(Part 2/3 alternate) A.L.O.N.E. Adventurer/Loner/Outcast/Neighbor/Explorer Treia !P0dSPtgivA 2012/11/13 (Tue) 12:12 No. 762 ▼ File 135280872824.jpg - (63.84KB, 500x349 , AmreQ.jpg)
The sun his risen and fallen many times, but one thing is always certain: It always rises.
Every night, a single band of smoke arose from the mountain. Nearly invisible in the dark of night, a second crept closer by the day. Ignorant of its occupant's existence, perhaps, but wary of their being.
Upon morning they both disappear, closer than they ever realize. Two beings on one mountain.
With companions fed, both set upon the mountain. One up, one down. One blissfully unaware of her surroundings, the other giving a quick glance left or right at the slightest scuffle.
A horse and its rider slowly clattered up the mountain. A girl slowly dragged herself down.
The rider paused, keenly aware of some intangible danger. It was at that moment that the girl emerged onto the road, finding herself mere feet from the horseman.
Both froze, bewildered. They world stood still in this moment, this solitary meeting between the last two. The horses balked and neighed, throwing its feet into the air as both grab for their weapons. He shoulders long rifle, she her sword. The meager distance is closed in a moment, and again widened as the horse begins to stampede. Only through skill and careful horsemanship does the rider turn it around again, perhaps at twenty feet. It is now She that is at the disadvantage, standing upon open road.
But they pause there again, both waiting for the end. Through glassed, hidden eyes he appraises her. He again shoulders his rifle, and turns his horse.
"Hyah!"
They break into full gallop, easily gaining distance. She is bewildered for a moment, still seeped in her own instincts. Then, a pit grows in her stomach as she realizes the prize escaping her. She drops her weapons, her shield. She runs after him, futilely, calling out.
"Hey! Stop! Stop! I didn't- Come on, stop!"
She runs herself ragged, miles after he's out of sight. She pauses only when she can run no longer, nearly collapsed and gulping huge breaths. She looks, looks a while a longer, but there's nothing. Sulken and downtrodden, she chooses not even to retrieve her arms nor perform her duties. She would return to her house, locking herself inside for the whole night.
Upon morning, she barely rouses herself. She chooses to sit on the side of the bed for an hour, thinking of what could have been. Fantasies play out in her head, and perhaps a few nightmares. But she knows she must continue, and so she goes to retrieve her arms and begin anew.
Upon her doorstep sits a small parcel of food, carefully wrapped to protect it from the elements.
She throws herself to her knees, carefully looking it over and tearing into. Then she looks up, around, everywhere. She mouths several words to herself.
"he's still out there."
Gleeful, ecstatic, absolutely stunned. She carefully takes it inside, treating it with the upmost care. She works quickly, repeating that phrase to herself.
"he's still out there."
She takes to her duty with new vigor. She carefully watches around the waterfall, she prepares herself to meet him again up that dusty trail. Every little brush of a bush is him, every whistle in the distance a neighing horse. He does not appear, but she sees him everywhere.
She sets herself to sleep easily that night, remembering that phrase.
"he's still out there."
It is not known who he is, nor does it particularly matter to her. He is someone, and someone is all she wants or needs.
When she wakes, there is again a parcel of food waiting. Again, she eagerly takes to it, then looks for him. He does not appear, but she sees him everywhere.
She takes to her duty with new vigor. She carefully watches around the waterfall, she prepares herself to meet him again up that dusty trail. Every little brush of a bush is him, every whistle in the distance a neighing horse.
She sets herself to sleep easily that night, remembering that phrase.
"he's still out there."
Day on and day on, the parcels continue, smaller each time. Eventually, they do not appear, but she takes this in stride. He is still out there, she knows. He must need them more than her, and were he to come back, she would immediately give him all she had for a few minutes? time.
"he's still out there."
She confidently repeats to herself, days after the parcels stopped.
"Yeah? wouldn't that be grand, Hidalgo?"
He asked, turning over and looking into his companion's beady, dead and staring eyes. He nodded as if the horse had answered, not that it ever had, or ever could again.
"Yeah? yeah it would be grand. I bet she is, right now. Haha... I'd come back, right?"
No answer. It couldn't answer. So he clutched his long rifle closer, deeper into his chest. Click. Click. Click. He presses the trigger again and again, despite the futility.
"Not even one left for me? bastard."
He tries to spit at the third body laying amongst them, but falls short by a long while. He is too weak to get up and kick the mutant's corpse, although he would like to. He simply lay there, sustaining himself on memories and fantasies. Five seconds of a sight can be stretched to five hours as he bleeds.
"One hundred? but one saved. Does the math really work out?"
He groaned and turned over, crawling with his hands and arms. Crawling over to the mutant's body and looking it straight in what used to be its face.
"You bastard. I wanted to go back. Yesterday. Today and the day before yesterday, and the day before that. All those times. But I didn't deserve it. She does, but not me. This was my atonement."
Rambling on, for lack of a better listener. He divulges all his secrets, everything he could never tell anyone else. He talks for hours, the last hours. He falls onto his back, simply unable to continue. A glance into the sky, a single bird flying over it.
"Well? at least I did that."
"he's still out there."