Lara had lost track of how long she'd been tied to that pole. The sheet of aluminium above her provided shielding from the sun for a part of the day, at the cost of raising the temperature beneath it to sweltering levels. The night brought some reprieve, but it was fleeting.

She awoke abruptly to the sound of gunfire mere feet from where she sat. This wasn't entirely out of the ordinary, but it wasn't necessarily something she'd gotten used to. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the light. Standing in front of her was one of Kaafiyo's men - a young, shirtless boy, no older than fourteen if she had to guess. The two locked eyes; Lara was taken aback by them. She could tell that he'd seen more than any boy his age should have. What's worse is that he was by no means the youngest soldier under Kaafiyo's command.

After a few moments, he looked down toward her feet. Lara's eyes followed. Inches away from her was the headless corpse of a mottled brown snake - an adder, by the looks of it. Delirious from heat, hunger, and thirst, it finally dawned on her that the boy had saved her life. If that snake at bitten her...

She shook the thought from her mind. It wasn't that she was perturbed at the idea of dying. What disturbed her more was that she wouldn't have minded.

"Thank you," she finally muttered, looking back up at the boy. He simply nodded, and departed without saying a word - but not before taking what was left of the adder with him. Lara was left alone once more.

As the hours passed, Lara sat motionless. The sun continued to beat down on her, worsening her already severe sunburn. Behind her, she could hear the "men" hard at work on...something. Occasionally a convoy of trucks would arrive, all carrying more prisoners. God only knew what they did to them, but the screams gave her an idea. She wondered why they never bothered to do to her what they had done to the other women. The guilt was enough to make her stomach turn.

"Adiga," a voice whispered. To Lara's surprise, it was the boy who saved her earlier in the day. Were it anyone else, Lara would have been in fear for her life. This boy, though...he wasn't a killer. At least, she didn't feel like he was. He knelt beside her, opening his canteen and helping her drink. It didn't take long for her to empty it. It tasted terrible, but at that moment, it was the best water she'd ever had.

"God, I needed that." she sighed, leaning back on the pole. "You wouldn't happen to have food you're willing to share, would you?"

"No," he said curtly, "but I can get some." His accent was thick, but if a single sentence was any indication, his English was surprisingly good. Lara was quick to point out this fact.

"Where did you learn English?" she asked. While she was thankful to actually talk to someone who could understand her, she feared the implications. It was unlikely that he learned a second language while living under the thumb of Kaafiyo.

The boy shifted, sitting beside her. "I lived in an orphanage run by Americans for many years. I learned by listening to them and reading their books."

"So...how did you end up here?"

He sighed and looked at the ground. "Kaafiyo came. He burned it down and killed many of them - even the Americans. They said they would kill me, too, but they handed me a gun instead." His voice cracked as he recounted what happened. All Lara could do was nod.

"That's awful," she said. She felt for the boy, but a small part of her resented him for what had transpired days earlier.

No, she thought. He's just a kid. She also thought about asking him why he didn't just leave, but she knew that would be a stupid thing to ask. They were in the middle of the savannah; he had nowhere to go. This dawning helped to reinforce how completely fucked she was at the current moment.

"What's your name?" Lara finally asked.

"Absame," the boy replied. Lara nodded in leiu of shaking his hand.

An hour or two passed, and the pair continued to converse. Lara was impressed by Absame's intellect; he seemed by and large more educated than the others, or at the very least, learned quickly from the world around him. She warmed up to him rather quickly, all things considered. Perhaps he could help her-

"Absame!" another voice echoed from somewhere to the right. Lara darted her eyes toward the voice, immediately noting someone approaching with a flashlight. Fuck me, she thought to herself.

"Waa maxay fuckka aad ku sameysid qashinka?" Absame's eyes grew wide. In that moment, Lara realized that he might be more fucked than she was. Absame placed his gun in the sand and stood slowly, his hands raised. Fear shone in his eyes more brightly than the light shining directly at them.

"Anigu biyo ayaan siinayaa oo kaliya!" Absame yelled in response. His voice was cracking, and he was beginning to stutter. As the man with the flashlight approached, Lara could begin to make out his sillohuette. The warrior was armed, and his rifle was trained on Absame. "Way dhimatay, waan ku dhaaranayaa!"

"Ma doonayo inaan maqlo, wiil!" he shouted, now close enough to jab Absame in the chest with the barrel of his gun. Absame fell to the ground. "Haddii uu Kaafiyo ku arko halkan, waxaad ku dhimi lahayd naftaada!"

The man - whoever he was - still had his rifle trained on Absame. However, Lara made note of something: he didn't have a strap. What's more, with how she was sitting, his feet were just in range...

Without thinking, Lara acted, kicking the man in the knee with one foot, and taking his other leg out from under him. She could hear the joint dislocating; hell, she could feel it, too. The man collapsed with a pained shriek, landing on top of her legs. Moments later, they were wrapped around his throat. Lara squeezed with every ounce of strength she could muster as the warrior tried in vain to free himself.

Absame watched with bated breath as life slowly slipped from the man. He wasn't sure who he was more frightened of. The other men had talked about how Lara had killed many of their own during the raid, but he wasn't there, and found it hard to swallow. Not anymore.

After what felt like an eternity, the man slowly stopped struggling and stopped breathing entirely. Lara loosened her hold on his throat, and once she was confident that he wasn't getting up, pushed his lifeless body away. That burst of energy was just about all she had in her, but she knew that she had to escape as soon as possible. It wouldn't be long until others came looking.

"Absame," she whispered, darting her eyes to the boy. "Absame, we have to move. Cut this rope, quickly!" The boy did as he was told, retrieving a knife from the other man's belt, and removing Lara's bindings. She stood for the first time in nearly a week.

"Give me the knife," she ordered. Absame seemed hesitant; Lara didn't have time for hesitant. "Absame," she repeated, this time a little more angrily, "give me the fucking knife."

Absame looked at her, then at the man. The last thing he wanted was to end up in the same predicament, and handed the knife over. Lara hobbled to the man she'd just strangled, and kicked him over. She couldn't tell if he was breathing or not, but she didn't care. Kneeling beside him, she placed her hand over his mouth and plunged the knife through his throat.

The man's eyes opened, and he gazed up at the figure standing over him. The last thing he saw was Lara's face staring down at him as he bled out.