《Zarath: Age of Growth》Prologue
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A young woman sat in a dull white room, staring through a window out into a cloudy sky. The room had a plain white twin size bed with a light blue blanket and a small window that only partially opens from the bottom half.
"It's so boring, when is this dumb rain going to stop," she said as she kicked her feet off her bedside and on top of the chair beside her desk.
Normally she would spend her time reading, but the library hadn't gotten her delivery of books yet. She also couldn't go outside since there has been a recent downpour of rain this spring.
There was a soft knock on the door, and an older lady cracks the door open a bit and says.
"Hello, Miss Anderson, I'm just stopping by to remind you to pack your things. You are scheduled to be transported to a different facility later this afternoon."
"Ok" *I almost forgot, at least I don't have a lot of stuff to pack.*
After packing all her things into a blue bin, she took a piece of tape and wrote Sarah Anderson with a hot pink marker. She stuck it on top of the bin lid. Sarah still had two hours before she had to leave, so she decided to draw on the inside of the cover, she could always say that it was like that when she got it.
In hindsight, she probably should have used a different colored marker. She just shrugs her shoulders, "O well, hmm I should clean up a bit, I guess." She makes her way into the small bathroom and grabs the brush one of the few things she hadn't packed yet. After cleaning the brush of hair, she looks into the mirror.
The mirror showed a young woman in her early twenties with long brown curly hair and pale green eyes that turn brown towards the center. She brushes her curls in an attempt to appease the beast but ultimately gives up. They were untamable, and she was sure they were even bulletproof with how thick her hair was. She also noticed an increase in freckles on her face.
"Man, I should just stay inside more," she mentions after touching her freckles that appeared after being outside in the sun for a bit. She spends the rest of her time rereading a book she liked.
"Hello Ms. Anderson, are you ready?" Said an elderly lady the same one that reminded her earlier. She has streaks of white and gray her throughout her hair along with a large number of wrinkles, and has a motherly vibe. "Yes, Mrs. Wilson, but the bin is heavy," Sarah said while pointing at the blue container. "O, I will bring the cart over so we can move it easily." Sarah had always appreciated the elderly lady, even if she found the routine check-ups bothersome.
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Sarah pushes her little cart with a bin on it, outside and beside a white SUV. Two men are standing next to it both wearing a boring security uniform with one tall and lanky and the other average but bulky. They go over to Mrs. Wilson and have a small conversation during which Sarah walks into the little white SUV. The driver moves her stuff into the back of the SUV, the other bulkier man takes note of her, "So she is the patient, make sure to behave yourself, and this can be a long boring ride." She rolls her eyes through the window, at the comment and looks up to pray to her spaghetti overlord. She then notices that huge dark clouds cover the sky, and to the west, there are darker spots.
"Even more rain! Dumb mother nature, leave me alone or I will fight you." The driver notices her rant and chimes in "Yeah, it will be here soon; hopefully, we can get ahead of it."
She knew it would be a long trip, 3 hours to be exact, even still it felt like an eternity, and she still had 20 minutes left. They drove through a small town and was heading into the middle of nowhere, where the facility was located. Just one more patch of forestry and lifeless rock and she finally get the trip over, but the rain had caught up and was falling hard.
"Oh man, this is some intense rain, mother nature you scary." She feels a sudden shift from the car. "What was that!" She directed at the driver. "Shit I think we are stuck in some mud." Said the lanky driver.
"Let me check." the shorter and bulkier man removes his seat belt and gets out with an umbrella. Sarah removes her own seatbelt but can't get out, since the SUV is specially made for the facility to prevent people like her from opening the car and making a dash for it. She technically was supposed to be restrained, but she had a good enough record of obedience and never showed to harm anyone. So they thought that it wasn't needed and two people were enough to handle her.
She looks around the car through the windows she sees that the vehicle is located on the side of a steep hill and relatively close to the top. All around is forestry and the only road in sight was the old worn down blacktop road they came in from. The bulky man can back in drench even with the protection of the umbrella." The piece road the back tire was on slid from underneath it, and the front tire is catching a lot of mud from the missing chunks of the road it drove over."
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"Soooo, we are stuck?" Sarah asked. He lets out a frustrated sigh, "Yeah, and at least until the storm blows over." The driver takes his phone out, "I'll notify the police for help, but don't expect anything anytime soon."
Sarah was pretty sure this was the part in the horror book that the car passenger notices a sound and goes out to check it but never returns. She was putting her money on the bulky man to be the first one to die, but she's the sensible kind of person, so she vowed to never leave the vehicle. That way she can die in the comfort of cushioned seats instead of in the muddy forest. While she was nodding her head in agreement with herself, the car started sliding.
"Shit, hey-" the bulky man knocks on the driver's shoulder "Yeah I know, I know" At this point, Sarah comes out of her little world, and notices the commotion and a sliding car. She is trying to see out the windshield, but the plastic wall between her and the front seats makes it difficult. "Fuck, fuck" she hears one security guards say as he is now slamming the gas pedal down. The other one is putting his seatbelt back on, and Sarah decides that it was a smart idea she rushes back to her seat but gets thrown off balance. She slams the back of her head on the seat's headrest but is able to put the seatbelt on before a sudden jolt of the car, smacks her head on the window and causing her to pass out.
She wakes up to a massive headache and her right arm in a funny position; she pretty sure it was broken but didn't feel any pain. The car seems to be on its side with her side facing down. The guards are still out of it, and it looks like the airbags knocked them out for longer. She feels raindrops hit her head, and it seems like the harden car window on the now roof didn't make it, with most of it gone. She thought of climbing out but remembers her vow of never leaving the vehicle. She pretty sure dying inside was still more comfortable than outside, even if she was pretty sure that something is going to reach through the new window roof and grab her now.
That was until she saw red and blue lights flashing she couldn't hear anything due to the head injury, but she was sure she wouldn't be murdered by some mad man when there are cops about.
She slowly moved her broken right arm from underneath her and put her back against the door, now the floor of the car. She undid her seatbelt and slowly started to stand up. She was tall enough to grab the edge of the broken window, which is now the roof. Luckily for her, these special windows don't have jagged edges just a bunch of small glass fragments. So she brushes some pieces away and grabs on to the side of the window where the glass was gone entirely. She knew she couldn't pull herself up with only one arm, but she could use the headrest on the seats as a makeshift foothold. Even with her legs supporting her, it was still a struggle to pull herself out. "Fucking shit, I knew I should have hit the gym more" she crawled her way out the window, knowing she wouldn't go to the gym even after this. When she finally got out, she fell onto her back, landing on the side of the SUV. She was able to see that over half the car is buried in muddy rocks the vehicle is completely wrecked. She also sees that the ambulance and cop car way up the hill along with a large trail of fallen trees and mud. She knows it will take a bit of time to be able to reach the location safely consider they are still on the road and the car's new location is down the hill.
"Fuck it I'll take a nap no crazy murderer insight" she laid there on the side of the car for a bit. Thinking about the shitty hospital food she will get, at least she will have time to read. She started to fall asleep until she realized that she could hear a muted scream. Sarah drowsily gets up to her feet, being careful not to fall. Two people are shouting at her with their hands up in a silent motion as if to tell her to be careful. She looks down on herself her red t-shirt looking redder than it should, her arm looks like she has two left hands. What she can't see but the paramedic can, is the gash on the right side of her head with a sliver of white, bone flashing. She gives a stupidly grin at the paramedic and officer, saying "Tis is but a flesh wound" while dramatically waving her hand over her body causing her to slip and then promptly fall off. The last thought she had before slamming headfirst into a muddy but sharp rock being *I should've never left the car! I'll get you back mother nature!*
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