Episode Four, Part 4:

W h e r e ' s   M y   L o v e ?

"ᴅɪᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴜɴ ᴀᴡᴀʏ? ᴅɪᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴜɴ ᴀᴡᴀʏ? ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ɴᴇᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴋɴᴏᴡ. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴀɴ ᴀᴡᴀʏ, ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴀɴ ᴀᴡᴀʏ, ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ʜᴏᴍᴇ. ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ʜᴏᴍᴇ." 

The sand storms were getting closer, and it was only as they continued to walk towards them did they notice how gigantic and deadly they were. Either it hadn't been visible through all the dust in the air, or maybe it hadn't even occurred before, but bolts of lightening struck down onto the earth as the sand circled in its path. Even Wynnlow felt a little nervous to continue, but he did his best not to look at it, to allow himself to be afraid. 

Wynnlow slowed down his pace, continuing to move forward, but allowing everyone to pass him. He waited until he fell in line next to Kodiak, waiting until he was sure that no one else was paying attention. 

"How dangerous are these things?" He asked. 

"I don't know." Kodiak didn't take eyes off the storm ahead. "No one's ever really been out here before, need I remind you." 

"But you did know about them." 

Kodiak sighed, frustrated that Wynnlow didn't just take his word for it. That he always wanted to know more. 

"We knew there were sand storms, yeah. They were visible from the Red Hills behind Basilisk. The dust would sometimes blow close to camp. But like I said, no one's exactly seen them up close." 

Wynn sighed, put off by the tone of his friend's voice. 

"Look, I'm sorry." Kodiak apologized. "I said I'd give us one more day out here, and it hasn't made a difference." 

"Hey, she could be right on the other side of that storm. We can't see past it, so we can't say for sure." Wynn tried to console him. 

There was a long pause before Kodiak spoke again. Time was taken to dig deep into himself, to cut out the truth without scarring too much of what was inside. 

"If she's dead, that's on me." 

Wynnlow almost stopped in his tracks, angry at Kodiak that he would say such a thing about himself. "That's not on you." 

Kodiak looked over, desperate for more, but not feeling like he deserved to hear it. 

"Eryx will live up to his sins, and he'll pay for them all, and Sol would get her justice. But she's not gone until we know she's gone. Until it's real. And I'm not ready to say it is." 

Kodiak nodded, showing his appreciation to Wynnlow, but he was cut short but a sudden, deafening noise. 

Metres away, a bolt of lightening struck the ground, sending electrical current's under the earth's surface. The group all fell the the ground, some curled in pain, others scrambling to stand to their feet. 

Wynnlow's ears were ringing. He had to blink hard to be able to see, as if the intense light had momentarily stolen away his vision, but it was coming back to him in sparks. Time felt slow. His hand moving in front of his face didn't feel like his own, and even though he could tell that he had pushed himself to his knees, he didn't feel in control of his body. 

Someone was pulling him in another direction. He looked up to see Kodiak screaming in his face, a horrified expression being all he could focus on. But he couldn't hear a word anyone was saying. Just a hum. A screeching, burning, relentless hum. 

A gust of wind almost sent both boys back on the ground, and it was only then that Wynnlow realized they were now in the middle of one of the sand storms. He couldn't see anyone unless they were within arms' reach, and even then, his vision was too lagged to be able to concentrate on who he saw. 

"We gotta go!" He tried yelling, tried to remember how to scream, but he couldn't even hear himself. He pulled on Kodiak's arm frantically, trying to get his attention, but he turned around, crouching low to reach what could only be one of their friends. 

He lost hold of Kodiak and stumbled backwards, bringing his hands to cover his head as the ringing only seemed to be getting louder. He wanted to close his eyes and let himself escape everything for a while, but his brothers were somewhere close and all he could think about was that one of them might have been struck. 

He pushed himself forward, staggering through the orange clouds in a hope to reach the other side. He kept running further and further, never really sure of how far he was going or which direction, but knowing only that he had to keep going. 

A throbbing in his head... His vision flickering to darkness momentarily, then back again to see his knees hit the ground. He coughed - heaving for air, desperate to clear his mind of all the fog. But he couldn't. 

The darkness won, lulling Wynnlow into the depth's of unconsciousness. 

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four // part four