Katie ran. Platinum hair streamed behind her. Heart beating. Feet pounding the earth below. And she ran. Away from Will, away from the forest, and away from her fears.
Keep running Katie.
Trees flashed by, their tenuous roots and towering trunks just a blur as Katie flew past. The night was silent. Undisturbed other than an owl flying up from the treetops hooting dignifiedly as its night time hunt was interrupted, and the occasional "ow", as Katie's bare feet struck a weary thorn.
Then silence again. Minutes went by. The night watches on, interested, as Katie slows. Her breathing shallow. Ragged and lost she stumbles, towards the light that glints, oh so welcomingly, through a gap in the trees.
Scratched legs run quickly now. White arms stretch out desperately. Reaching. Reaching. Touching. She is here. And the light engulfs her. Katie sways. Her vision blurring. Her legs give out. And then the world is black.
All black.
*
She wakes. Katie lies motionless on the ground. Eyes clenched shut to block out the strong rush of light glaring down on her. And her ears? They are filled with the rush of blaring horns, and the low drone of engines that make up the busy noise of the motorway.
And then? Nothing. Silence once again.
Now slowly carefully she opens her eyes. And when she does so, she wishes she hasn't.
She is on a hilltop. Red sand falls away from her as she climbs unsteadily to her feet. Katie scans the horizon in alarm. For she is stood not on a solitary hilltop, but one of a thousand, of a million. And the red sand rolls onwards, further and further into the distance, to the horizon and beyond.
And as Katie looks, she starts to walk, slowly, painfully under the steady gaze of the beating sun, into the timeless distance.
Katie walks, onwards, onwards, to the steady rhythm of the sun. Beating, and beating, and beating.
Her journey has begun.
*
Crack. Andy swears under his breath, as his binoculars lie smashed on the ground. He bends down and gingerly picks them up. Gently, he shakes them to remove the burning red sand. One of the glasses remains intact, although mildly scratched. "Ah" Andy sighs. It will have to do.
"Shit" He swears again. In his effort at saving his binoculars, his group has left him behind disappearing over the edge of another hill. He runs. Slipping and sliding over the sand in his attempt to clamber upwards. He calls his group "Mika, Anthony, Pablos" Silence. Why do they not reply?
Andy puts in the last of his strength, and heaves his body over the top. Relief. He gets to his feet. Andy stares. Where is his group? He glances around frantically, expecting to see their faces grinning up at him from the bottom of the other side of the hill. And he's right, there they are, staring blankly up. In exasperation Andy slides down to his waiting group at the bottom. By the feet of Pablo there is an upturned bottle of water, its precious liquid spilling away into the thirsty sand.
Andy lets a hint of annoyance creep into his voice "What the hell are you doing Pablo, the water!" There is hardly enough water to keep them going for another day, let alone the few weeks it may take them to find more.
Pablo doesn't respond, and Mika and Anthony stand in silence. Do they not care? Andy finally loses his temper and shakes Pablo. Gripping his red hands around the younger mans cold shoulders. Too cold. Slowly Andy releases Pablo in dawning horror, and as his body falls to the ground, as if in slow motion a metal headed arrow slips out of Pablo's back. Coated in a sticky red substance. Blood.
Andy gasps. Shock disabling him, as he takes in Anthony and Mika's also dull eyes. Dead of the life which had not long ago flowed through their strong young bodies.
Slowly he lowers the bodies of his three teammates to the ground. Not just his teammates, but his friends. And he finally weeps.