The Wastelands

Lillie could hear it. That scraping sound. Back and forth, back and forth. Was it the beams? The lights? The place she once called home was trashed, so it was hard to tell. The sound would have bothered her more if it weren't for a much more pressing matter; A piece of wood sticking out of her shoulder. She couldn't see it due to the blood dripping into her eyes and the dust choking everything in its wake.

It took all her willpower not too yank the thing out, but her mom's voice echoed in her mind, telling her not to touch it.

'Mom,' she thought, startled. 'Stella!! Where are they?'

She pulled herself up, looking around frantically, trying to see through the dust and the rubbish, looking for a speck of life, anything, to know that she was not alone in this wretched place. But the overwhelming pain radiating from her shoulder reduced her to a curled mess. Her own screaming was the only thing she could hear.

Then, like a prayer, she heard something, something beyond her own screaming: a whisper, but for her, that was more than enough. Hope filled her up to the brim with only one word.

"Lillie."