Beyond the Walls

Chapter 1

Author's Note: 

Welcome to Beyond the Walls. This is the sequel to the ORIGINAL version of Within the Walls. If you haven't read that, you should probably read it first, it can be found on my profile. Thank you so much for all your support, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it. I hope you enjoy Book 2 :) 

August 1 2023 note: Beyond the Walls [New Version] is coming soon!

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I am blind. Dust fills my lungs. Hot. Suffocating. I cough violently, desperate to rid myself of the poison but it is in vain. My throat burns and my lungs scream for oxygen. My body is moments from giving out.

I am dying.

For a fleeting moment, I am okay with it. Almost willing to accept my inevitable fate, ready to slip briskly into oblivion. But then my animalistic instinct kicks in: my drive for survival. I scramble blindly to my feet, clamp my torn sleeve over my mouth and stumble forward, not knowing where I am going, only determined to escape the choking fog. My forehead stings viciously and when I bring my hand up to feel it, it comes away sticky with blood.

Feeling my way through the haze, distorted images and sounds come back to me, foggy and indecipherable.

Silence.

Blood.

Ringing.

Fragments of stone.

Green eyes.

At once, my mind clings onto the last image as if I am at risk of losing it forever. Those green eyes. Where is he?

I try to glance around, but the grey, gritty dust clouds my vision. Everything looks the same and the steady beat of my heart picks up at the disorientation. I try to call out his name but as soon as I open my mouth, more dust fills my throat and I wind up coughing up my own blood.

Where is he?

At long last, the thick dust begins to alleviate and I can make out the dim silhouettes of trees. I push forward. Surely I would have seen him if he were close to where I fell?

Then, there he is. He stands several yards ahead of me in the foliage. He is entirely unscathed, no rips in his clothes or grazes on his skin. He beams at me, running a hand through his dark, tousled hair. My heart thuds beneath my ribs. I blink and his figure swims, morphing with the nature surrounding him until he becomes merely a tree.

He was not really there after all.

Blood rushes past my ears, hysteria rises up my throat and I bite the inside of my cheek hard to stop a scream, tasting blood. He's gone. Lost. Dead for all I know.

The trees around me are replicas of one another and I wonder whether I am just going in circles. Finally, my nose picks up the distinct metallic smell of blood through the haze of dust and I lift my nose in the air, drawing in the scent. A low, muffled moan comes from behind a tree and I almost trip over my own feet to get around it.

He lays sprawled out on the Forest floor, dark hair matted with blood from a nasty cut along his hairline. It smears down his cheek and jaw, already beginning to dry to his skin. His shirt is torn in several places, revealing nasty bruises on his torso. His eyes are closed and his cut lips are parted.

"Ruben!" I hastily kneel at his side and take his large hand in my small one, tilting his chin around to face me with my other.

He stifles a moan and his brows twitch. "Ruben." My hand fumbles over his chest and I gently shake his shoulder.