Covered wagons kept advancing slowly through the desert in a single line, pulled by horses and mules. The only motor-powered vehicle in the convoy, a truck transporting food and water standing at the back of the line, also proceeded at a very slow pace: the reason was that, no matter the haste that such a perilous journey implied, a lot of people were actually following the convoy by foot. Only women, children and the elderly sat in the wagons: young men had to rely on their own strength and stamina.
Still, there was one woman who did not sat in a wagon.
She silently proceeded at the very back of the line, wearing black robes and a black hood to shield her eyes from wind and sand. The woman knew very well she wasn't welcomed among other women of the group: only men tolerated her, although ignoring her most of the time. Despite all of this, the woman advanced steadily under the morning sun, without showing any sign of fatigue or annoyance.
Suddenly, the convoy stopped.
After a couple of minutes, the chief of the group reached the men at the end of the line.
"Everything is fine!" he said "We are going to rest here for a bit! Sit down, eat and drink while you can, because we'll be resuming march within a hour! If the Gods assist us, we'll be all safe in the city by tonight!"
It's only natural, she thought. It's almost noon, and we've being marching since dawn.
People started getting off wagons and gathering around the truck.
"Everybody form a line!" the chief yelled "Wait for your turn for food and water! If anybody goes making any trouble, I'll personally kick his teeth in!"
It was no empty threat: the chief was a big man. So, about fifty people started forming a queue to the supplies truck.
Ten years had already passed since the war, the nuclear holocaust that killed millions and turned the world into a wasteland. Almost ten years since the rise and fall of Ken-Oh, the tyrant who conquered a great number of lands only to be defeated by the End of Century Savior. Since then, humanity had partially recovered from the disaster: some lands could now be cultivated once again, and many farms had appeared in the region. Also, money was now a thing: copper and silver coins were now of common use in many cities, including Bara, their destination.
But some farms were more productive than others: the people that were now traveling across the desert were originally from a village far in the South. They knew they would starve in the winter, had they not abandoned their homes: so, they ventured in the wastelands crawling with bandits.
The hooded woman didn't come from the same village, though: she just happened to be headed to a city close to Bara, Zaria, so she decided to travel with them: this allowed her to get her share of food and water, in exchange for putting her skills to good use.
"Mommy" cried a young girl standing in line next to her, around five years old "Mommy, I'm thirsty!"
"Be quiet!" harshly said the mother "Be a good girl now! We must wait for our turn!"
"Mommy, water! Give me water!"
The hooded woman pulled a canteen out from under her black robes, and offered it to the child.
"Here" she said, smiling kindly "Have some"
The little girl started to drink, but the mother abruptly pulled her back.
"You" she said, with a fierce look in her eyes "stay away from my daughter".
The hooded woman silently put the canteen away, without showing any sign of anger. She just patiently waited in line until she got food and water: after that, she walked a little afar from the crowd and sat on a rock by herself, calmly consuming her lunch.
She was used to that kind of behaviour: she was a prostitute after all.
Mh,no clients today, she thought. Well, it's not like these guys have much money to spare.
Then, a girl approached her: she didn't look much older than fourteen.
"Are you a client?" the woman asked "I do women too, no problem, but you look a bit young for that. Sorry, but I'll have to pass. Come back in a couple of years"
The girl blushed vividly.
"N-no" she stuttered "It's nothing like that. I..."
She timidly smiled.
"I actually wanted to thank you. I'm that kid's older sister: you were kind to her. A person willing to share her water is not something you see everyday, not even when it comes to sharing it with little kids. I'm sorry about my mom"
The woman shrugged.
"Don't sweat it. I'm used to it. I won't be bothering your mom much longer anyway: I'll leave the group this afternoon and head for Zaria".
She would reach Zaria the following day: hopefully, her companions would already be waiting for her. She actually thought of them as sisters, although they were not related by blood: they were childhood friends raised under the same roof. They agreed the would meet in Zaria within six months. For six months, she had wandered the South aimlessly, frantically looking for a hint, a whisper about what she was searching for. The woman clenched her fists.
Six months, and I couldn't find anything, she thought. Let's hope the others had better luck than me.
"Oh, you will be leaving then" the girl said "Too bad. Anyway, I'm Aiko. May I ask for your name?"
The hooded woman chuckled.
"No need to be so formal. I'm Saya"
At that very moment, the air was filled with a roaring sound.
Saya had no doubt about what it was, not even for a moment: that was the sound that any traveler ought to fear. Both her and Aiko turned their heads to the East: a group of raiders appeared from beyond the sand dunes, riding motorbikes.
"No way..." whispered Aiko, paralyzed by fear.
Fuck, thought Saya, immediately getting up.
"All men, grab a weapon!" the chief yelled "Form a line in front of the wagons! Don't get cold feet now, or we'll all die! We knew from the start this could happen!"
It's no use, Saya thought. It will be a slaughter. Twenty men, who only ever held farming tools in their hands, against thirty raiders who have been killing for a living for years! They stand no chance!
The first scream of pain filled the air: a villager fell to the ground, with a bolt piercing his neck. The bandits had crossbows, and they were able to aim and shoot from their motorbikes, without even needing to slow down.
Before men could even try to form a line, many other bolts were fired: people fell to the ground, men and women alike. The raiders were about to storm through the wagons, with battle axes in their hands, ready to cut down anyone in their path. Judging from their excited battle cries, they were really looking forward to the slaughter.
It was an instant.
Saya sprinted forward, intercepting two bolts aimed at an old woman with her fingers, and threw them back at the aggressors . Two bandits fell from the motorbikes: their lifeless bodies rolled about in the sand, with bolts sticking out from their eye sockets. Even in the mist of the raid, everybody saw that incredible scene.
The raiders stopped the attack.
They all were muscular, scary men, with shaved heads and the tattoo of a red scorpion on their left cheek: and yet, they were all staring at the hooded woman with awe and shock.
"The fuck..."
"...how did she..."
"...with her bare hands?"
People from the village were just as shocked, and could do nothing but watch silently: after all, they just saw the prostitute of the group display some superhuman feats.
The chief of the raiders came forward: he was so big, even his most muscular underlings looked scrawny in comparison.
"That was impressive" he said " There are no doubts you know martial arts. I wonder, who may you be?"
Saya took her hood off, revealing her face, and the bandits stood in awe in front of the most beautiful woman they had even seen: an Asian beauty in her twenties, with full lips and long black hair pulled back in a ponytail.
"I have no name to give to villains like you" she said "but if you value your life, leave this place at once: for the martial art I practice, is Hokuto Shinken".
Silence followed that statement. Anyone, bandits and travelers alike, had heard of that name.
Hokuto Shinken? Aiko thought. The fist of the Savior? No way...
Surprisingly enough, the silence was followed by laughter. The bandits acted like they just heard the best joke ever.
"Hokuto? The Fist of the North Star?" the chief of the raiders said "You have no idea how many times we heard that! Any man that knows a little bit of Kung fu is a Hokuto master these days! They try to scare us off, you see. But I, Garth, leader of the Red Scorpions, have killed them all with my war axe! Besides, everyone knows that the successor of Hokuto Shinken is a man, Kenshiro, the one who defeated Ken-Oh! While you are a woman: we can see that, am I right?"
His men answered him with excited cries: Saya could clearly see the lust in their eyes.
"I may be a woman, but I spoke the truth: while Kenshiro is the current heir to Hokuto Shinken, I also am a master of such art. And let me be very, very clear on this: I don't care if you believe me or not. If any of you comes at me with murderous intent, I'll show no mercy. The proof you seek will be your death"
Garth grinned.
"Enough with this bullshit: you killed two of my men, so you own me. Luckily for you, you also happen to be a damn fine woman. You also got a nice body, I can tell even if you try to hide it under those ugly traveling robes. Normally the whole crew would rape you to death, but here's the deal: you become my woman. You'll be fucking me and no-one else, you understand? You'll behave and obey my every order. In exchange, I'll feed you. You'll be eating as well as my best men, at least until I get tired of you or find a better woman. At that point, one of my lieutenants can have you, and you'll be still eating decently. A nice deal, don't you think?"
Saya gave him a cold smile.
"I'll pass. I may be a prostitute, but I can't pleasure scum like you without demanding your life in exchange. If you still want to fuck me even after learning the price, I'll gladly show you the way to heaven before sending you to hell"
Garth clenched his teeth.
"Annoying bitch..."
He raised a hand.
"Men!" He yelled "Tear this dumb slut apart!"
Seven men dismounted from their motorbikes. They approached her, with axes in their hands and a sadistic grin on their faces.
Saya stared coldly at them. She stripped, revealing white, elegant clothes: more revealing, yet more suited to fighting.
One bandit charged at her: he raised his axe to deliver a deadly blow, with bloodshot eyes and saliva dripping from his chin. Saya reacted readily.
She hit him on the cheek with a circular kick, almost too fast for the human eye to see. She felt the cheekbone collapse against her leg, and saw teeth and blood fly off from the man's mouth. The bandit fell to the ground, still alive but badly hurt. His companions charged at her: one after another, they were all sent flying by quick, elegant kicks aimed at their faces or the side of their heads.
"Amazing!" uttered Aiko.
The seven men got up on their feet.
"The fuck?" a bandit uttered, massaging the side of his head "My skull seem to be fractured, but it almost doesn't hurt!"
"Idiots!" Garth yelled "You're all useless! Stand aside: she's mine!"
The man came forth.
Even a skilled warrior would have cowered in fear in front of that humongous frame.
Saya was a tall woman for a native Japanese, around 167 cm tall (5 ft 6), but she looked like an ant compared to Garth's 210 cm (7 ft) and 160 kilos of rock-hard muscles.
"DIE!" he shouted, bringing down his axe with all the weight of his body behind it . And something incredible happened.
Saya had stopped the axe by grabbing its grip. It was like seeing a frail tree branch stop a 160 kilos boulder. Garth couldn't believe his eyes. He tried to pull the axe back, but he couldn't move it by one inch.
No way, he thought, no way this girl is so strong!
Somewhere deep inside him, a great fear arose: it was the fear of the unknown. He started to feel like engaging in a deadly battle with that girl had been a grave miscalculation on his behalf. But it was such a terrible thought that Garth couldn't even tolerate it for one second, and immediately pushed it away, focusing instead on the murderous rage growing inside him.
"Let go, bitch!"
He threw a punch at the woman's face with his left hand. That punch could have knocked even a horse out, but it never reached its target: the woman elegantly dodged the deadly blow. At the same time, he felt the soft touch of the girl's index pressing the center of his forehead.
"Wha-what?"
He took a step back.
"What was that? Are you trying to mock me? Or you think you're so strong that you can knock me out with a finger?"
Saya didn't smile this time: she just stared at him coldly. Maybe, in her yes, a faint shadow of compassion flickered for a moment.
"Nothing of the sort" she said "That finger just hit the pressure point known as Gakuchu. The fight is over: you are already dead"
The fear came back, stronger this time, but Garth shook it off with a laughter.
"Very funny! So, I am already dead, uh? You're so full of shit, you dumb bitc-..."
He stopped talking.
Suddenly, the right side of his face had gone numb. A moment later, he lost sight from his right eye.
"What the FUUUUCK!" he screamed, as he felt his eye slowly come out from the eye socket and hang on his cheek, only linked to the orbit by the optic nerve.
He fell on his ass, frantically trying to put the eye back into place.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MEEEEEEE?!"
"Your eye has come out as a result of the sheer pressure inside your cranium" Saya explained.
"N-NO WAY! SOMEBODY, HELP!"
"Don't ask your own men for help: they also are already dead"
At that very moment, one of the seven men that attacked Saya grabbed both sides of his head, his face twisted by pain. Then, everybody heard the horrid sound of his skull bones starting to crack, as his head expanded like a ballon. The man let out a single, high-pitched scream, as his head kept swelling up to grotesque proportions. Then, the explosion.
It was like a fountain of blood. Brain matter splattered everywhere.
"By the Gods!" screamed another bandit, scared out of his wits. Then, the back of his head started swelling, like a ballon being filled with pressurized blood.
"No, not me, anything but tha-"
The back of his head exploded. His cranium was shattered, revealing the minced remains of his brain. The man took a few steps forward, then fell to the ground.
One after the other, the heads of anyone who got hit by Saya expanded and exploded, while screams of pain and terror filled the air.
"No way..." cried Garth, sitting on the sand "Then you really are...this is really..."
Saya towered over him.
"That's right" she said "This is the Fist of the North Star"
She looked at him with a strange expression, almost with regret.
"You know" she said "Considering the ending is going to be the same, you might as well have offered your life to fuck me. I would have fucked you good: being a prostitute is part of my sacred duties, after all. Oh well, too late for that now: you only got a few seconds left"
"Oh GODS, NO!"
Garth was now a prisoner of fear, a fear he had never felt in his life. He could not think, he could speak no more: he could only run.
He got up and ran, ran away from the beautiful woman who was actually a Goddess of Death.
Saya sighed. All the people she killed in the last six months, all those tough guys that killed and raped for the fun of it, turned out to be such cowards in their final moments.
"You can't outrun your own death, you fool" she said, almost with sadness in her voice.
Garth couldn't hear her anymore. He could only run.
A sudden pain at the center of his forehead almost froze his legs, but he kept running. He forced himself to run even as the pain grew, and his head started to swell up. He could hear the cracking of his own bones shattered by the pressure.
I don't want to die! he though, the sight from his remaining eye blurred by tears. I don't want to! I don't want to!
Then, the explosion. It was the last sound Garth would ever hear. After that, his enormous, headless body fell. The sand drank the blood that kept spurting from his neck.
The remaining twenty members of the Red Scorpion gang didn't even have to discuss about what to do. At the very moment they saw their boss's brain splatter everywhere, they mounted on their motorbikes and fled, running for their lives.