It was very cold and damp. It wasn’t actually raining but the mist in the air was so thick that it might as well have been. The plane she had been on had flown into some turbulence. Anna laughed to herself.
"Turbulence ha!"
She had flown in planes before many times when she was a child and the way the wind had twisted the plane and thrown it around like a toy made the word "turbulence" an extreme understatement. She was numb now, physically as well as emotionally. The pain in her arm had made her pass out whenever she accidentally moved it. Her head also ached though she wasn’t sure how bad her head wound was. The mirror in the bathroom had completely shattered leaving only slivers. The worst part of the whole thing was that she had been the only one to survive the crash. She had no idea where she was or which direction to go to find civilization. Well, that wasn’t exactly true; she knew she was somewhere in Europe, but which country she was in was anyone’s guess. She had stayed with the plane or at least as close to it as she dared after it had caught fire, thinking that it was the smartest action. Any rescue or search would look for survivors at the crash site. This is what she thought the first two days. On the third day, when no one had shown up and not so much as a plane or helicopter had flown over, she started to worry. She wasn’t an R.N. or anything, but she wasn’t an idiot either. She knew a person could survive three weeks without food but only three days without water. She had to find some water and she had to be able to find her way back here to be rescued by whoever came looking.
Her thoughts then ran over the things she feared. What if no one came looking? It had been two days already with no sign of anyone. Why hasn’t anyone showed up? Was there such a thing as wilderness left in Europe? If so, was she so far into the middle of it that it would take three days to get to her? What was she going to do for water? She had to find some! Worse yet it was getting foggy. How was she going to find her way back to the crash site in the fog?
Well she had to do something , anything or she would die of thirst and she was definately not going to have someone find she died of exposure just because she had not used the sense God gave a coot and looked for water. It wasn’t as if she was in the desert after all; she was in a forest surrounded by trees, so there had to be water somewhere right?
"Right", she murmured to herself . "So pick a direction, pray it was the right one and leave some sign of which way you went and that you are alive."
She found as many rocks as she could and cleared a spot as near to the wreck as she could stomach. The stench coming from the plane now was horrible. Debris from the plane lay everywhere. It had been horrible. She could still hear her fellow passengers death screams. She could still see the burnt bodies. It could have been her that died. Some of them were so much younger than she was. Why had they died and she been allowed to live? Life and death were not fair. Cruel drunks like her uncle were to stubborn to die. While kind brave young people with so much to live for like her daughter, died fighting wars for people who did not even care that she had given her life defending them The closer she got the more she felt like tossing her cookies, except she did not have any cookies left to toss.
" Damn it!", she swore,. "Why do I keep torturing myself with thoughts of food?"
Her left arm was numb and she couldn’t wiggle her fingers . It was probably fractured or broken, definitely badly bruised, but hopefully not bleeding internally. She had made a make- shift sling out of her sweater on the first day in a hopeless attempt to keep it from moving. She had born four daughters with a minimum of medication, but this had hurt one hell of a lot worse, at least at first. Now it was numb and that frightened her.
‘What if I lose movement in it?’ she thought. Even worse, what if gangrene set in? She had spent eighteen months in Central America when she was seventeen. She had seen there what happened to people whom for one reason or another did not get decent medical help for injuries. She closed her eyes tight for a second against the dark thoughts.
" No indulging yourself in a pity party," she scolded herself.
"You are alive; you are going survive this. You have been afraid, alone and hurt before and lived. You are going to live through this if it kills you!"
‘Damn ‘ she thought ‘I am talking to myself I must be losing it!’ She found she did not have enough rocks to leave a long note and finally just spelled
"Alive 2 D Water?".
She used the few stones left over to make a crude arrow pointing which direction she was heading. How far could water be anyhow?
She had been walking most of the day when she finally heard the unmistakable sound of a river. She was wet, tired, sore, hungry, thirsty scared, and alone, but she finally had some hope. She headed toward the sound. On either side of her was a large stone pillar, and as she glanced at them she wondered if she had stumbled into some sort of Stone Henge or castle ruin. Suddenly she saw someone coming toward her. Her eyes were bleary with relief.
‘Thank God,’ she thought, ‘Rescue at last!’
"Hey it’s about time you found me! I was starting to think no one would co..."
She paused in mid sentence as she saw whom, or rather what it was coming at her. It was not like any animal she had ever seen but it could not possibly be human even though it was in clothes.
"Oh no," she said to herself, " I must have a concussion and I am hallucinating" She saw it take out a sword and told herself "This is not real I am seeing things."
The creature was hideous and it reeked. Then it reached out and grabbed her . She screamed and tried to get away as she realized this had to be real. It grimaced at her, hit her over the head and her world went black.
Story Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Thanks to NeumeIndil for being my beta, putting up with my numerous errors, and listening to my constant whining.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Thank you for reading and please review. Your feedback is what keeps me writing.