The Priestess

Chapter 3: Survive

The men entered the hut and slowly scanned through, stopping at Rita and Zack. The bigger one among them smiled dirtily at Rita, the other one seemed more concerned with the things. Rita could see that he was focused on the water and the fireplace. Rita took a deep breath and said authoritatively, "Who are you? And what do you want?" The bigger man chuckled. "Why the surliness? Surely, there's a lot both of us can offer each other." He bared his teeth and that was an ugly sight. The other man was quiet till now, observing the situation. He had noticed that Rita was tall and well-built, and that she could probably fight. But he was strong, not to mention he had his even stronger friend. So concluding that the odds were pretty high that the girl would easily give up whatever valuables she had, fearing the men, he decided to open his mouth.

"Look, girl, don't make us take your stuff forcefully. You seem like a smart girl. Surely you can see exactly what's going to happen to you and your little brother if you resist!" He went ahead to smile as if he was in charge of the situation. All her life, Rita had lived looking up to her father. She hadn't spent a lot of time with him, but even after he was gone, in every decision of her life, Rita had thought about her dad. Considered his opinions, whatever they would've been. And so all her life, she had basically been transforming herself into her father - a strong, both emotionally and physically, and practical person, who had a calm head in all situations, and was capable of looking at things objectively, when needed. Right now, Rita could see that there was no way she could protect herself and Zack and all her things, without getting into a fight with the men. It was one of the things that just had to be done, she concluded objectively. 

The men looked strong, even the smaller one seemed that he could easily take down a girl like her all by himself. So she could only use the one thing that always worked....... the element of surprise. "What exactly do you need?" Rita asked, trying to sound scared. The men looked satisfied from her reaction. "Everything." The smaller one loudly said.  Rita bent down to pick the things up - the bottles, the vessel, everything else. She packed the things in her backpack, and slowly started walking towards the men. Zack looked at her once sadly, for a part of him could predict what was about to happen the moment she reached them and gave all the things away. He was young, but he knew the world enough to know that men like that don't keep their promises about not hurting girls. But he noticed something different about Rita's face. It wasn't a face of fear. She seemed like she was focusing very hard on something. 

Rita reached the men, and slid the backpack down to give it to them. The smaller guy took it from her, while the other one grabbed her other hand and pulled her to him. He started bending his face down towards her's, when Rita pulled her head back, and with some force, brought it forward to smash it against the guy's head. It had worked. He wasn't expecting it and so it hurt him even more. He groaned in pain. Rita grabbed his arm, the one with which he was holding her, and quickly twisted it in the other direction. She hadn't exactly broken his bone, because she didn't hear the crack she was expecting. But the man certainly felt a severe pain shooting up his arm, which made him wobbly in the knees and he fell down. Taking her chance, Rita plunged her knife deep into the side of the man's neck. Warm red liquid started gushing out of the wound as she took the knife out. He had to bleed out of life in a few seconds, Rita thought and smirked once. For such an illustrious body, the man was definitely a disappointment. The other man had been looking through the backpack, when the duel between his accomplice and Rita had started. By the time he ran to Rita, Zack had already assessed the situation and attacked him. Zack had punched him in the stomach with all the strength he had. It didn't do much to him, but he did get distracted. He had to stop to kick Zack out of the way, and by then Rita was done with his accomplice. She turned around to attack him. The man went for an obvious punch across the face, she predicted it and ducked in time to miss it. In return she was prepared with a punch of her own, not to his face, but his jaw. She delivered it to near perfection. And also combined it with a solid kick to the groin. The man stumbled in his tracks, but Rita steadied him with one hand and very calmly pushed the knife into his stomach with the other. The man fell down and joined his friend in the pool of blood, and in a few seconds, in hell.

Rita helped Zack up. His body hurt from within, but he didn't have a scratch on him, which was good. "Are you alright?" Rita asked him, with a concerned look on her face. She had been doubting him ever since she had met him. But she hadn't failed to notice that Zack had put his life in danger by attacking one of the men. Rita always admired people who had her back. "Yeah, I'm okay." Zack replied. He looked around to see what had happened, and once he understood, he looked at her. "You're very strong." He said, wide-eyed. Rita smiled at that. "No, it's just that people don't really see it coming." She paused to look down. And then continued, "You sit for a little while, okay? I'll go outside and see what's there in the jeep." Zack nodded once and then watched Rita get up and walk outside the hut.

Rita reached the jeep and tried opening one of the doors. It was unlocked and opened easily. She looked to find some things - a few guns, a bag, some maps, among other things. Then her eyes went to the back seat, where lay a dead rabbit. The men must have killed it before entering the desert. And she also understood the reason why the smaller guy seemed to be interested in the fire so much. He must have thought about cooking it for food. Well, now everything was hers. Rita smiled, realizing that.

Rita skinned the rabbit, and cooked a few pieces on the fire. Both Zack and her were too hungry to even wait for it to cool down, and started eating the still searing pieces of meat. After their dinner, they lay down and soon fell asleep. But Rita woke up every few hours to check on the surroundings. In the morning, Rita woke up before Zack to freshen up and get started on the water boiling process. By the time Zack woke up, she had filled almost all the bottles that she had. After Zack was ready, they had some water and a few remaining pieces of the meat. Rita made it a point to save at least a few tiny pieces for the journey ahead, so Zack had to exercise some self control over his eating.

Once everything was done, and Rita had loaded all the things in the jeep, Rita started the jeep's engine as Zack looked on from the passenger's seat. And they began the rest of the journey through the desert. This time, they had shelter from the scorching sun, not to mention the water and few pieces of meat and also a small packet of biscuits that she had found in the men's bag. And they were starting the journey with filled stomachs. Rita was grateful for a lot. And although she dismissed the thought as soon as it arrived, deep down she was hopeful. Hopeful for what lay ahead, hopeful to find what she had been looking for, for a long time.

Hey everyone! I'm really sorry for taking so much time in publishing this chapter. I will try to update more often from now on. But still I really appreciate the patience from  your side. Anyways, thanks a lot for reading, as always. 

Much love,

Nidhi