Part 1: Contact / Chapter 1: A Supprise
She immediately jumped, shocked by the sudden snap of a small twig beneath her foot. Blinded by the neon pink bandana, she focused on her hearing ability for the sake of her survival. Delia was the kind of clumsy person who could possibly be capable of causing someone to fall off a cliff by accident, which is why Melony kept her senses alert.
"You're going to be the cause of my death. You know that, right?"
"I'll show you where we are in a moment, Mel! There's a reason why I tied that blindfold onto you," Delia energetically replied, and Melony's grip on Delia's hand tightened as they continued up the rugged dirt trail. Melony never liked surprises, but this was her "best sister," or best friend and sister, so she decided it wouldn't hurt to play along. She had regretted "playing along" right after Delia tied the bandana in front of her eyes.
"Okay, now we're here!" She squealed, then pulled the bandana off Melony's face. She looked around, realizing that Delia had taken her to a campsite.
"Camping. Couldn't you had at least warned me? Last time I wore outdoor clothes to a surprise, you took me to a fancy restaurant. Now, you take me to this place in this outfit?" Melony pointed to her berry-colored dress she had worn to "the surprise," thinking that Delia would take her to another formal event.
"Well, at least you wore your leather jacket and leggings. You won't get too cold. Besides, I brought ponchos!" Delia optimistically pointed to the poorly-set-up tent under a redwood tree. Easy for you to say, you're wearing a comfortable scarf and a heavy jacket. An audible sigh came from Melony's voice as her lips curved into a smile.
"You're a nut," Melony quickly said, nudged Delia in the side, then began scavenging around in the tent, hoping Delia brought enough supplies to at least be able to survive camping one night. A radio in the tent suddenly came on, startling Melony, and she picked it up to listen to what it had to say. It said something about the new world-spread anti-pollution spray being a success. Pollutions levels decreased by 0.0032%, so if they sprayed it daily, the world could become a cleaner place. It wasn't like Melony cared about this crap, so she turned it off and put it to the side. The spray would most likely cause another problem, just like last time; they'll try, succeed only a bit, then fail. It always has been like that since pollution levels have gotten higher than the ill can tolerate. Chain reactions are how life works, you can't have life without change. Melony continued to dig through the pile of junk in the tent, making sure Delia had brought everything.
"We're going to need to go back down," Melony hollered, head pulling out of the tent after a few minutes of scavenging through it. Delia had forgotten their blankets. Sure, they had a tent, but tents don't keep out all the icy cold wind of La Honda. Melony and Delia had moved here with their parents only two weeks ago, and they barely knew anyone at their new high school, Autumn. Melony was glad she had Delia. The weather in California was always crazy and bipolar, making this Spring Break feel like Winter Break. Melony didn't exactly want to freeze to death that night. After not hearing an immediate reply, Melony looked around, realizing Delia had wandered off. It was only three in the afternoon, and the sun already look tired. Melony hoped she could find Delia before and darkness of late afternoon hit them.
"Delia? Delia?!" Melony yelled, wandering around in the tall redwood trees. She had been walking for ten minutes already, and had no reply. Where could she have gone to now... I hope she–
A sudden scream disrupted Melony's thoughts. Melony ran as fast as her legs could go, running through the sharp pine needles of the trees, and stumbling over the roots that stuck up like hands coming to hold her back from the ground. The freezing, biting wind clawed at her face and hands. Small, cold tears fell from the side of her eyes as she ran what felt like miles. Worry clouded the physical pain she experienced and took over her whole mind. She was scared.
"Delia!" Melony yelled when she saw her sister being cornered by some ravenous creature. They were back at the campsite, and Delia had her back to the trunk of a redwood tree. The creature's sharp teeth were its most prominent feature, along with the foul stench that followed it. It looked like a grown man, and almost like one of those hobos you could find living in the forest. It wore torn clothing and it's skin and eyes were pale. Its skin even looked like it was decaying. Bits and parts of his skin hung loose, revealing parts of the insides of a human body.
"Melony!" Delia cried, and the monster suddenly charged at her. Delia turned, Melony ran, and the creature jumped. Delia screamed and kicked as it tried to bite off the flesh from Delia's right forearm, blood spurting out. Melony grabbed a small pocket knife from a toolkit lying on the ground, and followed her instincts; stab the beast in the neck. Blood began leaking out of it's neck, and it lay on top of Delia. Melony pulled the knife back out as she helped Delia out from under the monster, then looked at Delia's arm. She frowned, grabbed the a few tools laying in the toolkit on the ground, put it in her black leather purse, and walked back to Delia. They could come in handy, and she would definitely need to keep the pocket knife handy. Unfortunately, Delia had left a good portion of the tools back at their house, meaning they had less weapons to use.
"Can you fix it?" Delia asked, skin already beginning to turn pale from blood loss. She lay on the cold dirt, shaking and shivering in fear, shock, cold, and pain. Dark red stained her golden locks and her gray tank top.
"I'll try, but we're going to need to get you some help," Melony replied, glad she had medical experience from classes she took during summers. Melony took a pillow cover and tightly wrapped it around Delia's wound to stop the blood from coming out, then took Delia by the arm and helped her stand up.
"Are you okay to walk?" Melony asked, and Delia nodded. Together, they slowly limped down the rugged, dirt-trailed hill to what they would soon need to accept as our new Planet Earth.