survivor

Winter wind rattles my prison. Rakes my flesh with invisible talons. Jabs into my mouth and pokes my swollen tongue.

If you’re strong enough, you can survive.

Before I even open my eyes, I smell dank earth mixed with … rusted metal? No. 

Blood. 

My skull feels like the sun exploded inside it, leaving my brain molten and pulsing and raw.

I’m on my stomach. 

Oh, God. Goddamn. 

I’m naked.  

Why?

I blink. My vision clears. I see my own hand outstretched. Fingers clawed into the mud. 

Beyond my extended arm is … spindly trees. Snow blotches. Gray light. 

I’m in the woods.

Morning? 

Evening? 

Winter wind rattles my prison. Rakes my flesh with invisible talons. Jabs into my mouth and pokes my swollen tongue.

I can’t breathe.

What’s on top of me? Crushing me into the earth?

Tree limbs.

Branches push the air from my lungs. Scrape and stab every part of me.

Pain spiderwebs my body.

Pain is life. 

Who told me that? I don’t remember. But … I’m afraid of him.

Screams echo inside my head. My screams. 

And … barking? 

Sounds infiltrate the burning ache ravaging my head. I see yellow lights piercing the grayness, bouncing off trees, zig-zagging the ground. 

One of the lights streaks across me. Pauses. 

Shifts away. 

“Help.” Did the word come out of my mouth? I don’t know. My throat feels strange. Scratched. Like someone took a fork and roughly scraped the flesh until it was shredded and bloody. 

But then … a dog is there. Right there. 

It licks my hand. 

It barks. 

“Raina? What did you find, girl?” A man crouches down. His flashlight carves out the darkness where I’m trapped. 

The dog licks my hand again. 

Then she tucks her head under my palm and I grip her damp fur. 

“Jesus Christ.” The man stands up and starts shouting. “We got her! And she’s alive!”

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