Chapter 48 - The Ever Hungry Desert

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She awoke in a dried up substance which smell was familiar enough. Gort was nowhere to be seen and she was lying on soft sand. No broke up tree and no smoking machine. She put an elbow under her and surveyed her surroundings with nervous agitation. Nothing but dunes upon dunes of sand. The pain in her ribs was subdued but she still hurt all over. Her plastipaper hospital gown was in taters and she was covered with dried up Gort goo and blood. She tried to see if Gort had left foot prints but the winds had long taken care of that. She squinted. Nothing for miles. The sun was setting and night was falling. So was the temperature. She saw Aurora's familiar twin moons show up and confirm that she was indeed on the accursed planet. But where on the planet was she? Was she on the continent of heaven or on hell? She might be standing right where the Terra Nova landed and she wouldn't know. 23 centuries had passed and a lot of things change in that lapse of time.

The wind was fierce, blowing sand in her eyes and piercing her to the bone with cold. She dug her hands in the sand and found it still warm. She dug herself a hole, crawled in and covered herself with the pile of dirt she had made next to the edge. It wasn't too bad, and a lot warmer. Her head was out of the hole, so she could breath freely and she covered it as best as she could with her pants to filter out the sand particles. At least, she was protected from the stinging winds. Cat was in a vulnerable position to say the least, she hoped she wouldn't encounter any of Aurora's infamous predators. Putting the thought out of her head, she fell into a fitful sleep.

She dreamt of standing on a green hill, overlooking a lush forest that sat a the bottom of a vast valley. She looked up and recognized the Martian moon Phobos. She was on Mars! A green and beautiful Mars. She could see a lot of people walking around going about their business in a small village at the edge of that forest. Cat waved and she saw a little boy wave back. This was so perfect. Then people started to break-up in dust and blow away in the gentle wind.

'Ashes to ashes, earth to earth.' A voice said.

"My people." Cat mumbled.

'They were never your people. You gave up that right when you chose to follow your ancestor's ways.'

"Shut up Mina. I love my people." Cat protested.

'Then, why are they all dead and buried? You know I'm right. You couldn't even protect the Martians with you on the Tyran.'

"I... It was out of my control. I can't save everyone."

'Good.'

"What!?"

'It's time you realize that you can't save everyone. You are not a messiah Catherine Tyran of Mars.'

"What happened to you before we made the transition? You were quite incoherent."

'I was helped in achieving a higher state of consciousness. It's gone now, and I must say that ignorance is bliss Catherine.'

"What do you mean?"

'I mean that a lot of things became clear in that state of mind. Things I'd rather not not know. I had no choice. Now, I'm unable to envision them again and it's fine with me. Some things in this universe are... better left unknown.'

"I think I understand."

'Wake up Catherine Tyran of Mars! Something is approaching. My spores just warned me. Wake up I tell you!'

She woke up with a start and heard a grunting sound nearby. She uncovered her eyes unnecessarily, she couldn't see a thing. The wind was still blowing fiercely, and visibility was nil. The sound came from where the wind was blowing and it was carrying the creature's sound very well. It also carried its hateful smell. Putrefied flesh. That thing must be a carnivore. Hopefully, whatever was out there couldn't smell her. After a while, the sound went away, but Cat was too freaked out to go back to sleep. Sand was everywhere and she covered her eyes again.

'Mina?' She pleaded in her mind.

Nothing.

Raging, she almost said Mina's name out loud. That would be a no-no with the predator looking for her out there. Her mental cry must have been intense enough, because she was rewarded with a feeble answer.

'Later. Tired.' The entity in her head replied.

'Seriously Mina, you're useless.' Cat fumed inwardly.

'Look who's talking.' Was Mina's reply.

Like throwing water on fire, Cat's rage was extinguished by Mina's reply. Mina was right, she had let the last remnants of her people die. The last time she had them on those lifeboats, they were being shot out of the sky by their attacker. They never had the chance to reach the ground and were probably all dead. The Machete had camouflaged themselves in the Tyran's debris. Did they make it or where they all dead like the Martians?

Crushed by grief, Cat buried her face in the crook of her arm and cried herself to sleep oblivious to the raging winds.

Let the winds howl for her. She had no voice anymore. She was utterly and totally destroyed from the inside. Her people, gone. Her links to this life, gone. All gone. She was in a world that might have been a million light years from Mars and it wouldn't change anything. 23 centuries had passed and time has a way to erase... everything.

She woke up feeling a heavy weight crushing her and hurting her ribs. Everything was dark and it was stifling hot. She tried to pull a breath but found out she could barely breathe. She was buried alive! The sand storm had blasted all night and she must be completely covered with sand.

Oh dear Mars.

Panic started to insinuate itself. That would be bad. She would use up more oxygen that way. She tried to calm down and barely did it. Cat thought furiously. Her elbow was still under her head and the only reason she was still able to breathe was that her head was covered by her pants! They were coated with dried up Gort goo and had solidified a few inches from her open mouth.

She tried to use that arm to push herself upwards. She barely moved.

Oh sweet Mars...

Panic was rearing its ugly head once more and it was much harder to reign it in.

'Time to use that stupid strength of yours Catherine' Mina said in her head.

'I'm not dying here!' Thought Catherine, defiantly. She pushed with all her might. She moved a little and got a hand out of the sand. Then her head and upper torso. She tore the stiff pants off her head and breathed in big gulps. When she got her breath back, she looked around and realized it was early morning and it was warming up. She got herself out of the sand and stretched. She was stiff from the cold. She put her pants on the ground and pounded on them to soften them up. She put them back on. It was still chillingly cold and her teeth chattered merrily. The other sound filling her ears was the wind. It was not as fierce as last night but it was still blowing hard enough to howl. When Mozart the day moon appeared, she almost fell down in shock. It was shattered in four big chunks and a lot of debris that had satellized themselves around it. What the hell had happened here? A war? A hundred wars?

Where was she on Aurora? She looked around again, trying to find her bearings. She was utterly lost in the middle of a desert. A desert that could have formed in the past 23 centuries. Terrain changes a lot over time. Buildings fall down, topography changes, volcanoes erupt, natural disasters and... People. People change their environment so much, so fast. Anything was possible.

So, where were they?

Still scrutinizing the horizon with her enhanced vision, she spied a faint column of smoke. Yes! Where there's smoke, there's fire! She walked in that direction. At least, it was a goal. She ripped the lower part of her tunic and covered her hair and mouth with it. She left a small slit for her eyes and walked on towards, what she hoped for, was civilization. They had shot the Tyran to pieces, but that might account for a small portion of the people here. The military maybe. Regular people might not be hostile towards her. Hopefully.

The column of smoke grew to be huge. She approached with caution and saw the source. A piece of the Tyran was there, half buried and smoking. The place was crawling with scavenger animals, feasting on whatever they found in there. Most probably corpses. The site had also attracted something else. A hovering machine of strange design was shining some kind of light around the crashed debris looking for survivors.

Cat was not about to give them one. She hid and observed the craft finishing its survey and when it left the scene, it flew away towards the setting sun. She got up and followed it. Not the smartest thing to do but it was a goal. She gave the place a wide berth not wanting to attract the scavenger's attention. The day will be hot and she'll spend it following the strange surveyor's trail. She should also walk during the night. It will be cold but she hoped she'll keep warm by walking.

She was getting hungry and thirsty. She dug the sand and found nothing. No humidity. Nothing. Those animals had to drink something... Then, one of Jab's memories surfaced. Desert animals drank the humidity from their food. Either it was grass or the blood from their victims.

Vegetation was limited to scrawny moss and some dry grass. She ripped some of the moss and shoved it in her mouth. She chewed and found it bitter and salty. She spat it out. The salt wasn't what she needed right now. She grabbed the dry grass and chewed on that. Stupid, she knew but she needed something to eat. The grass was much better. Some beetle-like bugs were also part of the ecosystem here. She ripped the legs off and popped it in her mouth. She almost spat it out when she tasted it, but she kept at it and swallowed the horrible thing. She would need protein.

The walk seemed endless. She wished she could have gone to the burning debris but the animals might have attacked her. Plus, it might be under satellite surveillance.

By the third day, she was in bad shape. She was dizzy from dehydration and could barely walk in a straight line. She still ate the scarce dry grass and the occasional bug but it wasn't enough. Not nearly enough and she felt her body slowly shutting down. She was bruised all over and everything hurt. Her feet were swollen and black. She had covered them with ripped pieces from her pant legs but the burning sand had still scorched her feet. Her lips were cracked. Her skin was covered with baked on dirt and sand. Plus, she was pretty sure she was stalked by something that was waiting for her to get weak. It all might be her imagination but she thought she heard muffled footfalls behind her.

On the fourth day, she did fall from exhaustion. She couldn't stand back up. That's when her stalker caught up with her and to her horror she saw it was a carnivore.

"Yuki?" Cat babbled deliriously.

It couldn't be Jabrina's friend. The animal before her was a snow-wolf, the same species and its downy spotted coat was the color of coffee and cream. It came closer and sniffed at her. To her surprise, the animal didn't attack her. It gave one of its signature howl/mew. Something answered and seconds later, a sky-dragon landed near them. A very nervous sky-dragon. They didn't like to be on the ground. It stretched its four leathery wings and gave a blood curling cry. Cat nearly peed herself. Then the most surprising thing happened. The sky-dragon took off, roughly grabbed Cat by her shoulders and took to the skies. This time, Cat was scared witless and if she hadn't been so severely dehydrated, she really would have peed herself. The flight took a hellish eternity. Cat thought she was done for and remembered the pictures of sites that had been attacked by sky-dragons. Blood everywhere but no bodies. So much blood.

She saw a small mud hut with smoke coming out of its diminutive chimney before the blasted sky-dragon let her drop to the ground. In her weakened state, she passed out instantly when she hit the rough dry soil.

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