“Thanks, I guess”

Chapter 2  

        "Thanks, I guess"

    As I opened my eyes I saw the same face, the same long blond hair and, the same tear filled bright blue eyes I saw when I first came to this planet. Talk about Deja vu, guess some things never change. As I was lost in thought I began to sit up then the Little girl before me spoke. "Hey, Don't Get up! You need to rest. I may have gotten most of the poison out but, there is still some left In your body. You need to rest so your body can take care of it." she motioned for me to lie down. Of course I didn't listen, I felt sick. I was nauseous, my arms were numb and, my eyesight was blurry but, I had to keep moving. I spoke addressing the girl  "Unfortunately I don't have that luxury. The fact of the matter is that we need to find a town before the sun goes down. Wait, Shit how long was I out?!"

"Calm down it's only been about an hour. The sun isn't even close to going down."

"Wow, only an Hour that's such a short time!" I said this in an immensely sarcastic tone.

"I know, right what did I tell you! See it's not that bad!"

"It's called sarcasm kid look it up. It was about noon when I blacked out. This time of year the sun goes down about six hours past noon. That means we have five hours left to find a town with zero leads on where one might be! We don't even know where a river is!" I started to pace and wave my arms as if to  prove a point. The girl began to break down and cry "Oh no, You're right! How could this happen! We're going to die out here in this wasteland and nobody will know! This is terrible" her speech was interrupted by periodic sobs and sniffles. "Well now that you understand the circumstances shut up and get moving if you wanna live. Crying isn't going to make us any less lost."

"Meanie, how could you be so insensitive! You could at least be a little more empathetic to a little girl crying her eyes out. Besides how is wandering aimlessly going to make us any less lost?"

"Do you have any better ideas?" She stopped crying and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"Well actually I do" she said this in a very matter of fact way with a finger in the air and a hand on her hip. She seemed emmensly confidante in this idea of hers

"Oh yeah, this should be good." I don't know what I was expecting. Before I could make a guess she spoke.

"If we pray God will help us find our way."  Yup, it was total nonsense.

"Okay good luck with that but, I'm leaving" I began to to walk away when she grabbed my sleeve and hung on it.

"Just trust me It's going to work, I promise!" She was near tears but she had a fiery determination in her eye's; she was convinced this would work.

"Fine show me the powers of God or whatever but, I'm only going to give you five minutes, after that I'm leaving." I was unconvinced being a devout atheist, I wholeheartedly believed this wasn't going to work. With her hands clasped together, kneeling and, her eyes closed she began to almost glow. Must be a desert mirage.

"Ok fine, Just you watch, God loves me! Oh great merciful Lord please and answer my prayer and send messenger to guide your lost lambs to salvation." she had a solemn and sincere tone to her voice. I could almost feel the fear and hope she had as she prayed.

"Wow look nothing happened!" Just as I finished uttering those words I saw something overhead. This took me off guard and I prepared for a fight I put my hand on the hilt of my blade but, It was a great desert eagle a benevolent bird who's favorite food happens to be fish. Knowing the bird didn't have a taste for people I calmed down. My stress changed to relief. This bird is a sight to behold. ocean blue feathers on its body with pearl white feathers on its head. The bird's feathers gilmer in the sunlight. It's tar black talons where polished to a shine. The eagle was heading due west that meant that most likely there was a river that way. the a good thing that it came too because we were heading north. That being said there was something strange about its behavior it was circling overhead almost as if it wanted to guide us. "Well, I'll be damned something actually happened."

"Yeah, the way you're going you probably will be damned." she addressed the bird "Messenger of our Lord please guide us to salvation"  that moment the bird let out a majestic caw and started heading west again. " Let's follow it it's the best bet we have of finding a river"

"Good job kid I don't know how you did it but, Let's follow that bird!" despite my prase the girl seemed upset. She pouted her arms crossed and spoke "Would you quit calling me kid already I have a name you know, it's Alice."

"Alright kid keep up the pace or we're going to lose the bird."

"Ugh, you're impossible! Whatever let's just keep moving." we followed the bird, about a half hour had passed. By then we were both getting rather tired. Running on the sand in a hot desert isn't exactly easy. The landscape along the way was sparse to say the least. Mostly sand dunes and dunes and these strange purple cacti. There were occasional birds in the sky but no archer hawks because of our eagle companion. You see the archer hawks won't go near a desert eagle due to the eagles being immune to their venom an alot bigger. We were safe, for now. Then finally we found it Alice opened with an exclamation "Finally a river, it's Beautiful!"

"Thank you captain obvious. I am well aware that there is river" Alice seemed upset but not as much as before. She spoke as if holding back her anger with her teeth clenched. "You know at this point I've gotten used to your rude comments." she looked up to address the Eagle "Thank you messenger of God, Your help is much appreciated." The eagle let out a satisfied caw that filled me with determination before disappearing into the horizon.I filled up my canteen at the river. The water was beautiful it was a clear blue and about knee deep. There were some small fish swimming around but nothing special. The area around the river was unbelievably green. giant trees that resembled palm trees were scattered across the riverside. grass also spread across the riverside. It truly was a sight to behold but, surprisingly I didn't see any animals. You would think with all this vegetation that there would be at some fauna but, no I guess not. It certainly was odd. Nonetheless I continued walking. Under the shade of the trees  by the river the temperature cooled down. A nice breeze brushed against our faces. It was cool and wet. Alice chimed in with a relieved sigh " Ah, this is so nice. What a great change of pace from the terrible sweaty trek we took to get here."

"Well kid, For once you're right about something. This breeze sure is refreshing. That being said we have to keep moving. It is a necessity that we find a town before the sun leaves us."

"Hey, don't call me kid! Man, your such a jerk. My name is Alice, try using it for once! Anyway yeah I guess you're right." Alice seemed relieved; her shoulders dropped and she exhaled in a sigh  

"I know I'm right Now get moving before we freeze to death. We still got a long way to go before we reach a town."  Alice seemingly just realizing the reality of the situation lost her sparkling visage and put on a face of disappointment. "Eh, more walking but, I'm out of breath and my legs feel like noodles!"

"Too bad kid, you should have paced yourself on the way over here. There ain't no rest for the wicked so get moving." Alice seemed irked by this statement.

"What, do I look wicked to you? Also quit calling me kid, I'm fourteen so technically I'm a teenager." she crossed her arms and turned her shoulder to me her dissatisfied frown turned into an angry pout but, she seemed to have her energy back and she began walking along the river. "Well are you coming or not?" she beckoned me to come along.

"I don't have much of a choice do I?" I followed her along the river bank but, walking in sand with the hot desert sun beating down on you isn't easy. That being said the refreshing breeze was a welcomed change of pace from the open desert trek we were on before. The trees were a mix of plants that looked like palm trees but the key difference being that this plant had razor sharp bark in layers going up it's trunk in a manner that almost looked like teeth and on the tips of the leaves it bore fruit over the river. I read that this tree lays it's seeds in the water as they travel downstream they take root in the river bed the fruit was edile but the seed inside is as spiky ball meant to grip the river bed.  The fact of the matter is that climbing the tree would cause immense bleeding ment this fruit was no afternoon snack. After I returned from the hase of thought I saw Alice about to pass out. She was panting and her breathing was ragade. "Idiot have you drank any water since we got here!" she began to collapse I caught her she spoke in a soft tone "no." I quickly sat her up and immediately emptied my cantine into her mouth, welp looks like I out of water. Luckily I had a water purifier on hand nothing too fancy just a clear plastic bottle that dipped in the middle to a collection center I'm not rich ok. On a foreign planet you don't want to take any risks with alien bacteria. I placed Alice in the shade she wasn't unconsace but she still needed to rest. I began to fill my purifier as it was about half way full I heard something, it was the sound of sand being crunched by footsteps. The steps of something big. The steps seemed muted as if something was trying to stay undetected it came from behind a sand dune. I placed my hand on my sword slightly unsheathing it with my thumb. Just then a great predator leaped at the reposed Alice. I dashed forward and drew my blade cutting the head of the beast clean off. Blood spewed from the headless corpse staining Alice's white robe a dark crimson. A collective rawr boomed through the river bank four figures appeared at the top of the dune at this point I was able to Identify the enemy. It was a pride of leoregiums the apex predators of this land. They had tan fur with two horizontal white stripes on either side. The female leader of the pride and it's strongest member charged at me. It swiped at me with it claws I just barely managed to block but, the swipe sent me flying into a nearby tree. The strength of this animal was immense it is said that they destroy boulders in their spare time to train. The serrated bark cut up my back until I landed my feet onto the tree and leaped to the ground rolling away. My back was gushing blood but, I'm not done yet. The beast dashed again pouncing on me it's jaws nashing; I blocked with my blade and rolled the lion over me it fell onto it's back with a pained growl I used this chance to regain my footing and I prepared myself for my next move. The leo charged forward as did I, It swiped at me but, I slid under its attack and slashed its underbelly the beast fell to the ground. Just then I noticed alise was crying tears streamed down her face mixed with the blood of the fallen leoregiums. " what's the matter, scared of blood?" she shook her head. "I sense immense sadness from this creature" she sounded solem in her words tears continued to stream down her face. "It tried to kill you! What the hell are you talking about!" I don't know why I was so mad, maybe it was because I never gave death a second thought. You live till you die that's how nature works. The strong survive that's how nature works but, I couldn't bring myself to tell this girl that simple fact. In this time lost in thought I noticed the female was almost apon Alice. I screamed "Alice watch out!" but, instead of attacking her the female covered the decapitated leo in her embrace. Alice moved to the leo. I spoke "hey, what are you doing that thing is going to kill you!" the other leo's began to move in but, the female gave off a warding rawr as if to say "you are done here don't throw your lives away" alce placed the females head in her lap and began to stroke her head. Three words left her mouth "Rest in peace" the female lion when limp. Alce placed her hands together and prayed over the dead body. The remaining leos rawred as if to send off their leader. I spoke "How did you know that thing wouldn't kill you" she responded in a solemn tone "I could only sense one thing from that creature, maternal love." Her tears had stopped all that was left on alaces face was a sad smile filled with compassion. "Let's bury them" as I spoke these words alsace gave a small nod in agreement. I dug a whole and heaved the bodies into them we placed sticks in the graves and I said three words "rest in peace." After that everything faded I was passing out I lost too much blood from the cut's my back I fell limp to the ground.