Chapter 9

     Kat's eyelids slowly opened, immediately squinting against the bright light that assaulted her vision. Her brain seemed to be trying to push its way out her skull, pain throbbing at her temples harshly. The world seemed to be swaying underneath of her, rolling and flowing back and forth in an almost rocking motion. The smell of leather and oil mixed together all around her, her stomach roiling inside of her at the thought. A tiny breeze brought the stench of sweat and something else, metallic and musty at the same time. Scrunching her nose, trying to see where she was through the blinding light and the heavy pain behind her eyes, she blinked a few times, her vision eventually becoming sharper. Startled, she sat up straight, seeing a large back in front of her, the ground moving steadily underneath of her. Far underneath of her. Jerking and twisting in fear and confusion, she realized she was tied in a sitting position to one of the large beasts she had seen the men riding, her legs bound to the beasts sides, her hands bound in front of her, another rope leading around the man sitting in front of her from her wrists.

     Between the rolling motion of the beasts back, the pain in her head, and the fear that suddenly pressed in on her from all sides, she did the one sane thing that any other child in her position would do. Vomit exploded from her mouth and down the side of the animal underneath of her, splattering on the mans leg that lay curled against the beast's side. The beast cried shrilly and slid sideways, jerking Kat's body sharply to the right as it moved left to get away from the liquid spewing from her mouth. The man in front of her growled loudly in his language, short bursts of angry words punctuated by heavy jerks of the leather strips in his hands that were attached to the beast's mouth. The beast cried again, this time standing upwards sharply, and Kat could feel the ropes around her legs snap sharply, her body sailing through the air weightlessly for a moment before crashing into the ground hard. Breath driven from her body, Kat could only stare into the blue, cloudless sky for a few seconds, her body heaving as it tried to draw air into it. Scared and in pain, Kat could only lay there, her body writhing on the warm ground that had cushioned her fall, hoping that she hadn't broken anything.

     The laughter grew even more raucous and a flurry of words was exchanged between the men punctuated by a few rude gestures from the man she had been riding behind. Her vision cleared a bit more and she could see his large boots stomping angrily at her, her fear kicking in once more as she tried to scramble away from him. Scurrying backwards on the dry dirt beneath her body, she pushed backwards with her feet, the effort futile as the man jerked on the rope in his hands. She felt the rope around her wrists react almost immediately, her injured hand flaring in pain in response as her body jerked around completely and slammed her into the dirt once again, this time facing the man and much closer. Her breath expelled itself from her lungs once again, and she whimpered in pain, wondering what she could have done to deserve this horrible life. The large man merely tightened the rope again, not moving, dragging Kat through the dirt towards him. The rest of the group watched impassively as the young child cried out at the pain and fear of what was going on. Tears left long trails through the dirt on her face as the man hauled her to her feet roughly, setting her on rubbery legs.

     Kat let her legs crumple beneath her, not caring anymore what happened. She was tired, hungry, thirsty, and broken. The rope tightened once more, hauling her back to her feet, but this time she felt a large hand crack against the side of her face, open palmed. Her head flew to the left, a cry escaping her throat again in surprise more than pain. Between the pain in her week body, and the pain in her heavily bandaged hand, his slap almost felt like a caress. Her mother had never dared to hit her anywhere that people could see the marks left behind, but apparently those rules didn't apply in this strange world she had wound up in. Her face stung as she swung her gaze straight back at the man in front of her glaring at him, her tears drying up instantly. Fury burned through her tiny body that this man dared to do what even her hateful parents didn't, but he showed little reaction other than to stare back at her for a minute. After a few minutes he merely grunted and tugged on the rope again, going back to his animal and climbing up, not even bothering to wipe the vomit from his leg. Kat didn't think he could possibly smell worse anyway as she followed behind him, knowing he would just pull her anyway if she didn't. Looking up from the ground, she merely stood there while the man waited, not knowing what to do. She hoped he wasn't going to drag her behind the animal, she had seen how fast it moved and knew she had no hope of keeping up.

     The man reached down with a large hand, causing Kat to flinch backwards, but he merely grabbed her by the fabric of her tattered shirt, hauling her in front of him like a sack of grain. Struggling, the man's hand tightened against her briefly until he realized what she was doing, but she managed to right herself on the beast, like she how she saw the other people sitting on them. Her foot managed to kick the man in the chest as she swung it over, but the gruff man merely chuckled as he reached around her and grabbed the leather strips again. The man's legs tightened on the large beast's belly, and Kat slid backwards into the man's chest as she fought to keep her seat in the leather she sat on. Grabbing the slight tuft of hair flowing down the top of the beast's head and along the top of it's neck, Kat managed somehow not to fall off again. The feeling of the man's breathing against her back felt oddly comforting, and the rocking sensation of the animal started to make her feel drowsy once more.

     Before she could fall asleep again, the man shoved a leather pouch into her face, and it took her a minute to realize that there was liquid sloshing around inside. She wanted to throw the thing away form her, but the pain in her stomach made her sniff the opening at the top tentatively. This liquid didn't smell like the tart drink she had the night before, only the metallic scent she had been smelling before meeting her nose. Taking a quick sip, she realized it was just water, and leaned back to drink it greedily, water spilling from the sides of her mouth as the leather creaked underneath of her. Within seconds the bag was torn from her grasp, and she turned her head back to the man with a pout on her lips, but he merely shook his head and uttered something she couldn't understand at her. The blank look on her face must have given her away, as the man merely shook his head and pointed at her stomach, making a gesture with his hand with his fingers an inch apart. She still didn't understand until she felt the water hit her shrunken stomach, roiling around angrily. She was glad now that she hadn't drank more, as she likely would have thrown it back up. The man then handed her a small piece of dried meat that she sniffed at disdainfully, but from the eating motions that the man made, she realized that this was supposed to be her breakfast. The meat tasted like tree bark, but she was so hungry she greedily devoured it, surprised when her stomach felt full afterwards, even though she hadn't eaten in what felt like forever. The beast underneath of her legs shifted slightly, and her legs instinctively tightened against it, already feeling tired and sore from the short ride. Leaning backwards, she let her eyes close and surrendered to the sleep that was fighting her, this time the man leaving her in peace, one arm looped loosely in front of her, holding her in the saddle.

     She would never admit it, but she felt safer and more comfortable now, even amidst the fear, pain, and confusion, than she had ever felt before.

Reviews

[freethinker101]

I absolutely love it! i hope you write more. I'd like to know what else is in store for Kat. You're really good and have a great imagination. Your writing makes me feel like im going through what Kat goes through, its so well detailed i feel like Kat. Very well done.

[Cheshire]

Ty :) I appreciate the review! Keep an eye out in the future, there might be more coming ^_~ (Once testing gets done lol)

[freethinker101]

Yeah i look forward to what else is in store for Kat(: good luck with testing

[de_maruf]

Aspects of institutions

Although individual, formal organizations, commonly identified as "institutions," may be deliberately and intentionally created by people, the development and functioning of institutions in society in general may be regarded as an instance of emergence; that is, institutions arise, develop and function in a pattern of social self-organization, which goes beyond the conscious intentions of the individual humans involved.
As mechanisms of social interaction, institutions are manifest in both formal organizations, such as the U.S. Congress, or the Roman Catholic Church, and, also, in informal social order and organization, reflecting human psychology, culture, habits and customs, and encompassing subjective experience of meaningful enactments. Most important institutions, considered abstractly, have both objective and subjective aspects: examples include money and marriage. The institution of money encompasses many formal organizations, including banks and government treasury departments and stock exchanges, which may be termed, "institutions," as well as subjective experiences, which guide people in their pursuit of personal well-being. Powerful institutions are able to imbue a paper currency with certain value, and to induce millions into cooperative production and trade in pursuit of economic ends abstractly denominated in that currency's units.[citation needed] The subjective experience of money is so pervasive and persuasive that economists talk of the "money illusion" and try to disabuse their students of it, in preparation for learning economic analysis.[citation needed]

[John F Carver]

Except I am not used to your use of the word "of" in certain places I found nothing wrong with the piece, and that is probably just a different way of speaking I'm not used to. I loved the descriptions. What is she? I might have to read more of the story. I liked this chapter even without knowledge of the others. Good luck with more.

[bOhEmIa (mahim)]

Well done.

[Cheshire]

Thanks!

[gombeggar]

interesting...very detailed, i like that...i look forward to more

[Cheshire]

Thanks a lot for reading and writing a review :) I do have plans for more, but Im in the middle of a lot of studying and then testing coming up so it might take awhile.

[gombeggar]

take yer time

[AFord]

An engaging read...great visuals, and my other senses experienced the scene as well.

[krish]

intersting chapter...............
hey..................u write like J.R........or u can write like J.R.......??

[Cheshire]

Thanks for the review :) As far as the writing analysis goes, you go to a website and paste some of your work, it'll tell you who your writing is most like.

[krish]

website.......????????