She stood up on her tired legs and continued her trek.
Were her friends any better off right now? Maybe they were starving and tired as well, or maybe they were already back inside the fortress, wondering if they'd ever see her again. Of course, there was always a chance they'd been stepped on or eaten. Both options had some appeal to them. They were quick and easy, unlike starvation.
Ellen shook her head. She was going to make it back to the fortress. She'd probably collapse right when she arrived, but nothing short of a giant monster was going to stop her.
The forest became brighter as she marched on. The thought of calling out to her friends crossed her mind more than once, but her throat ached too much to try. It wouldn't do any good; her surroundings were perfectly still and silent and she doubted there was anyone around to hear her.
After several hours of walking, the edge of the forest came into view; the real edge of the forest, or so she hoped.
So did the giant monster. It lingered just outside the forest, its back turned to her.
Ellen whimpered and ducked behind the nearest tree. Then she collapsed to her knees; her legs were too weak to hold her up. This was the last place she had wanted to find that monster. If she was in the forest then she could at least duck out of sight and wait for it to move away. There were very few places to hide out in the plains.
But the fortress was in sight, albeit it wasn't much more than a small gray block on the horizon. All she had to do was slip by that monster and then she'd be home.
She couldn't help but wonder who had lured the monster this far and what had happened to make it stop here, but those thoughts were quite unpleasant and she quickly shoved them all away.
She stayed low and crept towards the edge of the forest. The monster was bound to turn its back to the plains sooner or later, and the grass was tall enough to hide her if she stayed on her hands and knees, which would give her the chance to crawl to safety. If that didn't work then she'd simply wait until it was nighttime and the monster couldn't see her, assuming her hunger and thirst didn't overpower her first.
As she moved towards the edge of the forest, her view of the sky improved. It was an awful sight. A large area directly above the fortress was completely black. Dark streaks shot out in every direction, reaching all the way down to the horizon. The tear she had fretted over in the past was indistinguishable from the other dozen tears just like it. At the rate the decay was expanding, she guessed it would take a week at most for the sky to become completely black.
A painful growl in her stomach brought her attention back to her predicament. She hid behind a tree then looked towards the monster.
It turned around and wandered back into the forest. It didn't go far, but it did have its back turned to the plains.
Ellen took off running as fast as she could. Her tired body couldn't muster much more than a sprint, but it had to do.
She had a minute to flee before a snort in the distance startled her. She threw herself to the ground and lay flat. The grass was tall enough to hide her, but it would make no difference if the monster had already spotted her.
Heavy footsteps came her way. They grew louder and louder until a giant foot with three scaly toes stepped down on her left. It landed so close she could easily reach out and touch one of its black nails, not that she ever would. A second foot stepped down on her right.
Did the monster see her? It had to have, or else it wouldn't have come all this way. It was going to attack her, she had no doubt about it. Would it dig its teeth into her and tear off a chunk or two or ten of her body? Would it stomp her into the ground with its giant feet? Or maybe it would use its tail. One flick would launch her butchered innards across the plains. She held her breath and waited.
But nothing happened. The monster spent a minute grunting and tapping its teeth together then wandered back towards the forest.
It saw something, but not her. Ellen breathed a sigh of relief and started crawling forward through the grass. She had to stay low. The dimension wasn't going to spare her a second time.
Thick grass brushed against her face with each movement she made. Her elbows and knees ached at first then started to bleed. The pain hardly fazed her; the rest of her body hurt so much it barely stood out.
More than once she considered laying down in the grass and resting. She was so close to the fortress that somebody was bound to find her while she recovered. That's what her body told her. Her head told her she'd likely lay down and stay there until someone came along to bury her, or a monster wandered by looking for something to chew on.
After crawling for an hour she made it to the far side of a small hill and stood up. The forest was far enough behind her that she couldn't see it nor the monster any more.
Ellen then tried to run, but all she could muster was a clumsy stumble forward. Her legs weren't much stronger than the blades of grass she was treading through. They didn't need to be; the fortress wasn't that far off and there were no more giant monsters in the way. No small ones were around either even though she'd welcome one right now. She'd sink her knife into it first then her teeth.
The opportunity never came. It was probably for the best.
She reached the fortress's outer wall as the plains became dark. Her body started trembling as she approached the entrance, and it wasn't just from hunger. After days of wandering around in the cold while hungry and thirsty and alone, she was finally home.
A crowd of soldiers was gathered in and outside the entrance to the fortress. Ellen saw them and paused. There was dozens of them, more than she'd ever seen in one place before. She couldn't help but wonder what circumstances had brought them all out here, but she had a number of ideas, all of them monster related.
A growl from her stomach spurred her forward. She darted inside the fortress, slinking around groups of soldiers as they marched outside.
She ran into Brendon just passed the entrance and froze in place. He was the one who had sent them out, and he was the one her friends would've most likely reported their results to, if they had made it back alive.
"You're alive," Brendon greeted her.
"Yeah," Ellen said. "What about... do you know what happened to-" She shuddered. "Are all of my friends still alive?"
She watched Brendon intently as she awaited an answer, but her head spun so bad that keeping her eyes focused on him was an impossible challenge, and she soon lost sight of him altogether.
All she could see was the dirt road. It rushed towards her and smacked her cheek. The hit stung, but she was far too tired to complain. Ellen closed her eyes and drifted off.
Chapter 21
Ellen woke up in an unfamiliar bed with a thick blanket on top of her. It felt like years since she'd made it back to the fortress. How long had she been here? And where was here? She'd never seen this room before. It looked like a hospital. There was at least a dozen beds just like her own lined up along the walls.
She wanted to sit upright, but the thought alone made her body ache. She didn't even have the strength to push her blanket away. All her energy was spent.
A nurse approached her bed carrying a tray of food and water. "I'm glad you're awake, dear," she said warmly.
Ellen opened her mouth to speak, but the nurse shushed her.
"We can talk later. Right now you need to worry about your health." The nurse set her tray down on a small table beside Ellen's bed then helped her sit upright. "You're in the Monad Fortress, in case you were wondering, and you've been here in the infirmary for a few hours now."
She picked up a cup of water and held it to Ellen's mouth. The first bit of water hit her lips then immediately spilled out onto her tunic, but she gulped down the rest as if her life depended on it. She would've tore the cup from the nurse's hand and drank it down even faster if her body had any life in it.
The nurse then tore up a slice of bread and fed it to her in chunks small enough to swallow without chewing, which Ellen appreciated, because her jaw was just as
useless as the rest of her.
"You just need to take it easy and you'll be back on your feet in no time," the nurse said with a smile. She left for a moment, then returned with two more cups of water.
Ellen gulped them both down then sank into her bed. Sleep came easily now that her throat wasn't aching and her stomach didn't growl every minute.
She woke up a few hours later, and the nurse fed her again. She still needed help sitting upright, but her strength was returning.
Once her stomach was full, she reached behind her back and felt around for her knife.
It wasn't there. Her whole body tingled with fear. Did she lose it during her miserable crawl across the plains, or had someone taken it?
"Can I ask you something?" Ellen asked.
The nurse pushed her back into bed. "Not now, dear," she said. "You need your sleep. We can speak in the morning."
Ellen didn't have the strength to resist.
Sleep came easy, but fear continued to linger in the back of her head. Her knife had been with her when she reached the fortress, she was confident of that much, but where was it now?
The infirmary was pitch black the next time she opened her eyes. She was wide awake despite the darkness. All the water she drank earlier had caught up to her and was demanding a release.
Ellen started shuffling to the side of her bed. Where was the bathroom? Did the infirmary have one? Even a patch of grass or dirt would suffice. She'd spent enough time out in the wilderness that she wasn't picky anymore.
But there was no time; she didn't have the strength to hold anything back. Her body seized up against her will and she went in her bed. "Things keep getting worse," she grumbled.
Once she was empty, Ellen moved away from the warm spot in her bed and closed her eyes.
She woke up while the nurse was relighting the candles in the infirmary. "Is it still nighttime?" Ellen asked.
"You might say that," the nurse said. "I'll bring you some food in a moment, dear. You should be just about ready to leave."
She fetched a tray of food and water, but before she handed it over, she sniffed the air.
"Don't be embarrassed, dear," the nurse said. "You're not the first to have such an accident, and you won't be the last. Eat your meal then I'll help you get cleaned up."
She still felt embarrassed, and cold. Ellen shoveled her food down then followed the nurse into the next room. Much to her relief, the infirmary was deserted.
The nurse showed her to a bathtub, pulled a curtain around it then stepped away. "Slide your clothes to me and I'll find you something clean to wear."
Ellen double checked her surroundings to make sure she was concealed, then undressed and slid her used clothes under the curtain.
She climbed into the bathtub. The lukewarm water lifted the dirt and grime and sweat and other foul things off her in no time. The bar of soap the nurse gave her helped as well.
She left the bathtub feeling the cleanest she'd felt in months, put on the plain white clothes the nurse had slid under the curtain earlier then returned to the other room. The nurse offered her a new bed, which she turned down. She wasn't tired anymore. All the exhaustion and thirst and hunger that had plagued her over the last few days was nothing more than a distant memory.
"Do you know where my knife is?" Ellen asked.
"The man who brought you here took it with him," the nurse said. "Brendon, I believe was his name. I'd speak to him once you leave. Your old clothes should be back soon. If you're feeling healthy, you can leave once you've changed."
Ellen relaxed. Her knife could've fallen into worse hands than Brendon's.
Another question lingered on the tip of her tongue, but she was hesitant to ask it. "Has anyone come here recently?"
"If you mean patients," the nurse said, "you're the only one I've had all week. If you mean visitors, then no."
Ellen felt uneasy. Was it good or bad that nobody except her had come to the hospital recently? Maybe her friends were perfectly healthy and didn't need to recover, or maybe they'd never made it back.
"Try not to panic when you head outside," the nurse said. "The sky... it's changed since you've last seen it."
"I already know all about it," Ellen said offhandedly.
Her comment caused the nurse's whole left side to twitch. The pleasant face that had been watching over her for the last few days vanished, and something crooked and frightening took its place.
"Do you really know all about it?" the nurse asked. Beneath her pleasant tone lurked a hint of turmoil and despair. "Because if you do, I'd really like you to tell me!"
Ellen started backing away. The sorry state of the dimension had taken a major toll on the nurse, that was very clear to her now.
"I don't understand anything," the nurse said, pulling on a section of her hair. "The sky will be dark forever? Monsters are going to attack us every hour of the day? We need to pack our belongings and start getting ready to leave? Why? Why is this happening? Oh, and it gets better! Did you know monsters don't take hostages? They simply butcher their victims without a care in the world. Why do you think this place is so deserted?" She laughed miserably. "If you know why all of this is happening then please tell me because I really want to know!"
"I'm s-sorry," Ellen said. It wouldn't help, but it was the only thing that came to mind. The peace she'd experienced in this dimension was an anomaly, not a normal way of life as it was to the nurse and her friends and everyone else in the fortress. What could she possibly say to help comfort them?
The nurse glared at her as if she was awaiting an explanation. Ellen held her ground, but she was prepared to run should the nurse lash out.
A clicking and tapping of metal boots from the other room broke the silence.
The nurse spun around and hurried off. "Forget I said anything."
Brendon moved aside to let her pass then approached Ellen. He was wearing his full set of heavy green armor, and he carried Ellen's knife in his right hand.
Ellen watched it intently while Brendon studied her. If he planned to give her knife back, he sure was taking his time.
"This is a strange weapon you have," Brendon said. "It slipped off your back while I was carrying you here, so I decided to hang onto it. A little while later, I was caught without my axe, and all I had was this funny little blade. I didn't expect it to do a whole lot, but one stab made me feel more alive than I have in years."
"It does that," Ellen said cautiously. "Are you going to give it back?"
Brendon tossed the knife up, caught it by its blade then handed it back to her. "You need it more than I do. Not even a relic like this can make me younger."
Ellen snatched it from his hand. "You didn't tell anyone about it, did you?"
"Not a word," Brendon assured her. "I don't know where you found a weapon like that, but you shouldn't tell anyone what it can do, not even your friends."
"Are my friends still alive?" Ellen blurted out, more anxiously than she had intended.
"They're alive. All of them."
A great big weight lifted off her shoulders. Ellen breathed a sigh of relief.
The nurse stopped by, dropped her old clothes into her hands then hurried off again.
"You're the one everyone thought was dead," Brendon said. "Imagine the looks on their faces when I told them you stumbled back into the fortress."
"Did you really do that for them?" Ellen asked, surprised. But then again, it wasn't that surprising. Brendon was always giving her and her friends guidance.
Brendon nodded and started moving away. "The Fortress Brigade has been shut down, but the Fortress Guard is open to anyone willing to defend the fortress. You can join if you'd like, but if not, you need to start getting ready to leave. This place isn't going to last much longer." He paused and glanced back at her. "If nothing works out for you, you can come with Lindsey and me when we leave." He took a few steps then stopped and glanced back at her again. "Watch yourself outside. The walls aren't going to keep you safe
anymore."
He faced forward and left.
Ellen changed into her old clothes then tracked down the nurse, who she found in the front lobby, curled up in a ball beside her desk with her head buried in her knees. "Thank you for helping me," she told her.
The nurse didn't illicit any sort of response.
She left the hospital. The area outside was dead quiet and the road deserted. The clear blue sky she'd come to love was completely gone, replaced with a boundless darkness. While the pitch-black sky did cast a dim light upon the fortress, it was dark enough to be nighttime.
Despite the darkness hanging overhead, her spirit wasn't completely crushed. Even if she lost the fortress, she'd still have her friends. And there was always a chance she might run into her family again. She'd soon have all the time in the world to search for them.
She made her way to her dormitory. The roads along the way were empty and a surprising number of homes had been stripped clean of their contents. Had everyone fled the fortress already? She'd only been in the infirmary for two or three days. That couldn't have been enough time for the whole fortress to evacuate.
But her dormitory was full of people. Seeing them gave her a hint of relief. They weren't lively people, all of them were huddled up in small groups, fretting over where they'd go after the fortress was lost, but they were at least alive and well.
Ludendi wasn't amongst them. Ellen checked all the hallways then their room, which was so clean and tidy it looked as if it had never been lived in, but she couldn't find her anywhere.
She made her way downstairs to the front desk, and confronted the old woman who worked there. "Have you seen Ludendi recently?"
"Oh yes, just a day ago," the old woman said. "She wasn't feeling well and decided to move back home with her parents. You were her roommate, no? I can point you in her direction if you'd like."
Ellen accepted her directions then hurried off. She had to dodge a lingering rift on her way out. A startling number of them were open, both inside the dormitory and on the roads outside.
Forlorn Dimension (Ellen's Friends Book 1) Page 21