Broken Soldier [#Wattys2015]

Chapter Four

Location Unknown, Year Unknown

Maria

I must've been walking for hours in a random direction. I ended up on the beach of some lake or something. In the distance I could see lights from buildings. It would've been easy to go straight there, but I decided against it and stayed on the beach, trying my hardest to get some rest.

The Next Day

I was awoken to the familiar thumping sound of a helicopter. My eyes flew open and I got up as quickly as I could to get to the cover of the trees. I didn't want anyone to see me or know that I was there. It was instinct I guess.

Soon after the sound went away I went back down to the beach to have a good look at my surroundings. From where I was standing, in front of me was a huge lake that stretched out for ever in front of me with it's end hidden away by fog and behind me was the dense trees of the forest. On either side of me was long straights of rough, pale yellow sand. It was quite chilly but it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle.

What do I do now?

It was a good question. What was I supposed to do? I had no mission, no one was after me and I had no where to be. I literally had no idea what I was supposed to do.

"How about I get my life back together?" I asked myself. "What life?" Was the answer.

What life? I didn't have a life. As far as I knew, I wasn't even supposed to be alive. I stood in the same spot for a good five or ten minutes before I realised that the fog in front of me had lifted. Now I could clearly see huge buildings on the other side of the lake. I got very curious.

After an hour of trying to think about what I was going to do, I finally decided that I would go across the lake and see what happens. I knew how to look after myself so if I got in any trouble I could protect myself, plus I also had my abilities. But I preferably didn't want to use the golden powers though - I didn't want to bring that much attention to myself.

Since I had no vessel to move me over the water, I had no other choice that to hop in the freezing body of liquid and swim. So I did.

What am I doing!?

My teeth chattered and my breathing was short and jagged as I slowly stepped into the water. The water seeped through my thin hospital gown like dress, causing it to stick to my upper chest while the rest of it flowed around my body in the water. There was no way that I was going to put my head under, so I swam with my head awkwardly above the water, keeping my gaze on the glistening buildings in front of me.

I continued to swim, eventually only being able to hear the constant and even strokes of my arms moving across the water. My mind began to wonder and I saw terrible images of being attacked by a shark. I could feel my heart beat fast but told myself that it was just a dream, it wasn't real.

After a long while I could see yellow sands of a beach before me. Relief washed over me as I'd begun to think that the lake would never end. I used my last bit if energy to glide over to the sand, grabbing onto it with my hand and hauling myself onto the beach. I was exhausted. My upper body started to freeze in the cold air while my lower body stayed the same temperature in the water. I knew I had to move and get somewhere warm before I came down with hypothermia (A.N is it hyperthermia or hypothermia? I can't remember someone please help!) so I slowly stood up and began lugging myself to the buildings.

So. Cold.

At that point, I didn't care who saw me. I just couldn't bear the freezing cold any longer.

I hobbled through a beautiful park before ending up in a bustling area. God how I was scared. Nothing looked familiar to me. The buildings were different, the automobiles were different and even the people were different. As they drove, walked or even jogged past me they all looked at me with strange expressions. The last thing I remembered was someone speaking to me, before darkness crowded my vision and I fell hard to the ground.