STRANDED 009

We headed on to the square to see what was going on. The place was rowdy due to the fact that everyone was summoned but, what made this time different was that no one was being punished and no information was being passed across.

Atom and I pushed through the crowd. He didn't know what was going on as well so, he grabbed a worker by the collar "what's happening?" He queried.

"New arrivals. Master" the timid worker replied. Atom let go; the look on his face changed from an eager one to a puzzled one. He pushed his way forth and soon disappeared through the crowd.

I searched for familiar faces, at least the one with colored heads and soon found a red one. I pushed my way through and got hold of Ruth.

"Hey boots!" She exclaimed and pulled me into her embrace "we've been worried sick. You didn't come for our daily meal. Are you okay?" She asked through the noise

"Si. I am okay" I nodded. "I five days to live" I explained; she didn't have to ask any more questions before she understood my little explanation. "What is this is happen here?" I asked

"New people."

"Creatures?"

"Yes" she nodded "which is totally strange. We are not supposed to have any more intakes till five years and bad part is, they are from Dome."

"Dome?" My eyes widened. "Me?" I scratched my head.

"Yes, you... People like you" she snapped "something is odd" and just immediately, we heard screams and shouts. Ruth and I pushed our way to the front and to our utmost shock, thirty to thirty five people were being paraded all tied in shackles. They were covered in bruises and blood.

I searched their faces - I knew all of them; we shared the dirt together but I was particular about a face. Where was Teen?

My heart began to pound. What happened? Why do they look like holocaust survivors? The questions ached my head. Then, suddenly, my eyes hit a familiar junction.

"Teen!" I yelled but the noise covered my scream. I broke from the crowd, away from the black guards that kept us away from them and rushed to him. "Teen" I held him. As soon as he saw me, he made to hold me but commander pulled him away from me and raised his whip to keep me apart from him but just in time, Atom grabbed me and pulled me away from its wrath. "Teen!" I yelled after him and my heart broke seeing him being pulled away like a rag doll. His mouth moved my name but his voice was lost somewhere in chest.

I made to break from Atom but his grip was firm. What could I do? I was just as helpless as Teen was.

I turned to Atom sharply "Teen" I told him, panting "me... Him... Dear." My voice broke as I explained and I stopped after seeing the unmoved, unfeeling expression on his face. Who was I kidding? He was just as hard-hearted as every other commander.

"Are you crazy?" He snapped, scolding me into my right senses "you wanna die before time?"

"Teen..." I pointed. My English was terrible; doesn’t anyone understand me?!

"Here, you know only yourself. Got it?" He made it clear; but I cared about Teen. If there was any blissful moment at all in my life, I had spent it with Teen. He made me happy even though I was so sad almost always. How could I not care about him?

Atom dragged me back to the pit and once we were alone, I yanked my hands out of his grip. I would never be the person that he wanted me to be. I would never be that heartless deranged one that finds solace only in shedding innocent blood.

I cared about Teen and that was final.

"You have to get a grip of yourself! Get back to work" he commanded but I stood immobile. Was Fifteen okay? Why was he covered in blood? Why did Dome dispatch over thirty people here at Elsewhere? Why? I became lost in confusion.

Atom was exasperated. He ran a hand through his air and heaved with frustration. Don't I know the gravity of what was going on? Disha wants me killed and I was still taking it lightly, am I insane or something? Of course. How could I be in my right mind? All that played in my head was the slow black and white cameo of how Teen was being dragged away from me all battered and bruised up.

The cold blankets of the night was beginning to cover the sky and I still had a lot left to know. Atom stomped to my front with a frown etched deeply in his eyes; he was close enough that I felt his breath against my face. I knew he was mad, about to scold me like an errant child but all I could still think of was Teen.

"Did you hear me?" He was steadying his voice, trying to contain his anger.

I looked up at him, my eyes glassy with tears. "You are gonna cry now? You are gonna cry?!" He yelled

"Teen noi secundo. Para se du carve bin (Teen isn't a bad person. I need to know he is okay)" I said, my voice breaking as I spoke.

"What makes you think you can talk to me?" He was being a bastard again. "You are below me. You don't speak..."

"Si yen (please)" I said voicelessly, cutting him short. Then, something happened. He went mad with rage. He grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out of the pit into the cold still night.

We kept going far and far, beyond the fields "parvo... Vu ni sayo? Tu si den Teen puterico ma si da si... Buni sayo! (Wait... can’t you just wait? I just want to know if Teen is okay... Just wait!!" I yelled but he didn't listen. I wasn't begging for myself, I was more particular about Teen, I guess that drove him crazier.

He took me into the still of the night, out of the wired fence, into the woods. The wind at Elsewhere was so breezy but he didn't mind, he threw me into the dirt, pulled my wrists and cuffed me to one of the trees.

I was going to spend the night out in the woods alone? I looked around and fear grasped my heart. "The wolves might get lucky" there was this huskiness in his voice.

"I know Atom no bad... I know Atom wants right thing. I know Atom..."

"You don't know shit about me. You know, I was stupid to think you would for once keep your mouth shut! You won't make it anywhere by talking too much". I saw the uneven rise and fall of his chest. "You..." His voice broke. He ran a hand through his hair. He swallowed hard and stormed off.

"Atom... si yen" I called voicelessly but he didn't look back.

Out in the cold with no hope of warmth, nothing to keep me company than the sorrowful cricket choir at the background and the howling of the hungry wind. What if the wolves got lucky? What if Atom left me here to die? I shivered and my breathing became irregular, pushing steam against the freezing night. My throat became dry and gradually, my lips turned blue and began to crack.

I pressed my hand to my chest but sooner, they started to straighten out, freezing in their own slow-painful way.

The fog settled over me like a choking miasma that meant to strangle life out of me. I have failed and I tried to close my eyes. But even at that, I failed.

I cuddled myself but there was little that could do. I had seen Atom eyes; it told me to hang on and now, he had lost every faith in me. His eyes told me to slip away.

A silent cry escaped my throat. Elsewhere had a slow way of torturing compared to Dome; Elsewhere is run by demons, hell dwellers, people who had no amount of good in them. People who killed without an atom of mercy left in them.

I had seen compassion once in Atom's eyes when he held my shoulders and told me to survive. Was I wrong about that too?

What was my purpose anyway? I had lived with my past erased. I knew nothing about where I came from only that the name of the place was Athena and it got destroyed.

I had my life in the hands of people who didn't value it, people who saw it as one more burden to bear.

All these thoughts ran in my head alongside millions of other thoughts and slowly, the lights in my eyes started to dim.

I fought to keep them open but the more I tried, the weaker I became and the more pain drifted round my body.

If there was a God, today, I would know for sure.

My eyes fluttered weakly the pounding of my chest became really abnormal - hypothermia consuming me gradually.

My ears pricked as I heard rustling amongst the wet grass.

Could it be the wolves? Was it a snake? I almost ran mad with anxiety. Nervosa consumed me and I began to tremble; through the dimmed light of my eyes, I saw a huge mammal. Its sharp teeth glistening in the moon. It's hungry tongue out, panting as it circled me.

My eyes fluttered and to my horror, it wasn't just one -they were four.

Four hungry wolves.

I tried pulling my hands out of the cuffs but they were tight and I would crush my wrists if I dared.

I was running out of breath and was too weak to save myself. My eyes went glassy with tears again as I struggled but this was the end; I stared death in the face.

I would just let my eyes fall and let the wolves kill me for there was nothing I could do; nothing could save me this time.

I shut my eyes as I held on to the necklace on my neck. I heard them approach me, I could hear their panting. I squealed within me waiting for them to pounce...

Waiting, waiting...

I heard whisking sounds and screeches. My weak eyes opened but I couldn't see anything just a dark figure that enveloped me and I blacked out.

***

Am I dead? I sniffed with my eyes closed. Is this what death smelt like?

It smelt of warmth and I lay on its soft comfy sheets that wrapped me. I touched my skin and it felt woolly my eyes still closed.

Is this my after life? Am I now a sheep or something?

My eyes flew open and weakly the pain in my legs began to register. Only that I was not dead, I was in Atom's living space. On his bed? Dressed in a black sweatshirt? How come? Am I fantasizing? I put my good hand down and God so help me, ever so carefully, I raised myself to sit.

There was a super-being somewhere and he was indeed looking out for me because, nobody could have survived that night.

I was still processing all these in my head when the door pushed open and Atom stepped in. My heart skipped a beat and it began to hit a crescendo. I tried to steady my breath, looking away from him but before I could conclude on my next move, he came over and sat close to me on the huge-soft-cushion that served as bed. To my surprising, he took off his jacket and draped it around my shoulders.

He was a cold-icy bastard that left me to die in the cold in the company of hungry wolves but this one warm gesture of his melted something within me.

I raised my eyes slowly and met his glare. Gosh! He was so handsome, I had never stared at him so up-close before.

His brown eyes shot into mine like a burning spear and we just stayed like that for many seconds before shame grasped my face and I looked away. My face drooped to my intertwining fingers that sat on my lap and tension filled the air.

The silence stretched, both of us not knowing what to say, or what to say first, or what not to say.

I wouldn't dare say a word; not now. Not when I just got off the hook for being a loud mouth.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked. His voice was gentle.

"Ye? (What?)" My face shot to meet his glare and returned back when I caught his eyes still fixed on me.

"I hurt you" he began "I didn't mean to." But I kept mute. "You were right when you called me a killer. You were also right when you said I was mean but I never intended to be that way with you" I didn't fully understand what he said but his voice sounded gentle "you are different" he repeated.

My gaze shifted to him again and his eyes were still on me. There was something about his gaze that made me weak to speak at the moment. "And I was wrong when I called you weak. You are the bravest woman I've ever known"

Did he just refer to me as a woman and not a creature? I blinked hoping this was just one bad dream because the Atom I've spent four days with would never stoop so low to do that. He made it clear that he was my master and I was his slave. Was my head really that messed up? "You need to rest" he stood to his feet abruptly "I shouldn't drain you." He added but he wasn't draining me, this was a dream and this wasn't something I just wanted to let go of.  He went to a table at the far end of the room that carried a stove and from the pot on the stove, he poured a green-like liquid into a cup and strode back to me. He settled very close and handed it to me "drink. It would keep you warm" he commanded but this time, to me, it felt like a plea.

I took it from him and sipped from it. It smelt like grass; something I have never tasted before so, I only drank little and handed it back to him.

He set it on a cabinet beside him and cleared his throat "pur...pur condo... Err... Pur condo dem... Demanasto" he said forcefully. Only that he meant to say Purta condo demanasto which meant "you are safe with me" in Dome language but it was him I scared the most. He created a kind of fear in me that made me want to hate him but be by his side. That fear that he might kill me anytime but knew how to protect me. But it sounded funny; he didn’t have to speak Dome because of me and besides, he sucked at it.

"No" I told him

"No?" He raised a brow

"You say purta condo demanasto" I corrected and for the first time in my life, I could swear I saw a smile part his lips. It made my heart race even more.

"Purta condo demanasto" he repeated and I felt a metal drop to the bottom of my belly. This man nearly killed me more than twice - how could I still bear to have him by my side. I should run away from him but looking at him, I saw two sides.

I saw a beast that destroys anything that defies him and I could also see a weak man trying to gain possession of himself. A man who is capable of feeling emotions though he already made up his mind not to.

Our eyes locked in a stare again and he whispered something "I promise"

"Why?" I asked him

"You don't know how much you affect me, do you? You remind me of someone..."

"Jonas?" I had said that only to realize that I had spoken way beyond boundary again. A slight frown pulled in his face and fear grasped my heart but his eyes softened seconds later and what seemed to be a frown was replaced with a remorseful look.

"You are not Jonas" he said to me "you are Athena" I blinked then he suddenly shook the look off his face. "Okay Twenty two... You need to rest while I check out what is going on with the other black workers" but before he made for the door, I threw the blanket off my feet and swung my legs out of bed. As soon as they hit the floor, they made a tingling sensation but I ignored it.

I stood to my feet using the wooden table on my left as support.

"I want to survive too" I said quietly "I want to not to die in next two days"

"I'll get Disha to extend the days"

"Disha it won't" I limped towards him, my breathing now becoming irregular "I need to prove myself. I need to... Not to die. I need to protect Teen. I need to be your Athena" I said quickly as I ran out of breath.

But Atom didn't listen to me.

"What are you doing? You need to get your feet off the ground." He came close and lifted me back onto the bed. "Stay put till I come back" he was gentle and it made me feel like a child in the hands of her father. I never experienced such warmth ever before. The only warmth I even got was from the crackling sound of whip across my back and the dampness of the dirt I slept it. This was indeed different for me.

But I shouldn't trust this. Trust should be the last thing on my mind when it came to black soldier. His temper was something that frightened me and made cold returned to my heart.

As he made to leave, I caught him by the hand "Teen... Dome people"

"Some of them didn't make it" he said flatly and my eyes widened in horror. "But Teen is fine."

"I want to see them"

He heaved and I feared he was getting upset but to another surprise, he raised a hand to my shoulder and spoke still in the same gentle voice. "You'll see them but first, you have to listen to me and be fine" he withdrew from me and stood to his feet.

"Don't go anywhere" he ordered. "I'll be back" he reached for his blade and disappeared through the door. 

I sat still for a while then my restless subconscious began to worry again. I wanted to know if Teen was okay; I needed to be sure.

I swung my feet out of bed again and using the wooden table as support, I couldn't just sit here and do nothing. I have to prepare myself for whatever was ahead, I needed to survive. Only then would I be able to be there for Teen.

I grabbed my blade from the shelf and belted it to my waist.

Steadily, I released my grip from the table and once I found my stamina, I made for the door.

I was defying Atom again but he wouldn't know; I would be back before he noticed.

 

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