Survival (ON HOLD)

c h a p t e r n i n e

"No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected."

- Julius Caesar

The world is dark. And cold.

I cannot hear a word, all I can make out are hushed voices.

I'm lying down on the ground, my hair spread all round and my cheeks plastered on the freezing ground.

Where am I?

I get up, my eyes trying to adjust to the darkness. It's extremely cold; a sensation you would only feel underground, as the ground itself has burned up. I'm sitting on a metallic floor, with my coat thrown away at a side, my head feeling unusually heavy and my chest burning up.

It's only now that I'm able to recall what happened to me.

A strike on the head, and a push and I was out.

Was I not in another VA?

I get up slowly; my mind racing as my body crept behind. Picking up my coat, I walked towards the little light source at the corner. Feeling around in the darkness, my hands hits the door and it opens with a loud bang. 

I start walking forward and come face to face with a staircase turned storehouse. 

It's not the blast of heat which startles me, but it is the kind of stuff kept here.

Cartons and cartons of alcoholic pills. Some have spilled over and scattered over the floor.  Some clubs and such are kept against the walls, and the place stinks of  stale food.

Where am I?

Just as I have gathered my senses, three men thunder down the stairs and judging by the look on their faces, it wasn't going to be pleasant.

I try to lunge for a club as one of them comes yelling "You just wait here, girlie!" but I am not in time and the assaulter pounces, grabbing my shirt with his fists.

I retaliate; it all happens in a matter of seconds; I wind my hands around his neck and before he can actually physically hurt me, I administer a quick knee kick to his groin.

You might think that a little kick wouldn't be enough to tackle a muscular man like him; but he proved to be too delicate and he sank down to the ground, howling in pain.

I know, though, that I don't have much time, and I quickly grab a club and smack the second assaulter's head and while he tried to gather what had happened, another one startles me from my side; I don't even remember seeing him run down. I smack his head with the club, this time with a surprising renewed vigour. So much that I lose the hold of the club and it flings away from my hand on the first assaulter's legs.

He doesn't fall, though. He grabs me by the shoulder,  but I am faster. I turn my hand at an angle and hit him in the face with my elbow. It gets him in a perfect place too; his nose.

Before any of them have the time to get up I run up the stairs, not once looking back.

I walk out to see an isolated path, lined with warehouses like buildings on one side and a huge, long stretch of wall.

I ran as fast as my legs could take me, away from the place.

When I'm pretty sure that I'm not being followed, I slow down.

Should I go back to my VA? or should I focus on my work?

If I go back, I will be safe; but I may give the other misogynistic people a chance to scoff. Something I don't fancy facing.