Disclaimer: Umm, duh, I totally don't own LoTR.
Oh, I also don't think the people who do the 30-hour famine are geeks.
Chapter 2: Berries are evil.
Kyra looked around. After her great session of weeping, she had finally had the sense to wash most of the material off her hand in the river. But she hadn't been able to find anything to make a bandage with besides the black wet cloth thing, and she definitely wasn't wrapping her had up in that. She had decided to take the sword with her, despite having no idea how to use it properly. Still, she figured she was better off with it than without it. She had been picking her way through the area for about 2 hours, but she hadn't made much progress.
It was starting to get dark, and as such the temperature was dropping. She was only wearing her halter-top and jeans and was starting to shiver. Kyra also had absolutely no idea where she was going. She had just started walking along the path of the river. However, she did know that sooner or later she was going to need to figure out where she was going. Seeing as it was around evening, the sun would be in the west. Kyra stopped walking, and looked up. Well, there it was. So if that was west, then she was going something like southwest. That was fine by her. Going south meant that it was going to get warmer.
At this point Kyra's stomach growled loudly. She hadn't seen anything that she was willing to eat yet, and as far as she could tell there were no fish in the river. Faced with a hungry night herself, she was starting to grudgingly admire those geeks who did the 30-hour famine. Her legs were tired from all the walking, (she had never put much effort into Phys. Ed. at school, and wasn't really a fan of strenuous exercise anyway. "It screws up my hair,") so she decided to find a place comfortable enough to sleep. She soon found a spot which was nice and flat and big enough for her to stretch out. After going to get a quick drink from the river she sat down on her new bed. It was getting darker, and soon there wasn't enough light to see very far. Kyra had never been scared of the dark before but she was now. She was cold, alone, tired, and she didn't really know where she was. She did know that she most probably wasn't on Earth, but that didn't help much. She wasn't even sure how she had gotten here. She likened it to dreaming. Undoubtedly something interesting and important happened but you could never remember it. The noises all around her weren't helping. She thought she heard footsteps at least 3 times in as many minutes. All she really wanted now was to just go to sleep. Kyra soon found out that the ground is a lot harder than a mattress and that trying to sleep without a pillow when she'd had one for the last 14 years is quite difficult. After rolling around trying to get into a semi-comfortable position, she finally gave up and sat up again. She would have gone looking for another place to sleep but it was so dark now that she wasn't about to risk tripping over a large quantity of stones and anthills. It was a windless night and the sky was clear. She was amazed at how many stars she could see. At home the lights were always on in the streets and a person was lucky if they could see the Big Dipper or Cassiopeia. She missed the sounds of the city though. She missed the soft hum of a car going by, the quick clap-trap-clap of a person walking home, and the occasional pounding of the bass from a concert somewhere. Laying down and curling up again, she finally went to sleep.
Waking up the next morning, Kyra found herself covered in prickly little fruits and little clods of dirt. She was still cold and hungry, but now with the beginnings of a nasty cold. She felt dizzy and tired even though she had slept without interruption all through the night. The cut on her hand was throbbing and the flesh around it looked infected.
"Great," she said to herself, "this is exactly what I need. An infected hand and pneumonia. Just great."
After taking a few minutes to pick off the larger spiky things and dirt clods she set off southwest again, but now with a keen eye for anything that could serve as breakfast. Her problem was that the area seemed eerily devoid of life. There were small river plants growing on the banks, but any animals in the area were doing a splendid job of staying hidden and silent. 'Bwaa,' she thought, 'it's pointless. I'm not going to find any food here; even if I did I have no way to cook it. I'm probably going to die out here in this version of refrigerator-land, either from starvation, blood poisoning, or hypothermia.' Just as she finished thinking this, a small bunny ran across her path. Kyra figured it was better than nothing, and tore after it. As she ran she desperately tried to get the sword into her good hand the infected palm started stinging again. Meanwhile, the bunny had managed to disappear. She stopped running and cursed. 'Why do the little fuckers run so fast? Dammit, my hand hurts like a bitch. This is so not my fault! I'll bet those hos back at school are laughing their asses off. Fucking nerds. This is their entire fault. They're the only people who could have made my fucking toilet swallow me!' She drove the sword into the ground in frustration. She was hungry, and those nerds had helped that rabbit get away. It was so obvious.
Kyra's train of thought stayed like that for the rest of the morning, switching back to how she could get food as lunchtime approached. She had gone farther than she had the previous day, but there still wasn't anything that she really felt like eating. She was getting tired from all the walking, and sword in her hand was feeling quite heavy. Mumbling curses she sat down and decided to take a break. After a lengthy grumbling session, she turned around and saw the first real glimmer of hope for food yet. It was a small, brown, and prickly bush, but there were berries on it. Sauntering over and looking a good deal smugger than she ought to have, Kyra tore a couple of the berries off the bush. Popping them into her mouth and chewing, she found they had a rather sour taste. But at this stage anything tasted good. While she gathered up more into her hands, her stomach gave a happy rumble of approval. Wiping her juice-covered hands on her jeans, Kyra swore again as the infection sent another spike of pain rushing through her arm. After getting the berries and the sword into her hand, she decided she might find more food if she tried going away from the river.
She continued that way for another couple of hours before she noticed that her insides were feeling very strange. She thought she felt her stomach twisting around in knots, and fell down with a cry. It seemed that her digestive tract had decided to start cramping up. She wanted to vomit, but her throat was closing. Curling up in a little ball, Kyra realized what was happening. She threw the remaining berries as far away from her as she could, which wasn't too far. With tears streaming down her face, she tried using the sword to help her get up. She got about halfway into the air before a fresh wave of pain brought her back down. After trying this five more times with the same result, Kyra realized that she wasn't going anywhere until her stomach gave up.
I am having so much fun coming up with difficult situations for her. She deserves it too!
SouthernGaelic – I'm terribly sorry my grammar and spelling aren't up to scratch. I will try to make my chapters longer too. Oh, by the way, I think you are awesome. Sorry for the sucking-up.
Calliope Foster - I try not to be abrasive when commenting. All it does is annoy people. Anyway, that sword is going to be very important later on. I know it's not exactly canon for her to find a Ringwraith's sword, and I will probably get flamed for it. Though, according to one of the Rivendell elves (I can't remember who), they found a tattered cloak on the banks. But they would have found the sword too, because Kyra arrived after they'd first found the horses. After all, they were decomposing.
Ooh, true fact. I was stupid enough not to proof-read my chapters, so my spelling was horrible. I feel like a total idiot because I can't punctuate dialogue properly.
