The United Territories

Chapter 2

As they conquered what seemed like the one Hundreth sand dune, the girl was exhausted. Her hair was still in a bun as the day before, and the single pink highlight was tucked behind her ear with assistance of her persperation. The girl's face was smeared with sand and her eyes were puffy. Both because it was irritated and the fact she was crying. The girl was with a woman, an older version of herself with a few exceptions. The woman was in her late 20's, early 30's. She wore a mask that left only her eyes visible. At the right hand side, above the ear was an animal symbol, the symbol of a Panda.
The girl possessed a mask similar to that. Given to her by the woman, it was the only time she actually took to observe hers. It ws made of the same black material and where the woman's Panda symbol was located, the girl had a butterfly. More specifically a Monarch Butterfly.
"It would be better if you had put on your mask. The sand wouldn't go into your eyes", the woman told the girl.
" NO!" the girl shot back.
"No?" the woman was taken aback.
" Yes I said No", the girl replied.
" And why's that? " the woman questioned
"I don't know okay! but No!", the girl said while she threw herself onto the peak of the dune. She faced the city she grew up in. The same one she had never left. The same one where everyone she loved was.
It was the first time the girl was ever beyond the heavily secured borders of the city. She never imagined watching the city from the place she usually would have been observing. She had never seen somthing more beautiful than what she saw. The city was fully illuminated and the structures of Downtown were magnificent. It was like everything revolved around that district.
The girl was facing the opposite side of the wid and her hair blew into her face. The cold breeze from the East was at least 10 degrees Celsius colder than the usual temperature of the desertified city she used to reside, and was getting colder by the minute.
"We need to get going before we freeze to death", the woman advised.
The girl reluctantly got up, shook the sand of her clothes. She took a final glance at the city she used to know and descended the dune.