Shun

We took the first step out of the snow, and back onto the familiar ash of the Wastelands. Instead of still going North like we had been, we turned to head West like the map wanted. Now, we were out of the snow and cold temperatures. I wasn't complaining about that, but the people from the Tribe didn't seem to be fairing well with the temperature increase.

This was a drastic change for them; they've lived their whole lives in freezing temperatures and snowstorms. A little bit of comfortable weather for us, would end up making them miserable. Already, I could see the sweat pouring from their hair, and many of them slipped out of the thick jackets they wore so they could try and cool down. Feliciana, who was still up front and leading the dog sled teams, had also taken off her jacket and was fanning herself with her hand.

Even the dogs looked like they could have used a cooling down. Since they were already sweating and dying from the heat, I knew we'd have to find water and shade for them soon, or we'd lose them like we did the people from the lake when we crossed into the snowstorm. Or as Murucho had called it, the "Snow Zone." Same with the lake, which he predictably called the "Lake Zone."

Something told me that every stop we made, it was going to be called some kind of 'zone.' But, it was the only thing we had to call them, so we went along with it. Feliciana held up one hand, and put the other in her mouth to let out a shrill whistle. The dog sleds stopped, along with everyone else.

"The dogs need to take a short break. I suggest everyone else do the same thing," she said and stepped off her sled. The people from the Tribe we sitting down, and the refugees we brought with us from the lake, were trying to help cool them down.

It was surprising to see them, these people who had never known the other existed, helping one another out. All in the name of trying to get everyone to safety. A small man was tending to the dogs, and I caught a glimpse of Feliciana digging around in the supplies that was on one of the sleds.

I walked over to her and asked, "What are you doing?" She didn't look at me while she was untying a rope, but she said, "I'm going to look around and do some hunting if I can. It would hurt to try and get a little more food than we have now." My eyes started to scan around the Wastelands.

There was nothing out here. I asked, "And what do you plan on hunting?" Feliciana then pulled out some kind of weapon made out of rope, then lifted a bag of small pebbles out. She looked at me and said, "Whatever I can find." She tied to rope back over the supplies and started to walk out into the Wastelands.

I didn't doubt her ability to hunt, but I did doubt the chances she had of finding her way back here. The Wastelands looked pretty much the same, and I knew on a personal level how easy it is to get lost in them. She vanished out of my sight, and I sighed.

If something happened to her, then there was no telling how her people would react. They might not even want to continue the journey and just stay where they were at until they died. Murucho was sitting down in the ash, reading the map as usual. Alice and Dan were standing next to him and talking; I was too far away to tell what they were saying.

I suddenly didn't want to stay here anymore. This place that Feliciana picked to stop was just too wide open for my liking. Memories of how the Officials snuck up on us back at the lake, returned to my mind. From what I had learned, stopping for too long could end badly. Proof of that came back from the lake, and at my old home. None of us had the slightest clue where the Officials were, or how far away they were from us.

Feliciana needs to hurry back. The longer we stayed in that one place, the more antsy I got. We were wasting time and only decreasing the distance between us and the Officials. I would have thought Feliciana would have thought about this. Just when I was about to head off in the direction she left in, I saw her walking back.

Already it was starting to grow dark, and I was sure that none of us wanted to travel through the unforgiving Wastelands without being able to see. She held several dead birds in her hands, and I was impressed with the kind of aim she had. But there was hardly any meat on the birds, and nowhere near enough to feed the mass of people we had accumulated.

But some was better than none, right? She walked by me and threw the birds onto her sled, and started to wrap them up in a bag. One of the dogs snuck beside her and was sniffing the bird carcass. When she noticed him, she popped him on the nose and said sternly, "No. You'll get your food soon enough."

The dog grumbled and walked back to his own kind. I hurried over to her and said, "It's about time you got back." Alice and the four of her friends walked up behind me. Feliciana shrugged and said, "I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything while I was out."

The five people behind me, must have felt the same way about staying in the one spot for so long because Murucho said, "I think we should hurry and start moving again. We lost a lot of time, and have a lot of ground to gain back." Feliciana was putting her weapon back on the sled, keeping her back facing us and not responding to Murucho's words.

Dan glanced at everyone and then looked at the sister of Christina. "It's getting dark, which means it will be cooler than it is during the day. Your people should be able to travel better." Feliciana gave one good tug on the rope and said, "I know this. I'm about to get the dogs tied back up and then we'll head on out."

Dan and the others looked at one another, then walked off, leaving me still standing by Feliciana. She was holding herself up by leaning against the sled's supplies, and she sighed. I then realized she didn't go out into the Wastelands to hunt, but rather to clear her mind from some things.

And I knew that those things, were Christina. Taking the news of what happened to her sister, was just as hard for her as it was for me. Except my wounds had started to heal, while hers had just been inflicted. I was fortunate to have Alice by my side and trying to help get me over the loss of my friend.

As far as I knew, Feliciana didn't have anyone to comfort her through the ordeal that her sister was gone. And I had no clue how, or if, I could help her. This was different for the two of us; Christina had only been my friend, while she had been Feliciana's sister.

This was flesh and blood we were dealing with. Not just a friendship. The dog teams were hooked back up, and our caravan was on the move through the falling night. It was very intimidating to go through the Wastelands in the dark, and not knowing what to expect.

Because of this, the dog sled team was going slower, and all the people we were taking with us were huddled closely together so we didn't lose anybody. I was trying to find anyone I might recognize, but I couldn't make out any facial features from the people around me.

I was fretting that we were going to end up losing people because we couldn't see where we were going. But I had to have some faith that nothing bad would happen. I should have known better with our luck. Ahead of us in the darkness, I heard the dog sled teams scream.

Unable to see, none of us knew what was going on with them. Had the Officials found us somehow? Every person that we had with us, started to freak out and the confusion only grew from there. I stumbled forward blindly and yelled, "Hey! What happened!"

I took one more step, and it was like the ground beneath me turned to dust, sending me sliding down a slope into further darkness. I didn't even have a chance to scream before I hit my head on what felt like a rock, and went out.

Shun

I groaned when I finally came to, and pushed myself up to a sitting position. It was still too dark for me to see anything, so I had no clue where I was at, or who might have been around me. But I soon realized that I couldn't see anything not because it was still dark.

Apparently, when I hit my head, my vision was stunted. This made me start to panic, and I frantically ran my hands across the ground to try and find anything that might tell me where I was at. The ground felt like the ash in the Wastelands, but it was much more coarse and fine, and not like a powder.

I shut my eyes as tightly as I could, and kept opening them up, hoping that my vision would return soon. I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to see again, and that I would end up dying wherever I was at. Then, it was like a light was slowly being turned on, and I began to regain my sight. I let out a long sigh of relief that I wouldn't be blind the rest of my life.

Although everything was still fuzzy, I was able to make out what was around me. From what I could tell, dawn was starting to rise. The more my eyes came back into focus, I could see that people were laying on the ground around me. My eyes were, at last, completely back in focus, and I could see who was around me.

It was all the people who were manning the dog sleds; Feliciana and Murucho included. The sleds themselves, were turned over on their sides, but it didn't look like any of the supplies fell off. I looked behind me, and saw Dan laying on the ground unconscious.

That was it though. There were none of the people from the Lake Zone, and only the people who were on the sleds. There was no sign of Alice or the other two girls that were her friends. Moving my attention from the people around me, I turned to my surroundings.

What had felt like ash, was sand. And what I slid down, was a huge slope that led into this giant bowl-shaped hole that was filled with the sand. I looked up at where I had fallen from, and didn't see any signs of anyone else that had stayed up there. I started to get worried about where they had gone while we were out and trapped in this hole. "Anyone up there?"

I shouted. No answer. Behind me, Feliciana started to wake up. She looked around, confused as I was when I finally came to. The rest of the people who had fallen into this sand trap, were also starting to wake up. After a few minutes passed, and everyone had gotten over their confusion and realized what happened, we started to figure out a way to get out of this hole.

Getting out involved taking the dogs and the sleds with us, if we could. If we couldn't, then we would be leaving behind all the blankets and food we took with us. The incline of the hole was way too steep for any of us to climb up, and the loose sand on it didn't help us either.

Murucho's eyes then lit up, and he ran over to one of the sleds and took the rope off of the supplies, spilling them on the ground. He found a metal spear that the Tribe had brought with them, and tied to rope to it. Dan was shaking his head and asked, "What are you doing?"

Murucho made sure the rope was secure and said, "Maybe there's a rock or something up there that we can hook this to. Then one of us could climb up and hold the rope while everyone else climbs out." It was the only plan we had, so that automatically made it the best. Murucho handed the rope contraption over to Feliciana and asked if she was able to try and throw the rope all the way to the top of the hole.

She took it and said, "I'll give it a shot." We all stepped back, giving her plenty of room. She spun the rope in a circle a few times, then let it fly. The metal spear landed at the top of the hole, but when she tugged at it to see if she caught anything, it fell right back down and joined us again.

This went on for what seemed like forever. The sun was already halfway across the sky, and it would start setting soon. Dan growled and said in an agitated voice, "This is ridiculous. There's nothing up there for it to catch on. We're only wasting time." I sighed. We all were aggravated that we had been trapped in this hole, exposed to the sun's heat and rays.

So, I was expecting one of us to snap eventually. Murucho looked at Dan and said, "Let's give it one more chance." Feliciana heard what Murucho said, and she took a deep breath as she prepped herself for one more go. I could see in her eyes, that she wasn't expecting anything to happen.

She let the rope fly, and it landed on the ground above us. When she tugged the rope, it was like everyone held their breaths. If this didn't work, then I had no clue what we'd do after this. She pulled the rope, and it wouldn't fall back down into the hole. It had caught on something.

Murucho smiled and said, "Alright!" We all agreed that Murucho, being the smallest, should go up the rope first in order to reduce the risk of the rope losing its hold. So, he did and made it successfully to the top. While he held onto the rope, one by one, all of us escaped.

All that was left now, were Feliciana, Dan, and me. We wanted to keep the sleds and dogs, so we tied to rope to them and lifted then up. Once all of those things were out, Feliciana climbed up. Then, I did. When I joined the others, I saw that all the people that had been with us last night, were nowhere to be found.

All of them had vanished. A sick feeling formed in my stomach as thoughts raced through my mind. It wasn't as much as the loss of all the people, but more along the lines of the possible loss of Alice. Below me, Dan was almost to the top of the hole, when the rope snapped.

He was about to fall back down the slope, but I caught his arm just in time. He looked up at me, not expecting that I would catch him. Along with the help of some others, we pulled Dan up. He dusted himself off, then looked at me. "Thanks. That could have ended badly."

I nodded and told him, "No problem. Now, we need to figure out where the others went." That was much easier said than done. Because we all turned to look out at the Wastelands and its vastness. But no long was all of it ash.

During some point of our traveling last night, we had crossed over into a sand covered stretch of land. And already, the heat was rising. We had to work quickly and try to find them. If that was even possible.

greetings fellow readers! i'm back once again. sorry for not uploading the past two days. band stuff as usual. I had our banquet last night and walked out of there as Most Valuable for the 2nd year and Advanced Musicianship. feeling totally accomplished! woo! well, read, review, and other things! ~Copperpelt~