The Checkpoint

Chapter Three

"What is this place?" she asked out loud, the wind making her hair sway, throwing sand in her face. She sputtered it out and looked around, dropping her backpack.

She didn't know; it was a ruined down desert, no clue as to why. She woke up in a pod strangely. That was it. No explanation or anything.

No memory.

Standing there and walking for hours, she was hot, parched.

Raeiya kneeled down and zipped open the backpack, "What's in here? Better be useful."

Clothes, canned and bottled food, a knife, gun, crowbar ... water.

She quickly grabbed it, a sense of relief and sensation washing over her face. Twisting open the cap off the container, she drank some, taking huge gulps. Gasping loudly and wiping her mouth with her hand, she spotted something in the backpack.

"Huh?"

Taking it from the darkness, she saw a thin tube with this pale red-violet liquid. On the glass, it said FVA-#20331.

She furrowed her eyebrows to this; she had no clue what that was. It was about the size of her forearm. She shook it, bubbles forming.

"Huh."

Suddenly, a bright light pierced her eyes to her right, and she looked, squinting.

"What the hell?"

It was a capsule, a pod falling out the sky in the distance, the same one as hers. Not too far, about a few minutes away.

Since she woke up in the exact same thing and she was all out here on alone, she dropped the canteen and glass tube in her backpack, shot up and dragged it with her, her limp getting worse. She seared and cried in pain on the way over. The blistering heat and wave from the sun made her sway the way over.

Her head boiled in heat and the clothes she wore made it no better.

When she was close enough to the capsule, she saw the capsule in water tilted, the splashed of water staining the sand, but not for long.

With just a few more steps over left to the capsule, she dropped her stuff, the key, and the backpack. Standing in the water and trudging towards the capsule with a cracked window screen, she placed her hands on the glass, breathing on it and wiping away the mist. There was an unconscious man in there with a childish face. She knew it was no child, though.

Raeiya stared at him for a seemingly long time, unsure why. Then, she snapped out when she heard the muffled words, "Self-destruct in 1 minute."

Blaring red lights beeped and flashed in her face.

"Shit!" She banged her fists on the glass, attempting to wake the person, but he seemed dead. Cold, stiff. After all, there was blood on his face as well, but not as severe as Raeiya's.

He was limp; his limbs like soggy noodles and draped over the chair, his body slumped down and unproportioned.

"HEY! WAKE UP!" She continued to bang her fist with her unbloodied hand, kick the door, scream. But it was no use.

Scrambling around to find something to use, she saw her backpack and remembered the crowbar that was in there. Gasping, she trudged back over, tripping through the water because of her limp.

"Self-destruct in 50 seconds."

Falling face-first on the sand, the water sloshing around, she opened her backpack with harsh delicacy and grabbed the crowbar. She ran straight back to the capsule, frustrated at the water. She wanted to kick it.

"Self-destruct in 40 seconds."

Slamming the crowbar at the sides of the window to pry it open, she fell over in the water, soaked and cool. The crowbar fell on top of her.

"Self-destruct in 35 seconds."

With her last effort, she stabbed the glass using the metal tool with force, making cracks and dents.

One crack. Two cracks.

Her heart beat faster with every crack made, and her mind scrambled. She breathed heavily, trying to save the person.

She was trying to save a person that was probably already dead.

With enough cracks, she stood back and threw the crowbar. It shattered the glass with tiny shards flying everywhere. The crowbar fell in, clinking.

Raeiya gasped in surprise and delight and ran over, she reached in to unbuckle the person. When she felt his pule, his dead face to the side of the seat, he sure seemed dead. She could've saved him for nothing.

Unbuckling him with ease, she looked around the tiny capsule for anything else.

A blue key behind glass and a satchel on the floor next to him, covered in blood and glass.

"Self-destruct in 15 seconds."

She screamed, "SHIT!"

Dragging his body out, she was careful not to poke or cut him with the glass. Throwing him into the water, she grabbed the handle that was connected to the glass dashboard, but it was stuck.

"Self-destruct in 10 seconds."

She was worried now. She was taking too long, trying to get the stuff. But she felt like it was important.

Finally grabbing the crowbar and busting it open, she grabbed the key and the satchel, turning around and throwing them as far as she could along with the crowbar.

She felt weak as her limbs grew heavy and tired. She felt like falling over to the heat and her injuries.

Limping again, she picked up the man by his armpits and dragged him out the water.

"5 ... 4 ... 3 ..."

Raeiya breathed heavily and fell backwards, almost touching land, but she was still incredibly close to the capsule. Her fear rose and her heart stopped.

This felt like a horror movie to her where she would die instantly. Where the alarm continued to blare and the flashing red light continued to go off.

And that annoying voice continued to talk.

As her only instinct, she hugged the probably dead body, closed her eyes and braced for impact.

"2 ... 1."

Then came the explosion.

A loud boom that made her ears ring again, metal falling, water, fire, sand, glass, it all flew her direction and cut her, making her bleed.

Opening her eyes and looking around, a small fire conquered a piece of grass over by the spot of the capsule. The parachute flew down, caught on fire and landed in the water, extinguishing immediately. Blood stained and coloured the water, swirling towards her.

She gasped loudly, her chest pulsating outwards with every breath. Her heart was racing.

Raeiya was incredibly hurt, but she was able to save the man. She was fighting the pain, her head, her ankle, her hand, her back.

Her face.

She gasped loudly and groaned when she saw the man's stiff face, blood smeared and all over her thin hoodie.

"Dammit."