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I’ve done it before. Back when I found my sister … and had to carry her all the way back through the woods to the road. Then I had to wait for a passerby in a car to call for help. My sister’s body was heavy but so was my heart, and I needed to bring her home.
I didn’t give up then, and I’m not going to give up now.
There’s no time to think about the pain in my muscles.
No time to think about how I’m ever going to find my way back home.
No time for anything but walking.
Just walking … so I can save Cage.
I can’t let him die a lonely, miserable death in there.
I just can’t.
So I keep going, way past my limit, way past the distance my body is willing to carry me. The sun has caused my red skin to blister, and my vision has become blurry from the heat. My water bottles are completely empty now, and even the last drops from the inside of the plastic don’t provide enough to quench my thirst.
Still, I don’t give up.
I can’t give up.
I can’t give up for Cage.
For this baby. Our baby.
I can’t give up.
Not until my feet become numb. Not until my throat is as dry as the air, and my skin and lips cracked. Not until my body refuses to move another inch and collapses to the ground.
And even then, I crawl.
Through the thick, scorching heat across the endless desert.
When even my fingers feel like they’re burning, I stop, my body needing the break before it breaks down.
Turning on my back, I gaze above me at the bright blue sky, thinking about the last time I saw it and wondering if this will be the last time.
Vultures are already circling above my head, waiting for the last of my spirit to leave my body. Waiting for me to give up.
I’m tempted. So tempted to just let it all go.
I’m already free. Free as a bird to roam the skies if I wanted to.
My sister’s waiting for me up there in the clouds.
I reach for her, wanting to get closer, hoping I can touch her. Hoping she can see I put up a fight. I didn’t go willingly. But I went with pride and honor.
I went on my own terms.
In freedom.
Accompanying Song: “Kettering” by The Antlers
Lights circle me, and I wonder if I’m in heaven. It’s so bright and welcoming but very cold. Colder than I expected. The thirst is still there, but it doesn’t burn in my throat as much as it did before. I wonder if everyone experiences heaven this way, or if it’s just because I’m still on the way there. Floating up into the sky … that would be a sight to behold.
“I’ve got vitals,” a voice echoes close to me.
I wonder who it is. Could it be God? Or maybe it’s my sister … I can’t wait to see her again and hug her tight. However, the moment I try to picture her, all I see is a man, calling me from down below on the ground. A beastly man … roaring like a lion.
Cage.
He’s still alive. I can’t die. I can’t die, knowing he’s still in there. I’m not going without him.
I blink, forcing my eyes to open, forcing myself to continue living even when my body refuses to do so.
My limbs buzz, and the ground underneath me shakes. But that ground feels much colder than I remember it being and much harder too.
Something blocks the bright light above me, a shadowy figure.
“What’s your name?” There’s that voice again. It’s so warm and unlike anything I’ve heard in weeks.
My chapped lips part, but no sound leaves my mouth as I try to talk. My throat clamps up, and I cough.
“Take it easy,” the voice says.
When I squint harder, I can definitely make out the figure of a man but not one I recognize.
“Do you know what day it is?”
I shake my head, but my muscles barely move, still tensed up from the battle I fought against Mother Nature herself.
“July third,” he says.
July… I count out the weeks in my head.
That means I’ve been locked inside the compound for more than seven weeks.
Seven weeks … of my entire life.
I was gone … gone from the surface of the planet.
No one knows where I am.
And no one knows how to find us … where to find Cage.
I almost shoot up into a seated position, but something keeps me down. Straps around my body, tight and suffocating.
I shake my head, my eyes searching for a way out. I feel a hand on my arm, and the voice speaks again.
“Calm down. You’re not going anywhere but the hospital right now.”
Hospital? How?
A minute ago, I was lying on the ground in the blistering heat, and then the next, I’m in this cool, compact thing with a man I don’t know.
