Survivor of Drinida: Siniza's Redemption

The day started off horrible. The rain was pouring down so hard it was like someone was throwing buckets of water out the sky. I woke up in a cold damp tent with my hair plastered to my face. My clothes were soaking wet and my body ached. I had a splitting headache, sharp pains in my neck, elbows and knees where I had fallen yesterday, and a dull pain in the center of my chest where I had been kicked. I was cold and hungry but knew I couldn't go out looking for food today or else the guards would catch me and beat me again.

I put on my tattered shoes, wrapped the blanket around myself and slowly crawled out of the tent. The rain was still falling heavily and I could barely see more than two feet ahead of me through the downpour. But I had to go outside anyway, because as much as I hated doing it, I had to urinate and relieve myself before heading back inside the tent. I walked around the corner of the building in front of me into an alleyway that ran between two buildings and suddenly found myself face to face with six men dressed in black robes with hoods covering their faces.

"What are you doing here?" One yelled at me. "This is not a place for children like you."

"I-I'm s-sorry," I stuttered as they surrounded me, "I w-was just-"

"You're not supposed to be out here!" Another yelled. "Do you know what will happen if we let you be seen?"

"No!" Tears began to roll down my cheeks as they pressed closer to me menacingly. "Please don't hurt me!"

"If we let you be seen then they'll know they can't control us." Another said angrily, his voice dripping with hate and disgust. He grabbed my shoulders roughly and shook me a little bit, causing my entire body to tremble violently under the blanket. "They'll punish us all for your disobedience." He let go of me suddenly, as if afraid he might actually hurt me if he held onto me any longer than he already had. He turned away from me suddenly and spat on the ground at his feet. "Go home," He muttered disgustedly, pointing towards another alleyway behind them, "Before you get yourself killed." He started walking away from all of them but one grabbed his arm as he passed him on his way out.

"Zachariah," The man asked lowly through his hooded cloak, "What do we do? Do we want to keep trying to fight these people or do we just want to give up?"

"Give up?" Zachariah asked incredulously, taking his hood off his head and staring at the man like he had lost all sense of reality. "How can you even ask that?" Zachariah looked towards the others who were watching them with interest and respect before turning back towards his friend with a worried expression on his face before whispering something inaudibly into his ear with an intense look in his eyes that almost made me shiver in fear just by looking at him. The other man nodded solemnly and took off running after Zachariah without a word leaving five other men standing there alone with no leader or purpose left within them now that Zachariah was gone.