Hi!
Thank you so much for your support and reviews so far!
I will try to improve my wrinting and update regulary!

Enjoy!

Her day couldn't get any more awkward.

Some woman from the village had come to prepare her for her great day. The day wouldn't be so great thought. She would sit upon whatever carriage like thing they made for her and would wave at the (hopefully non-existent) crowd whilst she left the city. The people would pretend they didn't just learn about her existence like an hour ago and actually miss her. Then she would travel to the Psychos territory, probably without any trouble and without any opportunity for Maya to escape. What would then happen, she didn't know.

The woman brushed her long blue hair until her skull itched and tried to put it into something that resembled a proper hairdo. It didn't matter to Maya anyways, the journey to the Psychos would take some days and she didn't plan to leave the seashell clips in her hair longer than she could see the city walls. Then they helped her dress (thank goodness she had been allowed to wash and partly dress herself privately) and that all in super awkward silence.

They smudged a bit of coal on her eyelids and dabbed a little red on her lips, then they left with a murmured good luck.

With a sight she leaned back in the creaky chair and tried to make herself as comfortable as possible for the last few minutes she had. Her meagre belongings were already packed in a small satchel. Her usual tunic along with another dress for her arrival at the Psycho territory, a pen, a book and a comb.

If she had known that someone would hear her wish to get out of this place she would have been a little more specific with the details. Like, not getting sacrificed or a life in actual freedom.

She yelped when two of the monks came into her room and motioned her to get up. Morton wasn't one of them so that was a plus, at least. She was brought before the grand masters who gave her a last briefing: don't run away, be nice, don't ruin this and don't use your powers against us. Maya nodded at everything they told her but her hope of getting her powers at all had vanished into thin air like water on a hot stone.

The procession with her up on a Light Runner, which's gun tower had been transformed into a podium for her, made its way down the uneven road and the closer she came to the huge gates, the harder it was for her to breathe. This was everything she wanted and everything she feared. Maya had never imagined to leave the city at all and now in a few minutes she would probably never see it again and breathe new air. Freedom was a scary thing.

Freedom was boring as hell. Or rather being out of the city was. Three days into their journey and the most exciting thing she had seen was a dead skag. The lush green fields soon became uninteresting and sitting in a Bandit Tactical without radio or another source of entertainment that wasn't Mortons burping the alphabet, was torture. The soon to be Siren actually wished to be back in her small room with rotten walls and mould on her bed, at least there it was quiet and she wouldn't be sick from the uneven road.

The sun began to set, earlier than yesterday, but who was she to keep track of Pandoras weird solar cycle. The vegetation that had become less and less like the one she was used to and more sandy and rocky, looking grey and sad in the fading light. They didn't stop, like they did the days before at sundown and she climbed over sleeping (or hopefully dead) Morton to talk to the driver.

"Why aren't we stopping?"

"None of your business. Do something you understand. Like knitting." He replied around that straw in his mouth and she punched his shoulder.

"Why aren't we stopping?" She was hungry and sick from the bumpy road and she needed to pee. Urgently. The driver rolled his eyes, a movement she caught in the mirror, and motioned her to climb into the diver's cabin. The other monk who even had a shotgun to protect them from skags that would attack their vehicle was slumped against the window, sleeping.

"We're too close to the pirates territory, so we have to keep going in case they're on the lookout for us."

"They know about us?" The Monks usually laid a low profile and she expected that no one would even look twice at her if they were ambushed.

"You never know. Scarlett is a backstabbing bitch." He thought this would satisfy her enough, but it didn't.

"Who is Scarlett?"

"You don't know who Scarlett- oh well, listen, girl, this woman is a back stabbing bitch. A real, mean, backstabbing whore. That's all you need to know."

"And why is she backstabbing?"

"Because she stabs people in the back." He said really slowly as if she was dense or something.

"Well, thank you." She spat out with venom in her voice and climbed back into the truck bed. She may or may not have kicked Morton during her little adventure and it may or may not have been on accident.

"Beautiful evening, right?" He asked after looking around confused for a moment and Maya really wanted to throw him off the Bandit Tactical. But at least he wasn't burping. Yet.

"Who is Scarlett?"

"Scarlett the backstabbing bitch?" Morton asked and yawned.

"Yes." Was that all to this stupid woman?

"She is the leader of The Pirates. Beautiful, but backstabbing."

Maya rolled her eyes, if someone said "backstabbing" one more time it wouldn't be Scarlett anymore who was famous for it.

"Why does everyone call her that?" Morton might come in handy as a source of information the Siren realised.

"She has betrayed everyone she worked with so far. Didn't always end well for her, I heard. Rumour has it, since the fight with Captain Blade she isn't the beauty she once was. But I don't know if that's true. Beauty is such a weird concept and also so subjective to perceive, you know?" He paused and stared into the distance thoughtfully. "It really is…" He murmured.

"What did she do?" Maya tried to get him talking again. "I mean what did she do to us?"

"Us?" Morton echoed and looked at her with a really dumb expression. "Nothing yet."

"I mean The Monks."

"Oooooh. Well I'm not so sure…" He zoned out again what led Maya to snap her fingers in front of his face. "But I guess she betrayed us in a way. Happened a while ago thought, something with the Rustyyard Bandits, I reckon..."

Maya stared at him a few more moments but this was probably all she could get out of him for now. She leaned back and tried to forget how sick she was from the ride and how bad she needed to pee. But soon, those were the only things she could think of and soon she had to look as miserable as she felt, because Morton noticed.

"Are you like… sick?" He asked carefully. She contemplated throwing up on him instead of giving an answer.

"Maybe you should drink something?" He dug around for the flask but Maya shook her head. Bad idea.

"Okay, I'll ask them to stop maybe?"

She nodded too quickly for her own good and leaned over the railing, just in case.

When the Bandit Tactical stopped she rushed off the dirt road to the bushes, ignoring the "Don't try to run away!" that they yelled after her.

After she finally relieved herself she rearranged her hairclips and took a deep breath. She felt better now, with solid ground beneath her feet but her stomach still felt funny, probably because she hadn't eaten in a while. When she walked back she decided to take her time. It was easy finding her path back, thought she had gone a greater distance than originally planned. The last light of the sun finally left Pandora and Maya stumbled a few times over sticks and stones and even ran headfirst into a branch, what angered a few smaller Rakks. Waving her arms through the air to protect herself from these flying bastard she finally made it back to the road…

…and was greeted by fire.

If she ever wondered what an exploded vehicle looked like, it now was answered. There was a horrible stench in the air, smells she couldn't really identify and her skin felt hot and tight from the fire that lazily consumed what was left of the Bandit Tactical. A dead body lay just a few feet from her and with a shriek she jumped back, stepping on a piece of metal and falling to the ground. An undignified sound left her when she hit the hard ground, but her eyes never left the gruesome scene before her. The driver had probably been killed in the explosion, the dead body must be Morton. Where was the guy with the shotgun? Why hadn't she heard anything? And why did the car explode?

A movement behind the flames startled her and she scooted back toward the bushed to hide herself. A figure dragged another dead body before dropping it and roughly searching through the pockets.

"This one's got nothing, too!" The figure shouted over its shoulder. "What a waste of time! And explosives…"

Maya was positive her heart stopped beating. Someone had attacked them in her absence and killed her companions. They were dead. Because they stopped. Because of her.

She dragged in a breath and if felt like she inhaled pure dirt and death. The stench now clung to her lips, filled her lungs and made her tongue go numb. Was this the taste of freedom? She suddenly regretted even thinking of leaving the monks. She was not prepared for the world outside, for its cruelty and death and evil people.

She coughed because she still couldn't really breathe, her eyes glued to the person scavenging the body. A part of her brain told her to run away as fast as she could and hide, because the figure had called at someone, so there were at least two of them. She surely couldn't even take down one man, so no way to try fighting. Her body was still paralysed. Her mind screamed to run and saved herself yet she seemed to have forgotten how to do a trivial task as standing up.

The scavenger stood up and kicked the dead Monk, obviously angered by their lack of possession and continued to complain loudly about it to yet unseen companions. Maya carefully pushed herself backwards, not trusting herself to stand up. The sick feeling in her stomach was back, probably because of the smell of burned flesh. She had almost reached the bushes, now illuminated by the fire, when the attacker looked at her direction and then at her. He stilled, smirked. The smile was intimidating and cruel, sharp features emphasized by the flickering of the flames.

"Ooooooh… Looks like we forgot something." He took a dagger from his belt and slowly made his way towards Maya, as if she was a scared animal and he didn't want to startle her. He was dressed in ragged clothing and another sword dangled from his side, so she figured he must be one of Scarletts pirates. He took his time whilst she scooted backwards, panicking but apparently he was confident that she won't run.

"Come here, little girl. We just want to play…" he said in a low voice that made her shiver. The sticks of the bushed behind her already poked through her dress but she didn't get up until her hand touched a something sharp and cold what send a hot pain through her arm and right into her shoulder. She screamed in pain and fear and finally managed to get up, roll around and run back to where she came from.

"Stop! You little bitch!" the Pirate yelled and took off behind her.

Maya never had many occasions where she could practise running and she was out of breath soon. Her sides stung like crazy but she didn't dare to stop. The pirate was still behind her, screaming and slicing his dagger through the twigs and leafs in his way.

A branch hit her square in the face and poked in her left eye, but there was not time for stopping and self pity. Some of her hairclips had been lost already and scratches covered her arms. It dawned her that she wasn't exactly quiet and practically left a path behind her for her attacker. It only thing that would save the young woman was to hide and hope that he wouldn't come back with more people to look for her.

Whilst trying to see something in the almost complete darkness and making her steps as light as possible, she attempted to look for some place to hide that wasn't obvious. Cracking and cursing told her that she was still being followed, but when it got more and more quiet he'd either changed his strategy to stealth, too, or she was further away from him that she though.

Even though this day had shown, that she wasn't really lucky when it came to making wishes, some deity still looked after her and took pity on her miserable situation: she stopped to look for a hideout, right before a steep cliff.

Maya gasped for air when she understood how lucky she'd just been and adding to the adrenaline that was already cursing through her body a wave of dread with vivid mental images of her potential fall filled her mind.

It took her a valuable minute to regain control over herself before she turned left and continued walking.

Suddenly, a noise somewhere in front to her made her jump.

Did she walk in a circle? Was it backup? Was it an animal?

She was unarmed and wouldn't be able to even fight off a baby skag! If it was a skag, she'd be fucked either way so hiding from the pirate behind her and the potential thread in front of her seemed the best option.

Maya pressed herself close to the boulder that was next to the little bush she'd stumbled into and caught her breath. The ground beneath her was still a little warm from the sun and the soft sand and sparse blades of grass were oddly comforting. If she wasn't in danger, she'd fount it really pretty probably.

The sound of cracking wood made her jump and duck even closer to the ground until she almost inhaled some of the fine sand. A huge dark shape moved with the confidence of an undefeated predator, stopping to sniff the air once in a while and making low growling sounds.

An alpha skag.

Maya had never seen a skag up close before and never had the desire to do so, anyways. Despite her growing fear she hoped that the skag would see the pirate as the greater danger to his pack and attack him, giving her valuable seconds to escape.

As on cue, the pirate as well as his companions emerged.

The skag howled, the pirates cursed and opened fire. Her original plan to continue her way when they fought was somewhat compromised by the stray bullets bouncing off the skags armoured body. Was getting shot worth the risk? Probably.

Would she move anytime soon? Probably not.

Every time she tried to leave, a bullet would hit the ground close to her, daring her to move. She calculated her chance of survival if the pirate won and found her, maybe he wouldn't kill her and she could make him agree to take her hostage or something. But would she really want to be in captivity again?

No!

Never again!

Even if she died, she would die being free.

With new found determination she stood up and ran. Behind her, one of the pirates screamed, accompanied by the sound of huge teeth breaking flesh and cracking bones.

"Fucking bitch!" the other pirate screamed, having spotted her, now trying to run around the skag and after Maya. His insult had made her look over her shoulder, a fatal mistake because seconds later she was face first in the sand, again. This time thought, she didn't spend so long on the ground and being afraid. She rolled around and got up. The skag, being busy with his lunch and not being attacked anymore, dismissed the pirate long enough for him to go after her.

He drew his sword and out of reflex Maya held up her hand to protect herself, like it would make a difference. Except it did.

She stared at the pirate who seemed frozen to the spot, being equally confused as her and cursing even louder. A few seconds of wide eyed stares passed, then she started running again.

Whatever just happened was a question for another day, when she had brought enough distance between everything that wanted to kill her and herself. Now she would run and hide and stay alive because after all, like she always wanted, she was free.