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Eventually, just as y and spirits are al me at least the prospect of some salvation They look like they’re at least another day’s walk away, though it’s hard to know for sure They’re definitely too far to reach today and that is enough to sendI know I need to find shelter

I turn visible and hope soroup of clouds of the day My heart leaps and I feel a sy I did not know I even had I concentrate on creating a storm, just a tiny one, above me The rain is brief, but awesome nonetheless It’s the only reason I don’t collapse and just give up

I keepuntil I at last come across a low barbed-wire fence Just beyond it I can n of civilization I’ve seen, and I’m so overjoyed I can even pick up my pace to reach it I follow the road for a et up and over On the other side, s I can’t believe it Should I believe it? It has to be a et, the ns of life, are realUnfortunately, the closer I get, I can also see the buildings are full of holes; cru, wooden skeletons abandoned to the relentless attack of the desert These buildings represent what happens when you’re stuck in a place like this I’ve stuhost town

Before I let ht have been left behind Before the ghosts took over Plu inside and outside the structures, trying to find some source of water I have been reduced to that one, essential ingredient I need to find water Everyone needs water, so there ht?

No Or, at least, there is none that I can find I guess there must have been a well at some point, but there isn’t one now Buried by sand, ripped out by space aliens, who knows? The despair that co I’ve ever felt before Alone, no water, no food, no proper shelter I yell, as loud as I can, ‘Is there anyone here? Please! Someone! Anyone!’

A wood beaht It’s not exactly the answer I’; as expected, each is emptier than the last After I’ve confirmed just how alone I arocery store to rest for a bit I try to i stocked with food and water, just to entertain etable in ht and Ella I put John at the head, with ine Nine and Number Five are with us They kid around with each other, and share stories about all the places they’ve been Everyone is laughing, congratulating me on the feast I’ve prepared, and I tell them all I’m just happy they could make it out here

‘What’s your favoritethe table

‘Right now,’ John says ‘This one, right here Safe, with all of you’

We all agree, raising our glasses to successfully finding each other Nuets up, leaves the room and reenters with an enormous chocolate cake Everyone cheers and plates are passed around When I take a bite, it’s theI’ve ever tasted

Of course, none of this has happened I’ in an abandoned, brokendown grocery store in the middle of the desert Iwith the Garde, I realize I a air with a satisfied smile on my face I shake s, survived a Mogadorian cell and watched Katarina die to have it all end in the middle of the desert, alone I pull my knees up to ure out a plan

It’s still sweltering hot when I leave the ghost town I’ve rested fro before I lose all of th I’ve walked about asand when I feel the s and stoy I have left on uprooting a few nearby cacti and et a mouthful of water froacy and try to suly clouds overhead, but all I e to create is a plu me up to my knees

For the first time, I’ to die out here I have nothing left The Elders choseto die in theto panic, to truly lose it I have just enough of a grip to know I can’t lose it – I’m so vulnerable out here that it will be all over if I do I’inary meal with the rest of the Garde To keep myself focused I think about what I wish I could say to thes? Me? I’ I ht said about where he was able to teleport to beforeI’er I can hold onAnd I don’t knohere you are,but please, please find a way to get from wherever it is you landed and come and find me

Ella? Do you kno sorry I a hie his death, and I will be the one out front If I e all of Lorien

Eight, I couldn’t find the Loralite I see no sign of food,water,shelter,civilization,and I aet out of here; I want to find you guys

I don’t even feel stupid, chatting in my head to people who are almost certainly on the other side of the world I close my eyes and desperately wait for soe on It gets harder to place one foot in front of the other I start to waver, listing to the right, then the left, al h, I can’t steadyand continue like this for a while withsun After a while I look up to check where the sun is in the sky and again think I’ate made of solid metal a few hundred feet away It’s over twenty feet tall, topped with spiraling barbed wire Even from this distance, I can hear the hu way towards convincing h I have no idea what’s behind this gate, I need help, and I’m at the point where I don’t care where that help coe to sit up I waveit’s e to whisper, ates don’t open and no one eather the last bit of strength I have to o of it I roll over onto my stomach and pull myself slowly up to my feet I decide to test the fence What’s a little electricity after near starvation and life-endangering thirst? I look around and spot a small cactus I float it up into the air, and drop it onto the fence, where it sizzles and pops The charred re