Hoopoe

Prologue

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Pia comes awake with a gasp.

She can’t see. That’s the first thing that grabs her attention. She brings her hands up and rubs at her eyes. They’re wet, or her hands are, but at least the more she blinks, the more her vision slowly clears up.

What she sees is the interior of some sort of container. One with her inside. Everything’s still fuzzy, and there’s a slight ringing in her ears, and she doesn’t understand anything. Something moves in front of her, and she tries to scream, but only ends up coughing up some kind of liquid instead.

Everything hurts. When Pia finally stops coughing up whatever was in her throat, she looks up and in front of her again. Her vision is clearer now, but all that she can see is the inside of the container and darkness beyond it.

Pia doesn’t know what to do. What the hell is going on? Slowly, she reaches out and touches the inside of the container she’s in. It’s wet and warm to the touch, and she hopes like hell that it’s not alive, whatever it is.

Looking down, Pia has to close her eyes against a sudden rush of dizziness and nausea. She swallows, even though her throat feels raw, and tries not to throw up. When the feeling passes, she opens her eyes to look at her feet. They’re bare, and with slow understanding, she runs her gaze up her legs, and then further. Pia is completely naked and soaking wet. Almost as though her body was just waiting for her mind to notice, Pia starts shivering uncontrollably.

What’s happening? What in the world is going on?

With every passing second, she’s feeling a little more aware of her surroundings. Enough to realize that she shouldn’t stay there, wherever she is. She doesn’t know how she got there, but she doesn’t belong in this place.

Shakily, Pia moves one leg. It trembles, but doesn’t collapse under her, and she takes a deep breath before moving the other leg. Pia clings to the side of the container as she steps out beyond it, blinking in the low light.

It shouldn’t surprise her as much as it does that there are other people there, too. Pia looks to her left and two others, a man and a woman, stare back at her blankly, soaking wet and also naked. To her right, there are seven more people of various ages and genders. One person, a man, seems to be walking back and forth steadily, and Pia realizes that he’s the movement she saw earlier. It was his shadow moving along the far wall.

Slowly, she turns around. The container she’s just stepped out of is big enough to hold a person, and that’s it. She’s never seen anything like it before. This is the craziest dream she’s ever had, or she’s in a science fiction movie, or something.

There’s no way that Pia just woke up in an actual cryogenic pod. Those don’t exist.

Now fighting against the urge to cry, Pia turns back around to face the others. She wants to demand answers, to shout at them and ask why she’s there and what’s happening, but she already knows it’s useless. Most of the others are fighting back tears themselves, or even openly crying. Seeing their sadness makes her own tears finally fall, and Pia loses the fight to try and keep everything inside.

It hurts. Her tears feel so hot against her chilly skin.

“What happened?” one woman asks, her voice hoarse and quiet. No one answers. No one knows.

“Lionel,” someone else says. It’s the man who’s been walking back and forth. How long has he been awake? He looks more aware than anyone else, though still wet and naked. He’s also clearly the oldest person there - somewhere in his fifties, if Pia had to guess. “My name’s Lionel.”

She supposes names are as good a place to start as any. “Cory,” someone else says.

“Judy.”

“Terrence.”

“Sam.”

“Sean.”

“Lydia.”

“Kyle.”

“Warren.”

She takes a deep breath and goes last. “Pia.” Her throat is just as raw as everyone else’s, her voice soft and strained.

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Pia wakes up and has no idea where she is or who these strangers are with her. All that she wants is to go home... but that's going to prove impossible for her or any of the others as they venture outside and realize the full scope of their situation. An amazing adventure is about to begin for Pia, as long as she can survive the journey.

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Want to find out what happens next? Read the full novelette here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838M6RWQ.