Zero

Chapter 7: Fortuna

Luz screamed as she fell from the train, twisting in the air as she grappled with Fred. He held on tightly to her shirt and Luz squirmed in his grasp as they hurtled towards the ground. She managed to shift her weight at the last second, and landed on top of the twizzler denizen just as they hit the hard-packed dirt of the Wasteland.

Luz rolled a couple of feet away from Fred, and fell back onto her backpack. Other than scattered purple bruises on her arms and legs, she had managed to make it off the train in one piece. Feeling unbelievably worn out, she stared up at the darkened orange sky, her heart racing. After a few seconds, she released the breath she had been holding in.

I'm alive.

Her eyes watered, tears forming at the corner of her eyes in relief.

I'm alive!

Meanwhile, Fred groaned from his spot on the ground. The denizen was bent completely out of shape. With a grunt he sat up and flexed his rubbery limbs so that they snapped back into place. He noticed Luz was still breathing and frowned.

"Looks like I still need to finish the job," he muttered under his breath.

He rose to his feet and began making his way over to Luz. Once she heard soft footsteps growing closer, Luz looked away from the burned orange sky and noticed the denizen approaching her. Her eyes widened and she scrambled quickly to her feet, pushing up off the ground awkwardly with her hands and feet still tightly bound.

Luz tried to hop away from Fred, back towards the train but the denizen caught up to her in no time. He hooked a leg around one of her ankles and tripped the passenger, making her stumble and lose her balance. Luz fell with a startled yelp, and she felt her nose crack as she made contact with the ground. She let out a hiss of pain as her nose began to throb, and blood trickled down her face, gathering at her upper lip.

The denizen flipped her onto her back with a nudge of his foot. Luz gasped at the sudden movement, landing hard on a bruised part of her arm. Fred looked down at her with utter disdain, nose curled in disgust.

"I don't know how you survived the fall," he scoffed. "But fortunately for me, your luck has finally run out."

Despite everything, Luz tried to put on a brave front. If nothing else, to help combat the creeping despair she felt encroaching on all sides. She managed a weak smile.

"I don't know about that," her voice cracked. "I'm still alive, aren't I?"

Fred didn't bother responding. His eyes narrowed and he crouched down, placing his sticky twizzler hands around Luz's throat. Her mouth dried and she miraculously refrained from screaming. Luz squirmed in his tightening grip, struggling to free herself before it was too late.

Her vision began to blur, hazy black spots appearing as Fred began laughing. Tear tracks stained her dirt-smudged face and she let out a wheeze of air. Luz felt herself weakening, and her eyes fluttered as she struggled to remain conscious.

Lo siento mamá.

Luz's eyes shuttered close just as a black creature leapt onto Fred, knocking him off of Luz. He cursed as he wrangled the dog-roach off of him. He rolled to his feet, panting heavily.

"Damn ghom!" he cursed, and turned to run back to the train, but the ghom tackled him again.

"There is a perfectly good passenger right there!"

Meanwhile, Luz blinked her eyes open and coughed violently as her lungs filled with air. Her sweaty hands were closed into tight fists and she tried to relax them as she slowly sat up. Her body trembled as she took in the new creature before her.