Phoenix

2. the desert

Rihan regained consciousness when he heard a kind of screeching sound of a motorbike. The excruciating pain in his body, the violent shaking and the wind blowing on his face – he must have been taken on the back of a motorbike and tied to a stand. Rihan tried to open his eyes, but could not, must have been blindfolded with a black cloth. His body wanted to be paralyzed by the cold desert air, his body shuddered with pain inside him. It seems that the head will be torn off. The hands are tied tightly behind the back, the blood circulation is cut off and there seems to be no sensation in the hands. Rihan heard the sound of several motorbikes nearby. Several people are taking him at once, to who knows where. Rihan moved his hands and tried to loosen the binding a little, to no avail but suddenly felt a pain in a pinch of blood circulation.

Rihan's whole body was exhausted, he was losing consciousness again due to intense pain. But within him too, with great difficulty he kept himself awake. He doesn't know who is taking him where, but he can guess - surely they are taking him to be killed. He could still make one last attempt to escape if he could somehow untie the handcuffs. Rihan tried again, couldn't untie the tie but it seemed to loosen a little. Rihan held his breath and tried, not untying, if he could somehow get an arm out so he could try to survive. With great pain he tries to pull out his left hand, cuts and bleeds but he does not give up, at one point it seems that he will never be able to but he holds on with his teeth. When it seemed that nothing could be done, the left hand suddenly came out. Instantly, the intense pain in his hands subsided like magic, Rihan began to circulate blood between his hands by rubbing them in the dark.

Rihan heard the people driving the motorbikes talking to each other over the loud noise of the motorbikes, Rihan thought they were talking about stopping somewhere. As it turned out, his motorbike swerved and stopped suddenly. Rihan feigns unconsciousness while tied, realizes two more motorbikes have stopped on either side of him and people get down from them. One said, have knowledge or not?

Rihan didn't recognize the tone of the voice, he put his hands together and pretended to be unconscious. If one does not pay close attention, one will not easily understand the opening of his hands. Rihan felt a man carefully touch him with a gentle shake, no, still unconscious.

Knowledge will not return. You'll never know what happened – that's a very good joke.” The man laughed loudly, but no one else joined him.

I will untie the boy and take him to this ditch and shoot him down.

ok

Rihan felt the two of them untying his body together, his chest pounding in excitement, if he saw that he had untied his hands, he would be doomed, but the people didn't understand that. Blindfolded with black cloth so he can't see anything, maybe it's dark here. Rihan felt the people grab him and bring him to the ditch, he stiffened his body, not sure what to do. Will you suddenly jump up and try to run away? Or try to grab someone's weapon?

Rihan heard someone say, who will shoot?

One said in a heavy voice, I will not do it. I don't like murder.

Another one said, do we like to kill or not? I have to do it. Remember what happened to Tanya?

Rihan's chest pounded, a girl named Tanya had gone missing a couple of years ago. They killed him too? God commanded Claude? What did Tanya do?

I say what—

What?

Draw a lottery to find out who will shoot.

Lottery should be done for this job. Here I shoot—

Rihan was jumping up, heard at the last moment, what's the rush? Let's do lottery, it will be fun. Have some fun on the last night.

How to do the lottery?

It must be said which hand has this stone. The loser gets shot. What do you say?

ok

Rihan hears the people talking and move away a little and start playing the lottery. This is his chance—his last chance. Rihan quietly opened the cloth covering his eyes with his hand and looked. Who knows if it was because he was blindfolded for so long that he could clearly see three motorbikes parked side by side in the dim darkness. Two engines shut down, the third one is humming. A bit of light is provided by turning on his headlights. Rihan thinks to himself that if he can suddenly sit on top of the motorbike, there is a chance of escape. It will take some time for people to understand the matter and then he will be able to move far. Then everyone will try to shoot him, chase after him but it seems that even he has a good chance of escaping.

Rihan took a deep breath, suddenly feeling a kind of tension all over her body. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the three men, then carefully got up and walked towards the motorbike. The people couldn't see him for the first couple of seconds due to the pitch darkness, when suddenly someone saw him and screamed. Rihan then jumped up, sat on the motorbike, pressed the accelerator and ran straight towards the people. People jumped to save themselves and Rihan shot through them smelling of burning tires. He ran across the vast rocky plains of the desert, his hair blowing in the cool desert air, the wind biting his eyes and face.

Within seconds he heard gunshots. He turned off the headlights of his motorbike as the bullet whistled past his ear. The dark unfamiliar desert, he could be knocked over by a large rock at any moment but Rihan forced it away from his head at this moment. Rihan turned his head and looked back and saw two other motorbikes rushing to catch him, even if he didn't catch him, he would be under fire in a moment, what then?

Rihan is suddenly stunned to take the motorbike off at random, running towards a huge ditch. Without thinking about what he was doing, he jumped from the moving motorbike, almost immediately the motorbike almost flew into the ditch and seconds later there was a huge explosion, followed by a cloud of flames.

Rihan gritted her teeth in agony to somehow save herself from passing out. There was no way he was going to faint now. The people would be here in a few minutes, and he had to get out of here in the meantime. anyway

Rihan rubbed the ground and moved almost like a reptile. There are some big rocks a few meters away, he can hide behind them if he goes behind them. He doesn't know if he has broken any bone in his body, blood is seeping from one side of his forehead and his left eye is closing. A black curtain wants to come down in front of his eyes again and again, Rihan with great difficulty keeps himself awake and pulls himself up. After an inhuman effort, he finally hid himself behind a rock and took a deep breath.

In no time, two motorbikes stopped very close by. People came down with arms. Standing by the ditch, they tried to see the crashed burning motorbike. One raised his head and asked, can it be seen?

The other replied, what do you want to see?

the boy

How deep did you see the ditch? How to see from here?

The first man said with a worried face, then what should I say to God Claude?

I will say what is true.

what is that Is the boy alive or dead?

Can anyone survive from here?

but—

But what?

We can never be sure.

Even if we can't, God Claude will be sure. God knows all Claude.

That's right.

The thick-necked man walked very close to the ditch and said, even if the boy is alive, he cannot survive more than twenty-four hours alone in this desert.

That's right.

A motorbike would not have been lost if I had shot one under the ear without listening to your lottery wisdom.

How much courage have you seen the boy? Trying to survive after Lord Claude sentenced him to death. Is there anything to gain?

A motorbike broke down.

let's go

What do you want to see in the ditch?

If you want to see, you have to come during the day. Can't go down in the dark now.

That's right.

People went back to talking in low voices. Within moments, Rihan heard the roar of the engines of the two motorbikes. For a long time in the empty desert he heard the sound, coming to him from afar.

After the people left, Rihan checked himself, no bones were broken, some places were bruised, covered with sticky blood. Lying down for a while, Rihan took a deep breath, then sat up. He needs to move away from this area – as far as possible.

In the light of the stars Rihan began to walk towards the north, after a while an ominous thought came to his head, how long can he survive in this desolate desert? Rihan forced the thought out of her head.

He walked until the sun was shining. He was parched to the core with intense thirst, his whole body was about to collapse from exhaustion but still he didn't stop. When he could no longer walk, he stopped and climbed a large rock to look around. Look for any abandoned homes, warehouses, collapsed factories, or anything in the distance. The sun shines brightly all around. Far to the west there appeared to be some collapsed houses. They can also be piles of stones. There is no way to understand anything from such a distance. Rihan looks around and tries to find trees but there is no sign of greenery anywhere. Rihan took a deep breath and came down from the rock, in the shade of one of the big rocks he would rest now, after the sun went down and it got dark he would walk west.

Tormented by great thirst and hunger, he tried to sleep under the shade of a rock. He did not sleep in his eyes, but because he was exhausted by terrible fatigue, sometimes he fell into the darkness of a kind of unconsciousness like sleep, and again he woke up startled. Gradually the sunlight became intense, in the middle of which Rihan lay huddled under a big rock. Various parts of the body are numb with intense pain, Rihan waits for the sun to fall on him. After the sun went down and the temperature became quite bearable, Rihan sat up and started pulling himself forward.

Rihan can't think straight, he starts to think that maybe he should go to his master Claude and beg for forgiveness so that he can drink a glass of water before he dies. Shaky cold water. Before sipping food, he may sprinkle some water in his mouth to cool his body.

Rihan took a deep breath and pushed the thought out of his mind, then dragged his tired body and walked west. Every now and then he has to rest, he can't pull himself up anymore. All the skin on the body is dry and discolored, the wound had a salty taste inside the mouth, now there is no feeling, the tongue feels like a dry wood. He began to pull himself in, taking deep breaths. He doesn't know how far to the west he thinks the collapsed ancient house is, whether it really is an ancient house, or whether he can actually get there, but he continues on. Sometimes he stands up to pull himself up, when strange noises are heard in the night, holding his breath he tries to hear familiar sounds but hears nothing. Far off in the night of motion he heard the muffled roar of an engine. What engine? Any locality? where are they

Rihan stopped at dawn and dusk. He is trying to walk west but he doesn't know which way he walks in the dark, like a maze that goes round and round. ate? What happens now? Suddenly he realized that he had lost the battle with life. He cannot survive in this terrible desolate desert, he is not really free from Lord Claude's death sentence. His corpse would lie on the rough weathered rock, on the dry sand it would fade to gray and eventually blend into the ground. Rihan couldn't think straight, his head was pounding, he was in a daze. He can't even see what's going on around him, suddenly it seems like nothing matters anymore.

Rihan fell unconscious next to a big rock before dawn. In the first light of the morning a reptile cautiously examined him and moved away. A poisonous snake rushed past him. Some dung beetles came out of the hole and began to run around hesitantly. A small spider stood behind a stone and began to examine the surroundings very carefully.

Rihan fell asleep and dreamed that he was sitting near a fountain in a green garden. Green leaves are moving around, birds are chirping. Rihan went to the shower, dipping his feet in the water, he took a handful of water and tried to put it in his mouth. He tried again, the water fell again. He tried again like a madman, but to no avail, he couldn't make his mouth water. As if laughing, he looked up and saw Lord Claude standing in front of him. He said sternly, "No, Rihan, you can't drink water." I have sentenced you to death. You have no freedom.

Rihan said in a bitter voice, "Forgive me, Lord." excuse me

Lord Claude laughed and said, forgive me? you? not at all Then he raised his hand and said, take him away from me.

Two men then started to take him away. Many people came on motorbikes to pick him up. Slowly the roar of the motorbike grew louder, a dull hoarse roar. At one point his ears were blocked by a loud roar – Rihan opened his eyes and looked. Is he still alive? He heard a dull growl. The roar of motorbikes? Lord Claude's minions coming to get him? Isn't this a dream? Really?

Rihan can't think, nothing matters now. He closed his eyes again, even as he closed his eyes he heard the rumble of the motorbike – he felt the vibrations on the ground. Suddenly the roar stopped, Rihan heard the sound of people's feet and voices. It seems that someone's voice is coming from far away. Someone says, look. A man is lying dead.

Rihan felt that many people were crowding around him. Someone touched him, then said, no, no not dead yet.

What a surprise! Are you alive? Still alive?

Rihan opened his eyes with great difficulty, unable to see well. It seems that some incorporeal beings are surrounding him. Rihan tried to speak, but couldn't, he couldn't move his dry numb tongue, only his lips moved once. He tried to say one more time, water, before sinking into the darkness of unconsciousness. But he could not say.

I heard someone say in a heavy voice, "Give me the water bottle." A little water should be given in its mouth.

Rihan did not understand whether it was true or a dream. Nothing matters now.

Nothing happens.