I run Fists of waves claw the sand as I force one foot to pound after the other. Scramble up, slip down, and repeat. Faster. Eyes fixed on dunes ahead. Don't look back. Mustn't look. Ragged breath; in out, in out. Still I run. Just when lungs might burst and heart might explode, a crimson star on the sand, I stumble. A man turns back. He pulls me to my feet and urges me on. It's getting closer. I cannot stand, and fall again. I can run no more. He kneels to hold me, and looks in my eyes. "It's time. Quick, now! Put up the wall." Closer. So I build it, brick by brick. Row by row. A high tower, like Rapunzel's, but this has no window, nowhere to lower my hair. No chance of rescue. A blanket of terror obliterates the sea. The sand. His words, the bruises on my arms and pain in my chest and legs It's here.
6 parts