those were the last words N429 heard before everything she knew and had ever known was ripped out of her grasp. Now, unsure of where to turn, she dug her hands into the pockets of her oversized rain coat and followed the diminishing sunlight due west into the forest. The cold, bitter, never-ending rain beat down on her and she was grateful for the warmth of the mink lining her younger sister A1153 had dangerously snuck her the night before. She hoped the young girl hadn't gotten caught. The penalty for aiding an exile was death and the odds of the nine year-old lying if asked were slim. N429 huddled in the cover of a large tree as the moon rose above her and she drifted off to sleep, her knees pulled close to her chest and her coat zipped and buttoned around them.
¤¤¤¤ ¤¤ ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
N429 woke up in the forest. Again. Four weeks ago she had spent her first night there and she had not found a single other living being yet. She pulled her coat tighter around herself as the wind kicked up five knots and the rain pelted down harder than ever. A strange light about five yards away drew her off the path and she stumbled through the underbrush hastilly. She emerged in a clearing where the rain pelted down even more mercilessly, though being off the beaten path spared the clearing from the worst of the wind. In the center of the clearing stood a small stone cottage, the likes of which city-raised girls and boys had only heard tell of. N429 dashed towards it, huddling under its slight eves while she weighed her options. The light she had seen was coming from the windows of the house and gave the dusk-lit clearing an eerie but comforting glow. She wrapped her coat tighter as the rain intensified around her and the little house. She could go inside and risk whatever dangers doing so posed, or she could keep going until she got pneumonia or hypothermia and died.
Liking the first option much better, she worked up the courage and rapped lightly on the door. A few moments later she heard timid footsteps and was about to turn tail and run when a girl a few years older than herself opened the door curiously. Seeing the younger girl dripping wet and shivering in the pelting rain, she opened the door further and ushered N429 inside. The younger accepted graciously and soon they were sitting on the couch with steaming mugs of hot coco.
YOU ARE READING
N429
Science FictionA girl wanders through the forest, disowned by her family, cast out of her village, left to wander aimlessly on her own until she dies or finds someone kind enough to take her in. Weeks later, lost, cold, tired, and alone, she stumbles upon a small...
