Prodigy (Complete)

Chapter Forty-Nine

Turbulent winds and raging waves slammed against the craft, echoing throughout the cabin. Eventually, Alex regained consciousness and was in a state of confusion as her brain began to clear out the fog. She had no recollection of the recent events in her life. As she looked around her immediate surroundings, she began to piece things together. 

She grimaced in pain with each movement. The straps that held her to the seat during re-entry left large bruises on her torso. As she unfastened the harness, she felt a sharp pain in her side, mostly likely from a fractured rib. Every laboured breath felt like a hot knife was being jabbed into her side. 

Rain poured down on the pod, obscuring the view from the windshield. Alex looked up anyway to see if her plan had worked, but it was too dark to see. A crackling lightning bolt lit up the night sky for a brief moment, allowing her to momentarily grasp the severity of the storm. It was complete chaos, but inside the protective craft, she was shielded from the unrelenting weather. She decided to wait before venturing outside to explore the unknown land that she had drifted to. She gazed at the ground surrounding the craft, looking for any signs of familiarity, but there was none. Unfortunately, the light was too low for her to identify anything significant that could help determine her location.  

With the atrocious weather, Alex decided to hunker down in the ship and wait out the storm. She was fatigued anyway so it was a suitable option. As she remained in her seat, she shifted her weight away from her damaged rib to become more comfortable. With the rhythmic rain beating down, she closed her eyes and fell asleep. 

As soon as the sun peeked over the horizon, the light entered the glass dome of the ship, but that was not enough to bring Alex out of her slumber. After a few hours, the sun rose higher in the sky, allowing the rays to warm the inside cabin. Alex awoke in discomfort. Her mouth was dry and her body was sweaty. She tried to sit up and immediately felt her stiff bones and sore muscles resist her movements. The first thing she did when she opened her eyes was look skyward. The light blue sky was calm and there was not a cloud in sight. Alex gleamed with joy.  

"Oh my gosh, it worked!" she celebrated with an uninhibited jubilation. Her injuries reminded her to take it easy. After grimacing in pain, an ear-to-ear grin grew on her face. She gazed through the prism of the filthy glass windscreen, but to get the full effect, she needed to go outside. 

"Open hatch," she commanded. Her voice trembled as she was unable to contain her excitement. The mechanical hatch door unlocked and lifted open. Alex's deprived senses suddenly became flooded with sensation. Her eardrums popped and everything became much louder. The sweet sounds of waves crashing and birds chirping had never sounded so good. The warm ocean breeze whistled by her body, causing the hairs on her arms to stand up. She inhaled a deep breath of the tropical air and then climbed out of her ship. When she stepped foot on the sandy beach, she stared up at the gorgeous blue sky. It was the most breathtaking sight she had seen in a long time, perhaps ever. She took great comfort in having a big blue dome encapsulate the planet. In its purity, it represented hope, salvation, and a new beginning.  

She spun around to capture the full view of her surroundings. In every direction except one, the ocean, which now had an uncharacteristic indigo tinge to it, stretched out to the horizon. She turned around to examine the island upon which she had drifted to. From the shoreline, she could take in the whole scope of the mountainous terrain, which was populated by dense trees. She saw exotic birds flutter amongst the tall trees, but was unfamiliar with their variety so she was unable to use them as clues to pinpoint where on the map she had landed. She figured perhaps once she ventured in deeper, she would stumble upon some jungle critters that would provide more information as to her location.

From her limited vantage point, the island did not appear to be inhabited by people, but that had yet to be confirmed. It did occur to her, briefly, that she died and was now in some paradise in the afterlife. She dismissed the speculation and began to consider the more likely scenario that she was stranded on a deserted island with limited supplies and no method of contacting the outside world. She then came to the inevitable conclusion that her troubles were far from over. 

Without the aid of her access pod, she would have to rely strictly on what she already knew about survival, which was not much. She re-entered the exploration pod and rummaged through every compartment looking for anything she could utilize. The obvious items she found were a utility tool, a parasite detector, a water purifier, and a fire starter. She figured she could strip some metal rods off something to make skewers for cooking, use a container to carry water, and wires for traps and to bind things together. She pocketed the utility tool and left everything else in the ship.  

Building a shelter seemed unnecessary considering she had a weatherproof pod to sleep in. Her primary focus then became obtaining food and fresh drinking water.

Alex kept her eyes on the sky as she trekked up the soft sandy beach. When she reached the treeline, she began to look for anything that could be used as a food source. From the ship, she had obtained several dried food packs that would last her about two weeks if she rationed them properly. Fishing was an option, but unless the fish provided her with more energy than she would exert catching it, she did not see the point. She kept that as an option in her mind and plotted some more as she stomped through the thick bushes. 

She continued to hike to higher grounds with the hope of stumbling upon a pond or some wild fruit. After traversing through the jungle for several hours, she decided to rest for a few minutes. When she stopped moving, she heard the sound of running water in the distance. At first, she thought it was just her mind playing tricks on her, but with each passing second, she became convinced it was real. Without wasting any more time, she set off once again. She followed the sound about a hundred metres until she came across a waterfall and a small pond in a serene location. The trees parted just enough for the sun to light up the forest floor and cause the water to sparkle. It was so beautiful and until she actually touched it, she was not fully convinced it was real.  

Alex set down her belongings and knelt by the water. With an insatiable thirst, she cupped her hands together and began slurping up the cold liquid. The refreshing water cooled her insides and quenched her thirst. She scooped a few more handfuls of water for drinking and a couple for cleansing her face.  

After a long and exhausting hike, Alex had worked up quite a sweat. With the sun's warm rays at her back, she peeled off her sticky clothes and then walked into the pond until she was submerged up to her neck. As the cold water engulfed her warm body, she felt exhilarated. She then inspected her body for damage. Her rib was swollen and slightly protruding, but it did not impede her movement too much. Aside from that injury and some nasty bruises, she was still in one piece.