Page 2 of Twin Warriors

If her calculations were right, judging by the placement of the two suns, she had at least another six hours before the suns set and she got at least some reprieve from the blistering heat. She wouldn’t make it that long. She could feel her body shutting down.

“No!” she growled out, pushing herself forward on the loose sand, “I won’t die out here. Not today.”

Shuffling one foot in front of the other, Amy kept moving. Her whole body ached, begging her to stop, but she ignored it, afraid if she stopped now, she would not get up again. For the next two hours, Amy moved slowly, falling several times, only to get back up again and keep going.

When her vision began to swim, which had nothing to do with the heat waves off the sand, she stopped, her body swaying back and forth.

She stood on top of a tall sand dune, overlooking nothing but endless desert as far as she could see. Helplessness and defeat filled her soul, the realization that there was no hope for her to survive a place like this filled her mind. She wanted to cry, to howl and fight, but she didn’t have the energy anymore. She barely had enough to keep standing. As black spots began to dance in her vision, Amy closed her eyes and sent out a silent message to her sister, telling her that she loved her and missed her.

Her body began to feel blissfully numb as she swayed even more, her ears ringing and her vision growing darker. Her skin tingled, going cold as her knees finally gave out beneath her.

She vaguely realized that she was tumbling down the dune, her nose and mouth filling with the hot, dry sand as she rolled. The bright light of the sun seemed more like a strobe light behind her closed eyes as she rolled down the sand.

Something hard smashed her shoulder. The light changed to complete darkness. She felt like she was falling for a moment before another hard hit to her side made her breath explode out of her dry throat.

Amy kept her eyes closed, pain pushing away the darkness as her ribs and hip throbbed.

Cool, damp air touched her skin, making her groan with relief. She could smell the moisture in the air, but kept her eyes closed. Her battered mind couldn’t take it if she opened her eyes and saw only the endless sand. She knew people saw hallucinations in the desert, mirages of things that didn’t exist. If the glorious shade she was in, and the cool, damp air was all in her mind, it would shatter her fragile grasp on sanity. She didn’t want to die like that. She would rather keep her eyes closed and pretend she was back in the cabin, excitedly waiting for the girls to gather for the weekend.

Something cold and wet touched her cheek. She wondered if it was some small desert creature that ate the bodies of whatever happened to die out here. Another gentle touch brushed her other cheek, caressing her in soft, long strokes.

“Accept us,” A voice whispered. Amy wasn’t sure if she heard it in her ears or her head, but it sounded gentle, kind, and warm.

Her hazy mind tried to figure out what was going on, but she was too tired to think, too exhausted and weak to open her eyes.

“Accept us. We will save you.”

Those simple words penetrated her shadowy mind. Save me?

“Wh… What?” She croaked out, using the last of her energy to speak.

“Accept us, child. We will save you.”

Amy gave up all the fight inside her. She had nothing left. She relaxed her muscles, opened her mouth to answer, but no words came out. Instead, Amy nodded before she released the final tiny thread she had on consciousness and fell into the blissful, painless abyss of darkness.

*****

Amy woke periodically over the next few days. At first, she felt only pain in her side, ribs, hip, and left leg. It was excruciating, making her moan. Sleep quickly reclaimed her after that.

When she woke again, she was moving. Her eyes were too heavy to open, but she felt her body being dragged over something hard.

The next time she woke, she was laying in a shallow pool of cold water. Her body shivered; goosebumps rose all over her skin at the cold. She tried to open her eyes, but all she saw was darkness.

When she woke for the last time, she was laying on a soft, sand covered floor. Her body didn’t hurt anymore. She could feel something incredibly soft and warm pressed to her back, like a thick fur rug wrapping around her.

She tried to speak, but her throat was still raw and dry, making her words come out as a moan. When the warm fur rug behind her moved, adrenaline raced through her, waking her up even more and her eyes shot open. She was in a dark cave. A large open space filled by dark grey and black rocks that enclosed her inside a cavern. Water trickled from not far away, making her mouth feel even more dry. When a low rumbling purr came from behind her, Amy spun to look. She froze in terror as her heart sank.

Behind her, laying sprawled out on its side was a massive black beast. She recognized it instantly. It was the same type of black monster that had torn the convoy apart.

Fear tore through her veins, making her trembling grow more intense. She slowly scooted back, praying the beast would not wake. She moved back a few feet, her eyes never leaving the massive body of the beast. She came to a dead stop when her back brushed another soft, fluffy body behind her. Swallowing down the panic that rose, she slowly turned to look at the second sleeping beast. Amy closed her eyes for a moment, pushing back the tears that threatened to spill.

She had gotten a very good look at the beasts that attacked the convoy. They were huge, black monsters, standing as tall as her five foot six. They had glowing red eyes, and mouths filled with long, razor sharp teeth. Their paws had long, sturdy claws, sharp enough to cut through the metal bars of the cages like they were butter.

The beasts had the sleek, powerful body of a large cat from Earth, with powerful legs and jaws made for death. She remained frozen on the damp ground, her heart pounding in her chest so loudly that she wondered if it would wake the monsters. A flash of a thought crossed her mind. She would rather have died in the desert from the heat than to be torn apart by these creatures.

Knowing that she couldn’t just sit there between the two creatures forever, she slowly and silently got to her feet. She was still weak. She managed to get to her knees when the black creature in front of her, the one she had used as a pillow, stirred, and began to move. Panic gripped her as her heart fell again. A scream tried to escape her mouth, which she was barely able to silence.

The creature raised its head, stretching out its huge body like a lazy house cat. It extended its paws out in front of it, claws digging deep grooves into the rock as it stretched and yawned, giving Amy a clear view of the long, sharp fangs in its mouth.

---