Meraya awoke a few hours later. There was a light dusting of sand covering her, which she easily wiped away. Sitting up, Meraya took another swig of water before standing. She pulled the compass from her pocket, reoriented towards north, and began her journey once more. Her body was exhausted from the onslaught of emotion just hours before, but she pushed on. As she walked, Meraya began to hum a soft tune. She wasn't sure where or when she had heard it but it felt ingrained into her memory. She assumed she must have heard it in her past life. Meraya cracked a smile at that, as if she had died and been reborn. In a sense she sort of did, they all had. None of them knew anything of their past lives, well those who didn't go through the changing. A sigh escaped Meraya's chapped lips. She wondered what life was like before the glade, what she was like. Meraya was wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't noticed the looming buildings appearing over the horizon. Five minutes past before her eyes focused on the red outline of crumbling buildings. Meraya paused, stopping dead in her tracks. It couldn't be real, right? A city out here in the middle of the desert in this horrible heat? Excitement bubbled in Meraya's throat as a laugh burst from her lips. "Oh my god!" Meraya pocketed the compass and picked up her pace, beginning to jog towards the city. It was still a few miles away but the excitement was too much. The idea of seeing her friends again, healthy, pushed her further and faster.
As Meraya jogged forward, figures began to appear over a hill in front of her. At first, Meraya sped up, but as she got closer, the way the figures were moving were strange. Their movements were choppy and staggered. Groans floated over to her and Meraya slowed. The figures moved closer and the noises became louder and the movements were clearly distorted. Meraya looked around her, not sure why, there was nothing there to protect her. She gulped as the figures moved ever closer and her time was running out. Meraya steadied her breathing, heart beating fast from running and fear. Her right hand gripped one of the hunting knives strapped in her belt as she braced herself for a fight. Meraya swallowed and moved forward, meeting the creatures. They looked horrid. Meraya felt her stomach churn at the sight of their burnt faces with blisters filled with pus and festering wounds scattering their bodies. The first creature lashed out, scratching her shoulder as it screamed, creating the most inhuman, deranged noise Meraya had ever heard. Fear shot down her spine, raising goosebumps on her arms despite the intense heat of the desert. She quickly brought out her hunting knife, jabbing it into the being stomach. The other two caught up quickly, surging forward as Meraya shoved the thing off of her knife. Her serrated blade was covered in thick crimson blood that glistened in the light.
Captivated by the blood on her knife, and having taken her first life, Meraya was shot back to her nightmarish reality as she was tackled to the ground by a heap of screaming, bleeding creature. The woman, at least she thought it was one, on top of her snapped her teeth at Meraya's jugular. It took all of her strength to keep the decaying woman away from her neck, one hand pushing at the woman's forehead, the other at her collar. Meraya grunted as she shoved with all of her strength, sending the woman above her crumpling to the ground. Panting, Meraya rolled on top of the woman, holding her knife high above her head. A hand grasped Meraya's calf, yanking, dragging her off the woman. Meraya screamed, dropping her knife. She felt teeth sink into the flesh of her calf, a pain-filled scream tearing from her throat. Meraya craned her neck to see a man with red swollen eyes, cracked skin, and bleeding lips with his teeth in her leg. Adrenaline coursed through her body as Meraya lifted her free leg. "Get. The. Fuck. Off. ME!" She punctuated each word with a hard kick to the man's face, a sickening crack echoing in the desert with her last words as the man's head snapped to a strange angle, breaking it.
"MURDERER!" Meraya rolled quickly, feeling her knife stab the ground where she'd previously lain just moments before. The woman who had jumped her was back and wielding Meraya's knife. She followed the teen, stabbing at her repeatedly, missing by mere centimeters each time. Meraya flipped to her back, swinging out her uninjured leg, kicking her knife free from the crazed woman's hands. Her heart pounded furiously in her chest as she raced the woman to her knife. Meraya nearly breathed a sigh of relief as her fingers wrapped around the rubber handle of the blade. She lashed out, slicing at the deranged woman, missing just by a few inches. Meraya struggled to her feet, the searing pain in her right leg nearly making her crumble into a heap. Blood oozed from her wound, warm against her skin, burning painfully with each movement. Sand coated her from head to toe, sticking to her sweaty skin. Meraya panted heavily as the woman stood across from her, panting as well. There was a moment of calm as the two women eyed each other. The silence was broken by a battle cry and they ran at each other.
The woman clawed as Meraya, finding opening to scratch at her eyes and face. Meraya blocked as well as she could with her left arm. She ducked a swipe from the woman, lunging at her from her crouched position and tackling her to the ground. Meraya held down the woman with her left hand, balling her right hand into a fist, landing hard punching to the woman's cheek over and over. Each punch landed with a wet thunk into the woman's cheek. After a few blows there was a crack, but Meraya didn't stop. She was taken over by adrenaline and fear and just kept punching. Screaming echoed in her ears, not realizing it was her own pained and terrified screams. Her vision blurred with tears that burned her eyes as her blows slowed. Sniffling, Meraya staggered to her feet, each movement forcing blood to cascade once again from the injury in her calf. Breathing heavily as tears cascaded down her cheeks, Meraya stared down at the three bodies and felt nothing. Meraya turned to look at the broken city only a day's walk away. There was no doubt in her mind that was where these things had come from. A cool breeze swept through the desert, the only seemingly normal thing to come from the hell hole she was dumped into.