Feet splashed into muddy puddles as a figure ran along through the jungle brush, doing her best to avoid running into trees or fallen logs. The rain was pouring heavily above and the grey sky roared like a gigantic beast as lightning flashed across it in jagged shapes, almost like the sky itself was tearing apart. With each patter of footsteps came the ragged breath of the girl with black hair as she occasionally turned her head back as though she was being followed.
Seeing no one gave her a small sense of reprieve, but it would do nothing for her stormy heart, for nothing would calm her more than to escape this wretched island. Her white shirt caught on a dead branch and her left sleeve was torn off, left fluttering in the wind as she pressed on, not wanting to stop even for one second.
“Boat… boat…” she said to herself. Her voice was high-pitched, gentle and whispery, but full of urgency. She had only read about these vehicles in books, but if she wanted to get out of here, she was going to have to try.
The rain and wind whipped around her face, making it harder for her to see as she fought to wipe hair and droplets from it. She only had on a long sleeved white shirt and long white pants, and they both had numbers on them that read, ‘010’. They did nothing to protect her from the cold, but no matter what, she knew she had to get away from this place.
As she ran, the mud under her foot gave way and she lost her balance, sending her falling off the side of the path down a small hill. The girl bumped into rocks and broken bark, tearing off fabric and skin before coming to a halt against a tree, knocking the wind from her chest.
With her vision blurry, the girl slowly pushed herself back on her feet, feeling numb all over her body. She felt as though her legs could give way beneath her anytime, but she also knew she was almost to the docks.
The girl stumbled her way down the rest of the hill, then pushed through thickets and brambles to get to the edge of the jungle. Her pace had slowed considerably and she was now running on reserve fuel, but still she pushed her legs to walk, to see this journey to the end.
“I cannot go back…” she said, followed by a few gasps of pain as she held one hand to her abdomen. Everything inside hurt; she must’ve broken a few bones from the impact. “I have to… escape.”
As she pushed her way through branch after branch, bush after bush, she eventually found herself staring at an endless expanse of a turbulent ocean before her, thick with fog and filled with crashing waves. She pushed her toes under the sand beneath her feet as she scanned the beach for the docks that would take her away. It was coarse and rough, nothing like what she was expecting when she had first read about them in her books.
Just as she spotted the metallic structure to her east that contained an assortment of various boats and ships, there was a crackle behind her and a bolt of yellow lightning struck her in the shoulder, knocking her to the sand.
No… They caught up.
The girl raised her head, feeling the pain in her arm begin to spread across her body. Smoke puffed off her blackened shoulder from where the bolt had struck her. Fighting against it, she crawled, dragging herself through the sand as she willed her feet to get up, to run, to not stop until she was safe away from here.
“Subterra Shiver, return immediately!” a loud voice boomed behind her, coming from the hill she had fallen from. This was followed by the crackling of more lightning as the clouds above swirled in like a vortex.
But the girl would not, she would never go back. Crawling on, Subterra used the corners of a boulder jutting out of the ground to support herself as she got back on her feet. About halfway, she had almost fallen back to the ground again, but two grey tentacles with purple patterns emerged from her back, attaching themselves to the top of the rock to pull her the rest of the way up.
“Keep moving, Subterra. Stop, and they will take you.”
“I know.” She nodded and lumbered on, looking back as an electrical form made itself known in the sky, an arm raised towards the clouds as lightning zapped around it.
The docks had a metallic staircase leading up to its platform from the sand, allowing Subterra’s tentacles to haul her up as she did her best to follow with her legs. Another bolt of lightning struck almost too close to home, slamming into the concrete wall by her head, but Subterra stopped herself from looking back and she went on, reaching the top of the staircase as she broke into a limping run, heading for the shed where all the boats were stored.
A crackling of thunder burst in the sky above her before a figure clad in electricity descended down in front of her position, crashing into the plastic carbon plating, denting them on impact.
“And where do you think you’re going, Subterra Shiver?” The figure stood up taller than her, its single eye tracking her movement as she inched herself to the side of the dock’s platform.
“I’m not staying here any longer! You can’t keep me!” she yelled at it.
“But this is for the better good, don’t you see?” The lightning figure shook its head, then seemed to look past Subterra. “I see.”
She turned around as another figure joined them. Subterra knew her well and what she saw sent shivers down her back. A woman in a white slim outfit with blue stripes loosely attached to her body slowly stalked onto the deck, her arms behind her back. She had long purple and pink hair and it swayed behind her like an impending pendulum as her orange pupils pierced the air between them, almost like they could see right through her soul. She too, walked with a limp and like she had just taken a beating, but Subterra knew it was from injuries she sustained years ago. She wasn't in top shape, but she still made her way all the way here to stop her.
“All I do here, Subterra, is for the eventual betterment of this world,” she said. Her voice was soft and silky, almost making Subterra want to close her eyes. “You do not see it now. They did not see it then, but I still hold true to what I have to do. I do not wish harm upon you or anyone else, but I will do what is necessary.”
“Y-You’re crazy. I can’t be a part of this any longer!” Subterra stepped back, but then remembered the lightning figure was still behind her and stopped in her tracks. “There’s a reason no one supports you.”
One of the woman’s eyes twitched, but she placed two fingers below it and it soon ceased. She placed her other hand on a dragon-shaped lapel by her right breast, stroking it tenderly. “You disappoint me, Subterra. Unfortunately, you are necessary to my plan. I will need you to come back with me.”
Subterra grinded her teeth together. She wasn’t going back. She couldn’t. She would not stomach another day here.
“Now, Subterra.”
She stretched one arm out and her tentacles brandished themselves again, reaching for the woman, but everything in front of her slowed down drastically and she could see the air bending before her as the woman stepped out of her path, curving to her left.
“No… TWI, you can’t do this!” Subterra pleaded, her voice slowed. “I won’t!”
“I’m not asking, Subterra.” TWI stopped beside her and leaned close. “The world is resistant to change, even if it will heal it. I’ve spent years watching it here from the shadows as it continues its descent to destruction. If I sit back and let it be, it will not live to see another century.”
She tried to swing a tentacle at her, but it was slow to change its course and TWI called out her Stand to push her down to the ground.
Subterra knew this Stand well. She had seen TWI use it countless times. Strange World was a Stand to be feared, even amongst the others she had recruited over her years. Subterra had seen it, the strange geode shaped into an arrowhead. That was how TWI gifted her followers their powers.
TWI’s Stand stood behind her now, its silver armor gleaming under the thunderstorm above. It had a long appendage coming out the back of its head, which now coiled around its master, pointing its sharpened tip over Subterra’s head.
“Please, come back. There’s much to be done, Subterra,” TWI said. “We can’t do this without you.”
Subterra looked at her crazed eyes. She knew there was truth and good will behind them, but then there was also madness. She was not going back. Not again. She had to get away, no matter what.
Darkness formed around her as she lay on the ground, something she had never experienced before. TWI and the lightning Stand took a step away from it, but in a split second, it spread across the deck, coating them in darkness.
“Subterra!” TWI’s voice called out from within.
The girl wasted no time in choosing one of the boats and hopped into the one closest to her, which was a small white vehicle that sat four, two in front and two at the back. She pressed the giant blue button that read ‘power’, waiting as the engine sputtered to life behind her head. A screen by the boat’s wheel blipped to life and a series of icons and controls appeared on its turquoise screen.
Subterra quickly tapped on an icon of a map, then as it appeared, she randomly tapped on one of the many islands around and the boat rumbled before being lowered down an elevator to the water below.
Green lights began to pop up on the controls and around the boat before an alarm went off, signaling the opening of the boat’s gate. The doors to the ocean slid aside, giving Subterra a long view of the stormy seas that awaited her. The boat began to move, its narrow prow cutting through the water with clean efficiency while the engine roared to life.
“Subterra!”
The sudden acceleration almost knocked Subterra over as the boat shot out of the shed and into the open sea, where waves of freezing salty water crashed over the sides and into the boat. Thankfully the vessel’s built-in drainage systems were working strong and there was no risk of water completely filling the boat.
Still, it was far from a smooth journey as the boat was tossed and buffeted by the waves, some of them sending the boat into high dives and steep falls.
Subterra looked back over her shoulder to see how far she had gone from the island, but there was no land in view. It was as if the island had simply vanished off the face of the earth. But here, she would at least be safe for the time being, finally away from the accursed island. Subterra allowed herself to lean back in her seat as adrenaline began to wear away from her body. The pain in her chest and shoulder returned, sending raging signals all the way to her brain.
She groaned and hugged her arms to her abdomen, clutching it tightly as the boat curved around a sizable wave. With nothing more to do except wait, Subterra slumped lower, allowing her eyelids to droop down as her consciousness disappeared into the darkness of her mind.