The sharp blades of grass and hard earth underneath her face prodded her to wake up. After mumbling to herself, "Five more minutes.. please.." and rolling over onto her other side, she realized she was no longer in her relatively comfy bed. Neither could she find her uncompromisingly stiff pillow she could frustratingly never fluff back to its original softness after she started to use it as a reading pillow.
She furrowed her closed eyes in confusion and drowsily tried to comprehend why she would be outside. She wasn't camping, not having done that with her father in more than a few years. Her friend Lilly had planned on going on a picnic at the park with her in three days so she hadn't fallen asleep at the park either. After sighing in defeat, she opened her eyes to and better understand, but upon getting flash banged from how bright it was, quickly shut her eyes back closed.
You're such an idiot, Aayena, of course it would be bright outside. She cynically thought to herself.
After a few more attempts to slowly adjust to the sunny outdoors, she was able to see her surroundings. She was in what she would describe as a plain, being not dry enough for a savanna although that described the terrain better. After getting her bearings she slowly stood up, feeling a bit sore on her left side, and noticed the grass went up to her knees.
No wonder it was almost as comfy as my bed.
Large trees were dotted around her providing some shade to parts of the field but were few and far between.
She ran her fingers through her soft brown hair, getting as many bits of grass out as possible. Brushing herself down of any more plant matter clinging to her shorts and long tee, the clothes she always wore to bed, she looked to see where the sun was. The sun was high, definitely lunch time or later. Her eyes scanned the horizon eventually finding what seemed to be a very far village with wooden defenses, but it was hard to tell. Although she didn't need glasses, the heat was making distant things fuzzy.
That doesn't seem very modern. Where am I?
She sighed again, knowing just standing there wouldn't do her questions any good so she started treading through the tall grass praying there wasn't any ticks where she was. She suddenly wished she slept with shoes on or even pajamas, since they usually had long pants. The grass bending with her steps helped keep her directly off the ground but it still hurt. With nothing to do, she focused her attention to her surrondings more, listening and watching as she walked towards the possible town.
There was little sounds, no constant grasshoppers and no other outside animals. She only heard the wind whistling through the grass and leaves of trees. She could barely even hear her own steps, the sound muffled by soft grass. The more she looked around, the more of it was strange, the trees were unfamiliar to her but that didn't mean much to her because she didn't know much about trees anyway, the lack of sounds disturbed her to an extreme, the world seemed alienly flat, and the sun was extra yellow like she was in a kid's drawing. The sky was a clear light blue, and cloudless, she wouldn't be expecting any rain soon so hopefully she could find water at the village. And better clothes for traveling.
After traveling for a long time, enough to stop thinking when doing a repetative task like walking, she heard a distinct chirp-like caw. At first she didn't pay any heed but then realized that was the first sign of animal life she had recieved. She couldn't see the animal but it gave her hope that she wasn't in some sort of dead zone. Her thoughts drifted back to where she could be but rejected even trying to think about it, she hadn't paid enough attention to anything geography related in school and would have no success if she tried to pinpoint her location.
At some point to try to measure her success, she tried to use her fingers to measure how far the village was but was getting inconsistant results so she gave up. The village seemed much closer, she could actually tell she was right about the wooden walls and she could start to see building roofs sticking out of the brown jagged line of trunks. The roofs seemed relatively old styled, like a mix of wild west and medival Europe, the color was a dull worn out red and the walls were white with decorations of a rotten wood color. Being able to see that much detail from this far away made her wonder if the boredom had improved her eyesight.
After what Aayena assumed to be hours more had passed, the sun was setting behind her, painting the horizon with colors and darkening the sky, making it eventually impossible to see the town. Rest, that's what she needed. After that thought she climbed the nearest tree for a safe place to rest, hidden from whatever else might wander the plain other than the bird she heard that once. She tried to get comfy in the branches and despite her idea of how long it would take to fall asleep, she did so almost immediately, the long walk having taken it out of her.
She dreamt of home and her bed. Of going to school like normal and being pecked in the head.
... What?
She woke up just before dawn to find herself being stabbed in the head by an angry bird black in color. It's beak was more blunt than sharp making her wonder what it's diet was. She groggily waved her hands chaotically to shoo off the bird. One hand hit something soft and after she could no longer hear the flapping of the bird's wings. She looked around and found that she had killed the bird and it's body was dead on the tall grass.
"Uh.." Whoops. Sorry bird.
She climbed down the tree and stared at the bird dumbfounded. She didn't mean to kill it, it was the bird's fault, had it no survival instincts? She sighed and after looking around she used the tall gass to fashion a sort of basket pouch. She used to make mini weaves out of the grass in the park she lived near when she was bored, so it didn't take long. The bird was stuffed inside, she didn't want to touch or see it but supposed she could sell it at the village or.. eat it. She hoped it wouldn't come to that.
Her stomach growled in response to her thoughts, "Ugh, let's go find something actually yummy, stomach.."
She continued on her journey, now in the company of a dead bird and aching hunger. She tried to use her fingers to measure distance again and had an epiphany: she could compare the size of the village to her fingers, her hand had to be fully extended for it to work consistantly though. It was currently smaller than her pinky, she probably had a handful of miles left. As she walked, or maybe it would be considered a hike at this point, the grass pouch thumpted against her shorts reminding her of the murder she commited.
I wish I had a good distraction to keep me company during this trek.
Soon after her thought, she heard a growl. Not one that would come from hunger, but one of a starving predator and not of any creature she'd known from earth. She turned and saw a dent in tall grass and immediately shot through the grass, legs pumping. After she got her bearings she slowed to a fast jogging speed. She didn't know how fast the beast was and knew there was about a mile between her and the village. She hoped her current speed would be enough.
D-damn, just had to wish for excitment huh??
The grass whacked at the skin of her legs and because her feet now pushed against the ground harder the long grass was no longer enough to cushion her feet completely from the terrian but she didn't have time to complain. She glanced behind her to see a furry and lean beast of a dull rust orange. She was glad for how lean she was, she didn't take track but the adreniline seemed enough to outpace the wolven creature for now. The pouch with the dead bird hit her side harder. She quickly undid her pouch and tossed the bird towards the thing, both to lose it and making it a possible distraction.
Luck seemed to be on her side because once it hit the dog's paws it turned to gobble it up, giving her more time to escape and put distance between them. Her feet, legs, and chest were killing her but she kept going, a break would let the adreniline wear off and pain worse. Soon enough the monstrosity decided the bird wasn't enough and sprinted after her again.
She blinked rapidly, the pain bringing tears to her eyes. She gritted her teeth and pushed her legs harder, her life depended on them. She let out a scream and kept pushing, though her tears and wet lashes she could see the village, she was almost there!
"Go away you persistant dog thing!" she screamed between ragged pants.
She stubbed her toe on a rock she didn't see, doubled over but kept running, she could hear the sounds of the village and briefly wished she could see the inside, her skull pounding and crushing most thoughts away.
"Keep running lady, don't look behind you!" a competent sounding female voice shouted from above the wooden wall.
Aayena opened her mouth to respond but before she could answer she saw the area brighten up and almost in sync a boom resounded behind her, the air from the explosion pushing her foward faster, almost strong enough to lift her off her feet, she spotted a large gate opening and forced herself into a full sprint towards it. She closed her eyes in response to some dust getting in and blinked a multitude of times and cried a bit to get it out, after a few more moments of running she dived though the wood gates like a baseball player making it home. The wooden door was shut behind her by two men either side of it who proceed to lock it with a large metal bar spanning the length of the large enterance.
She lay face down in the dirt, panting for a while, then rolled onto her back still gasping for air.
A girl with long dark tuscany green hair peered down at her with deep blue eyes. "Welcome to the town, glad to see another surviver. My name's Emory and these two are Brian and Gabriel." She said pointing to the two men who shut the gate. "What's your name?"
Aayena took a big wheezy breath before speaking,"Aayena, call me Aya." She breathed out between shaky inhales.