Shedding Strength pt. 1

Between the pounding in her skull and bright light assaulting her still shut lids, Zaeri wasn’t sure which sucked more. She groaned as she willed her limbs to move. Her incredibly sore arms barely managed to turn her body over. Grains shifted with each movement. Wet, sand-filled dark strands draped over her face. Frowning, she slowly opened her eyes. Sand? She grabbed a handful and let the slip from her palm in a steady stream. Why was she lying in sand? Wait… she thought. What was I doing?

Lifting her head, Zaeri pushed the hair back from her eyes. It took moments for her eyes to adjust to the sunlit sand, but when her blurry vision cleared, she nearly shrieked. A body lay motionless in the sand only a few feet away from her. With the female’s back to her, Zaeri couldn’t tell if she was alive or not, but the sight nearly made her heart stop. She tried crawling closer. New pains shot through her legs. She winced hard and glimpsed something in the corner of her eye. Flipping her hair, she looked to her right and spotted three more bodies. No… She turned around. Two more bodies lay to her left. No! She sat up, creating a flood of new, spiking pains in her abdomen and legs. Near her feet, four more lay near the water lapping the shore. The bodies almost made a circle around her. NO!!!

Her heart threatened to burst free from her chest. What the hell?! Frantically searching for anything that could calm the twister of thoughts and emotions overwhelming her, Zaeri felt her throat starting to clench and burning in her eyes. She desperately wanted to run away from the whole thing as fast as she could, but her legs were useless. Each effort to crawl hurt so much the tears she tried to push back finally filled the corners of her eyes. I gotta get away… As soon as she wiped the tears from her eyes, she hesitated and stared at the young female. What if they ain’t dead? I can’t just leave ’em here. Focusing, Zaeri blinked. The female wore a sleeveless purple blouse half covered in sand, but what caught Zaeri’s attention was the fleur-de-lis tattoo near the female’s right shoulder. Zaeri blinked again to make sure she wasn’t imagining it.

I know that ho! Surging with new strength, Zaeri sat up. “Kaia!” she attempted to shout, but her throat burned as if she’d swallowed a furnace. She coughed violently and spat clumps of blood onto the sand. Disoriented, she stared at the blood for what felt like an eternity. What the hell happened to me? What’s goin’ on? She could barely move. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t remember where she was or how she got here. What kind of sick joke was this?

More determined than ever, she planted one arm in front of the other. Waves of pain rippled through her lower half. She didn’t even try to stop the tears streaming down her cheeks. After a minute, she reached Kaia’s body but was too scared to try speaking again. Instead, she shook Kaia hard. Her auburn-streaked, wavy hair appeared to dance in the light, but there was no response. C’mon, girl. Please don’t be dead! Zaeri kept shaking her until finally Kaia groaned. Yeah! Get yo’ lazy butt up so you can help me!

Kaia sluggishly made small movements at first. Her slender arms and legs moved gradually while Zaeri kept trying to roll her over. “Okay, okay…” Kaia grumbled before attempted to move under her own power. “Stop pushin’ me. My head’s got heavy metal playin’.” She managed to roll onto her right side and face Zaeri with narrowed eyes to limit the sunlight. She blinked rapidly, as if trying to gain control of her vision. A moment later, her sienna eyes locked onto Zaeri. Kaia frowned and tilted her head. Instantly, her eyes widened. Zaeri didn’t actually see it, but she felt all of it. The back of Kaia’s hand—the hand that wore their class ring no less—smacked Zaeri’s face in a blur. “Bitch! Get away from me!”

Shedding Strength pt. 2  (13+) Soon-to-be high school graduates wake up in a strange place... #2057739 by Kadiro