Classified || 2 || ✔️ mature

16 | Lilac

CURRENT TIMELINE

To survive you have to be smart

But to live. You have to be free.

And I am neither.

Well sometimes I'm smart, today isn't looking like one of those days.

I brush the sand from my face, muttering curses under my breath.

"Why the fuck am I here again?"

"Because you made a promise to yourself that they would pay."

"When I made that promise, I didn't think one of them would be in the fucking desert."

"You win some, you lose some." Andy mutters from the receiver, her voice muffled.

Dust coats every inch of my exposed skin, the hot dry particles itching as soon as they make contact.

My blood red hair is dusted with orange and brown, the sand and dirt weaving between the knotted strands like ballerinas on a sunlit stage.

The cloth wrapped around the bottom half of my face does little to shield against the harsh heat. My mouth is parched regardless and the water in the canteen does nothing to quench the dry thirst, but I bring it to my lips anyway.

I sigh as I get a slight reprieve before the heat wraps its scorched hands around my throat once again, tightening.

Faint tire marks in the desert sand indicate the path cars have travelled before me. The indents in the sand almost covered over with the harsh winds help. I walk along the tracks in boredom, the markings the only thing telling me I'm going in the right direction.

I pull out the compass and grimace as the arrow swivels between south and west. It does a full spin before landing on north. Snapping it closed with a sigh, I drop it back into my pocket and ignore it once more.

It must be broken. I wouldn't know either way, I happen to be directionally challenged.

I tap my fingers against my thigh as I ignore the voice in my head telling me I'm going the wrong way.

"Shut up." I snap back at Andy, ignoring her snicker.

"Have you even checked the map I gave you?"

"Those things are useless."

I hear her annoyed sigh before the tapping of keys.

"Are you ignoring me?"

Her silence reigns.

"What do you want from me? I'm following the tracks, I'll be fine."

The pack on my back grows heavier with every step, sweat rolling down my spine. The scarf wrapped around my face and neck is billowing in the hot wind behind me. I glare at the barren land, sand hills and heat waves - my only company in the desert.

My harsh even breaths rise in the arid climate as I breathe out again. My boots sink in the sand slightly, but I ignore it, knowing I'm almost to my destination.