Miya's eyes snapped open, her breath coming in ragged gasps. For a long moment, she didn't recognize anything....the rough-hewn ceiling, the flickering lamplight, the scent of woodsmoke and unfamiliar herbs. Panic surged through her veins. She bolted upright, her heart pounding, and let out a sharp, terrified scream.
Her first memory was pain. A deep, bone-weary ache radiated from her limbs as she clawed her way up from a black, dreamless void. Her eyelids fluttered, and a ceiling of rough, splintered wood greeted her. The air was thick with the scent of smoke, sweat, and something earthy.....coal dust, she realized distantly. For a moment, she wondered if she was still trapped in a nightmare.
Then she heard voices...strange, muffled, speaking in a dialect she couldn't quite place. Panic surged through her. She sat bolt upright, her head spinning, and saw the faces: men and women in coarse, homespun clothes, their skin weathered by sun and wind, their eyes wide with concern and suspicion.
A scream tore from her throat. She scrambled off the low cot, knocking over a battered tin cup, and pressed herself into the farthest corner of the room. Her heart hammered against her ribs. She searched for something.....anything.....familiar, but the room was alien: a single window covered with oiled paper, a fire burning in a stone hearth, a table littered with wooden bowls and spoons.
"Easy now, miss," said a grizzled man with a gray beard, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "You're safe here. No one's going to hurt you."
Miya shook her head, tears streaming down her face. "Where am I? Who are you? What is this place?"
The man exchanged a look with the others. A younger man....barely more than a boy....stepped forward, speaking slowly, as if to a frightened animal. "You're in Enoch's cabin, miss. We found you in the cave. You were… well, you were half-dead."
The words barely registered. Miya's gaze darted around the room, searching for an exit. She tried to stand, but her legs buckled beneath her. The older man...Enoch, she guessed.....caught her gently, guiding her back to the cot.
"It's all right," he said, his voice soft but firm. "You've been through a lot. Rest now. We'll talk when you're ready."
But Miya was not ready. She spent the next hours.....days?...in a haze of terror and confusion. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw flashes of the anomaly: swirling lights, Jake's face twisted in fear, the cold, clinical walls of the facility. She screamed herself hoarse, waking in the night to find Enoch or the boy....Caleb....sitting by her side, offering water or a rag soaked in cool river water.
She tried to run once, bolting from the cabin into the settlement. She made it as far as the edge of the clearing before her legs gave out. The settlers caught her, murmuring words she didn't understand, and carried her back inside. After that, they kept a closer watch, posting someone at the door at all times.
******
Gradually, Miya's panic gave way to exhaustion. Her body, battered and starved, demanded rest. She slept for long stretches, waking only to sip water or nibble at the coarse bread and dried meat the settlers provided. Her dreams were haunted by memories—some real, some conjured by her fractured mind. She saw Jake's face, heard Lila's laugh, felt the cold grip of the guards dragging her down endless corridors.
When she was strong enough to sit up, Enoch began to talk to her. He told her about the settlement: a cluster of cabins and tents perched on a ledge above a winding river. He explained how they survived, trading coal with passing merchants, hunting game in the hills,and fending off attacks from the native tribes who considered the canyon sacred.
Miya listened, struggling to make sense of it all. The settlers' accents were strange, their words sometimes archaic, but she pieced together enough to understand her predicament. She was in the past, how far, she couldn't tell. The clothes, the tools, the lack of electricity or modern medicine all pointed to a time long before her own.
The realization was almost too much to bear. She wept, silently and often, mourning the life she had lost. But even in her grief, a part of her mind,honed by years of police work and survival training,began to take stock. She observed the routines of the settlement, the way the men and women moved, the tools they used, and the weapons they carried. She noted the weaknesses in their defenses, the gaps in their patrols, the fear that lingered in their eyes.
******
As her strength returned, Miya forced herself to adapt. She learned the settlers' names: Enoch, the leader; Caleb, the eager apprentice; Ephraim, the silent hunter; Tom, the boy with the crooked smile. She watched the women.....Sarah, who baked the bread; Ruth, who tended the sick; Martha, who kept the children in line.
She asked questions, careful at first, then more boldly as the settlers grew accustomed to her presence. She learned to bake bread in a stone oven, to mend torn clothes with a bone needle, to recognize the edible plants that grew along the riverbank. She practiced with their weapons...clumsy muskets and hunting knives....adapting her modern skills to the tools at hand.
The settlers were wary at first, but Miya's determination won them over. She worked harder than anyone, rising before dawn to fetch water, staying up late to patch roofs or mend fences. She listened to their stories, laughed at their jokes, and offered comfort when the nights grew long and cold.
But she never forgot her true goal: to survive, to adapt, and....if possible.....to find a way home.
*******
It was a raid that changed everything.
The natives struck at dawn, slipping through the mist like ghosts. They set fire to the outer cabins, fired arrows into the clearing, and vanished before the settlers could mount a defense. Two men were wounded, and a child was taken, dragged screaming into the woods.
The settlement was thrown into chaos. Enoch called a meeting, but the people were frightened and angry. Some wanted to abandon the canyon, to flee to the nearest town. Others demanded revenge, calling for a war party to hunt down the natives.
Miya listened in silence, her mind racing. She saw the fear in their eyes, the disunity in their ranks. She stood, her voice calm but commanding.
"Fighting among ourselves won't save us," she said. "We need a plan. We need to defend the settlement, protect our people, and find a way to live here together."
The settlers stared at her, surprised by her authority. Enoch nodded, giving her the floor.
Miya outlined a strategy: patrols at dawn and dusk, watchtowers at the edge of the clearing, a wall of sharpened stakes around the perimeter. She taught the men how to set traps and ambushes, how to move silently through the woods. She organized the women into a support corps, tending the wounded and preparing supplies for the defenders.
It was hard work, and not everyone agreed with her methods. Some grumbled that she was too harsh, too demanding. But when the next raid came, the settlement was ready. The defenders repelled the attackers, rescuing the kidnapped child and sending the natives fleeing into the hills.
From that day on, Miya was a leader. The settlers looked to her for guidance, trusting her judgment and relying on her strength. She formed a council,Enoch, Caleb, Ruth, and Ephraim, ensuring that every voice was heard, every decision debated.
********
Under Miya's leadership, the settlement flourished. The wall grew higher and stronger, reinforced with logs and stones. The fields expanded, yielding more crops each season. The hunters brought in more game, and the traders, once wary of the canyon ,began to visit regularly, bringing news and goods from distant towns.
Miya encouraged the settlers to learn from the natives, sending envoys to negotiate truces and trade agreements. It was not always successful, old wounds ran deep, but over time, a fragile peace took hold. The raids grew less frequent, and some natives even joined the settlement, sharing their knowledge of the land and its secrets.
The community became a beacon of hope in the wilderness—a place where people from different backgrounds could live and work together. Miya established a school, teaching the children to read and write, to count and reason. She taught the adults basic first aid, sanitation, and the importance of clean water.
She never revealed her true origins, but the settlers whispered that she was sent by the spirits, or perhaps by God himself, to lead them. Miya let them believe what they wished. She knew the truth: she was just a woman, lost in time, doing her best to survive.
*******
Despite her successes, Miya never stopped searching for a way home. Every night, after the settlement had gone to sleep, she walked to the cave where she had first appeared. She explored its depths, searching for any sign of the anomaly,a shimmer of light, a sudden chill, a whisper of Jake's voice in the darkness.
She mapped every tunnel, every crevice, hoping to find a portal, a clue, a way back to her own time. She questioned the natives, hoping their legends might hold a key. She experimented with rituals and offerings, desperate for any sign.
But the cave remained silent, its secrets locked away.
The years passed. Miya grew older, her hair streaked with gray, her face lined by sun and worry. The settlement prospered, but the burden of leadership weighed heavily on her shoulders. She made mistakes...sometimes costly ones.....but she never gave up.
She missed Jake with an ache that never faded. Sometimes, in the quiet hours before dawn, she would sit by the fire and remember his smile, his strength, the way he had always believed in her. She wondered if he was searching for her, if he had survived the anomaly, if he even remembered her at all.
But she could not afford to dwell on the past. The settlement needed her, and she was determined to see it thrive.
*******
One evening, as the sun set behind the canyon walls, Miya stood at the entrance to the cave. The settlement lay behind her, its fires burning bright, its people safe and content. She gazed into the darkness, her heart filled with longing and hope.
She would never stop searching for a way home. But for now, she had built something lasting: a community, a legacy, a new world.
And as the stars appeared overhead, Miya whispered a silent promise to Jake, to herself:
"I will find my way back. No matter how long it takes."