Beaten And Abandoned

“Why? Is this the end?”

Tears streamed down her face as blood trickled from every part of her body.

The hot sun seared through her skin.

Blood boiled under the scorching heat and her sweat quickly evaporated.

She was losing blood and water continuously.

Her blurry gaze looked around her, at the emptiness of the desert.

“Anyone! Please! Help me!” She screamed under her breath.

Her dried up throat began to burn.

She was slowly dying.

Hera Leandra Bardin, at the age of 24 years old, was now lying abandoned in the middle of the desert.

Her military fatigue was long drenched with her own blood and a few traces of her assaulters’ blood from when they beat her black and blue.

Two hours earlier, she was taken to a warehouse where the people she had once called comrades have used their thick fists, swift blades and even hot iron to inflict torture on her.

She thought she could endure it.

She determined that she would overcome it.

But when she heard one of them suggest that they feast on her virgin body, she felt frozen cold.

These bruises would fade in time and what would remain is anger.

But if she would also be defiled by them, then she would have to live in disgust forever.

No, she couldn’t do that to herself.

She had to find a way to escape from them.

At that moment, she was already on the ground, being prepped for them to have their way with.

A knock came from outside of the warehouse.

Two of her assaulters went to check it out. Only one remained to watch her. But his head was facing the door.

Taking this chance, she took the broken shard of glass that had shattered when one of them hit her head with it three hours before.

She quickly undid the rope tying her hands. Her assaulters had always been bad at applying what they have learned from their training.

Without hesitation, she snapped his neck, laying him down on the ground silently.

She had seen him put keys in his pocket earlier so she went to grab it immediately, clutching it tight in her hand to avoid making a jingling noise.

As quietly as she could, she limped towards one of the quad bikes parked on the side.

She used the key on one of the bikes.

Nothing.

She looked up and saw that the other two were still talking to one of the other assaulters.

She moved to the other bike.

Still nothing.

Her hands began to tremble.

She knew she was losing time.

She moved to the third bike, hoping that this was the right one. There was still one more left.

“WHAT THE—! WHERE IS SHE?!” She heard one of them yell.

“She’s still here. There’s only one entrance here.. You go on that side, I’ll go here..”

Beep.

Hera’s eyes widened. ‘Yes! It worked!’

She silently rejoiced.

She had been crouching down to hide from them.

Seeing as the two were still looking for her all the way to the back of the warehouse, she quickly climbed on the quad bike and started it up.

Vroom! Vroom! Vroom!

The quad bike sped forward.

“DAMN IT! Don’t let her go!!!” The two screamed in alarm, running towards their own bikes.

Hearing the noise, the ones outside opened the door to the warehouse to see what was going on.

But what greeted them was the young woman wearing bloodied military fatigue, riding their comrade’s quad bike, speeding towards them.

They had no time to stop her or even to shoot at her.

They could only jump out of her way as the quad bike broke the warehouse door, making her escape.

A second later, two more quad bikes followed her.

The two who were lying shocked on the ground, got up and quickly ran to ride their own bikes while signaling for another one to check inside the warehouse.

They couldn’t let anyone find out what they were doing to the young woman, who was supposed to be their comrade, there inside the warehouse.

Hera, who had been swerving away from the locals, tried to look for an exit.

But the two were too close on her tail.

Bang! Bang!

They shot at her.

She quickly ducked while still keeping her eyes on the road.

The bullet grazed the skin on her cheeks, her leg and her arm.

But she didn’t dare to stop for a moment.

Her heart thumped madly as she sped forward.

All around them, the locals jumped away from the commotion.

Some of them got shot by accident.

Some of them got run over by the quad bikes.

While others got their merchandise thrown on the ground amidst the chaos.

At that moment, all Hera could hear was the sound of the quad bike and the bullets being shot at her.

Looking back, she saw them run over a civilian.

‘No.. I have to get away from here!’ She felt guilty that the civilians became collateral damage from her fight against those despicable vermin that call themselves men.

Looking forward, she made the decision to take the bike to the desert.

She sped up, leaving them by several feet.

Until all of a sudden, the bike had stopped working.

She had no choice but to continue on foot.

But she had already been weakened from all of her wounds.

The two caught up with her in no time.

“Hahaha! You thought you could get away with it? Think again!” The man sneered at her.

Pak!

He slapped her face in frustration.

“Come on. We have to go back.” The other reminded him.

They tied up her hands once again, and forced her to sit at the very back of one of their bikes like a sack of rice, tying her tied hands to the seat.

They sped away.

‘No. No. Not again.’ She gritted her teeth.

This time, she used her teeth to undo the rope.

Once she managed to undo it, she pushed herself up from the bike and let her body roll off to the ground.

She quickly got up on her feet and ran.

“DAMN! I’ve been with this woman! Commander said we don’t have to bring her alive anyway!” He took out his gun and shot several times.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He shot her back multiple times, certain that she wouldn’t survive this.

Her body fell and rolled away in the vast desert.

“Let’s go check if she’s really dead.” The other said.

However, at a distance, a sandstorm was about to engulf them.

“No! We have to go now. NOW!”

“DAMN IT! WHATEVER! She’s dead for sure anyway.”

They jumped on their bikes and hurriedly ran away from the sandstorm, leaving Hera behind.

As the sand began to cover her body, she recalled the memories that brought her to this day.