Ormr

I close my eyes
Only for a moment, then the moment's gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes, a curiosity
Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind
Same old song
Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do
Crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see
Dust in the wind

The creature that emerged from the cocoon was not delicate, fluttery or feathered. The canvas had abraded the surface of my skin until it wept crimson from head to toe. In the darkness it looked black as the night sky itself, oozing, raw. Dust encrusted larynx could only bark in rasps.

"Find every bota, waterfilled or otherwise, clear the rain barrels, begin gathering everything drinkable." I didn't recognize my own voice even as I heard it snapping at those around me. Heirachy had no place here at the moment. Egos could be suckled later, elsewhere. Just do what needed to be done now.

The closest experience I'd known was a tornado when I was young .. coming back from camp. This quiet in the splintered aftermath ... was it merely the eye? There was no time to waste. I descended on Pop tart, silencing the high pitched wailing with a resounding slap that sent cracked echoes through everyone near by. Then put her in charge of folding the canvas, in fact she was to keep other slaves calm and find things for them to do. Save anything usable. Water first, meat, and canvas. Catching the arm of someone that was passing by, they were told to find cloth. Find a place in a wagon and pile anything that could be used for bandaging, that could be used for makeshift clothing. Another told to salvage furs.

The men had already swarmed in to make repairs to the wagons themselves. A hand caught my own arm to send me beneath the axle of a wagon. The salt from a sweaty hand searing into the exposed flesh, gnashed my teeth together. There was no time for pity to lace what needed to be done, not theirs, not mine. There was too much to be seen to. With adrenaline surged strengths they would lift the side of the wagons, the women would roll a wheel back into place and I like many other of the smaller slaves would creep beneath the slanted bottoms to slide pins into place. I was just one among many hundreds there ... all transformed the same ... we were survivors. We worked together as one. One creature ... a chimera.