My knees flopped to the dry soft sand. My heart was beating a mile a minute. I slumped back on throbbing legs beneath me, arms dangling by my side. My poor lungs wouldn't quit.
I felt lightheaded and dizzy. My chest was seizing in throbbing pain. Both my lungs were throwing a cow. The inside of my skull pounded. Ears ringing. My heart's rapid rate barely changed.
A hundred yards. A hundred yards on my sore aching boots. I shouldn't have ran. But my legs wouldn't have stopped. Now they hurt. Everything hurts. My arms, legs, stomach and joints ache. Everything is throbbing, past the point of exhaustion. The edge of my vision is becoming darker and blurry. The inner ears roared with the sound of strained breathing. Legs ready to give out. My body pushed to the brick of collapse. My own resolve wavered. Yet, she needed me.
I flopped face first to the cool sand. For a second I wait there, face down. Then I realized. There was no time. I had to get up and face the music. My body may fail but I won't. I opened my heavy eyes. So heavy were the lids of my eyeballs as they rose gradually. I groaned through shut lips.
A few feet away, the gaping cracked sinkhole appeared before me like a hideous worm shaped beast beckoning for its next victim. That would be me. I grunted.
Elbows and knees. I began to crawl like a worm dragging my stomach over the build up of cool sand. Flattening it with my hot exhausted body. My chin bumped over the uneven surface. Elbows dig in. My knees pushed. I didn't bother to even lift my chest. I slide along the earth.
Hands reached out and grasped the uneven ledge. Bits of earth rolled over into the depths. My neck stretched as my red hot face drew over the edge. Peering into the depths, first there was nothing then my eyes began to adjust.
The earthen walls stretched far down until it hit a brown stained bottom. In the dead center of the hole lied the reflecting puddle. Seemingly reflecting light from above? I looked up. The strange alien moon was making its way across the night sky faster than our moon ever could.
From the surface along walls curved inward. In the center, Water, clear and clean and pristine as the day it came from the ground. It appeared to be soft for a suitable landing. Yet I had nothing to test it with. I stared at the bottom. Letting my breathing slowly come down. My heart stopped beating in my throat.
Without a thought, I pushed and slid over the edge.
Falling weightlessness. Dead silence as blurred walls flew by. I hit the bottom and rolled. Head over heels, tumbling. I rolled right into the rugged rock, my ass taking the full impact. Ooafff! I laid upside down on my shoulders and upper back, legs sprawled out on the solid wall.
What was I thinking? My head rotated as my neck cranked. Sand sneaked inside my loose collar down my shirt. That did not go as planned. It was too narrow to roll in after that long fall. Hunah indeed.
Limbs began to move. I kicked off the wall and flipped, ending up on my face and chest. My cheeks graced the rocky sand beneath me.
"Pffft" I spit out bits of dirt and sand and rolled over. That did not go well at all. I could have been seriously injured. Or even killed. Then I'll never be able to crawl out of this shit hole.
My eyes flicked to the shallow shiny puddle in the center of the floor.
Water as clear as pure diamonds, with a shiny hue. The surface was flat and undisturbed with not even a single ripple. The water's edge at a slight upward incline from the walls. Fist sized stones and cracked rocks embedded on the ground floor. The tiniest bit of moonlight creaked over the top's ledge. Its alien hue intersected with the puddle's surface, changing it into a rainbow of colors.
I got up and kneeled beside the puddle. Knees pressed down on the rocky surface. The prize was just within reach. I retrieved my canteen with considered caution.
I eyed the suspicious water. Was it safe? Drinkable? Will it do anything to me? Should I risk it? It's the only water I saw for miles and miles. I held the canteen over the eerily still puddle. Not even the weight of my footsteps could disturb the surface. It was eerily pristine.
My right hand drifted over the water. A single index finger dipped below the surface. A sudden chill shot through my body. It was barely cool to the touch. Should I? I closed my eyes and withdrew my hand. Only one way to know for sure. I silently counted…1…2…3
I plunged the canteen in.
The jug slipped below the surface, up to my wrist. Pristine water flowed inward. Little bubbles escaped out in big gulps. The surface tension was broken. Tiny wakes flow outward. Agonizing moments passed. The canteen grew heavy and sank. I watched. Bubbles lessened. The container splashed out of the puddle straight into my waiting mouth
Metallic flavor, iron and copper rolled over my tongue, in my mouth. Minerals deep in the earth tainted my lips and gums. Nothing like it back on earth. Nor in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. This was…wonderful, exotic. Out of this world. Nothing I had come close to this. It was new and different. Something one would never encounter in America or the first world. I swallowed every bit of it. It was good, so cool. I wanted more. Something to quell this desperate thirst.
I plunged the jug back in, letting it sink below the water, waited a bit and pulled it out. It flew to my mouth. I took a long swig. Then came the after taste. The lukewarm liquid now turned bitter. My tongue retched, rebelling at the now flavor. I gagged. My throat continued to swallow. Hard mineral water forced down into my stomach. Yet I refused to stop. The canteen pulled from my sloppy mouth. I wiped my lips on my sleeve.
The little waves on the puddle's surface began to settle. Moonlight gradually poured into the hole from above. The bottom floor began to fill with eerie moonlight. I rested. The night sky shifted every so slightly with the unfamiliar twinkled stars. Relaxed, I began to examine the stars above trying to make sense of the shapes or familiar figurines that were so common back on earth. I shivered. Why did it seem so far away? I felt dizzy and lightheaded. I sat there focusing on my slowing breaths. My heart no longer thumped but settled quietly in my chest. I put the canteen back in the puddle.
The plastic jug slowly filled with water. The escaping bubbles grew smaller till there were only a couple left. Only calm silence remained.
My eyelids grew heavy. I sat back on my sore ass on the rocky surface. My eyelids briefly closed as my figure slacked. My mind began to drift…
What about Elly? A little voice spoke in my mind.
"Oh shit"
I snapped awake. I rolled onto my knees and retrieved the canteen, plunking it out of the still water.
How long has it been? I looked around frantically. The alien moon's light no longer filled the hole's bottom. Only a tiny sliver of it remained.
I scanned the edges of the hole, looking for a foot or hand hold I could use to climb up. I must get back. Elly needs me.
Who…is…she? A nagging question plunked my conscience.
I stopped with the canteen in hand, half hanging out of its holder.
I…don't…know.
Has she ever told you? About herself?
No, she has only mentioned she was a friend and she needed my help.
What about where she is from? Who are her …friends? Companions? Family?
No…she hasn't-
What secrets is she keeping from you?
My fist slammed into the wall. "Damnit!" My voice rang out inside the hole, dampened by the solid earthen walls.
"I should ask her," I spoke out loud.
I should walk right up and ask her directly to her face. What the hell is going on? Why are we here and what are we doing here? Then she'll have to tell me everything.
My fist hit the wall, again.
No secrets, no hiding. I need to know what the hell is going on.
I have…too many questions. Thoughts swirled in my head. Who is she and why is she here? What is her purpose and mission? How do I fit in all this?
Wasn't she being ridden by Captain Williams? Wasn't he the better man? For this? Why me? Why did she pick me? I am just a lowly grunt in this US army. I have no special qualifications or medals. There are no honors for me coming back home dead or alive. I am not a coward.
Again, my fist pounded the sand, repeatedly.
I have to know the truth. This can't be a coincidence.
She risked her life for me…why? I don't know. It doesn't make any sense.
What purpose do I serve in all of this? There has to be an answer. I don't know. Why me, why all this. She must know. I have to ask her straight.
I set the canteen back in the pool. Bubbles leaked out as the container sank below the surface. I gazed at the crystal clear moving surface.
She has to know. I will ask her even if it takes me a long time to get around to it. She can't/won't refuse me. I must know the truth. I must have the answer…It has to come from her.
Wait. How long has it been? I looked at my wrist. Of course there wasn't a watch. I hissed. I must get back. Elly needs me. I must hurry. Elly needs me. She must be desperate by now. Once she has recovered, I will have her tell me the truth. I picked up the canteen out of the puddle.
I stood up. My head on a swivel as I scanned the hole up top. My hand pulled out the canteen. My right arm drew back behind me and released. The canteen summersaulted out of the hole and out of sight. A brief second later, a soft thump heard from up high above.
I clicked my tongue and made a running start. Boots splashed over the pool, striking over sand as I sprinted at the dirt wall
"Hrrnh!"
I jumped. Hands grabbed onto holds. Boots stuck into toeholds. I climbed. Fast and then slower and slower, inching my way up. Fingers desperately grabbed through falling sand. I gagged and spit as loosened earth fell on my head and shoulders. I cursed and swore. The climbing came to a stop. A sudden pain shot up in my left ankle. I swore with a surge of unexpected strength.
Boots and hands scrapped at the falling dirt and sand, looking, searching for a hold. I climb stubbornly. The ledge was within reach. A few more inches. I gritted my teeth. Falling sand blanketed my face. I looked through squinted eyes. My thighs tensened. I drew back and then jumped skyward. My right hand grabbed the edge. Hooah!
I dragged my body over the ledge, legs kicking air. Soft sand embraced my figure as I rolled onto my back. Lungs gasping as my chest heaved. The stars in the sky twinkled above. The moon was nowhere near where it was before. Something appeared to be coming from the unworldly horizon. My neck cranked as I looked. I blinked and squinted with itchy eyes. A drip of drying spit on my chin.
A tiny blip poked out of the thin line between earth and sky. It was not the sun.
***********************
I hustled. Boots striking the sand at steady rhythm. Sweating in my uniform. Exhaustion present. Legs pushed. Lungs gasping. My pace slowed to a staggered walk. I stumbled, catching my balance. Lungs gasping hard. Sand swallowing my feet up to my ankles.
With one last push, I crested the last final ridge. My neck cranked as my eyes scanned for the draft mare to finally come into my view. I saw the very tip of her ears and then her disheveled mane and head. My heart leaped. She was laying upright on her belly. Her forelegs laid out in front, waiting for me.
I stumbled, tripping down the slope, grabbing for my canteen. I rolled and got back on my feet.
Her left ear flicked to my direction. Her neck slowly lifted her head off her front legs.
"Wa..ter" She croaked.
"It's here" I mouthed the words. "I've got plenty just for you" I stumbled as I rushed.
I slid down on my knees before her and held up the canteen. Both hands cupped the bottom.
The alien mare lunged at me.