The Outpost

“No, no, no! Please not now… Not here,” she cried as the car chugged to a complete stop.

Looking at the now empty fuel gauge, Ruby slammed her hands on the wheel and dropped her head in despair.

“Great. The perfect end to a perfect day” she snorted.

Lifting her head and looked at her surroundings, she internally facepalmed. Trees. Nothings but trees. Trees for as far as she could see.

With another exasperated sigh, she tried to gather her thoughts. “I have no clue where or how far away from the next town I am, but if I stay in the car, I’m a sitting duck.” Taking one more look around at the surrounding forest and inhaling a breath of courage, she used her shaking hands, took the keys from the ignition, and slowly got out of the car. The Ford Pickup was a beautiful - even if the seat was covered in a mixture of wet and dry blood and God knows what else… - an electric blue, matching the colour of her eyes. He always said that. Ruby shuddered.

This was his pride and joy, he’s going to be so mad, she thought.

If he’s alive.

Gripping the keys tightly and with one final look around her, she winced as she threw them as far as she could into the surrounding tree line. Unable to hear them landing was a small victory for the pain that seared through her presumedly broken ribs.

That should buy me some time.

The midday sun was hot, but the trees kept her cool, in fact, if it wasn’t for the harsh road scattered with twigs and stones taking its toll on her bare feet, the journey may have been somewhat pleasant. Instead, she trudged along, trying to preoccupy her mind and ignore the pain that thrummed both through her soles and her soul.

“So, I was driving for about 6 hours, and I’ve been walking for, I’m guessing 2, which gives me an 8 hour head start. If I make it to the next town before sundown I should still be okay.” Ruby said, trying to stay positive. But as always, that voice in the back of her mind crept forward.

If he’s dead.

She shuddered as she continued down the long and winding road.

Wandering for hours, numb to both the pain that reverberated though her body and the events of the last 24 hours, Ruby had no idea that night had descended until she heard a rustle in the trees beside her.

“Great. Horror movie 101, girl walking down an abandoned highway alone at night is never a good idea” she muttered to herself, “But seeing as I haven’t seen a single car pass all day, I guess I’m safe from serial killers.”

The trees rustled again.

“But probably not safe from wild animals. I really hope I reach a town soon.”

Forcing her battered body to move as quickly as her raw feet would allow, Ruby pushed forwards, and now she had broken out of the daze she had been in, the reality of her situation began to sink in, and silent tears made their way down her cheeks as she moved through the night.

Five minutes, you get five minutes and then you gotta get yourself together.

The cold, which had previously been a welcome aspect of her journey, soothing the aches of her injuries, had now become dangerously hindering. Her teeth chattering, body shivering and the damage that had been inflicted on her small frame was now starting to take its toll. But still, Ruby did just what she had said. After what seemed like five minutes, she stifled her silent sobs and decided that now was probably the best time to try and recuperate. Noticing a large tree had fallen inside the tree line, she took a hesitant step towards it. The path was dark but the moon shone enough so that it would be a good place stop and assess the damage on her frail little body.

Breathe.

Her pale skin was almost blue due to the cold but her feet were bloodied and raw. There were twigs and leaves stuck in the cuts and they had swollen considerably. Sighing as she moved her eyes up her bruised legs. Black and blue and not just from the cold, multiple large scratch marks reached the top of her thighs.

More like claw marks, she shuddered. Pushing the flashback that was about to occur deep to the back of her mind.

Her short denim skirt was now red stained and torn to resemble something of a belt. Her white tank was now crispy and itchy as she hitched it to see the damage to her torso and Ruby wasn’t sure if the culprit was sweat, blood or a mixture of both and she was certain not all of it was all hers. She winced as she saw the bruises and footprints all over her torso and more tears flowed as she moved her hand upwards to where several gashes covered her chest.

The memory of fighting appeared violently in her mind and panic was rising in her throat. She thrashed and kicked, anything to stop him biting her, pain searing every time his canines scraped her skin.

And then it was gone as quickly as it came. Suppressing trauma to survive had become second nature to her.

Her face she had seen in the rear view mirror of that damn truck. It was unrecognisable, swollen eyes and a broken nose, dried blood now matted in her long blonde hair. A split lip and more scrapes and scratches on her arms seemed to be the last of her long list of physical injuries and she let out a small sigh.

Another rustle in the trees caught her off guard and made her still. There was a blur of a movement to her left and Ruby froze.

Maybe death is the better option.

No. I did not go everything I’ve been through to give up now.

As Ruby continued this internal dilemma, the rustling was now on both sides of her. She was sick with fear, but decided that she would choose to pretend it wasn’t there.

Ignorance is bliss right?

Standing slowly, she carefully took a step towards the direction of the road, but once again she stilled as movement rushed by. Just when her exterior front started to waiver, she heard it.

“Is that… music?”

It sounded very much like music. Music that seemed to be coming from the forest.

Surely not?

Yet she continued to pretend to ignore the rustling nearby and stepped forward, straining her ears. After a while the sound grew louder, and she grew more certain. Mustering all the courage she had and the last of her strength, she took a step into the darkness of trees towards the sound of what seemed to be Morgan Wallen blasting on a stereo system.

The dense woods surrounded her, with hairs standing on the back of her neck and the sound of twigs breaking on either side of her, Ruby kept her eyes forward and took one step after another. Her heart racing, body aching and fuelled solely by a mix adrenaline and curiosity, she slowly moved forward. And then suddenly, after being enveloped in forest, she arrived at a clearing. Not just a clearing but a clearing which seemed to have a large, music blasting bar, right in the middle.