The Journey Part 4b

#ThursThreads 25
Word requirement: 100-250
The Prompt: "Crushed brown fragments blew away on the breeze."
No picture, but I picked the one above to go with the story.


My entry: The Journey Part 4b
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4a | Part 5 Journey's End

Crushed brown fragments blew away on the breeze. With an almost-silent cry Jessa dropped back to her knees, searching for something, any tiny piece, to take back to the Colony.

Amid the colorless jumble of rocks and broken pavement the brown scrap of leaf shone. Her cry of relief was no more than a murmur as she scrambled over. When she reached for it, a footfall behind her gave warning.

She sucked in a breath and flung herself to the side just as the Ravager's twisted metal bar smashed down on the spot where she'd been.

Rolling toward a chunk of concrete, she flipped and landed on her feet, already running. Adrenaline bucketed within her, giving her speed and strength and driving out the memory of Jazzy's end. The Ravagers liked to maim first, and then call to their Clan for a long game of pain, rape and torture.

Jessa's fear kept her going. The heavy pack on her back weighed her down, but if she discarded it her entire journey would have been for nought.

The Ravager's grunts edged closer, and she shrugged one arm out of the pack, prepared to sacrifice it to save her own life. Abandon it the way she'd abandoned Jazzy when the first smash of Ravager club knocked her to the cold, hard ground.

A glimpse of stone walls and rusted iron towers ahead gave her strength anew. The Colony. A triumphant cry escaped her, a signal to the Gatekeeper.

The gate creaked open.

250 words

The Journey Part 4a

#ThursThreads Week 24
Word requirement: 100-250
The Prompt: "The whir of wings broke the silence."
No picture, but I picked the one above to go with the story.

My entry: The Journey Part 4a
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Huddled, Jessa reached for the leaf, easing it from the rusty old fence. Brown and sere, it could crumble to dust in her hand if she weren't careful.

How could she get it back to the Colony intact? Her pack was filled to bursting with the precious cargo she'd traveled so far to find. But the leaf, if indeed that's what it was, could be even more precious. She had to get it back to the Leader. He'd know if it was a remnant of the Before or if it meant life was returning to the planet.

It might make him notice her.

Her heart bounced, then steadied. Not likely. Her sigh was invisible in the moaning wind as she resumed her trudge, gentle fingers curved to shield the leaf.

Always watching, ever listening, she sniffed the acrid air, seeking a first sense of the Colony. The ruined road would lead her there, she knew, and she prayed to the None to bring her home tonight, before full dark made traveling too dangerous.

The whir of wings broke the silence, and Jessa dropped to the ground, just one more rock in the rubble. Only her eyes moved as she squinted to discern. Was it a Ravager's raptor or a dove from the Colony? Had it seen her?

The bird landed nearby, and she sighed in relief. Gathering herself, she rose to finish the journey. She looked for the leaf. Crushed brown fragments blew away on the breeze.

247 words

Week 24 Winner
Dee | @Dee_768
Claire says: I loved this one because the focus was on this old leaf she found, something so irrelevant to a reader now but incredibly important to this girl and the world in which she lived. That world was vividly portrayed for me in just a few sentences. I even loved the sentence about her wanting to be noticed, that passionate sense of hope. The prompt was ancillary to the story but the trigger for the tragic ending. I read this one and it really scored with me and stuck with me as the day wore on.