SUN & SHADOW

Chapter One:

"Ughh..."

Note to self, a thin blanket does not make a comfortable mattress.

I slowly force myself to sit up and scan my surroundings. We camped out in a small, grassy clearing in the wood, only after traveling for half the day. I look up to see golden beams of sunshine peeking through the tree's wide canopy. Sandra's already awake and nibbling on crackers, presumably our breakfast, while studying some sort of map. We must be somewhere near the coast, every now and then I come across a palm tree or some other tropical plant.

Sandra glances up from her study at my sleepy figure. "Good, you're up. We have a lot of ground to cover today and very little time."

"What about training?" I immediately regret the question. Sandra had beaten it into my being that if I can't hold my own both in strength and stature, I would not survive what's to come. Therefore, training. Exercises ranging from strengthening my knuckles for hand-to-hand combat to debates improving my arguing skills which are mediocre at best.

Sandra carefully tucked her map and the package of crackers into her satchel before curtly answering, "We lost too much time yesterday by stopping to train. That and your moving like a snail when we need to run." She shot me a pointed glance.

I've grown accustomed to comments like that. Sandra was never directly rude towards me, but she did tend to be overly sarcastic at times.

I forced myself up on my hands and got on my feet to begin the tedious process of packing my meager possessions. My blanket, given to me by Sandra, a small pocket knife I had brought with me to the park, and... Ellie's handbag.

I still haven't looked at it. Sandra's kept me busy with training. I go along with her. But only in the hopes that I can earn her trust enough for her to explain where Ellie is or even what the monster was, and what it had to do with me and my friend. For now, though, I need to concentrate and get moving.

I slide my gaze up from my pack to find Sandra leaning against a tree, tapping her nails against it.

"It's time." Sandra straightens from her position by the tree and turns on her heel into a starting position. I'm amazed, as I am every time I witness this, by the fluidity with which she begins to run. It's like she's a daughter of the deer themselves in the way she almost leaps with each step, and with each step, it gets harder to keep up. I have to sprint the entire time if only to keep her in view.

In the second hour, my muscles begin to groan, I notice the world around me blurring, swirling greens of leaves and other colors of both nature and cities flowing by as I strain to run even faster to keep Sandra in sight. This doesn't make sense, I've always known I was fast, but this... can't be real. I've let Sandra keep her secrets, but this is where I draw the line.

"Sandra!" There's always the chance that she'd choose to ignore me and keep moving, but it's too late, I've already begun to slow down. All at once, something catches my foot and sends me hurtling toward the ground rolling.

I have my entire life to be clumsy and mess up, and yet somehow I still find ways to do it in the most dramatic way possible. Of course.

The pain blocks out most other senses, but from what I can tell, I landed in...

A flash of light from a flickering lamp post, repetitive white lines dot the ground beside me and rough cement is hard on my sore legs.

The middle of a street? We were in the middle of a forest, how could-

HOOONK

I scramble to my feet to avoid the eighteen-wheeler hurtling toward me. Adrenaline courses through my body as I attempt to make it to a narrow alleyway on the opposite end of the street.