Alex ran her hands along the rough wooden fence, feeling each splinter catch at her fingers, each patch of lichen bubbling up to meet the sun. It was an odd time of year, somewhere between Spring and Summer where the days were sweltering, and the nights were freezing.
It was also the most dangerous time of year.
There were things that lived and creeped in the woods. The size of a shed, they walked on four bare legs, with a head like a wolf but the terrible ferociousness of an incensed and rabid bear. Daylight was safe, but when night fell, you left your world and entered theirs.
“Where are you?” a voice question in her ear, a screech of feedback in the earpiece causing her to flinch and a splinter of wood to rebel from the post and pierce her skin.
“I’m by the Fence. Halfway between school and home.” she responded, raising her hand to attack the splinter in her finger. Her finger was turning red around the piece of wood, and she easily gripped the end between two fingernails, tugging until the splinter released it’s grip on her and came out, tearing along the way. She winced, then threw it away over the fence, into a grassy field.
“The sun is about to set,” the voice in her ear warned, “you better start moving.” she nodded, then remembered that he couldn’t hear her nod.
“I’m going.” she replied softly, then began walking again. She moved quickly now, far from the fence and with a determined step. It was not the time of year to be found outside at twilight. After a few minutes, the grassy fields began to turned to small houses set on large plots, all shuttered in for the night. After another few minutes the dirt road turned to cracked pavement, littered with potholes. Alex glanced to the setting sun, knowing her time was rapidly disappearing, and moved a little faster.
A sound cracked in the woods beyond the houses and her head snapped to her left to look into the gathering dark. As she looked, her heel fell deep into a pothole and her knee buckled at the unsustainable angle, sending her crashing to the ground in heap. Pain tore through her knee and ached at her hands. She sat still for a few heartbeats, assessing the damage. She raised her hands from the asphalt and inspected them first, finding only mild bleeding. Her left hand came to her knee, gently tapping around the kneecap. Piercing pain shot up and down her leg again, and she gasped, trying not to scream, not to cry.
“Alex.” the voice in her ear spoke, anger and fear setting the tone.
“I-I-I just fell.” she stammered, trying to will away the fear and pain and hopeless desperation welling up inside her.
“Well get up. You’re running out of time.”
“I can’t walk.” she murmured, already know the answer to the next test she would put on the joint. The voice in her ear went dead. Just like she was about to be.
With a heavy grunt, Alex blinked away her tears and braced her good leg under her, rising slowly to her feet and then taking a cautious step forward on her bad leg. The knee gave way immediately with more shooting, searing pain. The world was growing darker around her, and she could hear slamming doors all around.
“Dustin?” she questioned, voice and body shaking.
“We won’t reach you in time. You need to find shelter.” the voice in her ear commanded, steely and unyielding.
“I’m going to die.” she decided, sitting back down. Dustin didn’t respond. Didn’t confirm the inevitable.
As Alex sat in the growing dark, she looked up the sky and found the first of the stars. Thoughts flitted through her mind, one after another, trying to solve her dilemma.
I’m sorry I never told you I loved you, Alex thought to her mother.
I’m sorry I stole your gun and then shot you in the foot on accident, she apologised to her father.
I’m sorry I’m useless, she apologised to the world.
“Get up.” a low and husky voice snapped at her. Surprised, she looked to her left and saw a man approaching her from the fence, wielding a shotgun in his right hand. Fear burned through her first as she catalogued the size of the man approaching her, the grim set to his face, and the weapon in his hand. He was taller than her, older than her, and built like an ox. She wouldn’t survive an encounter with him.
“I said get up.” he growled as he neared. She pushed herself up again, thigh screaming at her for the work she was making it do.
“What are you still doing on the road?” he questioned, now only a few feet away.
“I was trying to get home.” her voice quivered as she spoke, and Alex tried to make it sound harder, “I stepped in the pothole and I think I ripped something in my knee.” the man’s face screwed up as he scowled, then hooked the shotgun through a belt loop on his jeans.
“I’m going to pick you up and it’s going to hurt. If you scream, I’m leaving you here.” he threatened. Without much more warning, he slid an arm under her knees and lifted up, catching her torso as she fell. He was right; her knee screeched bloody murder at her, and she fought the urge to push out of his arms and back to the hard, warm concrete. Instead, she held her breath. The man crossed the road, went through an opening in the fence, and approached the first house. He opened the door with a kick, then stepped inside and kicked the door shut. By the time he laid her down on the threadbare couch, her lungs were at their bursting point. She exhaled sharply and then inhaled deeply, feeling sweet and refreshing breath re-inflate her starved lungs. The man left, disappearing down a hallway, and Alex took the opportunity to glance around the room.
It was bare, like a single man’s house. There was the old, worn, green couch she lay on and a stained brown recliner a few feet over. There was no television, there was no radio. The floor was scarily clean, and as far as she could see, there was no personal touch to the house.
When the man returned, Alex watched him warily.
“Why are you helping me?” she questioned, voice guarded. He looked at her as he sat by her feet on the couch, gently pushing a frozen bag of peas under her injured knee. She gasped, then grit her teeth.
“I had a sister once. Last I saw her, she was your age. Went out to see the sea, began to come home right before sunset. She never got home.” he answered, speech clipped and tight. Alex averted her gaze and looked out at the front door, not knowing how to answer.
“Your family will be looking for you. I thought I’d spare another family that loss.” he continued. She nodded her thanks, and he rose, leaving the room again, only to return with what she knew was a bottle of stinging alcohol. It was rarely used in this era--they had healing sprays to take care of cuts and gashes now.
“This is going to hurt.” he reiterated as he sat by her feet again, pouring alcohol onto a cloth and then dabbing at her knee. It felt as though someone was piercing each individual cell in her knee, but all at the same time. She grit her teeth again and turned her face into the couch, burying it in the cushion. After ten minutes, he’d finished torturing her and left again. Alex relaxed slightly, pulling her face from the cushion, and looked to the ceiling, feeling the exhaustion the fear and anxiety had left in her body and mind. Sleep, it seemed, would be her reprieve. She let her head fall to the side, facing the outer wall, and she closed her eyes, trying to ignore the searing pain in her knee. Before long, she was out.
The man returned to the room some hours later and looked at Alex as he leaned against the door frame that led into the hallway. She had barely moved since he’d left, only her head having changed its facing. He approached quietly and leaned over, pulling the communicator from her ear and putting it in his own. It was too small, too tight, but it was made for a woman’s small ear.
“Hello?” he called into the void, leaving the room to head into the dark kitchen of his home.
“Who is this?” an angry voice responded, “Where is Alex?”
“Asleep. She probably will be for sometime. Her knee injury is severe. I know you can track this thing, so I expect you to come get her in the morning.” the man spoke, not reacting to the anger in the voice. There was silence for a few moments as Dustin thought on the other side of the line.
“Who are you?” he questioned tentatively, unsure of how the question would go over.
“No one.” he pulled the ear piece out of his ear, then laid it on the table and disappeared into a room.
When Alex woke up, she was in her own bed. She didn’t move at first, instead just looking at the wall and wondering if she’d just passed out in the street and miraculously survived while dreaming such a vivid dream. But as she moved to sit up, searing pain snapped through her leg and she froze, taking a deep breath. She slowly lowered herself back down to the bed, then looked across her bed at the head of dark brown that leaned against the mattress. A small smile crept across her lips as she recognised the man who’d saved her, and realised she was safe.
For now.