Fifty Years Ago

One Hundred Miles West of Las Vegas, Nevada

I woke up feeling amazing. As soon as my eyes opened, I had a smile on my face. I quickly changed into my field clothes and made myself as decent as possible for the situation.

When I stepped out of my tent, I found the campsite dead silent. No one was milling about, doing daily routines. The sun was high in the sky, so apparently I had slept longer than I thought. I searched around my tent until I found the folded piece of paper folded under a rock.

Hey Kitty Kat,

We went to go chase down some raiders for questioning. We'll be back, we left a guard for you

Gerry

"Well that sucks, I get left at home" I said. And a guard? What guard?

"Hello?" I called out. No one answered so I grabbed a knife and gun and headed to the river to get some water. As I came over the knoll on the way to the river, I saw red hair leaning over a pad writing. The words were hard to read but I didn't want to snoop anyways.

"Hello?"

The head jumped and when it turned around, the face was none other than Scars.

"Oh, hi" I said, relieved it was someone I knew.

Scar slowly stood up, crumbling the paper in his hand and stuffing it in his pocket.

"Hello Katherine" he responded slowly.

"I uhh, found the note but couldn't find the guard so I came looking. I'm sorry if I bothered you" I said, his body language making me skittish.

"No, you're fine. I was trying to remember how to write. I need to recall so I can document my life" he said with a smile that never quite reached his eyes.

"Oh, well I came to wash my face and get a drink so..." I trailed off, glancing at the river.

"That's fine. I'm going back to camp. I think you're capable of handling a drink of water" he said, finally laughing honestly.

"Yeah" I chuckled, relaxing.

I walked to the edge of the flowing river and scooped some water up to drink. After slurping down two gulps, I rubbed a third handful onto my face. I patted the ground looking for a towel until I remembered I hadn't brought one.

"Shoot" I mumbled, standing up and walking backwards with my eyes closed so I didn't fall into the river. I pulled my cami up to wipe my face when a blunt object struck me in the back of the head. I cried out and fell forward into the dirt. A large boot stepped on the small of my back, pinning me to the ground.

"You need to be killed" Scars voice said.

"What the hell?! Get off me!" I barely yelled, suffocating from the pressure on my lungs. I reached for the knife in my pants, pulling it out. Using all of my strength I flipped over, throwing his shoe off me. I sliced upward as I turned, hitting Scar's stomach. He cried out and broke my wrist, flinging the knife in front of me. His kick connected with my jaw and I fell face down again. The boot returned and before I could flip again I felt cold, hard steel plunge into my back and puncture my heart.

I screamed and tears started leaking from my eyes.

"Br-Brittock will- will-"

"Do you think I would be killing you with Astvinur if it wasn't on his order?" Scar asked, twisting the blade.

"Ah-I-" I tried to reach up behind me to grab the blade and pull it out, but it was useless. And I knew he was right, there was only one blade that would feel like this.

"Ahh-" I gurgled, blood gushing from my mouth. My vision started going fuzzy, but as I turned my head to the right, I saw the silhouette of a tall man standing on top of the knoll. I reached out toward him, pleading silently for help that didn't come.

And then I died.

* * *

Bright blue light blinded me when my eyes shot open. I pushed the lid of my pod off. It took a second to realize I was screaming.

Screaming in pain and sadness. Tears streamed down my face as I gripped the area over my heart. Even though it was impossible, I still felt like the blade was wedged in my heart. I curled into a ball and wept until my tears ran out.

Never had I been so grateful that I left my pod in New York.