Veronica felt the rhythmic swaying of her mule underneath her. She heard the roar of a river, and gazed up at the walls of the canyon that encased her. The smell of minerals and dust filled the cool air inside. Above them about thirty five feet, the air was broiling. Even in the shaded and humid canyon, it felt like an oven. Her reddish hair fell in a braid over her shoulder, but under her cowboy style hat her head was sweaty and unbearably hot. She wore jeans, with her sleeveless plaid shirt tucked into them. Her blue eyes scanned the ground in front of her mule's feet carefully. Watching for large rocks to step around, and holes to avoid. Veronica lived on a farm in the desert with her Grandfather. They had a garden, and a small herd of cows, and it was a good life. On this day, her grandfather had taken the old green truck to town, and she was left alone to do the chores. She had eagerly seized the opportunity to go exploring. She fed the cows, weeded the garden, tidied the small farmhouse, then saddled up her dusty old mule, Shadbush. Shad for short. It was about three miles to her destination, and the sun was cruel. She'd filled two canteens before she left, and they clunked heavily on her legs as they hung off the saddle. It was a blessing when she entered the cool canyon. It felt nearly like a tunnel, she'd been wishing to explore it for awhile. It seemed to connect with a few other tunnel-like enclosures, and the sound of the river got louder and more distinct as she went on. Suddenly, as she rounded a corner, there was a river. "Well, not quite a river," Veronica thought."More like a large creek." As she continued on, the ground turned from packed red sandstone with an occasional large stone to a bank of round white stones descending into the water. The mouth of the canyon widened into a kind of beach, and she saw a small living tree growing near the sheer wall. She dismounted, and led Shad over to it. She tied the leather reins and stroked his glum face. He was getting on in years, and definitely had a mind of his own, but she'd had him for ten years and couldn't bear to part with him for a younger mount. She turned, sat on a larger rock, and removed her cowboy boots and peeled off her socks. She rolled her bluejeans up to the knee and tested the water. It was perfect on a day like this. She decided that while she was at it, it couldn't hurt to go upstream a ways. She threw her plaid shirt and hat on the bank, and started off in her black tank top and jeans. Small fish darted around in the shallows, and she reveled in the cool water. It wasn't deep, she walked in the middle of the creek, and it came about to her knees, a little deeper in places. Before long it narrowed a bit, and she came to a turn. She looked over her shoulder to glance at her mule, who stood with head down and ears back, looking grumpy but content to stay where he was put. She turned back and started up again. She did nothing but walk for awhile, leaning over and splashing in the shallows, scaring the fish and turning over rocks to look for crawdads. The beach where she'd started out from was apparently the only one. The rock walls had narrowed and eliminated any space for dry land. If she wanted to get out of the water where she was she'd have to rock climb. She stepped cautiously down into a lower dip in the water, but stepped onto a rock covered in algae and went tumbling into the water. She only went in up to her rib-cage, but she gasped and clambered out again as quickly as she could. She bent with her hands on her knees to catch her breath from the cold water, and as she gazed down, she saw something shiny in the water. She stepped forward and touched it with her foot. It was a piece of metal. She squinted at it, and reached down to pick it up. She slipped again and went splashing in, she scrunched her face up in displeasure and tried to get the water out of her eyes with her hands, but just got her face wetter. She sat still for a moment, waiting for the water to clear. When she could see it again, she reached forward and her hand closed around the metal. Scrambling to her feet, she reached out a hand and steadied herself on the canyon wall. Turning it over in her hand, she examined her find carefully. She felt the sharp jagged edges, it didn't look like it'd been in the water for long. It was strangely heavy, for a piece of metal that small. On one side of it, it had a strange kind of engraving, and glittered green. It reminded her of some abalone she'd seen once. The other side looked normal, but she couldn't tell what kind of metal it was. "That's strange, I can't think of where this could have come from." She thought. Cocking her head, she touched the engraved side of it. It was still cold from being in the water. It couldn't have been more than four inches or so across, and an eight of an inch thick, but it weighed about two pounds. It was odd. She tucked it into the waistband of her pants and continued on upstream. She kept looking at the bottom and it wasn't long before she found another piece, this one a little larger, she picked it up briefly, and then kept on. She found several more, one the size of a car door, what they all had in common was that they were all engraved one side, and they all appeared to be blown off something. The edges were jagged and torn. She was so engrossed in looking for the pieces she hadn't looked up, but the sound of something falling into the water jerked her head up. Her mouth dropped open, and the piece of metal in her hands dropped. In front of her, jammed between the two walls, suspended above the water, was some kind of aircraft.
.....
It was roughly oval shaped, but it was clear it wasn't intact. It had had a tail, that had been ground off, judging by the huge black scrapes on either wall. The windshield was shattered, and there were two stubs of wings on either side. It wasn't large, maybe twenty feet from tail to tip. Veronica stumbled over to a wall, unable to take her eyes from the sight in front of her. Beneath the ship several huge hunks of the metal glittered under the water. Her mind wouldn't think, it flew without stopping at any kind of conclusion. Suddenly one thought burst it's way to the front of the confusion. What if someone's in there. And without hesitation, she scrambled over to the other side and began to scale the wall. It wasn't at all an easy climb, considering it slanted up and out, but it wasn't too far up to the craft and she got up in about 10 minutes. Her heart was beating so fast, all she could do was mutter prayers in her scared mind. Finally, she got to where she could reach an edge, it looked like that was where a door had been, but some kind of explosion had blown it off. She grabbed it with both hands, her feet dangling fifteen feet over the rocks and water below, and threw herself like a walrus up onto her stomach. She gasped for breath, hands trembling, and stood uncertainly. She was terrified she'd feel a jolt, that the pod wasn't secure, but it seemed to be firm. Her braid had come loose, and red hair was like a cloud in her face, she brushed it away almost frantically, and looked up. And there, sitting in the cockpit, was a boy. Sprawled in what appeared to be the captain's chair. He was conscious, and struggling weakly with the belt that strapped him in. When he heard her, his head turned and he stared. He had emerald green eyes, they seemed to shimmer like flames. She froze, and began to tremble. All she could see when she looked in his eyes was a trapped animal. Deathly afraid and ready to fight to the death. But even as she watched, the look of terror melted to defeat, he stretched out a hand, and she leaped forward. Clawing for her knife, she flipped it open and began to saw at the straps, but he gripped her arm. Desperation like fire in his eyes. He choked out the words,
"Jume, kernay, yala--" Before the emerald eyes rolled back in his head.
XD Nice! I read it all the way to the end- so far so good XD Keep it up. :)
ReplyDeleteYaaaaaaay. Thanks much! Pretty excited about this one. :P
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