She Belongs To No One

Into the Wild

Seraphina's POV

It looks heavy. The dresser is solid wood, not that cheap particleboard crap they sell at Ikea. With the awkward shape, it will be hard to swing properly to give it decent momentum.

I am being idiotic. Of course I can do this. I have moved enough times to know I can cart around a decent sized box of stuff. I got that couch upstairs with very minimal help, I might add, from my friend Min.

I snort. First, super strength. Now, mind reading and health regeneration. Wow. I should have my own comic book and movie franchise, then I would be a billionaire.

But, first things first.

Taking a deep breath, I yank the top drawer out of the dresser. Thankfully, it is empty.

Three, two, one...

Summoning all my strength, I throw the piece of wooden furniture at the window, and the glass shatters. As an added bonus, I have taken out a chunk of the frame. Outside, a branch snaps as the drawer hits a tree and then falls into the snow with a splash some twenty feet away.

Whoa.

For a moment, I just stand there, gaping at my feat. I have super strength after all. I look at the dresser and wonder if I could have flung the entire piece of furniture out the window. I think briefly about trying, just for the hell of it. Then I remember what I am supposed to do and I stop being my own fan girl, wrapping my hand in the sheets to remove the splinters of glass from what is left of the frame before jumping out.

Escape successful. Now, I just have to get to the nearest town.

And hopefully, not run into some bears.

As good as I am with animals, I doubt I can read their minds. And as good as I am at healing, I think getting mauled by a bear would hurt extremely, and if I am in pieces, I may not heal at all.

After consulting the map and wrapping the scarf I found more firmly around my neck, I start walking in what I hope is the right direction. Okay, yeah, maybe I am ignoring the fact that I am in the Icelandic wilderness. The very fact that Damon is out here tells me that people do live out here. I only need to find one of them. How hard can it be?

Let us do this.

I DO NOT WANT TO DO this anymore.

As I close my nearly empty bottle of water, I lean against a tree, an icy mist gathering around my face as I catch my breath.

I do not know how many miles I have walked or how far I have to go. All I know is that this is the second time I am seeing the moon since I left Damon's cabin, the silver crescent peeking through a veil of clouds.

Two days and still, I am in the middle of nowhere, only trees and snow in sight and an occasional rodent scurrying to the safety of its burrow. The fact that I have not died of hypothermia by now is still a surprise to me.

Whatever I have become, it has given me the ability to walk forever. To not feel the cold. I am not even hungry, just tired. Not even physically tired. Just tired of walking, of getting nowhere.

Now, I know the answer to that old question. If you could have a superpower, what would it be and why?

Flying. That is the answer. If I could fly, I would be somewhere with a phone now, somewhere with a cozy bed and a warm cup of coffee. I could even be home.

Yet, here I am, out of breath, stuck in a patch of woods that look just like the last, snow up to my knees, my scarf unraveling from the number of times it got caught on the tip of a branch.

Lost and alone.

I consider giving up, but I am no quitter. Besides, it is not even an option. I have to survive, to get to a place where there are people and phones.

And dry clothes.

And coffee.

I have to let the world know I am alive. I am sure my folks must be worried by now. If the Lab has notified them, that is. I am sure Cole and all the people I work with must be worried. I am sure my dogs, cats, and my fish back at my apartment must be hungry, though the last is just my feeling guilty for being gone so long. I have a service taking care of them. I am not looking forward to getting that particular bill.

But I have to let them know I am alive. I have to get back to them.

My resolve renewed, I climb the nearest tree, going as far up as I can, enjoying the strength of this new me that enables me to do something I had never been able to do before in my life. Clinging to the trunk, I turn my head in every direction, my heart skipping a beat when I see a flicker of light in the distance.

How distant? I do not know.

But it is there. The more I walk, the sooner I will get there.

I jump down, grab the straps of my backpack, and continue walking.

---

HOW DOES THIS PLACE even exist?

I stand outside what has to be the strangest location for a bar in the entire world. I mean, there is not even a real road to this place, though there is a handful of snowmobiles outside that tell me how people have gotten here.

What is strangest is there is no town. No houses, no other buildings, just this one. Lights run on a generator and noise I can hear from out here that lets me know that wherever I am, there is a party going on that I am missing.

I feel like Alice and wonder what kind of rabbit hole I have fallen down.