Without Hesitation - Talia Jager (the mitten read aloud txt) 📗

Chapter Eleven

Everleigh

The grass beneath our feet was slowly fading. Up ahead was barren land. It was a dull orange color and hadn’t seen water in so long that cracks ran through it in all directions. Rock formations jutted out of the ground in the distance.

We continued our trek through the desert-like area until it got dark only stopping once to shield ourselves from a dust storm. There wasn’t anything to build a fire with or woods to hunt in, so we just sat staring at the stars.

I wished she would talk to me. It had been two days since her last outburst and I could tell she was still working her way through her emotions. The silence was heavy and overwhelming, but I knew that pushing her would only slow her emotional progress.

I waited until Akacia fell into a deep, restful sleep before I laid down and tried to sleep myself.

When we woke, there was nothing to do but continue on. Our water and food were both long gone and the desert area showed no signs of either. We needed to find the other side and fast.

It took another day until the desert started giving way to rock and before we knew it we were walking between boulders, heading downward for a while before it turned into an uphill trek. The temperature dropped the higher we climbed and I knew if I was tired, Akacia must be too. But we pushed on, hoping that we’d find refuge on the other side.

There was practically a rock wall in front of us. It wasn’t too steep. I could make it, but I wasn’t sure about Akacia. I glanced at her and she nodded.

We started up. She followed in my footsteps. I could have climbed faster, but purposely went slow for Akacia’s sake. Each step took more and more effort, as we got higher up on the rocks. I could hear Akacia breathing heavily behind me.

We were almost there when I heard her foot slip. I spun around and grabbed her wrist before she fell. She was looking down and panting with fear. Her feet kicked wildly under her.

“Hold still!” I struggled to pull her up. Somehow I managed to get both of us over the top and fell onto my back. She landed on top of me and our eyes locked.

“Thank you…”

She rolled off me and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths. A few minutes later, she staggered to her feet and looked down.

“I wouldn’t have let you fall.”

She gave a slight nod.

“You’re bleeding,” I said. “But I suppose we don’t have to worry about that.”

She examined her right arm. She didn’t answer and I turned around to continue on. “I didn’t know,” her voice seemed soft and unsure. “When I was being tortured…” It took her another minute to speak again. “Apparently I heal fast. I didn’t know. I don’t remember getting hurt, so I never knew.” More than anything she sounded confused and a little afraid.

“You—”

She held up her hand. “Caspar said something about my father perfecting nanites to heal injuries. I don’t really know what that means. I think they’re in me though.”

Nanites inside of her? “They’re like macro machines.”

She looked over at me with tears in her blue eyes. “Does that make me a freak?”

“No.” I met her eyes.

Her lip quivered.

I cupped her face and said more firmly, “No.”

She nodded and licked her lips. My gaze shifted from her eyes to her mouth, but when I leaned in, she pulled back. It was daytime. We didn’t do that in the daytime. That was saved for nighttime only.

We made our way over to the other side and I came to an abrupt stop.

“Shit…” I swore as I looked out over the scene in front of us. Icy spikes sprouted out of the ground. There was no flat area to walk across, no easy access to the other side.

“We have to go across that?” Akacia choked.

Ice? Snow? It couldn’t be a city with a way home? Or at least a meadow with water and fruit. It had to be ice and snow? I let out a scream of frustration, kicked some rocks sent them tumbling over the side.

“Enough!” Akacia yelled, reaching out and grabbing my hand. “You won’t be any good if you hurt yourself.”

She was right. I knew she was right, but I was so frustrated that I couldn’t stop from shaking. Why couldn’t we catch a break? Were we ever going to get off this planet? Or would we be stuck here forever?

“Breathe,” she said.

I sat down, put my head between my knees, and took deep breaths. After a few minutes, I looked at her. “I can’t believe how lame that sounds—breathe—but I don’t know what else to say.”

She scoffed and her smile disappeared. “So…we have to get to the other side of the ice?”

I stood up and she followed. Behind us lay the desert, but backtracking almost seemed like a better idea than trying to get through the ice and snow in front of us. “I don’t know. We don’t have the clothes to keep us warm. Nothing to build a fire. We don’t know how far it spans.”

“You should have thought about that before rescuing me. You should have let me die there.”

Spinning toward her, I said, “Our plan was a damn good one. The only way he could have known where the Artemis was is if he had the technology that can detect cloaked ships. Not many people have that.”

“I don’t know if I can make it. Maybe you should go. Find help.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

She nodded, rubbing her wrist.

“We’ll stay the night here. Leave in the morning.”

“Okay.”

With the ice so close, as night fell, it got chillier than it had any other night. I positioned my back against a large boulder. Akacia’s eyes glanced at the ground and then at me. I patted the ground in front of me. She sat in between my legs. Her back against my chest. I opened the blanket and put it over us. Then wrapped my arms around her. She nestled into me and let out a sigh.

The night was clear and we could see the stars. They were beautiful. Being on a planet made it seem surreal that I spent all my time traveling among them.

“What do you dream of?” I asked, wondering if she’d even answer.

She didn’t respond right away, but then she said, “I used to dream of exploring the galaxy. Then it became to be a good leader to my people. Now, food would be great.”

I laughed. “Big plates of food. Meat and vegetables.”

“Dessert.”

“And all the water we could drink.”

“A nice soft bed,” Akacia said. “And someone to fill it.”

We grew quiet again and I listened to her breathing. It was rhythmic and relaxing.

Akacia ran her thumb over the tattoo on my left wrist. “Tell me about this?”

“It’s the warrior symbol of protection. The nine points of the triangles each stand for noble Viking warrior virtues: industriousness, hospitality, discipline, honor, truth, courage, fidelity, self-reliance, and perseverance.”

“I like that.”

“What about yours?” I interlocked my fingers with hers and turned her arm over. The simple black tattoo ran from her left wrist to the middle of her forearm.

“We believe that we’re born with a purpose and a destination. The path to that destination is the journey of life. The destination is the enlightenment. Most of us get lost, we struggle.” She traced her tattoo. “It’s called a unalome, which means reaching enlightenment. It’s an ancient, spiritual symbol. The spiral and zigzags indicate my struggle with life. Eventually, I’ll add a straight line when I find harmony.”

“That’s really squizz.”

We were quiet for a while. I thought maybe she had fallen asleep, until she said, “The stars are brighter here. That cluster of six stars to our right, I can see that from Valinor just over the horizon at dusk. And that shape to our left is the planet, Zariah. I think we might be on Terronda.”

“Are