This story is a fanwork of the Druuna comic series (created by Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri). It was Requested by @CapObviousN7 and written by Vanessa Foxe (breedorbebred).
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Druuna flung herself over the massive, sandy hill, scrabbling on all fours for purchase. The hot, arid air burned her lungs with each gasping breath she drew. Her whole body ached, but she didn't dare stop. Behind her, she could still hear the men shouting as they pursued her.
It sounded like they were gaining on her.
She threw herself forward, running down the far side of the hill, desperately trying to stay ahead of her pursuers. But with every step, the voices behind were drawing closer.
Her arms and legs burned as she ran, and she could feel herself growing slower and slower. Her mouth was so dry that her tongue felt like nothing more than a strip of old leather in her mouth, and her white tank top had long since been soaked through with sweat. Each drop of sweat that rolled down her back was a terrible loss-- the men hadn't given her any water since yesterday morning, and she could feel dehydration slowing her muscles and dulling her reflexes.
The men, on the other hand, had been eating and drinking to their hearts' content over the last day as they dragged Druuna towards their town. It wasn't fair!
They had intended to keep her for a slave, and do... God only knew what they would do to her. Their leader had boasted about how a "real beauty" like her was precious and rare, and how possessing her would elevate their status. At the first opportunity after their arrival, she'd kicked him squarely between the legs and ran away.
But she was hungry, tired, and thirsty, and she didn't know this part of the wastes like they did. The sun was hot on her exposed skin, and there was a lot of it-- her thin top didn't even cover her stomach, and all she had on her lower body was a pair of old shoes, stained white socks that came up to her mid-thigh, and a bright red thong that was riding up her rounded, generous ass as she ran. The men had taken her pants when they made her dance for them last night, and she hadn't had time to grab anything to cover herself with when she made her escape.
At least she had her shoes, Druuna thought. She had learned that in the desolate wasteland she called home, things could always be worse. And they often did get much, much worse.
Despite her desperation and the raw terror that coursed through her veins, she could feel herself flagging. Her body just couldn't keep up with her demands, and every step was slower than the last. By now she could hear the sounds of the men's heavy boots on the hard-packed dirt behind her, but she couldn't force herself to go any faster. There was nothing left to give.
"Got you, bitch," one of the men shouted from almost directly behind her. She recognized him by voice as the trio's leader-- the one who had first found her, had first lain hands on her.
Druuna cried out in terror, but the sound that came from her mouth was nothing more than a weak croak. She tried to speed up, tried to dig in deeper, but it wasn't enough.
She felt rough hands on her shoulders, then the world was suddenly spinning. She flew sideways as the man tossed her like a ragdoll, and she grunted with pain as she slammed into the ground and rolled over and over. A huge plume of dust kicked up as she skidded to a stop, and the thick particles filled her mouth when she gasped and left her coughing and choking.
"Thought you could run from me?" he shouted as he materialized through the cloud of sand and dust. "I'll fucking show you. Come here!"
"No, please!" Druuna tried to push herself backwards, to get away from the thug, but he was bigger, stronger, faster. He grabbed her by the shoulders again and violently shoved her down. He grabbed a fistful of her long, black hair and slammed her back into the bare earth hard enough to knock the air from her lungs.
"I'll fucking show you." The growl that came from his throat was almost inhuman, and the look on the man's face was a mixture of pure rage and dark lust. He knelt between Druuna's legs and pushed her thighs apart with his knees as he crushed her body under his.
Druuna shoved at him with both hands, but she was too weak to do anything but make him angrier. He squeezed her shoulder so tight that she squealed in pain. She was definitely going to have a bruise there by tomorrow morning... assuming they didn't just kill her once they'd had their way with her.
"I was gonna be nice about fucking you." The man snaked a hand between them and shoved his pants down, baring his cock in one motion. "Woulda done it on a bed and everything. Now you can take it in the dirt, like a whore."
Tears streaked through the dirt covering her soft skin to leave behind trails of mud. She knew how this was going to go, what was going to happen next. This man wouldn't be the first to take her by force. It was the most awful thing a person could endure, degrading and painful and cruel.
But she had endured it before and she would do so again. What other choice did she have, after all? She was helpless, and her only real choice was to endure or perish. That's how life was out there: the strong dominated the weak and took what they wanted, and the weak had to learn to survive.
She braced herself for the sound of tearing cloth as he tore her panties off of her, and for the sharp pain as he shoved himself forcefully into her, but neither of those things came.
Instead of the sound of tearing cloth, she heard the unmistakable sound of gunfire. The sharp crack of a powerful rifle echoed in the dusty air, and one of the three men-- a bald man with tanned, leathery skin-- suddenly shuddered and fell backwards. One moment, he had been cheering his leader on and bragging about what he was going to do to Druuna when he had his turn with her, and the next moment he was suddenly missing his right eye and part of his face.
A cloud of red filled the air as a bullet went straight through his eye and out the back of his head, and her two remaining attackers both froze in place.
Then, before anyone had time to react, a cloaked figure leapt from behind sparse cover and slammed shoulder-first into the leader of the group. The weight of the man pinning Druuna down was suddenly removed as he was driven backwards by the newcomer. Before Druuna even had time to gasp, there was a flash of steel, and suddenly the would-be rapist was gasping and clutching his neck.
Blood ran down between his fingers as the masked assailant jerked their knife back out of his throat.
The third man seemed to decide that one half-naked woman wasn't worth dying over, and he turned and sprinted in the direction he'd come from. Another sharp bark of rifle fire sounded from a short distance away, and the bullet tore through the running man's back before he'd even made it six paces. He dropped in a boneless heap, the red of blood already soaking the back of his shirt.
Druuna watched in horror and disgust as the last dying man twitched in the dirt, then stilled. She had been mentally preparing herself to endure yet more horror at the hands of cruel, lecherous men, and now she was staring at three fresh corpses. It had all happened in a bare instant, before she could even process what was going on.
The sound of light footsteps behind her announced the arrival of two more strangers, both covered in layers of loose clothing and wearing thick, black masks fitted with respirators and glass lenses. Druuna craned her head to stare at them, but the masked individuals seemed to be ignoring her entirely as they efficiently went about checking the downed men for any signs of life.
The third cloaked attacker wiped his blood-slicked knife off on the cleanest part of the dead brute's clothing before tucking it away and turning towards Druuna. The other two finished the grim work of making sure that everybody they took down was going to stay down, then followed on his heels.
Druuna gasped and pushed herself backwards as the trio approached her. She tried to push herself back to her feet, but stumbled back onto the hot sand when her knees simply gave out on her. She was cornered again, and panic gripped her heart as Druuna realised she'd gone from one bad situation to another-- the group of men chasing her had planned on ravaging her, right here in the dirt, and no doubt making a slave of her, but at they had probably been planning on keeping her alive. Who knew what these others planned on doing to her?
The closest of the three, the one who had been stabbing a man to death a few moments ago, crouched in front of Druuna. She shrank backwards, but her back met the hard surface of bare rock. Trapped.
"Are you injured?" The killer's voice was softer, smoother than Druuna had expected. They didn't yell, didn't threaten, didn't make a demand of her. They simply asked that one question, then waited for her answer, as if they genuinely cared about whether Druuna was hurt or not. He was probably just gauging whether Druuna was "damaged goods", and how it would affect her selling price.
"D-Don't hurt me," Druuna begged in a trembling whisper.
"My name is Tyla." The stranger's voice was distorted through the mask and came out robotic and frightening. He reached a hand out towards Druuna, but she shrunk away from it as much as she could. "What is your name?"
"D-D-Druuna," she stammered after another moment of hesitation.
"Druuna, your attackers... Those men are dead now. They can't hurt you anymore." The masked figure paused for a moment, probably waiting for Druuna's answer. Eventually, when the scared woman didn't say anything else, they continued, "Are you hurt, Druuna?"
