Chapter Four:
Blood on the Sand
"Aaa… aaa…," she could barely breathe as she limped across the desert sands.
Blood dripped down her forehead and side. She could feel it running down her temple, past her cheek and slowly making its way down her neck. It felt both warm and cold. Warm as it trickled down, but instantly cooled instantly in the night air. Her left side burned with pain. No matter how tightly she gripped the wound. She could feel the blood seeping out in between her fingers. Every muscle ached. She wasn't sure how she was still moving. But there she was, dragging her damaged body back to her cave.
"I went too far…," she laughed to herself, "Got impatient… cough… cough…," she had to wipe off the blood that was coming from her mouth.
The desert was a dangerous place. She knew that. She knew that from day one. Whether it was the heat that could cause a stone to sweat or the blinding sands that would be whipped up into a frenzy or hungry beasts that would pursue her endlessly, everything seemed to be out to get her. That didn't bother her so much. Coyotes. Gray wolves. Cougars. They all had tried her a number of times. It wasn't too hard to chase them off. One warning shot into the air and most of the time they fled. The more stubborn ones would sometimes have to be challenged. A few good yells and well placed shots would run them off. Animals were smart enough to know when they were in a losing fight.
"Can't say the same for people," she gripped her side in pain.
The first time… the first time she got to see other people… and they went and tried to do things to her… awful things. She was never one to trust people out right. She wasn't that naive. Always cautious, Jory wasn't the type to take people at face value. Even from a young age, she understood that people hid who they really were. Of course when a person showed who they were, it was best to believe them.
"Oh and they showed me exactly who they were," she tried to forget what just happened a few short hours ago.
Her mind wouldn't let her though. It just kept replaying the events over and over again. Burning the harsh lessons in her memory. Making sure that she would never repeat them again. She wasn't sure if she would survive another. The men certainly didn't
She stopped and shuttered at what she had done.
There was no sadness in her heart for those men that would now be devoured by the desert sand and scavengers. They made their choice and so did she. Hers just happened to end in her favor. There was no point in mourning over people that chose to throw away their lives. Especially for something that she would have never given.
Those bastards, she gritted her teeth as she started to shuffle once more, They got what they deserved. I ain't guilty… I did what I did to save myself, she pulled at her torn pants, Ain't gonna let anyone touch me like that… wish I had my revolver… would put an end to it much quicker…
She hated what she had to do. It wasn't in her to do what she had done. Well, she didn't think she had it in her. But there she was. She was the one walking away and they were the ones that were drowning in their own blood on the desert sand. She wasn't in much better shape, but she was walking and breathing. Maybe that's all that counted. Still, she had done something… something that would weigh on her.
"You stupid bastards," she spit, "You could have just walked away. We could have just said our peace and went on with our miserable lives. But no… you had to jump me… you had to hold me down… you had to push your luck just because you thought I was a weak little girl lost in the desert… What did you get for it!?" she raised her voice as she fell to her knees, "A knife to the throat? A spear to the chest? A rock crushing your skull? You thought you could take me and I would just let it happen? You know nothing about me… You don't know me… I'm Jory Evers!" she yelled into the star filled sky, "I don't take nothing from no one! You got me pretty good, but I'm the one walking away! I'm the one who's still breathing! You're the ones laying in your own pools of blood… I didn't want to…," she could feel tears coming from her bruised eyes, "I didn't want to end your lives… I didn't want to see what a person looks like when their life is taken from them… you made me do that… you made me see that… but I wasn't about to let you take mine either… That's how it is here… isn't it," she looked out into the inky darkness that surrounded her, "Kill or be killed… Survive or die… and I don't feel like dying… not now anyway," she struggled to her feet, "I ain't dying tonight. I ain't dying tomorrow. I won't let this place or whatever lives in it take me. I am Jory Evers…," she began to drag her body once more, "I don't go down without a fight."
