Barren

The chipped gold of the chain slithered like a snake from her neck. It was no longer only rusted gold but spattered in a layer of dried blood, of who’s she was unsure. As her breathing continued through husky coughs, the girl looks it over. In her admiration, she remembers the day she had acquired the inorganic decorative object. She had been much younger then. When the sky still was blue and not covered in the heavy thicket of smog that filled her lungs daily. She had been told many stories of that world and its beauty. This object was a distinct reminder of that.

The girls eyes scanned the gold for any additional chips in its winsome exterior, but to her surprise, finds none. In the aftermath, she was sure she had ruined it. The last beautiful relic of the world before this one. Her coughing fit was slowly subsiding as her heart began to calm. She was safe now. As safe as she could be alone in the desert at dusk. It would get dark soon. She knew she was running on borrowed time here.

Howls in the wind cut through the silence and her heart that had just come back down to normal was at a standstill. Her eyes focused on the locket that was clutched between her blackened fingers. In an attempt to focus on anything other than the impending doom that was sure to greet her as soon as the night fell, the girl’s memories came flooding back as they say it does when your life is coming to an end.

Golden hair swirled in the wind like waves in the ocean. A bright, wide smile cascaded down at her and she did all she could to match that perfection. She never could. Reaching up to the Goddess, she giggled in her childish glee. The blonde-haired Goddess placed the necklace, with a heart hanging from its delicate chain around her neck. With childish confusion she silently asked for understanding. “never take it off, my child. Not ever.”

Instinct was pestering like a fly in her veins, removing her from her reverie. She should run. Run as fast as she ever had before. No, she thought, they would catch her. The only blue left in the world pierced the golden heart in her hands. She had to get back to them. Back to the colony. Back to whatever was left of her family. Running was her only option. So, with fire in her lungs, she stood tall on her feet. Her boots scuff the sand beneath her and she positions herself into a sprint. It was now or never.

Off like a cannon, her legs cry out in protest. Buckling slightly every few steps, she knew she wouldn’t make it much longer in this condition. They were much faster than her, than any human. They would catch her. Determined, she slams her feet into the ground, propelling her body faster and faster. She could smell them in the distance. The wind carries their scent like an omen of death. It wouldn’t be much longer now. She could hear them. They were gaining.

The woman’s eyes searched around her for shelter but saw none in the barren, wasted earth around her. It was just her and them now. She dare not look back less she frightens herself into surrender to the fate of death. All she had to do was push through the fear. So, she did. Pushing her legs further and further. The locket digging deeper and deeper into her hands, leaving the shape of a heart in her palm.

The patter behind her was gaining. She could hear distinctly that there was more than one this time. In the polluted distance she could see a light. Could she make it? Could she finish what she started and survive while doing so? The howls pierced her reddened ears as if they were inches from her face. She was running out of time. She was running for her life.