Their guns were trained upon us, and I knew they were going to kill my father, even if they kept me alive, and suddenly, I was no longer afraid. If my father was going to die, then I wanted to die with him. I stopped the thudding of my heart through sheer will, and stayed my trembling fingers, and the next thing I knew, I was firing upon our attackers faster and with defter aim than I knew I possessed. My father immediately backed me up, as he knew at this point he could not stop me. I brought them down, and together, me and my father dashed toward the entrance of our fortress, but I was caught under my arms and my gun was taken from me. My father, being the protective, skilled marksman that he was, opened fire and shot the man who grabbed me in the head. Blood spattered on the back of my head, and I ran to my father’s side, but at that moment, a bullet pierced his shoulder, and another pierced his stomach, and another man grabbed me and hoisted me over his shoulder. And like my mother, my father took ten more men with him before finally falling to the sand and smattering it with a spray of his blood.

"I myself, still refused to go without a fight. I seized my father’s bloodied gun after escaping the grasp of my captor and gunned down five more men before I was taken captive and inducted into their tribe. The thing is… my battle didn’t end there. The enemy tribe was valiant and brave, but what they didn’t expect was that I had a good knowledge of poison.” Ellia grinned fiercely. “I poisoned their leader, and I took her tribe, and I made of them my own tough soldiers. And from there, I defeated two more tribes and made ours even bigger. And now, we have defeated you, and you could be apart of our grand conquest, if you would but lay down your arms and show your loyalty to me.”

“She is right.” Nadia chimed in. “I trust this woman. She was wise and powerful enough to defeat me, and I’m sure she is wise and powerful enough to lead you.”

The women were all silent for a moment, but then slowly, they all nodded in agreement and began chanting Ellia’s name. Ellia relished their praise and excitement, taking it in like it was a swathe of warm sunlight.

She knew she had them.

Part 2

Nikodemus licked his lips and wiped his forehead, panting as the harsh sun beat down upon him. Although he lived in such a hot climate, Nikodemus spent most of his time indoors, and was unused to being out on the road for so long. He constantly licked his lips, and was consistently feeling lightheaded. The crystal blue, cloudless sky above gave him no hope of a cooler night, and he felt like crying when he considered that he would have to sleep in this heat once again tonight. To his side, Elizabeth and Annie still served as his personal guard. Ahead of him, Ellia marched gallantly and unperturbed at the head of her pack. At the back of the tribe, the mutants marched, keeping to themselves and carrying parasols to protect themselves from the sun.

To his left was his daughter Lily, who liked staying near him and making conversation with him, despite the fact that he wished she wouldn’t.

What will I do if I lose you, too? He thought to himself bitterly.

A hellish hot wind blew by, making the air he breathed hot as he swallowed it. It was such an aggressive heat that he slouched for a moment to catch his breath. Elizabeth put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Are you alright, Last Man? Should we break again?”

Nikodemus thought about it, but shook his head. He knew that, as they spoke, there were probably dozens of tribes trying to find them, and stopping would only allow them to catch up. He looked ahead at Ellia, admiring her muscular body and her strength of character, but severely questioning her judgement when it came to taking on this venture.

He was at war with his feelings for her, and his feelings for the tribe. Nikodemus didn’t think it was possible to fall in love at this stage in his life. He had long ago detached sex from love, and wasn’t sure what real love felt like.

But with Ellia, he recognized what it was, at the ripe old age of forty-five. He was thinking about her all the time, he wanted to hold her hand constantly, and he always wanted to go to bed with her, even if they didn’t have sex. His stomach was always filled with butterflies around and her laugh made him ridiculously energized, but he couldn’t deny that was she was doing was stupidly reckless. He had talked to her about it once, but felt like doing it again. He pushed himself to catch up with her, and then he asked her, “Ellia, may I speak with you?”

Ellia glanced at him briefly, and then looked ahead again. “I suppose.”

“Ellia, we’re going to be traveling for months out in this desert in order to reach the Zironist Church. Do you really think we can last out here for that long? It’s not just the dangers of the other tribes; it’s the dangers of running out of supplies. I know you said we had enough, but…” Nikodemus began, but Ellia quickly interrupted him.

“Nikodemus. Do not question my judgement. We have enough food and water.” Ellia said strictly, wanting to leave the conversation at that.