Black Dirt

Luna sprinted down the barren mountainside. Claws scratched and scraped on the rocks behind her. A vicious snarl ripped through the air and echoed off the cliffs. The three-headed beast snapped its jaws. It was gaining on her.

The leather pouch around her neck swung wildly as she ran. Inside it was a single seed. One grain of hope.

But the monster didn't care about Luna's mission. It just wanted to fill all three of its starving mouths with her flesh, wanted to feel its teeth tear through her tendons like spaghetti.

Luna raced down the path, her feet scrambling on loose stones. She turned a corner. A dark shadow in the canyon wall caught her eye. She skidded to a halt. In the rocky crag was a small opening. She had to think fast. Could she fit in there? The wolf whined with anticipation as it rounded the bend and saw her. She bent down and pushed herself into the tiny space. Her hands grasped the sharp rocks, as her feet pushed desperately against the ground. She felt the earth shaking under the weight of the wolf's paws as it hurdled towards her. She heaved herself into the tunnel.

The wolf's heads burst into the entrance behind her, frothing and screaming. Luna could smell its hot putrid breath. The heads bit one other, mad with the scent of blood in close range. Luna flipped onto her back in the tunnel, facing the wolf. Six yellow eyes vibrated with rage, glowing neon in the dark. The mutant roared, spit flying. The middle head lunged forward, snapping at Luna's feet. She folded her knees up as fast as she could, but one long canine tooth grazed her ankle. She cried out in pain and scrambled backwards.

The wolf brought its massive paws into the entry of the tunnel. It strained forward, pushing with its hind legs, digging and scratching to squeeze itself towards her. The wolf rammed its shoulders past the entryway, trying to throw its weight against the loose rocks. It was making some leeway. Luna backed away as fast as she could in the tiny dark space. She felt something brushing against her neck. She looked up. Roots dangled above her. It took her a second realize what they were. There were few roots left in this nuclear landscape.

The wolf was inches away. Luna threw herself as far down the tunnel as she could. She leaned forward, and prayed to her ancestors. She grabbed the roots above her head and pulled.

The fibres broke away in her hand, useless and crumbing. Her heart twisted. The wolf gave one more push. Luna watched its acid eyes zoom towards her.

But in the space where the root had been wedged, a trickle of sand began to hiss. A stream cascaded down and silty earth poured itself into the wolf's eyes. The three heads shook and shrieked in unison. Luna heard the mountain shifting above her. She flipped onto her stomach and crawled down the tunnel as fast as she could.

An avalanche of sand and stone exploded behind her. The wolf twisted and thrashed, trying to follow Luna to safety, but its shoulder blades were pinned by the collapsing roof. The wolf panicked, trying to scramble back the way it came, but it was too late - its limbs slowed as sand filled every space. A boulder came loose and sealed off the entrance of the tunnel. The wolf let out a final snarl.

Luna's heart was racing. Her dusty lungs wheezed and sputtered. She was now in total darkness. She realized with horror that she had no idea if this was a tunnel or a cave. The lack of light suggested a dead end.

She had no choice but to move forward. She felt for her seed pouch. It was still around her neck. Her fingers traced the symbol stamped into the leather. She clenched her jaw, determined. She had made a promise. She had to find that door.

She pushed forward, gasping for air. She closed her eyes - it made no difference. She couldn't see anything.

She lost track of time as she crawled in the dark. She thought about the seed. There were no others like it. It had been given to her by her grandmother, in the final days of her life, her blood infected by the same poison that had caused the wolves to sprout extra heads.

Luna's grandmother had told her about the old world, where grassy fields grew plentiful, where forests were lush and green instead of brittle and barren. A world where the ground wasn't buzzing with chemicals. Her grandmother possesed a collective memory, and within that memory was a vision for the future. She had passed this vision on to Luna, through stories and songs shared through generations. And in her last days, she had given Luna the seed pouch, and told her about a secret door deep within the mountains. Behind that door was the key to a better world.

But now, in the dark, Luna's image of her grandmother grew blurry. Her limbs ached, her ankle throbbed where the wolf's tooth had cut her. Her head was spinning, dizzy and disoriented in the dark. She lay down on the jagged floor, her cheekbone jutting into the sand. She thought of the pain her grandmother had endured. She remembered the day she'd left her family, so long ago, to set out on this quest. She remembered how they looked as they watched her go. Their bodies were hungry and weak, but their faces had gleamed with faith. She was supposed to be their salvation. A tear slipped from her eye. She heard it drip softly onto the stone.

Then, she heard another drip. And another. She raised her head, confused. The sound stopped. She put her ear back to the ground. Drip. She moved along the tunnel floor on her belly, listening. Drip. Drip. The sound got louder.

Then, with a roaring whoosh, the ground disappeared beneath her.

The bottom of the tunnel gave way, crumbling and groaning, and in a downpour of sand, Luna fell.

As she landed, her mind reeled with shock. Her fall had ended, not with a crack or a thump, but with a splash. Cold, fresh water swirled around her body. Her head went under the surface. She could hear rocks and clumps of sand whizzing through the water around her. Her eyes snapped open. She could see trails of bubbles in the hazy light.

She surged upwards, gasping for air as her head broke the surface. Rubbing the water from her eyes, she looked around.

She was in a pool, surrounded by smooth, round stones. The room was dim, but compared to the dark tunnel she had just fallen from, it was like a summer's day. She looked to see where the light was coming from. She couldn't believe her eyes. All around her, sprouting from between cracks in the stone, climbing up the walls, were hundreds of glowing mushrooms, casting a soft green light throughout the chamber. But it wasn't their glow that she was shocked by. She had never seen plant life like this. In this cave, the mushrooms were growing, flourishing. She scanned the room and her eyes landed on a stone door.

She rose up from the water, astonished.

She stepped out of the pool towards it. It was only a little taller than her, made of beautiful green limestone. In the glow of the mushrooms, she could make out a small image etched into the flat plane. She moved closer. Her heart sang. This was a familiar symbol, one that she had known since she was a child. It was a barn owl, geometrically carved. She glanced at the pouch around her neck. An identical owl hieroglyph was stamped into the leather. This was the place her grandmother had told her about.

She ran her hands around the edges of the door, her spine tingling. She found a gap on the right side and pulled with all her strength. The door heaved open with a welcoming sigh.

A rush of cool, humid air hit Luna's face. Something ancient stirred deep within her memory. The breeze carried a scent that she had never experienced. But it felt like home.

It was the smell of rich, black soil. Luna cradled the seed pouch and breathed in deep.