Chasing the Wind

Chapter One

Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.

Six years ago, we were still fighting A.L.I.E. and I'd come to Becca's lab to do research on the robot she created.

And now, I woke up in the lab from a coma to find out A.L.I.E. was defeated, and a radiation wave called Praimfaya destroyed the planet. Most remaining people lived in a bunker in Polis, but a few others were in space.

They couldn't bring me because in the coma, I wouldn't survive the trip. I couldn't watch the rest of the video. I needed time to process it.

It felt like yesterday that I'd collapsed on the ground, and I woke up with the bullet holes in my stomach as scars six years later.

So when I walked outside, I gasped with shock. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. The radiation wave had toppled buildings, destroying everything in its path. The lake was a valley of sand dunes. The trees were burnt husks.

The only life was the bird I was following. But I found a valley that the radiation had skipped over. It was full of trees and colorful villages. Shadow Valley, once the home of Louwoda Kliron clan. They were all dead.

Six years.

This valley was all that was left of Earth. Well, unless people wanted to live in a sand dune for the rest of their life, which would be very short without food or water.

I unbraided my hair and rubbed the bottom in a type of flower that acted as a dye. Now, it was part light blue.

Not the color I was aiming for, but it was different.

I was different.

My tattoos were still there. I could never forget who I was, part of who I still am. The stars falling from the sky. Skaikru. The riptides around my clan crest. Samukru. The moon crescent teardrops hanging down from my eyes, as well as the upward opening moon on my forehead. Nightblood.

As I entered the center of the valley, I saw people. But an electric shock ran down my spine before I could leave, rendering me unconscious.

I woke up with a woman up in my face. Her dark blonde hair was pulled back, save for the small curls around her face. She had a menacing scar across her throat.

"You're awake," she smiled, "Good."

I pretended to not understand her.

"Now, care to tell me why a bunch of my men are dead within a few days of us landing here?"

So she's new here, and she thinks I killed them. They're dead. She'd have to deal with it. She'd have to deal with the one who killed them. Who could have killed them?

"Stedaunon don gon we. Kikon ste enti," I said. The dead are gone. The living are hungry.

But she didn't speak Trigedasleng, so she didn't know what I said.

"Name?" She asked.

"Gonakwin," I answered in Trig again. Warrior queen.

The woman smiled, "Well, I'll just call you Gona, since Gonakwin is quite a mouthful." She was calling me a warrior. She had no idea how much of a compliment that was, "I'm Diyoza."

"Why are you trying to reason with her?" A man in the back asked, "She clearly doesn't speak English."

Diyoza turned to him, "I think she does, McCreary. Now let me interrogate her on my own."

The man answered, "Great." he turned around, revealing tattoos across the side of his head and neck. I wondered what they meant. He left.

"Who's killing my men?"