0 0 1 ━ [ 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘯 ]

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟹𝟻: 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢, 𝚂𝚎𝚝, 𝙶𝚘

"Hello?" One's voice echoed through the darkness as she weaved between sinister trees, stained black by the perpetual ash falling around her. James' ripped leather jacket snagged on taunting branches, and she continuously batted away clumps of hair banded together by dried blood to keep her vision clear. "Steve? Dad? El? Anybody?"

Monstrous shrieks echoed a response, crying for blood and death in the empty wasteland. One's pulse quickened with her pace as she stumbled through the evil wood. After nearly tripping over an upturned root, she took pause and tried to summon a portal. Crackles of light erupted before immediately fading away. She was out of juice.

One knew where she was but she didn't know where she was, let alone when she was. All she could do was continue to trek away from the hungry howls until she had enough energy to get herself the hell out of there. A large crack echoed thirty feet to her left and she found herself praying that it would be soon.

One looked up at the monotonous sky above and noticed that the tops of the leafless trees curled in towards her, either to shield her or to eat her. Black weeds grew in place of grass and licked at her ankles as she tread over them; tasting her exposed, bloody skin. With every step, the forest seemed to shrink smaller and smaller.

When the claustrophobia was seconds away from consuming One, a clearing finally revealed itself to her in the distance. She sprinted for the minimal light that shined through it, uprooting the weeds that wrapped themselves around her and tried to hold her back. The forest wouldn't hold her prisoner anymore.

When One came to the other side of the clearing, the scene before her sent her careening back into her memories. Small gray house. Broken down green Pinto. Tattered clothesline whipping around in the invisible wind. It wasn't exactly the same as she knew it to be, but it solidified where she was.

Her portal hadn't taken her far. She was still in Snikwah.