Fan Fiction ❯ Survival in the Desert ❯ A Broken Nose Among Other Things ( Chapter 1 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Deaths Obsession 
*sigh* two people are lost in the desert... and yeah... sorry, I don't have anything else, you'll just have to read it. R+R!
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure | Type: One Shot | Uploaded On: 08.20.2004 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.1K | Visits: 374 | Status: Completed
*sigh* two people are lost in the desert... and yeah... sorry, I don't have anything else, you'll just have to read it. R+R!
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure | Type: One Shot | Uploaded On: 08.20.2004 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.1K | Visits: 374 | Status: Completed
*Hey you guys, this is a story that I did for my English class last year and I decided to put up here as a “just because I can” sort of thing. It was suppose to be a short 2000 word story, but I’ve never really been too good at that sort of thing so if this seems a bit rushed that’s why. Well I hope that you guys enjoy it and don’t forget to leave a review!*
Survival in the Desert
Everything was so cold. So utterly cold. Her limbs were numb and she was freezing. The darkness surrounded her and even though she was conscious, she couldn’t tell if her eyes were open or not.
The silence was unbearable but still she stayed silent, afraid to call out and possibly receive no answer. Her arms and legs began to get a prickling sensation, the type you get when they fall asleep. She welcomed the sensation though, for it was the only feeling that she’d had besides the terrible coldness.
She slowly moved her head to the left hoping to find something, anything really. When she looked to her right, she saw the faint rectangle of light streaming in. Her heart pounded in her chest violently. Maybe, just maybe, she’d be able to crawl through it. When she went to move her body towards it she was bombarded with a jolt of pain all through her body.
She thumped back to her original position, and stared longingly at her only possible chance for escape. Deciding it was either lay here cold and alone, or take a chance at escaping, she decided on the latter. Slowly getting up onto her elbows she crawled over things not knowing what they were, nor wanting to know. Yep, there were definitely some broken bones, she thought grimly to herself. Upon getting closer to the light she realized it was a shattered window and felt a surge of hope. Putting both hands on either side of the frame she pulled herself out with extreme difficulty. She landed flat on her back about two feet below the window on the brown cracked earth with a “poof” sound and a cloud of dirt flew up around her.
The blazing sun beat down on her face and body blinding her vision. Remembering that her temporary prison was really a large white van, she fumbled back to it and sat leaning up against it. The sudden change in temperature was a very unpleasant surprise. She sat in the shade that the van provided for her with her eyes clenched close, with colorful lines dancing across her eyelids.
A few moments later her eyes snapped open as the sudden realization hit her. Where was Jonathon? With squinted eyes she scanned the area. There was debris all over the place, rocks small and large, a pile of rags, and near the rags was a cliff, which probably went into a ditch. Behind her was another steep cliff, the one that they fell from.
Getting up she limped over to the edge of the cliff clutching her side and stared down at least 200 feet to the bottom of a canyon. She was suddenly very grateful that the van landed where it did and didn’t topple over a few more times.
She backed up still clutching her ribs and let out a small yell as she tripped and fell onto her back. With her breath knocked out of her, she gasped for air looking much like a fish stranded on land. Within a few moments she was fine again besides the knot on the back of her head. She looked to her right to find what had tripped her and realized that the heap of cloth that she had disregarded as rags, was really Jonathon.
She was up and on her knees by his side in a matter of seconds despite the pain. “Jonathon!” she yelled, “Jonathon, wake up!” She grabbed hold of his torn expensive button-up silk shirt and shoved him from side to side. “Jonathon,” she yelled in frustration and began to pound her small-bloodied fists on his chest. He coughed and his eyes fluttered open, as he bolted into an upright position. She smiled at him, “are you okay? Anything broken? Something sprained?” “No, I’m fine actually.” Before he could get anything else out she said, “that’s too bad,” then she pulled back her fist and punched him square in the nose.
“YOU -- STUPID --THIS -- IS -- ALL -- YOUR -- FAULT!!! I’M -- GOING -- TO --KILL -- YOU --
FOR -- THIS!!!” she screamed as she continued to pummel him with her fists.
Years from now they’ll look back on this and laugh. Shawna, who’s a whole head shorter than her brother, had him in a ball on the ground with his arms around his head trying to protect himself, and it would be a rather large lie to say that he didn’t possess any muscular strength.
Sitting in the back of the large white van, Shawna had a lot of time to reflect back on her life. She regretted dropping out of high school, she hated the fact that she still lived in her dad’s house, and was disgusted with her boyfriend with his greased back hair, holy faded jeans, dingy white wife beaters and scuffed up combat boots.
She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. There was Jonathon, her successful older brother. Always perfect Jonathon, it seemed that he couldn’t do anything wrong, but boy did he screw up royally this time. He’s the most respected and well-known plastic surgeon in California. Someone should have told him that you can’t screw over the mob. Whoever said that there weren’t any Italian Mobsters in Southern California was wrong, so wrong. How stupid can you get, to steal money from them, I mean come on.
So here they were on their way through the Mojave Desert, bobbing up and down as they drove over the deserts rough terrain. At least they were told where they were being taken.
The man’s hot breath blew on her face. It smelled like peppermint with a hint of tobacco swirled in somewhere. You’d never be able to tell he was a smoker though with his amazingly white teeth. He looked like he should be on those Colgate commercials. “Get whiter teeth with one tube, three shades brighter,” laced with a thick Italian accent, and a cheesy fake grin plastered on his face.
“I bet you’re proud of your big brother now huh?” He paused to look over at Jonathon. “Now instead of just getting his-self killed,” he looked back at her with piercing black eyes; “ you get to join him. You see, we’re going to take you two on a little trip.” His silk shirt fluttered lightly in the breeze under his $2000 pressed suit. “Your getting a one way trip to the Mojave Desert, where we’re going to drive you into a canyon, then be on our merry way back to Los Angeles,” he said in a mocking tone. “And even if you do survive the fall you won’t last two days out there because the nearest town is over 100 miles away.
By the way, I hear the lizards and spiders are real nasty out in the desert, he said quiet viciously.
“All right your wrist is sprained and you’ve got a couple of fractured ribs, but other then that, you’re just really bruised and scratched up.” “Okay,” Shawna answered. “As for me, I’ve got a broken nose,” he said touching it lightly. “You deserved it though.” “I know,” he replied.
They both sat back in the shade of the van. Shawna looked out across the vast desert. “We should stay here till night comes, then we can try to make it to Barstow,” she whispered. Jonathon nodded his head. “It’s only midmorning, so we should try to find some water before we dehydrate.” He looked at her, “how do you know it’s midmorning?” She pointed to the sun, “you can tell by where the sun is in the sky.” He just looked up at it.
“I read something once that said that there’s water in cacti.” He looked over to the nearest one about fifteen yards away. “In that?” He asked doubtfully. She nodded. “We need something to open it up with,” she whispered. “Let’s empty out our pockets and see what we’ve got all together,” Jonathon said.
All together they had a set of keys, a lighter, a compact mirror, a pair of sunglasses, and a watch piled up in the center of them. Shawna picked up his keys, “we can use these to puncture the cactus.”
“ Yeah, but then what do we put it in?” “Nothing,” she answered, “we’ll just have to drink our fill and hope that it lasts a while.”
After successfully draining the cactus of its fluids they sat back by the van again. “That wasn’t half-bad,” Jonathon remarked. Shawna couldn’t help but laugh.
It was a little past noon as they sat sprawled out on the ground drenched in perspiration. “This is torture,” Shawna whispered. “It’s got to be at least 125 degrees out here; I’m starting to get a bit crispy.”
“Oh my... oh my god... Shawna! Look at it, look at all of it!!!” he screamed looking out at the desert. Shawna looked at him confused, “what are you talking about?” He ran over to her and yanked her up from underneath her arm. “Look,” he whispered pointing over to the desert. “Can’t you see it? It’s glorious, look at all of the water!” Then it hit her, he was hallucinating.
Jonathon ran out into the desert, laughing like a lunatic and waving his arms in the air. He dropped onto his knees and began to swim in the ‘water’. “Jonathon stop it! Your hallucinating, the water’s not real! Stop it!” she yelled running after him. “Come on Jonathon!” she yelled tugging on him. He pushed her away. “Come on please, the suns just gotten to you Jonathon.” He pushed her away again.
She got behind him and tried to pull him away. This time he turned around and hit her. “You jerk Jonathon! All right you asked for it!” She pulled back her hand and hit him on the base of the neck, and then he fell to the ground.
She began to drag him back over to the van when a large gray spider crawled up his leg. Shawna stopped and held her breath. Her eyes widened as the spider bit him and then ran off. “No,” she whispered, as Jonathon began to convulse. She jumped on top of him and tried to control him.
He stopped after a minute or two and she herself was physically tired from holding him down. She slowly began to pull him over to the van again.
He had worked up an awful sweat and was shivering terribly. She rolled up his pant leg and examined the area where the bite had gone through. It was swollen and turning purple. She didn’t have anything to clean it with or anything to give him to make him feel better. All she could do was try to make him comfortable.
She took off his over shirt and put it under his head, then sat down by him, closed her eyes, and tried to soothe him by rubbing his forehead. Sometime after that she fell asleep.
When she woke up it was only about mid-afternoon. She picked up her compact and examined herself.
That’s when she caught something in her mirror. She whirled around and saw a helicopter flying her way. Her heart nearly jumped into her throat. She had to get his attention, but how? Your mirror!!! her mind screamed at her. She positioned the mirror until she got the sun to reflect onto it then she shined it into the window. “Please,” she whispered, “let them see it.”
She was almost certain they had missed her until they turned back and circled the area. She was hardly able to contain her joy.
“Jonathon, we’re going home.”
~Death’s Obsession
Survival in the Desert
Everything was so cold. So utterly cold. Her limbs were numb and she was freezing. The darkness surrounded her and even though she was conscious, she couldn’t tell if her eyes were open or not.
The silence was unbearable but still she stayed silent, afraid to call out and possibly receive no answer. Her arms and legs began to get a prickling sensation, the type you get when they fall asleep. She welcomed the sensation though, for it was the only feeling that she’d had besides the terrible coldness.
She slowly moved her head to the left hoping to find something, anything really. When she looked to her right, she saw the faint rectangle of light streaming in. Her heart pounded in her chest violently. Maybe, just maybe, she’d be able to crawl through it. When she went to move her body towards it she was bombarded with a jolt of pain all through her body.
She thumped back to her original position, and stared longingly at her only possible chance for escape. Deciding it was either lay here cold and alone, or take a chance at escaping, she decided on the latter. Slowly getting up onto her elbows she crawled over things not knowing what they were, nor wanting to know. Yep, there were definitely some broken bones, she thought grimly to herself. Upon getting closer to the light she realized it was a shattered window and felt a surge of hope. Putting both hands on either side of the frame she pulled herself out with extreme difficulty. She landed flat on her back about two feet below the window on the brown cracked earth with a “poof” sound and a cloud of dirt flew up around her.
The blazing sun beat down on her face and body blinding her vision. Remembering that her temporary prison was really a large white van, she fumbled back to it and sat leaning up against it. The sudden change in temperature was a very unpleasant surprise. She sat in the shade that the van provided for her with her eyes clenched close, with colorful lines dancing across her eyelids.
A few moments later her eyes snapped open as the sudden realization hit her. Where was Jonathon? With squinted eyes she scanned the area. There was debris all over the place, rocks small and large, a pile of rags, and near the rags was a cliff, which probably went into a ditch. Behind her was another steep cliff, the one that they fell from.
Getting up she limped over to the edge of the cliff clutching her side and stared down at least 200 feet to the bottom of a canyon. She was suddenly very grateful that the van landed where it did and didn’t topple over a few more times.
She backed up still clutching her ribs and let out a small yell as she tripped and fell onto her back. With her breath knocked out of her, she gasped for air looking much like a fish stranded on land. Within a few moments she was fine again besides the knot on the back of her head. She looked to her right to find what had tripped her and realized that the heap of cloth that she had disregarded as rags, was really Jonathon.
She was up and on her knees by his side in a matter of seconds despite the pain. “Jonathon!” she yelled, “Jonathon, wake up!” She grabbed hold of his torn expensive button-up silk shirt and shoved him from side to side. “Jonathon,” she yelled in frustration and began to pound her small-bloodied fists on his chest. He coughed and his eyes fluttered open, as he bolted into an upright position. She smiled at him, “are you okay? Anything broken? Something sprained?” “No, I’m fine actually.” Before he could get anything else out she said, “that’s too bad,” then she pulled back her fist and punched him square in the nose.
“YOU -- STUPID --THIS -- IS -- ALL -- YOUR -- FAULT!!! I’M -- GOING -- TO --KILL -- YOU --
FOR -- THIS!!!” she screamed as she continued to pummel him with her fists.
Years from now they’ll look back on this and laugh. Shawna, who’s a whole head shorter than her brother, had him in a ball on the ground with his arms around his head trying to protect himself, and it would be a rather large lie to say that he didn’t possess any muscular strength.
Sitting in the back of the large white van, Shawna had a lot of time to reflect back on her life. She regretted dropping out of high school, she hated the fact that she still lived in her dad’s house, and was disgusted with her boyfriend with his greased back hair, holy faded jeans, dingy white wife beaters and scuffed up combat boots.
She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. There was Jonathon, her successful older brother. Always perfect Jonathon, it seemed that he couldn’t do anything wrong, but boy did he screw up royally this time. He’s the most respected and well-known plastic surgeon in California. Someone should have told him that you can’t screw over the mob. Whoever said that there weren’t any Italian Mobsters in Southern California was wrong, so wrong. How stupid can you get, to steal money from them, I mean come on.
So here they were on their way through the Mojave Desert, bobbing up and down as they drove over the deserts rough terrain. At least they were told where they were being taken.
The man’s hot breath blew on her face. It smelled like peppermint with a hint of tobacco swirled in somewhere. You’d never be able to tell he was a smoker though with his amazingly white teeth. He looked like he should be on those Colgate commercials. “Get whiter teeth with one tube, three shades brighter,” laced with a thick Italian accent, and a cheesy fake grin plastered on his face.
“I bet you’re proud of your big brother now huh?” He paused to look over at Jonathon. “Now instead of just getting his-self killed,” he looked back at her with piercing black eyes; “ you get to join him. You see, we’re going to take you two on a little trip.” His silk shirt fluttered lightly in the breeze under his $2000 pressed suit. “Your getting a one way trip to the Mojave Desert, where we’re going to drive you into a canyon, then be on our merry way back to Los Angeles,” he said in a mocking tone. “And even if you do survive the fall you won’t last two days out there because the nearest town is over 100 miles away.
By the way, I hear the lizards and spiders are real nasty out in the desert, he said quiet viciously.
“All right your wrist is sprained and you’ve got a couple of fractured ribs, but other then that, you’re just really bruised and scratched up.” “Okay,” Shawna answered. “As for me, I’ve got a broken nose,” he said touching it lightly. “You deserved it though.” “I know,” he replied.
They both sat back in the shade of the van. Shawna looked out across the vast desert. “We should stay here till night comes, then we can try to make it to Barstow,” she whispered. Jonathon nodded his head. “It’s only midmorning, so we should try to find some water before we dehydrate.” He looked at her, “how do you know it’s midmorning?” She pointed to the sun, “you can tell by where the sun is in the sky.” He just looked up at it.
“I read something once that said that there’s water in cacti.” He looked over to the nearest one about fifteen yards away. “In that?” He asked doubtfully. She nodded. “We need something to open it up with,” she whispered. “Let’s empty out our pockets and see what we’ve got all together,” Jonathon said.
All together they had a set of keys, a lighter, a compact mirror, a pair of sunglasses, and a watch piled up in the center of them. Shawna picked up his keys, “we can use these to puncture the cactus.”
“ Yeah, but then what do we put it in?” “Nothing,” she answered, “we’ll just have to drink our fill and hope that it lasts a while.”
After successfully draining the cactus of its fluids they sat back by the van again. “That wasn’t half-bad,” Jonathon remarked. Shawna couldn’t help but laugh.
It was a little past noon as they sat sprawled out on the ground drenched in perspiration. “This is torture,” Shawna whispered. “It’s got to be at least 125 degrees out here; I’m starting to get a bit crispy.”
“Oh my... oh my god... Shawna! Look at it, look at all of it!!!” he screamed looking out at the desert. Shawna looked at him confused, “what are you talking about?” He ran over to her and yanked her up from underneath her arm. “Look,” he whispered pointing over to the desert. “Can’t you see it? It’s glorious, look at all of the water!” Then it hit her, he was hallucinating.
Jonathon ran out into the desert, laughing like a lunatic and waving his arms in the air. He dropped onto his knees and began to swim in the ‘water’. “Jonathon stop it! Your hallucinating, the water’s not real! Stop it!” she yelled running after him. “Come on Jonathon!” she yelled tugging on him. He pushed her away. “Come on please, the suns just gotten to you Jonathon.” He pushed her away again.
She got behind him and tried to pull him away. This time he turned around and hit her. “You jerk Jonathon! All right you asked for it!” She pulled back her hand and hit him on the base of the neck, and then he fell to the ground.
She began to drag him back over to the van when a large gray spider crawled up his leg. Shawna stopped and held her breath. Her eyes widened as the spider bit him and then ran off. “No,” she whispered, as Jonathon began to convulse. She jumped on top of him and tried to control him.
He stopped after a minute or two and she herself was physically tired from holding him down. She slowly began to pull him over to the van again.
He had worked up an awful sweat and was shivering terribly. She rolled up his pant leg and examined the area where the bite had gone through. It was swollen and turning purple. She didn’t have anything to clean it with or anything to give him to make him feel better. All she could do was try to make him comfortable.
She took off his over shirt and put it under his head, then sat down by him, closed her eyes, and tried to soothe him by rubbing his forehead. Sometime after that she fell asleep.
When she woke up it was only about mid-afternoon. She picked up her compact and examined herself.
That’s when she caught something in her mirror. She whirled around and saw a helicopter flying her way. Her heart nearly jumped into her throat. She had to get his attention, but how? Your mirror!!! her mind screamed at her. She positioned the mirror until she got the sun to reflect onto it then she shined it into the window. “Please,” she whispered, “let them see it.”
She was almost certain they had missed her until they turned back and circled the area. She was hardly able to contain her joy.
“Jonathon, we’re going home.”
~Death’s Obsession