"No one washes up on the beach anymore."
"Alright children, settle down! We have quite a bit to talk about and not much time. I know all of you have been excited to talk about this. Our ancestors. Those who washed up on our home-island long ago...
"Back then, before any of you or even me were born, people weren't born inside these walls or on this island. People would find themselves washed up on these shores with nothing but simple undergarments and their name. They had to collect resources, hunt with very few weapons, build their own tiny huts made of just thatch. They were on their own. When they eventually did join together, they couldn't build or live like we can today. They had to adventure, explore the whole island, and try to help each other. Many of them were killed, some died of sickness, some of them even killed each other. It was a long time before our ancestors began to build this town. At first we were merely a very small town with weak walls and little protection. But after a much longer time we kept developing and growing into what and who we are today.
The old times are gone now. We haven't had any people wash up on our shores in a long time."
The sun had already risen, hanging high in the sky and beating down scorching rays of light on the pale sands of the island. Typically, the only signs of life on the beach were noisy Dodos, some angry and constantly hungry Dilophosaurs, and occasional Parasaurs and Triceratops. But today was different.
Laying on the beach, legs and arms bent inward close to the body, there was a pale-skinned girl. Her eyes were closed, her long silver-white hair flowing across her shoulders, and her back beginning to turn light red from being in the sun for too long. It wasn't until a tiny figure ran up to the girl that her eyes began to open.
A high-pitched chirp caused her body to jump suddenly, her eyes barely opening. At first she felt nothing, but that quickly changed as she felt the burning pain going across her back. Her eyes opened wide and she jumped once again, only she sat up quickly, pushing herself up from the ground and whining in pain. Every movement made her back burn further, almost as if her back was on fire. Granted, she wasn't actually burnt too bad just yet, but if she would have been laying in that same spot any longer she would have looked like a lobster.
As she sat up and turned her back away from the sun, shielding her eyes, she heard another chirp. When she turned, there was a tiny little creature next to her. It reminded her of a very small lizard walking on two spindly legs, a long tail, and a few colorful feathers on the top of its head. Surprisingly enough, she knew what this little creature was. It was called a Compy. But how had she known that? The name had come to her mind when she saw it, yet she wasn't sure where exactly the name came from.
Her snow white eyes, outlined with dark gray, looked down at the small lizard, reaching out one finger towards it. At first the Compy just tilted it's head, letting out another chirp and staring at her hand. It then started batting at her finger with its tiny hands, almost like a cat would play with yard. It then suddenly latched onto her finger, though it didn't feel like it had done anything at all; it only felt like it was lightly pinching her.
"You have an attitude, do you?" she whispered, lifting her hand with the Compy still on the end and turning so that she could look it in the eye. As far as she could tell, it was looking back, and she could tell that it was just being playful. She gently flicked the little creature, letting it drop down onto her upper leg. It stared at her for a moment more before it jumped off and started to run off.
As she scanned the beach, she couldn't see anything in particular. No dinos, no structures, no nothing. Just plants, trees, and the ocean. She carefully got herself up off the ground, doing her best to ignore the pain that would flash through her back. Unsure of where she was even going, she started to walk along the beach, sand crunching under her feet and going between her toes. Really, just walking at that moment was a major pain for her. She was lucky that she didn't have dark colored clothing that would make her burn further- speaking of which, she hardly had any clothes. She just had a pair of white underwear and a white bra-like cloth, both made of weak material that likely wouldn't last long. Great. But all of that wasn't the reason why walking in the sun was painful. Despite the fact that her eyes were pure white, which was something that would never normally be seen, she wasn't blind like some might believe. Her eyes were merely more sensitive to bright light than others. Which now currently meant that she needed to find shelter as soon as she could.
As much danger she assumed was in the forest, she chose to walk away from the ocean and rather into the woods. She could hear many sounds, yet she didn't see the source of any of them, save for an occasional small bird in the trees above. She walked on a nearly flat portion of the forest for around half an hour before a hill started. As she climbed it got steeper, but she could see more light ahead of her and even saw the sky, which she hadn't seen throughout her time walking. She moved quicker up the hill, reaching the top to see an open field before her. It was full of many different creatures, ones that she, once again, somehow knew the names of. Parasaurs, Trikes, Phiomia, and even a few Pachy. Not a predator in sight. As she walked into the meadow, a few of the larger creatures noticed her, but simply ignored her, pulling berries from the surrounding bushes with their flat teeth. Perhaps if the herbivores were willingly eating those berries, that meant they were safe. She approached slowly, taking silent steps towards where a large clump of berries were. One of the Trikes saw her coming, but it just continued eating as if it hadn't seen her at all. She reached over a plucked a few of the berries off the bush, her eyes constantly watching to make sure that nothing she did angered the large beasts. When they didn't seem to mind sharing the spot, she took the time to investigate the berries she had picked. Some of them were a deep blue in color and the others were blood red. She took a moment to taste one of each, enjoying the flavor of both. The blue one was more juicy and sweet while the red one was more tangy.
She ate many handfuls of the berries side by side with a large green Trike and a dark gray and red Parasaur. For the most part she ignored her surroundings, knowing that if there was any danger she would be able to tell by the herbivores behaviors. She glanced up to find that none of the beasts were looking at the berries anymore, instead looking off towards the right of where she had first emerged. When she looked from behind the Trike, she saw...other people! They, unlike her, were covered in durable clothes, carried weapons at their sides, and some even rode a Parasaur. She would have approached, if it weren't for the Parasaurs that the people were riding.
All of them were skinny, malnourished, and we're covered in scars that were clearly not the doing of any natural predator. They seemed so strained under the weight of the people that she was surprised they could even stand at all without collapsing. She quickly hid behind the green Trike, only peeking out from behind to see what the other humans were doing. As far as she could tell, they were examining the different herbivores that were in the field, pointing to each. She could see that one of the humans, a younger man riding a brown and dark blue Parasaur, was carrying a small book with him, writing something down each time the others would point to a dino.
She then felt her heart beat speed up as the group began to walk in her direction. As fast and as quietly as she could, she slipped into the bushes that she and the dinos had been eating from, hoping that she wouldn't stand out. The group walked right up to the bushes, mainly focusing on the Trike and the Parasaurs.
"We've kept track of this one before. He's the only Trike I've seen with that gash across his side, " one of the men, presumably the leader of the group, said as he patted the large green herbivore on the shoulder, continuing on to examine the Parasaurs that were surrounding the bushes. He kept on stating information about each of them, which made the boy with the book write down whatever he was saying, or something similar.
"Male Parasaur, light green with dark green accents, black crest." "Male Parasaur, light gray with light blue accents, dark brown crest." "Already tracked this one." "Female Parasaur, dark gray with red accents, orange crest."
What exactly were they doing? Why did they need this information written down? The girl watched from deep inside the bushes, being careful not to move any branches in an odd way or suddenly. There was only once when she held her breath and remained perfectly still. The man, the one stating info about each of the dinos, had looked into the bush. His hair was short and straight, dark brown in color but graying, possibly because of age. He was clearly well built and strong, and his eyes were dark brown like mud. Looking up at him, it seemed as though he was staring right at her. Afraid she had been caught, she closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. She heard rustling right above her head and clenched her teeth.
"It appears that the berries in this area are thriving better than the ones we have been collecting in the other fields. Make a note that we need to change our harvesting grounds."
The girl opened one of her eyes and looked up to see that the man had picked a few of the red berries she tried before, popping them into his mouth before he turned, making a motion with his hand for them to move, though he appeared to be motioning back in the direction they came. The group turned and started back in the direction they came, no longer stopping to look at or speak about any of the creatures in the field.
Once she was sure that they wouldn't hear or see her, the girl stood in the center of the bush, her head popping out of the top. When she turned her head, the green Trike was looking right at her face to face. Seeing him so close was a bit nerve-wracking, but she knew that she hadn't done anything to anger him, so he wouldnt hurt her. She climbed out of the bushes and watched as the group disappeared over a hill, only the tail of a Parasaur being her final sight.
She wasn't sure what was going to happen, but she chose to follow them. She walked along the edge of the woods, walking more carefully when she got to the hill they had disappeared over. She could see them walking on more level ground about ten feet below. At first her eyes remained on them, but she looked up to find that she already knew where they were going.
Off in the distance she saw what appeared to be a giant wall made of stone and metal, surrounded by herbivores and a lot of people carrying what seemed to be baskets. She could also see a huge door, one that was likely as tall as the forest trees, if not bigger. The group from before was walking straight towards the large wall, but she knew she couldn't follow them to it, or else she would be caught. She didn't know what would happen if she got caught; maybe these people were friendly? But then she thought back to the Parasaurs they were riding. Those terrible conditions. If those people did that to those animals, would they do the same to her?
She stayed in that same spot for around twenty minutes, watching as the group neared the wall. As the large door opened the group went inside, but the door didn't close. Instead, more people came out, only they had some horses, Equus, with saddles on their backs pulling wagons behind them. As far as she could tell, the wagons were all empty. But each of the wagons went in the same general direction. They seemed to be going off in a different direction, to the left of where she was, with five wagons in tow. Perhaps...
The girl then began to run going towards the forest that was on the opposite side of the meadow from her. She didn't go down the hill, but she kept her feet near the edge of it. Her long legs and bare feet allowed her to swiftly reach the other side with no problem, pushing passed the bushes and dodging trees. She kept on running for and short amount of time, but she soon found herself growing tired. That, and her burnt back could only take so much movement before it started to sting. She walked the rest of the way, reaching a meadow that was completely covered in a large array of plants, ranging from vegetables to fruits to berries to wheat. The wagons arrived soon after she did, each stopping at different sections of the field to harvest something different. One of the wagons, the one closest to her which was pulled by a white and gray Equus, appeared to be where the other people were placing the wheat once it was harvested. That's my key!
The girl remained in the forest, watching and waiting for the perfect moment. It took quite a bit of time, but eventually the wagon was becoming full. One of the wagons was already beginning to leave, the others soon following suit. Now's my chance.
She waited until there were hopefully no eyes in her direction before she ran forward. The Equus turned it's head and watched as a mysterious girl climbed into the back of the wagon, burying herself underneath the harvested wheat.
...
...
As the five wagons neared the wall, the large stone door opened, creaking loudly as the wagons began to walk in single-file. When the final wagon was inside, the door remained open, allowing more wagons to exit before it closed again.
From the inside of the last wagon, a pair of white eyes peered out of the wheat, watching as the doors closed. She saw people walking passed the door and started to see the corners of buildings, but couldn't see anything else. It wasn't until the area around her grew dark that she paid closer attention and tried to look further out of the wheat. They appeared to be going between two large buildings and, as far as she could see, there were no people at the other side they had entered from.
The girl double checked her surroundings before she slipped out of the wagon, landing in the ground but quickly getting up. She still felt the poking and prodding that the wheat had done to her back, but she forgot about it, moving quickly to the nearest spot she could hide in. This spot ended up being a small area next to a bin that smelled rather disgusting. It seemed like she was inside of a large town, though she was only on the outskirts, so whether that was true or not remained to be seen.
She watched as the wagons came to a stop not too far away in front of a wooden building. Those that had been out in the fields harvesting were now taking large armfuls of what they had collected and were taking them inside, though she couldn't see what they were doing. When the wagons were all empty, some of the people left, walking off towards some other buildings, while all few stayed behind all began to guide the Equus away from the building.
Rather than follow the people and try to find out where she was, she instead followed those leading the Equus. She remained in the shadows and would constantly find spots to quickly hide before she would keep following. How she easy lucky enough not to get caught during that time, no one could have knew. Perhaps she was just talented in hiding, even though she stood out like a sore thumb.
She continued to follow them until they arrived st another wall. This one wasn't nearly as tall as the one that surrounded the place, nor was it's door as large. The humans opened the door and began to lead the Equus and the wagons inside the door, but it was clear that they weren't going to keep the door open very long. This time she didn't wait to see if any eyes were on her, which was likely a mistake on her part, but she wanted to keep up with them.
Luckily, she peeked inside the door to see that the people were unlatching the Equus from the wagons and were taking off the saddles. Her eyes darted around the area quickly, finding that there were bales of hay piled high to the left of her. She watched the other humans and kept her gaze on them as she snuck through the door and pushed herself behind the hay.
As uncomfortable as it was, she had to stay in that spot, stuck between the stone wall and large bales of hay. She would look out from the sides, but the risk of being seen from where she was if she looked out was too great.
After so long of waiting there were still sounds and voices coming from the other side of the hay, but her eyes were beginning to close, making her flinch when she would open then again. Knowing that she wasn't going to be getting out any time soon, she managed to climb onto one of the bales, heaving herself up and finding that she was still surrounded by hay, piled up in front of her. Similar to a cat, the silver-white-haired girl curled up on the hay, closing her eyes and quickly falling asleep, the sounds of hooves hitting stone echoing in her ears.
Please review and let me know what you think! I hope you enjoyed!