Chapter 3: Rising Walls

I spend hours walking. The cold air blows my hair as I walk through the endless green fields of this strange land. Every step I do, every drop of cold sweat that falls to the ground. My resources of water deplished, and I don't have any idea of where the hell am I, yet. But I'm pretty sure I would find answers to all of this... But for now, I need to take a rest, I can't continue carrying my own weight.

I sit on the soft grass and loose the laces of my boots. The soles of my feets were pricking. I don't know how much time I have to keep running so I can finally find an answer to all my doubts. I put my rifle next to me, and manage to massage my feets in order to stop the paresthesia. The landscape was beautiful, in moments like this when I feel that all hope to live is lost, seeing a scene like makes me remember that not everything in this world it's all darkened. I might suffer, or I might bleed to a point that all promise of living is lost.

But I know that, even in that darkness, there is always a moment of peace after the storm, places where the darkness hasn't reach yet. And I'm pretty sure that they won't let it reach them. A new life that borns in a corner that the darkness hasn't reach yet, or being the light on that darkened world of somebody to save them, seeing the smile of my daughter to cheer me up in a bad day... I think that were the reasons of why my will to live were intact.

Even when right now I'm struggling on the corners of death and oblivion to survive, and have to carry the burden of guilt, or even have the miraculous chance to being on the place of my dreams just to realize that on my position, everything it is even worse than my life in my other world, but this time being all alone, I know that my daughter would be better without me. It would be less harm to her life if I'm not in it. I still can't believe the fact that I were lost here.

I took a breath and tied up my boots again. I don't want to wait and see what other dangers are coming to face me while I'm resting and losing time here. I picked up my rifle and I keep going on my way. Inches that turned into meters, and meters that turnes into kilometers and the length increased, and increased with the pass of the hours. Something stopped me on this moment.

Some noise! I think I heard some kind of... "whistle"? It was like... From a train..! It couldn't be produced by any kind of creatures that are lurking on this lands. It sound so... Inocent and childish, like coming from those miniature trains of collection.

I run where the sound was coming, It sounded from pretty far away, I don't believe to see what was the originator of the noise, but I hope that atleast it would lead me near to something. I ran until I get tired again, and stopped to take a look with the sight of my rifle. The train that maked the sound wasn't anymore, I can barely hear the sound of the engine. Everything seems to be clear in the fields. No creatures, neither any kind of civilian... But I atleast I make the biggest discovery that easy pretty much my life in this moment, tracks of trains.

I knew that wherever this tracks lead, it would take me to civilization somewhere. I didn't lost any time further and followed the tracks, expecting to the train pass again or that someone finally finds me marauding here. As long as I keep running on this fields, I realize how the land turned different. The grass were in an autumn orange, the leafs spreaded around covering the grass, together with the snow that was falling from the trees. It seems to be that the cold seasons started here already.

I stopped running. "This can't be happening!" I shout as I see how the tracks were covered in leafs and snow. I tried to take a breath from the cold air and I see how I exhale steam from my mouth. I didn't go through so much just to give up like this. This can't be the end yet, there must be another way.

I sit below a tree, expecting something to happen, something that can tell me what I should do now. I was hungry, dirty, tired and thirsty... That apples hanging from the trees... They look so tasteful... But they are so far from my reach. I bang my head against a tree hopeless. I hanker so much to be in a warm bed and have something to eat, or for the minimal mercy, being on my old pigpen where I used to live and eat the trash that where on the fridge, but atleast I was safe from any danger. The only thing that I needed to worry about there, It was nothing more than just fucking rats. It sounded way much better than being here dying for starvation or hypothermia.

I heard a cracking noise from the dry leaves and the crunch of the snow grouped together, like being step on. I get startled and get in position on some pile of snow. ready for whatever It's coming... I have my rifle next to me, one shot would do the job.